Governing Magazine , which keeps close track of state and local governments, wrote a recent column declaring that the “Tax Revolt Turns Tepid.” Across America, the push to create state tax or revenue limits is losing its oomph, the magazine suggested.
The magazine singled out Wisconsin as one of the few exceptions, where a measure is likely to get consideration. And so it may. But you can sense some loss of momentum.
A constitutional amendment was supposed to be on the ballot by November 2006. But Republican proponents found that the simple TABOR, or Taxpayers Bill of Rights, amendment didn’t provide enough flexibility to sensibly freeze spending by the myriad city, county, village and town governments, not to mention state government, school districts and vocational technical districts. Lobbyists for local governments had predicted legislators would never come up with language that worked, and they were right.
So we now have the Bride of Tabor, as wits have dubbed it, a 2,500-word constitutional amendment. 2,500 words? That’s not an amendment, that’s the size of an entire constitution.
And still it hasn’t covered all eventualities. The Miller Park stadium authority has already raised concerns on how it will squeeze its revenues, leading legislators back to the drawing board. There will likely be more concerns raised, which may further lengthen an already unwieldy amendment.
The whole idea of a 2,500-word amendment seems a travesty of our system of government. This is a law masquerading as a constitutional clause. Just how many pages long is the voting ballot going to be with an amendment this size on it? Given that most voters don’t read referendum items until they get into the voting booth, you could be waiting a long time for your turn.
In the meantime, the state has two revenue caps on the books that suggest an alternative approach. The Expenditure Restraint Program, started in 1991, provides a carrot — additional state aid — for any municipality that limits spending hikes to the rate of inflation plus 60% of the property tax growth due to new construction. And state legislation has tied school district spending to the inflation rate since 1993-’94.
Since these changes, school and municipal spending have grown more slowly than the growth of personal income in Wisconsin. Municipalities have learned to live with their restraints, while schools are chafing, eliminating programs like art and music (which studies have shown can have a powerful impact on overall student achievement).
Meanwhile, there is much less state control over spending by counties and technical colleges. Both levels of government have seen their spending rise faster than the rate of growth in personal income.
Of course, one reason county budgets have risen is because 85% of their spending is mandated by the state Legislature, and many of these mandates are not fully funded. Rather than writing endless constitutional amendments, legislators might get their own house in order first and then require counties to spend less.
And when they do, the expenditure restraint program suggests a model for how to limit spending. But that was a legislative statute, not some blunderbuss of a constitutional amendment.
Rick Weiss, Secret Powerbroker
Sometimes it seems like a major public-private deal doesn’t get done without a Foley & Lardner lawyer. It may not happen in a smoke-filled room, given how few such rooms are left, but it usually happens quietly.
Looming large but very behind the scenes in two Milwaukee Journal Sentinel stories last week was attorney Richard Weiss , a Foley managing partner. A secret plan to do an end-run around the Milwaukee County Board and create a regional airport authority through state legislation, it turns out, was written by Weiss. The Foley attorney is also a member of Aurora Health Care’s board of directors, which paid some $30 million in legal fees to Foley & Lardner from 2001 to 2004, according to a column by Spivak and Bice . The column suggested that Aurora relies on its legal might to get governmental approval for new hospitals.
So what was Weiss’ reply to these two stories? Not a word.
Weiss rarely responds to reporters. During the dramatic battles to get the tax-funded Miller Park deal passed for the Milwaukee Brewers and the taxpayer-subsidized Lambeau Field deal approved, Weiss’ work went on behind the curtain. Weiss, in fact, proposed that draft documents related to the development of Lambeau Field be kept confidential from the media and the citizens who were going to have to pay for the deal. When this hit the news, Weiss was, as always, “not available for comment.”
According to the Foley & Lardner Web site, “Mr. Weiss has devoted his entire professional career to dealmaking and finance, particularly in transactions involving both the public and private sectors.”
Like most such operatives, Weiss is a member of the incumbent party. Records of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign show he has donated generously to the campaigns of Republicans like Tommy Thompson and Scott Jensen and to Democrats like Jim Doyle and Chuck Chvala.
Weiss’ two specialties are healthcare and the sports industry. He is close to baseball commissioner Bud Selig and has done work for Major League Baseball. He is something of an expert at getting government bail-outs for sports teams passed.
The Miller Park deal was a deft form of taxation without representation. Citizens of the five counties that are part of the stadium district were opposed to the deal, as was the majority of their state legislators. But enough legislators outside the five-county area voted for the plan and forced people they don’t represent to pay for it.
The regional airport deal does not involve taxes, per se, as the airlines pay for any improvements at Mitchell International. But it is an issue for the citizens of the county: People who live near the airport are affected by any expansion plans, the level of noise and other issues.
Weiss helped draft a document to create an airport authority that would not allow any locally elected officials to serve on it. Local citizens, in short, would have no representation and no one to whom they could complain.
County Supervisor James White called this “the most anti-democratic proposal that has come through here in a long time.” Some might argue the Miller Park deal was worse. But the two certainly have similarities. When straight-forward democracy doesn’t work, you just do an end-run around the voters.
F. James Bulldog
Few congressional representatives are tougher than F. James Sensenbrenner . The veteran congressman comes from money, lots of it, which may explain his blithe independence and notable lack of diplomacy. The April issue of Milwaukee Magazine offers a fascinating, in-depth look at the pugnacious congressman who is one of the most powerful people in Washington. Sensenbrenner rose to the head of the Judiciary Committee at a key time, when post-9/11 issues like the Patriot Act loomed large. And he is not shy about taking control of these issues, as this story makes clear.
