I hope everyone is having a great day!

But don’t forget we have a lot of work to do here in Wisconsin…

From the Tax Foundation Tax Policy Blog: State Budgets: Wisconsin Governor Boosts Spending, Hopes for Federal Bailout

A recent Badger Poll asked the following question:

“In the next 12 months or so, do you expect economic conditions in the state of Wisconsin to get better, get worse or stay about the same? “

Now before I tell you then answers let me remind you of some important facts:

The Wisconsin Governor = Democrat
The Wisconsin State Senate = Democrat Controlled
The Wisconsin State Assembly = Republican Controlled

Here is how the answered the question:

Democrats: 13% = get better; 47% = get worse; 39% = about the same
Republicans: 24% = get better; 28% = get worse; 48% = about the same

87% of Democrats believe that Wisconsin’s economic conditions will stay the same or get worse in the next 12 months!!! Even Democrats don’t trust this governor and his minions in the Senate!!

Doyle put the out a press release Monday evening stating that the Assembly “failed once again” to do their job.

On the contrary Mr. Governor, the Assembly is doing just what they are there to do, protect the citizens of Wisconsin from dictatorial governors that believe that asinine tax increases are the only way to get the State out from their spending habit.

The Governor accuses “extreme elements of the Republican Assembly” of refusing to deal with “the cost to operate school buses, pay heating bills, and maintain roads” but it was Governor Doyle that threatened the Democrat Senate with a veto (and lord knows what else) if they were to pass the bipartisan Assembly bills 506 & 507.

Doyle has failed the people of Wisconsin and by his own words “created a fiscal nightmare for this state” by not allowing passage of AB 506 and 507 that would have secured funding for schools and the municipalities of Wisconsin at the levels that HE and Senate Democrats wanted.

So the only failure this State has had was in allowing the Senate Democrats and the Governor make a mockery of the budget process by not funding schools and municipalities. If they had we would be well on our way to making head way on the remaining portions of the State budget and perhaps not be looking at the huge tax increase that the governor would like us to swallow.

Imagine a politician using his political office and influence to obtain confidential financial records (violating the law in the process) and using that information to leverage his political will…its happening right here in Wisconsin!

Charlie Sykes has the details right here.

Statement by Doyle

“I look forward to signing a budget that reflects Wisconsin’s values, protects Wisconsin’s priorities, and invests in Wisconsin’s people.”

Does he really?

Wisconsin is still one of the highest taxes states in the country and yet he thinks that his tax increases are the will of Wisconsinites?

He proudly proclaims that “This is not a budget for the big oil or the big tobacco companies – it is a budget for the middle class” and he is right because most of $1.7 billion tax increase burden will fall squarely on the shoulders of the middle class.

Democrats on the JFC are following Doyle down a very dark and dangerous road. If Republicans want to take over Madison in the next election they need to hold their ground and vote for a “zero tax increase” budget. If they fail to do so they will be turning their backs on their base and Doyle wins.

Doyle and 16 other Democrat Governors are calling for the President to pressure “big oil” to reinvest their “enormous profits” into lowering gas prices. (link)

Well here is some quick math for you:

$3.59 – Current price of Gallon of gas
$0.33 - Wisconsin MANDITORY Markup 9.18%
$0.32 - Wisconsin gas tax $0.32 (or 8.9%)
$0.14 - Federal gas tax $0.14 (or 3.9%)

$2.80 - Wholesale price of gas (Current price minus taxes and markup)

$0.26 – Exxon’s HUGE profit per gallon of gas (9.7%)


Doyle is proposing to raise the tax on gas an additional $0.07 per gallon (to $0.39) meaning that Wisconsin will make more money per gallon than ANYONE ELSE!!!!

Every time you fill your tank, repeat this until your tank is full:

Wisconsin is making more money per gallon than the oil company!
Wisconsin is making more money per gallon than the oil company!
Wisconsin is making more money per gallon than the oil company!
Wisconsin is making more money per gallon than the oil company!

I just love it when Republicans speak their mind because when we speak from the heart we always hit a homerun.

Letter from State Representative Steve Nass (R - 31st Assembly):

May 4, 2007

Speaker Mike Huebsch
Room 211 West
State
Capitol

Representative Kitty Rhoades
Co-Chair, Joint Finance
Committee
Room 309 East

Dear Speaker Huebsch and Co-Chair
Rhoades:

The Joint Finance Committee is nearly two weeks into acting on the Governor’s proposed 2007-2009 Biennial Budget. The net result to-date is horrible for taxpayers and fantastic for big spenders in the Capitol. The committee evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats has failed to remove any major tax and fee increases, but has reached some compromises on how to spend money.

The current process, negotiated between the Co-Chairs, clearly favors the Senate Democrats in preserving Governor Doyle’s $1.7 billion in tax and fee increases. It’s painfully obvious that Senate Democrats won’t agree to any changes in tax and fee increases, but will accept changes to promote spending and buy friends through expanded government programs.

The delusional rants in defense of higher taxes and fees from Senators Russ Decker (Senate Co-Chair), Bob Jauch and Lena Taylor offer proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the Joint Finance Committee process is hopelessly broken and a tremendous waste of resources. It’s certain that the end product in the Joint Finance Committee will dramatically raise taxes and fees.

It is unimaginable that any Republican on the Joint Finance Committee can vote in favor of the final package, thus guaranteeing an 8-8 vote. Why waste the time and limited resources of the Legislature so the Joint Finance Committee can do nothing more than rearrange the deck chairs just prior to hitting the iceberg?

I am requesting the Assembly Republican leadership cease our participation in the process of anointing the Governor’s $1.7 billion tax and fee increases in the Joint Finance Committee. The two houses can better use the month of May to prepare starkly differing versions of the 2007-2009 Biennial Budget and move more efficiently towards a Conference Committee showdown over the future of Wisconsin.

Sincerely,

Steve Nass
State Representative
31st Assembly District

So I’m reading the paper this morning and there is a story about Troha, again, and just for being up on the issues around Troha I read the article as it is printed in today’s JT. Now I could not find it on the JT website to point out what I felt was odd so I typed it out for this purpose. But I was not satisfied with just having it here without a link so I searched the internet for this story elsewhere and found it only to discover that the other article is different in layout than what was printed in the JT!

Here is the portion of text from today’s JT article that I thought was odd: Feds open up another investigation into Troha by Frederic Frommer AP

…

Troha was indicted March 1 on charges of illegally funneling more than $100,000 in campaign contributions to Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and the federal account of the state Democratic Party.

The indictment alleges Troha concealed the nature of the transactions in his attempt to obtain approval for a casino in Kenosha and lied to FBI about it. Troha, the former owner of a major trucking firm now at the center of a multistate tax dispute, has pled not guilty.

Ryan said he has donated the $58,000 he has received from Troha and his family to the Boys and Girls Club because of the indictment.

…

Here is the article that is online: Feds open up another investigation into Troha

Notice how the paragraphs have been rearranged in the JT article?

What I found so surprising about all of the articles was that neither one of them talk about the fact that Doyle and the Wisconsin State Democratic Party have not returned the Troha money. They try real hard to tie Ryan to this guy but give a pass to Doyle!!! What hypocrisy!!!

The State Elections Board voted to settle the claim that the Mark Green Campaign illegally converted cash from his federal campaign to his state campaign (link). In the end they have decided that it is just better to ignore what they have done and move on then to continue to push and potentially expose Doyle to further scrutiny.

In reaction to the SEB vote today the Green Campaign released the following statement:

Green Campaign: State Elections Board Admits Mark Green Complied with State Rules when Converting Federal Account to State Account
3/16/2007

Contact: Marci
920-884-9296

In response to the settlement agreed to today by the State of Wisconsin Elections Board and Green for Wisconsin, Mark Green issued the following statement Friday:

“The State Elections Board has finally admitted what has been true from the start. When I converted my federal campaign account to a state account we complied not only with state law and Elections Board rules, but we actually followed the advice of the Board’s staff. The decision by the Elections Board last fall has now been exposed as nothing more than a crass manipulation of a governmental agency by Jim Doyle in his desperate effort to hold on to power.

“It is unfortunate that taxpayer dollars had to be wasted to defend Jim Doyle’s actions, but I am gratified that the Elections Board itself has been eliminated. No other candidate will ever again receive the kind of unfair treatment I received from what was supposed to be an impartial body.”

I believe that this manipulation of the SEB shows how far Doyle is willing to go to win an election. An in-depth investigation should be conducted into his actions and if proof can be found that he in any way manipulated the board Doyle should be thrown out of office.

Doyle would like to asses the oil companies 2.5% per barrel sold here in Wisconsin and mandate that that cost not be passed on to consumers!

HUH!?!?

I would like to see the legislature pass all of the Doyle measures (tax increases all) and mandate that the cost of these programs not be passed on to the taxpayers!

Doyle once again proves that he is bad for Wisconsin and an embarrassment…I hope that those of you that voted for him are happy!!

JT article
JS article

As promised I knew it was only a matter of time before someone would be railing against the Oil Companies again. Lo and behold it is our own Governor! (link)

Today Doyle is outraged because he read a report (link) generated by his Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) that states, “Staff analysis of oil company financial statements indicate that the five major oil companies earned $113.33 billion in 2006” and that “These excessive profits are more than the top four companies in the pharmaceutical, retailer, and industrial/agriculture combined.”

So Doyle is calling for the federal government to repeal the “big tax breaks” that the oil companies get (see my last blog about profits and taxes of oil companies here) and “to cap oil company profits and to force the oil companies to provide a refund to the American people from the windfall they have reaped since Hurricane Katrina.”

DATCP talks about the net income (profit) but never mentions the profit margin. For those of you that are not very business savvy, Profit Margin is an indicator of a businesses ability to control their costs. If Oil Companies were really out to hurt the consumers then you would see that their profit margins would be HUGE but that is not the case. In fact Microsoft and Coca-Cola have a substatially higher profit margin but no one is calling for them to reduce their prices!! (link)

Here is the Chart DATCP is boasting:



Here is a graph of the Profit Margins of the companies they looked at when they “analyzed” the oil company’s profits.


Ultimately what this boils down to is that we are heavily dependant on oil…the more we buy the more these companies make. End of story.

Doyle is out spending like a drunken Democrat again! Where is he coming up with this additional cash? He just made $59 million worth of increases…I wonder how our tax bill is going to look next year?

$15 million increase in Shared Revenue

$44 million increase in Financial Aid