Posts Tagged ‘It’s Working’
Wisconsin budget surplus grows to $484 million
Wisconsin’s budget picture brightened Thursday, with new estimates that show a surplus will grow to $484 million, giving Republicans and Gov. Scott Walker even more room to pursue their tax cutting agenda.
The estimate from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau was nearly $137 million better than one Walker’s administration released in November. The numbers will be used by Walker as he puts the final touches on his two-year spending plan, which he’s set to unveil on Feb. 20.
Read more by Scott Bauer, AP, at twincities.com
Thank you Governor Walker for starting fix our state!
Thank You from Sen. Ron Johnson
Congratulations to you and all of the members of the Republican Party of Milwaukee County for what you accomplished for Wisconsin and for America on June 5. Every call you made, every mind you changed, every sign you displayed, every person you influenced was part of the grass roots conservative revolution that is steadily and purposefully working to turn this country around.
Thank you for your tireless effort and dedication. Thank you for your commitment to informing and educating constituents. Thank you for not giving up.
I am incredibly proud of you and all of the voters of Wisconsin.
Freedom is at stake and is a cause worth fighting for - but the fight is not over. Through Scott Walker’s strong leadership and the brave actions of our elected officials in Wisconsin, an example has been set for the rest of the country to follow. They’ve made tough decisions, taken tough votes, initiated bold policies, and IT’S WORKING!
You understand what’s at stake, you know the truth. The problem at the federal level is 1000 times worse than the fiscal problems Wisconsin faced.
Your ongoing efforts to educate, inform, persuade, and win the argument now need to be taken to the next level - to a win for America in November.
Thank you for your continued effort toward that end!
God Bless you and God Bless America
Sen. Ron Johnson
Tom Barrett Saves Milwaukee
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has become the official poster child for Governor Walker’s budget reforms. That’s right. The unfailingly liberal mayor took a right turn on public employee benefits, and used the Governor’s reforms to save taxpayers $25 million a year.
In fact, during the debate over collective bargaining changes, Barrett even said the law requiring public employees to contribute to their health care and pension benefits didn’t go far enough because it excluded police and firefighters. Barrett complained that they were receiving “Cadillac benefits”.
Last but not least, Mayor Barrett sought to use the Governor’s reforms in order to get around a ten year old legal settlement with city workers. “It is my hope that all public employees should be required to pay more toward their pension,” Barrett wrote in a letter to Governor Walker.
The Wisconsin Club for Growth thanks Mayor Barrett for helping Governor Walker make his case. More importantly, we thank him for saving Milwaukee taxpayers as much as $36 million in 2012 through health care benefit changes he didn’t have to negotiate with unions, as a result of Governor Walker’s reforms.
Today, the Wisconsin Club for Growth launched several billboards in Milwaukee to thank Mayor Barrett— for using Governor Walker’s reforms! Now we need your help to keep them up.
Let’s help Mayor Barrett spread the good news that Governor Walker’s reforms are working!!!
Thank you,
Wisconsin Club for Growth
Governor Walker: The Facts Are The Facts
The Facts Show That Wisconsin Is Moving Forward Under Scott Walker:
Governor Walker Eliminated The Historic $3.6 Billion Deficit Without Raising Taxes. The Department of Administration also predicted that the state would have a 154.5 million at the end of fiscal year 2013. (2011 Wisconsin Act 32; Todd Richmond, “Walker projects state will have $154.5 million budget surplus by 2013,” State Journal 5/10/12)
Governor Walker Signed A True Property Tax Freeze And Reduced The Property Tax Bill For The Median Valued Homeowner For The First Time In 12 Years. School property taxes also went down by $47 million, the first reduction in six years. (2011 Wisconsin Act 32; Steven Walters, “Breaking down the property tax dip,” Journal Sentinel, 4/21/12; Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, http://wistax.org, accessed 3/22/12)
Taxpayers Have Saved Over A Billion Dollars Due To Governor Walker Fundamental Reforms. The savings achieved by state and local governments and school districts exceeded $1,046,369,388 in health and pension contributions and health plan design changes. (Office of the Governor, ”Reforms and Results,” http://reforms.wi.gov, accessed 5/16/12)
Wisconsin Added 23,321 Jobs In 2011. . . .
Read more at http://www.scottwalker.org/press-releases/2012/05/governor-walker-facts-are-facts
Wisconsin’s Property Taxes Drop for First Time in 12 Years
According to Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue, property taxes on homes in the state of Wisconsin have decreased for the first time in more than a decade.
Governor Scott Walker’s pledge to balance the budget without raising taxes was a key plank of his 2010 campaign, and his fulfillment of that pledge will be a major campaign theme leading up to the June 5 recall election. “Our reforms have reversed a decade of property tax increases from previous administrations,” Walker said in a statement on Monday. “For the first time in over ten years, the average property taxpayer will have more money in his or her pocket than the year before.” Walker’s office noted that property taxes had risen by 43 percent since 1998, and “the average homeowner would have paid an additional $700 over the biennium” without the 2011 budget reforms.
Read more By JOHN MCCORMACK at WeeklyStandard.com
Teachers’ unions admit Gov. Walker’s reforms are working
True Confessions in Wisconsin
When debate over public unions flared up in Wisconsin last year, educators claimed Gov. Scott Walker’s austere reforms would require thousands of teachers to be laid off.
They were wrong.
With small changes in pension and healthcare contributions while allowing school districts to buy health insurance plans on the open market, Walker’s reforms have resulted in what could be considered a statewide teacher-retention program. School districts such as Wauwatosa, hometown of Governor Walker and the Weekly Standard’s Fox News star Stephen Hayes, faced a $6.5 million deficit and planned to lay off dozens of teachers. But Walker’s reforms allowed all those teachers to remain employed.
Read more by Matt Naugle at Spectator.org
Gov. Scott Walker Defends Reforms: Our Most Powerful Tool Is the Truth
Gov. Scott Walker delivered a passionate defense of Wisconsin’s reforms at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday night. The embattled Republican governor used his keynote speech at CPAC to outline what’s at stake in Wisconsin and other states if his budget reforms are rolled back.
“Our most powerful tool is the truth,” Walker told an excited crowd of conservatives, who gave him two standing ovations. He defended his actions as courageous with labor unions mounting a recall campaign to remove him from office. Unions have already financed recall efforts against state senators, losing four of the six campaigns they ran against incumbent Republicans.
Read more by Rob Bluey at blog.heritage.org
Property taxes see lowest rise in 15 years, group says
Total statewide property taxes are up 0.3% in 2012, the smallest increase in 15 years, according to preliminary estimates released by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.
The tax increase is small this year mainly because the school levy, the single largest part of a typical tax bill, dropped 1.0%, according to the organization. The group said tightened state-imposed revenue limits were the main cause of the decrease. Municipal - city, village and town - levies, which account for about 24% of the average tax bill, are expected to rise between 1.5% and 2.0%, which is below the average increase - 3.6% - of the past five years, the organizations said.
Read more at JSonline.com
Illinois Is So Broke, Lottery Winners Get Stiffed When State Checks Don’t Cash
Eighty-five Illinois Lottery winners last week probably thought they were lucky — until they tried to cash in their winnings, that is.
Their checks, totaling $159,000 in lottery winnings, were no good.
Two days after Christmas, Maureen Furio of Lake Zurich bought an instant scratch-off ticket and won $1000. The next day, she got a check from the lottery.
“I deposited it the same day and went ahead and paid some extra Christmas bills,” Furio says. “And Jan. 3, it bounced.”
Read more at chicago.cbslocal.com
Why US should cheer for Scott Walker
The claim that “this presidential election is the most important election ever” is an enduring political cliché, and it’s almost always wrong. Consider this year. It’s likely the 2012 race for the White House won’t even be the most important contest of this year, much less of all time.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is currently the target of a recall effort spearheaded by national public employee unions. If his opponents get enough signatures by Jan. 17, Wisconsin will hold a gubernatorial election this summer. The outcome is crucial to the future of the country.
Read more by Nick Schulz at USAToday.com
Results
In the ad, Governor Walker takes his message directly to Wisconsin voters by laying out a number of the promises he made during his 2010 campaign, how those promises have been fulfilled, and the positive results the state has seen as a result of what the campaign is calling, “bold and necessary reforms.”
Governor Walker’s Reforms Are Working, the Billboard
The Republican Party of Waukesha County would like to show that Waukesha Stands with Governor Walker.
The Republican Party of Waukesha County is planning on putting up a billboard like this along I-94.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party of MILWAUKEE County (RPMC) gave about $15,000 last year to the Governor’s campaign. We are coming up with unique ideas to help the governor. Donate to the RPMC here.
We are all in this together.
It’s Working! The 60 second Commercial
Please see www.itsworkingwisconsin.com. The website is committed to providing the facts to Wisconsin taxpayers. Every week there are more examples of how It’s Working. Together, the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy have chronicled success stories from across Wisconsin.
We also arm you with the facts to explain why the reform was necessary.
Uploaded by MacIver Institute on YouTube
Wisconsin schools buck union to cut health costs
The Hartland-Lakeside School District, about 30 miles west of Milwaukee in tiny Hartland, Wis., had a problem in its collective bargaining contract with the local teachers union.
The contract required the school district to purchase health insurance from a company called WEA Trust. The creation of Wisconsin’s largest teachers union — “WEA” stands for Wisconsin Education Association — WEA Trust made money when union officials used collective bargaining agreements to steer profitable business its way.
The problem for Hartland-Lakeside was that WEA Trust was charging significantly higher rates than the school district could find on the open market. School officials knew that because they got a better deal from United HealthCare for coverage of nonunion employees. On more than one occasion, Superintendent Glenn Schilling asked WEA Trust why the rates were so high. “I could never get a definitive answer on that,” says Schilling.
Read more by Byron York at Washington Examiner