Posts Tagged ‘reform’
Hundreds Rally for Real Reform of Milwaukee County Board
More than 300 supporters flocked to Serb Hall Monday night.
The effort to reform Milwaukee County Government received a major boost on Monday night as around 300 taxpayers attended a rally hosed by Citizens for Responsible Government. Our Patti Breitigam-Wenzel was in attendance and provide these photos.
From RightWisconsin.com
Fix MKE event w/Charlie Sykes & CRG on Mon May 6
10 years ago, we learned the Milwaukee County Board couldn’t be trusted. That tough lesson cost taxpayers over $200 million and promised reform, never happened.
A decade later, Chairman Dimitrijevic lies to us about secret, illegal negotiations, and cons us with more fake reform. Sounds a lot like Tom Ament.
Opponents of reform claim state legislation interferes with local control. The TRUTH: the bill allows a referendum to be put to a vote, a right all Wisconsin counties have…except Milwaukee.
Demand real, guaranteed reform!
Join Citizens for Responsible Government and Charlie Sykes
Monday May 6th at 6:30pm
at American Serb Hall
5101 W Oklahoma Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53219
Free Admission
Register now at https://www.facebook.com/FixMilwaukee/app_208527462518885
What States Should Build Instead of Obamacare’s Health Insurance Exchanges
In the aftermath of President Obama’s re-election, in which the implementation of the Affordable Care Act plays a large role, many states are facing an important decision. Should these states act as agents of the Obama administration, and set up state-based versions of Obamacare’s subsidized health insurance exchanges? Or should they say no, leaving implementation of the law in the hands of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius? In this article, I will discuss a third possibility: that states set up their own markets for health insurance, markets that drive down the cost of insurance by ignoring Obamacare’s tangled web of mandates, regulations, and taxes.
Read more by Avik Roy at Forbes.com
GOP’s Dave Camp: Why Not Put All Federal Employees Onto Obamacare’s Exchanges?
In response to this week’s brouhaha regarding attempts by members of Congress to avoid having to enroll themselves and their staff members in Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges, Michigan Republican Dave Camp, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has offered a new proposal: Why not put all federal employees on the exchanges? It’s an attractive idea, but it has some downside: it would dismantle a popular model of market-based health reform.
Read more by Avik Roy at Forbes.com
Are changes in store for the city’s taxi industry?
Tuesday’s stunning decision by a Milwaukee County circuit court judge that Milwaukee’s taxicab ordinance is unconstitutional could provide some impetus to a plan touted by Ald. Bob Bauman.
Bauman, whose district includes the city’s downtown area, wants to increase the number of taxicab permits in the city, but it would also update vehicle standards and increase inspections. Bauman’s plan is expected to be discussed at 9 a.m. on Thursday at City Hall.
Bauman said Wednesday that Circuit Court Judge Jane Carroll’s decision “reinforces our need to move forward with some reforms.”
Read more by Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel
Two forums set for Thursday on move to cut pay, power of County Board
A forum on state legislation that would cut the budget of the Milwaukee County Board by two-thirds and its oversight authority will be at 12:15 p.m. Thursday at Marquette University Law School’s Eckstein Hall.
–SNIP–
A second forum on the legislation also on Thursday is at 6:30 p.m. at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, 901 15th Ave. in South Milwaukee. Sanfelippo and Supervisor Theo Lipscomb will discuss the measure.
Read more by Steve Schultze of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
2 years after Act 10, superintendents see positive results
Two years after state legislation rolled back collective bargaining for public employees and reshaped the state’s education landscape, several Milwaukee-area superintendents on Tuesday praised the overall effects, saying that relations with teachers are solid and that they have more flexibility to help improve student achievement.
Read more by Erin Richards of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Under Governor Walker we are moving Wisconsin forward
Now that the dust has settled and the seemingly endless campaigns are behind us, we have come a long way in the last two years and can finally sit and look at the accomplishments that Governor Walker has put in place to move Wisconsin forward.
When he came into office, he inherited a $3.6 billion budget deficit and under the previous democrat control of the state legislature spending was out of control and no end was in sight.
Governor Walker stepped right into the muck and the mire and with his sleeves rolled up; he made immediate and difficult changes that have put us back on a track toward prosperity.
Read more by Bill Folk at Caledonia Patch
American Reformation
Wisconsin is known for many things, such as our friendly disposition, impeccable beer and cheeses and, of course, our Green Bay Packers. Since I’ve taken office, we’ve gained national recognition for the proven results of our fiscal and economic reforms.
We took a principled stand, confronted our shortcomings and transformed them into real solutions. We’re turning things around and heading in the right direction. Unfortunately, the national outlook isn’t as bright. With growing debt and deficit without a clear solution, the problems we face as a nation are daunting.
Read more by Gov. Scott Walker at TribLive.com
Pursue Conservative Health Care Reform: Fighting Predatory Federalism
–SNIP– THE CURRENT SYSTEM IS NOT A FREE MARKET
The current system is not a case of the free market failing the little guy and favoring the wealthy. Right now:
You cannot choose one medication over another, even beforehand, on the basis of cost;
You cannot choose one hospital over another based on the quality of management and nursing support;
You cannot choose your doctor based on hourly rate or volume of patients;
You cannot choose what procedures you want or need based on how much they cost from one hospital or doctor to the next.
This is insane.
–SNIP– THE SOLUTIONS ARE OUT THERE, BUT SPECIAL INTERESTS WANT A QUICK FIX
John Mackey is the co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods, a national grocery chain that specializes in organic, unprocessed foods and natural remedies. It is an immensely successful venture, with 340 stores worldwide and 73,000 full-time employees, all of which qualify for a custom health care plan the company has devised. In 2009, amidst the health care reform battle, Mackey wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that compiled the most important and understandable reform principles needed in health care, and presented them as an alternative. The current law take almost none of them into account, and simply changes who pays for it rather that moving the industry toward a real free market.
These solutions are not the be all-end all of reform, but they are the most fundamental change we could advocate that would take our current system and move it closer to one that is cheaper, more accessible, freer and more flexible to changing patient needs and scientific discoveries.
Read more by Ed Willing at FoundersIntent.org
GOP sides with Mickey Mouse on copyright reform
Illegally downloading a couple dozen songs can earn you a million-dollar fine. Setting some Robert Frost verses to music can make you a criminal. Software or hardware that could possibly be used to copy DVDs — illegal. And thanks to congressional action every couple of decades, Disney still holds a copyright over Mickey Mouse, whom Walt first created nearly a century ago.
The law and law enforcement around copyright has moved far beyond its purpose of promoting arts and sciences and has become a textbook case of collusion between big business and big government.
Read more by Timothy P. Carney at WashingtonExaminer.com
From open primaries to school choice, Wisconsin has led the way for the nation
What is it about big ideas and the state of Wisconsin?
The state doesn’t have the largest population — it ranks 20th out of 50. It’s not the wealthiest — Wisconsin’s median income puts it 21st from the top. And it’s not even that big — again the state in square miles is close to the exact middle at 23 (and well behind its larger neighbors, Minnesota, 12, and Michigan, 11).
Wisconsin is pretty much near the middle of everything. It’s even situated close to the middle of the country.
But for some strange reason for over the past century, Wisconsin, that middle-of-everything state, has also been the incubator of some of the greatest political reform ideas in the United States. Let’s call it Badger exceptionalism. In fact, many of the most original concepts to benefit the common man since the dawn of the industrial revolution began not in Washington, D.C., or California, New York or Massachusetts. They started right here, in places like Madison, Milwaukee and little Primrose.
Read more by Warren Kozak at WPRI.org
Register ahead of election? Yes
Most states already require voters to think ahead.
AFTER ALL THE nasty brawling — not just in Wisconsin, but across the nation — over whether Voter ID amounts to sensible security at the polls or a barely veiled suppression effort, a partisan battle over scrapping same-day registration in the state seems unavoidable.
North Pointe
Currently, Wisconsin is one of just a handful of states that allow unregistered individuals to come to the polls on election day and take care of the business right then and there. A substantial majority of states require registration well in advance. For example, in Illinois, registration closes about a month before election day.
The tradition in Wisconsin, however, has been far more liberal. Some like that. Some think it’s ripe for fraud, and creates an undue last-minute burden on election officials.
Read more by William Barth at BeloitDailyNews.com
Why The Screwed Generation Is Turning To Paul Ryan
Boomers don’t want to give up their sweet deal, but the rest of us have reason to embrace Ryan’s “radical” plans, writes Kirsten Powers.
We’ve finally been vindicated: Members of Generation X have a representative who is anything but a slacker.
GOP Congressman Paul Ryan—the tireless, wonky, 42-year-old workout freak—has made history by becoming the first member of our generation to join a presidential ticket. It should come as a surprise to no one that his calling card is reforming entitlements.
We hear incessantly about how members of today’s screwed generation face the prospect of less prosperous lives than those lived by their parents. But the maiden generation to stare down that gloomy prognosis was Generation X, the tiny slice of America born between about 1965 and 1980. (Ryan was born in 1970.) We were the first generation to be told we would never get Social Security or Medicare even though we would be forced to pay into these programs.
Read more by Kirsten Powers at The Daily Beast
A Wisconsin plan for Illinois?
By Scott Walker
June 29, 2012
All too often political leaders have been afraid to tell the truth about the costs associated with pension, health care and other entitlement obligations. It is time for politicians to own up to these fiscal challenges.
As is the case in Illinois, the truth is often sobering. I know the feeling. When I became governor in Wisconsin, the state faced a $3.6 billion deficit, was hemorrhaging jobs and had high unemployment.
While I’m not an expert on the fiscal challenges facing Illinois, based on media reports I’ve read and stories I’ve heard from visiting your state, there are major budgetary issues that need to be resolved. Illinois faces a fiscal and economic crisis.
Read more by Gov. Scott Walker at Chicago Tribune