Of course it will be; if it takes years to install an adequate traffic signal near campus, one could not expect quick headway on the North Street Bridge. They’ll resume in the spring. The delay itself is not the biggest problem here. Note, instead, how odd is the delay when considered after reading the Walker…
Wisconsin
City, Economy, Planning, Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s median income plunged over the last decade
by JOHN ADAMS •
Shocking, and proof of infuriating, disgraceful political failure. Down 14.5%, far worse than the American average (itself an unwelcome decline). Of what use were so many grand, much-touted state and municipal projects? One Next Big Thing after another, and all of them doing nothing to prevent a double-digit decline in common people’s incomes. Every big-talking…
Politics, Wisconsin
UW-Whitewater’s Professor Emrey on post-recall Wisconsin politics
by JOHN ADAMS •
Freedom of Speech, Politics, Wisconsin
Swing Away
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s a big day in Wisconsin, a day of uncertain outcome. Not our first big day, not our last, but important just the same. In six senatorial districts across the state, thousands of citizens will cast votes, and those votes will make a difference in our history. No one’s required to vote; we would not…
Liberty, Wisconsin
Wisconsin 25th of 50 for Freedom
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Mercatus Center of George Mason University released its annual report on liberty, ranking freedom in each of the states. Wisconsin comes in a disappointing 25th, no better than middling. See, Freedom in the Fifty States 2011. Wisconsin’s freedoms have been under siege in 2011 — our new administration and legislative majority regulate from the…
City, Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Police, Politics, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Assembly Bill 173
by JOHN ADAMS •
Yesterday, Rep. Don Pridemore’s Arizona-syle immigration legislation received a numerical designation: Assembly Bill 173. The full text of the bill is online at the Legislature’s website. The bill has the following initial sponsors: “Representatives Pridemore, Wynn, LeMahieu, Kleefisch, Steineke and Jacque; Cosponsored by Senator Lasee.” One could have expected Wynn to support this measure. His…
Politics, Wisconsin
Sen. Scott Fitzgerald’s Nixonian Plan
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s fuss — but there shouldn’t be surprise — that the WISGOP and Sen. Majority leader Fitzgerald have schemed to run fake Democrats against real Democrats in recall races. Their goal is to force recall primaries, before recall general elections against GOP senators, to buy the GOP candidates an additional month to fund raise, etc.…
Politics, Wisconsin
WisconsinWatch.org: The Money Trails of Sen. Kohl’s Possible Replacements
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, in connection with MapLight Wisconsin, has a data-rich story on the political contributions to Sen Kohl’s would-be successors. It’s a list of eight politicians: Baldwin, Erpenbach, Feingold, Fitzgerald (Scott), Kind, Neumann, Thompson, Van Hollen. (Although any of them might run, some are much stronger than others. Of the Democrats,…
City, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Politics, Walworth County, Wisconsin
Emily’s Post: ‘Welcome to Wisconsin, Jim Crow’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Emily Mills writes about Assembly Bill 7, sure to become law: This bill is, at its core, a rollback of the right to vote that impacts the most vulnerable and already disenfranchised populations in this state. It spits in the faces of those who’ve come before and fought (and sometimes died) to see this most…
City, Laws/Regulations, Politics, Wisconsin
A Freshman Legislator’s Unusual Choice
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s an AP story over at Walworth County Today entitled, Rep. Wynn pushes for earlier alcohol sales as a convenience to tailgaters. Rep. Evan Wynn is the freshman assemblyman representing the 43rd Assembly District, a district that includes Whitewater. I’m opposed to most restrictions on alcohol, but it’s easy to see that this is an…
Law, Politics, Wisconsin
Of JoAnne Kloppenburg
by JOHN ADAMS •
On the Saturday before the April election, JoAnne Kloppenburg visited Whitewater, and I went out to see her. Like most people, I’d never seen her in person, and wanted to hear her talk. (Justice Prosser’s had a more public career, in the legislature and more recently on the court; many people have run into him,…
City, Politics, Walworth County, Wisconsin
Post-Election Day in Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ll take the topics from yesterday’s election preview post in reverse order. Wisconsin. Justice Prosser did far better than I guessed; Asst. A.G. Kloppenburg certainly didn’t win comfortably. I would have thought Kloppenburg by 2-3 percent, outside the range of a recount. There will be a recount, with results now showing Kloppenburg with 739,589 and…
City, Politics, Walworth County, Wisconsin
Election Day Curiosities
by JOHN ADAMS •
Before the polls close, a few questions of note about the spring election for the City of Whitewater, Walworth County, and Wisconsin. City of Whitewater What’s Whitewater’s turnout today? Assuming that JoAnnne Kloppenburg carries Whitewater, by what margin will she do so? (If she can’t carry places like the City of Whitewater, she’s likely in…