The latest Marquette Law School poll results are out, and here are a few key findings from the 8.25.16 to 8.28.16 poll (the full results will be available online later this afternoon). Clinton-Trump, Among LV: Among likely voters in WI, Clinton 45%, Trump 42%, with 10% supporting neither. #mulawpoll — MULawPoll (@MULawPoll) August 31, 2016…
Wisconsin
Environment, Waste Digesters, Water, WGTB, WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN, Wisconsin
The Water Problems in Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Post 57 in a series. When Green Turns Brown is an examination of a small town’s digester-energy project, in which Whitewater, Wisconsin would import other cities’ waste, claiming that the result would be both profitable and green. I promised to begin reviewing by the particulars of a 12.15.15 discussion of waste importation. I’ll hold off to…
Blogging, Law, Liberty, Local Government, New Media, Newspapers, Public Records, Wisconsin
4 Points About Public Records Requests
by JOHN ADAMS •
So a local paper complains that a local school superintendent won’t comply with a public records request, won’t put the paper on a media contact list, and simply ‘must’ improve communications. A few points — 1. Compliance with a public records request isn’t a ‘communications’ issue; it’s a legal issue, of rights of residents…
Politics, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Ill Serves Her Nationally-Ambitious Politicians
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over the last generation, Wisconsin has had her share of politicians with national ambitions, to cabinet offices or elected executive office (Democrat Les Aspin, Republicans Tommy Thompson, Paul Ryan, Scott Walker among them). They’ve not fared so well; Gov. Walker’s effort is still ongoing. All of those I’ve listed were regarded in Wisconsin as especially skilled before…
America, Nature, Wisconsin
Ten Amazing Natural Wonders in America
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Apostle Islands make the list –
Federal Government, Law, Liberty, Local Government, Open Government, Public Records, State Government, Wisconsin
The Public Records Law Still Stands
by JOHN ADAMS •
After a push to alter Wisconsin’s Public Records Law (Wis. Stat. §§ 19.31-19.39), we’re now secure with the original law intact. Below one will find a recording of Wisconsin A.G. Brad Schimel’s Open Government Summit, held earlier this week at the Concourse in Madison. J.B. Hollen, Schimel’s immediate predecessor, started strongly in favor of the…
CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Gluttony, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Politics, WEDC, Wisconsin
The State’s WEDC and Whitewater’s Facsimiles
by JOHN ADAMS •
Ongoing revelations about the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation are a double concern: they’re stories of statewide malfeasance, and those revelations beg the question of how local officials in Whitewater are managing their own pools of public money. First, the latest stories (it’s a steady stream) of state-level error, waste, and negligence: Madison— Failing to run…
City, Corporate Welfare, Economy, Free Markets, Government Spending, Local Government, Marketing, Poverty, University, WEDC, Wisconsin
Wisconsin on Pace for Most Layoff Notifications Since WEDC Created
by JOHN ADAMS •
WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports Now I thought, as it’s what I have heard again, again, and again, that the WEDC was the Laser-Focused Semi-Private Job Creator of Wisconsin™. How odd, then, to read that since the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s inception, Wisconsin is on pace for more job layoffs than…
Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Politics, Religion, Science/Nature, State Government, Wisconsin
Budget First
by JOHN ADAMS •
Last week, Gov. Walker declined to answer Englishman’s question about whether he, Scott Waker, believed in evolution. Today, in the Journal Sentinel, one learns that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos does believe in evolution. (I’ll bite: I was raised in a liturgical, high-church tradition that taught that the theory of evolution was consistent with faith. I…
Corporate Welfare, Education, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Labor, Liberty, Local Government, School District, University, WEDC, Wisconsin
Education: Substance & Spending
by JOHN ADAMS •
Following comments to yesterday’s post on proposed cuts to the UW System schools (Caution arrives late, doesn’t recognize its surroundings), here are nine quick comments about education. 1. Act 10 as a budgetary tool. This centrally-planned idea didn’t work. Reductions in public-union bargaining powers in exchange for the ‘tools’ to balance school and other public…
City, Elections, Politics, Wisconsin
Signs on Election Night
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are both statewide and local signs for how election races are going. Statewide, Jake of Jake’s Economic TA Funhouse (blogs often have inventive names) is right that, short of an improbable collapse for the major-parties’ strongholds, the areas to watch are the counties that have supported both Walker (’10, ’12) and Obama (’08, ’12). …
Wisconsin
Resting
by JOHN ADAMS •
Planning, Politics, Press, Wisconsin
Goat-Level’s Not Enough
by JOHN ADAMS •
Political bloggers – left, right, libertarian, etc. – often find themselves critiquing the ill-considered proposals that government, business, labor groups, and a fawning press insist are for everyone’s good. That’s certainly true in Wisconsin – we have an active blogosphere running the whole political spectrum, and united (if in little else) at least in a…
Business, Corporate Welfare, Economy, Free Markets, Local Government, Wisconsin
The New (But Old) Zero-Sum Game
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at Rock Netroots, Lou Kaye makes this accurate observation about how most local communities’ officials understand development: For the most part, city leaders here [he’s referring to Janesville] and across Wisconsin not only believe that communities are in competition with one another, they vigorously support and fuel those concepts by carving out special slush…