As if we didn't know - Wisconsin budget, education will stay messed up next year

If you thought that Wisconsin’s budget problems were a thing of the past, well…you were a fucking moron before today. But we got further confirmation that things are still a mess when it comes to the state’s finances. And it came from none other than the one guy most responsible for causing the problem.

The governor responded to concerns raised on Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, at a Madison forum hosted by the Wisconsin Counties Association. Fitzgerald told county officials he expects the next budget will be "just as rough as this past one."

[Gov Scott] Walker told reporters Wednesday most of those concerns are tied to the national economy.

Wisconsin's large manufacturing sector is heavily influenced by national and global factors, Walker said.

"But we’re still going to persevere, and again, what we’ve done in the past is even if we’ve had adjustments on the revenue side, we’ve accommodated that through adjustments on the spending side. We’d look to do that forward," Walker said. "My focus is, whatever savings we can get in things like how we administer health insurance, I want to focus on more money for education."

What do you mean we are going to persevere, Scotty? We aren’t the ones able to take in 6 figures + benefits from the taxpayer (barring indictment). But we’re the ones that are already paying the price for your careless, crooked policies, and apparently will continue to have that pain continue to be inflicted on us.

The comments led to yet another hilarious and biting press release from the two Assembly Dems on the Joint Finance Committee- Gordon Hintz and Chris Taylor.

Breaking: Republicans ponder whether lousy budgeting results in lousy budgets @ChrisTaylorWI https://t.co/M4QjOJfK6F pic.twitter.com/aDCddfNSic

— Gordon Hintz (@GordonHintz) February 3, 2016

“As Majority Leader Fitzgerald acknowledged, with Republicans in control, more cutting and gutting is on the horizon. We can expect another cut and gut budget that leaves our children behind, perpetuates a transportation mess, and fails to make the investments our state needs to thrive. The blame game and list of excuses doesn’t work anymore - they have had six years of absolute power and three budgets to get it right,” stated Rep. Taylor. “Republicans seem intent on continuing their bad choices of huge corporate tax giveaways, which will reduce state revenues by $570 million this biennium, on the backs of our children and our future. If Democrats were in control, we would make the investments in our people we need for our state to truly move forward.”

“Perhaps my Republican colleagues need to be reminded that this budget was only ‘rough’ because of self-inflicted decisions. The Governor’s 15-17 budget actually spent over a billion dollars more than his previous 13-15 budget, so the reason why our public school classrooms and UW System have taken such a hit is no mystery. Public education is just not a priority for the ruling party,” said Rep. Hintz. “At the same time, Republicans chose to leave hundreds of millions of federal Medicaid dollars on the table and continue their expansion of ineffective tax cuts. Shortsighted budget decisions combined with the worst economic growth in the upper Midwest is a guaranteed recipe for continued ‘rough’ budgets.”

Jumping off of Rep. Hintz's point, a big reason the next budget will be so "rough" is because of those prior cuts to education. Those cuts are back in the news this week, as the UW Board of Regents will discuss changes to layoff procedures as part of preparation for another year with less funding than they had 8 years ago. In addition, that document is part of the WisGOP Legislature's decisions to radically change tenure, which will hamper UW's reputation and ability to attract talent.

And in today's Wisconsin State Journal, there's an article discussing the 70-80 staff positions that are slated to be cut in Madison schools, one year after that same district cut 100 positions. These possible cuts also come 10 months after Madison voters passed a $41 million referendum just to keep up with maintenance and needed building improvements.

Oh, and the average Wisconsin homeowner is seeing his/her property taxes are going up, with additional local sales taxes possibly being stacked on top of that (well, it's either that or the roads fall apart). And this dimwit is thinking he can get his massive campaign debt retired in the next year as he laughs grifts his way through fundraisers, including one tonight at the ritzy Madison Club downtown?

Meh, what does this jackwagon care? He's out the door with a nice pension and wingnut welfare to collect in 2 1/2 years. Or so he thinks...