Hey WisGOP, don't say "Go Badgers" and then knock down UW and Madison

In a move that directly goes against the 20th Century GOP mantra of “local control”, a group of GOP legislators want to prevent local governments in Wisconsin from having additional requirements and protections for workers that they contract with.

While removing local control isn’t “conservative”, it certainly goes with the ALEC agenda of imposing GOP rules on anyone that dares to go beyond the base level of protections offered from the state. And not surprisingly, the ALEC-GOPs (all white men, and almost all from suburban Milwaukee) have one particular community in mind with this bill

Forcing employers to comply with a complex web of labor and human resources standards that differ by community makes Wisconsin a less attractive place to do business," a group of 10 GOP lawmakers said in a memo to colleagues seeking co-sponsors.

Nick Zavos, government relations officer in Madison Mayor Paul Soglin's office, said Sogin is "deeply concerned about the direction (the legislation) represents," specifically as it would pertain to the city's efforts to curb employment discrimination.

Jeff Pertl, first vice chair of the Dane County Board of Supervisors, described it as a state infringement on local government control. Noting strong population and job growth in Dane County, he said: "Give us a little credit, and a little less 'help.'"

You’d think that the suburba-GOPs would look at booming Madison as a prototype to take statewide if they truly want the economy to thrive in the state, but instead they’d rather handcuff it because of…jealousy? Resentment politics?

And the types of protections that the suburba-GOPs want to prevent at the local level speaks volumes on how arrogant and regressive this bill is. It would keep cities from having stricter standards for occupational licenses or requiring their contractors from being mandated to pay minimum wages above $7.25 an hour. It also prevents communities from expanding their non-discrimination protections for its work force.

"It seems to be a sledge hammer solution in search of a mosquito problem," league executive director Jerry Deschane said. "I’m not aware that any of the proposed-to-be-prohibited local government decisions have prevented any business anywhere in Wisconsin from prospering."

Madison city attorney Mike May said "the biggest impact is a complete elimination of a number of protected classes under Madison’s Equal Opportunity Ordinance. ... For example, Madison prohibits discrimination based on student status, citizenship, or being a victim of domestic violence or abuse. Under this law, those people would be fair game for discriminatory practices, and Madison could not do anything about it."

And the question that I keep coming back to is “WHY THE FUCK DO YOU DINGBATS CARE?” Deal with your own culturally and economically stagnant parts of the state, and leave us in the Mad City to continue to do things our (successful) way.

These anti-Madison policies and mentality made me say “Fuck you” when I saw Governor Dropout proclaim that Friday was “Wear Red Day” in honor of the undefeated Badger football team playing for the Big Ten Championship and a spot in the College Football playoffs on Saturday.

Wearing red in anticipation of @BadgerFootball’s @BigTen Championship game against @OhioStateFB tomorrow! Once they win, they’ll secure a spot in the College Football Playoff! Go @UWBadgers! #OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/hWvP0KO0HT

— Governor Walker (@GovWalker) December 1, 2017

In addition to the eye-rolling maneuver of politicians trying to co-opt the UW’s good name for their own PR (especially ones who couldn’t get into Madison), this proud two-time Madison grad is angry for another reason. Instead of promoting the UW as a resource that enriches the entire state well after people graduate (as outlined in the Wisconsin Idea), and instead of raising the living and working standards in those parts to the high standards we see in Madtown, Walker and the ALEC-GOPs have used the UW and “those Madison liberals” as a punching bag for the rest of the lagging state. That may win a few more votes under “divide and conquer”, but it makes our state fall further behind our Midwestern neighbors and the rest of the country in the process.

Out in DC, the Wisconsin-based Speaker of the House and all of the other WisGOP CongressMEN that have voted for versions of the atrocious tax bill sure aren’t doing much to help UW, especially when it comes to getting talent to want to study and start their researching careers in Madison. The Isthmus has a note this week about what they call the “Bucky tax”, which was part of the Senate GOP’s bill as of last week, and still seems to be (although God knows what's in the bill right now).

Under the Senate’s tax bill, UW-Madison and other schools throughout the country would face new taxes on funds they generate by using their names and logos on merchandise. The provision would categorize these sales as unrelated to the university’s charitable mission.

In a Nov. 27 letter to U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank expressed concern with several provisions included in the Senate tax bill, writing that it would “increase costs and regulatory burdens on UW-Madison.”

“The bill contains several proposals that would increase taxes owed by many colleges and universities including treating name and logo royalties as unrelated business taxable income,” Blank wrote. “For UW-Madison, this provision alone means $1-2 million annually that currently support students would become taxable income and therefore reduce the amount available for scholarships.”…

Between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016 (the most recent figures available), UW-Madison made roughly $4.4 million from royalties — a record that beat the university’s previous best by more than half a million dollars. It trailed only Michigan State University and the University of Michigan in the Big Ten.

If the proposed corporate tax rate of 20 percent were in effect, UW-Madison would have had to pay about $880,000 in taxes on the net revenue. The provision would have the biggest impact on universities with large athletic programs, though it would affect any UW System school that sells licensed merchandise. Estimates show the government could collect $2 billion throughout the next decade from the licensing provision, according to Inside Higher Education.

Let's also note that the current tax bill removes the deduction for student loan interest, and taxes the tuition reimbursement and related stipends that allow many students to pay for college, especially at the graduate school and researcher level. This gives particular harm a research institution like UW-Madison, and create barriers for lower-income individuals that may want to continue schooling, but can't afford to if they have to pay thousands in new taxes that result from their tuition being paid for.

Walker and the ALEC-GOPs at the state level have also gone out of the way to make UW non-competitive in the market for high-level academic talent due to budget cuts and anti-intellectual policies. Just this week, we saw UW-Madison continue to linger in 6th place nationwide in the annual Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey. While that’s still really good, University Communications notes that this is actually a downgrade from Madison’s usual position of excellence.

UW–Madison had been in the top five in the nation in research spending every year since 1972, the year the survey started, until it dropped to 6th last year.

Funding for academic research at UW–Madison comes primarily from the federal government as well as institutional funds. Additional sources include state and local government, industry, nonprofit organizations, and foundations that support the university. The two most significant private contributors of research support to UW–Madison are the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and the UW Foundation.

The university’s research enterprise is a powerful economic engine as well as a creator of knowledge and innovation. The benefits are felt throughout the state and beyond. According to the UW–Madison Data Digest for 2016-17, more than 362 UW–Madison-related startup companies support nearly 25,000 jobs, generate $113.6 million in state tax revenue and contribute $2.3 billion to the state economy.

And yet the GOP at the state and federal levels want to (ab)use policy and laws to slam the brakes on this great economic engine because…..?



You see, Gov Dropout, there’s a lot more to UW and Madison than just our damn good football team. And you don’t get to talk up the sports programs while you try to hurt the rest of the UW and the growing town it sits in. And while being in the top 4 for football would be an awesome next step for that program (and I hope to be running down State Street with thousands of others tomorrow night), why don’t you care about getting UW-Madison back into the top 4 for research as well?