Former Mayor Bloechl Backs Palmeri

See this posting in the Oshblog.

Leadership for a Change

The time has come for us to make a decision and cast a vote for the 54th State Assembly District. One candidate has proven that he has the knowledge, experience, and leadership necessary to effectively represent the district. One candidate has earned a master's degree in public administration from UW-Madison, was a research assistant for Governor Tommy Thompson's Kettl Commission, and was an analyst for the Budget Bureau of Long Beach, California's 5th largest city with a $1.7 billion annual budget. This candidate is Gordon Hintz.

Progressive Democratic candidate Gordon Hintz has earned my vote. He understands that first and foremost he must work to correct the budget mess created by Rep. Gregg Underheim and his fellow Republicans. Gordon will not support gimmicks designed to remove the burden of making tough decisions from the legislature that could ultimately devastate local governments, school districts, and the UW System. Gordon will also not support raising our taxes. He knows that in order to fund current programs the state needs to create $700 million of new revenue or make tough decisions on the budget. Therefore, Gordon will work to examine every item in the budget for efficiency and effectiveness and explore means of generating additional revenue.

There has been a lot of rhetoric in this election and people have said that if you want change to vote for someone other than a Democrat or Republican. I disagree. We should not vote for a candidate based on his or her party label. We should vote for a candidate that represents our values, beliefs, and that we know will provide the leadership to represent us.

True, Gordon is a Democrat and has stated that he will caucus with the Democrats because that is the party that shares his values and beliefs. Even Independent candidate Dan Carpenter stated he would most likely caucus with the Democrats. However, Gordon has expressed a desire to work across party lines to provide effective leadership for our district. This is the kind of leadership Oshkosh needs to represent us in Madison.

It's time for leadership for a change! It's time for Gordon Hintz! Gordon is endorsed by United States Senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, and most recently by the Oshkosh Northwestern. If you would like more information about Gordon Hintz and how he will create a vital Oshkosh and Wisconsin in the 21st Century, please visit his website at www.hintzforassembly.com.

Finally, I urge the citizens of the 54th State Assembly District to vote on November 2 for a progressive candidate that will effectively represent us. I urge you to vote for Gordon Hintz!

Underheim Wrong on TABOR, Wrong for Oshkosh

It's ironic that Rep. Underheim spoke out against how the so-called TABOR constitutional amendment was handled prior to the primary elections. He even said, “it’s not the right time to take this up. Not only would this look extremely political, it would be extremely political.”

Furthermore, in March 2004, Rep. Underheim said it "disappoints" him when legislators “screw around with the Constitution.”However, in the end, Rep. Underheim cowered to Rep. Gard and the right-wing conservative agenda by signing his name in support of the constitutional amendment and said he would have voted for it. Way to be "extremely political" Mr. Underheim!

The irony of the so-called TABOR is that it proves legislators like Rep. Underheim can't control themselves. Remember two years ago when he supported using the tobacco settlement money?!? I do!!

Rep. Underheim has been in Madison for some 17 years...17 years of full health care benefits and pay raises for himself, while shared revenue and support for the UW System has been dramatically reduced. He says he's not our father's Republican, which I believe is true since Republican used to mean fiscally conservative.

It's time for leadership for a change!

TABOR Text

Here are links (to PDFs) to the original proposal and
an amended version.

See also the comment in the post below.

Request for TABOR link

Please provide a link to the actual proposed TABOR bill so that I can objectively educate myself. While I'm not new to the world of blogs, I am just now joining the current political environment. I'm a little behind on knowing where to go for the facts...

Eliminating tax exemptions

Early indications are that we will face another serious shortfall of revenues in the next state budget round. A recent state revenue task force recommended we consider eliminating some sales tax exemptions as a means of increasing revenues. Would the candidates favor elimination of the sales tax exemption on television air time purchased by advertisers to run saturation ads? Saturation advertising, at least by my definition, would be seeing the same commercial more than once in a half hour.

This was originally posted as a comment in the Oshblog.

Regarding Gregg Underheim's Health Care Response

I wish to comment on a portion of Gregg Underheim's response to question no. 4.

He said:

"Wellness programs for state employees offer the potential for savings. Diabetes, high blood pressure, hip and knee replacements, heart attacks and strokes are all related to the epidemic of obesity. Wellness programs have the potential to provide significant savings of state dollars. "

So, what is Mr. Underheim saying here? And what about the rest of the people of the who live and work in the state of Wisconsin? He's only talking about state employees. Wellness programs are good, there's no argument there. However, they are only effective if people actually participate in them. While they may have some potential to save the state money, the realities of such a program remain to be seen. Weren't HMOs billed as trying to do some of the same things, to serve as preventative care so that health care costs could be held down? Why doesn't he work on some real health care reform in his position as the head of the Health Care committee, and try to solve the problems of high health care costs in the state of Wisconsin.


Sara L. Stichert