A funny thing happened on the way to the 2013 Democratic Party of Wisconsin convention- my car broke down.  Lucky for me, however, it happened in the parking lot of the convention center.  Smoke came pouring out from under the hood and anti-freeze spilled onto the pavement.  Not a great way to start my first convention.

Since I had arrived a bit early, I walked through the Democratic Unity Fair, waiting for registration to begin.  I was very pleased to see how many organizations and groups had booths devoted to advancing the progressive cause here in Wisconsin.  The first table I stopped by was hosted by the Center for Progressive Leadership.  The main goal of the CPL is to provide training to develop progressive political leaders.  I was so impressed that I applied for the 2014 Fellowship program.  Similar to the CPL is Wisconsin Progress, a “state-based candidate recruitment and training program.”  For somebody like me, who has a keen interest in politics and has contemplated running for office, both organizations seem to have a lot to offer.  The final booth that I stopped at was run by Progressives United, a group devoted to campaign finance reform.  I was especially excited to learn that former Senator Russ Feingold, the group’s founder, would be at the convention and at a hospitality event late Friday night.  I happened to have my copy of his book, While America Sleeps, and was hoping to have him sign it.  Unfortunately, due to my car problem, I had to leave the convention early and missed out on my chance.  If you have not read the book yet, pick up a copy today.  (I’m actually reading it for the second time as of this writing.)

The convention finally kicked off around 6:00 with speeches lasting past 9:00 (unfortunately, I had to leave at 9:00 and missed Rep. Kind, Sen. Baldwin, former Sen. Feingold, and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro).  One of the big themes of the night was Gov. Walker’s poor performance concerning Wisconsin’s economy and job creation (or lack thereof.)  Every speaker that I saw mentioned this topic.  Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett even joked that the Wisconsin GOP’s new bumper sticker read, “Take that Wyoming,” referencing the fact that Wisconsin ranks ahead of only Wyoming in a recent economic forecast.

As a history teacher, I was pleased to hear overwhelming support for public education and references to James Madison, constitutional amendments, Robert La Follette, and  Gaylord Nelson.  Mayor Barrett, referencing a recent GOP attempt to limit voters’ rights (and thereby decreasing the size of the electorate) in Wisconsin, discussed a number of US constitutional amendments that increased the size of the electorate.  State Representative Peter Barca talked about the Wisconsin tradition of progressive reforms begun by La Follette and continued by Nelson (the founder of Earth Day).

On the topic of public education and the fight against Gov. Walker’s voucher plan, Mahlon Mitchell, President of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin, said that “public dollars should go to public education.”  Mayor Barrett echoed those sentiments, declaring that “we are all committed to public education.”  Finally, state party Chair Mike Tate, argued that “having great public schools is the great equalizer.”

Another theme of some of the speakers was the need for unity and working together (the theme of the convention is “Forward Together.”)  Larry Nelson, the Waukesha County Board Supervisor (and my 8th grade English teacher), spoke of the necessity of working with independents and open-minded Republicans.  Mike Tate discussed the 72-county strategy and the importance of working together for that to succeed.  Finally, Congresswoman Gwen Moore spoke of a 3-D Democratic Party, one that is “Diverse, Daring and Driven.”  In other words, the Party needs to embrace all people of all lifestyles, creeds, color, socioeconomic status, etc.

While I agree that the Democratic Party is much more tolerant and inclusive than the GOP, I did witness an unfortunate incident that seemed to contradict that message.  During the resolutions debate on Saturday morning (a session not well-attended), a young man sat in the audience.  He was talking a bit loudly and was messing with his cell phone.  After a few minutes a woman sitting in the row with him and went over to ask him to quiet down.  When the young man continued, a gentleman in the row behind him went to him and pointed to the doors in body language suggesting that the young man leave.  A second gentleman shook his head and moved away from the young man.  After a few more minutes the young man finally got up to leave.  The gentleman who had moved away returned to his seat, once again shaking his head.  Now, I had sat next to the young man the night before in one of the hospitality suites and based on the conversations he had with another patron and his behavior Saturday morning, it was quite obvious that he had special needs.  Perhaps because I am a teacher and see people with special needs on a daily basis it was obvious to me but not to the other audience members.  I was so upset with the behavior and actions of those men that I left the debate and decided to leave the convention.  Thankfully, I was able to speak with a member of the staff and he said he would look into the matter and apologized.  If the Democratic Party is going to be the Party of the people and embrace diversity, it cannot ignore those with special needs or disabilities.

Despite that incident, it was a great convention.  The progressives of Wisconsin are energized and ready to take back the state in 2014.  Together, we will move Wisconsin forward.

Recently, Eurostat released information about unemployment in the Euro area, and it got me thinking about employment in Wisconsin.  When Governor Walker ran for office in 2010, one of his campaign promises was to create 250,000 jobs in Wisconsin.  I took a look at the statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, and here is what I found.

From January 2011 through February 2013, the total employment in Wisconsin has gone from 2,830,856 to 2,838,397 (although the February numbers are preliminary).  That’s an increase of almost 8,000; not exactly close to 250,000.  If we take a look at Nonfarm Wage and Salary Emplyment (in thousands), however, Wisconsin in 2011 was at 2745.4,  and the preliminary numbers for February 2013 are at 2809.9– an increase of 64,500.  Better than the total employment, but still far off from his promise of 250,000 jobs.  In its Fall 2012 Wisconsin Economic Outlook (WEO), the Wisconsin Department of Revenue predicts that a total of 36,000 jobs will be created by the end of 2013.  Assuming that those are Nonfarm jobs, that would bring his total job creation in three years to just over 100,000.

As for the unemployment rate in Wisconsin, according to the US Department of Labor, in January 2011 it sat at 7.7%.  The lowest rate was in December 2012 at 6.7%; however, the preliminary rate for February 2013 is 7.2%.  While the US Department of Labor has a trend of an increasing unemployment rate, the Fall 2012 WEO predicted that the rate will drop to 6.8% for 2013.  Here’s how Wisconsin compares to the rest of the Midwest (IL-IN-IA-MI-MN-NE-ND-OH-SD-WI) in the same time:

State; Jan 2011; Feb 2013 (Preliminary)
IL; 9.4; 9.5
IN; 9.0; 8.7
IA; 6.1; 5.0
MI; 11.0; 8.8
MN; 6.8; 5.5
NE; 4.5; 3.8
ND; 3.6; 3.3
OH; 9.0; 7.0
SD; 5.1; 4.4
WI; 7.7; 7.2

It appears that Gov. Walker still has a lot of work ahead of him, so I’ve taken the liberty here to propose two ideas that will create jobs and help Wisconsin in other ways.

First, improve our infrastructure.  I’m not not talking merely fixing existing roads, highways, and bridges.   While those are important and would help with the construction sector, I propose that we begin seriously bolstering our public transportation system (bus AND rail.)  Think about some of the possible jobs that would be created- drivers/conductors, railway construction, construction for bus and train stations, staff to maintain those stations, and maintenance for the fleet.  Roads would be less congested and the impact on the environment would be tremendous.  If transportation becomes easier, quicker, cheaper, and cleaner, people would be more inclined to travel, thereby helping out our tourism industry.  And as well know, Gov. Walker emphasized the importance of tourism to Wisconsin’s economy in his 2013 State of the State address.

Second, spend more money on public education.  I think Rob Lowe’s character on the West Wing, Sam Seaborn, made a great point about what our public education system should be like when he said, “Education is the silver bullet.  Education is everything.”  We need to train teachers and increase the teacher workforce.  Not only will this help our already excellent university system (i.e. colleges of education), but it will positively affect our K-12 public education.  If we have more teachers, we can begin to decrease the teacher-to-student ratio.  From there, the possibilities for improving students’ success in education are endless.  We should also spend money on improving the school structures (schools themselves, playgrounds, etc.).  Not only would this require construction jobs, but it would also improve the learning environment, once again increasing students’ chances of  success.  Additionally (and this is the selfish teacher in me speaking), if teachers teach in state-of-the-art schools, have less students, and are respected, then teaching can become even more enjoyable than it already is for many of us.  If more teachers enjoy teaching, we can increase our retention rates.  In a November 2012 piece, US News reported that in high schools alone, “More than 30 percent of new educators quit teaching after three years, and nearly half leave before hitting the five-year mark, according the nonprofit National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future.”  Finally, instead of spending money on vouchers, spend it on our public education system.

These two ideas, along with others, could have Wisconsin setting the standards for others to emulate.  It’s time to move Wisconsin forward.

On Tuesday, January 15, Gov. Walker gave the annual State of the State address.  As a lifelong resident of Wisconsin (save for my time in the U.S. Army), I was disappointed with the SotS (State of the State).  Not only did the address remind me of a three-ring circus, it was full of contradictory proposals, leading me to believe that Wisconsin is not heading “Forward,” as our state motto so proudly proclaims.  (Of course, Wisconsin politics since the spring of 2011 has resembled a circus, and it appears to have continued to the SotS.)

The first act of our circus occurred during the Governor’s discussion about the current debate over mining.  At this point, Gov. Walker brought out a number of miners, wearing their hardhats and carrying the Wisconsin flag.  The message of course was, “if you’re against the mining bill, then you’re against Wisconsin.”  I understand the attraction to passing the mining bill- jobs.  Gov. Walker stated that it “could lead to as many as 3,000 construction-related jobs and 2,800 long-term jobs.”  The problem with the bill, however, is that the mining also has the potential to lead to detrimental effects on the environment.

While the mining would harm the environment, the negative impact on the environment could, in turn, possibly harm Wisconsin’s tourism industry.  If one were to peruse the WI Department of Tourism’s website, one would notice the prevalence of outdoor related activities.  The irony here is that Gov. Walker discussed the importance of tourism to Wisconsin during the State of the State, stating that “tourism has grown to a $16 billion industry, supporting one in thirteen jobs in our state.”  Even more ironic is that on the main page of the website are two links- one for “The Great Outdoors” and one for “Travel Green Wisconsin.”  So, the question remains- why would the Governor support a bill that could harm Wisconsin’s environment, when it’s that same environment that is so important for our tourism?  It seems to me that tourism provides many more jobs than the proposed mining.

It was during the section on tourism when our second act of the circus occurred.  This time, Gov. Walker felt it necessary to bring out a number of “Travel Tourism greeters.”  These are the people who work at our information centers across the state.  I am not trying to downplay the importance of these workers; however, I do question the use of them as props during a speech.

Our third circus act actually had nothing to do with the speech at all; instead, it had to do with cell phones.  I found it disturbing that during the speech, legislators had their cell phones out.  The first example comes at 10:06 of the video.  There are other times throughout the speech when you can observe phones lying on the desks in front of legislators, or even legislators typing on them.  Call me old-fashioned, but shouldn’t our legislators be paying attention to the speech instead of messing around with their phones?  Don’t get me wrong, I love to watch a political speech or debate on tv while Tweeting about it; however, doing it live as an elected official seems to be a bit amateurish.

As for the contradictions in the speech, I’ve already discussed the issue with the affect of mining on the environment and how that would harm our tourism.  The second problem lies in funding Gov. Walker’s plans outlined in his speech.  Within the first few minutes, the Governor said that he “will lay out a clear plan for reducing the burden on hard-working families by lowering income taxes on the middle class.”  That’s all well and good, but then throughout the speech he discusses initiatives that would possibly require state funding.  For example, he would like to “improve the amount of investment capital available to help start-ups and other small businesses.”  Additionally, Gov. Walker would like to “provide a financial incentive for high-performing and rapidly improving schools.”  (This in itself is a problem because the schools that need the funding are the ones not doing well.)  Finally, the Governor mentioned that he is “committed to a healthy transportation system” because it helps businesses “keep their competitive edge;” part of that commitment involved freight rail.  The irony here stems from the fact that this is the the same governor who de-railed plans for a high speed train to connect Madison and Milwaukee.  So, rail is good as long as it is for business interests?  Wouldn’t a high speed train connecting our two largest cities have brought more tourism to those cities?  And isn’t tourism important to Wisconsin?  So, the governor would like to spend government money on businesses, education, and infrastructure, while lowering our taxes.

I look forward to the Governor releasing the state budget in February because Wisconsin’s state of the state is, well, dire.