Notes from the West Wing
By
State Representative Garey Bies
State of the State
For this installment of Notes from the West Wing, I’d like to talk about Governor Doyle’s first State of the State address given on Thursday, January 30th. There was much speculation prior to the speech as to what exactly the Governor would say. The majority opinion was that he would provide few, if any specifics about his first budget due to be presented in the third week of February. While this speculation proved to be the case, there is plenty else to talk about from the speech.
To be perfectly honest, I was pleased with much of what Governor Doyle had to say. One of the Governor’s first statements was “We don’t take that which belongs to others” reiterating his campaign promise not to raise taxes. Wisconsin residents face one of the heaviest tax burdens in the country. To place the responsibility of climbing out of our budget deficit on the backs of Wisconsin taxpayers would be a severe injustice. Wisconsin’s government must look within itself to solve this fiscal problem. That means many difficult decisions will have to be made, which Governor Doyle alluded to in describing his speech as not the type of speech he wanted to give.
Here in the Legislature, we were encouraged by Doyle’s position on reducing the size of state government. We do not face this budget deficit because we tax our families and businesses too little. We face this deficit because government spends too much. I know that my colleagues and I are committed to helping the Governor reduce the size and cost of government as well as create economic development.
This session and this budget present us with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fundamentally reform state government, create a smaller and smarter government and construct a budget based on needs and not wants. It is an opportunity and challenge I am eagerly looking forward to.
As Governor Doyle mentioned, the State of the State speech has historically been used to present new agendas and programs or initiatives. This time, however, the Governor spoke little beyond the current condition of Wisconsin and broad generalizations of his intent to spend less. Shortly it will be time for the Governor to provide a budget that makes the tough decisions. The time to form review boards or special committees to study the issues is over. It is time for the Governor, as well as us legislators, to get down to the difficult task at hand. And as we do commence the real work on the state budget, the political rhetoric will undoubtedly begin to fly once more. I will as always, attempt to weed through that rhetoric and continue to report to you, the residents of Northeastern Wisconsin and the 1st Assembly District.
As always, if you have some thoughts on this column or questions about anything else you might see or read in the news, I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.state.wi.us or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001.