Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Saturday, July 26, 2008
Attacks could be rule in legislative campaigns
MADISON, Wis. — It might look like Wisconsin's Legislature did next to nothing the past two years.
But incumbent lawmakers on the campaign trail still have plenty to crow about. All they have to do to keep their jobs is blame the other side for everything that went wrong.
``From a legislative viewpoint, it was a failure of a session. There was nothing to brag about. As a political session, it was fabulous,'' said Mordecai Lee, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee political scientist and former Democratic state senator. ``'Look what we tried to do and look what that horrible other party stopped us from doing.'''
The stakes this election season are enormous.
Republicans control the Assembly and Democrats run the Senate. But Democrats need to add only two seats to take back the Assembly. Gov. Jim Doyle is a Democrat, and if his party can capture the Assembly and hold on to the Senate, it can dictate state policy for the next two years.
But incumbents didn't exactly distinguish themselves during the last two-year session.
Republicans and Democrats spent months fighting over the state budget after Democrats inserted a universal health care plan that would have created $15 billion in new payroll taxes every year.
Democrats eventually scrapped the plan, ending the stalemate. Doyle signed the budget in October, four months after the July 1 deadline.
The budget quarrel consumed most of the session. The full Senate met 33 days and passed 350 bills, down from 47 days and 601 bills in the previous session; the full Assembly met for 29 days and passed 406 bills, down from 54 days and 662 bills in the previous session.
One of the few things of note that did pass was a constitutional amendment to limit the governor's partial veto power and an interstate treaty to protect Great Lakes water. The amendment, though, had little practical effect on the governor's powers and despite more than a year's work on the treaty, lawmakers couldn't get it done during their regular term and had to go into special session this summer to pass it.
Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said a divided Legislature hamstrung everything. But he stressed Republicans were able to hold the line on taxes.
``It was one issue and one issue only. We stopped those taxes,'' he said.
Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker blamed the Assembly for holding up the budget process, calling lawmakers in that chamber ``a different breed.''
Comments like those will be the foundation of incumbents' campaigns. Blame will be the name of the game. Democrats can rip Republicans for killing universal health care, Republicans can blast Democrats for proposing giant tax increases during an economic downturn and lawmakers on both sides can blame party leaders for holding up the budget.
``First and foremost is blame the other party,'' said Joe Heim, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. ``It's the other legislators who are the dogs. That seems to work, frankly.''
Dave Hucke, a Milwaukee Democrat challenging state Rep. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, said that approach won't fly with voters, who want a better economy and cheaper health care.
``We basically held the line on taxes, but everything else is falling apart,'' Hucke said. ``The Legislature boxed themselves in with this budget battle for months and months. They didn't really leave themselves time to deal with any of these other issues.''
Vukmir said she hasn't heard anyone complain about the budget delay or number of session days. The number of bills passed isn't a good indicator of lawmakers' success anyway, she said.
``People are frustrated, but it's a general frustration over the level of taxation and what's going on in the economy,'' she said.
Voters want legislators to compromise, not just vote ``no,'' said Lee Brocher, one of three Democrats challenging state Rep. Frank Lasee, R-Green Bay.
``To say, 'I voted no,' well, that's great, but what did you do besides voting no? That's inexcusable to me,'' Brocher said. ``I think they're (incumbents) going to have a tough row to hoe this season.''
Lasee didn't return messages.
Wisconsin's primary is set for Sept. 9. The general election is Nov. 4.
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