Snowy roads did not delay our groups’ arrival to Madison on March 10th.  After touring the architecturally stunning State Capitol, the Leadership Shawano participants were off to meet with their area legislatures to discuss current issues in an informal question and answer session.

Mark Patronsky, Senior Staff Attorney from the Legislative Council Staff explains to us how to make effective presentations to legislative standing committees. The mystery was removed and he made us realize, we as individuals can bring issues forward to Madison.  Some of the best presentations he has seen have not been by paid lobbyist but rather from individuals who speak from the heart and truth.

Next we have a presentation from Shawn Pfaff, Governor Doyle’s External Relations Project Manager.  Shawn covered State of Wisconsin issues with the conversation focusing on the Governors new budget.  Mentioned was the states’ over-spending in the past and the tough cuts. Doing their best to reinstate shared revenue and putting their priority on public schools and education.  No doubt you begin to understand how the budget becomes a big shuffling of funds.  

The afternoon brought the opportunity to sit in on conversations to view both sides of an issue.  Our first topic was Revisiting the Death Penalty in the State of Wisconsin.  Sen. Alan Lasee, talked about the possibility of bringing back the death penalty as a form of justice to those who have been convicted of the most vicious and violent crimes, especially those pertaining to children. Of course DNA evidence or multiple witnesses and other such criteria would need to be met.  Sen. Lasee feels the death penalty should be an option in every state and leave it to our judges and jury to determine if it is used.

Speaking on the Right to Life was John Huebscher from the Catholic Conference. John states our moral priority is to protect human life.  Do you want to get into the judgment of what crime is worse than another?  John goes on to say; the criminal may not have respected life, but we as Christians do, so now they spend the rest of your lives in jail and contemplate on what they have done”

Can you think of a more controversial topic than the death penalty? Probably not, this could be debated for a long time but our group only had one hour!

Next, half the class visited with Representative Frank Lasee (R-2nd Assembly District) on his Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) bill.  He made a strong case for limiting annual state spending growth to the rate of inflation plus state population growth.  He also suggested limiting county and municipal spending increases to the rate of inflation plus new construction.  He and other legislative leaders believe this will make Wisconsin more competitive in attracting and retaining business and retirees.

Pam, Rewey, Director of Legislative Services for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB), spoke in opposition to Tabor.  WASB’s position is that rigid revenue controls such as embodied in TABOR would make it extremely difficult to make adjustments to the school funding formula, by which lower-resource school districts are given higher relative aid than wealthier districts.  WASB also believs TABOR would hinder the ability of local elected officials and citizens to make decisions that reflect local conditions.  Rewey cited statistics she believes demonstrate that the quality of public education has declined in Colorado since the passage of its own TABOR law.

Leadership Shawano County would like to thank Dan Weidner and the Democratic party for their donation to help sponsor this State Government session.