Props to the Wisconsin GOP-dominated state budget-writing committee for approving a 'transportation' plan that advances key Republican goals.
* Trucking interests had already won through the efforts of GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos an increase in speed limits, and finally they're getting a reduction in annual registration fees.
It won't be long before Republicans succeed in completely flattening all vehicle fees, just as they did in this 'plan' by applying the same $10-per-car registration fee increase to all vehicles across the board - - so the driver of a Lexus SUV or Grandpa's hand-me-down mid-80's Corolla will all pay the same increase.
Equal treatment. Democracy in action, no?
The best news of all in GOP Land - - a fee is not a tax because, duh, it's spelled differently, so this is a Please-the-Koch Brothers/right-wingers' win-win!
* And Republicans added some measurable, more-money-in-taxpayers'-pockets through principled, conservative cost-cutting in this transportation 'plan' by reducing spending on Lt. Governor Mandala Barnes' security.
You may remember that his predecessor, Rebecca Kleefisch, made an earlier attempt to resolve the Republicans' Barnes-problem before it became a four-year, full-blown crisis, so now the party of Lincoln is taking a more upfront approach; praise them for their transparency, and frankly for innovative legislating when it comes to defining transportation and managing its big-picture priorities.
And you have to look at it from their point of view: Republican legislators who served with Barnes when he was in the Assembly from 2013-2017 suffer every time they see him walk through the Capitol and knowing he's making 50% more money than they get for their few months of session work yearly. That's gotta sting.
(Though if you throw in legislators' tax-free meal, mileage and motel per diem money, plus other pricey perks, like paid-for in-district motoring-around and free cell phones, it's pretty much the same. For example, staff to State GOP Rep. John Nygren, the budget-writing committee's co-chair, attributed their boss' relatively high per-diem payment of more than $10,000 last year to the committee's schedule, so it's all connected.)
A further indignity these legislators suffer with Barnes being just a heartbeat away from the Governor's chair: he gets state-paid security while they have to pay for their own concealed handguns pistols, even when it's Packing Heat Show-and-Tell-Day.
As with the Republican approach to vehicle fees, or groundwater purity from northeast Wisconsin to the Southwest, all state Republicans want is a level playing field, and thank goodness they have the majorities to make that happen.
Make that 'Thank God' for a friendly State Supreme Court, should any of these issues get need the Justices' even-handed [Sic] review.
* And speaking of the virtues of predictability, GOP legislators have in past budgets done little to fix potholes, repair bridges and provide transit for people who do not drive or own cars.
I'm pleased to report that this proposed transportation 'plan' on such matters offers consistency, or should I say 'certainty'- - state Republicans' policy-making North star - - so add stewardship and stability to the GOP's legislative leadership.
* Trucking interests had already won through the efforts of GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos an increase in speed limits, and finally they're getting a reduction in annual registration fees.
It won't be long before Republicans succeed in completely flattening all vehicle fees, just as they did in this 'plan' by applying the same $10-per-car registration fee increase to all vehicles across the board - - so the driver of a Lexus SUV or Grandpa's hand-me-down mid-80's Corolla will all pay the same increase.
Equal treatment. Democracy in action, no?
The best news of all in GOP Land - - a fee is not a tax because, duh, it's spelled differently, so this is a Please-the-Koch Brothers/right-wingers' win-win!
* And Republicans added some measurable, more-money-in-taxpayers'-pockets through principled, conservative cost-cutting in this transportation 'plan' by reducing spending on Lt. Governor Mandala Barnes' security.
You may remember that his predecessor, Rebecca Kleefisch, made an earlier attempt to resolve the Republicans' Barnes-problem before it became a four-year, full-blown crisis, so now the party of Lincoln is taking a more upfront approach; praise them for their transparency, and frankly for innovative legislating when it comes to defining transportation and managing its big-picture priorities.
And you have to look at it from their point of view: Republican legislators who served with Barnes when he was in the Assembly from 2013-2017 suffer every time they see him walk through the Capitol and knowing he's making 50% more money than they get for their few months of session work yearly. That's gotta sting.
(Though if you throw in legislators' tax-free meal, mileage and motel per diem money, plus other pricey perks, like paid-for in-district motoring-around and free cell phones, it's pretty much the same. For example, staff to State GOP Rep. John Nygren, the budget-writing committee's co-chair, attributed their boss' relatively high per-diem payment of more than $10,000 last year to the committee's schedule, so it's all connected.)
A further indignity these legislators suffer with Barnes being just a heartbeat away from the Governor's chair: he gets state-paid security while they have to pay for their own concealed handguns pistols, even when it's Packing Heat Show-and-Tell-Day.
As with the Republican approach to vehicle fees, or groundwater purity from northeast Wisconsin to the Southwest, all state Republicans want is a level playing field, and thank goodness they have the majorities to make that happen.
Make that 'Thank God' for a friendly State Supreme Court, should any of these issues get need the Justices' even-handed [Sic] review.
* And speaking of the virtues of predictability, GOP legislators have in past budgets done little to fix potholes, repair bridges and provide transit for people who do not drive or own cars.
I'm pleased to report that this proposed transportation 'plan' on such matters offers consistency, or should I say 'certainty'- - state Republicans' policy-making North star - - so add stewardship and stability to the GOP's legislative leadership.
