Reflections on a summit for prosperity

Yesterday on a snowy, wet Saturday, the Wisconsin Chapter of Americans For Prosperity (AFP) held its "Defending the American Dream Summit" in Pewaukee and attendees listened to speeches from Dinesh D'Souza, Steve Moore and local county Sheriff David Clark.

Attendees also witnessed a color guard, a stirring video of the late Ray Charles singing "America The Beautiful" and a film that celebrated the life and legacy of President Ronald Reagan. There was much more. If AFP hadn't delivered quality, I wouldn't have stuck around for 8 hours.  Other items from my notepad:

Wisconsin Attorney General, J.B. Van Hollen made a notable observation about Thomas Jefferson's seminal phrase in the Declaration of Independence "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".  Mr. Van Hollen noted that unfortunately, many people in our nation have misconstrued Jefferson's intent to justify an expectation for government entitlements. Van Hollen notes, that Jefferson never envisioned life, liberty and the guarantee of happiness.  Rather, the founding idea was to help people by removing obstacles, by protecting them and by giving them a fair chance, but not through guaranteed taxpayer sponsorship.

Todd Berry of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance gave a sober, tightly-constructed review of Wisconsin's fiscal mess and the accounting chicanery used to screen out our "structural deficit." Republicans are not without blame as significant red ink extends back to the Thompson administration. 

Perhaps because Mr. Berry's group is nonpartisan, he chose not to identify more recent causes of our fiscal morass. Mr. Berry said "we" created off-the-books debt by issuing bonds to fund transportation projects. Yet, the last mega-hit to the transportation account was delivered two budget cycles ago -- compliments of Governor Jim Doyle and his "Frankenstein veto" when he transferred $400 million to public education funding.  That move was not authorized by the legislature and of course it was not a "we" -- it was a "him".

NOW, that's an outrage

I never thought I'd find myself on the same side of anything as Ted Kennedy -- until NOW.  A press release from The New York Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) has attacked Senator Ted Kennedy for endorsing Barack Obama. 

The chapter has called the Senator's action, the "ultimate betrayal" since apparently, a vote for anyone but Hillary is beyond their sensibilities.

National Organization For Women, public logo

In fairness, the NOW national organization has officially disavowed this insipid press release, but even that might not blunt the near-term reputation damage -- compliments of its New York chapter.

I'm sure he gets better advice than mine...

but I do not understand why Senator Obama highlights relatively innocuous aspects of Hillary Clinton's history like service on Walmart's board (is that a crime?) when there is so much else to choose from.

Ms. Clinton burst on to the national scene in 1992 when she insulted American women who choose to stay home and raise their children (remember her "bake cookies" comment?).  Then we learned about her involvement in FileGate and TravelGate.

Ms. Clinton later made preposterous statements to the press about a "vast right wing conspiracy" when asked about her husband's peccadilloes which were already well chronicled.  One could go on and on.

Now she criticizes Senator Obama for the quality of clients he represented while in private practice.  I bet Ms. Clinton would much prefer to discuss her board memberships than many other issues that stained her political dossier.  Why does Senator Obama choose Walmart?

Behaving un-presidential

I'm intrigued by all the disapproval of former President Bill Clinton's recent speech-making. When Senator Ted Kennedy is unhappy with the Clintons, it's an unusual time. 

Some have criticized Mr. Clinton's bare-knuckled comments to promote his wife's candidacy as "un-presidential" and ask what happened to ex-Presidents and a long tradition of a muted retirement.

I've long been enamored with Mr. Clinton's intelligence, his command of complex issues and I believe he cares about the average citizen.  He's also a fine speaker, gifted politician and a Dem with some fiscal moorings.  After all, we haven't seen a surplus since Bill Clinton left the White House. His peccadilloes aside, one must give him some credit for those balanced budgets. 

On the other hand, he used the Oval Office like a sex parlor, deceived the American people about it, lied under oath, rented the Lincoln bedroom, pardoned billionaire tax cheat Mark Rich and one could go on.  How consistently did he behave in a "presidential" manner while in office?

I was disappointed by his indiscretions because I'd hoped Bill Clinton would be a Democrat I could admire without reservation.  He is different from the tax and spend pack he runs with.  

A toast to South Carolina

The Palmetto state makes me proud tonight.  I love its motto: Dum Spiro Spero (while I breathe, I hope).

South Carolina state flag

Consider the beginning to tonight's Republican debate in Myrtle Beach -- a chorus of men in suits and women in lovely white dresses all singing the Star Spangled Banner.  

My, how radical.  For me, it was a perfect start to the debate.

State of Wisconsin flubs identity handling (redux)

Haven't we seen this movie before?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported today that a state mailing may have compromised the identities of thousands of Wisconsinites because of Social Security numbers that were inadvertently printed on mailing labels.

I published a column last year in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after approximately 171,000 taxpayer social security numbers adorned the front of tax booklets. I also mentioned in that column, another breach (not cited in today's Journal Sentinel story) by a human resources aide who mishandled social security numbers of state assembly members.

In the midst of all of this carelessness, the State Department of Health and Family Services and Governor Doyle's spokesman, Matt Canter, are feigning indignation in order to place the blame squarely on the vendor, EDS.

I remember the Mea Culpa letter last year from the printer that accompanied a similar letter from the Department of Revenue explaining and taking responsibility for that debacle. At least, there was a semblance of accountability.

In today's JS story, the Governor's spokesman Matt Canter, suggests that there is a big difference between last year's data goof and this new one because last year, the printer had no use for the data compromised, but EDS needed the data to do it's processing this year.  How does that make State government any less responsible? In both cases state government provided the data files containing our social security numbers to a vendor. 

Here's the first step for a patient to heal thyself - admit you have a problem and stop blaming the vendor. Next, examine your processes and what went wrong- then implement new controls and test them, again and again - to ensure they are working.  We don't need to have someone's head - just take responsibility, analyze it and fix it.

Also announced today was Governor Doyle's effort to expand tax incentives for research and development at Wisconsin companies.  If only one could persuade his administration to research and develop better state processes for handling sensitive data.

Public education and "choice"

Some public education voices extol a right to choice that includes free-from-faith learning environments.  Public Teachers Unions have also historically chosen to fight performance standards intended to hold their members accountable.  

Office.com clip art

Yesterday’s blog post from Patrick McIlheran is spot on.  Mr. McIlheran makes the point that when parents choose alternatives to public education for their children, the principle of free choice often vanishes from teacher unions' consciousness and they behave as though they are the victims.  

I'll always choose to support a strong public education system, but I also choose to reject the views of those who are antagonistic, if not hostile toward alternative education.  We also need adoption of reasonable and enforceable performance standards for public school teachers.