Doyle Puts State Ahead Of Career

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There is no better compliment a politician can receive than to have a political journalist accuse you of selflessly putting the welfare of the people ahead of your own political ambitions. Such is the case of an article written by Stan Milam of Capitol News Service, in an article titled “Liberal leanings leave Gov. Doyle looking lame.” Here, Milam writes….

JG Excerpt:(no link available at this time)
Democratic Governor Jim Doyle sounds like a lame duck governor just weeks into his new term. Could it be that Doyle has already decided he’s two and out? Why else would Doyle come out of the chutes calling for tax increases.

I don’t know where Stan’s been for the last 6 years but several things are at play here and I will give away a few of them without giving away the ship. 1. Timing. Doyle is playing the over-hyped booming, expanding Republican economy like a fiddle with the simple idea that if you can’t raise taxes during such a time to pay the bills, when can you? When the economy is weak? Certainly state Republicans can’t argue with that and even if they do, where is their plan of spending cuts to hold back the tax hikes? Mind you, the only way government can pay its bills is through the collection of taxes and raising them at any time can be political suicide, so the governor is taking a bit of a gamble.

Locally in Janesville, I haven’t seen one Republican politician or non-partisan taxwatch group march into school board conference meetings, city hall or the county building explaining to local leaders the millions of dollars in jobs they must cut so Doyle won’t have to raise our point of use taxes. Now that would be suicide. I use the label Republicans instead of Conservatives because there is absolutely no proof that Republicans are conservative. No.2 Timing, again. A seasoned pro like Stan must know by now that people have short memories. If Doyle must raise some taxes at some point because nobody is willing to cut back, you don’t do it in the third or fourth year of your term. That too would be suicide. Nobody will remember the tax increases now, if they produce a balanced budget later. But if this doesn’t work, it will be a lot of fun listening to Republican hopefuls running for governor next time around when they explain to us how they will rollback hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue (jobs) and still balance the budget.

JG Excerpt:
Despite the criticism, Doyle is moving ahead with his controversial proposals in a manner reminiscent of a governor not having to worry about another re-election campaign.

If Doyle can balance the budget without playing Republican tricks like tax shifting or cutting out basic programs, you’re right, Doyle won’t have to worry about his next election campaign, he will be a shoe-in. No matter what happens, Milam is right about one thing, Governor Doyle is making some tough choices for the good of the state without thinking about himself. We need more leaders like this, a lot more.