If Green is Governor

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In the final gubernatorial debate, Green started off by saying that if you want details and answers, go to his website at www.Green.etc.com. That’s about what you can expect from him if elected governor. Contrary to media reports placing the blame game on Doyle, Green answered nearly every question on the issues facing Wisconsin by blaming Doyle for everything. But that is to be expected considering he wants Doyle’s job. But it’s more fair for Doyle to bring up Green’s record in Congress and place some blame there. Doyle doesn’t want Green’s job, so his reasoning for blaming Green is strictly done to place blame where blame is due.

According to Green, everything is somebodies fault while indirectly implying that decisions he made in Congress are relatively inconsequential to the state of Wisconsin. He says Doyle rigged the elections board, the Indian gambling compact, and the State Supreme Court. If you listen to Green, Doyle’s rigged everything under the Sun. Doyle is accused of having so much power, I’m surprised Green has the courage to oppose him.

Green noted that the elections board voted along party lines, and for that reason, it should not stand. I guess we could cancel or recall all the bills, decisions and initiatives in Congress that have been passed along party lines using that logic. One only has to look around at the major changes that have taken place in the past six years to realize that Mark Green and his Republican friends are part of the problem, not the solution. Without Green’s Congressional record he has absolutely nothing to run on but denial, so his only recourse is to blame the other guy. Green’s past as a rubberstamper of many special interest bills and Bush initiatives is well documented.

Democrats are of the opinion that they can make hay out of Green’s voting record by claiming he’s a Bush rubberstamp. To what group is this effort aimed? – Stan Milam, columnist

How about the entire electorate, Stan. Hardly anyone knew of Mark Green before he began his run for governor of Wisconsin, if we can’t bring up Green’s record in Congress, what’s left to talk about?

The facts are clear, Mark Green has been quietly rubber-stamping 92% of the policies, bills and initiatives of one of the most narrow-minded and incompetent presidents in modern times. Without knowing Green’s past history, many voters could mistake him for someone who cares.

This is where Green stands. He supported the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy which actually fuels higher local taxes. He voted for corporate breaks encouraging job outsourcing. He voted for the Bush war in Iraq and granted, much of America has been duped by the Bush Administration’s call to war, but what’s his excuse now for his continued unwavering support. He wants to use Federal money to support private education with vouchers further degrading quality and participation in public schools. But with investments for the common good, Green refuses to allow Federal money to advance breakthroughs on finding cures for Alzheimers, diabetes, Parkinsons, cancer or AIDS. Green supports oil drilling in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge under the guise of cheaper oil. He voted for the Bush nightmarish prescription plan and to deny access to cheaper prescriptions from Canada. If you want someone like George W. Bush for your governor, Mark Green is your guy.

As governor, just consider that Green would put himself in charge of job creation by slashing 152 Wisconsin economic development programs resulting in about 3000 jobs lost with a single penstroke. But mostly his offers of tax relief and ways to encourage new investment in companies are hollow promises without a plan. He would offer more tax relief for job creators - can you spell corporate welfare? He would inherit a $600 million surplus from Doyle and wipe it out one way or another. Republicans don’t believe in surpluses because they think government should never “hold” money that could be otherwise used to subsidize corporate dividends. He pretends that ethic reform is important, but not important enough to agree with a simple survey of obvious solutions during his campaign.

If you think energy costs are high now, wait till Green gets in office. Our neighbor to the south, Illinois, will experience first hand the Republican platform of energy deregulation. This January, prices for home electricity are expected to rise 25% overnight in Illinois. Remember too, that our energy woes of high heating and gasoline prices didn’t begin until a certain republican started holding secret meetings in the White House with people like Ken Lay. Green agrees with the wild-west economics of total energy and environmental deregulation.

With Green in charge, Harley-Davidson will probably move not just out of the state but, out of the country. Chinese built Harleys are just one Republican governor away.


You can get a pretty good idea of what Wisconsin’s fiscal condition will be look like after a few short years of Mark Green by looking at the huge Federal debt and spending mismanagement he helped implement in the past six years in Congress. Politicians with a debt record like his don’t miraculously discover the formula to produce a balanced budget, let along think about a surplus. To think that some his supporters call him a fiscal conservative is bizarre.

His Republican party stopped people from accessing some of the most important information needed when deciding on your own health practitioner. You can find more information about the neighborhood auto mechanic or your roofers past work examples than you can find on the person who will take a scalpel to your body. All thanks to Green and his Republicans. Green can distance himself from all of this but we know better.

Ever since the Republican party took hold of the U.S. Congress and Wisconsin legislature, labor laws have been changed, environmental protections have been loosened, 200 year-old marriage rights are degraded and our Constitution has been assaulted. Green is an integral part of all of this, he will do the same in Wisconsin

Green and Bush - Tax Cut and Run

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Mark Green’s campaign for governor has many eerie similarities to that of the textbook election promises that has sprung George W. Bush into the presidency. Like Bush, Green promises to cut taxes and fix the morals and values of others.

Green has proposed a pension tax break for seniors that would exempt the first $20,000 in a retiree’s income from state taxes. Sounds good when you’re kissing babies and willing to say anything to get a vote, but a similar plan that failed in the Republican-led legislature would have exempted only half of what Green proposes and would have cost the state nearly $200 million annually. Green claims his tax cut would cost only $20 million in its first year, but after that, details are fuzzy because he knows the promise is hollow. How he would make up for nearly $200 million in lost revenue is anybodies guess, chances are he would raise taxes elsewhere or cut jobs and desperately needed services.

My guess is Doyle will be seriously looking into property tax discounts for seniors if he is re-elected, a cost effective way to reward seniors according to the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.

Like Bush, Mark Green plans to fix everything with a tax cut or a tax credit. Even with immigration, Green proposes to offer a $300 tax credit in his ad, while stating in order to qualify for assistance, you must prove citizenship. Huh? Nevermind, the fact is Green is out of touch with Wisconsinites. The one thing Green seems to forget is that the job he is running for is unlike anything he has done in Congress. State budgets have to be balanced, the debt cannot be sold off to the highest bidder or left to accumulate for future generations.

In a strange twist, rumor has it that former Governor Tommy (I run, I win) Thompson may throw his hat in the 2008 presidential race. After getting a whiff of D.C. graft, Thompson is taking the opposite road from Green’s. One has to remember that Tommy Thompson had almost single-handed wrecked Wisconsin and nearly turned the state into the Texas of the north. That Bush nearly destroyed the state he governed before running for president had to give Thompson some consolation that he too can make it to the White House. Wisconsin’s reputation of high taxes, low wages, ruined natural resources and stagnant growth bloomed in the 90's and were actually his "signature" achievements. The fact is, Doyle is still repairing the long-term damage done by Tommy.

So who could blame Thompson for cutting and running from Wisconsin? He knows you can’t please everyone balancing state budgets, plus it requires a brain and work. After pretending to work under George W. Bush for four long miserable years, ol’ slowpoke Thompson figures he could possibly do no worse and – he’s probably right. Cabinet meetings with Bush have been described as a blind man leading a room full of deaf people, and in no disrespect to people with disabilities, Thompson was clearly one of the “deaf.”

Candidates Debate Negative Question

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The second Doyle/Green debate started out on what I thought was very strange opening question. Here, the first questioner said he had received nothing but complaints from their readers/viewers about the fierce negative campaign ads from both sides in the governors race, and that they are tired of all the finger pointing, accusations and blame, etc. So we would like to begin the debate by asking you each to tell us one negative thing about your opponent that you will stand by?! Pardon me, but haven’t we heard enough negative ads. Did you have to open the debate asking for more!! In all seriousness, you would think that the questioner would have seized the opportunity here and step out of the box on this one and ask Doyle and Green the million dollar question. With all the negativity and accusations, is there one good thing you can say about your opponent?

The rest of the debate went as expected. Green kept repeating outright lies expecting different results. The issue's are really no contest. I can't believe the race is as tight as they (polls) say it is. Doyle is by far the better candidate.
Only at the very end, did Green go lower than I would even expect him to go. In his closing statement, he went on to fabricate the idea that Gov. Doyle has a sign hanging in his office that reads, “ keep passing the buck” and then implied how horrible it is (as if it is true!), and we don’t need that kind of mentality in Wisconsin. Mark Green is a lot of things, you can now add rat to his growing resume.

No transcript available as of posting.

GOP Sleeper Cells in Wisconsin

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Last week, Stan Milam wrote an article titled, “Is election about issues or integrity?” in which he sort of complains about the mudslinging and lies thrown between the two candidates for governor, by writing about the mudslinging and lies.

He (Milam) belittles the first governors debate sponsored by the “We the People” forum, calling it a misguided attempt to initiate something called civic journalism. I watched the entire debate and although Mark Green spent most of his time twisting facts against the governor, Doyle spoke about the issues only after first untwisting Green’s claims. But even with that, the debate allowed the viewer to paint a picture of something more tangible than the mudslinging offered in print on a daily basis. The debate contained some dirt, but not enough for many to avoid calling it boring. So Milam says blah,blah, blah, then proceeds to write about the very dirt and personal attacks with supporting dates, press releases and third party involvement.

A few days later, the Janesville Gazette editorial does the same thing. But takes it a step further by writing their political slant into it, offering that Green’s arguments are logical, while facts are against Doyle. They keep bringing up the Georgia Thompson bribery conviction case and imply that if Thompson was hired by a previous governor and worked for Doyle administator Marc Marotta, she must have been connected directly with Doyle. It’s a bunch of hooey!

Instead of writing about the issues and the candidates viewpoints, the Gazette editorial continues presenting more mud. The only statement of information they supplied worth reading was the fact that a bill aimed at restoring ethics and accountability in Wisconsin was shut down by …….Republicans. No surprise here.

As voters we are exposed to the television ads from both candidates. Isn’t that enough negativity to listen to on a regular basis? After the initial reports, must we get more of the same from the newspapers. The mainstream media, newspapers and journalists all claim they hate all the mudslinging, lies and deception. But ohh, do they love to write about it.

I’m really starting to fear for our state. Wisconsin seems to be next in line after Florida and Ohio. The right-wing media has been relentlessly ripping one of the hardest working and ethical governors in modern Wisconsin history. Democrats should not take anything for granted. Recent history including the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections has shown that a difference of only five points in the polls energized the GOP’s sleeper cells into action. The Republicans have stolen several key offices. The fix could be in again. The GOP desperately want this state and they’ll do anything to get it. Are we progressive enough to beat them?

Debate: Doyle 10 Green 0

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The opening question of the We the people forum asked both candidates where specifically they will be making cuts to reduce spending. Green completely sidestepped it by saying he will cut taxes. He completely ignored the specifics of the question so badly, you would think his answer was a practice run for a different question.

Partisanship aside, Jim Doyle's got the big picture. He does what it takes to move Wisconsin forward. His answers to all the questions were right on and shows he is intune with students, taxpayers, families and workers.

In response to helping local government, Green ridiculed Doyle for vetoing an unfunded mandate, without explaining where the funds will come from. Doyle did the right thing.
Irrelevant to many questions, Green constantly talked about lowering the tax burden. However, he doesn't mean taxes on property or income, he's talking about corporate tax breaks, period. If Green were elected, I guarantee one of two things, either all our state taxes will go up dramatically or services will be cut to draconian levels. Snow won't be plowed in the winter, police and fire departments will post hours on the door.

Elect Green -Voters are true losers.

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The Republican wing of Janesville Gazette editorials must have gotten back from their vacation today, and they have come out swinging.
When one of their own becomes front and center in questionable campaign finance transfers, everybody misses the point. Mark Green apparently justifies the disputed money transfer because a Democratic candidate may have gotten away with it five years ago. Green feels its only fair that he too should be allowed an exemption from the rules.

Gazette editorial:
Meanwhile, Doyle must be grinning ear to ear that the controversy has pushed off the front pages his own questionable campaign donations and whether they are tied to state contracts.

It is ironic to the Gazette staff that they found out Assembly Republican leaders including Speaker John Gard are to blame for failing to pass statewide campaign reform. I've said it before, Republicans want no part of making laws tougher when they have plenty of difficulty trying to sneak around the weak ones we have now.

Gazette Editorial:
Green might be the loser in this battle, even though he says he supports the reform. But ultimately, voters are the true losers

If Doyle wins another term, the voters will have won another chance at campaign reform that the state would not get under Green or his Republican friends. If we can lose Green to the unemployment line and get rid of John Gard in one fell swoop, Wisconsin may finally live up to its "forward" motto in good government.

Green: Reality is Fixed by Doyle

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Wisconsin election officials ordered gubernatorial candidate Mark Green (R) "to divest his campaign of any contributions from PACs that were not registered in Wisconsin when the donations were made. The order applies to an estimated $468,000 in contributions that Green converted from his federal campaign account to his state gubernatorial fund in January 2005," according to WisPolitics.

The board, on a 5-2 vote, gave Green 10 days to comply with its order... But Green campaign manager Mark Graul insisted the PAC donations have already been spent and there was no money to return. He said the ruling will have no impact on the campaign's finances and accused Gov. Jim Doyle of engineering the vote."

That explains why Green sees no need to reform campaign finance laws, he can’t even get past the ones we have in place now. It’s no wonder Mark Green has been trying to push public attention toward Doyle’s campaign finances. With each passing day Doyle’s integrity is standing firm. While Green has some very serious procedural problems of his own. Again, the “we already spent that money” while they have $2 million dollars on hand doesn’t hold water, Green’s ship is sinking fast. Somebody give him an anchor!