What Wisconsin Republicans are saying about TABOR

TABOR "scares me, as no one seems to know what is going to be the end product."

              -Rep. Sue Jeskewitz (R-Menomonee Falls), appealing to Assembly Speaker Gard to "go slowly on this".

"We don't need a taxpayers' bill of rights to regulate spending by local, county or school officials because they are responsible to the people who elected them.”

             -Sen. Mike Ellis, R-Neenah (R-Neenah)

“It may be a dangerous game they’re playing. They (Republican Legislators) should be careful what they wish for.”

            -Mark Bugher, former Revenue and Administration secretary under  Republican  Gov.   Tommy Thompson.

The TABOR amendment is a threat to "a lot of things we have historically valued in Wisconsin: education, good government, and an active public sector which buys land for public purposes, among other things."

              -Bill Kraus, a top aide to former Republican Gov. Lee Dreyfus

Publicly declared he would oppose any constitutional amendment intended to limit state and local spending, calling it an extreme way to impose those controls.

              -Rep. Michael Lehman (R-Hartford)

He’s worried that a small group of GOP assemblymen will draft a constitutional amendment that will leave individual legislators with a “take-it-or-leave-it” ultimatum.

             -Republican Rep. Gregg Underheim of Oshkosh

Similar constitutional amendments have taken the public education system in California from the top 10 "to almost the bottom.”

             -Bill Kraus, a top aide to former Republican Gov. Lee Dreyfus(commenting on recent newspaper stories that California teachers are giving extra credit to students who brought supplies for their classrooms.)

“We don’t want to become another Colorado.”

            -Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, who still supports the Amendment

“We shouldn’t need a spending cap to say no to special interests.”

           -State Rep. Becky Weber, R-Green Bay

The Legislature should limit spending only by state government, which Ellis notes will start the next budget with a deficit of $752 million.

             -State Sen. Mike Ellis (R-Neenah)

"I don’t know what we’d be voting for at this point. I don’t like the constitutional amendment. I don’t know why we also think on the state level that we are so much smarter than the locals.”

              -State Rep. Suzanne Jeskewitz,R-Menomonee Falls, on why she would probably not support a constitutional change.

"Don't close your mind and say 'no' to it. Let's see what the proposal is. If we wanted to ram [TABOR] down your throat, we would have done it two months ago."

              -Wisconsin Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, to the Marinette County Board

What  Wisconsin Local Elected Officials are Saying about TABOR

“It’s crippled Colorado. TABOR would lock everybody into (a constant) level of spending, so it’s going to hurt our opportunities for growth.”

           -Outagamie County Supv. Bob Spahn, Chairman of the legislative committee

   “I think (TABOR) is a well-intentioned but ill-conceived effort to correct Wisconsin’s financial woes.”

           -Winnebago County Executive Jane Van De Hey

"I have just finished going to 2,000 homes for this election and only three people talked to me about tax issues."

           -Waukesha County Supervisor Hank Carlson, saying the alleged push for capping taxes is largely overstated by politicians who want such caps.

"TABOR is a five-second sound bite."

            -La Crosse County Administrator Steve O'Malley.   (La Crosse schools would have to cut 42 positions a year, the city of La Crosse would have to cut 56 positions and Western Wisconsin Technical College would have to cut 30.)

"It's what the governor calls bumper sticker politics.   It's a great slogan, but it's terrible policy."

              -Rich Eggleston, spokesman for the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities.

"This amendment is based on a very bad idea, and we've got to get this information out to the public.”

                -Ed Huck, executive director of the Alliance of Cities

"We will have very great problems in our state immediately."

                  -Mark O'Connell,executive director of the Wisconsin Counties Association

Reading from a counties magazine, Douglas County Supervisor Lew Martin said Colorado's TABOR amendment, adopted in 1992, has put the state in an "uncompromising vice."

“We are being pushed by what is happening in the Legislature,”

               -Douglas County Supervisor Kay McKenzie

Words of Wisdom on TABOR

"A good rule of thumb is that when legislation has a very attractive name, usually it's a bad piece of legislation.   This legislation would rob communities of the ability to make decisions, lead to a decline in quality at the university and take away necessary services."

             -Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison

The proposed amendment "Isn't a taxpayer bill of rights, it's a taxpayer bill of wrongs.   This is bad news.  We want to be a leader in education. We don't want to follow Colorado and California."

              -State Rep. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse.

“I would like to suggest that the Legislature consider a student bill of rights, which will give students of any age anywhere in the state the ability to get the type of education they need and want.”

            -Retiring UW System President Katharine Lyall.   Colorado is currently considering a 40% tuition hike due to TABOR.

“Frugality doesn't necessarily mean spending less. For example, a person who never spends a dime to maintain his house is actually less frugal than the person who regularly invests in upkeep. The same principle can be applied to Wisconsin.”

                  -Tomah Journal Editorial

“Wisconsin promoters of the TABOR plan claim it will be a silver bullet for the state's economic problems. . . .Wisconsin would be wise to dodge this bullet.”

                -David Newby, President of Wisconsin State AFL-CIO

Last word with 20/20 Vision:

“In hindsight, I wouldn't vote for it again.”

                -Colorado Republican Sen. Ron Teck

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