Support for Public Employees and Public Services

As a former government employee, I believe we need to value, respect, and appreciate the important work that public employees do to serve the public interest and promote the common good.

Accordingly, if I am elected as your State Representative, I will work to protect public services, to communicate the importance of those services to the people, the Governor, and the Legislature, and to dispel the notion of some that "government is the problem."

I will stand against any attempt to make public employees a scapegoat for the Republican policies that have created the most serious recession since the Great Depression, and caused a precipitous decline in the tax revenues that are available to fund public services.

The need for such stands is particularly important at this point in time.

Wisconsin is facing a $2.5 billion deficit, which is likely to precipitate calls for draconian budget cuts, both in public services, and in the number of public employees.

To make matters worse, the Republican candidates for Governor are advocating more than $1.1 billion in new tax cuts, which would increase the projected deficit to more than $3.6 billion.

Scott Walker, the leading Republican candidate for Governor, claims that the State could cut $200 million or more from the projected deficit, simply by eliminating all of the 4,000 public employee positions that are currently vacant.

He appears to believe that the vacant positions can be eliminated without any adverse impact on public services, as if all of the former employees who held those jobs were no more than "deadwood."

To add insult to injury, Walker has said he would cut the projected budget deficit, and finance his proposals for tax cuts, by cutting the wages and benefits of state employees.

However, according to an estimate by One Wisconsin Now, he would either have to cut wages and benefits by a total of 42 percent to close the projected deficit, and offset the tax cuts that are part of his platform, or eliminate the jobs of about 29,000 public employees.

A cut of 29,000 jobs would amount to nearly half of the 68,000 public employees who work for the State, but that estimate may be conservative.

If one extrapolates from Walker’s premise that the elimination of 4,000 public employees would save approximately $200 million, it would require about 20,000 jobs to be cut in order to reduce the deficit by just $1 billion.

But that is not all.

Walker is also proposing to cut the state pensions of working families, a proposal that is estimated to save no more than $185 million.

And, since these two proposals would barely finance the tax cuts he is advocating, Walker would still be faced with the task of closing the projected deficit of $2.5 billion.

This is nothing less than irresponsible nonsense.

It is a prescription for draconian cuts in both the number of public employees, and in public services.

We need to understand that the projected deficit is in large measure a temporary result of the current recession.

Tax revenues have plummeted because Wisconsin has lost more than 180,000 jobs as part of the worst national economic decline since the Great Depression.

Accordingly, we should not fall for false assertions that the deficit is the result of a State government that is bloated and inefficient.

We do need to consider whether the State might be able to provide some services in a smarter and more efficient manner.

We do need to make an effort to learn from the experience of other governments throughout the nation, and around the world, that have already found ways to operate that may be smarter and more efficient.

We do need to consider whether the State should adjust its priorities.

But we also need to protect public services from short-sighted and ill-considered budget cuts, so that important public services can be maintained until the economy becomes more robust, and tax revenues recover.

Walker’s proposal to eliminate 4,000 vacant public positions stands in stark contrast to the careful and reasoned approach that is needed.

It gives no consideration to the tasks that the unfilled jobs are supposed to perform, or to the extent that they may be needed to accomplish a statutory mission, or to provide a vital service.

It gives no consideration to the fact that many of the 4,000 jobs are vacant because a hiring freeze has been instituted to save money, in an effort to offset the sharp drop in tax revenues that has been caused by the current recession.

Walker’s plan also gives no consideration to the fact that the remaining public employees have been asked to do additional work as a result of the unfilled jobs, at the same time that they have been required to take unpaid leave in the form of furloughs to further reduce the budget shortfall.

We need to understand that we cannot have draconian budget cuts without draconian cuts in public services.

We count on public employees to teach and protect our children, enforce the law, provide health care, build roads, and make sure that the bridges don’t collapse.

We count on them to protect the environment, conduct research, safeguard consumers from fraud, and to provide a host of other public services that serve the common good.

And we count on the State to share tax revenues with municipalities, so that local governments can keep policemen on the streets, employ fire fighters and librarians, and remove snow from the streets after a snowstorm.

If I am elected to represent the 77th Assembly District, I will work to protect public employees and public services from budget cuts that are short-sighted or ill-considered.
Authorized and paid for Wade for Assembly,
Marilyn Townsend, Treasurer