Category: Politics

Controlling Madison Property Taxes?

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Rob Zaleski wonders why we cannot control property taxes:

Though they don’t get much media attention, there are, in fact, some ideas out there worth pursuing, Reschovsky says.
Among the most promising, he says, is a recent proposal by his colleague Don Nichols, director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs, that would freeze the rate of property taxes on all farms and homes to the rate of income growth of the average Wisconsin resident. The result, Reschovsky says, is that low-income people wouldn’t be driven from their homes. (For more details, see info@lafollette.wisc.edu)
Beyond that, some states have tried assessment caps, with mixed results, Reschovsky says. The best example, of course, is California’s controversial Proposition 13, which was passed in 1978 and limits increases in assessed value to 2 percent a year. A house gets reassessed at full value only when it’s sold.

Madison WiFi/Broadband: Incumbent Telco’s Dirty Bomb

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Glenn Fleishman on incumbent telco’s (SBC & Verizon) latest lobbying/pr efforts to thwart municipally owned broadband systems:

There’s a lot more readily available details about the New Millennium Research Council than I realized: The NMRC is the co-publisher of a report that says municipal broadband is anti-competitive and a waste of taxpayer dollars. eWeek broke the news yesterday that they’re a division of Issue Dynamics, Inc., a group that specializes in creating the appearance of grassroots and independent support for ideas on behalf of their clients. They don’t hide this speciality.
The NMRC lists this relationship on their About page; I’m embarrassed that I missed noting this: “The NMRC is an independent project of Issue Dynamics, Inc. (IDI), a consumer and public affairs consulting firm that specializes in developing win-win solutions to complex policy issues.” (IDI lists the US Internet Industry Association as a client; the head of the USIAA wrote part of the NMRC report.)
An email correspondent who prefers to remain anonymous but has had dealings with the NMRC and IDI wrote in to note, “If you need an ‘independent’ third party to provide support for your particular issue interest, IDI will find an independent expert who will write a supportive piece for you—the report will then be issued by the NMRC or another front org. There is no direct money passing from the corporation to the person writing the research, and as a technical matter, the funding for NMRC comes directly from IDI. However, people like Verizon pay IDI a pretty stiff retainer, and IDI essentially uses part of that to fund NMRC.”

Glenn also takes a look at fiber to the home projects in Palo Alto, Provo, UT and Lafayette, LA. Keep in mind that the US lags many other countries in true high speed (20mpbs+), economical two way broadband.

The Intersection of Traditional Media & Politics

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Dave Winer muses on the cozy relationship between traditional media companies and politicians. He’s on to something.

My view on the problem is that activists/bloggers need to use the internet to increase awareness of local races that the traditional media ignores or downplays. Wisconsin’s DPI (Department of Public Instruction) race cleanly illustrates the problem. The incumbent, Libby Burmaster – supported by our current Democratic Governer, Jim Doyle and the state teacher’s union, has apparently not been showing up for any primary debates or forums. I’ve not seen the traditional media organs call her on the carpet for this (our event moderator, The League of Women’s Voters mentioned that incubments lack of participation is a growing problem).

Libby may or may not be a great candidate. Unfortunately, it’s rather difficult to compare, given the lack of interaction with the other candidates.

In an effort to address this problem and increase public awareness of the race and the 2/15/2005 primary, a few of us put together a DPI candidate forum on 1/29/2005. Three of the four candidates appeared. In addition, several TV stations appeared to interview the candidates. This event, to my knowledge, is the only Madison pre-primary DPI candidate event. We archived the forum with video & audio clips in an effort to broadly distribute information on the candidates. This effort is a very modest beginning.

Feingold 2008?

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Craig Gilbert chats with 3 term US Senator Russ Feingold on his Presidential ambitions:

“I’m trying to be one of God knows how many Democrats who are going to get out there and try to help turn this thing around,” said Feingold, the third-term senator from Wisconsin who has sent a variety of signals that he would like to raise his national profile. He spent three days last week making appearances in Florida.

“If at some point people say, ‘Hey, we think you ought to run for president’ (and) it’s a serious thing, I’m going to listen. I would only run if I honestly believed that I was the guy that really could win, that I was the person who was the best candidate to run,” said Feingold, who sat down Wednesday at a reporter’s request to talk about the Democratic Party and the 2008 presidential contest.

Wisconsin DPI Candidate Madison Forum Video/Audio

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2009 Primary Candidate notes and links can be found here.


Three of the four candidates for Wisconsin DPI Superintendent participated in a Madison Forum Saturday morning. The League of Women Voters Melanie Ramey kindly moderated. Watch the forum here (video and audio clips). You can also read individual questions and watch/listen to the candidate responses.

Incumbent Libby Burmaster was unable to attend, though the three candidates mentioned that she has not participated in any primary events to date. I find this disappointing. These challenging education times require more debate, a more engaged citizenry and leadership.

I was impressed with the three participating candidates. They addressed the issues and were willing to put their names on a position.

In days long gone, it was likely sufficient to rely on special interests and avoid direct public interaction. Our current President certainly avoids any sort of critical engagements. Russ Feingold, to my knowledge, has always mingled easily with the public. [Melanie mentioned that incumbent non-participation in the primaries is a growing problem around the state.]

The internet era is dramatically changing the way in which we all communicate, are informed and express our points of view. Any candidate seeking office would do well to participate in the conversation.

I also want to thank the local media for their extensive coverage:

  • 3, 15 and 27. Their coverage enabled these three candidates to have a few broadcast words with Madison voters.
  • Isthmus posted the event in their weekly calendar.
  • Sheryl Gasser emailed and mentioned that Wisconsin Public Radio will be interviewing the four DPI candidates individually starting this Monday morning from 7 to 8a.m. through Thursday morning. I’ll post audio links to these conversations.

Take a look at the forum page and email the candidates with questions. The primary is Tuesday, February 15, 2005. Vote!

This is what democracy looks like

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Lessig visits brazil and encounters old fashioned democracy…..

But more striking still was just the dynamic of this democracy. Barlow captured the picture at the top, which in a sense captures it all. Here’s a Minister of the government, face to face with supporters, and opponents. He speaks, people protest, and he engages their protest. Passionately and directly, he stands at their level. There is no distance. There is no “free speech zone.” Or rather, Brazil is the free speech zone. Gil practices zone rules.
Even after the speech was over, the argument continues. At no point is there “protection”; at every point, there is just connection. This is the rockstar who became a politician, who became a politician as a rockstar.

Milwaukee Voter Fraud – more

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Greg Borowski continues his investigation into Milwaukee’s November election voter address problems.

And a new Journal Sentinel review of the city’s voting records shows the system is so flawed that more than 300 people are listed as voting twice from the same address, even though each apparently was given only one ballot.
That increases the size of a gap, already at more than 8,300, between the number of ballots cast and the number of people who can be identified as voting in the presidential election, which in Wisconsin was determined by about 11,000 votes.

More on Milwaukee New Voter Address Problems

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Greg Borowski continues on the trail of Milwaukee’s new voter address validation problems.

As a state, Wisconsin has long prided itself on the openness of its voting system. It is a place where voters don’t have to declare a party, can register right at the polls and – if they have registered in advance – get a ballot simply by stating their name and address.

But after a second straight razor-close presidential election, where some see positives in a system that makes it easy to vote, others see problems that they argue make it too easy to vote fraudulently.

More here.