Commentary Update for January 29, 2002: Leschke, County Forum, County Execs' Letter, Budget Delay, Rylance on McCallum Proposal, Oshkosh West Logo, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

Greetings,

As promised, the Commentary web site has a new interview with former Winnebago County Board Supervisor Julie Pung-Leschke:
http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/palmeri/4moreforjpl.htm
Hopefully in the spring Jim and I will have Julie back on Commentary to talk about her experiences on the Board.

Last night was the forum at the Coughlin Center on the budget crisis. Over 100 people showed up to tell Representatives Dean Kaufert and Gregg Underheim about what terrible consequences could befall cities and counties if the Governor's proposal to end the shared revenue program goes through. It was one of the most difficult events I have ever moderated, though I was pleasantly surprised that even with lots of elected officials in the room the hot air quotient remained relatively low. Underheim and I got into a tense exchange after the event was over, and I must thank County Supervisor Tom Pech Jr. for the gracious way in which he intervened during that exchange.

If you're in Oshkosh and happen to read this message in time, the forum will be broadcast at 8 p.m. tonight (Tuesday) on Oshkosh Cable Access Channel 10. It will be shown again on February 2nd at 3 p.m. and 10 p.m.

County Executive Jane Van De Hey, a regular Commentary guest who occasionally glances at the web site, signed on to a letter yesterday with Brown County Exec Nancy Nusbaum and Outagamie County Exec Toby Paltzer in which the request is made of Guv. McCallum to place either Jane, Nancy or Toby on the new Blue Ribbon Commission the Guv is proposing. Here's that letter:
http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/palmeri/execstosm.htm

One last thing on the budget: the Madison Capital Times is reporting in its Tuesday afternoon edition that McCallum has asked the legislature to return the budget bill to him for more revisions, and that his State of the State speech originally planned for next Tuesday will be delayed:
http://captimes.com/news/local/10583.php

Commentary reporter and pundit Dan Rylance has also written an exlcusive piece for the site about the McCallum proposal and local responses: http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/palmeri/rylanceonsmreform.htm

Some of you must have seen in the Northwestern today that the Oshkosh West High School Indian logo/mascot is one step closer to being retired after the school's site council voted to recommend to the school board that a new logo/mascot be found. What was not in the newspaper, but is on the Northwestern's web site, is a letter signed by our own Mr. Mather on behalf of the Oshkosh Human Relations Council. Mather and the OHRC urge Oshkosh West to retire the logo:
http://www.wisinfo.com/northwestern/local/012902-wav.html

Finally, our friends at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, who have done more in our state than any single group to push for meaningful campaign finance reform and clean government, unveiled a new web site look this week:
http://www.wisdc.org/

All the best,

-Tony