Commentary Update for March 25, 2002: Board Candidates Summary, Barrett at Robbins, Library Fees, Norton report, STEP Now, Rogers on Taxes
Dear Commentary Fans:
This week's show features School Board candidates Ben Schneider II and Ted
Sehmer, the two NOT endorsed by the Oshkosh Northwestern on Sunday. I tried
to come up with a summary of the views of the 4 candidates on a series of issues
that were brought up by Mr. Mather and I. Here's the summary:
http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/palmeri/schedule.htm#brettandtom
In other news, Jim and I interviewed US Congressman and gubernatorial candidate
Tom Barrett last Friday. The interview will be broadcast the week of April
15. After the interview, Barrett met with a group of Fox Valley officials at
Robbins Restaurant. Here's some coverage of that meeting:
http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/palmeri/barrettatrobbins.htm
As most of you know, there are some members of the state legislature, including
at least one in the Fox Valley, who think that public libraries should have
the option to start charging fees for services. Here's an interesting editorial
from the Racine Journal Times on that topic.
http://www.thewheelerreport.com/papers/0322racinelibraries.htm
Winnebago County supervisor Mike Norton consistently writes up reports
for his peers on the board whenever he travels out of state to a county government
function. Here's his report on what he heard at the National Association of
Counties (NACO) conference in Washington recently:
http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/palmeri/nortonnaco02.htm
Those of you in Winnebago County know that board recently voted 20-16 to
allow rezoning of land in the town of Utica for an ethanol plant. Members
of Stop the Ethanol Plant Now (STEP NOW) are not happy. Check out their website:
http://www.execpc.com/~tubaharp/ethanol.html
Finally, UW law professor Joel Rogers has written some excellent op-eds
on the state's budget mess. In his latest piece, he argues that the problem
cannot be solved without someone having the guts to introduce the "T"
word:
http://www.captimes.com/opinion/column/guest/22254.php
On April 1, Jim and I will be interviewing Libertarian canidate for governor Ed Thompson. Yep, he's Tommy's brother. Anyone have any suggestions as to what questions we should ask him? Please email your suggestions to me or Jim (Mather@vbe.com).
Best,
-Tony