May 31, 2002
Winnebago County Executive Jane Van De Hey and Brown County Executive Nancy Nusbaum joined Jim Mather and Tony Palmeri on May 30, 2002 for an hour long interview. Both currently in their second 4-year term, Van De Hey and Nusbaum have been highly critical of Governor Scott McCallum's proposal to end shared revenue payments to Wisconsin's counties and municipalities. In January of 2002, Outagamie County Executive Toby Paltzer joined his colleagues from Winnebago and Brown in sending the governor a letter addressing major concerns.
In addition to the governor's shared revenue proposal, Van De Hey and Nusbaum on Commentary discussed the tri-county recycling and landfill agreement, health care, county politics, the Wisconsin Counties Association budget repair plan, "double whammy" taxation, and other issues. On the "double whammy" issue, Palmeri referred to UW Oshkosh Economics Professor Kevin McGee's study of "County Spending and the Implicit Subsidy to 'Urban Sprawl.'" While they did not attempt to refute McGee's study, both Van De Hey and Nusbaum suggested that the extent to which counties subsidize towns is not excessive and is being addressed through "smart growth" initiatives.
The entire interview can be seen on Titan-TV 2 from June 3-9 at 7 p.m.