Oshkosh Gave Mixed Reviews to McCallum's Proposals

January 28, 2002

By Dan Rylance

Tuesday last (January 22, 2002) Wisconsin Governor Scott McCallum lofted the first salvo in the race for governor. He called his speech, "The Budget Reform Act of 2002." It was his response to a $1.3 billion deficit in state coffers. By now, most residents know something about the particulars of his speech. Shared revenue between the state and county and city governments will form the centerpiece of the Governor's Budget Reform Act. Local governments will suffer a 4% cut in 2002 and the total program will be phased out over the next three years. There was more; McCallum also proposed a freeze on local property taxes. In short, he not only seeks to cut state money to local governments; he won't allow them to make up for the lost revenue by increasing local property taxes. Ouch!

At the Oshkosh Common Council meeting the same night, Richard Wollangk, the City Manager, announced the end of local government in Wisconsin. Like a County Coroner's certificate of death, Wollangk said McCallum "just killed it." Council Member Melaine Bloechl could hardly contain her enthusiasm in telling everyone present (not very many) and those watching it on Channel 10 (I don't know how many), "I told you so!" Then in typical fashion, she proceeded to rant and rave rhetoric demanding that McCallum come to the City Hall Chambers and tell her face to face that she was one of his Big Spenders. For the record, Bloechl, was the only no vote on the city's 2002 Budget, which included a 9% increase in local property tax. She isn't a Big Spender!

At this moment I think all incumbents at the state and local level should be reelected. They got us into this mess and I think it's only just that they be held responsible for getting us out of the mess. What do you think?

Citizen comments, however, were off the wall. Daniel Lynch, for example, a retired UWO professor, who is waging a one person crusade against underage smoking gave his weekly report on his endeavors. McCallum proposes stealing $794 million from the state's tobacco endowment settlement and Lynch didn't even mention it! I wonder what Lynch smokes? For someone who is deeply concerned about underage smoking and with the Governor's plan to underwrite Tommy Thompson's rebate checks with money designated for a campaign against smoking seems out of joint. No pun intended.

Gordon Doule, the most visible Oshkosh mossback, wasn't on McCallum's page either. Doule, who regularly appears at both School Board and Common Council meetings hitting his familiar themes on "creationism," the "Ten Commandments," and how bad everyone born after World War II (I guess the greatest generation) has contributed to ruin of the American Constitution, civilization and a decent piece of apple pie. Doule, now also wears his veteran's cap, which seems a bit odd. There's nothing wrong with it-it's just odd. Most veterans proudly wear their caps for their meetings and city parades, but most would never wear one to a public meeting. Doule talked mainly about road rage and, like Lynch, seemed disconnected from the impact of McCallum's proposals on the City by the Water.

I don't want to appear too hard on either Lynch or Doule. They are not typical senior citizens. They are civic minded and spend a lot of time and effort expressing what they believe. They are interested in public issues, not playing cards. But somehow, they seemed disconnected from the real world last Tuesday. Maybe, they just had a bad hair day. I really don't know.

The editorial response to McCallum's speech from the Oshkosh Northwestern editorial was a tad strange as well. First, they made no editorial response for five days. I mean, "Why?" This was a big, big news story with huge implications for the community and no response until Sunday? Usually a daily newspaper doesn't let a big one get away by not discussing it for five days. After finally reading their editorial on Sunday, however, I can better understand why they waited. Simply put, their editorial board didn't know or could not agree on a cogent response. They posted a grade of "incomplete" for the governor and urged the Legislature to provide a more balanced approach to solving the short fall. What would that balance be? The editorial really left that rather incomplete, too, other than to say that local government (except public schools) should not bear the total burden of the budget knife. What about the tobacco settlement? I guess like Citizen Lynch that's okay with them, too.

What is most disingenuous about the editorial is the lack of support for McCallum's Big Spender charge. The Governor referred to local officials as Big Spenders time and time again in his speech. So have Northwestern editorials time and time again. But the editorial fails to criticize any local big spenders. Why? This from the same newspaper that spends quarts of ink criticizing Winnebago County and Oshkosh School Board spenders while supporting most City spending sprees. Aren't McCallum and the Northwestern on the same Big Spender page?

Within days of the McCallum speech, local Big Spenders were out in force in Oshkosh. The first big spender was Oshkosh City Planner Susan Kepplinger. She wants the city to condemn land for Koeller street sidewalks and have state and city tax payers share the cost of the $643.500 project. First, this is a city employee who just heard her boss say that the city except for police, fire and library services would have no money if the McCallum Budget Act takes effect and she is urging the city spend over $300,000 on sidewalks. Where does she plan to get the money? Second, on a scale of one to 10, how important are Koeller street sidewalks anyway? What's the condition of the street in front of your residency?

But Kepplinger was not alone. Sue Hine, the Oshkosh School District's Technological Director, wants $400,000 in new school spending for technology. STOP. TIMEOUT. The School District is almost a million in the red, and she wants $400,000 in new school spending. That's right. I mean talk about disconnect. Hello? Is anybody listening?

At this moment I think all incumbents at the state and local level should be reelected. They got us into this mess and I think it's only just that they be held responsible for getting us out of the mess. What do you think?

Rylance is a former editorial writer for Knight Ridder newspapers who contributes regularly to this website and Commentary and lives in Oshkosh. He can be reached at (920) 231-7597.

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