Plan for Wisconsin

The Fletcher Plan for Wisconsin to keep the Badger State “Moving Forward”.

1. Repeal the 8 to 11.1% increase in state spending that can be found in the 2009/11 budget summary (the 2009/11 State Budget Summary states a 7.9% increase for 2010 and a 6.5% increase for 2011) or as per the Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance monthly report dated Dec. 2009 (which includes the cost of state bonding).  Repeal the increase in fees and taxes associated with this budget and the budget repair bill (Act 2, February of 2009, and Act 28, 2009/11 July Budget Bill). The taxpayer savings will depend on the economic outlook, but must be done to get Wisconsin back on the path to fiscal solvency. The repeal of the Act 2 and Act 28 tax and fee increases will stimulate business growth and investment.

2. Have Wisconsin use GAP accounting allowing the use of one budget and not the two presently in use. The General Purpose Revenue (GPR) and All Fund Budget do not add up and make it very easy to hide and co-mingle funds and programs. This (GAP budgeting) could be accomplished in the next one or two biennium budgets. Stop the practice of non-budget items being included in the budget. There were 80 non- budget items proposed and 40 adopted in our last budget. Taxpayer savings will be seen after we can ascertain the actual costs of the programs in place and then help to remove redundant programs from the budget.

3. Restructure the DNR and limit their regulating power that represses business growth and expansion. We need DNR board members from business, farming, and different areas in the state and not just from the beltway in Madison. Streamline the permit processes for business and individuals working to remove the old and archaic regulations that have been eclipsed by new regulations. Encourage the DNR to work with business and individuals and not control them. Require them to follow the Constitution with businesses, individuals, and sportsmen ensuring our rights.

4. Re-evaluate the welfare system to ensure it is following W-2 that was put in place after the 1994 Federal waiver received from the Clinton Administration. Work with the attorney general to make it mandatory that any recipients produce a Wisconsin tax return from the previous year, birth certificate and have random urine testing to maintain benefits. This program is to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of children and they deserve our due diligence as to the fitness of their caretakers. We should be working to help people become self-sufficient assets to our society and not making them more and more dependent upon government handouts. We must stop raising the income levels in these programs so they include more people. Look for the fraud, mismanagement and waste in programs such as “The Wisconsin Shares Program” and any similar programs. We spent $7,202,720 in welfare payments in the current budget. This $1,293 per capita cost is not sustainable to the taxpayers of Wisconsin (Wisconsin Blue Book 2009/11 pg. 824).

5. Our families deserve choices in education. We need to first remove the mandates from Madison and give local control back to the schools’ districts. The funding should follow the student and give them and their parents the choices that they deserve to thrive in the setting of their choice.

6. Wisconsin is ranked 47th for the return of our tax dollars sent to Washington (Wisconsin Blue Book 2009/11 pg. 826). Wisconsin must either send less to Washington or get more back. Our Attorney General must work within the 10th Amendment to the Constitution with the support of the Assembly, Senate, and Governor to stop the over reach of the Federal Government. This over reach is bankrupting our state and taxpayers.

7. Our State Employee Pension Fund currently has $87 billion in the fund. We are the 20th largest state, but the fund is the 9th largest in the country and the 24th largest public or private pension fund in the world. The fund includes $6 billion under the management of a board appointed by the governor at the cost of $30 million a year. This board (of five people) needs to be dissolved and the funds added back to the pension trust fund (State 2009/11 budget pg. 289). The state pension fund must be audited to insure solvency and to ensure it is not over funded. Taxpayer savings of $30 million per year at this time. The audit will increase these savings upon its completion.

8. Wisconsin must use our present laws to stop illegal immigration to our state. First, we must ask for a birth certificate and previous year’s tax return prior to giving welfare assistance of any type to new applicants. Second, have tougher penalties for companies that KNOWINGLY hire illegal workers. Third, file suit against the federal government for the prison costs that we presently pay to house in our prison system illegal immigrant criminals. We must force the federal government to do their job as per the US Constitution.