Repeal the 2006 restriction on marriage equality

State lawmakers should embrace rights of same-sex couples to marry

With Minnesota poised to become the 12th state to recognize same-sex unions as legitimate marriages, many questions come about on the national and local levels.

Across the country, millions of Americans are wondering: how long will it take until the rest of the nation fully recognizes the rights of our gay and lesbian citizens? And will it take more than state action, but federal intervention as well, to require states that are less-than-willing to grant these rights to same-sex couples to take notice?

In Wisconsin, many equality advocates are wondering what it will take to recognize the rights of partnerships in the Badger state.

The fight will undoubtedly face an uphill battle: a 2006 voter referendum altered the state’s constitution, restricting marriage to solely “one man, one woman.” Reversing that amendment would require two consecutive sessions of the legislature to take up the measure, and for another referendum, with different results, to pass.

Though things look bleak, there are signs of hope. The 2006 referendum passed with 59 percent of the vote. But recent polling suggests Wisconsinites are more divided on the issue (PDF) than they were seven years ago: in a poll conducted earlier this year, 44 percent in the state supported marriage equality, while 46 percent wanted to keep marriage as it stands today -- that is, without recognition for gay and lesbian couples.

That difference is within the margin of error for the poll. Broken down more, however, it’s clear that the people of Wisconsin support at least some protections for same-sex couples.

More than seven in ten Wisconsinites wanted recognition of rights for same-sex partners (marriages or civil unions), while less than three in ten said there shouldn’t be recognition of any kind.

It's plain to see that attitudes on same-sex partnerships in Wisconsin have shifted dramatically since 2006. Indeed, citizens of the Badger state have demonstrated this in a meaningful way, electing Tammy Baldwin as the first openly gay senator last fall.

Unfortunately, though feelings on the subject have changed, the 2006 referendum’s results remain in effect, leaving gay and lesbian partners across Wisconsin without equal rights to marriage afforded to straight couples.

The time to change Wisconsin’s constitution has never been more evident. The people’s attitudes are clearly shifting in favor of equality, with only a minority of Wisconsinites favoring no recognition for gay and lesbian couples.

The constitutional amendment of 2006 should be repealed, and the push to strike it from our state’s constitution should start now.

WEDC a failure, but don't expect Walker to change course

Conservative approach to economics won't fix Wisconsin's job growth woes

How many jobs can you create with season tickets to UW Badgers football? That’s a good question for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the semi-private government institution created by Gov. Scott Walker to help spur job growth and business creation.

On the issue of job creation, the WEDC has been an utter failure. Both the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have noted that Wisconsin has lagged in jobs, dropping to 44th in the nation after previously holding the number 11 spot before Walker took office.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has also pointed out that, in terms of short-term job growth, Wisconsin is dead last in the nation.

While the state falls behind the rest of the country, the WEDC has been mismanaging its funds in ways most taxpayers wouldn’t be happy with, including buying alcohol for events, buying season tickets for Badgers football games, and even purchasing iTunes gift cards.

It's unclear really how these types of purchases might spur substantial job growth, but Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Mike Tate took note of the hypocrisy that would certainly occur had other state programs failed in this respect:

Can you imagine what they’d do if a poor person in Wisconsin used taxpayer money (food stamps) to buy tickets, booze or iTunes cards?

Even Republican lawmakers are flabbergasted by the turn of events, such as State Sen. Robert Cowles:

I hope they can get their act together, but this is pretty darn bad. I'd say the jury is out whether this was a good idea to create this whole entity [the WEDC].

The failure of the WEDC to invigorate our state's economy highlights Gov. Walker’s inability to understand what factors actually create jobs. It isn’t tax breaks for the rich or for corporations -- indeed, $2.3 billion in giveaways to corporate interests failed to spur anything decent in terms of creating work in Wisconsin.

Instead, Walker needs to grow demand, increasing the need for more production and services in the state. When demand is up, the need for more employment to keep up with it goes up, too.

And what’s the best way to create demand? Getting money back into the hands of the consumer base -- that is, the working class. When consumers can make purchases, they create a greater need for the products and services they buy.

But it seems that Walker and his WEDC are too focused on methods that have already been proven to have failed. The governor's spokesman, Tom Evenson, has stated that, "Gov. Walker is confident in the direction of WEDC as an agency that aims to promote job creation and economic growth for Wisconsin."

So while WEDC has failed to deliver, and has caused more problems than anything else, Gov. Walker is "confident in the direction" it's heading in?

It's sad to think it, but it looks like Wisconsin won't be seeing brighter days -- so long as Scott Walker is still in charge.

The Walker effect on jobs -- like driving 36 mph on the Marquette Interchange

Comparison of economic slowdown makes it easier to see that we're doing worse under Gov. Walker

Here's an easy way to describe Scott Walker's performance on job creation in the private sector...

Pretend that we were traveling between Madison and Milwaukee on I-94. In 2010, when Gov. Jim Doyle was leaving office and Scott Walker was just about to be sworn in, let's say that we were traveling at about 60 miles per hour. That's fast, probably not as fast as we'd have liked to have gone, but still a decent pace.

Two years later, in September of 2012, we've decided to drive back to Madison from Milwaukee -- but this time, instead of driving the "Doyle car" on jobs, we're in the "Walker car" on jobs. And how fast would that car be going?

It'd be traveling about 36 miles per hour on the interstate.

Which, as anyone can tell you, you don't want to be doing, especially around the Marquette Interchange.

Among Wisconsinites, consensus found on same-sex recognition, gun checks

Poll findings should cause us to wonder, "why can't our politicians act on bipartisan agreements?"

The figures presented below are from the latest Marquette Law School poll, which you can find here.

Several issues in the state of Wisconsin polarize the citizenry, an observation that isn't that hard to take note of. The right and the left can’t seem to see eye-to-eye on anything these days.

But on two specific issues it seems there is room for compromise -- that is, if the political establishment is willing to allow it.

On the issue of same-sex marriage, the two sides still see some disagreement. Only 17.6 percent of those who consider themselves Republicans support allowing gay and lesbian couples full marriage rights, while 64 percent of Democrats see no harm in expanding those rights to same-sex couples.

Yet when it comes to granting at least some rights, Republicans and Democrats can reach common ground. More than 36 percent of Wisconsinites who consider themselves Republican support granting civil unions to same-sex couples. In fact, only 14 percent of Republicans want to restrict gay and lesbian couples to having no legal recognition whatsoever.

That number is significant because that’s exactly what the marriage amendment of 2006 did. But today, more than half of all Republicans across the state now believe that same-sex couples deserve some or all marriage rights, a substantial leap from just seven years ago.

What’s more startling than Republicans supporting reasonable recognition rights for gays and lesbians? The fact that three-quarters of all Republicans across the state support reasonable gun measures.

On the issue of requiring gun sales to go through a background check, 75 percent of Republicans and 86 percent of Democrats support such a plan. Though only a third of Republicans want to ban “assault style weapons,” it’s still a step in the right direction to see compromise is within reach on the possibility of closing the “gun-show loophole” in the state.

Overall, more than 80 percent of Wisconsinites, regardless of political persuasion, support the idea.

So with this groundbreaking support for reasonable gun checks and at least SOME protections for same-sex couples, why can’t we pass legislation enacting laws that the people support? Perhaps it's the lawmakers who don't see eye-to-eye with their constituents, especially those who govern from the conservative side of the aisle.

For Republicans, ignorance is bliss: Jobs grew at faster rate BEFORE Walker became governor

WISGOP celebrates slower job growth under Scott Walker's tenure

The Republican Party of Wisconsin released a statement this week that aimed to do some major damage control on behalf of Gov. Scott Walker’s track record.

Walker, who was named loser of the week by UW’s Badger Herald, is under immense criticism for his failure to produce significant job growth during his first couple of years in office.

Currently, our state is ranked 44th in terms of private sector job growth -- a significant drop from the end of 2010 when our ranking was 12th in the nation.

But that didn’t stop WISGOP from touting Walker’s record -- at least, his record as they see it, from the perspective of their rose-tinted glasses.

In the three years before Governor Walker took office, Wisconsin lost 150,000 jobs. Excessive taxes, out-of-control spending, and a large regulatory burden on our job creators hurled our state down the wrong path.

According to the Republicans, it seems, the losses in jobs were due totally to Democratic proposals by then-Gov. Jim Doyle.

But one thing is missing from the Republican press release: any mention whatsoever of the economic recession that occurred during that time.

In fact, the word “recession” doesn’t even appear in the release.

Not once.

The press release goes on to say:

While the Left may not like the way that Governor Walker and the Republican-led Legislature has turned our state around from the doom-and-gloom past that they created, they cannot argue with the facts at hand. We are headed in the right direction and we are moving Wisconsin Forward.

Emphases added.

Characterizing the state’s jobs situation as a “doom-and-gloom” creation of Democratic Party policies once again misses the broader picture: the entire nation, and in fact the world, was encapsulated in a recession. 


But that “doom-and-gloom” description is wrong for a second reason -- things were on the upswing before Walker took office. The Wisconsin economy was better, in fact, in terms of job growth and take-home pay, during the year before Walker.

In the last year of Gov. Jim Doyle’s tenure, Wisconsin gained more than 33,600 private sector jobs. That’s 2,800 jobs per month under the previous administration.

Contrast that to the last year for which data is available, September 2011 to September 2012 (the third quarter data that Gov. Walker frequently cites as showing “progress”). During that time, with Scott Walker’s budget fully enacted, Wisconsin gained less than 20,500 jobs, amounting to about 1,700 jobs per month.

Yes, we gained more jobs -- but at a slower rate than the rest of the nation, and indeed a slower rate than what we had before Walker came into the governor’s office.

What’s more, the jobs we gained under Walker weren’t as good as the jobs we had before he took over. The average yearly salary in December 2010 for a Wisconsin worker (the month before Walker became governor) was $43,420. In September 2012, the average Wisconsin salary dropped by more than $3,300, suggesting that the new jobs created weren’t getting money back into the hands of hard-working Wisconsinites. 

Under WISGOP's policies, job growth has slowed and income has diminished

How this can be seen as an improvement is beyond comprehension. But the Republican Party of Wisconsin still totes these numbers as if things are working.

While jobs did increase, Walker’s policies likely had nothing to do with them. Job growth in the state was on the way up before he took office, and has slowed since he and the Republican-led legislature have taken control.

If anything, this indicates that Republican policies are making it harder to recover in Wisconsin. Indeed, if we had kept going at the rate of job growth that Gov. Doyle had produced at the end of his term, we’d reach the 250,000 jobs pledge more than a full year earlier than under the current rate that Walker’s policies have produced.

I’ll say that again because it bears repeating: the promise of 250,000 jobs that Scott Walker had made as a candidate for governor has been pushed back by more than a full year since he’s come to office. We would reach that goal a year faster under the rate of growth that had been produced under his predecessor.

The Wisconsin GOP is hoping that you don't notice the slowing trend under Walker. They're hoping that you see an increase in job numbers, and see that as being good enough. But the facts are there for anyone looking: jobs were growing faster before Walker took office than they are now.

Whether the Republican Party of Wisconsin chooses to acknowledge that or not is up for them to decide. But omitting that information is key to their battle plan. In other words, Republicans in Wisconsin are hoping that you are ignorant of the facts.

That's not leadership. And it's certainly nothing to be proud of.