Andre's Executive Order

Governor Walker says the deadline to refinance Wisconsin's debt it today. The word 'refinance' suggests we will seek a lower interest rate and save money. But if you listen to Walker, he never actually says that. He says it will help him avoid having to lay off workers which is possible. But the truth about the money itself is that he's borrowing allocated tax funds for the May debt payment to balance his current budget. That borrowing will result in another 14-25M in interest owed by the State turning 165M into nearly 200M. The argument can be made that that losing jobs is worse for the economy than acquiring some additional debt. But that argument rings hollow when you consider the impact of Walker's and the Republican's budgets on the economy as a whole. Beware those who treat fiscal responsibility as an ENDS instead of a MEANS. Cutting spending by the by government during a recession when the general public and private enterprise is skittish about THEIR spen...

Today I'm going to walk you through an analysis of the logic behind protesting the Budget Repair bill that I think anyone regardless of political orientation can follow. First, some facts taken from Scott Walker and his Administration. I've placed some citation sources in the margin for areas I thought might be helpful. Campaign Promises The cornerstone of Scott Walker's campaign promises were on numerous items including stopping the train, cutting taxes, cutting spending, and creating 250,000 jobs. He also made numerous smaller promises none of which are relevant to this discussion one way or another. These promises are pretty standard Republican election points, the only thing particularly interesting is that the number of jobs promised is very ambitious – but good for him. Set your sights high. We need jobs. State of the Budget In Scott Walker's State of the State address, he referred to the budget in dire terms: “First, let me be clear: we have an economic and fisca...

As an attorney, one of the things I have to constantly be concerned with is a conflict of interest. It's a term that you hear on the news every once in a while, but most folks don't really truly get it. This is mostly because it just doesn't come up in normal conversation if you're not an attorney, an accountant, or a public official. In simple terms, a conflict of interest is when a person or organization benefits or has a relationship with a certain cause or outcome of a situation and is then approached to do something asking them to go in the opposite direction. For example: If I have shares of stock in a IBM, and someone pays me to sue IBM, I have a conflict of interest. My interest in the profitability of IBM and my interest in doing right by my client and taking money from IBM run counter to each other. In simpler terms, if I'm on a diet and decide to order cake, I have a conflict of interest. My diet and the cake work counter to each other and it is questiona...