On Gard, the Daily, and the Freeze

Some interesting tidbits, which may add up to something. I don't know.

First, I will note that I sent a tremendously condensed version of my post two posts below this (on TABOR) to the local daily, including the parts about Assembly Speaker John Gard's (R-Peshtigo-in-theory) quashing of a bill to stop the automatic gas-tax increase in Wisconsin every year after taking $30,000 in road-builders' campaign money. (Roads are funded in part by the gas tax.) The irony, so you don't have to scroll down to look for it, is that Gard said we needed a property tax freeze in Wisconsin because things like high gas prices take too big a bite out of our pocketbooks.

This morning, the paper ran an editorial reaffirming the stance they took on the tax freeze the last time it came around. "Before lawmakers mandate property tax levels for localities or amend the Wisconsin Constitution to include a so-called taxpayer bill of rights," the Journal Sentinel notes, "they ought to pause and realize that piecemeal public finance makes no sense. Wisconsin needs a complete review of how taxpayer money is raised and spent at every political level and jurisdiction." Kind of like what I have been saying.

So this afternoon I get a voicemail from someone from the paper asking about my letter. He said he wanted some more information on the allegation (my word, not his) about Gard.

I did some Googling and digging and found the relevant info. Senate Bill 43, from Tim Carpenter, and Assembly bill 242 from Spencer Black, would have frozen the automatic increase in the gas tax. The bill died in the Senate, but Black notes that after the bill was recommended 11-1 out of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, John Gard was the one to refuse to let the bill onto the floor for a vote.

Remember, your friendly neighborhood Republicans control both houses of the Wisconsin state legislature right now. Also note that one of the key reasons TABOR may have died in utero is that the automatic gas tax would either need to be explicitly exempted or else these increases would require a referendum. Now, honestly, who's going to vote for a gas tax?

I called the man back, and it turns out, according to his voicemail, that he was not the intern who throws together the LTEs. He was the editorial writer for the paper. Yes, I now know the name and voicemail number for the nameless, faceless editorial voice of my local paper.

The paper is good about posting its editorial content the night before on-line. So I bring you a preview of tomorrow's editorial page. No, my letter is not there. But the third editorial tomorrow begins with "Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) scoffed at a proposal the other day [. . .]." Makes me wonder if this guy is on an anti-Gard kick. I sure hope so. And keep an eye out: The paper hasn't run any tax-freeze letters yet, so mine may yet be coming.

Oh, and for the incredulous, here's a little bit about why I say "John Gard (R-Peshtigo-in-theory)." I cited this article in my last TABOR piece, but it's such a goldmine of Gard-bashing, I can't resist going to it again.

Gard has been criticized for collecting an $88 a day expense allowance while living much of the time in his $158,000 house in Sun Prairie just north of Madison. Legislators who live outside Dane County may claim $88 a day for expenses when they are working in Madison. Legislators who live in Dane County may claim $44 a day. Gard claims he is entitled to the larger allowance even though he has a home near Madison because his official address is Peshtigo.

Always out to save the taxpayers a buck, eh, John?