{news} Wisconsin Greens call for corruption investigation of governor, legislators

[John Battista]

The Democratic governor and the Republican legislature flouted state clean
government laws in Wisconsin.  The Wisconsin Green Party is going after
them. Green Party Alderman King has written a formal complaint.  Read all
about it below:
>
>  - - - - - -
>
> 1. Ald. King's complaint letter:
>    http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=37764
>
> 2. Accompanying Wisconsin Green Party press release:
>    http://wisconsingreenparty.org/blogs/WIGPnews/archives/000409.shtml
>
> 3. Capital Times coverage (articles have appeared in many other
> newspapers as well):
>    http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/index.php?ntid=41673&ntpid=0
>
> WISCONSIN GREEN PARTY
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                        May 27th, 2005
>
> Contact:
> Ald. Austin King, Madison Common Council
> Ben Manski
> Jill Bussiere, Co-Chair, WI Green Party
>
> Complaint filed against Gard, Schultz, Doyle, and others for felony
> logrolling violations
> Wisconsin Green Party calls for a thorough investigation and punishment
>
> (Madison) - Madison Ald. Austin King today filed the attached nine-page
> complaint with Attorney General Peggy Lautenschlager, along with a
mountain
> of evidence described in the letter.  The letter accuses Assembly Speaker
> Gard, Senate Majority Leader Schultz, and Governor Doyle of having a quid
> pro quo agreement whereby Governor Doyle would sign the municipal minimum
> wage preemption bill, AB 49, in exchange for legislative acceptance of a
DWD
> rule increasing the state minimum wage.  Such backroom dealing is a direct
> violation of Wisconsin State Statutes 13.06, which classifies the
commission
> of such an act as a Class I Felony.  The Wisconsin Green Party supports
Ald.
> King's actions, and is calling for a thorough investigation of his
> allegations, along with the effective punishment of any state elected
> officials who broke the law.
>
> "The deal worked out between Doyle, Gard, and Schultz isn't just bad for
> low-wage workers, it's illegal.  It's clear that Wisconsin Manufacturers
and
> Commerce brokered a deal between the Governor and the Republican
leadership,
> and it's time for Wisconsin's Attorney General to clean house," said Jill
> Busierre, Co-Chair of the Wisconsin Green Party.
>
> Wisconsin's anti-logrolling statutes were the work of the progressive
> leadership in the 1911 Wisconsin State Legislature, which also passed the
> first workers' compensation law in this country, the first workable income
> tax in the country, a state life insurance program, legislation that aided
> farm cooperatives and agricultural education, and a corrupt practices act
> that was designed to clean up political activity, among other things.
> Wisconsin's heralded Home Rule statutes and constitutional amendments soon
> followed.  The Wisconsin Green Party, as a direct descendent of the
> independent progressive political movements of the teens, twenties, and
> thirties, calls for the enforcement of Wisconsin's progressive-era clean
> government laws.
>
> "The State Capitol, Fighting Bob LaFollette's 'Temple of Democracy,' needs
a
> cleaning once again," said Ben Manski, a longtime Wisconsin Green Party
> activist.  "The burden is on the Attorney General to take up that charge
and
> work with reformers to make Wisconsin government transparent and
accountable
> once again."
>
> Ald. King is one of three Greens serving on the Madison Common Council,
and
> one of eighteen Greens serving in elected office in Wisconsin today.
>
> The Wisconsin Green Party is affiliated with the Green Party of the United
> States, and stands on the four pillars of Social & Economic Justice,
> Grassroots Democracy, Nonviolence, and Ecological Wisdom.  For more
> information, visit http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org .  The Green Party
of
> the United States' website is http://www.gp.org .
> # # #
>
> _______________________________________________
>