JFC Budget Hearing - Superior Telegram - Friday - Local Impressions and MN

A source from MN added after original post (has trail of related stories) -

News From 91.3 KUWS Public testimony overwhelmingly against Walker budget

The Superior Telegram paper online is dated Friday, April 8th, 2011.  It would be more ideal to see a Saturday or Sunday version - maybe later!  Title click takes you to first hour(?) coverage of JFC. Three articles that seem strongly related are identified.  The first below about the JFC Hearing is from that source -

The first hour of public testimony on Gov. Walker’s proposed budget Friday in Superior covered a wide cross-section of issues. Concerns were raised about cuts to education and health programs; tourism spending was praised; flexibility for university campuses was lofted.

 ... Janice Peterson with the Aging and Disability Resource Center in Barron County urged senators to delete provisions in the budget that affect the Medicaid program and preserve SeniorCare as it is. The majority of people served through the Barron ADRC are living at or just below the poverty level, she said, with some forced to choose between buying needed medications or food. Forcing all seniors to enroll in Medicare Part D would cost her clients $180 to $1,600 per year, Peterson said, while the SeniorCare program provides prescription drug coverage for an annual fee of $30. It could also be the first step in abolishing SeniorCare.

Retirements cut DMV staff in half

Lines at the Superior Department of Motor Vehicles are growing longer. Half the center’s staff retired, and with the current state of the budget, it is uncertain when more will be hired.  .... A customer who stopped by the center Thursday afternoon said he spent about 55 minutes in line and the lobby was full of customers, waiting.

Budget impacts schools

In Superior, the school district faces a $2.7 million reduction in revenue for the 2011-12 school year. The Maple school district estimates it will lose about $900,000 in funding. ....Christina Kintop, a member of the Superior School Board, said she laments the cuts to school funding but worries more about the long-term implications of Gov. Walker’s budget proposal. ...  “I personally believe the route they’re going down will destroy public education,” Kintop said. .... 

Bonnie Baker, a member of the Superior School Board and secretary of the Douglas County Republican Party, said cuts can be difficult to accept, but they are needed to put the state on the path of fiscal responsibility.

When the School Board postponed a decision on art and music spending at its meeting in March, Baker said it was a very difficult vote.

JFC in Superior - 2nd Public Budget Hearing

This morning I put together my impressions of the JFC meeting in Stevens Point on Thursday.  I provide the link below. 

Press all cover one story and poorly cover the JFC hearings! That's Show Biz!! 4/8



Today I listened and viewed another three hours of the JFC hearings in Superior, again with some technical difficulties.  One may be tempted to excuse the lack of coverage because of the Supreme Court election issues - I am not willing to accept the excuse.  The press coverage of JFC hearings was minimal even today ... maybe I have not followed closely enough but there have been some notes from WisPolitics.com that provide some flavor of the hearings today!  The point is that although more and more people may be following sources like WisPolitics.com or TheWheelerReport most people do not.  Thus, they live in a vacuum.  They have little or no information.  They may be able to tell you that there is a terrible mess in Waukesha and even the final vote totals but not what the people of northwestern Wisconsin said about the Governor's Budget Repair Bill nor the Budget Bill and least of all the statements those citizens directed toward the legislature (in general) - not just the JFC. 

Perhaps I will be surprised Saturday or Sunday by the printed press, or the public radio and television coverage or most surprised by even some of the local Madison television (they might borrow video from local stations in Superior for their slant) - so surprise me and I will congratulate you!

I can say in summary that the irritating little "2 minute timer" was at least further from the microphone ... maybe someone was listening ... I never heard it ...but some speakers made mention of "hearing" their time was up.  I will take some short cuts and say that the "voice of the people" was similar to yesterday.  It did seem a little more critical, direct and strident to me.  I heard more, today, talk about taxes. I heard more, in my words, about how local governments and school districts had not been given tools but rather put in a straight jacket - unable to make decisions about spending more to support their communities even as they wanted to.  I heard a number of people talk about the personal impacts on their ability to care for family members - and generalize this to not saving government money but increasing pain and suffering .  Indians, several separate speakers, also came forward and expressed, I would say uniformly, their distress with the budget.  I heard a great deal of talk about how the budget was going to negatively impact jobs and main street (i.e., kill local business and jobs).  Unions and agriculture were expressing concerns as well.

As I indicated I formed these impressions from the several hours of listening yesterday and today.  You can look and listening to WisEye.org videos and make up your own mind!  I encourage you to do so.