The Big Con In Wisconsin

So what's really going on in Wisconsin? It's a con job, a massive bait-and-switch designed to favor major campaign contributors at the same time it cripples Democrats. And average Wisconsans are the patsies and victims.

Amongst all of the wangling about the Republican-sponsored bill that would eliminate public employees' unions right to collective bargaining is a little-remarked section of the bill that transfers control of all of Wisconsin's power generation plants to--whoever the Governor wants to transfer it to. Like Koch Industries, one of newly-minted Governor Scott Walker's biggest campaign contributors.

The bill allows Walker, through the Wisconsin Department of Administration, to:

sell any state-owned heating, cooling, and power plant or [ ] contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state.

Read the italicized text again. Walker gets to order the Wisconsin Department of Administration to issue a no-bid contract with Koch Industries for the running of all of Wisconsin's power generating plants, at whatever price they decide is OK, with no input from the public whatsoever.

Koch, predictably, denies trying to make any money from the deal, saying:

We have no interest in purchasing any of the state owned power plants in Wisconsin and any allegations to the contrary are completely false.

This is lying by denying - of course they have no interest in buying the plants. All they have to do is get Walker to have them operate the plants, for a hefty price. And that hefty price will come right out of Wisconsin's ratepayers' pockets.

It will be a brand new, Republican-imposed tax on Wisconsans.

Koch Industries is a major player in Wisconsin, and a job-killer, to boot:

Koch owns a coal company subsidiary with facilities in Green Bay, Manitowoc, Ashland and Sheboygan; six timber plants throughout the state; and a large network of pipelines in Wisconsin. While Koch controls much of the infrastructure in the state, they have laid off workers to boost profits. At a time when Koch Industries owners David and Charles Koch awarded themselves an extra $11 billion of income from the company, Koch slashed jobs at their Green Bay plant:

Officials at Georgia-Pacific said the company is laying off 158 workers at its Day Street plant because out-of-date equipment at the facility is being replaced with newer, more-efficient equipment. The company said much of the new, papermaking equipment will be automated. [...] Malach tells FOX 11 that the layoffs are not because of a drop in demand. In fact, Malach said demand is high for the bath tissue and napkins manufactured at the plant.

And at the same time, a Wisconsin bill is set to help kill--or at least seriously delay--development of wind-based power generation in the state, which in itself would have helped generate thousands of new jobs, not just power.

So the Republican-sponsored bill (1) hurts public employee unions, who support Democrats; (2) empower Walker to give a no-bid exclusive contract to his biggest campaign contributor with no public oversight; and (3) helps a Wisconsin industrial conglomerate that has already helped kill Wisconsin jobs. This already sounds like corruption of the highest order.

But there's more in this bill--a lot more. In particular, the busting of Medicare in the state of Wisconsin:

The bill also employs “emergency” powers that would allow the governor’s appointed health secretary to redefine the foundations of the state’s Medicaid program, Badgercare, ranging from eligibility to premiums, with only passive legislative review. The attorney in the legislature’s nonpartisan reference bureau who prepared the bill warned that a court could invalidate the statute for violating separation of powers doctrine.

The legislation, the lawyer wrote in a “drafter’s note” about the bill, would allow the state Department of Health Services to “change any Medical Assistance law, for any reason, at any time, and potentially without notice or public hearing... in addition to eliminating notice and publication requirements, [the changes] would leave the emergency rules in effect without any requirement to make permanent rules and without any time limit.”

It will be another Repulbican-imposed tax on Wisconsans. And again, like the power generation giveaway to Koch Industries, the public would have no say in the process.

All of this has been referred to as "The Big Con". And Wisconsans, particularly the ones who voted for Walker and the Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate, are the patsies.