The Cato Institute’s Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governor’s was released today, and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle was one of seven governors to receive an “F” rating from the national group.

From the report:

Jim Doyle of Wisconsin generally avoided tax increases his first few years in office, but he changed course in 2007 and approved an almost $900 million package of tax increases on cigarettes, hospitals, oil companies, and real estate. Doyle topped that increase with a $1.1 billion tax package in 2009. The package broadened the corporate tax base, increased the top personal income tax rate, increased cigarette taxes, reduced the capital gains tax exclusion, and increased hospital taxes.

The tax hikes have allowed Doyle to keep on spending, and he has proposed a substantial general fund increase for fiscal 2011.

Four governors received “A” ratings.

I’ve discussed campaign finance reform a lot on this blog – probably 90% more than anyone really wants to hear.  So I was pleased when President Obama broached the subject during his trip to Madison on Tuesday of this week.  The President waded into the Citizens United waters when he told the 26,500 onlookers:

And so you can persuade them maybe to give the Republicans the keys back if they’re not hearing the other side of the argument. So a lot of them are fired up. And thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision, they are being helped along this year, as I said, by special interest groups that are allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money on attack ads. They don’t even have to disclose who’s behind the ads. You’ve all seen the ads. Every one of these groups is run by Republican operatives. Every single one of them — even though they’re posing as nonprofit groups with names like Americans for Prosperity, or the Committee for Truth in Politics, or Americans for Apple Pie. I made that last one up.

“Every one of these groups is run by Republican operatives.”

Then someone should tell these Republican operatives to stop running ads saying Scott Walker is okay with disabled people being raped.  (In fact, that ad is being run by the Greater Wisconsin Commitee, funded by noted Republican operative Governor Jim Doyle.)

Surely, it’s shady Republicans who are running ads falsely alleging Sean Duffy wants to “gamble away” Social Security by “privatizing” it.

Of course, both sides have groups running negative ads on their behalf.  But for the President to flatly state that only Republicans do it is insulting.  I’ll just wait here for the state’s editorial boards to criticize him for his bitter, partisan rant.

Over the past few months, we here at WPRI have issued a number of reports regarding the fact that state government employees pay nothing for their pensions.  And for suggesting that state employees actually pay the “employee” portion of their pension benefits, we’ve gotten significant blowback.  (See “Growing Anger Over Free Government Pensions” from our Refocus Wisconsin project.)

As it turns out, it’s not just actual state employees that can live the dream of paying nothing for their retirement benefits.  Just take a quick trip over to the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds website, and fill out the Retirement Benefits Calculator the ETF provides on its site.

In order to figure out your lifetime annuity, all you need to do is fill in your date of birth, the date on which you hypothetically plan to retire, and your three hypothetical highest earning years.

For the purposes of this exercise, I plugged in that I was a 20-year teacher with a 3-year high salary of $75,000, $76,000, and $77,000, and would be retiring in 2026.  As a result of my 20 years of service, I would receive an estimated  lifetime annuity of $$1,669.89 per month.  (I have the option of getting more up front and less on the back end if I choose the accelerated payment option.)  All, of course, for my monthly required contribution of zero dollars and zero cents.

So at your next dinner party, fire up the website, gather the guests around, and play “guess what my monthly annuity would be if I were a state employee?”  It’s bound to be a hit.

See the benefit calculator here.  (Click the “I have read the disclaimer” link at the bottom.)

As part of our Refocus Wisconsin project, we have commissioned a number of local filmmakers to make short films about government and politics in Wisconsin. Each video represents a different aspect of Wisconsin government through the eyes of our independent filmmakers, and more are on their way.

Here’s the third video in our series, entitled “Milwaukee Public Schools: Losing Our Best:”

Milwaukee Public Schools: Losing Our Best from WPRI.

As part of our Refocus Wisconsin project, we have commissioned a number of local filmmakers to make short films about government and politics in Wisconsin. Each video represents a different aspect of Wisconsin government through the eyes of our independent filmmakers, and more are on their way.

Here’s the second video in out series, “Wisconsin-itis:”

Wisconsin-itis from WPRI.

As part of our Refocus Wisconsin project, we have commissioned a number of local filmmakers to make short films about government and politics in Wisconsin.  This is the first one we’re unveiling, and it’s called “Government/Governed:”

“Government / Governed” from WPRI.

The Daily Show looks at a union in Nevada that hires temporary workers to protest on their behalf:

My latest column is up over at the mothership; it discusses the main way the election of 2010 is different from the elections of 2006 and 2008.  Mainly, in 2006 and 2008, voters rejected a person (George W. Bush) and in 2010, they are poised to reject an ideology. The War in Iraq and the collapse of the economy didn’t have anything to do with “conservatism” per se – ObamaCare and the stimulus have everything to do with “liberalism.”

From the column:

Voters are tired of paying higher taxes for lower quality government. They’re fed up with the underhanded way in which policy is made by buying votes with pork projects.

They strongly reject the notion that government has the wherewithal to manage their health care. (In a Rasmussen poll out this week, 61% of Americans believe ObamaCare should be repealed.) Voters recognize that putting government in charge of making something cheaper is a little like putting Roger Clemens in charge of baseball’s steroid policy.

The upcoming voter revolt isn’t going to happen because of superfluous issues. It’s not going to happen because people think Barack Obama was born in Stankonia. Or because Nancy Pelosi has had enough skin removed from her lips to create a spare Justin Bieber. It’s going to happen because liberals did exactly what they said they were going to do; and the results, as predicted by conservatives, have been disastrous.

Read it here.

A stimulus quiz from Bankrupting America:

They say that you only use ten percent of your brain.  But if you’re not following the excellent work of the writers on the Refocus Wisconsin project, then you’re only using 98% of that ten percent.

In the past few days:

• Scott Niederjohn explained how we can pay teachers more and still save money;
• Tom Hefty, John Torinus, and Sammis White offered suggestions on how to get Wisconsin back on track;
• Mike Knetter and Gwen Eudey demonstrated how other states are revitalizing their university systems;
• Sarah Archibald explained how to get the best teachers in our classrooms.

On Thursday of this week, many of these authors will be presenting their findings at a FREE luncheon at the Grain Exchange in Milwaukee.  (That’s right – FREE-NINETY NINE.)  In addition, we will be unveiling a series of videos we have hired various documentarians to make about the Wisconsin experience.

There are still spaces available, so RSVP now by clicking HERE.

Here’s the info:

The Refocus Wisconsin Luncheon

Grain Exchange, 225 East Michigan, Milwaukee, WI

September 23, 2010

11:30 – 2:30

The luncheon is free, but space is limited.

(As always, lederhosen optional.  But you knew that.)