Republicans love to propose bills that they know, hell everyone knows, will straightjacket government’s ability to manage itself. And if government became even more dysfunctional, well, Republicans can always say they told you so. Plus, they don’t have to work so hard.
As an average citizens, I can’t imagine a more irresponsible proposal that basically negates our representative form of government.
Badgerherald: A proposed amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution would require legislators to poll the electorate for popular support on tax increases, rather than just achieve legislative approval.
The amendment (from) Sen. Frank Lasee, calls for state legislators to use state referendums for tax and major spending increases ... would not make raising taxes impossible and said local voters in the past have voted to spend more money and raise taxes 50 percent of the time.
Not “impossible?” That’s a comfort.
Jay Heck, executive director of the non-partisan watchdog group Common Cause Wisconsin, called Lasee’s amendment “ill-advised” and “irresponsible.”“If all we’re going to do is have a referendum every time someone wants to raise some revenue, then we don’t need elected officials,” Heck said. “We might as well disband the Legislature, because they are elected to make those decisions.”
Heck nailed it with this comment.
Heck accused Lasee of grandstanding, saying the amendment is an attempt to gain public favor by saying legislators should not have the power to make important decisions. He added voters have the power to determine whether these politicians should remain in office at election time.
Rep. Kelda Roys characterized the measure as one that could paralyze local communities and as an example of “extremely bad governance.” Roys cited Colorado’s similar experience with taxpayer protection laws, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
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