Saturday, May 18, 2013

Sell Governors Mansion and stop wasting Taxpayer money on it now.

It's hard to predict what the next taxpayer funded outrage will be, as Republicans selectively trot out every Democratically instituted law and job for public ridicule. The truth is, conservative voters want, want, want but don't want to pay for...anything. Thank god they can live off the hard work and investments made by past generations. That's why I call conservatives freeloaders. It's not name calling, it's the truth. My next post will be dealing with this subject, based on a recent poll.

Unlike Sen. Bob Wirch, I can joke about the governors mansion as a needless expense, but he's dead serious. He does make sense, and I'm coming around his way of thinking. He explains that point in his recent press release:  
Wispolitics: Senator Bob Wirch (D-Somers) is reaching across the aisle to his
Republican colleague on the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance, Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend), asking for his support for a budget motion permitting the sale of the Governor’s mansion. Earlier this week, Senator Grothman joined every other Republican member of the committee to vote in favor of the sale of 10,000 acres of state stewardship land by June 30, 2017. “Well, at least six other states don’t have mansions for their Governors, and a number of others are considering selling theirs off, so a Governor’s mansion is clearly a luxury that we just don’t need,” Wirch said. "Over the course of a four-year term, it costs taxpayers more than $1 million just to operate. This isn't a partisan issue – I first made this proposal in 2002. People want to see their state government provide basic services and cut waste and frills.


The value of the mansion alone is estimated at $1.5 million, and when combined with the land, the value is believed to exceed $2.5 million. Operating costs ... $250,500 annually, including a 4.5 member staff. A separate appropriation for maintenance and operations ... cost the state an additional $322,700. According to the state’s Legislative Council, six states – Vermont, Idaho, California, Arizona, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island – do not have Governor’s mansions or executive residences; in fact, California turned its former mansion into a state park.

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