Marketplace of Ideas Blog

Manitowoc Rep. and Manitowoc County Executive Bob Ziegelbauer identifies a priority for the state Legislature:

Unemployment has been too high for too long. Our area has been hit harder than most, as the pain of the national economy has been especially sharp in the manufacturing sector. As an area that thrived with many good manufacturing jobs when times were good, we are hurting more when the economy is soft. Now more than ever before there is no more important job for state government than rebuilding the tax and regulatory environment that makes up the business climate in Wisconsin.

For far too long now the Legislature has been reckless with the economy, as if the goose that had been laying all the golden eggs was somehow invincible. Tax piled upon business tax has helped prove that wrong. The topper was just this past February when it passed a $2 billion tax increase on business, hitting national and international manufacturers the hardest, in an attempt to balance the state budget without affecting individual voters. It was a colossal mistake. Now we’re living the nightmare.

Recognizable names like Mercury Marine in Fond Du Lac, Thomas Industries in Sheboygan, Parker Pen in Janesville, Harley Davidson and General Motors are just a few examples of international manufacturers under stress. There are many more. The higher tax burden they now find in Wisconsin is a powerful incentive for them to look elsewhere when their business recovers with the economic cycle. We shouldn’t be surprised when they take the hint. …

We should begin rolling back these huge business tax increases now, and instead of trying to pick favorites to reward with special tax incentives strive to make Wisconsin a place where businesses of every stripe have a better chance to succeed.

What’s unusual about this sound advice? Ziegelbauer is a Democrat. (Although he appears to be a Democrat on the outs with his own party, or at least party leadership. To that, I suggest Ziegelbauer follow the path of Rep. Jeff Wood and change the “D” after Ziegelbauer’s name to an “I.”)

Business people more often support Republicans than Democrats because Republicans more often support lower taxes and less government spending and regulations. But the GOP is not the sole repository of good ideas. Moreover, the ideas that define one as pro-business are too important to leave to one party, as we’ve seen in Wisconsin since the 2006 election.

Similar advice from an unusual source comes from President Bill Clinton:

Clinton offered advice to Obama and the Republicans on how to avoid a repeat of the 1990s and its divisive politics.

For Obama, he counseled that the president should keep all doors open.

“He has to do what he thinks is right. He’s already shown he’s prepared to compromise. But no matter how much I fought with Dick Armey and Tom DeLay and Speaker Gingrich, Bob Dole, or Trent Lott, I never closed the door.”

He said the president should not close his ears “to honest criticism.”

For the Republicans, he advised that they should not be the “party of no” but rather should concentrate on positive things.

He recalled former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America that helped the GOP gain control of Congress in 1994. When the elections were over that year, Clinton noted, surveys showed that the independent voters who voted for him in 1992 and then voted for the GOP in 1994 remembered above all that the Republicans had a plan and the Democrats didn’t.

“I don’t think the ‘just say no’ strategy is enough,” he said.

Clinton is correct. The Contract with America, and the fact that Republican Congressional candidates campaigned on it, resulted in Republicans’ capturing control of both houses of Congress, something no one predicted before the election. The Contract with America was a combination of Capitol reforms and proposed bills that allowed voters to understand what Republicans stood for, as opposed to what Democrats had done in their two years of complete control of Washington.

Republicans in Wisconsin have needed their own “Contract with Wisconsin” for years. Ironically, much of the substance of a Contract with Wisconsin has been thoughtfully provided by Democrats and their $2 billion in recent tax increases (for which, by the way, Ziegelbauer did not vote). A Contract with Wisconsin can start by rolling back those tax increases, but it also should include rolling back the size and scope of state government and permanent spending controls on every level of government, beginning with state government. (Unless you think yearly state budget crises are fun to watch.)

There are, of course, no permanent victories in politics. The axiom “Power corrupts” appears to apply to parties in power within their second term in control of a legislative body. (See the aforementioned Ziegelbauer example.) But parties can’t do anything in a dictatorial body such as the Assembly without actually being in control of it. That requires convincing voters to vote for the candidate with the “R” after his or her name instead of the candidate with the “D” after his or her name.