Voter ID law suppresses citizens' rights
The most shining example of the Wisconsin government's idiocy is the voter ID law.
When this law was being debated, The Daily Cardinal made it clear we opposed the bill. We felt as though the Republican bill was a thinly veiled, partisan attempt to intentionally disenfranchise students, the elderly and the poor-demographics that usually support Democratic candidates in elections.
Republican leaders claimed the law was necessary to combat voter fraud, although, by all accounts, voter fraud is barely a negligible issue in Wisconsin. In fact, voter fraud is most prevalent in absentee balloting, not in-person voting.
What's worse, for students especially, is the legislature wrote the law so current university IDs are not acceptable at the polls.
UW-Madison and the Government Accountability Board decided on a low cost solution-to place stickers with the necessary information on UW IDs.
This was just too simple a fix for Republicans, who seemingly pressured the GAB into reversing its decision on the proposal.
This in turn forced the university to adopt a high-cost alternative-provide students with totally new IDs suitable for voting.
Unfortunately, this may not be enough to prevent the Republicans from achieving their goal of suppressing the student vote.
Although students and other citizens will technically not have to pay for these new voting IDs, the extra step or two to be able to vote will likely turn many away from the polls.
The little jobs session that couldn't
The funny thing about a jobs session is that, in theory, it should make some effort to pass legislation attempting to create a job for someone-anyone-in the state. Unfortunately, instead of initiatives aimed at boosting the economy or infrastructure projects that would provide opportunities for the hundreds of thousands of unemployed people in this state (cough, high-speed rail, cough), we got a bunch of nonsense.
They passed a law that allows gun-owners to shoot trespassers without consequence and as well as a law that dismantles Wisconsin's standards for sexual education. Although it is comforting we can finally shoot at those pesky neighborhood kids trespassing on our property, the GOP controlled legislature wasted valuable time they could have used to provide this state with the economic stability it so desperately lacks.
Wisconsin democracy is now pay-to-play
It wouldn't be a list of the state government's worst decisions without a ploy or two to undermine the Constitution. Fortunately, Gov. Scott Walker did not disappoint. The day his administration released new Capitol and state building policies requiring permits for events, protests and demonstrations was the day the Founding Fathers rolled over in their graves.
Relatively new to Wisconsin, the policies were drafted in the midst of contentious but peaceful protests against Walker's union crushing budget repair bill. The bill roused tens of thousands to march on the Capitol steps against the governor, pushing Walker to scheme ways to silence the passionate voices so ardently protesting against him.
Thus, the new permit policies were born. Requiring a group of four or more to obtain a permit at least three days prior to a rally or demonstration, the policies allow the Department of Administration to decide how much each gathering should pay for clean-up and police enforcement-creating a monetary blockade between individuals and their right to assemble. By giving financial discretion to the government, under the Walker administration, citizens are now asked to pay for their First Amendment rights. No, we are not joking.
Concealed carry: No training required
Guns don't kill people. Oh wait, yes they do, especially when coupled with insufficient training and increased incompetence. The Wisconsin Legislature's Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules suspended the requirement for applicants of a concealed carry law to have a minimum of four hours of firearms training.
What does that mean for citizens of Wisconsin? Any instructor could sign off that somebody has received the proper training to carry a firearm after a mere minutes of training and $50. Now, trigger-happy Troy is walking around with a pistol attached to his hip.
The law allows people 21 and older to qualify for weapons permits if they pay the $50 fee and pass a background check.
Is four hours of training too much to ask for fellow Wisconsinites to hide a gun on their person? The only part of the law concerning safety was this requirement. With the removal of this rule, short-sighted legislators took away the only safeguard that existed in the law.
We can all thank our boy Scotty and his GOP buddies for keeping the streets of Wisconsin safe by arming potentially untrained civilians.
GOP helps to make tenants' lives harder
The Legislature passed a law in October aiming to curb local and municipal control over housing laws. The law, introduced by state Sen. Frank Lassee, R-De Pere, prohibits local governments from enacting ordinances limiting a landlord's ability to show an apartment, search a prospective tenant's background or use that background information as the basis of rejection.
Although the bill's intention is to protect landlords from troublesome tenants, in Madison the problem often proves to be the opposite. Students in this city tend to change residence on a yearly basis and are often unfamiliar with the local renting policies, giving landlords room to take advantage, which is why Madison has the tenant protections it does. This bill is uniquely overreaching in that it does not necessarily tell local governments what to do, but instead keeps them from creating housing laws in their own best interest.
