
Leah Vukmir: On infrastructure, look to Wisconsin’s conservative reforms
As President Trump encourages investing in our workforce to repair our roads, airports and bridges, he should also look to Wisconsin’s conservative reforms.
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As President Trump encourages investing in our workforce to repair our roads, airports and bridges, he should also look to Wisconsin’s conservative reforms.

Day in and day out, the industries, businesses, farmers, and workers that make Wisconsin what it is — including “America’s Dairyland” — rely on NAFTA to get the job done. It would be a profound mistake to abandon it.

All the faux outrage on the part of Wisconsin GOP kingpins these past several years has been a clever way to mask the obvious: Their operatives, especially Scott Walker during the 2012 recall election, brazenly skirted the state’s campaign finance laws and had the John Doe been allowed to dig deeper several may have wound up being indicted.

Gov. Scott Walker spent part of New Year’s Eve whining again about the remote possibility that he might be outspent in his re-election campaign. At 11:03 a.m., rather than having a mimosa or pickled herring, he tweeted: “In 2017, the Democrat candidate for governor in VA and his allies outspent the Republican candidate and his allies by about $30 million. We cannot let that happen in Wisconsin.” Of course, Walker is used to having a $30 million advantage himself.

Some states allow the major parties to prevent candidates from appearing on the ballot under their name.


Christmas and Hanukkah have come and gone, and a new year is here. As we enter 2018, many people are preparing new goals to meet and new priorities to focus on. We, as state legislators, would be well served to follow suit.

Is Arizona now the progressive state Wisconsin once was?

The speaker has promised entitlement reform since he first won his House seat. If he retires soon as reports suggest, he has just a year to deliver.

In this penny-wise and pound-foolish political environment of the past several decades, we managed to put things off to future generations.

Gov. Pothole has allowed Wisconsin’s roads to decay to 2nd-worst in the country, costing motorists repair penalties reaching an estimated $700 annually in the Milwaukee area, data show.

Washington overflows with people seeking power, status and wealth. They want to impress. However, Marc Raskin was impressive because he came to D.C. to make the world a better place.

The former Kennedy aide, whose radical democratic faith defined progressive activism and ideas across six decades, has died at 83.

Russia extensively meddled to influence our political and social views, shown through thousands of social media/internet posts, many paid for in Rubles. This tactic is illegal, a modern attack on our nation, and the political hacks who aided and abetted this effort are also guilty of a crime.

Dennis Degenhardt could win GOP-leaning Assembly seat as a pro-business moderate.

I was paging through Peter Baker’s “Obama: The Call of History” Christmas Day and realized again just how much I miss this man in the White House. If nothing else, he made us proud, unlike the childish and insulting person that occupies it today.

Ron Chernow’s biography of U.S. Grant gives him the usual credit for his generous peace terms given at Appomattox, terms intended to heal the nation. But far fewer books recount the Reconstruction Period that followed.

As 2017 draws to a close, thank you to all our faculty, staff, students and supporters who make UW-Madison a world-class institution. I look forward to an even better year in 2018!

Walker now cites creating or retaining – – new category – – nearly – – new qualifier – – 30,000 jobs in 2017.

A contribution is almost never a crime; a politician’s actions in response to that contribution can be.

As President Trump encourages investing in our workforce to repair our roads, airports and bridges, he should also look to Wisconsin’s conservative reforms.

Day in and day out, the industries, businesses, farmers, and workers that make Wisconsin what it is — including “America’s Dairyland” — rely on NAFTA to get the job done. It would be a profound mistake to abandon it.

All the faux outrage on the part of Wisconsin GOP kingpins these past several years has been a clever way to mask the obvious: Their operatives, especially Scott Walker during the 2012 recall election, brazenly skirted the state’s campaign finance laws and had the John Doe been allowed to dig deeper several may have wound up being indicted.

Gov. Scott Walker spent part of New Year’s Eve whining again about the remote possibility that he might be outspent in his re-election campaign. At 11:03 a.m., rather than having a mimosa or pickled herring, he tweeted: “In 2017, the Democrat candidate for governor in VA and his allies outspent the Republican candidate and his allies by about $30 million. We cannot let that happen in Wisconsin.” Of course, Walker is used to having a $30 million advantage himself.

Some states allow the major parties to prevent candidates from appearing on the ballot under their name.


Christmas and Hanukkah have come and gone, and a new year is here. As we enter 2018, many people are preparing new goals to meet and new priorities to focus on. We, as state legislators, would be well served to follow suit.

Is Arizona now the progressive state Wisconsin once was?

The speaker has promised entitlement reform since he first won his House seat. If he retires soon as reports suggest, he has just a year to deliver.

In this penny-wise and pound-foolish political environment of the past several decades, we managed to put things off to future generations.

Gov. Pothole has allowed Wisconsin’s roads to decay to 2nd-worst in the country, costing motorists repair penalties reaching an estimated $700 annually in the Milwaukee area, data show.

Washington overflows with people seeking power, status and wealth. They want to impress. However, Marc Raskin was impressive because he came to D.C. to make the world a better place.

The former Kennedy aide, whose radical democratic faith defined progressive activism and ideas across six decades, has died at 83.

Russia extensively meddled to influence our political and social views, shown through thousands of social media/internet posts, many paid for in Rubles. This tactic is illegal, a modern attack on our nation, and the political hacks who aided and abetted this effort are also guilty of a crime.

Dennis Degenhardt could win GOP-leaning Assembly seat as a pro-business moderate.

I was paging through Peter Baker’s “Obama: The Call of History” Christmas Day and realized again just how much I miss this man in the White House. If nothing else, he made us proud, unlike the childish and insulting person that occupies it today.

Ron Chernow’s biography of U.S. Grant gives him the usual credit for his generous peace terms given at Appomattox, terms intended to heal the nation. But far fewer books recount the Reconstruction Period that followed.

As 2017 draws to a close, thank you to all our faculty, staff, students and supporters who make UW-Madison a world-class institution. I look forward to an even better year in 2018!

Walker now cites creating or retaining – – new category – – nearly – – new qualifier – – 30,000 jobs in 2017.

A contribution is almost never a crime; a politician’s actions in response to that contribution can be.