David Michael Miller
We’ve had some pretty ugly news lately in Wisconsin.
Children have been criminally abused and neglected at the juvenile detention facility Lincoln Hills School. An investigation continues to reveal horror stories — guards pushing kids to fight one another, children attempting suicide.
The quality of care for veterans was gutted at the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King. Veterans who fought for this country have been left in constant, unnecessary pain, denied even the simple pleasure of a coffee shop to socialize in. Excess funds meant to take care of the elderly and disabled instead were redirected to other programs.
The Department of Natural Resources is so lax on enforcement that emission and pollution standards are practically run on the honor system, foolishly endangering the long-term health of two of our state’s most vital economic sectors — agriculture and tourism.
Tension in Milwaukee has reached a boiling point, the culmination of decades of segregation and mass incarceration.
And just this week, The Guardian reported that Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill making it harder to sue lead paint manufacturers around the same time that a lead paint maker donated to a pro-Walker dark money group.
Together, they show a pattern that should embarrass each and every Wisconsinite — the state of Wisconsin is failing to protect its citizens.
It is a breakdown of the most basic components of the social contract. When looking at the health of our state, people can parse job numbers and debate economic statistics. But when state facilities can’t maintain the basic health and welfare of children and elderly war heroes, I can’t feel good about the direction this state is headed in.
I can’t blame the Republicans who currently control state government for all of these problems. Well, maybe I can blame them for the DNR; they’ve messed that up pretty badly and by design. The rest are all systematic failures that haven gotten worse over time. None of them happened overnight. The attacks on the city of Milwaukee have occurred over a generation, under Democratic and Republican administrations. It was the Doyle administration that turned the Veterans Home at King into a profit-generating cash cow.
But I do blame Republicans in power for not doing enough to try to solve these problems or at least make things better. Gov. Walker is already preparing for his 2020 presidential run. He has pledged $4.5 million for Milwaukee to help with job training. It’s a nice gesture, but not the kind of money he gives to billionaires who want a new stadium.
Going beyond Walker, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) appears to be most concerned with booking more conservative guest speakers for the UW System. Attorney General Brad Schimel would rather focus on federal lawsuits against the Obama administration than looking into illegal dumping into our lakes and rivers.
These scandals rarely come to light through official state government channels. Some of that is typical of the one-party government where Republicans have held virtually all the power since 2011. Democrats and Republicans alike tend to put oversight on the backburner when their party holds a monopoly on power: Digging up dirt on scandals taking place under the current administration’s watch only helps the opposition.
But the Republicans have taken this a step further. They have gutted the Government Accountability Board and replaced it with the toothless Ethics and Elections Commissions, which only makes it easier for state government to keep these embarrassments hidden away.
Democrats have been trying to get an audit of the Veterans Home at King for years, but Republicans blocked it until a recent investigative report by The Capital Times. This example isn’t an outlier. The public learned about most of these scandals through outsiders looking in — the tireless efforts of local media, passionate advocates who refuse to back down, a federal investigation.
These are all spotty avenues for disclosure, allowing abuse and mismanagement to go on for far too long before action is taken.
We need people in state government who are going to look for problems before they become headlines. We need people who will put the maintenance of basic functions of state government above their personal ideological crusades.
We need people who will protect us again.
Alan Talaga co-writes the Off the Square cartoon with Jon Lyons and blogs at isthmus.com/madland.