Times change
Re: “State eyes deregulating taxis” (3/8/2018): Face it: Technology has so completely altered the ridesharing/cab landscape that well-meaning local governments rife with earnest social-justice warriors are more likely to do harm than good. I mean, what’s next: Do we allow Milwaukee and Madison to pass their own electric codes or plumbing codes to ensure “local” safety issues are addressed? As long as the state establishes reasonable minimum driver background checks, the public will be FAR better off than we ever were when a ride home at bar time was so hard to find that we had to risk our lives because of nonexistent “service.” I’m a lifelong liberal with a voting/donating history to prove it, but around this issue, I’m inclined to favor deregulation.
— Tim Berg (via web)
Retail therapy
Are the State Street cameras (“Walk on by,” 3/21/2018) to make sure everyone is shopping instead of going to bars?
— Jeffery Phillips (via Twitter)
Treasurer seeks freedom
You may think that our state government needs the treasurer as an official financial office, but in Wisconsin the state treasurer simply does not manage financial duties as these have been delegated to other agencies. For example, since 1968, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau calculates tax and spending information for the governor and Legislature and does so with nearly universal trust and support from both Republicans and Democrats as being fair, honest and transparent. Would we really prefer to have a partisan politician in such a sensitive fiscal role?
As your current treasurer, I can verify that the office no longer has any significant responsibilities. Currently, I serve only on one board, the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, which requires just a few phone calls per month. That’s honestly it!
In 2014, I was elected on the platform of eliminating the office as I saw it as a waste of valuable tax dollars. Since then, I have cut the office budget by 75 percent and eliminated all staff positions as there was literally nothing for them to do. By eliminating these positions, Wisconsin taxpayers saved approximately $1 million.
— Matt Adamczyk, Wisconsin State Treasurer (via email)
Correction: An article in last week’s paper, “Dear landlord,” gave the incorrect title for Danielle Sesko. She is the director of innovation and product development at SafetyNet, a division of CUNA Mutual,
