WI 2012 JULY WISCONSIN INTEREST Orion at the Trough BY MIKE NICHOLS MPS’ Looming Crack-up BY MICHAEL FORD Tea Party of Two BY SUNNY SCHUBERT Reaffi rmed This is what democracy looks like BY ARTHUR BROOKS, STEPHEN HAYES, FRED SIEGEL AND MARK GREEN Editor > CHARLES J. SYKES A watershed moment for Wisconsin WI WISCONSIN INTEREST As Politico noted earlier this year, if there for a few months, Walker’s victory (1) is any state that “epitomizes what the assures the survival of his reforms for the permanent campaign feels like,” it is foreseeable future, (2) deals a substantive Publisher: Wisconsin Policy Research Wisconsin. For the past year, voters here body blow to public employee unions, Institute, Inc. have been dragged to the polls every 60 (3) ensures that Wisconsin will be a swing Editor: days. The recalls, recounts, rallies and state in the November elections. Charles J. Sykes petition drives seemed as endless as a In this issue, we’ve asked a number of Managing Editor: Madison drum circle. On June 5, it all commentators to weigh in on the fallout Marc Eisen ended. Well, probably not. from Walker’s victory. Contributors Art Direction: But the decisive re-affirmation of include The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Stephan & Brady, Inc. Gov. Scott Walker’s election was clearly Hayes, former Ambassador (and Contributors: a watershed. As Walter Russell Mead gubernatorial candidate) Mark Green, Arthur Brooks Richard Esenberg noted the day after, “The American left the American Enterprise Institute’s Michael Ford as we have come to know it suffered Arthur C. Brooks, and Fred Siegel from Mark Green Stephen Hayes a devastating blow in Wisconsin last the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal Mike Nichols night.... The left picked this fight, on the magazine. Christian Schneider issue and in the place of its choosing.… They will have the final word on Badger Sunny Schubert Fred Siegel And it failed.” State politics, at least until our next Charles J. Sykes Despite the pickup of a seat in the state election. In August. Board of Directors: Senate that gives Democrats temporary CHAIRMAN: (if meaningless) control of that body James Klauser David Baumgarten Ave Bie Catherine C. Dellin Jon Hammes WPRI Thomas J. Howatt David J. Lubar The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, Inc., established in 1987, is a nonpartisan, not-for- Maureen Oster profit institute working to engage and energize Wisconsinites and others in discussions and Timothy Sheehy timely action on key public policy issues critical to the state’s future, its growth and prosperity. Gerald Whitburn The institute’s research and public education activities are directed to identify and promote Edward Zore public policies in Wisconsin that are fair, accountable and cost effective. George Lightbourn (President) Through original research and analysis and through public opinion polling, the institute’s work will focus on such issue arenas as state and local government tax policy and spending Contact Information: and related program accountability, consequences and effectiveness. It will also focus on ADDRESS: health care policy and service delivery; education; transportation and economic development; P.O. Box 382 welfare and social services; and other issues currently or likely to significantly impact the Hartland, WI quality of life and future of the state. 53029 The institute is guided by a belief that competitive free markets, limited government, private PHONE: initiative, and personal responsibility are essential to our democratic way of life. 262.367.9940 To find more information regarding The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, any article in this EMAIL: publication or questions and comments, please go to www.wpri.org. [email protected] WEBSITE: www.wpri.org Wisconsin Interest © 2012 Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, Inc. CONTENTS > departments Pg. 12 WI Breaking the bank at MPS Editor’s Note A watershed moment. BY CHARLES J. SYKES . Inside Cover Dispatches So, can they hear us now? BY CHARLES J. SYKES . 2 Culture Con A really bad economist. BY RICHARD ESENBERG . 10 Frontline Report Two feisty leaders spark the Tea Party in Wisconsin. BY SUNNY SCHUBERT . 36 The Closer Political shell games. BY CHRISTIAN SCHNEIDER . 40 Photo by Allen Fredrickson CONTENTS > features Cover photo by Allen Fredrickson Reaffi rmed! Fighting Bob’s sad end Scott Walker survives -- and The decline of the Progressive tradition. makes history. BY CHRISTIAN SCHNEIDER . .22 BY ASSORTED AUTHORS . 4 Orion’s subsidy games MPS’ coming The company gets repeated public meltdown subsidies. But where are the earnings? Milwaukee’s schools face a And the jobs? fi scal death spiral. BY MIKE NICHOLS . 28 BY MICHAEL FORD. 12 Dispatches > CHARLES J. SYKES Churchill got it right “A little Madness in the Spring,” observed Emily Dickinson, “is wholesome even for the King.” Wisconsin had more than a little madness, but maybe it was good for us as well. … creative. “The Teamsters with their 18 wheelers…,” he As the Spring of the Endless Campaign evolved into the suggested, “could have driven down Interstate 90 and 94 Summer of Perpetual Elections, the interminable tantrum at 45 mph all day long for a week’s time to demonstrate turned from rallies and petitions to the main event: the recall that workers in Wisconsin weren’t going to take this lying of Gov. Scott Walker, who became the first governor ever to down.” be elected twice for the same term. Because nothing wins hearts and minds as effectively as Irresistibly, the mind turns to Winston Churchill’s the gratuitous snarling of traffic. observation that there is “nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result.” Apologies? In the wake of the Walker victory, Washington Post Can you hear us now? columnist Charles Lane wondered “if we’ll be hearing In November 2010, Walker defeated challenger Tom any expressions of remorse for the smears, false rumors Barrett by six points. In June, he defeated him again, this and general vilification that his opponents have hurled time by an even wider margin. at him over the last year and a half.” Any remorse for As the distraught left struggled to make sense of the the Walker=Hitler posters; the threats, the all-around defeat, comedian Jon Stewart put the failed recall in boorishness? perspective: “The people have spoken saying, ‘I’m sorry, We assume that either the question was rhetorical or you didn’t hear us the first time? Yeah, we said we liked Lane hasn’t met Democratic Party spokesman Graeme the tyrant-y, union-busting guy. Like we said 16 months Zielinski. ago. So what the f***?’” In a moment of harmonic convergence, the Democratic Who are these guys? standard-bearer, Tom Barrett, was slapped in the face by In the days leading up to the election, the leftocracy a distraught supporter moments after he was slapped by dismissed polls showing Walker leading by regaling us with voters for the third time. tales of the epic, unprecedented and perhaps gravity-bending awesomeness of the Democrat/union voter turnout effort. Bill If only the Teamsters… Clinton and Jesse Jackson parachuted into town and pundits Matthew Rothschild, editor of our bizarro-world sister on MSNBC giddily recounted stories about legions of publication The Progressive eschewed rationalization and canvassers inspiring/dragging voters to the polls in Democrat spin, declaring Walker’s victory a “whupping.” strongholds. “After 16 months of the most historic and exciting But in the end, it was the GOP turnout that defied citizens’ uprising that I’ve ever been a part of in my 35 predictions: Walker ended up with more votes than he years of progressive activism and journalism, we’re left won in 2010. “What Republicans showed in Wisconsin on with this disaster,” lamented Rothschild. “Scott Walker Tuesday,” wrote the Washington Post’s Dan Balz, “was their is governor for another two and a half years. He claims ability to run a superior voter-mobilization operation, at least vindication for his rightist onslaught. The national right- in this one election.” Politico’s David Catanese marveled: wing media is carrying him around on their shoulders.” “Conservatives have arguably their best ground operation In politics, as in life, the saddest words are “if only.” in place of any of the 50 states — and it’s all going to be For Rothschild, it all could have been so different if only transferred to Romney.” the left had been more militant, more aggressive and more But turnout operations don’t tell the whole story. In May, 2 Wisconsin Interest Dispatches conservatives made it clear they would walk through fire country’s rising young conservative politicians. to vote for Walker, when Walker got 626,538 votes in an Speaking of rock stars, Barack Obama never came essentially meaningless primary, more than both of the here (but did tweet his support for Barrett in 140 leading Democratic candidates — Barrett and Kathleen Falk characters or less, giving new meaning to the term — combined. “mailing it in.”). The whole world was watching Whimper During the campaign, Rep. Paul Ryan frequently said How badly did organized labor lose in Wisconsin? Let that courage was on the ballot on June 5, and the reaction us count the ways: It failed to stop the passage of Act to the vote seemed to embolden conservatives in distant 10; it failed to flip the state Supreme Court; its hand- picked candidate for governor was annihilated in the outposts. The results were closely watched in statehouses Democratic primary; its membership is hemorrhaging. across the country, including south of the border in the And on June 5, its all-in campaign to defeat Walker increasingly dysfunctional and profligate state of Illinois. failed. “Where is Illinois’ Scott Walker?” plaintively asked After all the rallies, fliers, phone banks, threats and Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass.