>> I'm Frederica Freyberg.
Tonight on "Here and Now," a first look
at Governor Scott Walker's State of the State address.
He says Wisconsin is strong, winning and working.
We'll hear from State Assembly leaders.
After that, a closer look at Wisconsin's economy and jobs.
Then, in our look ahead, we will anticipate Martin Luther King
Day with a man chosen for a MLK humanitarian award.
It's "Here and Now" for January 13.
>> Funding for "Here and Now" is provided, in part,
by Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
>> Leading our first look tonight, the governor jumped
forward in his State of the State Address to talk about his
budget, due out next month.
>> Altogether, the budget we'll propose represents a 39%
increase in maintenance and safety over my predecessor's
last transportation budget.
We can do all this and more without raising the gas tax or
the vehicle registration fee.
[Applause]
>> I will keep my promise that I made to the voters
in the last election.
Whether you agree with me or not, I hope that you can respect
that I'll keep my word.
I just believe firmly that we were not sent here by the people
of Wisconsin to raise taxes.
>> Front and center in the part of the budget that pays for
roads and highways will be the nearly billion dollar shortfall
in the transportation fund.
Republican Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke says to fix
that there has to be a long-term sustainable funding formula.
He joins us from Green Bay.
And very much for being here.
>> Thanks for having me.
>> What is a long-term sustainable funding formula?
>> Well we've got to figure something out because currently
the way the transportation fund is structured 54% of our revenue
comes from the gas tax.
And that gas tax revenue has been relatively flat over the
last ten years or so.
It's risen about 3% in real terms
and our construction cost index has gone up 46.5%.
It's just not keeping up with demand
based on the number of hybrids on the road.
The number of electrics and just the (audio drop out) standards
for cars that are out there.
We need to fundamentally fix the formula.
>> You'd like to see a boost in that?
>> I'm not certain an increase in the gas tax is a long-term
answer because like I said, it's kind of a dwindling source.
Over the course of the coming years we're going to see
higher and higher fuel standards,
more and more electric cars on the road.
So I think we have to figure something else out
for the long term.
>> Well, what kind of a box does it put Assembly majority
leadership in to have Governor Walker repeatedly talk about
how he's not raising taxes or fees to get there?
>> Well, it's difficult because we do want
to see a long-term solution.
I mean, if we just focus on what the governor is proposing,
there isn't really a fix there.
All he does is (audio drop out) and delay maintenance out into
the future, which is going to end up costing us more in the
long run for those projects.
And we're going to end up spending about $200 million on
southeast Wisconsin freeways alone just to patch them while
we're waiting to replace them.
So I think it's a waste of money that's unnecessary.
And if we fix the funding formula long-term,
we can go ahead with those projects on time.
>> But now the governor has launched an online petition and
digital ad saying, "I remain opposed to increasing your taxes
despite pressure from some to take more money from Wisconsin's
working families." As the pressure from some he's talking
about from you and Speaker Vos, do you suppose, in particular?
>> Well, we're not talking about -- yeah.
We're not talking about raising taxes or fees right off the bat.
What we want to do is on the front end we want to save as
much (audio drop out) possibly can, make sure every taxpayer
dollar is being spent wisely.
But then if there's a gap between that
and the construction and maintenance needs,
we do need to figure out a way to fund it.
I think conservatives believe that it's more conservative to
pay for things as you go rather than delay the costs and make
them worse in the future or, worse yet, bond for them.
And that's one of the things that we've seen over the course
of the last few years.
We've been bonding a lot for transportation.
We've taken transportation bonding from about 10 or 11
cents on the dollar up to almost 20 now.
And the governor's proposed budget takes it up to 24 cents
on the dollar heading towards 30.
It's just not a conservative solution in our mind.
>> So now another budget item the governor spoke to in his
address had to do with the UW.
>> Our 2017 through 2019 state budget will do more than just
freeze tuition.
We will actually cut -- that's right -- cut tuition for all
Wisconsin undergraduates throughout the UW System.
[Applause]
>> So, Representative Steineke, what's your reaction to cutting
tuition with the budget backfilling that to pay for it?
>> Listen I've been a big proponent of the tuition freeze
over the last four years.
I think that's really important.
We have to do what we can to keep college education
affordable in this state.
I think to a large extent we've done that.
(audio drop out) Some of the reforms that we've made and the
tuition freeze, the average student is saving about $6,000
over the course of a four-year term.
So that's important.
The devil's kind of in the details
on what the Governor's proposing.
I'm a little concerned that we're shifting taxpayer dollars
away from General Fund Revenue into the university system to
make up for that tuition cut because we have a lot of
priorities we need to invest in, whether that's k-12 education,
the correction system and a number of other things
that the budget needs to fund.
>> Now, I've read that Speaker Vos is worried that this
proposal leads Wisconsin down the Bernie Sanders route
of free college.
Do you agree with that?
>> Well, I don't know -- you know, obviously I don't think
the Governor believes in eventually ending up
(audio drop out) where we're giving free college
to any student that wants to come.
But it does concern me that we're transferring
more General Fund Revenue into the university system
just to offset tuition cuts.
The university system compared to its peers is already a pretty
good bargain for the in-state residents in Wisconsin,
so I think a tuition freeze is reasonable, but I think
backfilling a tuition cut with General Fund Revenue
is concerning to me.
>> We leave it there. Thanks for joining us.
>> Thanks for having me.
>> Governor Walker's theme in this week's address was we are
working and winning for Wisconsin and that the state of
our state is strong.
>> In addition to a growing economy, I'm happy to note that
our finances are stable.
We finished the fiscal year yet again with a surplus.
Our rainy day fund is 165 times bigger now
than it was when we took office.
And Wisconsin had the fourth lowest overall long-term debt
obligation of any state in the country.
[Cheers and applause]
>> The governor's is a positive picture of the state of things
in Wisconsin.
We go now to Kenosha and to Assembly Minority Leader
Democratic Representative Peter Barca,
who may not paint it that way.
Thanks very much for being here.
>> Great to be back on the show.
Thank you.
>> We just heard the governor describe a growing economy,
stable finances and low overall long-term debt obligation.
Would you dispute that?
>> Well, clearly I would dispute that.
In fact, the metrics for Wisconsin are just horrible in
almost every major category.
We're eighth of ten in jobs in the Midwest
over the last five years.
We have the most diminished middle class
in the entire country.
Let me repeat that.
The most diminished middle class in the entire country.
And the outlook isn't good when you're dead last in
entrepreneurialship, as we are.
And when you have
the fourth worst roads in the entire country.
Things are not rosy right now.
The people of Wisconsin know it.
The majority of people feel Wisconsin is on the wrong track.
In his poll numbers, he's at about 42% approval rating,
which is not strong.
So I think he can paint that rosy picture, but after six long
years, the metrics are not measuring up.
Wisconsinite deserve better and they know it.
>> As for the governor's new online push for no new taxes to
fund highways, what's your prescription to fill the billion
dollar gap?
>> Well, clearly after six years we now have either the third or
fourth worst roads depending on how you measure it.
And with his budget, where we stand currently
is 20 cents of every dollar you pay in gas taxes
goes to pay interest on the debt.
So we're not even fixing our roads.
And at the end of his biennium with the budget he's proposing,
we'll be close to 25 cents on the dollar.
So we need a sustainable fund.
In the last budget, Democrats in the Finance Committee tried to
restore indexing but in an accountable manner.
They would have to have a vote in the Joint Finance Committee.
If we still had indexing in the state, we would have a billion
dollars more in our transportation fund so.
We need a sustainable program.
>> Some of the Republican leadership agrees with you on
these things, so do you expect Majority Republicans to work
with Democrats on transportation?
>> Well, we certainly hope so.
In the last budget they refused to work with us.
Not one Republican on that budget committee was willing to
vote for that motion.
In fact, they all argued against it
saying we don't have a revenue problem.
We have a spending problem, meaning that I guess
the road builders are spending too much money.
We have an audit that will come out in the next two weeks.
I think it's going to show what we know
which our road builders are very efficient.
In fact on average about 43% more efficient
than their counterparts in other parts of the country.
So transportation workers are doing a good job.
But we need resources in order to not continue to have the
fourth worst roads in the entire nation.
>> So here's a question.
Who doesn't like a college tuition cut?
What's your reaction to that proposal from the governor?
>> Well, as I indicated, you know, personally, I would love
to give students a tuition cut.
But, you know, he hasn't funded
the freeze in tuition in the past.
So the concern would be will he fund actually cutting tuition.
Clearly that would be beneficial and certainly be a much better
use of money than what he did in his last budgets, where 11 of
the wealthiest taxpayers are getting a $21 million tax break.
I'd much rather give it to students.
But I think most students know
we also have to fund the university.
Otherwise you end up going to school for five years and that
$100 less in tuition will be eaten up, you know, ten to 20
times over.
>> So, in other words, backfilling it as part of the
budget is not what you'd like to see?
>> I'm just saying that, look, let's go ahead and cut tuition.
I think it's a brilliant idea, provided, though,
that he does what he has never done so far
which is to provide adequate resources for the university.
He cut a quarter billion dollars in the last budget
and we're feeling the strain.
I'm here at UW-Parkside.
I served on their Foundation board
for between one and two decades.
There's no slush funds here. We are hurting.
We're losing top faculty.
That's not a good thing.
And it's taking students longer to graduate in many instances
because course offerings are no longer able to be given.
So that puts us backwards at a time when we have a huge skills
gap and a shortage of workers.
This should be a top priority, whether it be k-12, tech
colleges or the university.
It's vital for our future.
It's been a value of Wisconsinites for 100 years to
make sure that students had a quality education.
So we're not living up to that reputation.
>> With less than a minute left, what do you expect out of the
Trump administration in Washington that could take hold
in Wisconsin?
>> Well, what I would hope for is that I would hope that Donald
Trump would live up to his campaign promise and do a major
infrastructure package.
Clearly the governor is not going to do that.
He's not up to it.
So I'm hoping that President-elect Trump will in
fact put forward money for infrastructure.
Vitally important.
The president-elect also talked about rebuilding the economy,
changing these trade deals.
That would help the upper Midwest, specifically Wisconsin,
if in fact, we didn't have these terrible trade deals that are
draining us of jobs in the state.
>> We leave it there.
Representative Peter Barca, we'll speak again.
Thanks very much.
>> Frederica, great to be with you.
>> Taking a closer look, is the fiscal state of the state
as rosy as the Governor describes
or as bleak as the Democrats believe?
For answers, we turn to labor economist and Associate Director
for UW-Madison's Center on Wisconsin Strategy
Laura Dresser. Thanks a lot for being here.
>> Thanks for having me.
>> So who is right?
Is the state of the economy
strong in Wisconsin at this time?
>> Well, I think the mixed picture is a result of the --
both the fact that we are well into an economic recovery
nationally and in the state and that has been good news
in this state for workers.
So we are seeing better unemployment rates
and more jobs.
But we aren't to levels of 2000 family income.
Wages are still stagnant.
So the picture is decidedly mixed and that is why I think
people can find a story that supports their position.
>> So they can cherrypick different statistics.
>> Right, right.
>> But on the unemployment rate, it's low and certainly that
is a measure of, as you say, this kind of improving economy.
>> Absolutely.
The low unemployment rate is good news.
The fact is that we haven't -- you know, if one of Governor
Walker's measures would be the 250,000 job benchmark that he
set for himself, we still haven't quite met that, right?
We don't have as many jobs as I think anybody would have
expected us to have right now.
It is true that the labor market is tighter and that workers can
find more hours, better jobs.
That employers have to spend
a little more time finding workers.
All of that is true.
It's also true it's the not the tightest labor market we've
ever seen and it isn't the highest--it isn't pulling people
out of their -- what they chose to do when they moved out of the
labor market and that's where the weakness is.
>> Now, the governor says that wages are on the rise.
Democrats aren't saying that.
Where are wages?
>> Wages are coming up nationally.
The tight labor market, the end of the recession for workers
has finally kicked in some wage growth.
That wage growth is a little slower here.
So it isn't particularly strong dynamic wage growth.
It isn't making up for the losses that we faced really
across this new century.
But it is the right direction.
Again, another one of those things
where it's decidedly mixed.
But yeah, there's some wage growth.
It's a little less than I think
a lot of people would like to see.
And then, of course,
certain workers have just been completely left out.
>> So what about poverty rates?
>> Yeah.
So we see that poverty is up a little, not dramatically,
but a little bit, so we see more people in poverty.
We see a lot of people struggling in low-wage jobs.
The jobs at the bottom of the labor market deliver very poor
wages, very unsteady hours, very low benefits.
And that package is very hard on families.
And that is a story of work
that's found all across the state.
Even when you have low unemployment rate,
you still have an abundance of these very low-wage jobs.
And so you see poverty, you see workers
struggling to make ends meet.
>> Meanwhile the governor talks about the work force.
He says the challenge is not creating jobs, but finding
people to fill them.
Why is that?
>> Well, that's partly true again.
There is a challenge in specific sectors with decent wages.
There's a challenge to fill jobs.
And in the very low-wage part of the labor market there's a
challenge to fill jobs.
People can't make ends meet.
So they can't figure out how to stay
in those very low-wage jobs.
And employers and workers both face a lot of turnover there.
There are some high-end jobs where employers are having a
hard time filling jobs and having to be more aggressive
about recruitment or attraction or wages.
But I would say that there is a big middle
where there's just much less dynamism,
wage action and interest from employers.
>> Is it because Wisconsin citizens or job seekers
are kind of under-educated and therefore unemployable?
>> I would say no.
You know, this is a long-term context, and to pretend that
you instantly move from worrying about jobs to worrying only
about education suggests, you know, kind of one light switch
or the other light switch is correct.
But I think what's going on in the labor market is it's
slightly tighter and we're generating more -- employers
need to work a little harder.
But it's also the case that we have a strong base of employment
and skills in this work force.
We have, you know, roughly three manufacturing workers -- workers
have jobs compared to four -- you know, three workers for
every four we had 15 years ago.
So there's a lot of manufacturing skills in this
labor market that just aren't finding homes.
I think the labor market--
or the work force has a strong set of skills,
but not always that match exactly what employers need.
So there is some need to do more matching there.
But there's also just some serious questions of job quality
and what's going on at the bottom of the labor market
as well.
>> Is there a trend of out-migration of people who
might fill some of these 80,000 jobs that the governor talks
about being on the job center website?
>> Well, I think it's important to kind of be precise about what
jobs we're talking about on the job center website or anywhere,
what are the open jobs.
We have some open jobs that are very high-wage and specific
skills.
And it's important as a matter of public policy to make sure
that we meet that employer demand and that we find -- that
we help the universities, the public schools, the technical
colleges meet -- prepare workers to fill those high-wage,
high-skill demands, wherever those openings are.
And we have some systems to do that.
But also a lot of the jobs that are posted and open are jobs at
relatively low wages that do not pay workers enough to cover the
cost of even getting to the job and holding that job in a stable
way.
And so that's a real problem that is solved not through
training workers more, but figuring out other solutions,
including raising the quality of the jobs.
>> All right. We leave it there.
Laura Dresser, thanks a lot. >> Thanks for having me.
>> Now a look ahead to Monday, the national day of honor to the
late Reverend Martin Luther King.
The annual MLK state ceremonies will be held at the state
capitol.
Wisconsin Public Radio's Dr. Jonathon Overby will once
again be the program's emcee.
The ceremony is broadcast live on WPR and WPT starting at noon.
Later in the day, Dane County and the city of Madison will
celebrate Dr. King's legacy by awarding humanitarian honors to
community members who reflect King's mission.
One recipient joins us now.
He's Dane County circuit court judge Everett Mitchell, who is
also Senior Pastor of Christ the Solid Rock Church in Madison.
Judge, thank you very much for being here.
>> Thank you for having me.
>> What does it mean to you to be the recipient of this award?
>> It's very humbling.
It is very--for me to even be mentioned with the legacy of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Obviously being a Morehouse
graduate, it was Dr. King's statue on Morehouse's campus
that inspired me to reach for higher education.
There hadn't been a Mitchell that had went to college before.
So when I walked on the grounds of Morehouse College and I saw
that statute pointing fiercely on that campus, it really
captured my imagination and made me think about the possibility
of higher education.
His legacy, the things he fought for, it means a lot to me and
I've used his speeches as values, guiding my life, from
the small town of Fort Worth, Texas to where I am now in
Madison, Wisconsin.
>> Describe some is of his words that have guided you.
>> Well, the biggest one is the idea of injustice anywhere is a
threat to justice everywhere.
And so that phrase really has become a value for me, whether
I'm thinking about LGBT rights or focusing on issues relating
to poverty or even now as a circuit court judge,
how I deal with individuals in my courtroom.
I realize that any small injustice really does impact the
broader understanding of what justice can be.
And it's up to me and people like me and people in our
community to make justice real and not just an ideal.
>> Do you feel as though the legacy of Martin Luther King is
being tested in these times?
>> I think the legacy of King has always been tested.
I don't think any new group, any new issue that arises requires
us to reflect on those broader values of what it truly means to
be a beloved community.
The more we make ideal, the more we make Dr. King just an ideal,
the more we do diminish the power of his legacy.
He wasn't asking us just to remember him.
He was really asking us to put our words, our deeds into action
and to make sure that we are the sole force that makes justice
real for everyday people, for children, for families, for
those who are stuck in wells of poverty and pain.
We need to make it real and not just an ideal.
>> So living it and not just noting it.
>> Yes, yes, yes.
And becoming living embodiments.
I have this ideal where I ask myself all the time, what do I
do with the power that I've been given?
Because sometimes we feel so powerless to do anything.
We think you can't make the machine move.
We can't effect change.
When I reflect on Dr. King, it's all about taking those moments,
those small moments of power that you've been given, whether
it's a microphone, whether there's a podium or whether
there's judicial bench, and you make real the ideals.
You make people see each other as human beings.
You make the system become a just one
with the power you've been given.
The biggest thing is that for Dr. King is a reminder that you
don't have to be -- and this is not to offend anybody.
You don't have to be a senior to make a difference.
Young people can step up and make a difference.
Being the same age as Dr. King when he was assassinated
is a reminder to me that make sure you give everything
that you have to this community
and I like to think I have done that for Dane County.
>> Speaking of all of the things that you have done and
all that you have given and your accomplishments, what stands out
to you as perhaps the most rewarding or most important?
>> I still think becoming the first black pastor of a Baptist
church to marry a same-sex couple in my church probably
stands out to me as one of the most courageous and probably
scary moments of my life.
But I just believe that
that is the true embodiment of what King called us to be.
To really see ourselves tied together
into a single garment of destiny.
What affects one directly affects us all indirectly.
And to allow injustice towards same-sex couples to exist even
within the black church is something we couldn't stand for.
I'd like to think it's something he wouldn't stand for.
For the black church or any religious institution to remain
true to a sense of purpose, we needed to stand up and say,
"They're human beings just like any other human beings." The
women I married had been together for 45 years.
I didn't know any straight couples that had been together
45 years.
I was happy to give them that blessing,
to give them the moment that they felt special
and they felt included in this narrative of humanity.
>> Where do you go from here?
What's next for you to do and to live?
>> I don't know.
I think the role that I play in the judiciary branch here in
Dane County and working with the juveniles is one place I really
want to put a lot of energy.
I see so many kids who come into our system who are broken,
who are disconnected.
I think we need to make sure we keep them at the center of our
community so we can really change the narrative
of Dane County and the nation.
So I'm excited to be a part of that ongoing change.
>> All right.
Judge Mitchell, thank you very much.
>> Thank you all so much.
>> Reverend Mitchell will be joined Monday by another Dane
County Martin Luther King humanitarian award honoree,
Reverend Dr. Carmen Porco.
Among many other endeavors, Dr. Porco is the head of the
Housing Ministries of American Baptists in Wisconsin.
>> Now a quick look at another Wisconsin news development.
In response to increased spending in the state's judicial
elections and concerns over recusal standards for Supreme
Court justices, a group of 54 retired Wisconsin judges filed
a petition this week seeking new disqualification rules
for judges.
The proposal to the state Supreme Court asks for higher
conflict-of-interest standards for the state's jurists.
The petition comes seven years after the court decided judges
didn't need to recuse themselves from cases simply because of
campaign contributions, regardless of the amount.
And next week, Wisconsin Public Radio's state capitol bureau
Chief Shawn Johnson joins us for a Capitol Insight segment.
Until then, I'm Frederica Freyberg.
Have a great weekend.
>> Funding for "Here and Now" is provided, in part,
by Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.