Pubdate: Wed, 10 May 2006
Source: Spooner Advocate (WI)
Contact:  2006 Spooner Advocate
Website: http://www.spooneronline.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3894
Author: Stan Milan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

GOVERNOR DOYLE, REPUBLICANS ARE PARALYZED BY PARTISANSHIP

Who says the Wisconsin Legislature and governor are bound up by
partisan bickering to the point that major issues must be decided by
voters in a statewide referendum to amend the constitution?

I do.

Rep. Gregg Underheim has a different opinion. On my WCLO radio talk
show recently, Underheim argued that only the most contentious bills
get media coverage while hundreds of other bills receive bipartisan
support in the Republican-controlled Legislature and are signed into
law by Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.

Underheim is correct, of course, but his argument only points out that
it's easy to agree on relatively "apple pie" issues. The true test of
bipartisanship comes when the rubber hits the road on such issues as
same-sex marriage and medical use of marijuana.

Underheim, a Republican from Oshkosh, was the only Assembly member of
his party to vote against a measure to ban same-sex marriages.

He introduced a bill to provide for the medical use of marijuana, and
he could not get enough support from his Republican colleagues on the
committee he chairs to move the bill forward. Underheim is a cancer
survivor and while hospitalized saw the suffering patients endure
while undergoing treatments such as chemotherapy. His prostate cancer
was treated with surgery; therefore, he did not suffer the
side-effects of cancer-treating drugs, but he made a strong case to
consider medical marijuana use.

His Republican colleagues slammed that door in his
face.

So, if a discussion of major issues on the merits, most of them
controversial, isn't possible, what is being done in a bipartisan
fashion? How about the burning issue of piers?

No problem. Now we're talking serious stuff.

What about all those poor disadvantages citizens living on lakes and
rivers who desperately need clear and consistent rules to make sure
they get their boats in and out of the water?

Gov. Doyle and Republicans in the Legislature are riding to the
rescue.

Have no fear, out-of-state residents. Your pier will be ready for you
when you hit Wisconsin for the tourist season after Memorial Day.

Doyle has used his power as governor to issue an executive order
implementing his version of a compromise on piers after vetoing the
bill on piers passed by the Legislature.

Doyle says his order ensures that 99 percent of pier owners won't have
to obtain a Department of Natural Resources permit to stick their
piers in the water and won't have to modify their piers. Most piers
that don't comply with the new rules of the Doyle compromise will be
grandfathered in.

But wait, even this compromise is not without a partisan spin.
Republicans led by Assembly Speaker and congressional candidate John
Gard (R- Peshtigo) claim Doyle is trying to legislate through
executive order and is doing an end run around the original compromise
in the bill.

Even Sen. Neal Kedzie (R-Elkhorn), who helped shape the compromise,
has a problem with Doyle's executive order.

Kedzie chairs the Senate Natural Resources and Transportation
Committee.

I recognize the governor's concerns, but we still achieved a great
deal in the compromise bill, and vetoing AB-850 will send us back to
square one," Kedzie said. "Legislation is adopted in the south
(Senate) and west (Assembly) wings of the Capitol, not the (Governor's
Office) east. His executive order, while well-intentioned, does not
have the force of law."

On second thought, the governor and Republicans in the Legislature
can't even agree to compromise on "apple pie" issues such as piers.

Who says the governor and Republicans who run the Legislature are
paralyzed by partisan gridlock?

With all due respect to Gregg Underheim, a brave yet lonely voice of
reason, I do. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake