September 7, 2010

Republicans don’t like that Obama ‘bought his daughter ice cream,’ one ally said Monday. Wisconsin Rep. Gwen Moore warmed up a Democratic crowd for President Obama on Monday by accusing Republicans of criticizing Obama for personal reasons. After rattling off the GOP’s opposition to the health care law, unemployment insurance and jobs legislation, Moore said […]

Much of the e-mail I receive in response to my columns accuses me of being a conservative. Now, that’s a good thing if the e-mail is from a conservative but a bad thing if the e-mail is from a liberal.

I do not subscribe to several major planks of either of the platforms. The proper faction to belong to if you are running for office is usually the one that is currently in vogue.
Occasionally, however, you see a politician who speaks and votes his or her mind. Once again, my friend Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) has surprised me.

Moore is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal. If you knew her life history and let her explain how the government was her only safety net for feeding and housing her family when she was a young woman and how she worked her way out of poverty, you would realize that there is another side to the story of just monetizing every social program our legislators propose.

To quote the Journal Sentinel: The paper “was right – and it was wrong” in its Sept. 3 editorial about my position on the proposed Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line. I support the KRM. In fact, I worked to secure authorization for this project in 2005 when Congress last considered legislation that lays out nationwide transportation priorities for five years. And now that it is 2010 and time to consider this legislation again, I once more have identified this project as a priority for funding.

Connecting our cities is crucial for us to be competitive in the 21st-century economy. Allowing easier travel and commuting throughout southeastern Wisconsin will indeed bring benefits to our region.

The Journal Sentinel seems to think that we should immediately move full steam ahead on KRM on the hope that one day our buses will have sustainable funding. In a perfect world,

I would agree. Unfortunately, we all know that this world is far from perfect.