AND THIS HAS WHAT TO DO WITH OUR FISCAL CRISIS?

Did the Joint Finance Committee decide to hold their budget hearings this holiday weekend in order to underscore the importance of the state budget crisis and their concerns over getting the situation under control...or are they meeting under the disguise of the holiday weekend in order to promote and pass a liberal agenda of items, which should NOT be included in the state budget? When you see the first votes coming out of the committee, it appears painfully clear that the Doyle Administration and the Mark Pocan-Mark Miller leadership team on JFC are following the Rahm Emmanuel mantra of not letting a crisis go to waste:

* The JFC voted to extend domestic partner retirement and group insurance benefits to state employees despite the objections of Republican members. Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, moved to eliminate the provision, saying that while it "may be a good idea" this is the wrong time to expand state benefits to a new group. But Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, said the provision merely allows the state to catch up with other neighboring states who already offer the benefits, and that it gives "fairness to all state employees." Rep. Robin Vos, R-Caledonia, said the extension of the benefits to same-sex couples flies in the face of residents who "voted overwhelmingly" against gay marriage.
* A controversial measure to allow some undocumented students to avoid nonresident tuition rates at UW System and Wisconsin Technical College System schools was passed on a party-line vote. The provision allows for in-state tuition rates for people who graduated from a Wisconsin high school or received a GED from this state, have been in the state for three years after their first day of attending a Wisconsin school or prior to their receipt of the GED, and have filed to be a permanent resident. Rep. Colon said that the policy, which has been killed in previous budgets, always "incites a lot of imagination." But he said critics have their "heads in the sand" need to realize that immigrants are in Wisconsin, and their children need to be educated. But Rep. Vos said that with the current state fiscal situation, it isn't a good time to be providing a benefit to a new group, and he said that people who are here illegally shouldn't enjoy the same benefits that legal immigrants and law-abiding citizens enjoy.

So far, we have expanded same-sex benefits, thanks to Mark Pocan, who is a gay member of the Legislature and despite the fact that Wisconsin voters said no to legalizing gay marriage, and helped the ILLEGAL residents of Wisconsin, thanks to Pedro Colon, who relies on a large Hispanic vote for his political future, and despite the fact the beneficiaries are ILLEGAL, and should be deported, NOT educated at the financial expense of Wisconsin taxpayers. Yep, the budget crisis sure seems to be high on the list of things to do this holiday weekend for the Joint Finance Committee...as soon as they get their personal and partisan projects and policies out of the way. It is days like this that I feel sorry for Ripon State Senator Luther Olsen, who is a minority member of the JFC, and has to sit there and watch this sad display of Madison at its worst. He would have been better off coming over to the Mayor's house for a brat and beer (before the beer tax goes up, of course).