Next week the legislature will reconvene. Members will be sworn into office. Many bills will be introduced. Work on the budget will commence in earnest. A New Year will begin.

People of the 31^st Senate District will see new faces as we welcome newly-elected Representatives Mark Radcliffe and Chris Danou and bid a fond farewell to the Honorable Terry Musser and Barbara Gronemus.

A big “Thank You!” to Representatives Gronemus and Musser; you both threw your heart and soul into serving the people for many years and we appreciate all you accomplished.

Representative Musser led the state as champion for our veterans and active duty military for many years as Chair of the Assembly Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs. He is a strong advocate for our tribal members and our farmers. It has been a pleasure to serve with him and I will miss him.

Affectionately known as “Bobby”, my representative from the 91st will also be sorely missed. Bobby is a passionate voice for the people and a strong advocate for Wisconsin’s farmers. Her legacy of exceptional service to our constituents is one to which I greatly aspire.

Congratulations on your retirement, Bobby and Terry! And do come to the Alma Fishing Float to do some fishing. You’ve earned some R’ and R’ time!

When the Legislature reconvenes, top of the ‘to do’ list is the state’s two year budget. Although ‘behind the scenes’ work has been going on for some time, the public work begins in earnest following the Governor’s submission of the budget to the Legislature.

There is much speculation on the Governor’s plans to address the state’s estimated $5.4 billion deficit. At this point, details are just speculation. Everyone has an idea, but the real work won’t begin until the Governor ‘lays his cards on the table’ sometime mid -February.

Efforts in Washington will affect actions in Wisconsin. There is talk of an economic stimulus package coming from Washington. The federal Department of Commerce has directed the Regional Planning Commissions to send details to Washington of any ‘shovel ready” projects.

Any business or local government with infrastructure projects should contact my office and I will relay information to the appropriate authorities. Word is priorities will be given to projects providing jobs and stimulating the economy. There are no guarantees of funding, but compiling a list is the first step. For so many years, much needed maintenance has been delayed or only partially completed.

Meanwhile Legislators are working on many different policy issues. Renewable energy, campaign finance reform, stricter penalties on drinking and driving, streamlining state services and tax fairness are all topics of interest.

Health care reform is also on the top of the list. Comprehensive change can bring needed relief to business and local government.  We cannot afford to have even one person without access to affordable health care. We also cannot afford the inefficiencies, waste, duplication and errors in our current system.

Correcting inefficiencies and waste in government is something we often hear but details are rare. To flesh out the details, I sought and was given the responsibility of Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Audit. The Audit Committee oversees the state Audit Bureau – a nonpartisan office that works like an independent auditing firm – with the state and all its programs as the firm being audited.

We know we need to figure out what programs work; spend money on the programs that work and get rid of the programs that don’t work. The Audit Bureau provides the information the Audit Committee and full Legislature needs to make these decisions. It is tedious and methodical work – but critical to answering the questions on what works and what doest.

Our State Auditor, Jan Mueller, explained it best by saying “the Audit Committee is the steward of the people’s money.”

I am honored to be chosen to help lead efforts through the Audit Committee to find ways to cut costs and improve services.

There is much work to be done and important decisions to be made. I look forward to the opportunity to be a part of the coming Legislative session and to serving the people of the 31^st Senate District. You are a critical part of our team. If you have ideas on what needs to be done, do let me know!

The weather reports nearly whiteout conditions on the interstate and wind chills of negative twenty-one. I’m in Madison. Travel is not advised and I’m wondering when I’ll finally be able to head home.

The snow swirls outside the Capitol and I watch as a cross country skier heads down the middle of the street. The city is quiet.

The Capitol is decked in its holiday finest but I am longing for the hills of Western Wisconsin and the people who bless my life everyday.

As the year draws to a close, I look back on how many lives have touched mine.

The legislature follows a schedule – a bit like a school year – only our year is actually two years. We call it ‘session’. January will begin the cycle all over again. I am about to begin the second session of my first four year term.

As I reflect on my first two years, I have never had a job where I have learned so much, so fast. The job of senator is like no other. It is fast-paced and filled with new information, ideas and challenges. I move quickly from one complex topic to another. In one day I’m likely to cover health insurance reform, problems with property taxes, the need for electronic prescriptions, quality of care in a nursing home, helping veterans obtain services, helping farmers build manure digesters and helping a constituent struggling with a boundary dispute between a city and a township.

The breadth of topics was unimaginable to me as a rookie candidate. But in two years I have been a fast study. I was recently rewarded by my colleagues with a leadership position as Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus. I was also chosen as the Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Audit.

But much of the service I am able to provide does not come through Committee Chairs or legislation. It comes through the people I am privileged to serve.

In the past year I, and my dedicated staff, had the opportunity to serve almost twenty- one hundred people. About 500 people took the time to write a letter and send it through the mail. Almost two hundred people came to the Capitol and sat down to visit. Even though most of our constituents are rural (some with poor internet access) about half of those who contacted us did so through email.

People who wrote likely offered an opinion or sought assistance. The most common topic was health care. Over twenty-five percent of those who contacted my office wanted to offer an opinion or seek assistance related to health care.

The second most popular topic was the smoking ban – both for and against – although this topic only accounted for 5 percent of all contacts.

Education, the environment and agriculture tied for the third most popular topic. But the diversity of topics was so wide these areas together accounted for only eight percent of all contact. Over the past year, people contacted me on over 600 separate topics.

Many people needed special assistance. The types of problems I worked to solve included helping businesses secure grants, helping veterans obtain benefits, solving problems with utilities, helping people obtain building permits, gaining necessary inspections for child care providers and helping local government navigate state agencies.

Working with state agencies to solve problems takes time. Some of the cases are complex and involve many people working together. Some cases are related to disputes among neighbors – complaints about farm smells, fencing line disputes, enforcement of burning laws or motorcycle noise. After concerns about obtaining affordable health care, problems related to divorce, child support or family law probably are the most common reasons people call for assistance.

Every one of the people who called faced a challenge in their lives.

I was disappointed when the limits of my office meant I couldn’t solve every problem. But I hope every one I’ve met along the way knows how important their problem was and how much I appreciated the opportunity to serve them.

Next week I will take a look forward to what is in store for 2009.

Have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season!

“What’s happening with health care reform?” the small businessman asked me. What he really wanted to know was how soon he could get affordable coverage for his employees.

“I am worried about my daughter graduating from college” the mom shared. “She has great ideas on a job but I’m afraid nothing she wants to do is a job with health benefits”.

Health care problems haven’t gone away as the economy takes center stage. With rocky employment security, more people worry about affording and keeping health care coverage.

Businesses facing declining sales have shifted costs to employees in order to continue offering any health care coverage. But with health costs rising faster than wages and employees shouldering more cost, health insurance is increasingly unaffordable for more and more families.

In the past month Congressional leaders announced steps toward health care reform and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services suggested a new approach for small businesses. The ideas being discussed bring hope to those with expensive or no insurance: our health care problems are solvable.

Solving the problems will take some time. People estimate the soonest we might see changes from Washington, even if President-Elect Obama acts quickly, would be 2011.

But action at the state level may help Wisconsin families sooner.

As the executive branch proposes ideas and the new leadership in the Assembly begins working through their own ideas on how to fix health care, I and others in the state Senate are eager to move toward more comprehensive reform.

I do respect that others have their own ideas.

Working behind the scenes I have found there is common ground among proposals. There are also short term solutions that may ease the financial distress felt by those paying too much for poor insurance or those who have none at all.

As legislators prepare for a new session – set to begin January 5^th – a few of the ideas on the drawing board include:

• Making it easier for young adult children to stay on their parents’ policy as they begin their careers.
• Giving small business the buying power of large companies. 
• Strengthening consumer protections for people buying individual insurance.
• Limiting pre-existing conditions in the individual market to one year.
• Making the state’s high risk insurance easier to get into and more affordable.

For people facing high costs or no insurance a few options are available now. The state’s high risk insurance plan has come down in cost. I would like to make it still easier to get coverage. But people who are at high risk or have a chronic disease should consider this plan.

Children under age 19 without insurance are likely eligible for the recently expanded BadgerCare program. Parents with children under 19 may also qualify. The state is hoping to expand the program to those without children at home but state budget problems may slow those plans.

Seniors who meet certain income requirements can find some relief from drug costs through the state’s Senior Care program. With rising Medicare Part D costs this may be a good option for someone you know.

For anyone struggling with drug costs, the state’s Badger RX plan might be an option.  This program is a public-private partnership between the state and Navitus Health Solutions to bring affordable prescription drugs to the uninsured and underinsured.

Call if you need information on any of these programs and I can help you navigate the details.

And stay tuned — I do expect to see more steps taken toward health care reform in the New Year.

“Imagine a way to take cow manure and turn it into electricity. Imagine taking a something we need to get rid of on the farm and turning it into something that makes money. Imagine a way to create manufacturing jobs in Western Wisconsin and keep our environment clean.”

This is message I brought to several hundred dairy farmers gathering in Madison this past week. I know it sounds like science fiction, but it is a real world technology that has a lot of people excited.  It’s called anaerobic digestion.

We have a lot of cows in Wisconsin- about 1.3 million of them and they generate a lot of manure.  Managing that manure is often a challenge for farmers.  Some dairy farmers have discovered installing anaerobic digesters on their farms is a whole new way to deal with their cow manure.

An anaerobic digester is an air tight, container fed an organic material like cow manure. Microbes break down the manure and make methane gas.  The gas can be delivered through pipelines to heat homes.  More often it is used to power an on-farm generator and the farmer sells the electricity back to the power company.

The technology is not new. It has been used in Europe for several years. The number of digesters has grown steadily since 1992 and it at about 4,000.

Wisconsin leads the nation with 22 on-farm digesters. But we are no where near our cousins across the ocean.

The problem in the U.S. is the rate utility companies pay for this electricity changes.  Sometimes it is below the cost of production and doesn’t cover the farmer’s cost of building and maintaining the manure digester. 

And digesters are a big investment that isn’t practical for smaller farmers.

Germany and several U.S. states have found an answer. The idea is to set a uniform rate the utility pays for small scale renewable energy. The steady rate helps farmers plan and encourages investment in the digesters. This strategy is sometimes known as a Renewable Energy Buyback Program.

If we can encourage farmers to build digesters, it will also mean a lot of new jobs at companies that construct and install digesters.  Many of the Wisconsin based companies that make stainless steel bulk tanks and equipment for our cheese plants are ideally suited to manufacture anaerobic digesters.  Installing them requires skilled tradesmen, which provides good paying jobs at a time when the economy is in recession.

I recently learned the Wisconsin Office of Energy Independence is working with a digester company in Germany to bring manure digester manufacturing to Wisconsin.  This company is working on smaller scale digesters that are practical for family-sized farms.  We should be able to build them here at a price that beats those built overseas.

We have tremendous opportunities to promote renewable energy and to invest in our rural economy.  A Renewable Energy Buyback Program makes sense.  Farmers will gain additional money to spend in our communities to support our local economy.  Electricity can be generated from an environmentally friendly source decreasing global warming.  Manufacturing and construction jobs can be created at a time when we desperately need jobs.  Manure that is processed poses less risk to our rivers and groundwater.  

And for the budget hawks – and every legislator needs to be one – we can start a Renewable Energy Buyback Program without using a single tax dollar. 

If you like the idea or would like more information, let me know!

“This is going to be a difficult time for us,” said Governor Doyle at a Capitol press conference. The Governor announced an estimated $5.4 billion shortfall for the next budget cycle due to a faltering national economy and a downturn in tax revenue.

The Governor said he will do “everything possible” to protect schools, public safety, infrastructure (like bridges and roads), basic health care for children and help local government find a way to cope.

In addition, Secretary of Administration, Michael Morgan, announced the state faces a $346 million shortfall in this year’s budget. Under Wisconsin law, the Governor must submit a plan to deal with the shortfall. Details of the plan will come when the Legislature returns in January, but Governor Doyle acted immediately to order reductions in state spending.

The Governor will:

• Order state agencies to trim spending for this fiscal year by 2.5%.
• Cut state grants that are not absolutely necessary.
• Leave 3,500 state jobs unfilled.
• Sell 500 state fleet vehicles.
• Stop all employee bonuses.

Wisconsin is not alone in the state’s economic challenges. In their mid-November report, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that at least 41 states are facing shortfalls. States are dealing with the situation in several ways:

Health Care – seventeen states decreased eligibility for state health insurance programs or cut payments to doctors and hospitals. In Maine, people pay a new Medicaid application fee and in Arizona they must reapply more often. (Research shows this practice results in eligible people becoming uninsured.) Medicaid rates to hospitals, nursing homes and other providers have been cut in many states. Illinois is delaying payment to health providers. The result may be patients without access to care.

Elderly and Disabled – fifteen states cut services to the elderly and disabled. Ohio plans to close two mental health facilities and Alabama is ending homemaker services for over a thousand older adults.

Education – sixteen states cut K-12 education including breakfast programs, math and science initiatives, adult literacy, gifted programs and kindergarten. Twenty-one states cut higher education or added large tuition increases. Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey and Arizona laid-off faculty. California is raising in-state tuition up to ten percent.

Other Cuts – Vermont ordered courts to close for a half day a week. Maryland cut dollars to those who care for abused and neglected children. Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Virginia cut funding to local government.

State Jobs – twenty-one states, including Wisconsin, eliminated or are not filling state jobs. Tennessee announced the elimination of 5% of its workforce. Kentucky is cutting about 10 percent of its public defenders and will decline public defender representation for certain cases.  In Wisconsin, more than one in ten jobs are vacant in key agencies. One in nine jobs are vacant at the Department of Revenue – the state agency responsible for collecting taxes that fund state government.

Tax Increases – ten states passed tax increases. Alabama, Massachusetts, California and New York closed corporate loopholes. Several states delayed or capped tax credits or eliminated property tax relief.

In the private sectors people are cutting back and making tough choices. The public sector must do this too. 

But a shrinking economy results in a greater demand for some of the state’s most critical services.  Many more people are struggling to meet their basic needs and are seeking assistance from state and local government.  Struggling businesses need government investment in necessary infrastructure. 

We must keep the schools open.  We must provide for public safety. We must care for the elderly and the disabled. And, we must balance the budget.

In the coming months, the Governor and Legislature will be making difficult choices between many important priorities.  Those choices will require careful consideration of how we spend our money in the best way possible.  There are no easy answers.

“We had a family drive all the way up from La Crosse. They lost their house and everything in it to a fire. We sent them home with a U-Haul and a trailer filled with everything they needed to start over again.”

The story came from Gary Stewart, the Executive Director of Hope Gospel RESCUE Mission. The emphasis is on the RESCUE.

Last week I spent time learning about the Mission – from the Bargain Store to Building Hope – a recycled building materials store on the north side of Eau Claire. Everything Gary does is about rescue – from the clothes and electronics the Mission sells at the largest bargain store in the Midwest, to the lives he, his dedicated staff and the Good Lord reaches out to save.

At this time when we pause and say ‘thanks’, my thanks goes out to the work of the Hope Gospel Rescue Mission.

Colonel David Chesser is the Garrison Commander of Fort McCoy. Mr Albert Fournier has worked as the Chief of Staff to the Garrison Commander for many years. Together they and their team move almost 140,000 troops through Fort McCoy in a year. Fourteen thousand men and women in every branch of the service are mobilized to the theater of war through Fort McCoy this past year. Another 128,000 troops receive state of the art training at the Fort.

I saw first hand the operations at Fort McCoy. I walked through the barracks, I ate at the mess hall, learned the Army’s rules and a bit of the lingo. Watching Airmen from the United States Air Force prepare to be deployed touched me as I realized the Global War on Terror was one airplane ride away.

My thanks goes out to Colonel Chesser, Mr. Fournier, all of our men and women in uniform, our veterans and civilians working behind the scenes to keep our troops safe and comfortable. Thanks for defending freedom in all the dark corners of our dangerous world.

A special thanks to our citizen soldiers in the Reserve and National Guard and to their families back at home. My thoughts and prayers are with you as you keep the children fed and the bills paid.

On my long, late, dark journey home from Madison, my thanks goes out to the State Patrol and all DOT workers who spent the summer filling pot holes. To the fire fighters, our sheriffs, deputies, city law enforcement, First Responders and EMTs – I know you are doing more with less and I appreciate your work. Thanks for keeping us safe.

To farmers in coveralls with dirt on your hands – thanks for keeping us fed. It’s not easy to farm. You can’t control prices – either coming in or going out. You can’t control the weather and thousands of dollars are at stake when the weather or the equipment doesn’t cooperate. I’ll be reminding folks in Madison that milk really doesn’t come from the grocery store!

Thanks to workers everywhere – the folks at Kwik Trip stocking the shelves, the milk truck driver who braves the back roads every day, our mail carriers, the folks still pulling third shift, and the single mom trying to make ends meet. To the officers at the prison keeping us safe, to the truckers diving late at night, to the small business people throwing their heart and soul into making the business work and the economy grow– thanks for all you do!

Thanks to everyone behind the scenes, working everyday to keep things running smooth. A special thanks to my staff – folks you might not know working to solve thousands of problems and making people’s lives better by making state government a bit more citizen friendly – to Joel Nilsestuen, Ben  Larson, Hannah Lott and my talented and experienced Chief – Linda Kleinschmidt – I couldn’t do this job without you.

Thanks to the 167,000 people of the 31^st Senate District. I am humbly grateful for opportunity to serve you.

And to the Good Lord who showers blessings on us if we only open our eyes and see.

One more thing – while you’re reading this I’ll be in the woods with my 30-30 hoping I can thank the Good Lord for the 12 point buck that has been eating my crops for quite some time now. Will he come a little closer…

Happy Thanksgiving!

“We have come into a really serious and extraordinary set of economic circumstances in this country,” said Governor Doyle as he told reporters the state’s budget deficit could be $ 5 billion.

Privately, he warned legislators the amount could be larger.

While contemplating the enormity of the task ahead, legislators took time to think about who to choose as our leaders.

Every two years, after Election Day, the Legislature chooses new leaders.

Leadership in the Assembly and the Senate is chosen by the members of each of four bodies – the majority and minority parties in the Assembly and the same in the Senate.

Following the election, the Senate Democrats retained their 18 – 15 majority and the Assembly Democrats became the majority with a 52 – 46 split.  The Assembly also has one independent member.

Who is in the majority and who is in leadership is important.

The majority party members chair the committees. Committee chairs determine the bills to hear in their committees. Majority party leaders determine what legislation will come to a vote by the full Senate or Assembly.

I was elected by unanimous vote of my fellow Senators to serve as the Senate Democratic Caucus Vice-Chair. 

The Caucus is the formal organization of the 18 Democrats in the State Senate.  At our Caucus meetings we communicate our different viewpoints which are shaped by the area of the state we represent.  And each of us is committed to fighting for our folks back home. 

As I accepted the Caucus leadership position I urged my colleagues to use our diversity as a powerful force for change.

Our diversity is our great strength – from the rolling hills of Monroe and Buffalo County to the Central Sand County. From the north woods to the North Shore; from the Mississippi River to River Hills.

We lead in challenging times. Our challenge is to build consensus; through the different districts; though the different cultures of our great state.

We face unprecedented challenges. We also face great opportunity.

The difficult problems – from health care reform, education funding to balancing our budget are problems we must tackle together.

In the coming weeks we will learn more about the depth of our state’s financial crisis. We will begin to define the problem and possible solutions.

The budget process is now in the ‘behind the scenes’ phase as agencies work to deliver a budget to the Governor reflecting the additional ten-percent cut he ordered.

By late February, the Governor’s budget will be delivered to the Legislature. The powerful Joint Finance Committee will be charged with sifting through the details of the budget and making changes. The Finance Committee will begin the process with state-wide hearings asking citizens for input into decisions.

The first step in this process must be taking the problems to the people and involving them in a real discussion of possible solutions to very complex problems.  Our challenge will be taking all those valuable opinions and building consensus around the state and within the Capitol. 

Democracy works best when we all get involved. And power is most effective in solving our complex public policy problems when it is shared.

I feel much as Thomas Jefferson did in 1815. “I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power, the greater it will be.”

“Northwest Wisconsin continues to be the highest cost [health insurance] region of the state,” the report reads. Eau Claire is the highest cost metro area.

The report, Wisconsin Health Insurance Cost Rankings 2009, pointed out a 22% variation between the Eau Claire and Madison – the lowest cost metro area. Pierce, Dunn, Pepin and Eau Claire counties all made it into the top fifteen high cost counties. Buffalo County made the top ten of counties with the highest increases in costs over the past eight years.

Many of us feel the pinch of high health care costs. Families struggling to pay bills struggle to pay health care bills. According to a Families USA study, health insurance premiums have risen almost five times faster than wages since 2000.

The recent cost study, released the end of October by Citizen Action of Wisconsin, reports health insurance rates in Wisconsin have increased 30% faster than the national average.

Why are health care costs rising so fast? And why are costs in our region higher than areas to the south?

There are many reasons why health care costs are rising so fast. Some we can change and some we can’t. It’s helpful to think about these reasons as we ponder how to change things.

Our population – American – and western Wisconsin is aging. We see declining enrollment in our schools and all the gray hair at church on Sunday. We know older people need more health care.

Medical technology – is growing at an astounding rate. New technology saves lives. It also costs money. Not only do medical professionals have more options to use to save lives, but the intensity of treatments is much greater than previous generations and other counties.

Paperwork and administrative costs – we spend roughly thirty cents of every health care dollar on administrative costs. That translates to about twelve billion dollars a year or $2,440 per man, woman and child in Wisconsin.

Uncoordinated care and duplicated care – depending on the source I read, anywhere from 30 percent to 40 percent of every health care dollar is spent on costs associated with “overuse, underuse, misuse, duplication, system failure, unnecessary repetition, poor communication and inefficiency.”

And, finally, chronic conditions – diseases such as congestive heart failure, asthma, diabetes, coronary artery disease and depression. These five diseases account for almost fifty percent of all health care costs in the United States.

Why are costs so high in our part of the state?

Dr. Robert Craig, the author of the recently released cost study, speculated about the advantages for those buying health insurance in Madison. He explained there is a “competitive bidding process” in Madison – put in place in 2003. In addition, most people in the Madison area are part of a large insurance pool. These two factors help keep costs lower than other parts of the state.

Clearly there is more to learn about how to curtail rising costs in general and specifically in Western Wisconsin.

Unfortunately recent campaign messages left the impression illegal aliens are somehow responsible for our health care crisis. I wonder why someone hiding from government authorities would sign up for a “government-run” health care system. Something is not making sense.

I sincerely hope our friends and neighbors see through the scare tactics and join in the important discussion of the changes we all know we must make – with health care reform and so many other serious issues facing our great state and nation.

The brochure headline read; “Government spends too much”.  I think everyone is glad the election is over. Part of our fatigue is what we’ve seen in our mail box. We have all seen some version of ‘Government spends too much’.

Of course, the brochure never describes how to and what will be cut.

Every state elected official returning to our capital will face a very deep budget deficit. In fact, across our nation, elected officials are doing the math and learning the details of a very difficult budget year ahead. The downturn in the economy had caused financial problems in many states.

It is critical for Republicans and Democrats alike to put aside campaign rhetoric and find ways to do more with less.

I don’t know if we can put aside the rhetoric long enough to have a real discussion on what the state should and should not fund. The decisions will be difficult: how does one decide whether to fund programs for the disabled or programs to clean up toxic waste sites?

I have noticed we seldom take the time to assess what we do right and to build on our successes.  Let me share one of the successes.

With the tight economy, folks have contacted me with concerns about medical care – tough times make it even harder for families to afford health insurance (and food and heat for that matter).

In the last budget, I and others voted to expand a program to provide health care known as BadgerCare. This expansion, known as BadgerCare Plus, brought health care coverage to children and families who otherwise would have none.  Since early spring, over eighty-five thousand people have health care coverage under the program.  About seventy percent of those covered are children.

The story of BadgerCare Plus is a tremendous success story. Over 200 organizations – groups like the Boys and Girls Clubs and church groups – were trained as community partners and taught how to sign people up for BargerCare Plus.

A new website allows applications to be made over the internet. The site – access.wi.gov – is easy to use. In addition to applying for BadgerCare Plus, the website will help you figure out if your family is eligible for food, home heating and prescription drug assistance. People covered by Medicare but needing help with prescription drugs can sign up for Wisconsin’s SeniorCare program.

This spring internet applications exceeded those mailed in – and nearly exceeded the number of applications processed at county human services offices.

The new BadgerCare Plus program redesigns and merges several state health programs into one. By using the internet to help folks apply, county human services offices saw some reduction in workload. We have more people participating in the program – but more money goes to serving those people and less to administration.

Jason Helgerson, Wisconsin’s Medicaid Director, told me he estimates the restructured BadgerCare Plus program saved local government about $12 million and saved the state about $2 million.

The bulk of the savings came from streamlining the process from a person’s initial application to approval into the program. There are now fewer interactions between county staff and those seeking assistance and less paperwork.

A problem still remains – people with low incomes who do not have children are not eligible for BadgerCare Plus (mostly because of federal government rules). The state sought to waive those rules and that request was approved last week. This is very good news for people who are single or families without children at home.

But the news comes at a time when state resources are so tight.  Even with federal permission, the state may have to delay expansion of BadgerCare Plus to childless adults.

This will be one of the difficult decisions facing elected officials.  In the coming months, we all must work together to cut costs and find new ways to preserve services.

“Why should I vote?” the young woman asked me. “Does it really matter?”

The year was 1917. Woodrow Wilson was President. The United States had just entered in to World War One – in defense of liberty.

Women had been picketing the White House for the right to vote since the cold month of January. These women were the first protesters in American history to picket the White House.

“Mr. President,” the woman’s sign read. “How long must women wait for liberty.”

With the United States now at war, treatment of the protesters changed. While the President tolerated the protesters in January, by June things began to change.

The irony of fighting for liberty abroad while not giving American women the right to vote was not lost on the protesters. Tensions escalated.

On June 22, 1917 the picketing women were arrested – technically on a charge of obstructing traffic. Over several months, according to the historians at the Library of Congress, “the women were imprisoned – usually in unsanitary conditions, sometimes beaten and often brutally force-fed when they went on hunger strikes to protest being denied political prisoner status.”

News of the treatment of women in prison and even photos of the women (now archived in the Library of Congress) helped galvanize public support and sympathy for their cause.

“One historian estimated that approximately 2,000 women spent time on the picket line between 1917 and 1919 and that 500 women were arrested of whom 168 were actually jailed,” recorded the Library of Congress.

In February and March of 1919, women who had been jailed organized a cross county speaking tour aboard a train named “Democracy Limited.” The woman brought the message of expanding the right to vote to all people in the United Stated, regardless of gender.

In May of 1919, the House of Representatives voted to pass the Susan B. Anthony federal suffrage amendment and on June 4^th the Senate passed the same. This began a state by state fourteen month campaign to seek ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Finally, on August 20^th, 1920 Tennessee became the 36^th state to ratify the amendment and on the 26^th of August the Nineteenth Amendment was signed into law.

Today our troops, as far way as Afghanistan, are still fighting for democracy. And people abroad still risk their lives to vote. We can honor the memory of those who fought – at home and abroad – for our rights by doing our civic duty: studying the candidates and casting our vote.

Here are a few details for your friends and relatives who say “I can’t vote because…”

• You are eligible to vote if you are a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old on Election Day and a resident of Wisconsin at least 10 days before the election.
• Persons who are on probation or parole due to a felony conviction are not eligible to vote.
• You must be registered to vote or you may register at the polls on Election Day. If you are not registered already, be sure and bring your drivers license and proof of residence. If you do not have a driver’s license, please see vote411.org for a list of acceptable identification or ask your local clerk.
• Polls are open from 7 AM to 8 PM and long lines may be expected in some areas.

Yesterday I spoke with a gentleman from Eau Claire. “I just returned from China,” he said. “Everywhere I went, people wanted to talk about the election.”

We don’t think about people across the world paying attention to what we do but the world is watching America. So remember to vote!