Bad for Business?
Isthmus, May 23, 2008
"They wield inordinate influence over state policy," says Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, which has launched the website WMC Watch (www.wmcwatch.org). "You see it in the lack of a progressive tax structure for the state of Wisconsin; you see it in their opposition to universal health care for Wisconsin, in the form of the Healthy Wisconsin plan. Their influence is massive, and the result is to the detriment of the people of Wisconsin."
WMC Watch includes a counter that purports to tell visitors "the potential total cost to the state of Wisconsin from WMC" in the form of bills that would give additional tax breaks to corporations, shield them from legal liability and otherwise aid business at taxpayer expense. The calculations also include bills WMC opposes that One Wisconsin Now contends would enhance quality of life in the state at corporate expense.
As of mid-May, the cost counter on the website had passed $10 billion - a figure that Ross explains takes into account proposed or passed legislation going back to 2001.
The WMC Watch campaign consists mainly of signing up online visitors to join the pushback campaign. "We've had hundreds of people sign up to be WMC watchers," says Ross. More than 1,000 people have sent letters to local newspaper editors using a tool on the website, although there's no record of how many have actually been published.
