Summary:
Tonight, we pursue the Wisconsin dream for our children and ourselves. Our future depends on helping our children grow to be the most successful, well-educated and healthy adults in the history of our state.
But meeting the dreams of the youth of Wisconsin can't happen if we don't work together.
Cooperation is most critical if we are to pass a meaningful campaign finance reform package and help restore public confidence in the electoral process. The biggest reason campaign finance reform continues to fail across the country is that both parties use it to get a leg up on the opposition.
Therefore, common sense says the only way we're going to achieve real reform is if a proposal is developed by both parties with independent leadership. And we have just such a plan ready and waiting to go.
Professor Don Kettl, a national expert on campaign finances at the University of Wisconsin, developed this plan with equal input from Democrats and Republicans. Don is with us tonight.
This is the only bipartisan campaign finance reform plan in the state -- the only one.
The package of 54 reforms limits special interest spending, imposes spending caps, requires greater public reporting by candidates, improves public access to campaign records, and bolsters the authority of the State Elections Board.
I strongly urge the Legislature to promptly pass the Kettl Commission package so I can sign it into law before this important election season begins.
The Kettl Report is the compromise.
In the first State of the State Address 150 years ago, Governor Dewey talked about the hopes and dreams of the ordinary men and women who founded this great state. He said:
"Wisconsin possesses the natural elements, fostered by a judicious system of legislation, to become one of the most populous and prosperous states of the American Union
..The course of the state of Wisconsin must be onward, until she ranks among the first of the states of the great West."
Governor Dewey would be proud tonight, for Wisconsin is not only the greatest state in the West, she is the greatest state in the nation.
During our first 150 years, Wisconsin was the first state to end welfare, insure the working poor, eliminate legal discrimination against minorities, and allow women to vote.
We created kindergarten, agricultural education, youth apprenticeships and private school choice;
We built the first automobile and held the first car race.
We invented the typewriter, the outboard motor, Vitamin D, the hamburger and the malt, the fountain pen, Jockey shorts, and the automatic clothes dryer to dry them in.
We're the birthplace of the circus, the hydroelectric power plant, and my personal favorite, the Republican Party.
And we are home to the first, second and defending Super Bowl Champions - the Green Bay Packers.
But there is something we will never do first. We will never be the first team to lose to the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl.
Right Eugene?
Good luck Eugene. And please tell the team the entire State of Wisconsin is behind you come Sunday. The Packers are America's Team.
And we are America's State. This is our Sesquicentennial. And let us celebrate together.
Last year, in the spirit of bipartisanship, I brought you chocolate chip cookies. Obviously, the cookies weren't sweet enough. So this year, I brought a nice, creamy chocolate cake.
It's a birthday cake, reminding everyone that 1998 is our Sesquicentennial -- a year of celebration, pride, and above all, unity.
So before we leave this chamber tonight, let us sing happy birthday to our great state together. For we are much more than Republicans and Democrats - we are Wisconsinites.
Ladies and gentlemen, as Wisconsin celebrates her 150th birthday, she will do so with her eyes firmly focused on the horizon. For Wisconsin moves in only one direction.
Forever Forward. Let the celebration begin!
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
January 7, 1998
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Dummer
, Michael F.,
of Holmen, as a member of the Board of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, to serve for the term ending May 1, 2003.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Agriculture and Environmental Resources.
__________________
Relating to the administrative confinement of inmates.
Submitted by Department of Corrections.
Report received from Agency, January 15, 1998.
Referred to committee on Health, Human Services, Aging, Corrections, Veterans and Military Affairs,
January 20, 1998 .
Relating to vehicle marking.
Submitted by Department of Transportation.
Report received from Agency, January 20, 1998.
Referred to committee on Labor, Transportation and Financial Institutions, January 20, 1998.
Relating to the personal loan program.
Submitted by Department of Veterans Affairs.
Report received from Agency, January 15, 1998.
Referred to committee on Health, Human Services, Aging, Corrections, Veterans and Military Affairs,
January 20, 1998 .
The committee on Agriculture and Environmental Resources reports and recommends:
Relating to waters classified as outstanding resource waters.
No action taken.
Relating to relicensing Lake Michigan commercial fishers.
No action taken.
Alice Clausing
Chairperson
__________________
By Charles Sanders, chief clerk.
Mr. President:
I am directed to inform you that the Assembly has elected the Honorable Denise L. Solie as the Assembly Sergeant At Arms.
I am directed to inform you that the Assembly has passed and asks concurrence in:
Assembly Bill 453
Assembly Bill 463
Assembly Bill 467
Assembly Bill 486
Assembly Bill 497
Assembly Bill 609
Assembly Bill 711
Adopted and asks concurrence in:
Assembly Joint Resolution 75
Assembly Joint Resolution 87
Assembly Joint Resolution 88
Assembly Joint Resolution 89
Assembly Joint Resolution 90
Assembly Joint Resolution 91
Assembly Joint Resolution 92
Assembly Joint Resolution 93
Assembly Joint Resolution 94
