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Health & Fitness

The Best Budget You've Ever Seen?

I was astonished to see Sen. Darling recently comment that "this is the best budget (she has) ever seen since I entered the legislature"...

I was astonished to see Sen. Darling recently comment that “this is the best budget (she has) ever seen since I entered the legislature” before voting to slash $1.7 billion from our public schools. And I was equally shocked to hear her proclaim that allowing unelected bureaucrats to slash roughly $500 million from state health care programs behind closed doors “is going to be a very exciting period of our history.” 

Like many other members of our community, I am becoming increasingly concerned with the destructive effect this budget will have on the quality of our schools, services within our local communities, and programs provided to some of our most vulnerable populations. Rather than standing up to her party bosses, Sen. Darling – who chairs the powerful budget-writing Joint Finance Committee – has displayed a blatant disregard for our shared values while rushing through an extreme agenda. 

The fact is that this toxic budget shifts hundreds of millions of dollars from our communities – our classrooms, our police and fire stations, and our access to healthcare – to fund tax cuts for corporations and handouts for special interests.  Budgets are about priorities, and it is becoming increasingly obvious that Sen. Darling has misplaced the priorities of her constituents while marching lock step with her party bosses.

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With the Government Accountability Board now certifying more than 23,000 signatures collected by volunteers during the recall campaign, I am excited to present our community with a clear contrast to Alberta Darling and the disastrous policies she is describing as the “best she has ever seen.”

Last month, about 30,000 people in the 8th Senate District signed petitions to recall Sen. Darling after the 20-year career politician stopped listening to her constituents and marched in lockstep behind the extreme, divisive agenda that pits party bosses and special interests against our working families and Wisconsin values.  Sandy Pasch is running to fight for the health of our communities and defend our shared values.

Find out what's happening in Whitefish Baywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

1Bauer, Scott. "GOP Mostly Goes along with Walker's School Cuts." BusinessWeek. Associated Press, 27 May 2011. Web. 31 May 2011. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9NG2L7G0.htm

2Wisconsin Eye.  Joint Committee on Finance.

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