The Milwaukee Post

July 5, 2013 • Milwaukee Post • 9 OPINION Give governor credit Walker made right calls on school choice, taxes, bail bonds By MARK BELLING Gov. Scott Walker could have used his item veto powers to have eliminated most of the limits on school choice in Wisconsin, essentially expanding it statewide to tens of thousands of students. Walker probably likes that idea. But he didn't do it and the reason reveals a lot about both Scott Walker the politician and Scott Walker the man. In order to get the modest expansion of choice into the state budget in the first place, choice supporters had to concede most of their goals in order to win the support of a handful of moderate state Senate Republicans who still worship at the altar of public schools and don't grasp that most of those school employees hate them. The leader of this gang, Sen. Mike Ellis of the Fox Valley was born shrewd. He recognized , that the deal was worthless unless Walker agreed not to change it with his veto powers. Faced with getting no school choice expansion at all, Walker agreed not to use the veto. A lot of politicians would have weaseled out of that commitment. But Walker gave his word. He wasn't going to betray it. One of the reasons Walker is respected by virtually all Wisconsin Republicans, even those who are a lot less conservative, is that the governor honors his commitments and does what he says he's going to do. Virtually every decision he's made is one that he said in advance he would make. Such integrity is rare. This doesn't mean Walker is a patsy By . honoring his commitment with Ellis and the other public school toadies, Walker solidified his support with them. They trust him. This gives Walker the ability to deliver virtually all of the Republicans on most issues. He's earned the benefit of their doubt. The only exception is spoilsport Dale Schultz, the Republican senator who insists on voting with the Democrats every time it matters. Even here, Walker the politician shines. After repeatedly offering Schultz an olive branch and being spurned each time, Walker will support the Republican challenger in Schultz's Senate primary next year. Had Walker used his veto power to wipe out the caps on choice, he would have been a hero to all conservative education reformers. The reason he didn't do it is telling – he said he wouldn't do it. *** As usual, the Democrat rhetoric is preposterously over the top. (The spirit of Graeme Zielinski lives on.) They're claiming the budget is a ruthless assault on the middle class and its values. Good grief. It lowers taxes on everybody caps University of , Wisconsin System tuition and gives parents of private school students a modest tax break. That's ruthless? It's actually modest. Some Republicans in the Legislature wanted to do a lot more with this budget. What a golden opportunity! GOP control of the governorship, Assembly and the Senate gave them the chance to go a lot further toward fixing this state and making it a conservative model. But Walker, facing re-election next year, wanted to go slower. He did his heavy lifting two years ago. The Democrats' wailing notwithstanding, there isn't a lot in this budget they can attack because there just isn't a lot in the budget. *** Walker deserves credit for vetoing the budget item that would have legalized the sleazy bail bond industry in Wisconsin. The only reason it made it in was the heavy lobbying and campaign contribution promises of the bail industry It's a dirty business and . we don't need it here. Bondsmen exist for the sole purpose of allowing criminals to get out of jail without posting much of their bail. The biggest beneficiaries would have been drug dealers and rapists. Now that Walker has vetoed this twice, the bondsmen will likely give up on their efforts to slime up Wisconsin's criminal justice system. *** The Democrats have found their candidate to run against Walker next year. She's the ultra-rich and ultra-liberal Madison activist Mary Burke. Her family is worth a fortune through their ownership of Trek Bicycle. Burke loves to spend the family money She . even spent over $125,000 on her campaign for the Madison School Board! It was going to be very hard for Democrats to raise money to oppose Walker given the two beatings he's handed them. Burke's intention to spend over $10 million on her own campaign means they won't have to raise much money for her. What the money won't change is the reality that Mary Burke is a borderline radical Madison activist who makes Tom Barrett and Jim Doyle look like moderates. The notion of her as governor is horrifying. The combination of Walker being beloved by state Republicans, his growing national reputation and sheer horror at the prospect of "Governor Burke" will mean Walker will raise as much as $20 million in his own campaign. (Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show. His column appears weekly in the Milwaukee Post. Send your personal correspondences to Mark Belling at Clear Channel Communications, c/o WISN, 12100 W Howard Ave., Greenfield, WI 53228). . President's foreign policy precipitates America's decline By OWEN ROBINSON While many Americans have been focused on the recent incursion on our civil rights by the Obama administration by way of the IRS and National Security Agency, the world has been a witness to the collapse of American foreign policy at the hands of the same administration. In a remarkable confluence of failed policies coupled with a hapless tour of Europe by our president, America's decline in world affairs is on full display. In Afghanistan, the Obama administration announced that it would begin peace talks with the Taliban – the same Taliban that tortured people for minor offenses, prohibited women from being educated, and was recently in the news for decapitating children. The Obama administration wants peace talks to give them some historical cover for withdrawing from the country without winning the war. One must remember that the war in Afghanistan was the war that Obama supported when running for office. After listless leadership, Obama is now trying to extract us from the war while providing himself some political refuge. Whether or not one supports the war in Afghanistan, the attempt to legitimize a terrorist regime like the Taliban that has the blood of Americans on its hands is an abandonment of American principles on a world stage. There is a reason why General "Unconditional Surrender" Grant lived up to his name. While Obama engaged in this shameful folly, the government of Afghanistan – which Americans died to uphold – abandoned peace negotiations because of America's usurpation of the process. In the end, it is the Afghanis who will have to find peace to live together, and a negotiated settlement for the withdrawal of American forces does nothing to protect the Afghanis left in our wake. Obama's callous disregard for the Afghani regime we allegedly support is a toxic potion of arrogance and naiveté. Meanwhile in Syria, President Obama has committed to send small arms to the rebels after it has been confirmed that the tyrant Assad has been using chemical weapons on his own people. The Syrian conflict is incredibly complex and Obama's clumsy intervention will likely do more harm than good. The Syrian civil war has been raging for two years and has already claimed almost 100,000 casualties. On the one side is the totalitarian Assad regime supported by the Shiite regime of Iran and the Russians. On the other side are the Sunni insurgents who have pledged allegiance to al-Qaida and are supported by the Saudis. The Syrian war has become a proxy war for both the religious domination of the region and as a means for Russia to subvert American influence in the Middle East. For two years, Obama has sat on his hands and refused to do anything. Now, because of his silly "red line," he is halfheartedly sending small arms to the insurgents – arms that they have already been receiving from the Saudis and Libyans. In other words, it is an empty gesture designed to give the appearance of doing something without actually effecting change. But gesture or not, America now has skin in the Syrian war and is also staging forces in nearby Jordan. If the war spills over into Israel, Jordan, Turkey or Iraq – all American allies – America may find itself embroiled in another Middle East war. All of this also takes place against the backdrop of Iran barreling toward a nuclear arsenal with little resistance from Obama. The decline of America's foreign policy was put in stark relief as Obama spent time in Europe last week. There was perhaps nothing as depressingly symbolic as President Obama's speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The site of monumentally symbolic foreign policy speeches by American Presidents Kennedy and Reagan, Obama's speech was hyped to eclipse them both. After all, candidate Obama spoke at the Brandenburg Gate in 2008 and drew a crowd of more than 200,000 people. This time President Obama spoke to a crowd of less than 5,000 people. In a lumbering oratory delivered by a sweating Obama, he called for efforts to stymie global warming and a reduction of nuclear weapons in Russia and America. Really? A retread issue from decades past and an environmental issue are top of mind for an American president speaking in the heart of Berlin? The results of President Obama's legendary "lead from behind" foreign policy are coming to fruition. Nature abhors a vacuum and so do world affairs. As America has taken a back seat around the world, other nations are stepping forward to fill the void. America's influence on the world is in decline and our future is less secure because of it. (Owen B. Robinson is a West Bend resident. His column runs frequently in The Post.)

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