The Milwaukee Post

June 6, 2014 • Milwaukee County Post • 9 Bill Penzey is conducting an interesting socio-political experiment. The sanctimo- nious liberal owner of Penzey's Spices is evidently trying to see how badly he can insult his conservative customers before they finally stop buying his products. Penzey for years has pontificated about his leftist beliefs in his catalogs but he's gotten more vitriolic the last few months. As the Spice King's sales have continued to grow, so has his boldness. A few months ago he essentially labeled his fellow Mukwonago residents as bigots for their support of the high school's "Indian" nick- name. But in his latest catalog, he unleash- es a screed ripping Wisconsin Republicans and accusing them of pandering for votes in racist places like Waukesha. Penzey must be wondering how much of this conservative-bashing he can get away with before they decide to take their pickle relish business elsewhere. Penzey's dia- tribes are in direct contrast to what his hap- pening to anyone who dares to speak out from the right. Brandon Eich was forced out as CEO of the tech company Mozilla because he supported a ballot measure six years ago that opposed gay marriage. Two brothers lost their show on HGTV when one of them openly expressed his Christian beliefs. Universities dumped commence- ment speakers like Condoleeza Rice and Ayaan Hirsi Ali because their views were sufficiently politically offensive to some on the left. In the meantime, Penzey goes on his merry liberal way, assailing half his customer base. In the latest insult, Penzey ripped those who "fled west" from Milwaukee to Waukesha County to segregate the city and argued Republican politicians have needed to pander to these goons to get elected: "For decades defending this flight has been the key to political success in south- eastern Wisconsin. Even today the gover- nor's continued defunding of inner city schools, the congressman's talk of bell curves and lack of effort on the part of those who live in the city, and the legisla- ture's talk of secession and its new deeply disturbing law defending the use of Native American mascots are all about getting votes in Waukesha, and places like it." That's what he wrote. For those of you won- dering which "places like it" Penzey is ref- erencing, it's a fair guess if your communi- ty voted for Governor Walker, he means you. The shot was especially cheap because the rant wasn't even accurate. Act 10 has put more actual dollars in central-city classrooms because of the cut in spending on pensions and insurance, and there has- n't been a single proposal in the Legislature for secession. Penzey is taking lie-filled cheap shots to make himself a hero to his liberal buddies while assuming his largely conservative customer base will continue to roll over and take it. Despite the witch hunt aimed at silenc- ing every American who expresses a view- point that insults the current liberal thought police, we ought to be able to open- ly express our viewpoints as free-thinking citizens. But Penzey consistently intro- duces his views directly into his business setting. He isn't writing letters to the editor. He's using his business catalog and website to essentially label his own customers as racists and elected Republican officials as pandering bigots. He keeps poking that sharp stick in local conservative eyes. At some point (who knows when), they may stop taking it. * * * Penzey is emboldened because his busi- ness is booming. It's the sort of story you'd love to be rooting for were Penzey not so obvious in hatred of people like me. A local business finds a product niche and becomes a national success. Penzey retail stores are located all over the country and the catalog and Internet business is huge. He's making so much money he's been trying to buy the old Northridge shopping center to become his new headquarters facility. Unlike liberals who label conservatives as bigots for merely holding dissenting views, most conservatives love living in a society with open give and take. Penzey, however, is so full of himself that he injects his views directly into his business and makes his attacks personal. He also lies. In the current tantrum, Penzey refers to "the legislature's talk of secession." There isn't a single member of the Wisconsin Legislature who has proposed that our state secede from the union and Penzey knows it. He's making up lies to buttress his weak argument that Republicans are racist. The only "secession" talk came from a handful of delegates to the Republican convention who proposed a resolution. It was voted down overwhelmingly. The majority of Republicans not only rejected the idea but attacked the supporters for even proposing it. It got nowhere at a con- vention. To say that the Legislature was engaging in "talk" about the idea is a flat- out lie. It's fairly clear Penzey doesn't con- sider the tactic beneath him. (Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show. His column appears weekly in the Milwaukee Post.) MARK BELLING STANDING UP for MILWAUKEE OPINION Spice maker's insults leave bad taste in mouth By OWEN ROBINSON Long a bane for businesses, government regulations have a tendency to grow faster than people's ability to understand them – much less comply with all of them. There are many very good reasons for regulations to maintain a level of safety and uniformity even if some of them are obsolete or just plain stupid. Yet, it is interesting that in all of the business regulations in force, the lib- erals have latched onto one that has their undies in a twist. Before we get to that, it is worth noting the full scope of the regulatory climate in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Regulatory Review Report published last year provides insight and some appalling numbers. As detailed in the report, the Wisconsin Administrative Code consists of "well over 1,000 chapters." Some of the rules that the report recommended for modification or repeal are quite revealing. For example: ■ The Department Of Administration's Administrative Rule 85 regulating the Hospital Loan Guarantee Program was rec- ommended for repeal because "this pro- gram is not needed and has never been used since its creation in 1992." ■ A Department of Natural Resources rule requiring companies to file reports about emissions for acid rain were also rec- ommended for repeal based on the fact that federal regulations supersede the state requirement and the reports were useless. And yet the DNR still receives five reports a year from companies trying to comply. ■ Another out-of-date rule requires that prescriptions for lenses for prescription glasses must be written even though pre- scriptions for contact lenses could be done electronically. The extra requirement was a nuisance. The list goes on and on of rules that need changing, those that need repealed and those that were fine. However, irrespective of a particular regulation's merit, once it is on the books, people and business spend untold amounts of time and money trying to comply lest they feel the full wrath of the bureaucracy for noncompliance. Again, there are many regulations that make infinite sense, but there are so many that do not. That is why conservatives make a habit of constantly evaluating the regula- tory environment and push for reform. And yet, whenever conservatives advocate for such reform, liberals tend to cry foul. Even as recently as last week when some are sug- gesting that the federal food guidelines for school lunches are counter productive and too expensive, the liber- als jumped to their defense claiming that the reformers were against nutritional meals for kids. But there is one regu- lation that liberals have found so burdensome that they claim that the implementation of it amounts to a travesty of justice. Last year, Wisconsin passed a law that requires doc- tors who perform abortions to have admit- ting privileges at a hospital. The rationale is quite sensible and humane. An abortion is an invasive medical procedure from which serious complications can arise. If there are complications and the patient needs to be go to the hospital, the doctor needs to have admitting privileges at the hospital to ensure continuity of care and the best chance of a favorable outcome. The opponents argue that requiring the abortion doctors to obtain admitting privi- leges amounts to an undue burden that could force them to shutter their businesses, thus depriving women of their services. The opponents are so adamant that they are pur- suing the matter in federal court. To a degree, the opponents are right. The regulation is a burden. It requires some of their time and money to comply. But it is hardly as much of a burden as so many other regulations that are in force. After all, these are doctors. If they are competent, then obtaining admitting privileges should not be very difficult. If they are incompe- tent, then they should not be performing- procedures on people. As for the possibility of having to close their businesses should they fail to comply with the regulation, that is a prospect faced by every business. Just ask the folks trying to build a mine in Wisconsin about the burden of regulations. In this case, the business of abortion providers is killing babies. If they go out of business, that would not be a service offered as readily in a particular geography. Yet, there is no right for people in a par- ticular community to have local access to every good and service under the sun. If that were the case, West Bend would have a Target and an Olive Garden. And it is not the business of government to ensure equal access to every business everywhere. All told, the regulation on abortion providers seems entirely reasonable if the health of the mother is the primary consid- eration. If the court decides that it consti- tutes an undue burden, then let us put all of the other thousands of regulations to the same test and see what can pass. (Owen Robinson's column runs weekly in The Milwaukee Post.) Regulating regulations Robinson

• Cover