Money & Politics columns
January 18, 2012
Weekly commentary from Bill Lueders, Money & Politics Project director.
January 18, 2012
Weekly commentary from Bill Lueders, Money & Politics Project director.
January 08, 2012
Gov. Walker talks with Center reporter Bill Lueders about his regrets over the past year, his approach to conflict, his thoughts on out-of-state money that has flooded Wisconsin's politics, and how he got the yearbook nickname "Desperado."
January 08, 2012
Gov. Scott Walker’s supporters and foes agree that he is not like most other politicians. The first governor in Wisconsin history to face a recall attempt is bolder, more focused, less cowed by criticism. Where they disagree is over whether this is a virtue or a vice. Part one of a three-part series.
December 16, 2011
Scott Walker got elected mainly with the support of Wisconsin residents. But if there’s a recall election, whoever wins will have many out-of-state donors to thank. Nearly half of the $5.1 million raised by the embattled Republican governor since July 1 came from outside of Wisconsin.
November 27, 2011
The United States this year has deported more than 250 Haitians, half of whom were jailed without charges in facilities so filthy they pose life-threatening health risks. Some Haitians faced lengthy confinement in U.S. immigration facilities before the deportations. An investigation by the nonprofit Florida Center for Investigative Reporting found evidence that the Obama administration has not followed its own policy of seeking alternatives to deportation when there are serious medical and humanitarian concerns.
November 20, 2011
On Feb. 2, 2011, the Legislature voted to exempt a little patch of land, less than a mile down the road from the Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field, from the state’s wetlands rules, once called “the strongest wetland protections in the country.” The bill, passed on World Wetlands Day, will let up to three acres of the so-called Bergstrom wetland be filled with no additional permits or process.
Economy, Environment, Government, Money & Politics 3 Comments
November 19, 2011
Dairyland and other Wisconsin coal-fired plants have begun lowering emissions, but not necessarily in response to demands by pollution regulators. Many of the changes have resulted from pressure and lawsuits brought by the nonprofit Sierra Club, which has campaigned for a decade to cut emissions from coal combustion. But enforcement is inconsistent, and some residents living in the shadow of coal plants are concerned their health may be affected.
November 11, 2011
Gov. Scott Walker has hired private legal counsel to represent a county district attorney being sued for allegedly violating a state open government law — a move made necessary because the DA has sued the state for allegedly violating another open government statute.