• In Peach Pundit, Georgia RLC Chair Travis Bowden argues that a proposed shift in power violates the Georgia Constitution in “The Role of the Lt. Governor“;

• At her blog, Nebraska RLC Chair Laura Ebke opines that having both Ron Paul and Gary Johnson in the presidential race is a good idea.

• In NH Insider, New Hampshire RLC Chairman Andrew Hemingway argues that Republicans should end their typical view of government and instead adopt a new perspective;

• At RedState, Wisconsin RLC Chair Mike Murphy’s efforts to rescind a promise between Democrat and Republican incumbent politicians has been exposed as a result of his tireless work.

Our RLC state chapters are busy building momentum for electoral successes in 2012. Please get involved today!

Laura Ebke says its beneficial to have two liberty candidates in the 2012 GOP race.

Raise your hand if you support torture.

Ugly situations such as the tussle between Governor Scott Walker and the teacher’s unions in Wisconsin are providing a small glimpse of what lies ahead, as keeping promises made through the years turns out to be an impossible task. When this discussion comes up, one of the oldest refrains we hear repeated religiously is that our public school teachers are underpaid. This has been said so many times and with such vigor that the wisdom of it has become all but conventional; questioning some things approaches futility once they become irreversibly ingrained.

Since good teachers are one of the most valuable assets a country can have, disputing their important contributions is unwise and unproductive. Any nation hoping to remain ahead of the pack will always have a need for qualified, competent teachers in order to truly stay great. But the debate has been framed to such a degree where anyone who even raises the idea of so much as tampering with collective bargaining arrangements is written off as an enemy of education who “has it in” for teachers.

Like many conservatives who dutifully denounce anyone who suggest military budget cuts as “weak on national defense” or “sympathetic to the Enemy”,  so many on the Left do the same for education: an opponent of bloated education budgets must of course be a “knuckle dragger who hates math, science, and the arts.” (With such free and open debate in the United States, one must wonder why we are unable to get our fiscal house in order.)

Both of these claims are specious and demonstrate how both sides of the political aisle shield from criticism the parts of government they would fight tooth and nail to prevent cuts from occurring in. But Department of Education funding is a subject whose discussion alone could be voluminous; all this drama over state and local school budgets in and of itself brings up an important answer to the “Are teachers underpaid” question/declarative statement.

The truth is, we will never truly know whether teachers are being overpaid or underpaid as long as public money is being used to provide their salaries.

Complaining that teachers are underpaid or shouting about too much pay (which I am not sure I have actually heard) misses the point: there is no way to know the answer. If education was truly a private marketplace, as many libertarians and some conservatives hope to establish, we would then know the true market price for sharp, committed teachers. Although it is not a government monopoly as some claim, state (and to some degree, federal) governments are so heavily involved that establishing a true market value for teacher pay is impossible.

This same concept holds true for military personnel, sanitation workers, and border patrol; all the elements of work funded by government lack the same discipline brought about by floating prices and voluntary exchange.

Do they perform a crucial service? Of course; that is not the question. Do we have a shortage of teachers that are actually teaching for the right reasons, motivated by a servant’s heart alone? Many think so, but that again is not relevant to the argument. Legislators, unions, and school boards can fight ceaselessly over salaries and benefits, but that is just it: the salaries and benefits are being arbitrarily determined, not allowed to coordinate in the way capitalist-centric competition would require. This is the reason people are often so unhappy with government services, particularly those at the federal even more than the state or local level: compensation is being determined not by voluntary competition, but by harnessing the force of law to divide up resources. When egos come into play, salaries and benefits are no longer being determined by impersonal means.

Americans at one point understood this, desiring privatization in most elements of daily life and reserving government power for things few and far between; it is no longer clear that this same spirit is alive.

Add to this mix the presence of teachers’ unions willing to fight scorched earth battles over the slightest of reforms calibrated to make education more competitive; this muddies the waters even more when it comes to determining teacher salaries and benefit packages. Suggestions like school vouchers and merit pay; you know, the types of ideas that might pop up during any free market-oriented brainstorming session, are fought tooth and nail by entrenched bureaucracy that has caused much of the  inefficiency we see in America’s school systems. Opening up education to more competition and less suffocating regulation will move us toward a marketplace in learning, one that is bound to once again produce the most informed and problem-solving minds in the world.

Only then will we be able to truly know whether our teachers are being underpaid, overpaid, or being compensated sufficiently; until that time, the battle needs to be over returning freedom of choice to all levels of American education.

Before releasing his budget publicly, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) gave Senate Republicans a private briefing about the plan in early April. During that meeting, RLC Advisory Board member Rand Paul, a Tea Party-backed freshman from Kentucky, challenged Ryan in front of the rest of their party, according to two GOP aides briefed on the meeting.

Sen. Paul said Rep. Ryan’s plan did not do enough to cut spending and relied on too much deficit spending for too long, according to the aides.

Ryan gave it right back to him. The budget committee chairman went directly after Sen. Paul’s five-year budget plan, which he had clearly studied closely. Ryan’s criticism went roughly like this: yes, he said, you slash the Department of Education and make fast, dramatic cuts, but you don’t deal with entitlement spending. In the out years the deficit would sky-rocket, he said, making an air chart with his hand moving through the air and pointing sharply upward.

A GOP aide sympathetic to Sen. Paul said that Rep. Ryan’s criticism unfairly isolated a single part of his plan and treated as if it represented Paul’s global approach to deficit reduction. Paul does plan to announce a proposal for cutting entitlement spending, the aide said, but wanted to put the domestic spending plan out first.

The private challenge from Sen. Paul reflects criticisms of Rep. Ryan’s plan Paul also made to HuffPost. Paul thinks that Ryan’s approach doesn’t go nearly far enough.

“Here’s how bad it is: The president’s proposal, his ten year plan, is 46 trillion in spending. Paul Ryan’s alternative, which everybody is going crazy over, is still 40 trillion dollars in spending,” Paul told HuffPost. “My problem with the whole thing is that all of the proposals basically increase spending.”

Rand Paul said that Paul Ryan’s plan relies too heavily on deficit spending. “The president adds, I think, 11 trillion to the gross debt and Ryan’s plan adds eight trillion. I don’t think anybody up here realizes that we can’t withstand trillion dollar annual deficits,” he said.

A Ryan spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The House recently approved Ryan’s spending plan, but it was rejected by the Senate. A compromise budget expires at the end of September.

(Source: Ryan Grim at Huffington Post)

“We don’t have a king today, but, unfortunately, I think we’re drifting to a point that our big government is king — and the government tells us what we can do and be responsible for us. And, if we don’t have a house, they’ll give us a house. If we don’t have education, they’ll give us free education. If we’re hungry, we get food stamps. And deficits don’t matter. And if you need money, you print the money. And we have this moral obligation to police the world. It goes on and on … the king will take care of us.”

Released last week, the Paul Ryan budget has been praised by some conservatives. Many on the left have said Ryan’s plan is unfair to the elderly and the poor — who would also be affected by Ryan’s approach to Medicare and Medicaid — and benefits corporate interests and the wealthy. Ryan’s budget is set to pass the GOP-controlled House this week.

Paul, who will turn 76 this summer, said Ryan’s plan doesn’t go nearly far enough toward dismantling the welfare state. “We are dealing with a problem in Washington as a budgetary accounting problem and that’s not it. It’s a philosophy problem. What is the philosophy of government? What should the role of government be?”

The Congressman went on to question the role of government in the economy and welfare system. “(Paul) Ryan doesn’t reject (the) notion (of a government-run welfare system). I do.”

Congressman Paul also criticized spending on “maintaining our empire” and “being the policeman of the world.”

“All great societies have ended for foreign policy reasons,” Paul said. “That’s what brought the Soviets down.” Paul, a likely 2012 Presidential candidate, said he also opposes raising the nation’s federal debt limit.

The Republican Liberty Caucus of Wisconsin has been critical of Congressman Paul Ryan for his previous support of Big Government.

Gaining Election

Murphy was recruited by GOP members to run for South Branch Chairman of the Milwaukee County Republican Party earlier this year, which is the most populated of the six branches of the county Republican Party structure.

In late January, Murphy won election uncontested after it became clear that he was going to win even if the establishment put up a candidate against him. Murphy and Vice-Chair Alfredo Rios joined several pro-liberty allies on the Milwaukee County GOP Committee and, together, have been able to change some minds of members. For example, the Republican Party of Milwaukee County’s main page features a link to Ron Paul’s Facebook Fan Page and headlines an article by Thomas Sowell.

The Unwritten Rule

Last year, Murphy helped expose an unwritten rule that Wisconsin Republicans and Wisconsin Democrats have been upholding for many years. His efforts brought attention to a rule that was not previously known by Republican Party registrants or members.

The agreement is that incumbent Members of Congress will not campaign against each other. The agreement is between all Members of Congressional delegation. In Wisconsin, there are three Democrat incumbents and five Republican incumbents, none of whom will mention each other by name (except in a positive light) in the 2012 election cycle as a result of this unwritten agreement.

The absurd agreement is one of the reasons that RLC-endorsed candidate for Congress Dan Sebring, who ran against Democrat Gwen Moore, did not receive party support for his campaign in 2010 — despite that Sebring was the Republican nominee in the race.

Prior to November, an incumbent member of Congress had not lost in the state in over ten years and only four Members of Congress had lost in The Badger State in the last 28 years.

Participating in the GOP Process

Wisconsin RLC Chairman Mike Murphy, who received an award for his efforts to lead the state RLC chapter at the 2011 RLC National Convention, focused on bringing light to the “Unwritten Agreement” between Democrat and Republican incumbent politicians in Wisconsin.

As Chairman of the South Branch of the Milwaukee GOP, Mike Murphy introduced and passed a resolution condemning and disallowing the elected Republican members of Congress to participate in a sweetheart deal with Democrat incumbents.

Shortly before the Milwaukee County GOP Caucus, the Milwaukee County Resolutions Committee shot down Murphy’s resolution. Murphy took the resolution to the floor for delegates to hear. After explaining the “Unwritten Agreement”, he received support from delegates and even from members of the Resolutions Committee who previously discarded the proposal. The resolution was agreed to by the Milwaukee County GOP body.

On Saturday, March 26, the 4th District Republican Party will also consider the resolution. Murphy anticipates it will pass.

Erasing the Unwritten Rule

Two separate entities — the 4th Congressional District GOP and the Milwaukee County GOP — will be recommending Murphy’s resolution to the State Republican Party Resolutions Committee. Of course, having two GOP groups supporting the resolution will strengthen its appeal.

The state GOP Convention will occur on May 22 in Wisconsin Dells, at which time the State Resolutions Committee will consider the proposal. If passed by the Resolution Committee, the proposal will be listed in the state GOP program for delegates to consider. Should the Resolutions Committee not adopt it, Murphy will introduce the measure from the floor so delegates will have a say on it.

Republican pols like Jim Sensenbrenner should not be protecting Democrat pols like Gwen Moore.

Patriots like Mike Murphy lead by example and show other liberty-minded activists the path to success to restore liberty in the Republican Party.

Gwen Moore, Jim Sensenbrenner, and Paul Ryan have a deal.

• RLC-WI members are working to collect signatures to recall eight of the 14 Democrat Senators who fled the state to Illinois for 3 weeks throughout February and early March; and

• RLC-WI members are rallying support for the legislation being introduced by Washington County legislators Glenn Grothman and Don Pridemore to legalize raw milk sales in the state.

Recall the Wisconsin 14!

The Republican Liberty Caucus of Wisconsin encourages its members to get involved in the recall efforts of eight Democrat Senators who chose to represent Illinois voters rather than Wisconsin voters. If you live in the Stevens Point/Wausau, Green Bay, North Woods, Kenosha, Madison, or Milwaukee areas, it is important to get involved in the recall efforts of the following State Senators. Click the link to be taken to the websites where you can download petitions to circulate.

• Recall Jim Holperin
• Recall Dave Hansen
• Recall Bob Wirch
• Recall Julie Lassa
• Recall Mark Miller
• Recall Spencer Coggs
• Recall Lena Taylor
• Recall Fred Risser

The goal of the recall efforts is to let the voters weigh in on the decision of the Senators to leave Wisconsin during a critical time in state history.

Legalize Raw Milk

Wisconsin RLC members are also working on a legislative initiative, as it did in 2010, to legalize raw milk in the dairy state. The proposal introduced earlier this week would allow for a licensed dairy farmer to register with the state to sell raw milk and its byproducts directly to consumers. Under current law, only incidental sales of raw milk are allowed. Nine states allow retail sales of raw milk.

Last spring, former Governor Jim Doyle vetoed a proposal that would have allowed farmers to sell their raw milk if there were certain safeguards in place to protect the public. But Governor Scott Walker said in January that he would likely sign a similar bill if it were to come across his desk.

Last May, the Wisconsin RLC sent out a press release supporting the legislation. “Imagine what a positive impact raw milk can have on the economy in our Dairy State,” said state RLC Chairman Michael S. Murphy of Milwaukee.

The Republican Liberty Caucus of Wisconsin was founded in 2009 to promote individual liberty, limited government, and free enterprise within the Republican Party. Learn more about the RLC-WI at http://wi.rlc.org/.

by Aaron Biterman

Recent protests in Wisconsin have captured the attention of residents in that state and anyone paying attention to politics nationally. Governor Scott Walker, elected in November after many years of total Democrat control, proposed what he calls a budget repair bill to close the $3.6 billion shortfall. The legislation, which has support from large majorities of the Republican-controlled House and Senate, will significantly curb the collective bargaining rights of public employees in the state and would require most government workers to contribute to their pensions and health care premiums.

Specifically, if passed, state employee wage increases will be in conjunction with inflation such that employee pension contributions will rise to 5.8% of each employee’s salary, health insurance premiums will rise to 12.6% of their total premium, state workers could opt out of paying union dues after current contracts expire, and union dues could no longer be collected automatically.

Governor Walker says that these items are necessary to prevent furloughs while also reducing the $137 million deficit, but the Wisconsin Educational Association (WEA) and President Obama claim that Walker is using his political power to take away worker rights while reducing union power in the state. Of course, as the 2012 election moves closer, Democrats nationwide are concerned about Wisconsin – a key swing state – and rightfully so. Democrats receive 65% of union contributions while Republicans receive roughly 1%; roughly 34% is given to non-partisan causes.

The WEA and the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers have a combined annual revenue of nearly $30 million, according to the Center for Union Facts. Additionally, while nearly 10% of private school teachers are fired due to poor performance annually, less than two percent of Wisconsin teachers are let go as a result of inadequate performance. This is because Wisconsin public school teachers are virtually untouchable after three years of service, after which they receive tenure.

Now Wisconsin teachers have taken to the streets of Madison to protest the budget-balancing act of their newly elected governor. Meanwhile, the 14 Democrats who are members of the Wisconsin State Senate decided to leave their state and their constituents to block the Walker budget repair bill. By hiding out in Illinois, the Senate Democrats have blocked the 20 votes needed to obtain a quorum because Republicans only have 19 State Senate votes to pass the bill.

Ironically, from 2006 to 2010, when Democrats controlled the legislature and governor’s office, the same Democrats who fled their state also spearheaded controversial legislation that Republicans were not able to block, including, but not limited to:
▪ State borrowing of nearly $1.5 billion despite an unemployment rate less than the national average;
▪ Raising taxes to the tune of $900 million on cigarettes, hospitals, oil companies, and real estate in 2007;
▪ Raising taxes with a $1.1 billion tax package in 2009 which broadened the corporate tax base, increased the top personal income tax rate, reduced the capital gains tax exclusion, and increased hospital taxes; and
▪ Each of these tax hikes was in conjunction with increases in spending.

In these examples, Republican lawmakers chose to show up and make their arguments in opposition to the Democrat majority. They did not flee to another state as the 14 Democrat State Senators have.

This brings us back to the sad truth about the Wisconsin union protests: Many teachers have left their students behind for their own self-interest.

That’s right; some teachers in Madison and Milwaukee have skipped school to enhance their own wages despite the fact that 90% of black fourth-graders in the state are not proficient readers, thereby making them last in the nation in this demographic group according to the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. In 2009, 19% of Wisconsin high school students failed to qualify for service in the U.S. military as a result of their poor scores on the Army’s Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). Student achievement in Wisconsin is disparate with mediocre results, yet some teachers had the nerve to leave their students in the dust to picket at the Capitol for days at a time.

When it comes to teacher quality, Wisconsin’s results are even worse than its student achievement rates. The National Council on Teacher Quality gives Wisconsin a “D” (with “F” meaning a total failure) in four out of five categories from its 2009 “State Policy Yearbook.” The state fails to deliver well-prepared teachers, expand its pool of teachers, identify effective teachers, and remove ineffective teachers. Specifically, the study concluded that Wisconsin “fails to make evidence of student learning the preponderant criterion in teacher evaluations” and “lacks an efficient termination process for ineffective teachers.”

The essential truth about the budget repair bill is that teacher union bosses across the country are watching Wisconsin. They know that if a Democrat-leaning state like The Badger State reduces the special privileges of its state employees, they could lose tens of thousands of forced dues dollars, some of which are earmarked for the campaigns of politicians like President Obama. States like Alabama, Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia are considering following Governor Scott Walker’s lead on this issue to nip their budget shortfalls in the bud, too.

Freedom of association is a constitutional right and workers should be free to come together to organize. By the same token, teachers who don’t show up to class, legislators who run to another state, and doctors who write false sick notes should be held accountable. Thank you to Wisconsin’s teachers who continue to show up for work. These are the teachers that Wisconsin students can look up to as examples. Those who are not showing up have embarrassed themselves and their profession, and that’s the sadness in the Wisconsin union uprising.

Assuming the budget fix moves forward, there are some positives in the situation, too: the budget may finally balance, other states could follow the Wisconsin model, and a much-needed discussion about the special privileges that union power wields for public sector employees will have entered the public cognizance. We owe a debt of gratitude to Governor Walker and the Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature for their collective backbones.

_____________________________________________________________________________
Aaron Biterman is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is a certified teacher in The Badger State. In 2007, he moved from Wisconsin to Virginia, where he currently resides. He is an Advisory Board member of the Northern Virginia Tea Party and is Vice-Chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus.

Congressman Justin Amash, in his short speech to delegates, spoke positively about the Republican Liberty Caucus, saying …

“In 2005, I wasn’t involved in politics in any substantive way. I had never really thought about running for office. I began looking for organizations that shared the beliefs I had — and that’s when I came across the Republican Liberty Caucus. And, really, it’s what’s started my move toward running for office.”

Listen to more of our elected liberty Republicans below. Please join or get involved (or both) in the Republican Liberty Caucus today.

Congressman Justin Amash – Part 1

Congressman Justin Amash – Part 2

Elected Liberty Republicans – Part 1 (Dan Halloran)

Elected Liberty Republicans – Part 2 (Jamie Callender)

Elected Liberty Republicans – Part 3 (Terri McCormick)

Elected Liberty Republicans – Part 4 (Mix)

Elected Liberty Republicans – Part 5 (Mix)

Governor Gary Johnson – Part 1

Governor Gary Johnson – Part 2

Yesterday, the Republican Liberty Caucus of Wisconsin, which has made state and national news as a result of several prominent events in their state over the past year, issued a statement supporting Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill.

Wisconsin RLC Chairman Michael S. Murphy of Milwaukee spoke in strong support of the repair bill. “The RLC-WI supports Governor Scott Walker and the Republican Legislation in their efforts to curtail runaway government spending. We also want to commend these brave lawmakers for standing strong against oppositional union forces, which have resulted in numerous threats to their safety already. The RLC-WI stands behind this effort 100% and we hope that not one Republican Legislator waivers in their decision to support this bill before it is made into law.”

Murphy continued, “We are especially proud of the seven RLC-WI endorsed State Representatives, who recently took office after winning their respective elections in November. They are truly upholding the RLC standard and keeping their committed promises to reduce government spending.” (Note: Wisconsin RLC Vice Chair Terri McCormick, who recently spoke at the RLC National Convention in DC, is herself a former three-term State Representative.)

The Wisconsin RLC continues to be the only voice for limited government and individual liberty in the Republican Party in Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker has exceeded the Wisconsin RLC’s expectations and wishes the Governor well in the coming weeks.

Photo above: Wisconsin RLC members gathered in 2009 to form their state chapter.

Florida RLC Applauds Governor Rick Scott’s High Speed Rail Decision
State RLC Issues Press Release and Congratulatory Letter

Florida Governor Rick Scott’s decision not to accept a $2.4 billion federal grant for a high speed rail project was a “courageous choice”, according to a congratulatory letter sent today from the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida.

In the letter, Florida RLC Chairman Matthew Nye told the governor, “When you spoke an RLC event back in September, you promised you would be making the tough decisions to get Florida back in fiscal order. With this decision, you are doing just that — and we commend you.”

The letter cites the recent Reason Foundation study titled “The Tampa to Orlando High Speed Rail Project: A Florida Taxpayer Risk Assessment,” which suggests the ultimate cost of the project could exceed expectations by $3 billion and these overruns would be borne by Florida taxpayers.

As noted by Florida RLC Vice Chairman John Stevens, the other issue at stake is our responsibility to demand fiscal responsibility at the federal level of government. “With a $13 trillion dollar national debt and deficits as far as the eye can see, state governors and legislators must send an unequivocal message to Washington DC that spending beyond our means — even if it would benefit their state — is no longer acceptable.”

A thank you letter was also mailed to Senate President Mike Haridopolos, who announced today he would stand by the governor’s decision. The press release was sent to about 90 media outlets across the state.

To let your legislators know how you feel on this issue, go here.

Florida RLC members gathered in 2009 to protest tax-increasing High Speed Rail. They just obtained a victory when Governor Rick Scott, an ally of the Florida RLC, blocked the rail plan.

A quartet of former Republican State Representatives from Maine, Maryland, Ohio, and Wisconsin will put that theory to rest at the 2011 RLC National Convention in Arlington, Virginia on Saturday, February 12. We encourage you to learn more about these pro-liberty leaders below and register to attend the Convention to hear their remarks.

Jamie Callender is an attorney, college professor, and former State Representative who served in the Ohio House from 1997 to 2004. He represented a Democratic area despite being a Republican with a strong libertarian streak. With his leadership, Ohio was able to greatly expand school choice — an issue he is very passionate about. He was term limited out of office. Callender currently serves as a Professor of Public Policy at Kent State University. He and his family live in Lake County, Ohio in the Cleveland metropolitan area.

R. Kenneth Lindell is a former one-term Maine State Representative. In addition to serving as the Chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Maine, Ken was also Chairman of the Ron Paul for President campaign in Maine. Ken is also a Certified Financial Planner. He and his wife Althea, along with their three children, reside in Frankfurt, Maine. He has been a longtime advocate of the liberty message and also attended the 2006 RLC National Convention in Orlando, Florida.

Don Murphy is a former elected Delegate from Baltimore County, Maryland. He was first elected in 1993 and served until 2002. He is a co-founder of the Patapsco Valley Republican Club, served as Chairman of the Baltimore County Republican Party, and served as a Delegate to the Republican National Convention. In 2010, he was a Senior Advisor to RLC-endorsed Senate candidate Dr. Eric Wargotz. Don is also the founder of Republicans for Compassionate Access, a group of Republican legislators who believe in a patient’s right to choose medical treatment under a doctor’s care. Delegate Murphy has attended every RLC National Convention since 2006.

Terri McCormick is Vice Chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Wisconsin and is a former three-term State Representative who represented Appleton and Neenah. She is also a two-time candidate for Congress. Terri pioneered one of the first state charter school laws in the country and formed the Wisconsin Charter School Association. She is an advocate of term limits and upheld her term limits pledge. Legislation she authored expanded small business growth in the state of Wisconsin and also created a prescription drug purchasing pool for seniors. Terri is the author of the book, “What Sex Is a Republican? Stories from the Front Lines of American Politics and How You Can Change the Way Things Are.”