Clark hears concerns - Constituents of State Rep. Fred Clark, D-Baraboo, raised a variety of issues at a listening session Monday including cuts to state employee pay, mining in northern Wisconsin, and libraries in relation to the state's new concealed carry law. (Wisconsin Dells Events 1/20/2012)
Another Legislative Step In Wetland Policy - Legislation - designed to modify Wisconsin's wetland protection rules - has been months in the making. (Milwaukee Public Radio 1/19/2012)
Nothing ventured, nothing gained? New state-backed venture capital fund pushed - State Rep. Fred Clark, D-Baraboo, says that while the state can play a role, he thinks that backing start-ups in emerging fields is a high-risk activity better left to private investors and not taxpayers. (Capital Times 1/18/2012)
Checking the pulse: Clark seeks public input at town hall meeting - Creating jobs, protecting the environment and controlling taxes are the key issues on voters' minds. That's what state Rep. Fred Clark learned Monday while meeting with about 20 constituents at the Baraboo Public Library. (Baraboo News Republic 1/17/2012)
Clark hears strong opinions against mine - Many of the 20 people who attended Rep. Fred Clark's listening session Monday in Portage expressed strong opinions about a proposed iron mine in Iron County, and the proposed state law changes that could clear the way for the mine. (Portage Daily Register 1/17/2012)
Clark faces tough questions - Wanda Nims is not happy with recall petitions targeting Gov. Scott Walker. (Baraboo News Republic 12/17/2011)
Dear Friends,
We missed seeing my good friends Bob and Cindy for the holidays this year before they packed up and moved back to Lake Tahoe. After several years working 80-hour weeks as a start-up contractor installing solar panels, Bob finally had to throw in the towel because state support for renewable energy got eliminated and too many prospective customers - including some who were public employees - got cold feet on a big investment with the uncertainty of the governor's budget proposals.
With Bob and Cindy leaving came another empty house for sale and the loss of the decent paying jobs he provided for local workers.
So not only is Wisconsin after one year of Gov. Scott Walker more polarized than ever, but we're losing jobs and we're losing good people. Wisconsin is not on the right track, and I believe that the extraordinarily bad set of decisions Walker made in his first year in office are the most significant reason why.
Gov. Walker's move to strip public workers of their rights to collectively bargain may have lit the fuse, but this was just one in a long line of decisions that has injured Wisconsin's national standing and moved us backward.
While Wisconsin once led the nation in educational achievement, we now instead lead in the size of funding cuts - $1.6 billion over two years - to our public school system. The defunding of schools is being accompanied by a massive wave of retirements, a net loss of teaching staff, and many districts cutting programs or increasing larger class sizes.
Likewise the historic cuts to higher education, almost $300 million total to our University of Wisconsin system and $70 million loss to our technical colleges, comes at a time when we need an educated and trained workforce more than ever.
The governor has called these and other decisions "tough choices" that were necessary to balance our budget and help put Wisconsin back to work. That is a myth. In fact the governor's major proposals were among the worst set of choices available to solve a budget problem, and they have cost us jobs instead of creating them.
Governor Walker campaigned with a bold promise that getting 250,000 Wisconsin workers back on the job would be priority one.
Unfortunately, our state has lost jobs every month since Walker's budget was passed into law in June, for a total loss of over 27,000 jobs at a time when the nation as a whole added over 400,000 jobs. You read that right - this losing streak is not simply due to national economic conditions. Wisconsin now leads the nation in job losses.
Wisconsin workers and their families are paying a big price for avoidable mistakes, shear arrogance, taxpayer funded giveaways to special interests and blatant abuse of power.
As a legislator and small business owner, I've worked hard to introduce legislation aimed to help businesses thrive and get people back to work. Along with moderate legislators from both parties I've authored bills helping increase availability of business credit, bills to boost our Main Street programs to help revitalize our downtowns, and bills to ensure Wisconsin taxpayer dollars are spent with Wisconsin businesses wherever possible.
Those ideas and others like them are being ignored. Gov. Walker's two special sessions on job creation have failed to advance any significant legislation that would actually create jobs - focusing instead on rolling back consumer rights and voter's rights, and allowing businesses to more easily pollute our air and water.
Now, the governor is prepared to stake his entire claim on job creation on one hail-Mary pass. He wants to let an out-of-state company dictate the terms of rolling back our environmental laws to build the state's largest ever open-pit iron mine in one of the most pristine parts of the state. It's a sucker's bet.
Wisconsin needs to change course if we expect different outcomes than we've seen in the last year. The stakes are too high to allow three more years of a race to the bottom in the state we all call home. That's why I support the recall of Gov. Walker, and why I'm encouraged that our constitutional process for recall elections allows citizens to secure that right in a civil, peaceful way.
I take seriously the responsibility to represent everyone fairly and to the best to my ability, even if we may not agree. As always it's an honor to serve as your state representative.
Fred Clark
December 20, 2011