Getting frank with Rep. Lasee

It really is time that folks like Rep. Frank Lasee be honest with their constituents and admit that they are in charge of state government spending. Yet recently, Rep. Lasee had this to say on his blog, "Despite all the talk in government about keeping taxes down, government is still growing faster than our ability to pay."

Mr. Lasee, YOU ARE THE GOVERNMENT!! You have been there for 10 years. Have you voted against all of the increased spending? Did the budgets the Assembly passed contain structural deficits? You were elected in the 1994 'revolution' which I guess was more of a revolution of who is in the legislature than a revolution on policies and ideas.

And please spare me the argument that Chuck Chvala made the Republicans vote for more and more state spending. Rep. Lasee and his party have had plenty of time where they were in control of two out of the three parts of state government that write the budget since he was elected. Those seems like good odds for getting your priorities passed. Yet they still talk about increased government spending like it is some mythical being that they would slay if only they could get control of it.

The truth is, Republicans have gleefully spent the taxpayer's money hand over fist pretty much as soon as they got into power. Heck, the Republicans at the federal level have spent more money than the Democrats could ever dream of spending. The only reason state spending is being cut now is that Governor Doyle, a Democrat, took the lead and made them do it to get rid of the deficits the Republican Thompson Administration left behind.

Perhaps Rep. Lasee can't slay state government spending because he spends his time worrying about things like what the tree in the rotunda is called. His blog a week later is all about the attack on Christmas and what to call the tree in the rotunda. And yes, it is a Christmas tree. But really, who cares? Christmas came to my house despite the 'attack' on Christmas.