Facts don't get in the way of Senator Kanavas' political attack

Yesterday Senator Kanavas issued a press release attacking Governor Doyle saying he is not cutting enough state employees. This can only be described as a political attack using state office letterhead since Senator Kanavas and many of his Republican colleagues didn't shown any interest in reducing the number of state employees as part of their state job until after Governor Doyle was elected. Oh they often talked about it on the campaign trail, but they never put it into action as part of the state budget.

And Doyle had to drag them kicking and screaming into actually making the cuts. In fact, Senator Kanavas and almost every other Republican in the legislature voted for a budget in 2003 that had 649 more state employees than Governor Doyle's budget. It also increased the state deficit by $282 million more than Governor Doyle's budget.

Seen unbelievable coming from me? How about an article from the June 16th edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel?

Democrats, senior aides to Doyle and even some Republicans said they learned that the GOP budget would:

-- Create a $1.1 billion deficit -- the imbalance between tax collections and spending -- in the two-year budget that ends June 30, 2007. The Republicans' long-term deficit is $282 million higher than the spending plan recommended by Doyle in February, according to the Fiscal Bureau. The size of the deficit will depend on growth in state tax collections.

-- Add 649 more full-time workers than Doyle recommended in his budget. Most of them would be prison guards to staff two new state prisons, reducing the state's reliance on out-of-state prisons.

-- Rely on $250 million more in one-time funds than the governor's proposal.

-- Increase general-fund spending by $1 billion in the second and final year of the next budget.

Republican fiscal conservatism at its very best.