Republicans try to camouflage TABOR

WisPolitics confirmed in its Wednesday report what the Alliance of Cities has been saying, as we reported -- TABOR, the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights, is about to get a new name.

State Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, who unseated Mary Panzer because, among other things, she couldn't deliver on TABOR, is still trying to put together a proposal that can get 17 GOP votes in the Senate. He says now he'll have something by the end of the month.

WisPolitics says:

But don’t be too quick to call it the Taxpayers Bill of Rights – or TABOR. A name change could be coming that pays homage to Wisconsin taxpayers.

Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, is taking the lead on the issue in the Senate, with some help from Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz of Richland Center. Grothman tells WisPolitics the draft is in the works. “I think you’ll see a draft in two weeks. I’ll be disappointed if you don’t,” Grothman said, adding Wisconsin’s version of the government spending limit will be different from current TABOR policies. “It’ll be different from the Colorado thing. Colorado made some errors, and we’re not going to do those errors.”

Last night in an interview, Schultz said Senate Republicans “believe very strongly that a constitutional amendment ought to have the right to be voted on.” He said he was letting Grothman take the lead on the draft’s introduction date. “You can expect us to have a constitutional amendment without arguing the slogan,” Schultz said.

And last week WMC's Jim Pugh said it's up to legislators what the plan should be called but added "this idea is so popular that the name of the proposal is somewhat irrelevant.”

The truth is, it has been all about the slogan. But now that TABOR's reputation has been tarnished in Colorado, where it originated, the GOP wants to get far away from anything that can be tied to Colorado's TABOR. Opponents aren't likely to let that happen.

A name to "pay homage" to Wisconsin taxpayers? What would that be, The Wonderful Wisconsin Taxpayers Amendment? Give us a break.

As for Pugh's insistence that the idea is so popular the name doesn't matter -- if that's true, why don't we just call it TABOR?