Strike 1 on TABOR

So after more than six years of working on it, State Rep. Frank Lasee got his first floor vote on TABOR. And he got 32 votes in the Assembly. The Journal Sentinel online reports:

THURSDAY, April 27, 2006, 9:15 p.m.
By Steven Walters

Assembly rejects local spending limit bill
Madison - The state Assembly tonight killed a constitutional amendment that would have clamped tight spending controls on state and local governments - the first vote by either house of the Legislature on constitutional spending limits.

Later, the Assembly was scheduled to vote on a plan to amend the state constitution to limit only state spending, by tying it to the inflation rate and population growth. Sponsors said the vote was too close to call.

Even if approved by the Assembly this week and Senate next week, limits on state spending would have to be passed again by the new Legislature that convenes in January, and approved by voters in a statewide referendum.

On a 66-32 vote Thursday night, the Assembly rejected constitutional limits that would have extended to local government. Those limits would have been based on inflation, population growth or new construction, depending on the level of government involved. Voters could have lifted the limits through local referendums.

The proposal for broader limits was offered by Rep. Frank Lasee (R-Bellevue), who has pushed a package of tight spending controls for eight years. He said all other attempts to protect taxpayers have failed and that wealthy retirees and young professionals are fleeing Wisconsin because of high taxes.

"We are so, so afraid of asking voters how much they can afford, or what they desire," Lasee said.

But Democratic Rep. Jim Kreuser of Kenosha called Lasee's proposal unpopular and unworkable, and said it would "duct tape the hands together" of local elected officials who provide critical local services.
"It's wrong for Wisconsin," he said.

The vote came one day after more than 100 local elected officials and advocates for unions, retirees and religious groups came to the Capitol to lobby against any constitutional restraints on state and local governments.