Articles In This Issue

• Big Gummit Meets Its Day of Reckoning - David Blaska

• My Plan to End Government Shutdowns Forever - Senator Ron Johnson

• I’m sick of these hucksters… - Steve Kelley

Big Gummit Meets Its Day of Reckoning

David Blaska, Blaska Policy Werkes - October 2, 2025

Dane County Executive Melissa Agard is imposing a hiring freeze and pay cuts across the board (albeit 1 percent) in her very first budget. Who did we elect last November? Scott Walker? Has the dear lady borrowed Elon Musk’s chain saw?

For even the most Woke of progressives — which Ms. Agard most certainly is — a $31 million structural deficit (4 percent of the total operating budget) is a wake-up call.

Is it really conceivable that the shortfall could be “kind of dropped in my lap after I had spent an awful lot of time” listening to progressive wish lists during her election campaign, as the dear lady complains? In which case, she listened to the wrong people.

Maybe too ‘bold and inclusive’? Ms. Agard ran on a “bold, inclusive vision — expanding human services, protecting natural resources, investing in sustainable growth, and confronting racial inequities.” Remember when Dane County had taxpayer advocates? You’re that old?

The word “equity” appears 86 times in the current Dane County budget. The Office of Equity & Inclusion spends $1.68 million. Another $1.17 million goes to criminal justice “reform.” The jail continues to hold illegal aliens at county taxpayer expense. Waste and fraud in human services? The county doesn’t want to know. Supervisors refused by a 28-5 vote to audit Brandi Grayson and her $292,235 salary at her county-contracted agency, Urban Triage. . . .

My Plan to End Government Shutdowns Forever

Senator Ron Johnson - September 22, 2025

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) proposing the Eliminate Shutdowns Act to automatically extend funding in two-week increments at prior levels until appropriations are passed. By doing so, Congress could end government shutdowns.

"With government funding and functioning assured, Congress would no longer have to spend weeks and months arguing over how to keep government departments open after failing to pass appropriation bills," said Sen. Johnson.

"Fortunately, this turmoil can be avoided permanently by passing the Eliminate Shutdowns Act. Anyone voting 'no' is voting to continue budgetary chaos and should be held accountable by the American people," Sen. Johnson concluded.

The full op-ed can be found here and excerpts are below.

"The U.S. has experienced three government shutdowns since I entered the Senate in 2011. During that time Congress has passed 55 continuing resolutions and increased or suspended the debt ceiling 12 times. The national debt has grown during those 14 years from $14 trillion to $37 trillion. In 2019 I supported a bill that would have done away with government shutdowns forever. It passed the committee I chaired 12-2, but never passed either chamber of Congress.

"With another shutdown looming, I’ve introduced an even simpler bill, the Eliminate Shutdowns Act, that could end the drama and uncertainty of Congress’s budgetary dysfunction. . . .

I’m sick of these hucksters…

Steve Kelley, Creators Syndicate - October 3, 2025