The MacIver Report: Wisconsin This Week

Bill and Michael walk you through three of the top issues playing out in Wisconsin state politics right now from a free market perspective. Get the latest lowdown on: the state budget debate, Democrat immigration enforcement opposition, and Democrat lawfare. Budget Stories: JFC Bosses Look to Evers-proof Next State Budget Schoemann: We Need to be Honest About Size, Cost of UW System JFC Democrats slam Republicans for Slashing Evers’ Budget Budget Analysis: MacIver’s Guide to the 2025-27 State Budget Budget '25: Transportation Analysis Budget '25: Children and Families Analysis Immigration: Wisconsin’s Liberal Leaders Stand Against the Rule of Law Gov. Evers: "I’ve Never Encouraged or Directed Anyone to Break any Laws” Make No Mistake: Hannah Dugan is a Criminal | Video | MacIver The Mantra of Due Process Lawfare: Wisconsin A-G Joins Another Lawsuit Against Trump Administration

One of the secret perks of being governor is the ability to take foreign vacations on the taxpayer dime. Oh sure, officially they’re called “trade missions,” and their purpose is to promote Wisconsin products overseas, but their results are nothing to write home about. Evers’ first big trip was to Japan in 2019. Of course, he took his wife. There were 28 people in the delegation all together. Since then, total annual exports from Wisconsin to Japan have dropped 11%. That’s $83 million a year. Agricultural exports even worse. They’ve plummeted by 35%. Evers choose Europe for his second vaca- trade mission. That was two years ago. He visited Belgium, a fast-growing market for Wisconsin goods – at least it was until Evers’ visited. Since then, exports have dropped by 15%. Now, Evers just got back from a third trip. This one was to Germany, another hot market for Wisconsin goods. We’ll see if it stays that way now that Evers stopped by to shake hands.

Mike gives an update on MacIver's research about Wisconsin's utility companies, their owners, and their efforts to expand their monopoly in Wisconsin. Also, against the backdrop of Germantown's controversial TID project, Bill gives a couple quick lessons for local officials on how TIF is supposed to function and where local revenue actually comes from. Finally, a story that should send shockwaves throughout society barely registered as blip on most people's radar. What it says about our culture that no one cares that the government is sterilizing people based on their income level.

If you make less than $48,000 a year, the state of Wisconsin will pay to have you sterilized. You heard that right. The state of Wisconsin actually has a program that sterilizes poor people. It’s all part of the department of health services’ family planning only services program, which falls under medical assistance. Apparently, this has been going on for the past 40 years. It flies below the radar because DHS never mentions it in its budget requests – and the department doesn’t really keep track of it either. When the MacIver institute asked for the costs and participation numbers in its sterilization program, DHS said the records were buried its database and could not be easily retrieved. So, sinister and unaccountable. The whole idea of sterilizing poor people harkens back to progressive era eugenics programs, that sought to improve the gene pool. Wisconsin banned the practice back in the 1970s, but apparently, progressives simply rebranded it as “family planning.”

Wisconsin Republicans are coping with their Waterloo moment (losing the Supreme Court in the April 1st election) by doubling down on crony capitalism. They’re rebranding the toxic ROFR bill as the Wisconsin Energy Reform Act. Meanwhile, they’re shirking the fight for a responsible state budget. And speaking of Waterloo, the City of Waterloo has an authoritarian new policy masked as a concession to private property rights. Bill Osmulski and Michael Lucas have all the details on this edition of the MacIver Report Podcast.

Nothing in life is simple or easy when the government gets involved. Take the city of waterloo Wisconsin for example. Not really a liberal place. Trump won there. But when some residents wanted to get backyard chickens – the city government lost its mind. Following months of committee meetings, draft proposals, hearings and debates, it finally hatched a plan. The city will issue up to six licenses at $50 each. There are 21 requirements. Seven different breeds are not allowed. And the best part – this is only a 2-year pilot program to figure out whether residents should be allowed to keep chickens or not. The city can pull the plug on the whole thing at any time. You might get all ruffled up about what’s going in Washington or even in the state capitol – but this is a great example of what happens when you overlook what’s going on in your own backyard.

No one ever questions the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) and with good reason. It is a non-partisan office of absolute professionals who serve as the legislature’s official accountants. But they are dead wrong when they say that Gov. Evers’ budget would raise taxes and fees by $2.6 billion. It’s not even close. $2.6 billion is less than half of what it would actually be. The biggest omission is Evers’ plan to increase hospital assessment fees by $3.3 billion to increase funding to Medicaid. Hospitals will, of course, shift those costs onto other patients who are not on Medicaid. That brings Evers’ total up to at least $5.9 billion. There’s even more to this story that you can apparently only get from the MacIver Institute.

What do you do when you wake up one morning and learn your local government is hell-bent on making a terrible decision. It could be anything – a bad real estate deal, an idiotic public works project, maybe it’s a high-density housing project in your sleepy suburban downtown. I get calls about these things all the time, and I hate to say it, but it’s usually too late to do anything about it. Sure, you might be able to flood the council chambers with enough angry residents to move the needle, but you’re just throwing a “Hail Mary” at that point. You have to realize that when you elect someone to public office, you give them the authority to make decisions on your behalf. So, you have to make sure to elect the right ones up front. Then you have to attend their meetings regularly to make sure they stay on track. You can’t just expect to pop in at the 11th hour and exercise a “citizen’s veto,” because there’s no such thing. I call these situations painful lessons in civics, and they’re going to keep happening until conservatives start taking their responsibilities as citizens seriously.

Wisconsin is dealing with another mental illness outbreak, with drag queens campaigning for Crawford in Madison, Bernie Sanders' opening act signing vulgar songs about God, and Democrats arguing that there are just as many hermaphrodites in the US as redheads... MacIver's Bill Osmulski and Mike Lucas don't mince words about what's going on here, and why Republicans are playing defense despite overwhelming public support on these issues. They also talk about all the issues that will be impacted by the outcome of the state Supreme Court election on Tuesday. Hear about all that, plus a review of MacIver's biggest stories from the past month.

Two weeks ago, Bernie Sanders came to Wisconsin parading some crossdresser around who was singing the most vile and vulgar songs about God in front of cheering crowds of everyday liberals. Last week, a democrat representative from Ashland lectured republican lawmakers about how there are just as many hermaphrodites in the us as there are redheads. You would think stunts like these would alienate the left from the general public, and yet, they only seem to be getting bolder, louder, and crazier. That’s probably because the right keeps voluntarily giving up ground to them. Bernie and his friends essentially got a pass on their outright blasphemy. No one dared correct that democrat in committee about her make-believe transgender statistics. For some reason, the right allows the lunatic left to set the terms, conditions, and definitions for all public discourse. Until they decide to get serious about pushing back – the culture war will continue to be a rout against rational thought.

Girls’/women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines explains what’s truly driving the transgender movement, why so many people are afraid to confront it, why Democrats are so committed to it, and how Republicans are finally growing a backbone to stand up to it.

The Wisconsin State Legislature debated the ROFR bill on Tuesday that would establish a monopoly in the private sector for Wisconsin-based electric transmission companies, and on this edition of the MacIver Report, Bill Osmulski and Michael Lucas focus on one exchange between a lobbyist and the committee chair about "laissez faire, Adam Smith capitalism.” They also talk about Gov. Evers' plans to expand Medicaid and replace lead pipes in the state budget, and the latest Marquette Law School Poll. As usual, Bill and Mike take plenty of side trips to highlight MacIver's free market philosophy and how it relates to current events in Wisconsin.

MacIver's Bill Osmulski and Michael Lucas review all the content that the institute produced over the past week. These included stories about: Republican Lawmakers Alarmed by Gov. Evers’ “mother” Changes - The governor changed “mother” to “inseminated person” in a budget line about IVF. The governor also dropped the words “father” and “husband” from other parts of the budget. He even suggested changing "mother" to "parent who gave birth to the child" in another part of his plan. Evers Calls Budget “realistic,” Worried About Federal Changes - Gov. Evers said his budget, which would spend nearly $9 billion more than this year’s budget, is not ‘Dead on Arrival’ at the statehouse like Republicans have promised. Congressman Tiffany: Medicaid Changes not Cuts, but “Common Sense” - Tiffany said requiring people who can work to work, and ending benefits for people who are in this country illegally are both very popular. Judge Issues Fine Over Missing MPS Resource Officers, Okays Another Delay - Borowksi said if the police department can have the officers trained, in school, and provide a list of the schools where the officers will be by March 15th, the fine will be lifted. The DNR’s Scientific Integrity Policy = Unaccountability - The proposed DNR budget needs to be thoroughly deconstructed, and then the agency’s internal scientific regime, especially its corrupt so-called scientific integrity policy, needs to be scrapped. Brad Schimel: Expensive Supreme Court Race an Admission of High Stakes - The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign first reported on Tuesday that the total cost of the race between Schimel and Crawford is now over $18 million. Wisconsin Legislative Audit Chiefs Want Learning Standards, Grant Reviews - Wisconsin’s next deep-dives will look into the decision to change the state’s learning standards, and look into $44 billion worth of state grants. Sen. John Jagler Breaks Down Evers' "Year of the Kid" - MacIver Content Director Bill Osmulski sat down with Wisconsin State Senator John Jagger (R-Watertown) to point out the hypocrisies and the hidden agenda behind Gov. Evers' "Year of the Kid." Kaul Facing Ethics Complaint and Lawsuit for Corruption - “This case presents the question whether the Wisconsin Department of Justice is for sale.”

MacIver Content Director Bill Osmulski sat down with Wisconsin State Senator John Jagger (R-Watertown) to point out the hypocrisies and the hidden agenda behind Gov. Evers' "Year of the Kid."

MacIver's Bill Osmulski and Michael Lucas review Gov. Evers' budget proposal and introduce MacIver's budget coverage for the 2025 Wisconsin state budget debate.

Today is Tuesday, February 18th, and tonight Gov. Evers will tell us how he plans to tackle the state’s $860 million structural deficit. What’s that? You thought we had a $4 billion budget surplus? Well, that’s how much the state expects to have in the general fund this June. However, based on spending requests from Evers’ agencies, two years from now Wisconsin will be deep in the red. Now to be fair, agencies don’t get everything they ask for, but they did base their requests on Evers’ direct guidance. So now Evers is going to have figure out where to cut $860 million from, or where he wants to increase taxes and borrowing to make up the difference. Whatever he comes with, it’s sure to be a mess, so don’t be surprised when the legislature scraps his entire budget and starts over from scratch, as usual.

MacIver Institute content director Bill Osmulski and economist Michael Lucas tackle some tough mysteries about Wisconsin public policy in this edition of the MacIver Report. The state senate just introduced a bill this week that would give electric transmission companies a monopoly over future projects in the state. Also, Milwaukee Public Schools' audit came back exploring why the district is a constant financial basket case. And last, but definitely not least, a mom complains about the food her kids get at school while Gov. Evers demands every kid get free breakfast and lunch at school.

MacIver's Bill Osmulski and Michael Lucas review all the content that the institute produced over the past week. These included stories about: - Wisconsin Supreme Court to Decide Meagan Wolfe non-nomination on Friday - Wisconsin’s Own USAID Scandal - Northwoods Congressman Questions Gwen Moore’s ICE-evasion Advice - Milwaukee County Leaders Call Republican Immigration Plan “Dangerous” - How Democrats are Using the Supreme Court Race to Rig the Midterms - Wisconsin Lawmakers Begin Push to Raise Learning Standards in State’s Public Schools - Sen. Hutton Pitches Legislation to Block Future John Doe Prosecutions

MacIver's Bill Osmulski and Michael Lucas review all the content that the institute produced over the past week. These included stories about: No Place for Parents in Gov. Evers' "The Year of the Kid" Republicans Pitch Constitutional Amendment to Limit Evers’ Veto Power Legislative Audit Committee Waiting for full UW DEI Audit Gov. Evers asks Trump Administration to Pause Federal Grant Freeze Gov. Evers Warns of Chaos Even After Trump White House Reverses Spending Freeze Northeast Wisconsin Lawmakers Propose new Flag Rules for Wisconsin Government Buildings On the Ballot: City and Village Referendums Waukesha County Sales Tax Proposal “Officially Dead” Wisconsin Reading Scores Fall Again Brittany Kinser: State Superintendent’s Race Should be about Reading, not Politics

Gov Evers has declared 2025 to be the year of the kid, and if you’re a parent it should make your skin crawl. In Evers vision, everything your kid needs is provided by the state. You’re not even in the picture. When your kids are in school, they’ll get fed, taught, and nurtured by government employees. When your kids aren’t in school, they get fed, taught, and nurtured by daycare workers. If this messes them up, Evers wants $300 million for mental health services. And if they end up trans, Evers vows to protect them from anyone not being accepting and inclusive. You better believe that includes you, their parents.