Promoting fair elections for all parties and independents
eNewsletter
#2
This is a monthly (or at least periodic)
newsletter on election and health care reform. If you wish not to receive it
please unsubscribe at the bottom and accept my apologies for the intrusion.
In this issue:
1)
Op-Ed:
Health care should not be a business burden
2)
Op-Ed: Can the political machine be
fixed?
3) Letter to Editor: Voters must send
message to legislators
4) Contact Information
5) Removal instructions
Please do not respond to this email
address. It is used for cleanup purposes only. Please use jelohman@gmail.com
1
Op-Ed in Eau Clare Leader-Telegram and
December 9. 2005
What else can we expect than to lose
30,000 General Motors jobs in the
But we fail both businesses and the public when we ignore the
obvious: Why are we burdening businesses with health care costs in the first
place when no other country does this? That $9,321 is simply added to the price
of their products and the taxpayers pick up these costs at the cash register.
In the meantime we force employers to compete both globally and against imports
that do not have health costs built into their prices! This makes no sense at
all.
Why
have our business leaders not demanded a national, universal health care system
like that in
Canadians
are 90% in support of their system over ours, but they are fighting the special
interests who want to open their health care to profit-taking as their brethren
south of the border enjoy. And our free-market for-profit health care providers
are waiting anxiously at the border with NAFTA in hand to see that happen. It’s
not a pretty sight.
Our
business leaders must sideline our for-profit health care promoters and fix the
American system once and for all. Our free-market health care system is killing
our free-market business profitability and forcing jobs abroad.
What
we need is a national Medicare-for-all system, but with fairer reimbursement
than we have today. That’s not socialized medicine; it is socialized insurance
that leaves hospitals and physicians independent from government. It would
eliminate our Medicaid and BadgerCare systems, cut worker compensation costs by
40%, cover 100% of the people and eliminate the rationing common with today’s
HMO systems. The only thing stopping this is the $100 million per year that
health care interests plow into lobbying and campaign contributions, thus a
national solution may not be forthcoming soon.
In
the meantime
Jack E. Lohman is a
retired business owner and now executive director of www.WiCleanElections.org.
He volunteers for
2
Op-Ed:
January 1, 2006
FRI., DEC 30, 2005 - 1:49 PM
Can the political machine be
fixed?
Our political system doesn't have to be as corrupt as it is
JACK LOHMAN
Lohman, of
Colgate, is a retired business owner and volunteer director of
www.WiCleanElections.org.
First it was a 2000 referendum showing 90 percent public
support for campaign reform.
Then
a Wisconsin Policy Research Institute poll showed that 94 percent of
Wisconsinites thought their state legislators voted either on behalf of their
personal interests or for the special interests that funded their elections.
Only 6 percent of the people felt their legislators voted on behalf of the
taxpaying public.
Now,
according to a recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll, 88
percent of the public believes that political corruption is a serious problem.
These are our state and
federal leaders, the politicians we elect to protect our state's economic
well-being. Used car salesmen poll better than this, and at least when we get
taken by them we have a lemon to show for it.
When our politicians stick it to us we are left with higher
taxes, fewer public services, lower take-home pay and in cases even lower
family safety and security. And then they blame it on "the economy,"
as though they had nothing to do with it. They trade taxpayer assets for
campaign cash to ensure that they get enough private money to keep them in
office, and then they wonder why the state budget is out of control.
I usually agree with the votes of my two representatives. But
I personally would not want to go home and face my family and friends and try
to convince them that, while I take private campaign money, too, it's only the
other guys who are corrupted by it. They cheat everybody else's family, but not
mine. Right!
That's the system of today, yet it doesn't have to be. My
senator and representative may or may not be corrupt themselves, but they and
most of them have lost touch with the people. They must all be considered part
of the lot, and it is an image most of them deserve because they have not
lifted a finger to fix the system. They enjoy it too much as it is. And when
their votes do favor the special interests it is hard for me to disconnect them
from the money they received. I can't label that a pretty picture.
So at what point are legislators going to clean up the
system? They will have two chances soon. One is to pass Senate Bill 1, which
would make the state ethics committee independent of the Legislature it is now
charged with overseeing.
The other is Assembly Bill 626, which would provide for
voter-owned elections. This bill provides for a voluntary system of public
financing of campaigns. If a politician wants to remain under the existing
system, he can. If you want to give cash to a privately-funded candidate, you
can. But for those politicians who want to break the financial tie, to refuse
private campaign money, they can opt for a public grant that offers matching
funds if a private candidate overspends against him or her.
The cost to the public would be about $5 per taxpayer per
year. Compared to the more than $1,300 the political graft is now costing every
taxpayer, that'd be a bargain at a hundred times the price.
The people of
But
Hats off to Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael
McCann for blasting the governor and our corrupt system of financing political
campaigns ("McCann criticizes Doyle on donations," Dec. 16).
When $725,000 in donations is accepted from the tribes in
Gov. Jim Doyle's behalf, I don't see how he could possibly state that he is an
advocate for campaign finance reform. How could he not be influenced to favor
legislation to benefit the tribes? They're not donating astronomical sums
because they think he's a nice guy. They are expecting a generous return on
their investment, much as they did when Tommy Thompson was governor.
What politicians will never admit is that they are addicted
to the wide open spigot of money from private interests, which costs taxpayers
millions every year in pork. For less than $10 per taxpayer per year, we could
have voter-owned elections like
It's terrific to have an advocate for public financing such
as McCann, but we as voters must make it perfectly clear to our legislators
that they will not be getting our vote unless they support major change in this
corrupt system. The system of pay-to-play must stop! We voters must take ownership
of our elections and give the boot to legislators who refuse to reform their
ways.
Jerry Fredrickson
4
Contact information
Jack Lohman is a retired business owner in
Universal health care -
Phone 414-477-8686
(cell)
5
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