Friday, May 3, 2013
Wisconsin's drunk driving-related incidents are the highest in the United States and state Legislators have crafted six bills to confront the issue, but they carries a hefty price tag.
Some state Republican Legislators want to toughen the laws for habitual drunk drivers and first-time drunk drivers if they cause an injury or killed someone, but the price tag for those laws could cost taxpayers up to $236 million, according to a story in the Wisconsin State Journal. Rep. Jim Ott (R-Mequon) and Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) have introduced six bills to the Senate and House. The bills would: Because of the jail time provisions, the state expects to have to build 17 facilities that would each house 300 people. "A fiscal estimate from the state Department of Corrections put the cost of the bill regarding third and subsequent offenses at between $169 million and $204 million annually. Other agencies also weighed in, …
Monday, January 21, 2013
What's blocking Wisconsin from implementing new, tougher laws against drunken driving? It could be "the dollar factor."
Mark Grapentine is a seasoned observer of state politics. He was an aide to then-state Rep. Scott Walker and a policy adviser to then-Gov. Tommy Thompson. For the past decade, he’s been a lobbyist for the Wisconsin Medical Society. In this capacity, he’s pushed for tougher state drunken driving laws — and noticed that, despite an absence of pushback, these laws have stayed mostly the same. “It has been interesting to watch how there has been a lack of progress in an area where there seems to be a tremendous amount of agreement on the need to do something,” Grapentine says. Wisconsin remains the only state where first-offense drunken driving is not a crime, although the civil penalties include license suspension and substantial fines. Two …
Friday, January 11, 2013
Bill proposed by state Sen. Alberta Darling and Rep. Joe Sanfelippo calls for binding referendum making supervisors part time and axing salary by 70 percent.
Calling it a plan to help Milwaukee County deal with its fiscal woes, two Republican state legislators on Friday unveiled a plan that would enable voters to decide whether to drastically cut salaries of county supervisors. The legislation proposed by Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills and Rep. Joe Sanfelippo of West Allis would authorize a binding referendum in April that calls for reducing salaries by 70 percent — from about $50,000 to $15,000 — and making the positions part time. "This bill is about local control," Darling said in a press release. "It let's voters decide what's more important: parks or politicians." Darling and Sanfelippo are seeking co-sponsors for the bill, which also would eliminate health care and pension benefits …
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Alberta Darling, Brad Courtney and other Wisconsin Republicans mobilize volunteers at a pancake breakfast at the North Shore GOP Victory Office Sunday afternoon.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Party leaders and delegates offer up some advice for U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan on what will be the biggest speech of his life.
TAMPA, FL -- All eyes will be on U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan on Wednesday night as the Wisconsin congressman formally accepts his vice presidential nomination in a prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention here. Patch chatted with Wisconsin delegates and other party leaders in Tampa about Ryan's acceptance speech and asked them what they thought he needs to do to introduce himself to America. __________________________________ Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch: "Paul Ryan just needs to go and be himself. Paul Ryan is loved in Wisconsin. Paul Ryan is a hero not just to the GOP in Wisconsin, but to all of us who share his values, who share his love of the outdoors, his love of family and his Midwestern virtues that he is going to bring to …
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
At pro-Romney rally in Waukesha, local business owners take offense to president's remark that "you didn't build that."
State Sen. Alberta Darling didn’t hold back Wednesday afternoon as she criticized President Barack Obama for his controversial comments that “offended” business owners. “Your comments are a real kick in the gut” to hardworking business owners and the middle class, said the GOP lawmaker for River Hills said during a rally at the GOP's Waukesha County’s headquarters. Two weeks ago, at a campaign event in Virginia, Obama said: “If you've got a business — you didn't build that. Someone else made that happen.” Republicans are jumping on those comments in their fight to elect Mitt Romney. Romney’s campaign has been on the attack with ads that use Obama’s statements against him. “That statements shows that our president does not know how the …
Monday, April 23, 2012
Sen. Alberta Darling praised the news Monday morning while Democrats, including Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, say the numbers don't add up.
Local lawmakers are praising Gov. Scott Walker’s announcement that the state’s controversial budget repair law that significantly limited public unions in collective bargaining has reached $1 billion in savings. Walker appeared in Manitowoc Monday morning to make the announcement, calling it "a great day for the hardworking people of this state who pay for the expenses of government." State Sen. Alberta Darling — who represents portions of Milwaukee and much of the North Shore including Shorewood, Whitefish Bay, Fox Point and Bayside — said the governor's reforms mean more money goes directly into the classroom. "Before the hands of school districts were tied with locked-in costs that kept going up and up," Darling said in a statement …
Thursday, March 22, 2012
The flurry of ads and campaign appearances are just beginning here as GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney's wife appears at Miss Katie's Diner in Milwaukee with state Sen. Alberta Darling.
The first wave of the upcoming tide of GOP presidential campaigning in Wisconsin descended upon Miss Katie's Diner Thursday morning, with an appearance by Ann Romney, wife of the Republican frontrunner. Romney was introduced to the small diner crowd by state Sen. Alberta Darling, who co-chairs Mitt Romney's Wisconsin campaign with former state Sen. Ted Kanavas. Darling said Wisconsin is undergoing a "revolution," and said Badger state voters are "very different from Illinois." She predicted that Romney will fare better in Wisconsin than he did in Tuesday's Illinois primary, where he took 47 percent of the vote. "We are Romney turf here in Wisconsin," she said. The Romneys, who celebrated their anniversary yesterday, received additional …
A three-judge panel ruled Thursday that congressional and legislative maps drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature will stand, except for those defining Milwaukee's south side because they fail to create a majority-minority district.
Top state Republicans were ordered to return to the congressional and legislative district map drawing board by three federal judges Thursday morning — but only for Milwaukee’s southern, Latino-heavy voting districts. The court ruled new lines defining Assembly District 8 and 9, drawn last summer by the Republican-controlled Legislature, violate the federal Voting Rights Act by breaking the Latino community on Milwaukee’s south side into two districts, failing to create a majority-minority district. However, the judges also ruled all other maps will remain in intact and dismissed other challenges. Lawmakers will need to quickly redraw the districts on Milwaukee's south side with elections approaching. Legislators are constitutionally …
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Local lawmakers issued dueling statements Thursday on the news that the state added 15,700 private-sector jobs in January.
The state added 15,700 private-sector jobs in January and the unemployment rate declined from 7 percent to 6.9 percent in December, according to a new state Department of Workforce Development report. “Wisconsin’s preliminary January unemployment rate of 6.9 percent is now the lowest it has been since December of 2008, and it remains well below the national rate,” department Secretary Reggie Newson said in a statement. State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) said she was pleased with the news and the job growth shows Republican reforms are moving the state in the right direction. But, she challenged Democrats over “good paying jobs” lost after the death of a mining bill that promised to bring 600 to 700 jobs to northern Wisconsin. “…
Lika Phipps
11:12 pm on Saturday, May 18, 2013
Drinking is a privilege. So is driving. If you can't be responsible, they get taken away, because obviously some people aren't responsible enough, so they have to be treated like children. If you want to get trunk off of your tuches, do it at home and stay there. No one wants to deal with obnoxious people who think they're Benny Parsons and end up doing too much damage than what it's worth. more ›