Excerpts from recent Wisconsin editorials

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jan. 30

Be skeptical of Gov. Scott Walker's plan for UW System

Stop us if you've heard this one before:

A governor suggests that educators have a sweetheart deal, and, by golly, he's going to do something about it on behalf of Wisconsin taxpayers. He will supply a set of "tools" to get the job done.

That's what Gov. Scott Walker did when he crippled public employee unions four years ago. And that's what he appears to be doing now with his proposal to cut funding by $300 million over two years to the University of Wisconsin System.

In theory, the idea of a "public authority" for the UW System is appealing. With state funding representing less than 20 percent of university revenues at most campuses, UW schools aren't really "public" any more in a fiscal sense anyway. So it's tempting to make it official and let the university decide its own fate with far less legislative or administrative meddling.

If the price of freedom is $150 million a year ($20 million at the UW-Milwaukee campus), then it's worth it.

That is, if Walker and the Legislature really intend to keep their end of the bargain.

But we're skeptical of both gubernatorial and legislative intent.

Will Walker and legislators really give the campuses the flexibility they need in the building process, purchasing, human resources, travel and the development of new academic programs? Will Walker and the Legislature really allow the campuses to set their own tuition? Is the Legislature or the governor really willing to let go?

And even if they are, no Legislature can bind a future set of lawmakers to its will so what guarantee does UW have that this is not simply a bait-and-switch? That this is not simply a budget cut now with promises of autonomy in a future that never comes?

To our friends at the UW System: Caveat emptor.

And to quote a writer that Walker surely has read, we stand today "athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it."

So, to Walker and legislators:

Stop!

And create a blue ribbon commission to examine best practices around the country before you act. The commission should include all interested parties, including academics, business, labor, legislators and citizens.

Do that now, before legislation is debated in the state Capitol.

A commission should examine:

- Governance models - the University of Virginia would be one example.

- Best practices in financial management; how does the UW System measure up when the biggest pots of money benefit one campus?

- The crying need for a true second campus in Milwaukee along the lines of a Michigan State and how to accomplish this (hint: share the wealth more equitably).

- The role that tuition reciprocity with Minnesota plays with UW finances and whether this program still makes sense (we're skeptical).

- Why Wisconsin taxpayers are funding UW's two-year campuses while also paying for a huge technical college system. What about merging those systems?

And here's something else that should stop:

The governor should stop badmouthing the university and its faculty.

The University of Wisconsin is one of America's great academic institutions, respected around the world for scholarship and for the quality of its graduates. Walker's plan to overturn Chapter 36 of the state code (which pertains to the UW System) and leave it up to a Board of Regents might sound harmless to many voters, but it's seen as an attack on the UW schools by most academics. If shared governance, the idea that faculty share in the management of campuses, is put at risk, not to mention tenure, UW will lose good people and might have a very hard time recruiting new ones.

Walker and the Legislature need to stop and think before they act. They should appoint a state commission to help them to do that.

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Wisconsin State Journal, Feb. 1

America's red ink far from fixed

President Barack Obama touted a shrinking deficit in his recent State of the Union address.

Yes, the federal budget deficit is projected to fall slightly to $468 billion this year, thanks to a growing economy.

It's the lowest deficit since Obama took office six years ago and just below the 50-year average, when compared to the economy as a whole.

That's good news.

Yet the latest report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office also issued a warning. Without changes to current law in Washington, the deficit will soon be rising again as more baby boomers retire and enroll in Social Security and Medicare. And a decade from now, the federal deficit will again top $1 trillion.

Keep in mind: That's just an annual figure. The federal government's total debt is now $18 trillion and continues to climb, despite historically low interest rates.

Over the next 10 years, the CBO estimates, annual payments on the federal debt will triple from $277 billion to $827 billion. And over the next 25 years, public debt is on pace to become larger than the nation's overall economy.

"Such large and growing federal debt," according to the CBO, "would have serious negative consequences, including increasing federal spending for interest payments; restraining economic growth in the long term; giving policymakers less flexibility to respond to unexpected challenges; and eventually heightening the risk of a fiscal crisis."

The last thing America and its leaders should do is ignore the strong need for fiscal responsibility.

Obama inherited annual budget deficits of more than $1 trillion from his predecessor, Republican President George W. Bush. As the economy recovered from recession, the federal budget improved.

Yet Obama is now on track to leave his successor with growing budget deficits that will double by 2025 and be well above the historical average.

That's not progress.

One bright spot in the CBO report is that federal health care spending is increasing at a slower rate than predicted. Some of that is due to Republican governors, including Gov. Scott Walker, rejecting an increase in federal Medicaid money. But slower health care inflation is the main reason.

The CBO highlighted a "significant downward revision" to rising health care costs, which is encouraging. And some 25 million more Americans will have health insurance within the next decade, the budget office estimated.

Yet the CBO's projections for the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, are preliminary, the agency cautioned. The health care overhaul is still playing out, and Congress is considering changes that could make it more expensive for the government, such as repeal of a medical device tax.

Obama and the Republican-run Congress have a big opportunity in the coming year to seek agreement on smart fiscal reforms.

Republican leaders should stick to their pledge not to shut down the government or risk default, both of which would damage America's economy. Our nation also needs compromise on future budgets, a simplified tax code, entitlement reform and careful spending.

America needs to pay for its roads, bridges, mass transit and other infrastructure. That will require a higher gas tax or other revenue to cover increasing cost. The borrowing binge must stop.

Let's keep America's annual budget deficit going down.

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The Journal Times, Feb. 3

Narcan success is evidence of state's heroin problem

The words heroin and good news are seldom found in the same sentence. But that was the news out of La Crosse County earlier this month, where officials reported they had no heroin overdose deaths in 2014.

Medical officials there said the drop was due in large part to the availability of Narcan, the antidote for an opiate overdose. The zero death mark compares to two heroin overdose fatalities in 2013 and five in 2012. Tri-State Ambulance paramedics administered Narcan on 181 patients in 2014 and La Crosse firefighters used the drug on 30 patients.

"Every time we use Narcan, they've come out (from the overdose), It was successful 100 percent of the time," an official who trained the city firefighters told the La Crosse Tribune.

Racine County Sheriff's Office deputies began carrying the anti-opiate drug in squad cars last year and have reportedly made seven overdose "saves" since the program started. Still, the county had 11 confirmed heroin deaths last year and two suspected deaths still awaiting toxicology reports. That's roughly the same as the 12 deaths in 2013.

But while no heroin deaths is reason to cheer, as a La Crosse County Heroin Task Force official put it, there's reason for alarm as well.

Nationally, heroin use has been on the rise for the past six years. Last year heroin deaths in the United States hit 8,260, a surge of 39 percent. The number of first-time heroin users in 2012 was put at 156,000, nearly double the number of 90,000 first-time users in 2006, according to national health officials.

A closer look at the La Crosse County data reflects the same trend. The use of Narcan by paramedics to counteract heroin went from 133 in 2013 to 181 - that's an increase of 36 percent. Similarly, a La Crosse resource center which distributes clean needles primarily to opiate users to try to curb the use of HIV and Hepatitis C reported it handed out 31,000 needles in 2010, 91,809 in 2013 and 138,959 last year.

That, too, is an alarming trend.

While it's good that Narcan can be used to save lives, heroin can still destroy lives - particularly young lives - and wreck families even if it does not cause death.

We should not fool ourselves that a drop in the heroin death rate is a victory when the underlying statistics point to an epidemic of harm, an epidemic that needs to be dealt with.