Friday, October 26, 2007

Where's the MONEY? Reporters Fail to Get Answers

The Company Line emerges in the JS article...

Documents released Thursday under the state open records law reveal detailed plans to shut down state government partially for the first time in Wisconsin history ...

Which, of course, is exactly what DarthDoyle wanted in print, along with this description of The Apocalypse:

...the layoffs eventually would have led to the shutdown of the state's consumer protection hotline; ended enforcement of the no-call list; stopped the inspection of fuel pumps; limited the hours at motor vehicle stations; and suspended the registry that tracks child immunizations, along with several other programs.

Well, maybe, kinda, sorta:

The documents do not spell out how soon those actions would have been taken

Of course, there's the qualification-line:

...state government has been operating under the terms of the previous budget.

But HERE'S the one which raises a question (never answered by the intrepid reporter):

Schooff said that wasn't enough because of rising costs for salaries, benefits, fuel and utilities.

Instead, there's just this remark from the Senate (R) leader, who presumably knows something about the State's financial condition:

Senate Republican Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau said that without a new budget, the state would have been "flush with cash" until the spring.

Sure would be nice to know the State's revenue numbers (and expense numbers) from 7/1 through 9/30, eh?

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