Thursday, June 11, 2009

Robson’s Pet Project Yanked

This is a telling story.

In unusual move, UW-Madison officials apparently asked legislators to remove a $47 million School of Nursing building from the state budget, said Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison.

Assembly Democrats voted to cut funding for the project during a closed-door meeting Wednesday night, following a motion sponsored by Black.

“It was great that it was put in because nursing was a high priority,” said Julie Underwood, interim provost at UW-Madison. “We also understand with the state’s fiscal situation, it’s hard to get all sorts of things. We understand the balance.”

The project was inserted in the middle of the night by Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, during a meeting of the Legislature’s budget committee.

It was not part of UW-Madison’s capital budget request nor was it included in Gov. Jim Doyle’s original budget.

Robson, a former nurse, said Thursday she was very disappointed by the project’s removal and said that the university “lobbied heavily” against it. She said the new building was necessary to increase capacity to train nurses.

“It’s very short-sighted of them to not look at the big picture,” she said. “I think they’ve strayed away from the Wisconsin Idea to improve people’s lives outside of university.”

Robson said she is planning to try to re-insert the project in this budget.

Here we have a project for UW that they didn’t ask for, but Judy Robson, in her infinite wisdom, knew better.  Consider that Robson wants to spend $47 million of the taxpayers’ money on a project that she personally wants, but everybody else involved - including the people directly affected - doesn’t think is necessary. 

What is it with some politicians who think that it’s OK to spend our money on their pet projects when even the people who would receive the money disagree?

(7) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1734 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. There’s way too much micromanagement of the UW from both sides.  One of the many problems with most politicians (especially long-term incumbents) is that they always think they know better.  This is what you should build, this is what you should teach, this is who you should hire, this is what you should charge for all of it.

    That Robson quote epitomizes that perspective perfectly.  She’s basically telling the university that it doesn’t know what it’s doing.

    UW-Madison has a master plan for development that extends out for nearly 20 years. Perhaps the Legislature should try this for the state, just as an exercise.  Then in 20 years we can see how close they got.

    A little scrutiny is perfectly fine, but higher education is really a thing where politicians just need to authorize the spending, outline some very broad objectives, and then keep an eye on things from a distance.

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on June 11, 2009 at 1850 hrs


  2. Nurse Judy has been on this kick for years.  Between banning mandatory OT for nurses (so how do hospitals cover minimum staffing requirements when they can’t make existing staff cover the spread?—Hire more nurses, of course!) and now, this self-serving crapola that the UW didn’t even ask for, someone has to give this woman a real legislative agenda—you know, one that serves her constituency rather than the nurses’ association.

    You’ve got to be some kind of special left-wing loon to find a building project the UW-Madison doesn’t like!

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on June 11, 2009 at 1902 hrs


  3. Just to clarify…she’s a nurse, right? 

    I mean, does she ever talk about the fact that she’s a nurse?  I guess I’m a little in the dark on this one….I just wish at some point in time, she would take time out in one of her press releases or floor speeches to remind us that she truly is a nurse.

    That would be a big help and very much appreciated.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on June 11, 2009 at 1935 hrs


  4. Speaking of idiot legislators micromanaging the UW, we’ve got a Nass amendment tomorrow that appears to be TABOR for tuition.

    If we could tie Robson and Nass to the same anchor and throw them both into the ocean, we’d all be better off.

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on June 11, 2009 at 2349 hrs


  5. Well RS, you’re going have to add Doyle and all the other legislative Democrats to that list of UW micro-managers who advocate for this budget item:

    This bill allows an alien who is not a legal permanent resident of the United States to pay resident, as opposed to nonresident, tuition.

    To quote Roy Scheider: “You’re going to need a bigger boat.”

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on June 12, 2009 at 0822 hrs


  6. This is similar to how some city of Milwaukee officials tried to change the location of UWM’s new engineering campus from Tosa, where UWM’s long term plan had it located and it would partner with the bio-tech industry, to the city of Milwaukee where there was no room and the neighbors did not want it.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on June 12, 2009 at 0903 hrs


  7. Sorry, Mr. Pants, but that’s hardly micromanaging.  That’s something that UW couldn’t do without a change to the law.  That’d be part of those broad parameters I discussed earlier.  It doesn’t force the UW to admit anyone nor does it tell the UW how much revenue it can raise via tuition. 

    State law also tells UW schools that no more than 25% of their undergraduate enrollment can be non-resident.  Shall we get rid of that too?  That also addresses the issue of resident/non-resident classification.  I mean, there’d be no issue here if UW schools just charge everyone the same tuition regardless of their residency.

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on June 12, 2009 at 1310 hrs


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