WISCONSIN PAYS THE PRICE
Wisconsin Pays the Price The Story of The Republican Administration Through Questions and Answers [EDITOR'S NOTE—This Is the second Installment of the Progressive parly pamphlet, "Wisconsin Pays...
...The power crowd had its own way so completely that its official spokesman issued a public statement praising the work of the Republican-controlled legislature—the only praise it ha* received...
...A. Its excuse was "economy...
...president of the Wisconsin Utilities Associaton, discloses...
...Q. What was the most important single measure affecting utilities during the 1933 legislative session...
...Q. What did the Republican administration propose to do with the commission...
...But there can be a cure for that...
...UTILITIES THE POWERFUL utility trust found the pickings easy with the Republican administration in power...
...Q. Were the big utilities satisfied with these gifts from the Republican administration...
...Following adjournment of the legislature...
...Q. What is the public service commission...
...3. It killed the resolution calling for a constitutional amendment authorizing the state government to develop public power resources...
...Heil make...
...A. Most significant were these three: 1. It choked off all state support for the Wisconsn Development Authority, an agency which has done outstanding work in helping farmers secure electricity through their own co-operatives...
...Q. What other steps has the Republican administration taken in behalf of the power monopoly...
...A. It was jammed through the senate, but a furious fight in the assembly blocked its passage by only a few votes...
...Rahn praised its activities, and especially its "sound and sane" ideas and its defeat of "crackpot" legislation...
...Wisconsin from 1930 to 1939 had a commission that did represent the people and it is not likely to be satisfied with any other arrangement...
...A. The Republican administration's bill to "reorganize" the state public service commission...
...Just before the legislature adjourned, Gov...
...Wisconsin Pays the Price The Story of The Republican Administration Through Questions and Answers [EDITOR'S NOTE—This Is the second Installment of the Progressive parly pamphlet, "Wisconsin Pays The Price...
...Q. Did the defeat of the bill prevent this important commission from falling into the hands of the Republcan administration...
...Q. What happened to the "reorganization" bill...
...Q. What kind of appointments did Gov...
...How shortsighted the utilities are and how stupid their legal advisers are when they pull such a raw deal as this trickery in the Adams case...
...Heil's $25,000 a year batch or secretaries swarmed through the chamber threatening revenge against Republican assemblymen who dared vote against the bill...
...After reviewing the facts in this case, especially the trickery of the private utility in defeating public ownership, The Milwaukee Journal observed: "So that is what the people get when a governor reaches in, and the utilities reach in, to get control of a regulatory body...
...2. It killed the municipal competition bill, which would have granted local units of government a very real weapon in combating the out-of-state utility trusts...
...A third Installment will appear soon...
...Heil stuffed the commission with two new appointees, giving him control over the three-member agency...
...but official figures were presented to show that "reorganization" actually would cost at least $104,000 more...
...as the statement from Bruno Rahn...
...A. Yes, they materialized very quickly...
...During the debate some of Gov...
...If this type of 'regulation' continues there will be a political overturn and there will be such a demand for a municipal competition bill as will shake the utilities out of their deceitful ways...
...A. The Milwaukee Journal Indignantly assailed both appointments, sneering at one as a "novice" and at the other as a "politcal henchman...
...A. It proposed to "reorganize" or "Republicanize" the commission by wiping out the existing commission and substituting one completely controlled by Republican appointees...
...In their first important decision tne two Republican members of the commission found a way to prevent the city of Adams from acquiring and operating its own electric plant...
...A. Decidedly yes...
...A. No...
...A. It is an agency established by law to regulate utilities, protect the public against exorbitant monopoly rates, and generally to serve as a buffer between the utilities and the public...
...Q. What excuse did the Republican administration advance in behalf of its reorganization scheme...
...whose publication was begun by The Progressive last week In response to many requests...
...Summarizing the whole course of the Republican fight on the public service commission, ending with the two appointments, the Milwaukee Journal said: "And the public gets a clearer idea of what, under Heil, a mess can be made in the name of a 'business administration.' " * * * Q. Have fear regarding these appointments materialized...
Vol. 10 • March 1940 • No. 13
