MADISON – Democratic candidate for governor Joel Brennan released a plan Friday outlining how he would build a state budget in a transparent process, taking a shot at recent comments by his primary opponent Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez.
Brennan, who served as Department of Administration secretary under Gov. Tony Evers, said Aug. 24 he would create a budget drafting process that begins with surveying every household in the state and public listening sessions, which already take place under Evers and the Legislature’s finance committee.
“I helped build two budgets with Governor Evers. It’s one of the hardest things a governor does. You’re balancing the needs of every state agency and every community, all at once, with the clock ticking. I saw what works. I also saw what could be done better,” Brennan said in a statement about Evers’ budget process.
“Too many Wisconsin families feel like the budget happens to them, not for them. Deals get cut in back rooms, last-minute items get crammed in at midnight, and by the time anyone finds out what’s in the budget, it’s already law.”
Brennan said he would seek to require lobbyists to report within 72 hours of meeting with state agency officials, who they met with and what they asked for. He also said he would create a “geographic fairness analysis” to track how spending is being distributed. Brennan did not answer whether the budget would be changed according to the analysis.
Brennan is also proposing to require that lawmakers wait 72 hours to vote on a final state budget plan to ensure the public may view its contents.
Lawmakers typically do not take up the final budget plan on the floor immediately after the Legislature’s budget-writing committee finishes its work, which often takes place well after business hours.
That’s, in part, because legislative leaders push the committee to take votes on areas of the budget when they know they have agreement on spending levels, so yes votes don’t disappear if lawmakers get to sleep on their commitments.
“Oftentimes things get dropped in that have not had any public airing, and to me, the clock would start with, if you introduce something that hasn’t had any public airing,” Brennan said in an interview.
“I am less worried about legislators going to sleep on it than people in Wisconsin being asleep when they vote on it,” Brennan said.
The timing of Brennan’s plan indirectly takes a shot at Rodriguez. In it, he says, “You don’t get a good budget by hiding it from the people it’s supposed to serve.”
That’s a reference to Rodriguez’s recently saying she would build a budget with Democratic lawmakers “behind a curtain” before she took office. Rodriguez’s spokeswoman has said she was referring to working with Democratic lawmakers to find budget priorities.
A spokeswoman for Rodriguez declined to comment on Brennan’s proposal.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brennan proposal strikes contrast with Democratic rival for governor
Reporting by Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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