State Sen. Jim Sullivan would have learned a few things if he would have attended the CYP tour at the Great Lakes Distillery last week.  Guy Rehorst told us all about the many challenges he faced in building a successful business.  It is sad to hear an entrepreneur explain that against all odds he succeeded…sad because the “against all odds” part has nothing to do with stiff competition, lack of start-up capital, or sluggish consumer activity.  No, here in the great state of Wisconsin all too often the “against all odds” part is our very own state and local government. 

Instead of creating an environment receptive to growth and ingenuity (which can be done by implementing reasonable and targeted regulation, as opposed to burdensome and broad policies, and by encouraging wealth creation and job growth by cutting taxes), government often targets the very sectors of the economy which are growing. 

In a desperate attempt to appear bipartisan, Sen. Sullivan attacked both Republicans and Democrats for not immediately embracing a job-killing 58% increase in the state liquor tax.  What affect does he think this will have on local business?  Obviously something needs to be done in this state with respect to the terrible culture of drunk driving.  However, reflexively beginning the analysis with a call for a job-killing tax is not the way to go about it.

Fortunately, in one year the voters in Sen. Sullivan’s district will have a choice between continuing the reflexive tax increase philosphy embraced by Sen. Sullivan or the outside-the-box-thinking of Rep. Vukmir.  I think you can guess who has my support.

DATE: Tuesday, Oct. 27th

TIME: 5:30-8:00pm

LOCATION:  Upstairs at the Palms on 221 N. Broadway (or visit them at:  http://www.palmsbistrobar.com/)

J.B. will speak for about 15 minutes around 6:30.

Join us and invite your friends. We’ll be upstairs at the Palms Bistro in the Third Ward. 

Thanks to Heather Treptow for arranging this great location.

There has been quite a bit of discussion in the media in recent months about “green shoots” demonstrating economic recovery. The merits of using $680 million in Wisconsin-as part of much more spending across the country-as a tourniquet to stem the bleeding of jobs are definitely up for debate. To this point, the only arguable evidence of any improvement jobs-wise as a result of the 2009 stimulus has been in the public sector (see, for example, this article indicating that the vast majority of jobs affected by Wisconsin’s chunk of the stimulus money are government-related).

In order to see any real, sustainable improvement, it will fall to American entrepeneurs to step up and jump start the economy by creating jobs that will be funded by what that business brings in-not our tax dollars. As this article by the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce points out, we’ve lost over seven million jobs. Spending government money to preserve or ‘create’ jobs cannot pan out as a long-term solution.

The ability of American entrepreneurs to respond to these conditions and create employment opportunities will depend heavily on the climate for business as affected by government regulations and policies. Nobody knows this better than Guy Rehorst of Great Lakes Distillery (known for Rehorst vodka), who has dealt with government red tape and knows what it takes to run a successful business. We have a unique opportunity to hear his perspective on Wisconsin’s business climate at tomorrow night’s event at Great Lakes Distillery from 5:30-8.

You can always find information on our upcoming events page:

http://www.milwaukeeconservatives.com/upcoming-events/

If you’re interested in blogging, please let us know.

If you’re interested in making us a logo, please let us know:  cypmilwaukee@gmail.com

CYPers Protecting the 2nd Amendment

• Rep. Leah Vukmir (my Assemblywoman from Tosa, candidate for the 5th Senate District) www.Leahvukmir.com
• Rep. Brett Davis (candidate for Lt. Gov.)
• Rep. Mark Honadel
• Sen. Mary Lazich
• Congressional Candidate Dan Sebring http://www.dansebringforcongress.com/

“Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels — men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, we may never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.”

A: Dwight D. Eisenhower

When:  Wednesday, September 16th, 5:30-7:30

Where:  La Dolce Vita (1673 N Farwell)

CYPers will gather at La Dolce Vita (1673 N Farwell) and hear the truth about so-called health care reform from real experts:  young doctors from among our ranks who will see their practices dramatically changed by a poorly conceived government takeover of healthcare.

CYP encourages its members to come, learn, and encourage our elected representatives to vote against government healthcare.  It’s up to us to let our elected representatives know how we feel about this–after all, we’re going to be paying for it.  This is perhaps one of the most important political battles of our generation and we should get involved.

To contact your elected representatives right now:  http://joinpatientsfirst.com/

 http://www.fightbackwisconsin.com/

 I read President Obama’s speech from last night.  President Obama suffers from a myopia that many attorneys have.  Just because you can say the words in a rhetorically appealing way and even a very convincing way, you cannot change the underlying facts.  To me (and I’m interested in what others have to say), there are two facts that Obama is at very least fudging:  first, that there is a crisis in our healthcare.  Untrue.  Most people like their healthcare and Americans have some of the best healthcare in the world.  There are problems in the growth of spending and in the number of uninsured people.  If there were a crisis, then Obama would be justified in the major changes he wishes to make.  He is trying to manufacture a crisis that voters simply do not see.  When he tries to solve this crisis with dramatic intervention and billions of dollars of new spending, people will look at it and disagree.

Second, Obama is claiming that he can increase the number of people who have insurance and decrease costs without changing the outcome for people who have insurance.  He may be able to walk on water and raise the dead, but I’m not certain that all the saints in heaven could pull off that trick.   To claim differently is to play pretend.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/57666737.html

Dawn Sass, the current Wisconsin state treasurer, is not very professional, what with the (1) hiring of relatives on the state payroll, (2) not coming to work to mow the lawn, and (3) not reporting travel funded by others.

There’s a big backlog of unclaimed property held by the state (which is the primary job of the state treasurer to fix).   Dawn doesn’t know when it’s going to be fixed, because she was in California last week:

As the state treasurer’s office tried to eliminate the biggest backlog of unclaimed property requests in at least a decade, state Treasurer Dawn Marie Sass headed to California.

Sass spent much of last week at the posh St. Regis Monarch Beach resort in Dana Point, Calif., for the National Association of State Treasurers annual meeting. In addition to attending informational sessions and giving a talk on Wisconsin’s unclaimed property program, Sass went on a two-hour sea-life cruise.

Sass did not disclose on her state ethics statements that she attended similar corporate-funded conferences in 2007 and 2008. The state’s ethics enforcement agency said it was unclear whether the travel needed to be disclosed, although such disclosure is generally required under state law.

The trip comes at a time when Sass’ office is rife with tension over the hiring of her niece and other family members for temporary jobs, as well as a wave of job vacancies for permanent positions. The niece spent some of her five-week stint on the job traveling with the treasurer, even though she was supposed to be processing claims and working at the office’s front desk.

There’s more in the article; the jist of it is that Dawn is kind of an embarrassment to the state.  Good thing CYPers can meet the next Wisconsin state treasurer Jason Punzel at our September 29th happy hour (stay tuned for details).  Jason is a real professional who is going to clean up the property backlog and allow Wisconsin families to have more ways to save and invest for college.