GUV THROWS HAT IN RING

Dear Reader:
Welcome back to Milwaukeeworld, where we spent a couple of hours last night with the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor at an event where they ended months of suspense -- they are running for reelection!
We also hear about a grassroots effort to license midwives in Wisconsin, and hear from a woman who is volunteering to advance her cause, AB 709.
And the Brewers Chick, Tamra Reynolds is back at you with her analysis of the Brewers' trades during the winter meetings this week.
Enjoy the visit, please feel to comment on any item here, and let us hear from you.
Michael Horne
Editor / Publisher
www.milwaukeeworld.com
horne@milwaukeeworld.com

DOYLE-LAWTON TEAM TO RUN AGAIN

Imagine a made-for television event -- without the cameras. That's what you would have experienced Thursday evening, December 8th at Turner Hall where Governor Jim Doyle and Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton announced their candidacy for reelection.
The Governor and the Lieutenant Governor arrived separately, with Ms. Lawton arriving first. She cooled her heels in a back room in the restaurant awaiting the snow-delayed governor's arrival. To have done otherwise and to have appeared first before the adoring crowd of 170 that nearly filled the Turnverein to two-thirds capacity would have violated protocol.
Fortunately, once the Great Man arrived, Lawton got to speak first, which was fine, since the woman is not only attractive and personable, she is also a soundbite factory.
She was dressed in a knee-length black leather skirt, and her trim, long legs were covered with black stockings. She wore black suede shoes and a casual turtleneck sweater beneath an unbuttoned tweed jacket. The woman can dress, and she is naturally photogenic. The only professional photographer on hand to capture her image was the omnipresent Harry Kemp.
She began her speech in Spanish, making a tribute to the Hispanic residents of Wisconsin, with particular emphasis on those who will vote eleven months from now.
Then she let it rip, in English. She referred to "the right-wing extremists in the legislature. ... Working with the legislature is like watching Groundhog Day over, and over again."
She called the proposals for voter ID "nostalgia for the poll tax," and said the republican-controlled legislature, with its God, guns and gays agenda would "send the LGBT community back to the closet and women back to the kitchen."
Her remarks were heard by an enthusiastic crowd that included such worthies as Reps. Fred Kessler, Jon Richards and Josh Zepnick, County Supervisors James White and Marina Dimitrijevic, Chris Ahmuty of the ACLU, Carol Hale, David Riemer, Charlie Dee, gay police commissioner and real estate magnate Leonard Sobczak, Felmers Chaney, Common Council President Willie Hines and the legendary Vel Phillips.
She was introduced to the crowd by Sheila Cochran, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Milwaukee County Labor Council, who did her best to get the crowd excited about Jim Doyle. Of course, that is about as difficult as finding a union job for each and every citizen in the county, but she did her best.
Governor Doyle stood on the sidelines while Lawton spoke. The governor was dressed in a grey suit with a powder blue button down collared shirt and a tie that was a compromise color somewhere between grey and powder blue.
A buttoned-down collared shirt on a Governor! (Button down shirts are only for sportwear.)
The governor spoke without notes, which is to say that he spoke as if he were addressing the Supreme Court.
He makes his arguments logically, slowly, and repeatedly, following a template of Topic, Example, Example, Example, Topic, Example, Example, Example, etc., etc., etc.
The topic this evening was Values, and how the Democrats have got them and the Republicans, despite what they say, ain't got 'em.
Democrats, the governor told the crowd, value (that's the topic) "the natural environment, people of varying backgrounds, religious organizations, and things that bring us together" (those are the examples).
Demopcrats, he said, "don't value what we've seen happen the last couple of weeks" when the republican-controlled legislature came up with all sorts of whacked bills about guns, gays and God, which I capitalize, in this context, only out of respect.
"I will be busy making sure we are not all walking around with loaded guns in our pockets," he said to the assembled multitude.
"I'll take care of those issues -- veto, veto, veto, veto."
You could hardly call Doyle a gay activist, but he leveled with the crowd and said, "We don't need a constitutional amendment to change the law. The law says marriage is between a man and a woman."
"Amending the constitution (to forbid gay marriage) has nothing to do with changing the law. It has everything to do with changing Wisconsin where we welcome people to a state that discriminates."
(Actually, amending the constitution has everything to do with turning out highly-motivated Republicans to vote against Doyle in the 2006 election.)
"I've seen too often what happens to such states" (Example, example, example). "A state that turns in that direction will not be healthy long. (Example, example, example.)
"Are we focused on issues that divide us? Our culture is to work on things that bring us together.
"I have some republican friends," the Governor said, to the crowd's collective gasp.
"Republicans once were pro business, low tax, and believed in keeping the government out of my life.
"Remember those republicans?" he asked.
"Well, half the stuff they do is putting themselves right in the middle of your business."
Former Rep. Shirley Krug said she remembered those days when Republicans and Democrats could battle it out during the day, and go out and get loaded together at night. [For excellent examples, read Bill Christofferson's "The Man from Clear Lake: Senator Gaylord Nelson.]
Krug said that by the end of her tenure, republican leaders would call staff members on the carpet if they had had the temerity to socialize with their democrat counterparts after work.
In other chatter at the event, a number of people mentioned to Chris Ahmuty that the ACLU has its work cut out for it.
I said I was shocked that Sen. Alberta Darling joined every other republican in voting for an anti-gay marriage amendment. What does Alberta have to fear? I haven't heard any fiery sermons against gay marriage thundering from River Hills pulpits of St. Country Club -- er, St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, Congregation Emanue-El B'Ne Jeshrun or Hill Point Congregational Church. (Probably to the contrary.)
But, according to Ahmuty, the Deaconess of Dean Road has bought into the Christian Right philosophy that has so corrupted her party. He said he had seen her on a television interview saying that many of her constituents feel quite passionately about the issue.
Julilly Kohler sees the issue as sexist as well as homophobic, saying the republican men are bullying the republican women in the legislature to follow their will.
She has a point, if you remember what happened to Mary Panzer. -- Michael Horne

MIDWIFE ON A MISSION
Katie Prown Pushes for Midwife Licensure
By Michael Horne

Rep. Josh Zepnick, a democrat from Milwaukee, had never heard of 2005 Assembly Bill 709 until he ran into Katie Prown, PhD., a woman from Fox Point on a grassroots mission to pass an act permitting licensing of midwives who are not licensed nurses. Currently, there is a Nurse-Midwife license provision in state law.
She told Zepnick about the bill when she encountered him at Historic Turner Hall during the governor's re-election announcement December 8th.
Prown was folowing her first rule of grassroots lobbying: meet the legislator in person. (She also advises sending letters, placing telephone calls and dashing off e-mails, in that order).
According to Prown, who has given birth to three children with the assistance of a midwife, the demand for non-hospital birthing options is increasing for a number of reasons, including culture (Amish, Hmong), economic status (under- or uninsured), geography (rural), and immigrant status (undocumented.)
In some cases, there may be a combination of these factors involving a woman about to give birth.
She has gathered broad bipartisan support for AB709, introduced by "Representatives Underheim, Lamb, Hahn, Hines, Townsend, Musser, Pope-Roberts, Pettis, Owens, Molepske, Seidel, Montgomery and Young, cosponsored by Senators Grothman, Darling, Lassa Reynolds, Coggs, Erpenbach and Olsen."
It was referred to the committee on health, where it passed with only one opposing vote, that from Rep. Leah Vukmir, a nurse - legislator.
The bill would permit the Department of Regulation and Licensing to grant a license "only to an applicant who holds a valid certified professional midwife credential from the North American Registry of Midwives," or a certified nurse-midwife.
She sent me the following note this morning, along with some facts that I will post next week.
I should note that Katie Prown is the wife of Jonathan Prown, the distinguished scholar who is the Executive Director of the Chipstone Foundation. I give the Chipstone Board of Directors a lot of hell in this column, but I have the greatest respect for the work that both Prowns do in their respective fields despite the obstacles they must face. -- Michael Horne

I know I promised to send you information about AB 709, the midwife licensing bill I’m working on this session. And then I saw this morning that your most recent posts have been related to healthcare costs, so I thought it might be timely. I do think one of the reasons why this bill has earned such broad bipartisan support is because it’s a piece of healthcare legislation that actually promotes solutions to a number of problems facing residents of the state, particularly for the low-income, uninsured, rural and immigrant populations that make up a large percentage of the clientele that midwives currently serve and will be able to expand their service to once this bill becomes law. I know that’s one reason why Julilly is such an enthusiastic supporter, but she also sees the bill’s potential for promoting the Lt. Governor’s economic agenda for women, by expanding educational opportunities for women in communities that could benefit from greater access to out-of-hospital midwifery care.

Just a little background—the bill passed out of the Assembly Committee on Health with a solid bipartisan majority and a single no vote, from Leah Vukmir (R, 14th District) but all of the other healthcare professionals on the committee voted yes. Our sponsors in the Assembly and the Senate are Republicans (Underheim and Grothman) but we have a strong bipartisan coalition of co-sponsors and supporters, who have been impressed by the hundreds of calls and visits from constituents in every district who support our bill. Not surprisingly we also have considerable support from physicians, nurse midwives, nurses, public health officials, and other healthcare professionals, many of whom submitted written testimony on behalf of our bill, and none of the organizations that have registered a position on AB 709 oppose it. Everyone who’s been working to get this bill passed is a volunteer, and we’re backed by a statewide grassroots network, so it’s been an encouraging example of how government can still work for average citizens who have no powerful lobbies or financial interests behind them.

That’s some of the political background on AB 709—right now we’re hoping to get it scheduled for a floor vote in the Assembly and for a Senate hearing in the health committee there (we have a companion bill in the Senate). If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me—I’m also attaching a FAQ sheet that explains the basics of the bill and what it would do.

Take good care,

Katie Prown Legislative Chair Wisconsin Guild of Midwives

BREWERS CHICK By Tamra Reynolds

Well Brewer fans, as you probably know by now, there will be no "O" at Miller Park next season. Fan favorite Lyle Overbay was traded to Toronto late Wednesday night in a deal that brought us two pitchers and an outfielder, Dave Bush, Zach Jackson and Gabe Gross.

The winter meetings are officially over, and although the Brewers conducted only two transactions (Overbay to Toronto, and Obermueller to Atlanta), positive repercussions will hopefully be felt in our pitching rotation for some time to come. We've gained possibly a 5^th starter, potential set-up men for superstar Derrick Turnbow, and we still have money available should another deal come our way. All in all, it seems like the winter meetings were successful for the Brew Crew.

From what I've read, Gross can play all positions in the outfield, and will most likely be used off the bench. I think it's really exciting to have another left-handed batter in our lineup, as well as adding some depth to our bullpen with the addition of Bush and Kolb, assuming the money can be worked out, but I'm still very sad to see Lyle go.

True, his offensive production wasn't as great this past season as it was in 2003-2004, but his defensive skills are top notch. And while we saw Prince Fielder come off the bench and deliver clutch hits as a pinch hitter, I'm a bit nervous about him as our sole first baseman.

Our infield next season is very young, with Bill Hall as the most senior of the three at the ripe old age of 25 (26 this month). This is why I wanted to keep Overbay, at least for a while. When I think back to last season and how many games we lost by one run, and Rickie Weeks' whopping 21 errors in 95 games at second base, I have to wonder if our record couldn't have been enormously better with someone more experienced at second. How many of those one-run losses could have been wins if not for Weeks' rookie errors? This is something I don't want to see happen again this season at first base. I do have to give Rickie props, though, for that amazing no-look, behind the back toss to J.J. Hardy, who was right there to cover second base.

The negative rookie effect was in no way evident on Hardy. Granted, he started off slow at the plate at the beginning of the season, but somewhere around mid-season someone lit a fire under this kid's bat, and he took off, not to mention the fact that he committed only 10 errors in 119 games played at shortstop. In my opinion, this guy has nowhere to go but up. He's got a rocket arm, with dead on precision, and he's quick; not much got past him last season. His plate discipline is just tremendous, as evidenced by the fact that he struck out only 48 times in 372 at bats, and he will only continue to improve.

So all in all, it seems like the Brewers are in a pretty solid position right now, even thought Fielder still has to prove himself at first. The Brewers might not be playoff ready next season, but give 'em a year or two and they'll be no stopping those guys. 115 days to go!