Lawmakers, listening

State Rep. Bob Turner, D-Racine, didn't get home from the legislative budget fiasco in Madison until 3 a.m. this morning. But he and State Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine, were on hand at the Cesar Chavez Community Center, as promised, at 10 a.m. for a listening session with northside constituents.

After a few minutes to bring the dozen participants up to speed on where the budget is -- short answer: it ain't -- they fielded questions, and strong opinions, from those present.

Questions about voter ID, drunk driving, cigarette taxes, tax breaks for seniors, legislative in-fighting.

CIGARETTE TAX: Partisan wrangling over an increase in the cigarette tax -- Republicans want an additional 75 cents per pack, Democrats want $1.25 -- was particularly galling to one woman. "People are getting sick and tired of government telling them what they can and cannot do. People know smoking is bad for you." A man added, In California you can't even smoke in your own apartment or condo!"

Both Lehman and Turner responded, almost in unison: "I'm never going to vote for that!"

Turner noted, "If my mother was alive, she'd hate my guts for supporting the $1.25 tax. She smoked all her life." Lehman said this is a bigger political issue in northern Wisconsin than here, and predicted there'd be a compromise. The tax increase, on top of already existing state cigarette taxes, is expected to reduce smoking by teenagers. (Neither could remember how much excise tax Wisconsin currently adds to a pack of cigarettes. We, with the benefit of Google, learn in a fraction of a second that it's now 77 cents; Wisconsin tax on smokes ranks 29th.)

SENIORS: "Will our legislature allow retirees to stay in the state," one man asked, adding, "If I lived in Georgia, I wouldn't have to pay any school tax." Others chimed in, "When is the state not going to tax Social Security?" "Why not freeze property taxes at 65?"

Lehman said proposals to exempt the first $10,000, $20,000 or more of property tax were an effort to help all low and middle-income taxpayers, not just the elderly. And next year, exemption of Social Security benefits from state income tax takes effect.

VIDEO GAMING: A question about lax enforcement of video gaming in taverns caused Lehman to note "the struggle between Indian gaming and small taverns. Small taverns are on the decline; they're not the gathering places they used to be." Laws against such gaming devices, he and Turner agreed, are not well-enforced.

DRIVING WITH CELLPHONES was something one respondent wanted the legislature to do something about. "A lot of people have contacted me about this," Lehman said, but he cited studies showing that other distractions -- talking, drinking coffee -- are just as hazardous. "Cellphone haven't changed accident rates," he said. And then he turned the question around, noting that in the cigarette tax discussion his questioners had opposed the government regulating what they do in their homes: "Do you want government going into your car?" Turner added, "There are adequate laws regulating inattentive driving now."

VOTER ID: "Why are you people in Madison opposed to it? Today it's helter-skelter; why not just require everyone to show an ID when they go to vote?" Lehman replied that this is not really a problem in Racine, and Turner recalled that there were fewer than half a dozen vote fraud cases statewide in the last election. Both pointed out that people have to show ID when registering to vote, and said that implementing a specific voter ID card would discriminate against the poor and disabled, who would have to make a special trip to get one. "We try to balance access to the polls and showing who the person is."

THE MESS IN MADISON: Lehman waxed philosophical when asked, "Why is there so little cooperation in government?"

"Redistricting! The creation of safe seats; there are very few competitive seats in Wisconsin. Robin Vos (R-Racine) said to me, 'I'm going to be the Representative (53rd District) as long as I live.' "

Referring to his own State Senate race last fall against Racine County Executive William McReynolds, Lehman said "Mac spent $400,000, and I spent $220,000. Including all that was spent, the race cost more than $1 million.

"There were only four competitive races like that in the state, out of 17 or 18 Senate races this year. Only 8 or 10 Assembly races are competitive.

"Could I even run against (U.S. Rep.) Paul Ryan? I don't think so; that sucker has been redistricted into a safe Republican seat."

Racine County, he said, is lucky in that the 21st Senate district is roughly 50/50, which is why Republicans and Democrats have traded control of it over the past decade: George Petak (R), Kim Plache (D), Cathy Stepp (R), and now Lehman (D). Pointing to his plastic chair in the gym, Lehman said, "You're looking at a guy sitting in a million-dollar seat."