Power of the Purse & Power of the People

This post originally appeared at https://wifamilycouncil.org/radio/power-of-the-purse-power-of-the-people/

2024 | Week of August 5 | Radio Transcript #1578

Here’s a maxim to remember: no level of government has any money unless it comes from “we the people” as taxpayers. That means we ought to care about how our money is being spent and who is spending it. That’s the essence of the two referenda questions on everyone’s ballot for this fall partisan primary.

Election Day is next Tuesday, August 13, but early in-person voting is going on right now statewide, ending in most communities this Friday. Absentee ballots have been being mailed out and returned to clerks either by m0061il or in person for several weeks. In other words, this primary election is well under way.

All voters need to check out their sample ballot at myvote.wi.gov to make sure they are prepared to cast a knowledgeable and responsible vote. What a check of one’s sample ballot for this election will reveal is that on every ballot across the state are the two referenda questions I referenced earlier.

These binding, state-constitution-amending questions got on the ballot because the Republican-led state legislature passed in two consecutive legislative sessions a joint resolution dealing with the issues expressed in these questions. This approach bypasses the governor’s veto pen and ultimately lets the voters determine whether we amend our constitution.

The two questions came about because of the billions of federal dollars that came into our state during Covid. Governor Evers decided the law allowed him to have complete control of that money, determining, with absolutely no legislative input or oversight, who got the money and how much. As a result, the funds went to the governor’s friends—like Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin—ostensibly for “relief” during the virus outbreak.

The state legislature passed bills to restrict what the governor was doing and to re-direct the money, but the governor vetoed all such bills, not surprisingly. Hence, this approach to amend the state constitution.

So here is the first question—and this is the exact wording on the ballot:
QUESTION 1: “Delegation of appropriation power. Shall section 35 (1) of article IV of the constitution be created to provide that the legislature may not delegate its sole power to determine how moneys shall be appropriated?”

In layman’s language, this question is asking if we should amend the state constitution to make it clear that the state legislature cannot delegate to someone else or to some other agency or some other office or to some other branch of government its power to determine how state money is spent?

A yes vote on Question 1 means you want to amend the constitution to ensure that the state legislature never delegates its power to determine how money is spent to someone else or some other entity.

A no vote on Question 1 means you are fine with the state legislature delegating its constitutional authority on how money is spent to someone else or some other entity.

Here’s Question 2: “Allocation of federal moneys. Shall section 35 (2) of article IV of the constitution be created to prohibit the governor from allocating any federal moneys the governor accepts on behalf of the state without the approval of the legislature by joint resolution or as provided by legislative rule?”

This question is asking if we want to amend the state constitution to make sure that if a governor of Wisconsin accepts federal money—taxpayer money—on behalf of our state, he or she must get legislative approval before spending that money.

A yes vote on Question 2 means you want to amend the state constitution to make sure a governor has to have legislative approval on how any federal money is spent that he or she accepts on behalf of the state.

A no vote on Question 2 means you are ok with a governor being able to decide completely on his or her own how federal money is spent that the governor has accepted on behalf of the state. You don’t want the legislature to have to approve how that money is spent.

This is your money at the heart of these questions. But what’s also at stake is about where the power to spend your money lies—with one person who sits in the governor’s office or with the collective decision of one hundred thirty-two elected representatives and senators.

Be sure you know the truth about these questions because from what I’m seeing and hearing lots of lies are being told. Get informed, share what you know, and be sure you make your voice heard through your vote.

This is Julaine Appling for Wisconsin Family Council reminding you that God, through the Prophet Hosea, said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”