Browsing: Government Transparency

Congressman Sean Duffy calls for HUD response to tribe’s misuse of funds detailed in WPRI ‘Federal Grant$tanding’ stories.

U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) is asking federal housing officials to explain why grants meant to help needy members of the St. Croix Chippewa tribe may not be getting to those most needing that assistance.

The “Federal Grant$tanding” project is a multi-year investigation of the growth in federal grants used by D.C. politicians to curry favor with voters

Dozens of families have at times languished on waiting lists for housing assistance, and in 2014 and 2015 federal audits show tribal housing officials loaned themselves housing money without proper oversight.

In recent years, more than a dozen Indian tribes from North Carolina to Wisconsin to California have come under fire for using federal housing funds to treat tribal officials to lavish vacations, gifts and cash advances for personal expenses, a WPRI review has found.

As sovereign nations, tribes are not subject to state open records and open meetings laws as are Wisconsin’s municipal governments, school boards and other boards.
By Dave Daley
September 15, 2016

For better or worse, the tax laws are designed not just to collect revenue. They also aim to encourage certain types of behavior, such as being charitable or investing in risky enterprises that, if successful, lead to job creation.

Some folks in Wisconsin believe that we are simply another part of the federal government and should march in lockstep.

There’s ample evidence that Wisconsin’s prevailing wage law is harming taxpayers and contractors, frustrating good government servants and diverting resources away from those in need.

Federal grants-in-aid, in truth, are anything but free. Many serve a valid purpose. But they also can drive up federal and state spending, taxes and debt.

Excerpts of a speech by Woodson Center President and founder Robert L. Woodson Sr. at the Wisconsin Center.

Like many of my fellow Americans, I just finished watching President Obama speak to the nation about Syria.  These presidential addresses are historic for they link us to our parents’ generation and beyond.

Several years ago while sitting at my desk I received a curious phone call from a Milwaukee Journal Sentinelreporter working on a story about convicted felons working as lobbyists in Madison. 

In New Orleans, through the first Recovery School District in the nation, the percentage of students attending failing schools there has been reduced from 78% to 40%.

You just never know … Tucked away in the very last motion passed by the Joint Finance Committee was an item in which the Legislature evicted the Center for Investigative Journalism from University buildings.

Among the many tales of woe that appeared in the media in the wake of the Wisconsin protests was the…

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a commentary contrasting the tough budget introduced by Governor Walker with the soft, easy on-the-eyes budgets we’ve seen out of Washington.

A funny thing happened on the way to electing yet another big-spending, lawyer-laden, special-interest-loving Legislature last fall: Voters in four…

I hadn’t seen my buddy Ernie in a few months since I had visited him at St. Mary’s.  That day Ernie was sipping ice water through a bent straw looking paler than usual – which is something for a guy who spends his free time either in a tavern or a betting parlor.

There could not have been a sharper contrast between the tension in Madison and the calm in Washington, D.C.