Mary,

There's some good stuff in your jobs plan. Certainly pursuits like reducing costs for higher education, lifting the ban on life sciences research and helping small farmers would be good for Wisconsin.

But what your plan lacks is any hint of the type of progressivism that gets Democrats elected - folks like Russ Feingold and Tammy Baldwin. In fact, on the surface your plan sounds like it came from the RNC. One glance at the Table of Contents and the take-aways are ...

Strategy 1 - Cozy up to corporations (Worst possible message, let alone first)
Strategy 2 - Raise the minimum wage and reinstate equal pay (Excellent!)
Strategy 3 - Give more of our tax dollars to corporations (Yikes!)
Strategy 4 - Find more ways to help corporations (Oh, dear!)
Strategy 5 - More corporate largesse (Bad) plus infrastrucure investment (Good)

Bottom line: Exactly the wrong message needed to motivate Wisconsin's Democratic base.

While I agree that it makes sense for State government to work with business, your jobs plan reads like it was written by ALEC.

You need to assure voters that your plan is to invest in Wisconsin, not corporations that might do some business here. Highlight the infrastructure investments and education goals. Assure voters that you can be business-friendly without turning the government over to corporations.

Now, please, please consider challenging the Koch brothers to a debate. Polls show that when voters know the Kochs are behind attack ads, those ad's favorability ratings plummet. Worst that can happen is you'll get some good publicity.

Good luck, and thanks for the opportunity to provide feedback.

These days, a favorite talking point of Republican Congressman Paul Ryan’s is calling for an “adult conversation” about poverty. “It’s time for an adult conversation,” he told The Washington Post. “If we actually have an adult conversation,” he said in remarks at the Brookings Institution, “I think we can make a difference.”

The problem is that a prerequisite for any adult conversation is telling the truth and it is there the congressman falls monumentally short.

...

Ryan also argues that Medicaid coverage has little positive effect on enrollees’ health. But as Lee points out, Ryan conveniently overlooks studies showing an association between Medicaid and lower mortality rates; reduced low-weight births and infant and child mortality; and lower mortality for HIV-positive patients, among other heath benefits.

...

Rep. Ryan also plays on fears of low-income people abusing the welfare system when he asserts that Medicaid coverage improperly increases enrollees’ use of health care services, including preventive care and emergency department services. Ryan makes this case too by comparing Medicaid enrollees to uninsured people, who, as Lee writes, “are less likely to use health care services due to significant financial barriers.”

WASHINGTON — It is a lonely pursuit these days, defending Russia in Congress as outrage over Kremlin aggression grows louder. But Representative Dana Rohrabacher speaks up for Moscow with pride. He is, he says, a bit frosted with the Russian government in one respect. “I kind of wish I would get some sort of word back,” Mr. Rohrabacher, a California Republican, said Thursday shortly before the House voted 399 to 19 to offer aid to Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia. “But I haven’t even gotten so much as a thank you.”

The 13-term congressman has had a long, strange journey from fierce Cold Warrior to apologist for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. In 1966 when Ronald Reagan was running for governor of California, Mr. Rohrabacher camped out in the candidate’s backyard, pleading for an audience to prevent the disbanding of his Youth for Reagan group in favor of a rival’s. By last year, Mr. Rohrabacher was accompanying the action star Steven Seagal to Russia in search of a broader Islamist plot behind the Boston Marathon bombing. The actor and the congressman had often discussed “thwarting radical Islamic terrorism,” he explained.

Then came Russia’s takeover of Crimea, and Mr. Rohrabacher had to draw the line — in favor of Mr. Putin.

“There have been dramatic reforms in Russia that are not being recognized by my colleagues,” he said. “The churches are full. There are opposition papers being distributed on every newsstand in Russia. You’ve got people demonstrating in the parks. You’ve got a much different Russia than it was under Communism, but you’ve got a lot of people who still can’t get over that Communism has fallen.”