Frederica Freyberg:
The Joint Finance Committee will deal directly with correcting this budget backlash.  Republican Robin Vos of Racine is on that committee.  He joins us from Milwaukee.  Representative Vos, thanks very much for being here. 

Robin Vos:
Thanks, Frederica. 

Frederica Freyberg:
Secretary Schooff talked about questions surrounding the wisdom of this policy choice.  What did you think of the wisdom of this policy choice at the time? 

Robin Vos:
I did not support it at the time.  And anybody who recalls the discussion knew that those of us who had serious concerns, not only raised the issue of just the actuarial study, but also the constitutionality of doing this, because it’s really the doctors’ private property that the state of Wisconsin decided to steal.  So when we went in and took that $200 million, because we said there was too much money in there, now we have to pay it back, not just interest, as Secretary Schoof said, but also with the earnings it would have generated.  It’s a big number. 

Frederica Freyberg:
I want to get to where that money might come from in a moment.  But what do you think about the fact that according to Secretary Schooff, there are hundreds of millions of dollars in this fund and it’s not in the red, as actuarials would suggest? 

Robin Vos:
Yes.  I guess I trust the actuaries, not people who are political appointees.  Secretary Schooff is a good guy, and I appreciate the fact that he’s trying to spin as best he can a bad policy decision made by Governor Doyle at the time.  But I want to trust the actuaries, because if there’s excess money in that fund, well, then we should be reducing premiums, which indirectly will help control the cost of health care, not just say if there’s money in there to be taken, we’re going to steal it and figure out the consequences later. 

Frederica Freyberg:
This may land in your lap on Joint Finance, depending when it lands there and who makes up that body.  But where can we find $200 million in the midst of the kind of budget that we’re looking at going forward? 

Robin Vos:
Well, it’s an interesting time, because right now my friends on the other side of the aisle begin to talk about spending cuts.  And they do that every time we get close to an election, and then as soon as the voters make their choices they go right back to the tired, old rhetoric of figuring out which increases of taxes they’re going to support, and which way they’re going to raid funds, just like the Medical Malpractice Fund.  Hopefully, as we move toward the future, we can focus on the way Wisconsin’s budget truly should be balanced, and that’s by cutting spending. 

Frederica Freyberg:
What about the method by which this has to be paid back?  Do you think that it would be better to have to pay it back all at once with this interest and other money that has to go into it?  Or kind of in a payment plan? 

Robin Vos:
Well, I’m sure that the Doyle administration is going to argue they want a payment plan, because it pushes the problem off to the next legislature and the next governor.  But as I read, and I am not an attorney, but as I read the Supreme Court case, it says we have to pay back not only interest, but also the earnings, which means that we could be paying significant interest and earnings payments on that $200 million of principal.  So if we’re able to borrow the money or cut spending in a way that greatly reduces the interest and the carrying costs, I’d rather do it now and deal with the situation, not push it off into the future, and hope that somebody else can figure out how to deal with the mistakes they made. 

Frederica Freyberg:
Any bright ideas at this moment where to get that money? 

Robin Vos:
Well, let’s begin by saying that in the legislative process, the Finance Committee is given great power during a time of fiscal emergency, and a couple of important facts to realize.  Since Governor Doyle has been in office, spending in the state of Wisconsin has gone up by almost 50%.  When he issued his vetoes last year, the surplus that was created after all those tax increases was about a $200 million surplus.  Right now, we are at minus $20 million.  So, we know we have a serious problem with spending, and it is not creating the jobs that were promised by those on the other side of the aisle, who said just raise taxes... 

Frederica Freyberg:
That’s not answering the question.  Do you have any idea where you would get the $200 million right now?  And, also, did that spending that you’re talking about, some of it, come from federal stimulus? 

Robin Vos:
Yeah.  Well, some of that was federal stimulus money, but it’s still spending, because most of it replaced stuff that was done by the state in the past.  All we’ve done is take one-time money and continue state spending.  So, from my perspective, we need to go across the board, look at all areas of state government and figure out which ways we can actually reform the process.  In the past, all we did was try to put Band-Aids.  We need real reform. 

Frederica Freyberg:
Just very briefly in the remaining kind of half a minute, so-called raids on other funds, do you expect legislative action to curtail that going forward? 

Robin Vos:
I certainly hope they would.  Now, I do not say that every single fund has to be walled off.  But some of those where there is a strong principal in the past, like the Transportation Fund and the Patients Compensation Fund, those should definitely be walled off from raids by the legislature.  Others we should take a look at, but I don’t want to say it’s a hard, fast rule until we look at the consequences in the next budget. 

Frederica Freyberg:
All right.  Representative Vos, thanks very much for joining us. 

Robin Vos:
Frederica, always good to talk to you.