Tag: capitol

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John Huebscher

Catholic conferences bring Church’s message

The springtime of the year is a season for debates over state budgets. Here, as in other places, state Catholic Conferences are part of the conversation.

Eye on the Capitol by John Huebscher

And here, as in other states, the issues of concern to state Catholic Conferences don’t fit neatly into the conventional liberal-conservative categories.

WCC and the budget proposal

In Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) backs the governor’s recommendations regarding the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and his proposal to remove the mandate that health insurance policies include contraceptive services coverage, even when religious organizations do not want to purchase such coverage.

The WCC also supports budget provisions that limit or end funding for family planning programs, but also urges that those funds be redirected to programs that help pregnant women and their children.

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John Huebscher

Common good must be focal point of budget debate

Eye on the Capitol by John Huebscher

Now that the governor has presented his state budget to the Legislature, fiscal issues and spending priorities will dominate the legislative agenda for the next several months.

First, the Joint Committee on Finance will hold hearings on the proposals. Then some of the standing committees may hold “subject matter” hearings on aspects of the budget related to their areas of expertise.

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John Huebscher

WCC positions bring a nonpartisan view of hope

Eye on the Capitol by John Huebscher

For those who engage the policies by which we govern ourselves, the beginning of an odd-numbered year is a time for defining a vision.

Governors set their vision with their state of the state message and their budget address. Legislators do it by their “priority bills.” The Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) does so by sharing its Policy Positions for the new session.

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John Huebscher

A Christmas gift: civility in public discourse

Eye on the Capitol by John Huebscher

Anyone familiar with the recent election campaign or with the “reader comments” that accompany editorials and news articles knows that civility is often the first casualty in debates today.

Nearly anyone who makes a public argument finds his intelligence questioned, his motives impugned, or his basic decency assaulted. Some critics will even doubt the patriotism or Americanism of their opponents. Others call their opponents bigots or racists.

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John Huebscher

New governors must hit the ground running

Eye on the Capitol by John Huebscher

Our state Constitution provides that officials elected in November take office on the first Monday of the following January. That gives them eight weeks to prepare for their new duties.

Two months may seem like a long time to get ready for most jobs, but if you are governor-elect, that time will go by all too quickly.

During this eight-week period, the governor-elect must do the following:

 

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Kat Wagner, Catholic Herald Staff

Rally defends truth of one man, one woman

A protester silently holds a sign defending marriage during a rally July 27 in front of the State Capitol in Madison as counter-protesters marched loudly up State Street. (Catholic Herald photo/Kat Wagner) Click here for more photos of the rally.

MADISON — In terms of sheer numbers, if not volume, the counter-protestors won.

Hundreds marched up State St. towards the State Capitol where no more than 30 people stood waiting for the “One Man, One Woman” rally to begin at noon July 27. Standing on the Capitol steps, it was impossible not to hear them coming, shouting slogans as they went.

An overheard comment on the steps of the Capitol between two members of the media likened the scene to that in Lord of the Rings as the horde marches to battle, suggesting cutting shots of the protesters with shots from the movie.

But through it all, even when the crowd reached the Capitol and began shouting from the other side of the thin barrier of police tape, those people within the yellow-taped area stood firmly, silently. Some held signs; others held rosaries or children.

“Thank you to those with the courage to stand up for marriage,” Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), said to the crowd, which some estimates put at 50 rally supporters. “It takes courage to stand in the public square and say it takes a man and a woman to make marriage.”

 

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