Okay, so it is not exactly a ringing endorsement. In fact, it is not really an endorsement at all.
In what appears to be a painful editorial by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, they grudgingly acknowledge that Mark Green might be a smidge better at improving the business climate in Wisconsin than Governor Doyle.
In the end, Wisconsin needs a cohesive strategy from state government that works hand in hand with businesses and regional efforts. Neither candidate has proposed an adequate plan to do that, but Green's is the better of the two.
Of course, they really pushed the fact that Doyle has really, really tried to improve the business climate, but it appears to not be working as well as Doyle had hoped(failures are to blamed on the Republicans in the legislature)-
Furthermore, a troubling audit last summer showed that Wisconsin has dozens of economic development programs that are not centralized, overlap and sometimes don't get much bang for the buck. Doyle inherited this mess and, to his credit, made attempts to fix it but was rebuffed by a highly partisan and GOP-controlled Legislature.
However slanted this may be, it is good to finally see the MJS editorial board recognize that business climate in Wisconsin, goes hand in hand with the out of control tax climate in Wisconsin.
Still, this state remains overly regulated; it ranked a dismal 42nd in that category in a Forbes magazine survey this year. And Wisconsin ranked sixth in tax burden among the 50 states; eighth when state fees were included, according to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. Though we oppose a taxpayer protection amendment, which Green supports, there is no doubt taxes are "the elephant in the room," as the outspoken boss of Waukesha's RedPrairie Corp., John Jazwiec, has said repeatedly.
After reading this article, you can clearly see how painful this was for the MJS editorial board.
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