John Wiley, an average chancellor at UW-Madison is stepping down (finally). He claims he discovered an article he’s written in 2003.
You can read the MJS reporting on the issue here, as well as a summary here.
The entire article, which appeared in “Madison Magazine” is viewable here.
You can read the WMC response to Wiley’s article here. (PDF required.)
Wiley, to his credit did have some very useful suggestions for the state. Here’s one I particularly liked; too bad nothing will ever come of it. (Any emphasis mine.)
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, only ten states have full-time legislatures, and Wisconsin is by far the smallest of these. Why do we need a full-time legislature if Minnesota, Indiana and other similar-sized states don’t? How much money would we save, and how much less partisan would our legislature be, if we had part-time citizen legislators who met periodically to work together and solve problems?
Wisconsin is carved up into a truly astounding number of independent counties, cities, towns, villages, school districts and other jurisdictions. UW–Madison alone has to deal with fifty-six different jurisdictions on a daily basis. Imagine how much worse it is for the Department of Administration, which has to deal with thousands. It’s an expensive administrative nightmare. This is rich territory for some consolidation in the name of efficiency and economy.
My first two suggestions may be politically difficult to implement. But surely our elected officials can reform the process by which the state builds and maintains or repairs buildings. Madison Magazine limited me to three thousand words. If I wanted to convey the flaws in our current system of construction, a few thousand words wouldn’t get me past the introduction. Let me just say that the state spends twice as much and takes twice as long as anyone in the private sector would tolerate. It is a fiction that the state builds “hundred-year buildings,” or that the higher initial construction cost saves us in life-cycle costs through lower maintenance. UW–Madison has already spent far more trying to make the Humanities Building functional than the original cost to construct it in 1968, and the repairs began in the same year it was turned over to us. The only word I can think of to describe the state’s building system is scandalous.
Fifty six differerent jurisdictions? That’s unreal. Even if the number is inflated, the fact that they have to deal with more than THREE (State, Dane County, Madistan) is just ridiculous.
Wiley also blames the legislature for many of the UW problems. Of course, Wiley, when confronted about things, pulls his “I’m smarter than you” persona. From the “main article”.
n his 2008 essay, he wrote that in meetings with lawmakers, he encountered a partisan monologue accusing the other party of hijacking the state. Too often, he said, he was threatened with “dire consequences” if he spoke out against policies he thought would hurt the university.
Wiley’s article didn’t name names, but he has consistently tangled with Rep. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater), chairman of the Colleges and Universities Committee. Nass was unavailable Thursday, but aide Mike Mikalsen said Wiley was off base.
“John Wiley doesn’t want anybody telling the university what to do,” he said. “They believe they know best. . . . If anybody dare ask for accountability — how did you spend that money, why did you spend that money? — they get defensive and they begin to attack the integrity and the intellect of the individuals of the people who raised those questions.”
No surprise there. The UW-Madison approach has always been “give us money and we’ll use it wisely. Don’t ask us how.”
Wiley saves his final salvo for WMC, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, a group which represents Wisconsin businesses.
Wiley said that the candidates WMC has supported for public office have chosen to dwell on “ideological diversions” such as opposing stem cell research, domestic partner benefits, the taxpayer bill of rights and the personal views of “otherwise obscure” instructors. The latter appeared to be a reference to part-time UW lecturer Kevin Barrett, who taught a controversial theory on the Sept. 11 attacks.
And instead of pushing for more high-income jobs, Wiley wrote, WMC’s definition of being competitive is “being among those states with the lowest taxes, lowest wages, and least regulation in the nation.”
WMC has described Wisconsin as a “tax hell.”
But Wiley points out that of the 10 states with higher per-capita taxes — including Minnesota — nine have higher per-capita income, too. Higher taxation, by itself, hasn’t hampered the economies of the states that outperform Wisconsin, he said.
WMC has been under attack in recent months from its critics, but spokesman Jim Pugh said he did not expect the group to change.
“We’re going to continue to advance the business agenda that promotes limited government, modest taxation (and) fair and reasonable regulation,” he said. “(Critics) sometimes lose the argument on the merits, so they attempt to attack the messenger.”
Looking to the future, Wiley recommended Wisconsin overhaul its tax system, make the Legislature part time, consolidate some of the state’s various jurisdictions and reform the state building process.
Wiley ends with a call to WMC member businesses:
“Please get control of (WMC) staff or replace them.”
Now, here is where Wiley is out of touch. The state is a tax hell. Secondly, WMC represents the interests of its members. As they say in their response.
WMC’s ideology is the ideology of the WMC board of directors and the WMC
members. The staff represents the members. Period. The policy agenda was approved
unanimously by the WMC board, and the WMC board unanimously has recommended
that WMC continue to engage in the political debate in our state.
You see John, the men and women “in the trenches” know what the problems are and band together to get their message across.
If Wiley was as adamant about the problems relating to the wastefullness he cites above, he should have joined in and made it a priority for WMC.
Christian Schneider offers a very thoughtful analysis of Wiley’s article here.
