WisBusiness.com: Leaders hint state stimulus coming

By Patrick Fitzgerald
For WisBusiness.com

State business leaders said today that the state needs to stay on the offensive economically, preserve education funding, and find ways to reinvigorate lagging infrastructure projects to deal with the current economic downturn.

They also hinted at a state stimulus plan piggybacking on a likely national stimulus, adding that should include expansion of Act 255 — a program that gives tax breaks to angel investments.

The state’s new Commerce secretary, Dick Leinenkugel, said the worst things to do during a recession would be to devastate education and forget about the importance of manufacturing to the state’s economy.

“We must continue to maintain investment in education, and can’t slip up in tough times,” said Leinenkugel, urging state businesses to approach state technical colleges. “We have a strong relationship between manufacturing and our state tech colleges, and they’re responsive to moving forward with the business world.”

Bill McCoshen, director of Competitive Wisconsin and a Commerce secretary under former GOP Gov. Tommy Thompson, lamented that Wisconsin was second-to-last nationally in investing in higher education, according to one report. He called that “very un-Wisconsin like.”

“We cannot continue to disinvest in higher education if we want to move the state forward,” he said.

Former Commerce Secretary Cory Nettles, who works at Quarles and Brady, called the current state of Milwaukee’s public schools “nothing short of immoral,” describing a bleak atmosphere that has failed to produce knowledge-based workers compatible with a global economy.

“We have to have state action; we have to do something transformative,” Nettles said. “This economy cannot be strong unless we produce the workers we need.”

State GOP Sen. Ted Kanavas pulled no punches in his assessment of Milwaukee Public Schools and the dire effect it would have on the state economy should its situation not improve.

“MPS is broken to the extent that it needs to be replaced,” Kanavas said, calling for the break-up of the district into numerous neighborhood-based districts. “We will be Detroit unless we figure out the education problem.”

McCoshen called for a state-appointed school board, saying that would work faster.

McCoshen also said the $50 billion infrastructure package now being discussed in Congress as a stimulus package would yield about $350 million for the state of Wisconsin. That money could be used at the state’s discretion to invest in infrastructure projects to create jobs.

McCoshen added that “we need to take what we can from the federal government now.”

Nettles said the state has to stay on the offensive during recessionary times.

Today’s forum, which was moderated by Marquette Law School’s Mike Gousha, was presented by WisPolitics.com and WisBusiness.com in cooperation with Competitive Wisconsin, MMAC and Discovery World. Event sponsors included Quarles & Brady, the Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University Law School and We Energies.