Thanks to the MacIver Institute for Public Policy, they have exposed that there is a third round of the Democrats secret budget deal.  Also today, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also exposed that the Democrats budget deal has came at the expense of earmarks that waste taxpayer dollars.

As the middle class is suffering in this state budget in Wisconsin, the real record on Senate Democrat Transparency is being revealed.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker and the Senate Democrats  gets a “F” for transparency.  Since he became part of the Senate Rules Committee, Senator Decker has blocked:

• A landmark comprehensive transparency bill that would require the State of Wisconsin to disclose all government expenditures in a searchable database and even states like Missouri and Nebraska are offering their transparency software to any state for FREE (2007-2008 AB 862).  When a bi-partisan majority in the Assembly voted overwhelmingly to support the bill to advance it to the Senate, Senator Decker blocked the bill in rules committee.
• The most sweeping earmark reform in Wisconsin history requiring that all earmarks disclose their sponsor and who benefits from the earmark and would require full debate of earmarks in the day of light.  When a bi-partisan majority in the Assembly voted overwhelmingly to support the bill to advance it to the Senate, Senator Decker blocked the bill in rules committee. (2008-2009 AB 739)
• Having no Senators in his caucus co-sponsoring  the Open Government Act as no Senate Democrats have co-sponsored the legislation (2009-2010 AB 190).

Under Senator Decker, he has turned a blind eye on transparency and even refuses to join his fellow Democrats in the Assembly who made an effort to support transparency.  Senator Decker’s imperial leadership as Majority Leader has sort of made the Wisconsin State Senate act more like the British House of Lords as a secret debating club putting in wasteful pork and earmarks under the rug in the dead of night.  Senator Decker can submit in the ultimate in transparency on what he had on his pizza last night in the caucus room, but he has no motive for making his Senate Democrats open and transparent especially now with the MacIver Institute revealing that Senator Jauch put a secret RTA deal in the budget and more secret provisions making the secret Pocan-Miller deals look like old tired rerun.