The RP’s Weekly Web Gems- The Politics of the States

Wisconsin may have finally had enough of its toxic political climate–  the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel put up a must-read piece yesterday about that state’s loss of civility. It cites, amongst other evidence, protests held outside of politicans’ homes, and the recently-launched effort to recall Republican Governor and Lieutenant Governor Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch and four Republican State Senators. Democrat Tim Cullen, a State Senator who has been referred to in this blog before, said he never received a death threat until this year, in spite of having served in the Senate for several years in the 1970s and 80s. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

California, easily the country’s most financially-befouled state, finally has someone advocating for bipartisan solutions to the problem. Think Long, made up of business and labor leaders in addition to officials including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, proposes a mostly tax-based fix to the Golden State’s budget woes. In particular, they advocate flattening tax rates and implementing a sales tax on more goods than are currently taxed. A draft report can be seen here, but a final report is expected some time today. [Sacramento Bee]

Ohio Governor John Kasich, a Republican, appointed Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jason Wilson to head the Governor’s Office of Appalachia, a rare move of bipartisan goodwill for the embattled governor. Wilson, who would have had to move to run for Senate again as a result of redistricting, will continue to represent his far-eastern Ohio constituents in this position, intended to foster development in the economically-downtrodden Appalachian Mountains. [Columbus Dispatch]

The internal revolt in New York’s Democratic Party continues. State Chairman Jay Jacobs stymied a move on Thursday to endorse a millionaires tax hike and a ban on natural gas extraction via hydrofracking in western and Upstate New York. Both of these positions would have put the party decisively to the left of Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo, a split that has left the party rank-and-file, especially its influential New York City members, frustrated over the past several months. [Newsday]

Petty redistricting politics continue, as Democrats in the Florida House of Representatives tussle with their Republican counterparts about cancelled redistricting meetings across the state. [St. Petersburg Times]