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

We start in Wisconsin today, where that state’s storied partisan divide is likely only to be exacerbated by the current candidates for Senate. On the Republican side, we have Mark Neumann, who represented Rep. Paul Ryan’s suburban Chicago and Milwaukee district in the 1990’s, while the only declared Democrat is Tammy Baldwin, a 7th term congresswoman from the left-wing bastion of Madison. A comparison of their voting records shows Neumann to be the most conservative Wisconsin congressperson in years and Baldwin the most liberal. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

The Legislature isn’t even in session and New York State Senators are already debating the implementation of that state’s federally-mandated healthcare exchange. One of the few loose ends left at the end of the most recent legislative session, the exchange has only been approved in the Assembly, where a plan favored by Senate Republicans was passed. [Albany Times Union]

At a speech in San Francisco, California Governor Jerry Brown assailed Republicans for an “unconstitutional delegation of power,” saying that they have ceded governing to anti-tax groups, namely the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Reeling from the defeat of his bipartisan tax plan the previous week, Brown accused Assembly Republicans of extreme fealty to absolutist anti-tax agencies. [Sacramento Bee]

Florida governor Rick Scott has been drawing criticism over his plans to model that state’s public universities after those in Texas, including changes in professor pay and tenure policies. His critics point out that Texas’s public education system is among the weakest in the nation, an assertion that has become more common (and indeed more loaded) since Texas Governor Rick Perry entered the Presidential race last month. [The Buzz]

Ohio Republicans have released their proposed Congressional district map, and it is already receiving criticism, especially from the left. Following the 2010 Census, Ohio will be losing two seats, and, as expected, the Republican-controlled state government has crafted a map that is disadvantageous to Democrats. [Columbus Dispatch]

In Los Angeles for its fall convention, the California Republican Party rejected a more moderate platform that de-emphasized socially conservative policies, a move that supporters said would emphasize the fiscal aspects of the platform while attracting more voters. The plan’s detractors, who got it killed in committee, refused to compromise on any level and accused the moderate forces of trying to win the platform through money. [Sacramento Bee]

Following an FBI raid of one of his aide’s homes, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker claims to know nothing about the matter. The raid on Cynthia Archer’s Milwaukee County home was the result of longstanding accusations that Walker aides had used taxpayer money and government time to stump for the current governor while he was the Milwaukee County Executive. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

Taking Wisconsin’s teacher union fight to the Southeast, the Florida Education Association has filed a suit in Leon County, home to the state capital of Tallahassee, alleging that a bill currently in the State Senate is unconstitutional by Florida law. They claim a provision tying teacher pay to performance, and more specifically test scores, is an abrogation of a constitutional right to collective bargaining rights. [The Buzz]

Troublingly, the New York State General Fund is some $0.7 million lower than anticipated on weak tax revenues which, while $3.3 billion ahead of where they were last year, are substantially lower than expected. Additionally, New York State Controller Thomas DiNapoli has warned that much of this relative surplus has resulted from large settlements that are unlikely to be repeated over the remainder of the fiscal year. [NY Daily News]