John Nichols: The broken politics of Speaker Robin Vos

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-the-broken-politics-of-speaker-robin-vos/article_31956efb-7bab-5fb1-bc4e-8ffc3cfd06ea.html

We know this goes on all the time in politics.........to some degree. But Vos was so blatant and arrogant going on TV with his petty comments.



John Nichols: The broken politics of Speaker Robin Vos

5 hours ago • JOHN NICHOLS | Cap Times associate editor
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There is something profoundly wrong about the ominous statements Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has been making with regard to businesspeople who have not aligned with Vos and his fellow Republicans.

The speaker has gotten a good deal of blowback for suggesting that Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry made a mistake when he joined civic leaders in welcoming President Obama at Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport last month. Obama was in town to campaign for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke, and Lasry’s a Democratic donor. But the Bucks owner is also pushing a plan to build a new multipurpose arena in Milwaukee, and the arena’s financing package is likely to require state aid.....





.......Things have only grown worse since Kangas and the Committee for Economic Development released a poll of business executives that concluded: “According to nine in 10 business leaders surveyed, corporate America contributes to political campaigns to gain access to influence the legislative process; to avoid adverse legislative consequences; or to promote a certain ideological position.”

When a legislative leader suggests that a business leader might face adverse legislative consequences for greeting the president, the basic premise of American democracy — that after an election, the winners must govern in the public interest — is abandoned. It is easy, and appropriate, to criticize Vos. But it is foolish to think this crisis begins or ends with one politician or one issue. It is an epidemic, and it is consuming Wisconsin and America.