by Joe Murray For years, the Wisconsin REALTORS Association (WRA) has been regarded as one of the most powerful political advocacy organizations in the state Capitol. Currently 14,000 members strong, the WRA has members in every state Assembly and Senate district in Wisconsin. While the WRA's clout may rank somewhat behind that of extremely large interest groups like the National Rifle Association, the trade unions, state employee unions, or teachers unions, our organization doesn't have to take a back seat to any group when it comes to the integration of effort by the leadership, local and state staff, and most importantly, rank-and-file membership. Thanks to your participation, REALTORS have a strong voice in the political process. But we need your help to grow our political programs. Our goal for 2004 and beyond is to strengthen our grassroots organization to ensure a greater role in policy development at the state level. In order to accomplish this goal, the WRA will implement the "Legislative Contact Team" (LCT) program. The LCT program is simple! We need REALTOR members who have a personal relationship with their state legislator (s), both state Senate and Assembly, to let us know who you are and which legislators you know. What do we mean by personal relationship? Do you know your state Senator or Assembly member by his or her first name? Are you neighbors? Do your kids and legislators kids go to school together? Are you both members of the local Rotary Club? Did you serve in some capacity on their election or re-election committee? Have you contributed to their campaign? In short, do you know your state legislator in a personal way beyond simple recognition of who they are? More importantly, when you explain the impact of specific legislation on your real estate business, will they listen? If you know your legislator like this, we ask that you contact your local government affairs director (GAD) or myself in Madison. Our goal is to identify WRA members in every state Senate and Assembly district in Wisconsin who agree to contact their state legislator on important issues affecting your business. There are times when we ask all WRA members to contact their legislators and advocate for or against legislation. But we need to expand this program to insure that quality contacts regarding important legislation occur with all legislators when needed. We will provide you with background information, talking points, phone or fax numbers and email addresses. When you contact your legislator, and your legislator knows who you are, you will be providing an important service not only to your business and your industry, but also your legislator and your state! For more details please contact your local GAD or myself via e-mail at jmurray@wra.org or by phone at 608-241-2047. Return to On-Line Publications
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by Mike Theo
If Wisconsinites are anything, they are optimistic realists. (That's not as much of an oxymoron as you might first think - just ask any Badger or Packer fan.) This truth was evident in the latest WRA Quality of Life survey as immediate economic concerns resulted in a decreased sense of optimism for Wisconsin citizens, but at the same time people had hope for the future. This hope is, in part, rooted in a rising support for our educational institutions.
Economy
The economy, jobs and health care costs were at the root of the
decreased sense of optimism, with fewer than half (46 percent) of
respondents saying things in Wisconsin are on the right track.
Thirty-eight percent think things are on the wrong track and 15
percent aren't sure. While 62 percent of state residents said things
were on the right track in their local community, that number was down
from 74 percent in the spring. On a personal level, two out of five
respondents expect their job situation to get worse in the next year,
with citizens split on whether the economy will improve (29 percent)
or get worse (34 percent). Forty percent say the job situation in
their area will worsen in the future.
However, despite this pessimism over jobs, when asked more generally if things will get better, worse or stay the same, a more optimistic response was found with two out of five people (42 percent) saying things will improve for them in the next year, with only 16 percent saying things will get worse.
Schools
If state citizens are bearish on the economy, they are very bullish on
the state's education system. Overall, our educational institutions at
all levels have earned the support of state residents. Respondents
think public K-12 schools, the university system and technical school
system are doing a good job. On K-12 schools for example, 76 percent
of respondents say they're satisfied with the quality of the schools
in their area. Sixty-eight percent say they are satisfied with the
quality of the instruction in their schools and the value they get for
their education dollar.
Perhaps somewhat surprising in this era of anti-tax sentiment (especially the recent acute public animus toward property taxes) a majority of respondents say they would accept an increase in property taxes of $100 a year for initiatives such as increased teacher salaries, school safety and discipline, and computers. Strong majorities would support increases in property taxes to ensure smaller class sizes (66 percent) and for instruction in core curriculums (79 percent). But many citizens don't like using property taxes to pay for schools. Two in five citizens prefer to use a combination of property taxes and other sources, with one third wanting a whole different tax, other than the property tax, to pay for schools.
The QOL survey was conducted in late October, with a sample size of 600 respondents, and has a plus or minus of 4.3 percent.
For more details regarding the survey results, visit the Quality of Life website or contact Michael Theo at mtheo@wra.org.
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