MacIver Institute

Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch has been a critical partner of Gov. Scott Walker over perhaps the most consequential eight years in Wisconsin political history. And at the start of that time, she faced challenges far beyond policy disputes and protesters. Kleefisch sits down in the MacIver studio with Matt Kittle to share her journey - personal and political - as those eight years come to a close. This is the first in the MacIver Newsmaker podcast series examining the legacy of Scott Walker in conversations with those uniquely qualified to tell it.  Read More The Walker Years Podcast: Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch

The MacIver Institute summarizes the extraordinary session legislation that passed earlier this week and heads to the governor's desk. We also revisit three proposals that didn't make make the cut as the process moved along.  Read More Summary of Bills Passed in Extraordinary Session

MacIver reflects on the meaning of Hanukkah in today's special MacIver News Minute.  Read More MacIver News Minute: Happy Hanukkah From MacIver

By Ola Lisowski - While much of the attention of this week’s Extraordinary Session centered around the powers of the governor and attorney general, two remarkably impactful proposals quietly passed through the Legislature this week.  Read More Extraordinary Session Tax Proposals: Lowering Individual Income Taxes, Flexibility for Businesses

MacIver News - On Monday night outside the Wisconsin Capitol, liberal journalist John Nichols vowed to wipe conservatives out of Wisconsin history books and laid out his vision for a progressive utopia in the state.  Read More Nichols Vows To Wipe Wisconsin Conservatives From History

MacIver's Matt Kittle takes a look back at an extraordinary 48 hours at the state Capitol, where lawmakers went through a marathon effort to pass bills aimed at cementing the conservative reforms of the past eight years, trying to prevent incoming Gov. Tony Evers from washing it all away with little or no input from the Republican-controlled Legislature.  Read More Extraordinary Session Update on the Vicki McKenna Show: Wednesday Edition (After the Dust Settled)

By M.D. Kittle - After a marathon-and-a-half floor session that extended deep into the new day, Senate Republicans on a party-line vote passed a watered-down version of extraordinary session legislation aimed at protecting the Gov. Scott Walker-era reforms of the past eight years.  Read More In Marathon Session, Wisconsin Legislature Passes Amended Lame Duck Bills

Special Guest Perspective by Dan O'Donnell - So desperate were the outgoing governor and state legislative majority to pass what amounted to a sweetheart deal for some of their biggest political backers that they did what was until then unthinkable—they sprang Jeff Wood from jail so he could vote.  Read More The Forgotten Man

MacIver's Matt Kittle joins Vicki McKenna on News/Talk 1130 WISN for an update live from the Capitol, where the Legislature was in the middle of a very long day debating a slate of bills to limit the ability of incoming Gov. Tony Evers to roll back eight years of conservative reforms by going around the Republican-controlled Legislature.  Read More Extraordinary Session Update on the Vicki McKenna Show: Tuesday Edition (Live from the Field)

MacIver News Director Bill Osmulski joins The Morning News With Matt & Earl on WTAQ in Green Bay to talk about the extraordinary session of the Legislature and the legacy of conservative reforms of Gov. Scott Walker that they're seeking to protect from incoming liberal Gov. Tony Evers.  Read More Morning News With Matt & Earl: Osmulski Talks Extraordinary Session, Walker’s Legacy

MacIver's Matt Kittle joins The John Muir Show on WTAQ in Green Bay to talk about the in-progress extraordinary session of the state Legislature as it seems to pass bills limiting the ability of incoming Gov. Evers to undo eight years of conservative reforms without the input of the Republican-controlled Legislature.  Read More On The John Muir Show: Matt Kittle With An Extraordinary Session Update

Opponents of the GOP's package of extraordinary session proposals aimed at cementing the conservative reforms of the past eight years were reminiscent of the tactics and rhetoric of opponents of just about every other big government-limiting measure of the recent past. On Monday they got the band back together, wailing and railing against the last measures the GOP enacts before a new era of divided government begins.  Read More MacIver News Minute: It’s Back to the Future as Protesters Rail Against Extraordinary Session Bills

By M.D. Kittle - the Republican majority on the Legislature’s powerful budget-writing committee early Tuesday morning passed dozens of bills aimed at protecting GOP limited-government reforms over the past eight years and limiting the powers of the incoming liberal governor and attorney general.   Read More Budget Committee Takes Up ‘Extraordinary’ Bills Amid Protests, Dem Grandstanding

By M.D. Kittle - This week’s scheduled extraordinary session of the Legislature has Democrats feeling extraordinarily cranky, charging the Republican majority with everything from post-election “temper tantrums” to legislative power grabs.   Read More Republicans Call Extraordinary Session To Protect Legacy Of Reforms

By Matt Kittle - The Republican governor’s limited-government policies were so anathema to their big-government religion that progressives launched a recall movement, the birth of the left’s national resistance movement, against him. They hated him so much that they readily endorsed a secret, unconstitutional “John Doe” investigation — one of the darkest chapters in Wisconsin history — into Walker, his campaign, and many of the center-right organizations in the state. But Walker and the conservative Legislature embraced the battle, and bested progressives at nearly every turn.  Read More The Scott Walker Legacy: An Unprecedented Time of Reform and Taxpayer Victories 

By Ola Lisowski - Wisconsin schools and districts appear to be trending in the right direction according to the Department of Public Instruction’s latest report cards for the 2017-18 school year. Having already examined the results as a whole, let’s take the time to focus in on some districts and schools of interest.  Read More 2018 School Report Cards: Spotlight on Milwaukee, Racine, Choice and Charter

Washing his hands of a prickly bit of business, the chairman of the Legislature’s Alcohol Beverages Enforcement Study Committee on Wednesday ended discussion — and potential legislation — on regulating so-called wedding barns and other emerging players in the state’s hospitality industry.   Read More Wedding Barn Owner: Schimel Opinion ‘Political Payback’

Special Guest Perspective by Dan O'Donnell - At what point will they, and any other court commissioner whose error in judgment puts a dangerous man back on the streets, bear some responsibility for essentially allowing a hardened criminal to sign an innocent person’s death warrant?  Read More Signing a Death Certificate

MacIver Communications Director Chris Rochester joins Oliver Burrows on WXCO in Wausau to talk about the antiquated minimum markup law that makes Black Friday deals illegal, MacIver President Brett Healy's promise to perm his hair once the Legislature repeals the Depression-era law, and extraordinary session expected to convene shortly in Madison.  Read More News And Views: Minimum Markup, Brett Healy’s Perm Promise, And The Extraordinary Session

MacIver President Brett Healy joins Vicki McKenna on News/Talk 1310 WIBA to talk about the Black Friday crime wave, the Depression-era law that makes deep discounts illegal, and his promise to perm his hair if the Legislature finally takes action.  Read More On Vicki McKenna: Will The Legislature Repeal The Antiquated Minimum Markup Law?