MacIver Institute

By M.D. Kittle -- The state Department of Justice’s expanded investigation into the bureaucrats behind Wisconsin’s unconstitutional “John Doe II” probe has quietly ended more than a year after a bombshell report suggested a controversial state agency had been weaponized “by partisans in furtherance of political goals.”   Read More No One Held Accountable: Schimel’s Probe Into John Doe Quietly Concludes

At the first forum in Green Bay, progressive-minded citizens bombarded the incoming Democrat governor with suggestions. How Evers will sort through everything, and how the state will pay for it is up in the air.  Read More Progressive Pitches Dominate Evers’ Green Bay Budget Forum

Wisconsin taxpayers got some good news to kick off the new year. The combined state/federal tax burden is at its lowest point in nearly 50 years, according to a new report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum. In 2018, 10.5% of personal income went to taxes, down for the seventh straight year. Meanwhile, tax revenue increased, resulting in a projected $622 million surplus at the end of the fiscal year, the eighth straight year of budget surpluses.  Read More MacIver News Minute: New Year Brings More Good News for Taxpayers

Video - There wasn't much room for regular people at the forum in Milwaukee, because the room was jammed pack with special interests eager to get their ideas on the record.  Read More Special Interests Infiltrate Evers’ People’s Budget Forum

Special Guest Perspective by Dan O'Donnell - While CNN's hosts blather on about holding the powerful accountable and its elected Democrat guests regurgitate talking points about finding common ground with Republicans, only a long-faded Saturday Night Live star had the temerity to articulate the truth: That the left's New Year's resolution is to make sure the Republican Party dies.  Read More Resolution

The MacIver Institute looks back at a remarkable era in Wisconsin history in our special presentation, “The Walker Years: A Legacy of Conservative Reforms” which aired on News/Talk 1130 WISN.  Read More Special Podcast – The Walker Years: A Legacy of Conservative Reforms

With 2019 upon us, we have some New Year's resolution ideas for our politician friends. If you feel the urge to raise taxes or add more regulations, resist it. Resolve to limit the size of government and to do something about that $22 trillion national debt. That important task will surely require a resolution to do all of the above.  Read More MacIver News Minute: New Year’s Resolutions for Politicians

Eric Bott, Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin State Director, has been on the front lines of Scott Walker's conservative revolution in Wisconsin, including serving in the Capitol during the early days of the Act 10 tumult. He shares his thoughts on the Walker years in this special edition of the MacIver Newsmakers podcast series examining the legacy of this most consequential conservative governor.  Read More The Walker Years Podcast: Eric Bott

By M.D. Kittle - Sometimes you don’t know you’ve been hit by a bus until you wake up in the hospital. That’s kind of what 2018 felt like. Today, MacIver News Service brings you the Top 10 stories of the year that was.   Read More The Top News Stories Of 2018 – What A Ride

By Ola Lisowski - Wisconsin taxpayers got more good news in the final week of 2018. The overall tax burden is at its lowest point in almost 50 years, according to a new report by the nonpartisan, independent Wisconsin Policy Forum.  Read More Overall Tax Burden Falls to Near 50-Year Low, State Ends Fiscal Year with Surplus

By M.D. Kittle - It’s not always what the mainstream media reports that raises red flags of bias. It’s what they don’t report.   Read More Top 10 Most Underreported Stories Of 2018

By M.D. Kittle - Republicans are ready to work with incoming Gov. Tony Evers, but they’re not about to trade in their conservative principles for bipartisanship, says Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald.   Read More Fitzgerald: Republicans Need To Put Aside Intraparty Differences In Session Ahead

Sen. Ron Johnson joins MacIver's Matt Kittle on the MacIver Newsmakers Podcast to talk about the border wall impasse, divided government, the conservative legacy of Gov. Scott Walker, and the bipartisan appetite for unsustainable spending (when asking Santa for bipartisanship, be careful what you wish for). Also, why the Senator prefers old-fashioned Christmas carols and Tom & Jerrys.  Read More MacIver Newsmakers With Sen. Ron Johnson: Be Careful What You Wish For

By Chris Rochester and Ola Lisowski - We bring you the second in our series of year-in-review stories – the Top Ten MacIver Stories of 2018. These are stories that we put a particularly bright spotlight on when the mainstream media refused, investigations that had a tangible impact on the public debate, and special projects that will have a long-term impact on our state and communities.  Read More MacIver’s Top Ten of 2018

Eric Schutt was Gov. Scott Walker's first chief of staff, and he was there with the governor during the most challenging days as they tried to balance the state's budget. Schutt returned for a second act as Walker's chief in the later years, and he shares his thoughts on the Walker legacy in this edition of a special MacIver Newsmakers podcast series examining the legacy of Scott Walker in conversations with those uniquely qualified to tell it.  Read More The Walker Years Podcast: Eric Schutt

From healthcare hyperbole to education funding fibs and pay-to-stay perjuries, 2018 was like any election year: filled with wall-to-wall lies. But the number one lie of 2018? Liberal fear mongering that Republicans would take away protections for people with pre-existing conditions. It was far from the truth, but to borrow from Harry Reid's Machiavellian logic, liberals won, didn't they?  Read More MacIver News Minute: Wall-to-Wall Lies in Election Year 2018

By M.D. Kittle -- Despite all of the campaign rhetoric from Gov.-elect Tony Evers and the left, it’s business as usual for Foxconn Technologies Group and the tech giant’s planned $10 billion development in southeast Wisconsin, according to a local government official.   Read More Foxconn Moving Ahead, Ramping Up, Village Official Says

By Chris Rochester - As they always are, this election year was packed with half-truths and outright lies, again proving the adage that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.  Read More The Top Ten Lies of 2018

Dale Kooyenga has been a partner of Gov. Scott Walker in the Legislature since both took office after the 2010 elections. Kooyenga, who won election to the state Senate in November, shares his thoughts on the Walker years in this edition of a special MacIver Newsmakers podcast series examining the legacy of Scott Walker in conversations with those uniquely qualified to tell it.  Read More The Walker Years Podcast: Rep. Dale Kooyenga

Democrats seem to have selective amnesia when it comes to a key legal battle Tony Evers won just a few months ago. While wailing about the state Legislature's move to grant itself the right to legal representation outside of the state Attorney General's office, they ignore that the state Supreme Court just a few months ago said the Department of Public Instruction was entitled to just that - its own lawyer - when it felt outgoing AG Brad Schimel wouldn't adequately represent it in court.  Read More MacIver News Minute: A Lawyer For Me, But Not For Thee