Walker Reaches for Trust Funds
What’s Really Behind Effort to Eliminate Wisconsin Secretary of State and Treasurer?
By Paul I. Tascoupe
PolitiScoop.com (8/21/11)
Madison Wisconsin -- Wisconsin has witnessed Scott Walker annihilate workers right to negotiate, gut public schools by 800 million dollars, dissolve the commerce department and install a private corporation, engage in cronyism, eradicate Planned Parenthood, cut benefits for the young, elderly and those most in need and the list goes on. But what else could he possibly take from you and sell off to greedy corporations?
The answer: Your land and $835 million dollars of K-12 funds.
Before I get to the bottom line, let’s see how Walker intends on pulling off this feat in the name of Wisconsin being broke. Assembly Joint Resolution (AJR26) seeks to dissolve the office of Secretary of State and the Office of Treasurer for the state of Wisconsin. Now it is no secret that the current treasurer campaigned on the premise that the job is useless and a waste of tax payer money, yet not so useless since they still need to find someone to fulfill his duties. Although I’m sure Walker appreciates this opportunity, the current Secretary Of State and environmentalist Doug Lafollette disagrees.
You see, both office holders sit on The Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. This board is Wisconsin’s oldest state agency, and is comprised of Secretary of State Douglas La Follette, State Treasurer Kurt Schuller, and Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. This board is charged with carrying on the pioneering commitment of Wisconsin’s early leaders to a constitutionally protected form of public education financing that originated with millions of acres of land granted by the federal government.
Nearly all of the Trust Lands were sold over 100 years ago. The proceeds were used to establish the Trust Funds, which continue to grow with revenue from unclaimed property, clear proceeds of civil and criminal fees, fines and forfeitures, and modest revenue from the remaining managed forest lands. Wisconsin’s trust lands and funds are managed by the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands (BCPL). Created when Wisconsin gained statehood in 1848, BCPL currently manages four trust funds that total approximately $835 million in financial assets and slightly less than 78,000 acres of land.
From BCPL's Website
"The largest of these is the Common School Fund, which was established by the Wisconsin Constitution in 1848 with the granting by the federal government of approximately 1.5 million acres of land for educational purposes. The vast majority of these lands have been sold to create the principal for a permanent school fund, with earnings to be exclusively used to support and maintain common schools (now known as K-12 public schools) and “the purchase of suitable libraries and apparatus therefore” [Section 2, Article X of the Wisconsin Constitution]. The founding fathers of Wisconsin had the prescience to provide for growth of the Common School Fund through the addition of “clear proceeds” of all fines, fees and forfeitures that accrue to the state, including unclaimed property. The remaining 5,500 acres within the Common School Fund is managed for sustainable timber production and public recreation, with timber sale revenues added to fund principal." Now this fund and land is protected by Wisconsin’s Constitution and for the time being, safe from the cookie jar thief Scott Walker.
I said, for the time being because if he is successful in dissolving the office of Secretary of State and Treasurer, the new board members Walker proposes will be the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. It’s no mystery on how this majority would rule in terms of monetary policy of these trust funds…
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