The Capital Times from Madison, Wisconsin • 3

The Capital Times 3A Monday, May 13, 2002 Redistricting, budget linked Matt Pommer Capitol Watch DAVID SANDEUTHE CAPITAL TIMES Mothers everywhere you look Clare and Charlie Cook take in the Mothers and Babies of the Animal Kingdom exhibit at Madisons Vilas Park Zoo on Sunday, which was Mothers Day. 6 cited in ELF facility protest; two are from Dane County Will legislative reapportion-ment speed up budget decisions in the State Capitol? A federal three-judge panel is expected this week to order boundary lines for the 2002 legislative elections, and that will signal the real beginning of the political season in Wisconsin. Those who see accelerated budget decisions have two lines of reasoning. First, there are those who say legislative leaders Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison may want to draw their own boundary lines rather than relying on the court order. The Legislature can still substitute its judgment on boundary lines, but only if it acts quickly and draws a constitutional plan.

The two leaders share the same goal: They want to retain their legislative majorities, Democrats in the Senate and Republicans in the Assembly. Chvala would like to fashion some boundary lines in suburban Milwaukee, and Jensen may need help in a half-dozen swing districts. Population shifts are likely to eliminate a Senate seat in Milwaukee, and some of Jensens people could end up in toss-up districts or be thrown into a district with other incumbents. Both sides could benefit from a boundary line-shifting deal, insiders say. But such a deal is likely to be tied to the budget repair bill.

So far the eight leaders on the budget conference committee have resolved just three of 320 issues in that bill. That brings up the second line of reasoning. Legislative candidates can start circulating nomination papers June 1. They certainly will want to get out and meet the voters, especially those in territory added to their reapportioned districts. Alas, those voters may want incumbents to explain why nothing is happening in Madison to resolve the states $1.1 billion projected deficit.

The back-benchers may tell the leaders its time to deal. Perhaps the action last week regarding legal fees for legislative staffers and some top lawmakers provided a hint of that development. A Dane County circuit judge ordered the release of the names of those getting taxpayer-financed legal representation in Capitol criminal investigations. man, of Eau Claire, Jeff Leys, 38, of Milwaukee, John LaForge, 46, of Luck; and Jane Hosking, 34, of Luck, LaForge said. Last year Bachman, an attorney, represented Michael Sprong, one of The clerks of both houses first said they would appeal, thus delaying a decision for months.

Newspapers decided to ask the rank-and-file legislators for their opinion about the cover-up. Clearly the rank-and-file wanted to put distance between themselves and the leaders fund-raising scandal. Legislative leaders sensed their troops were going to be critical of the cover-up. The decision to appeal was quickly abandoned. The incumbent legislators are going to start feeling the heat from the budget deadlock.

Editorial writers, no matter their partisan leaning, understand cover-ups and using taxpayer money for lawyers. They may lump that whole business in editorials that demand to know why there is a deadlock on the budget repair bill. Last week the Legislative Fiscal Bureau released a paper that indicated the state cash flow problems can be managed until late in the fall. That seems to indicate there is no rush from a practical standpoint to resolve the budget crisis any time in the near future. But thats from a practical Standpoint.

The voters and editorial writers may not be so patient, and thats big-time bad news for incumbent office holders, including Gov. Scott McCallum. The governor has offered only one way to resolve the budget dilemma reduce and then eliminate shared revenue payments from state government to county and local governments. Cutting back on shared revenue in 2002 has been rejected in both houses of the Legislature, but the Assembly Republican budget calls for reductions in 2003 and 2004. The Republicans could have ignored the issue, leaving that mess for those elected in November.

Scandals and the budget deadlock may yet have a bigger impact than this weeks reapportionment decisions. The voters may decide it's. time to clean house in the State Capitol, providing politicians with an unexpected early retirement. The existing bridge across the river will be refurbished and become the eastbound lanes of the four-lane highway. On Friday, Gov.

Scott McCallum approved the $4.7 million project, which will be paid for entirely with state funds. Work on the 18-mile stretch of U.S. 12 to be widened is scheduled to be completed by 2005. The ELF facility, located near Clam Lake in Ashland County, is used to send one-way messages to nuclear missile-canying U.S. and British submarines round the world.

two people convicted of criminal damage in cutting down three antenna poles which temporarily disabled ELF in the summer of 2000. Saturdays six alleged trespassers all have June 11 initial court appearances before Federal Magistrate Stephen Crocker. If convicted, they face maximum penalties of six months in jail and fines of $5,000. LaForge said the trespassers would seek trials to contest their citations. By Kevin Murphy Correspondent for The Capital Times Six people, including two from Dane County, were issued trespassing citations Saturday during an anti-war demonstration at a U.S.

Navy radio installation in northern Wisconsin, according to a spokesman for the protesters. About 100 anti-war activists attended a six-hour rally Saturday in the Chequamegon National Forest at the Navys Project ELF (extremely low frequency) antenna system, said John LaForge, of Nukewatch, a Wisconsin-based peace action and environmental group. The ELF facility, located near Clam Lake in Ashland County, is used to send one-way messages to nuclear missile-carrying U.S. and British submarines round the world. Saturdays rally capped three days of peace workshops hosted by Nukewatch.

Cited for trespassing were: Cory Bartholomew, 33, of Blue Mounds; Judy Minor, of Madison; John Bach Armed man From staff Inews services A man with a gun ran off with an undisclosed amount of cash from a north side convenience store, police say. No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday at the PDQ at 1434 Northport Drive. Police said the man walked into the store, showed a semi-automatic handgun and demanded money. He was described as black, in his mid-30s, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and 160 pounds.

He was wearing a baggy, gray-hooded sweatshirt. Earlier this year, Crocker fined three peace activists up to $500 for trespassing at the ELF site in October. Three more alleged trespassers were ticketed in January. The previously convicted trespassers claimed in court that ELF violates an international treaty the United States has signed that bans the use of first-strike nuclei weapons. Nukewatch has hosted Mothers Day weekend demonstrations at the ELF site for 17 years to commemorate it as a day of peace, LaForge said.

Mothers Day was first suggested in the United States by Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the lyrics to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and in a 1872 proclamation asked mothers not to send their sons off to war to kill other sons, LaForge said. LaForge called Saturdays demonstration a nonviolent protest. Those who crossed the fence at the ELF site on Saturday were immediately issued citations by U.S. Forest Service rangers without further incident, LaForge said. The girl has been missing smce the morning of May 3, when her stepfather walked her to a crosswalk outside her elementary school.

Police have set up a command post, sent investigators around the neighborhood and used divers to search nearby waterways. About 100 volunteers also are searching for the girl on foot and bicycle, and volunteers have distributed posters to businesses around Milwaukee. The familys church, Sherman Park Lutheran Church, is collecting donations for a reward fund at all Bank branches, Pastor Marvin Griffin said. robs convenience store Work to start on U.S. 12 bridge POLICE REPORT Missing girl: Police received some leads after a national program broadcast the story of a missing 7-year-old Milwaukee girl, but Alexis Patterson was still missing.

The crime-fighting show Americas Most Wanted on Saturday featured Alexis story and led to some leads, said Milwaukee police Capt. Paul Stuhmer. He. declined to comment on whether any of the leads were promising. A bridge across the Wisconsin River that will allow U.S.

12 to double to four lanes will be under construction by the end of this month. The state has hired Edward Kraemer Sons Inc. to build the 900-foot span, which is designed to have bike lanes and a pedestrian path when it is completed at the end of 2004. Mobile home operator sued was required, omitting a required pressure relief valve, and having insufficient tanks to deliver water. The states lawsuit seeks fines and an injunction requiring Youngs to meet code.

The state Department of Natural Resources requested action on the case, which has been assigned to Dane County Circuit Judge Angela Bartell. Put a Rhino In Your Truck Now at Ziebart Protect your truck with the 1 SPRAYED-ON BED LINING system in the world. ivr-lfthino Lining SPRAYED-ON BEDUNER A McFarland man who operates a mobile home park in Ma-zomanie is being sued by the state Justice Department for problems with the parks water system. According to the department, Gerald Youngs broke several state regulations for failing to adequately serve Rio Valley Estates with water. His alleged offenses include using plastic pipe where metal Credit for compiling the numbers and preparing the charts for Saturdays Weekender stories on the legal fees paid by taxpayers for legislators and their staff members should have been given to Web and Books Editor Heather Lee Schroeder, reporter Lee Sen-senbrenner and Graphics Editor Gary Neuenschwander.

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