"I Agree With Bob Gannon" are five words that I never imagined that I would ever string together. Gannon is the Republican State Representative from District 58 in Washington County, covering West Bend, Jackson, and Slinger. Gannon's anti-worker, anti-woman, anti-education, guns-everywhere-anytime-by-anybody agenda is so extreme that no rational human would agree with him. The loony Gannon once had to apologize to Rep. Peter Barca for angrily flipping him off during an Assembly debate.
After a tragic shooting at a Madison mall, Gannon called for even more indiscriminate shootings, saying, "Wisconsin does not have a death penalty law, but with significant practice and careful aim, law abiding citizens can help clean our society of scumbags."
By any measure, Gannon is on the far-right fringe. He was an early endorser of the batshit-crazy candidate for State School Superintendent, Lowell Holtz. He recently sponsored a celebration of failed President Trump's First 100 Days- at a local firing range. His two Facebook sites are compendia of divisive, far-right sentiments, including a photo-shopped picture of Chelsea Clinton reading "Nana Goes to Prison" to her toddler, and an ultra-ironic statement that Gannon would "not vote for a candidate under investigation by the FBI".
So there are very few topics on which I agree with Gannon. However, there was a recent Assembly Bill, pushed by Gannon, that I heartily endorse. I was shocked ! The bill, AB 243, provides $50,000 for a study to look at the feasibility of assisting people on unemployment in moving to where there are jobs.
Passed by the Assembly on April 10 by a 84-13 margin, the bill is now in the hands of the State Senate. The proposal is for conducting "a study regarding the feasibility of establishing a program, using a social impact bond model, to assist claimants for unemployment insurance benefits under chapter 108 of the statutes by offering them mobility grants to relocate to areas with more favorable employment opportunities."
Over my technical career, I was fortunate to have worked in a field in which a relocation package was standard with job offers. Hiring companies paid for all moving expenses, house-hunting trips, and temporary housing. Some companies would, through an agency, purchase your home if you couldn't sell it. Others provided an up-front one month salary for incidentals.
Being the beneficiary of this kind of inducement, I always wondered why everyone who was out of work could not get the same sort of help in moving to a new job. After all, there are areas of the country with high unemployment, while other areas are screaming for workers. Low-income unemployed workers usually cannot afford to move themselves. For many lower-paid positions, employers cannot afford to pay to move workers. However, the Federal government certainly could help here.
The Assembly-proposed study, to be conducted through the Department of Workplace Development, certainly doesn't go far enough-but it is a good start. Rather than work through a social contract bond model, It would be better to have direct government funding of the program.
And a state-directed program would likely only provide grants for movement within Wisconsin. A better option would be a Federal program, which would not have such limitations. Under a Federal program, the unemployed could move anywhere in the country.
Many details of a relocation program would have to be worked-out. Grantees would have to secure a job by a legitimate employer before qualifying for relocation funds. There would have to be some way of connecting people with assured jobs before initiating a move. There might be some partial recoup of the money, from both the employer and new employee. There should be assurances that there would be no compulsory moves. But the basic idea, of governmental financial assistance for people to move to where they can work, is a good one.
I seldom agree with Bob Gannon. However, in this one rare case, we concur. A program is needed to assist the unemployed in moving from depressed areas to where they have work. Assisting workers in moving from Great Plains ghost towns or hard scrabble Appalachian coal towns or the industrial rust belt can help America in so many ways. Employers can get good workers. Workers can regain the self-esteem and prosperity of having a regular job. Government gains new taxpayers and the financial burden of relief programs is lightened. Everybody wins!
After a tragic shooting at a Madison mall, Gannon called for even more indiscriminate shootings, saying, "Wisconsin does not have a death penalty law, but with significant practice and careful aim, law abiding citizens can help clean our society of scumbags."
By any measure, Gannon is on the far-right fringe. He was an early endorser of the batshit-crazy candidate for State School Superintendent, Lowell Holtz. He recently sponsored a celebration of failed President Trump's First 100 Days- at a local firing range. His two Facebook sites are compendia of divisive, far-right sentiments, including a photo-shopped picture of Chelsea Clinton reading "Nana Goes to Prison" to her toddler, and an ultra-ironic statement that Gannon would "not vote for a candidate under investigation by the FBI".
So there are very few topics on which I agree with Gannon. However, there was a recent Assembly Bill, pushed by Gannon, that I heartily endorse. I was shocked ! The bill, AB 243, provides $50,000 for a study to look at the feasibility of assisting people on unemployment in moving to where there are jobs.
Passed by the Assembly on April 10 by a 84-13 margin, the bill is now in the hands of the State Senate. The proposal is for conducting "a study regarding the feasibility of establishing a program, using a social impact bond model, to assist claimants for unemployment insurance benefits under chapter 108 of the statutes by offering them mobility grants to relocate to areas with more favorable employment opportunities."
Over my technical career, I was fortunate to have worked in a field in which a relocation package was standard with job offers. Hiring companies paid for all moving expenses, house-hunting trips, and temporary housing. Some companies would, through an agency, purchase your home if you couldn't sell it. Others provided an up-front one month salary for incidentals.
Being the beneficiary of this kind of inducement, I always wondered why everyone who was out of work could not get the same sort of help in moving to a new job. After all, there are areas of the country with high unemployment, while other areas are screaming for workers. Low-income unemployed workers usually cannot afford to move themselves. For many lower-paid positions, employers cannot afford to pay to move workers. However, the Federal government certainly could help here.
The Assembly-proposed study, to be conducted through the Department of Workplace Development, certainly doesn't go far enough-but it is a good start. Rather than work through a social contract bond model, It would be better to have direct government funding of the program.
And a state-directed program would likely only provide grants for movement within Wisconsin. A better option would be a Federal program, which would not have such limitations. Under a Federal program, the unemployed could move anywhere in the country.
Many details of a relocation program would have to be worked-out. Grantees would have to secure a job by a legitimate employer before qualifying for relocation funds. There would have to be some way of connecting people with assured jobs before initiating a move. There might be some partial recoup of the money, from both the employer and new employee. There should be assurances that there would be no compulsory moves. But the basic idea, of governmental financial assistance for people to move to where they can work, is a good one.
I seldom agree with Bob Gannon. However, in this one rare case, we concur. A program is needed to assist the unemployed in moving from depressed areas to where they have work. Assisting workers in moving from Great Plains ghost towns or hard scrabble Appalachian coal towns or the industrial rust belt can help America in so many ways. Employers can get good workers. Workers can regain the self-esteem and prosperity of having a regular job. Government gains new taxpayers and the financial burden of relief programs is lightened. Everybody wins!
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