The Candidates Respond: Nelson Eisman, Green Party

Wisconsin Week: The University of Wisconsin has been described as an economic engine for the state. What do you believe are the three greatest economic benefits it brings?

Nelson Eisman: The UW system is not just an economic engine, it’s the economic engine that once made Wisconsin great. Republican and Democrat administrations have underfunded the system, and now Wisconsin is paying the consequences. I will reverse that trend, and get us back on track.

I measure economic benefit through the eyes of working Wisconsin. The biggest benefit to fully funding the UW system is a more educated, higher-paid and healthier public. Second, the UW can once again drive sustainable agricultural, energy, forestry and economic-development practices. Third, for the time being, the UW, not Wal-Mart, is Wisconsin’s biggest and best employer.

WW: Currently the state contributes about 19 percent to UW–Madison’s overall budget. What’s your position on future state support for UW–Madison?

NE: Is UW–Madison still a public university? The Doyle-GOP cuts in UW funding in the last budget cycle were unconscionable. As governor, I will make a 25 percent state share the short-term funding solution. In general, and as with elections and health care, I am committed to full public financing of higher education.

The money is there. Our funding crisis is a distribution, not capacity, problem. I will close the corporate tax loopholes that lose us hundred of millions every year. I will restore the La Follette-era progressive income tax. And I will return Wisconsin to 1950s-era corporate tax rates.

WW: How do you plan to address the issue of higher- education affordability for Wisconsin residents?

NE: I will make Wisconsin a national leader and bring us into the global community by phasing out tuition. Tuition is not only the main barrier to access, it is also the leading barrier to retention, particularly retention of students of color. And it is the main source of the unprecedented debt faced by today’s youth.

Failed attempts to take from Peter to pay Paulette by raising tuition while increasing financial aid have proven naïve at best. At worst, they obscure the reality that a UW education is already inaccessible to most Wisconsinites. I will remove tuition from the education equation.

WW: What is your position on the status of future embryonic stem-cell research in Wisconsin?

NE: I strongly support continued stem-cell research at the UW. Moreover, unlike my opponents, I will ensure that the entire public benefit from the fruits of the university’s research by reestablishing the UW’s Progressive-era firewalls against corporatization and commercialization. In the Eisman administration, public tax dollars and state workers will not be asked to subsidize corporate profits to the detriment of the public interest. We will restore UW’s financial independence to conduct public research for the public good.

WW: What do you believe are the three greatest challenges facing UW–Madison?

NE: Frankly, our greatest obstacle is the influence of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and other corporate lobbyists in the legislature and the governor’s office. Every budget cycle, we all trot up to the Capitol and ask the state to provide adequate funding to the UW System. The legislators listen, but the decision’s already been made. Voters can remove this first obstacle by marking their ballots “Eisman.”

With corporate influence under control, we can get to business. I will fully fund the UW System. I will restore its independence. And I will end pay disparities and other forms of institutionalized discrimination.