There Will Be Pain Along The Way,' Doyle Cautions

By Joanne M. Haas

As Governor Jim Doyle prepares his February 18 state budget address, he says education remains a top priority. But with a deficit that may exceed $4 billion, he issued this warning in his January 6 inauguration speech:

"There will be pain along the way. I'm not going to deny that.

"But if we do this right, if we do this together, I am totally confident that at the other end of this difficult process, we're going to be a much stronger and a much better state."

Governor Doyle addresses the crowd at his inaugural ball. More photos

Over "the long haul," Doyle said, his priorities are quality education and health care, job creation and business development, and environmental protections.

WEAC Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Guertler, who attended the inaugural ceremonies at the Capitol, said she is "excited" about the Doyle administration, and anxious to see how it will handle the issues of school funding, school district revenue caps and the Qualified Economic Offer law.

"It is going to be very tough," Guertler said of Doyle's challenge to juggle these issues in the midst of the worst budget scenario in recent times. "But the governor understands that education is an investment in the future," she said.

That is a sentiment Doyle – the state's 44th governor and the first Democrat to hold the office in 16 years – repeats often when discussing the beliefs instilled in him by his parents.

"I was raised by two devoted public servants – a judge and an educator," Doyle said in his inaugural address. "My parents dedicated their lives to using two of our most precious public institutions – courts and schools – to make things better for people.

"They instilled in me the belief that public service, done right, is not only an honorable profession, but that it is a way to make a real difference in people's lives," Doyle said.

Doyle emphasized two major themes: Returning civility to the Capitol, and making brutal financial decisions to lead Wisconsin into a fiscally healthy "new day."

"I make one pledge above all others," Doyle said. "That I will do everything in my power to unite the people of Wisconsin and to help shape a government that focuses on the issues that matter most in our daily lives – security for our families, better lives for our children...and a commitment to Wisconsin values."

Hundreds jammed the Capitol for the noon ceremony. A few hundred had reserved seats, but hundreds more jammed hallways, corners and sat on the chilly and hard marble steps where they could hear, but not see, the new governor.

Madison's Cherokee Middle School 7th grade chorus sang "Like a Mighty Stream" as part of the ceremony. Doyle's wife Jessica Doyle, who is on leave from her job as learning coordinator at Cherokee, invited the students to perform.

"As I assume office today, I have been handed a staggering budget deficit of $4.3 billion," Doyle said. "It shouldn't have happened, but it did. And we're going to fix it.

"That means we can't do everything. And, in truth, it really means we can't do a lot of things we should do," Doyle said. "It breaks my heart, but that's what we're faced with."

Doyle reiterated his plan to solve the budget woes without tax increases, a campaign pledge that has won him points with the leaders of the Republican-controlled Assembly and Senate.

"If he sticks to that campaign promise, he's going to have a Legislature that's much more willing to work with him," Assembly Speaker John Gard of Peshtigo said after Doyle's address.

Sen. Robert Jauch, a Poplar Democrat whose wife is a public school teacher in northern Wisconsin, said he was pleased with the
governor's emphasis.

"The governor is setting the right tone by suggesting that we have to make education first and we have to come together so that no child and no citizen is left behind," said Jauch, who again will serve on the Senate Education Committee in this new session.

Posted January 14, 2002