After wasting the taxpayers time on wedge issues...

Kitty's Republicans finally decide to do something.

Wis. Attorney General JB Van Hollen is requesting 31 new DNA analysts for the state crime lab to help eliminate the backlog in DNA evidence at lab by 2010. This is double the current staffing level.

Gov. Jim Doyle and the Legislature would have to act on Van Hollen's request, and both are in ongoing talks with the Department of Justice about how to best address the backlog. Doyle had already committed to providing funds for 15 new analysts in the budget he'll submit to the Legislature on Tuesday. Doyle is familiar with the backlog after serving 12 years as attorney general, and will continue to work closely with Van Hollen to address it, said Doyle spokesman Matt Canter.

Rep. Kitty Rhoades (R-Hudson), co-chair of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, said "the mess at the Crime Lab is just unbelievable" and she supports efforts to get it cleaned up as quickly as possible. We can't get on top of this unless we take dramatic steps."
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Maybe, if the Republican majority in the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly would have spent more time over the last couple of years dealing with actual issues like the staffing needs at the state crime lab and less time on voter wedge issues that put more guns on the street and anti-family amendments that divide the community, this wouldn't be such an issue.
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Concerning Governor Doyle's budget announced last Tuesday, Rhoades said, "I've never seen a budget like this. Evidently, the governor believes taxpayers can pay more now than they've ever before. Call it whatever you want, it's still going to be coming out of your pocketbook."

Rhoades thinks the budget can be balanced without raising taxes if its spending is brought in line with its ability to pay.
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Maybe Kitty should clue us in on what spending needs to be brought in line? $7 million for DNA analysts is going to come out of some one's pocketbook. Start talking Kitty, we are all ears. Where are the cuts coming from?