And you thought Nass was bad

At least he makes coherent arguments. I think I might have found someone even worse:

State Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) is raising concerns about Biddy Martin’s support for bringing domestic partner benefits to UW faculty and staff. Grothman says it’s disappointing that so soon after the voters of Wisconsin rejected same-sex marriage in a Constitutional amendment, the new leader of the Madison campus would take such a divisive issue to the taxpayer.

Martin, currently provost at Cornell University, will become the first openly-gay chancellor for the Madison campus. She has expressed her support for trying to bring the benefits to the UW in order to help keep quality staff members from leaving for other universities that make them available.

I have yet to address is the issue of domestic partnership benefits UW staff members on this blog and in light of the recent selection of Biddy Martin as chancellor I think there will plenty of opportunities for that later. What I would really like to point out is the ridiculousness of the arguments he uses to justify his position. As much as I disagree with his positions, there are some legitimate arguments to make in favor of them. He just doesn’t happen mention any of them.

To say the passing of the constitutional amendment a some kind of referendum that supposedly means people don’t support domestic partnership benefits for UW staff is a statement that flat out doesn’t make any sense. Gay marriage and domestic partnership benefits are clearly two different things that, while related, are different enough that people can have varying opinions about both of them. In fact a clear majority of Wisconsin residents supported domestic partnership benefits in 2001

Domestic partner benefits were once controversial, but today it’s becoming unusual not to provide them. More and more employees expect it, and the public supports equal benefits. A 2001 statewide poll of 600 people conducted by Chamberlain Research Consultants found a majority (59 percent) of Wisconsinites support domestic partner health insurance coverage for gay couples. The sheer number of companies offering the benefits also suggests that most of them have decided domestic partner benefits help their company’s image rather than hurt it. This is a mainstream business practice, and there’s really nothing controversial about it.

And I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that the number of people who support domestic partner benefits has probably increased over the past 7 years. To criticize to the chancellor for trying to do what she thinks is best for the university is also absurd. It shouldn’t be the job of the chancellor to base their decisions on politics, that’s ought to be left to the politicians.

His comments on domestic partnership benefits aren’t even the worst of it.

Grothman also criticizes Martin’s interest in increasing faculty salaries. He says university leaders shouldn’t be talking about pay hikes during these difficult economic times.

I can’t imagine a statement that would show someone was more out of touch with the UW than that one. Readers of this blog should know very well by now the arguments for increasing faculty salaries. They are everywhere, I’ve even pointed out how raising them would SAVE us money, so I won’t spend my time repeating them.

The idea that the chancellor shouldn’t be at least interested in a proposal to improve the university is preposterous, regardless of the reason. I might have missed the memo on this one, but I would say having a chancellor who is discussing ways to improve the UW is probably a good thing. Not wanting to raise taxes to fund a pay increase is one thing. Saying one of the most pressing concerns of the university shouldn’t be discussed is another. If he had his way I guess we wouldn’t be trying to increase private donations to increase salaries. Or trying to take more proactive approaches to retaining professors. Both things that could only have a positive effect on the economy of Wisconsin and would cost the state 0 extra dollars. I expect more from an alumni of our law school.

He is not even criticizing potential solutions to some of the UW’s problems. He is saying that they should not even be talked about at all. Elected officials who are so out of touch with what is best for this university and the state of Wisconsin as a whole as to suggest that we shouldn’t engage in a dialog about how to fix them don’t deserve to hold office at all. Luckily, Senator Grothman is up for reelection this fall, though at this point he only has one challenger, independent Greg Dombro. A quick google search reveals that the opposition in the Wisconsin blogosphere is pretty well organized there is a blog entirely devoted to criticizing him and a post on another blog detailing some of his worst votes. It might be time to start doing some campaigning this summer residents of Sheboygan and Fond du Lac.