In New Jersey, which has not been a very competitive place for Republicans in recent history, Republican Chris Christie leads current governor and former U.S. Senator John Corzine by a margin of 11% according to the same polling average reported on Realclearpolitics.com. 

Victories by the GOP in Virginia and New Jersey this fall will not solve all of the GOP’s problems but it will go a long way in showing that they may be “getting their mojo back” heading into the November 2010 general elections. 

Commerce Lays off 15 Employees in S&B 

Recently the Wisconsin Department of Commerce announced they were laying off 15 employees from the Safety and Buildings Division.  As you know, this is the division that those in construction industry interact with the most at the department.  

The main reason for the layoff to no one’s surprise is the slowdown in the construction industry.  The majority of the funding that the Safety and Buildings Division rely on comes from fees paid by you, the users of those services.  With building permits and construction projects way down the department has had to cut back the number of staff within the division.  

Department of Commerce Executive Assistant Zach Brandon said of the layoffs: “The division is closely tied to the construction and building industries. With the economic downturn, we all know the impact those industries have felt.  Frankly government isn't immune to those same pressures." 

Walker holds campaign briefing 

Last month a few select business groups including WBA were invited to a briefing that was held by Scott Walker’s campaign for governor. During the 

briefing we were given an update on the status of the campaign and given an inside look into some polling that Walker’s campaign had on their race for governor in 2010.  

The overall mood of the state is negative.  59% of those polled believe the state is on the wrong track, 31% believed the state was on the right track with 9% unsure.  These numbers could have has something to do with the unexpected announcement by Governor Doyle not to seek a third term earlier this month.  

In a generic ballot test the GOP leads 43% to 39% Democrat with 18% unsure.  If you are a Republican this is very, very welcome news.  Since 2006 it has been very hard to find a poll where the GOP is even competitive on the generic ballot test let alone leading by 4 points. 

Walker’s polling shows the primary matchup between him and Mark Neumann currently at 57% for Walker, 21% for Neumann and 23% unsure.  General election polling shows Walker up 44% to 43% in a hypothetical race against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Walker up 48% to 40% against Lieutenant Governor Barb Lawton and finally Walker up 49% to 39% to La Crosse area Congressman Ron Kind. 

Obviously these are good numbers for Walker but it is very early in the race for the GOP nomination and for the general election in November 2010. 

Commerce Proposes Emergency Rule on REScheck 

The Wisconsin Department of Commerce has an emergency rule that will be in effect as of September 5, 2009.  The rule updates Uniform Dwelling Code (UDC) language concerning REScheck, the federal energy calculation software used to show compliance with the thermal envelope provisions contained in Comm 22.31.  The emergency rule explains that REScheck versions approved by the state Department of Commerce are usable for the thermal envelope calculations. 

The Department had previously indicated that the version of REScheck that should be used to demonstrate compliance was 4.2.2. The UDC, however, did not specifically reference the need to use that version of REScheck. The Department indicated that this was the version that was needed to show compliance with the new UDC energy provisions that went into effect on April 1st of this year.  

 

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