Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/497293
ByScottBauer The Associated Press MADISON,WIS. Bestknown nationally for his strug- gle with unions, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is staking out conservative ground in broader ways as he prepares for a likely run for the Re- publican presidential nom- ination. These ways are stuffed into his recent budget pro- posal and some of them are going to be a tough sell even with fellow Republi- cans who control the Leg- islature. In the proposal, Walker calls for eliminating over- sight of for-profit colleges, letting private insurance companies into the state's managed care system and cutting money for pub- lic schools that lose stu- dents to private voucher schools. This, on top of cut- ting taxes and the number of state workers as part of a scaling back of state gov- ernment. That's classic Walker, said conservatives who have followed his more than two decades in public office, the last four-plus years as gov- ernor. "Largely, it's a victory for conservatives," said Brett Healy, president of the con- servative MacIver Institute for Public Policy. But poll- ing suggests some of Walk- er's moves are unpopular in the state. While Walker made his mark by effectively ending collective bargaining for most public workers in 2011, then turning Wisconsin into a right-to-work state this year, he's also checked off a battery of conservative priorities. He's already cut income and corporate taxes by nearly $2 billion, lowered property taxes, legalized the carrying of concealed weapons, made abortions more difficult to obtain, re- quired photo identification when voting and expanded the state's private school voucher school program. And now this year, the first of his second term, he's going even farther by pro- posing a $300 million, or 13 percent, cut in state money for the University of Wis- consin and freezing tuition there for two years while granting it more indepen- dence from state laws. A state poll out Thurs- day from Marquette Uni- versity Law School found overwhelming opposition to some of his proposed cuts and a drop in his approval rat- ing. In the poll, 78 per- cent of those surveyed op- posed cuts to school aid and 70 percent were against cuts to the university. Walk- er's approval dropped to 41 percent, lowest in the three years of the survey. The governor's budget would lower property taxes $5 on average each of the next two years for median- valued homes. However, that comes at the expense of public schools, which would face a $135-per student loss in state aid. He wants to get govern- ment out of the business of regulating for-profit col- leges, eliminating a board that oversees them. His budget also would re- quire people seeking public benefits to pass a drug test, which Walker says would help prepare them for the workforce. Walker's budget propos- als will play well with con- servatives nationally, said Brian Fraley, a longtime conservative activist in Wis- consin. Fraley summed up the priorities conservatives see fulfilled in Walker's budget: "Spend less. Trim the num- ber of state employees. Tax less." Wa lk er 's s ta te b ud ge t shows conservative ideals POLITICS Walker By Stephen Braun The Associated Press WASHINGTON In its deci- sion to limit contributions from foreign governments to six nations and provide more frequent disclosures about donations, the Clin- ton Foundation alluded Thursday to the politi- cal dimensions of its new moves. The Clinton fami- ly's charity acknowledged on its website that it made the changes in light of Hill- ary Clinton's decision to run for president, but the new guidelines may pro- vide only limited protec- tion from ethics concerns. The new policy appeared aimed at insulating Clin- ton from future controver- sies by stopping the flow of millions of dollars already donated by Mideast gov- ernments accused of re- pression of dissenters and women's rights. Some of the millions from foreign governments were donated during Clinton's four-year tenure as secretary of state. More came during her work as a director of the Bill, Hillary and Chel- sea Clinton Foundation un- til she resigned last week from the charity's board to begin her 2016 presidential campaign. Ethics experts said the foundation's changes will offer some needed distance between Clinton and her family foundation's ties to foreign governments. But they said the new stan- dards appeared driven more by politics than eth- ics and failed to address the full impact of as much as $130 million already do- nated by international gov- ernments, the charity's re- liance on private foreign interests and former Presi- dent Bill Clinton's dual role as foundation director and Hillary Clinton's closest po- litical adviser. "They're clearly sensi- tive to these questions, but they've reacted through a political prism," said Douglas White, director of the Fundraising Man- agement Graduate Pro- gram at Columbia Univer- sity in New York. "From a philanthropic ethics per- spective, they need to en- sure that there is zero for- eign influence, whether it comes from new money from foreign governments or money already donated." Until the new guidelines were imposed, at least 16 foreign governments gave between $55 million and $130 million, according to an Associated Press analy- sis of contribution ranges provided by the foundation. Under the new rules, only six governments will be al- lowed to continue giving to the Clinton family charity — Australia, Canada, Ger- many, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. Foundation officials jus- tified accepting donations from those six govern- ments because their previ- ous gifts were earmarked for specific health, poverty and climate change pro- grams — and not as fund- ing that could be used for any purpose. The foun- dation website said those countries only "will sup- port our ongoing program- matic work." "The major question here was whether the foun- dation would erect strong firewalls between foreign governments and a poten- tial future president of the United States," said Law- rence Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the Hubert H. Humphrey School at the University of Minnesota. "By picking and choosing, they're play- ing favorites between pal- atable governments and those that could be an em- barrassment." Since it began accept- ing donations in 2001, the Clinton family foundation has taken in millions from Mideast governments un- der fire at times for sup- pression of dissent and treatment of women, in- cluding Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qa- tar, Oman, Kuwait, Algeria and Morocco. DISCLOSURES AND ETHICS Clinton charity limiting foreign donations CHARLIENEIBERGALL—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton participates in a roundtable with educators and students at the Kirkwood Community College's Jones County Regional Center on Tuesday in Monticello, Iowa. By Emily Wagster Pettus The Associated Press JACKSON, MISS. Jeb Bush said Thursday he will make up his mind "in relatively short order" whether to seek the Republican nom- ination for president in 2016. The former Florida gov- ernor is going to New Hampshire to attend events called Politics and Pies in Concord on Thurs- day and Politics and Eggs in Manchester on Friday. He'll also speak at a GOP meeting Friday in Nashua with many potential rivals. "Typical day in New Hampshire, apparently," Bush told reporters earlier Thursday in Mississippi, where he attended a bill signing ceremony with Re- publican Gov. Phil Bryant. Bush said he's not con- cerned that several other hopefuls are ahead of him in launching their cam- paigns. "I'm on a journey to kind of measure support," Bush said. "Other people's pro- cesses are not really that relevant to me. I'll make up my mind in relatively short order. I'm excited about just the possibility of being in a position to consider it." He said his family sup- ports his exploration of a presidential bid. "In a campaign, no mat- ter if it's running for gov- ernor or running for pres- ident or anything else, you've got to go earn it," Bush said. "You've got to go earn people's respect and persuade people that your ideas are better, that you have leadership skills to make it happen. You've got a heart for people. Those are the things that matter. Who's winning, who's los- ing? Who cares?" 2016 CAMPAIGN Bush: Campaign decision 'in relatively short order' By Deb Riechmann The Associated Press WASHINGTON Even if Con- gress rejects his final Ira- nian nuclear deal, Presi- dent Barack Obama could use his executive pen to of- fer Tehran a hefty portion of sanctions relief on his own. Lawmakers have in- sisted on having a say on what could be a historic accord that the U.S. and five other nations are try- ing to finalize with Iran. The aim is to prevent the Islamic state from develop- ing nuclear weapons, while in return Iran would get a break from U.S., European and U.N. sanctions that are choking its economy. Negotiators are work- ing to complete a final deal by the end of June. Talks will resume next week in Vienna, it was announced Thursday. In the meantime, legis- lation is expected to pass both the Senate and House that would block Obama from using his current au- thority to waive congres- sional sanctions against Iran for at least 30 days after any final agreement, to give lawmakers time to weigh in. However, even if Con- gress rejected a final agree- ment, Obama could take unilateral actions that — when coupled with Euro- pean and U.N. sanctions relief — would allow a deal with Tehran to be imple- mented. The president could sus- pend some existing U.S. sanctions with his waiver authority. He could issue new orders to permit fi- nancial transactions that otherwise are banned un- der current law. And he could simply take certain Iranians and entities, in- cluding nearly two dozen Iranian banks, off U.S. tar- get lists, meaning they no longer would be subject to sanctions. Only Congress can ter- minate its legislative sanc- tions. And those are some of the toughest penalties against Iran because they target its energy sector, cen- tral bank and key segments of its economy. But experts say Obama can neutralize the effect of some of those sanctions, too, and work with the Europeans to neu- tralize others. Treasury official Adam Szubin told the House last month that the Obama ad- ministration doesn't think congressional sanctions should be terminated for years to come — long after Obama leaves the White House — so that the U.S. continues to retain lever- age over Tehran years into any final agreement. But there's more to the story. Says Tyler Cullis, le- gal fellow at the National Iranian American Coun- cil, which favors an agree- ment: "Some have ex- pressed doubt whether the president can provide Iran significant sanctions relief solely on the basis of his own authority. Such doubt should be put to rest." He said the president "could almost gut" an en- tire segment of sanc- tions by taking Iran's ma- jor banks off the Treasury Department's list of Spe- cially Designated Nation- als and Blocked Persons List. Those on this list face asset freezes, and Ameri- cans are banned from doing business with them. More- over, many U.S. and foreign banks and businesses have opted to steer clear of those on the list just to make sure they don't violate U.S. sanc- tions. If the Europeans and other nations participat- ing with the U.S. in the nu- clear talks lift their penal- ties against Iran, the inter- national sanctions regime will begin to unravel, and Cullis said Obama could tell lawmakers they should work with him to join the sanctions relief campaign. Mark Dubowitz, a lead- ing sanctions proponent with the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, agrees. "It is legally possible for him to go it alone," Dubow- itz said. "He can do a lot on his own and he can do a lot with the Europeans." NUCLEAR DEAL Obama could ease many Iranian sanctions even without Congress ANDREW HARNIK — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SenateForeign Relations Committee Chairman Sen.Bob Corker, R-Tenn., right, shakes handswith Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., le , a er the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed S.615, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015. Thiscouldbeyourluckyday by helping a dog or cat find a loving home from... Ad Sponsorship $ 25 Call Suzy 737-5056 RedBluffDailyNews ELI Paws & Claws TEHAMACOUNTYANIMAL SHELTER 1830 Walnut Street P.O. Box 38 • Red Bluff, CA 96080 (530) 527-3439 CORNING ANIMAL SHELTER 4312 Rawson Rd. Corning, CA 96021 (530) 824-7054 ADOPT A PET TODAY | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015 6 B