no sunshine on Wisconsin compact deal

According to Jim Rowen, it is unlikely outsiders (some call them by the quaint term 'citizens') will get a hearing to look at and comment upon whatever final language is crafted by Wisconsin legislators on a pending compromise over Great Lakes compact ratification. That's not good news; there's a reason why these deals are cut in the dark -- they're often ugly policy.

Here's what they may be trying to hide:

Approving the pending Great Lakes Compact is a good thing, but central to the amendments, as I have reported previously, is the addition to SB 523 of language designed to lower potential barriers to approvals of diversions of Lake Michigan water to certain Wisconsin communities- - lowered and eased until the final ratification of the Compact by all the eight Great Lakes states, and the US Congress.

This is the crucial, so-called interim period that could last for years, as only half the eight Great States have approved the Compact since its drafting was completed three-and-a-half years ago.