University of Wisconsin-Madison leader building relationship with WMC
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin said Monday she's building a relationship with the state's largest business group, which her predecessor has slammed as an impediment to economic development.
Martin said she's had separate meetings in recent weeks with the board of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and its president, Jim Haney. She said she's tried to focus on common interests of improving the state's economy.
Just weeks before Martin took over for John Wiley on Sept. 1, Wiley published an essay in Madison Magazine saying WMC had been taken over by "political extremists" who know little about creating high-wage jobs.
One of the most powerful lobbying forces in the state, WMC has been known for using aggressive tactics to elect conservative judges and lawmakers and advance an anti-tax, anti-regulation agenda. The group has 4,000 members and a 52-member board that includes representatives of companies like Harley-Davidson and M&I Bank.
But after growing criticism from Wiley and others, WMC toned down its tactics during this year's election cycle in which Democrats won control of both houses of the Legislature.
An e-mail released last week by the conservative Wisconsin Club For Growth shows Martin told Wiley in August she worried the timing of his essay could be a problem during their transition.
"I'm afraid it would produce awkwardness for you, for me, and for the university to have it appear at that very moment," she told Wiley.
Wiley responded that it would be awkward no matter when the piece was published and added: "I don't see any scenario in which anything could or would splatter you. You can plead ignorance of the history and express a willingness to work with WMC."
In an interview on Monday, Martin said the essay ultimately did not cause any problems. In fact, she said she was optimistic the university may be able to work more closely with the group than it has in the past.
"There will almost always be differences about how to go about pursuing the goals we share," she said. "But I think it's really important for us to be able to say what the shared goals are, and they are the welfare of the state of Wisconsin and certainly of industry."
She said she believes business leaders share her view that UW-Madison can play an important role in improving the state's economy.
In his essay, Wiley faulted WMC for becoming a partisan lobbying group that reflexively opposed all taxes and regulation, and supported lawmakers who were at times hostile to the university. The group, he said, had become "the single biggest obstacle to the recovery of Wisconsin's economy."
WMC spokesman Jim Pugh would not comment on the impact of Wiley's criticism. But he said the group was interested in building a stronger partnership with the state's flagship university, which he said creates the workers and leaders of its members.
"We have a very strong and vital relationship and we think that's only to grow under the leadership of Chancellor Martin," he said. "We're going to look for ways that we can partner on projects and ideas."
