Labor unions and leftist activists are expected to once again descend upon the Captiol in Madison, WI on Tuesday. They plan to protest Governor Scott Walker’s first 2-year budget proposal, which seeks to cap entitlement programs and make cuts in education while expanding school voucher programs, in an attempt to close a $3 billion budget deficit. Republicans also expect to add the collective bargaining provisions that were passed in March, unless the State Supreme Court issues a ruling before then.

Opponents of Walker’s proposal view their side as an issue of human rights and a statement against corporations, and have not surprisingly ratcheted up the rhetoric. On its website announcing Tuesday’s protest, the Wisconsin state AFL-CIO posted:

Debate will be limited, democracy will be circumvented and the balance will greatly tip in favor of ramming through an anti-worker, anti-family, anti-community agenda. Come bear witness to this denial of democracy… Please take part in democracy and bear witness to the extreme attack on the people of Wisconsin. Join us tomorrow, Tuesday, June 14, as we continue to stand strong against a budget that guts public schools, attacks health care, raises taxes on workers and seniors, and jeopardizes public services like police and fire. All while handing over $300 million a year in tax breaks to the rich.

Oh, the drama….

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If you want to take a pulse on the political vibe in this country, one need only look at Wisconsin.  The state has become the barometer for judging not just the public’s appetite for political battle, but the competitive landscape as well.  The spotlight on anything that has six degrees of separation from a Koch brother has been great drama for Wisconsin’s ongoing soap opera, but audiences in the state and nationwide might get a better show by turning their attention leftward.  Few have examined the strange pattern of money and favor trading that’s been pervading Wisconsin’s beloved circle of progressive politics.

The activity in Wisconsin over the last few months becomes crucially pertinent as the state gears up for the 2012 Wisconsin Senate race.  It’s worth looking at the financial innards  of the Supreme Court race and the protests against Governor Scott Walker in order to assess what the fight for the Wisconsin Senate seat, soon to be vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Herb Kohl, will look like.  What many don’t realize is that this race could have broader implications – not just in national politics, but in specific policy areas, like health care and your personal medical records, for example.  Lots of money, fueled by liberal business interests and an ever-growing progressive movement in Wisconsin, has already been freely flowing.

But is anyone watching? Who are some of these donors?

Let’s start by looking back at the recent Wisconsin protests and the Supreme Court election, and then dissecting some of the money trail.

The hostility stemmed from the union reform bill signed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on March 11^th as a stand-alone portion of the overall budget repair bill.

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Kaiser Permanente (KP) would appear to be the frontrunner to head up the government-administered Medicare buy-in plan devised by Senate Democrats, especially since the company was ranked as the number one Medicare plan in November. In addition, KP–in compliance with the Obama agenda to have all medical records electronic by 2014–has heavily invested in electronic medical records (EMR) and has even linked two of the largest electronic medical record systems in the country—allowing doctors and nurses at Kaiser and VA hospitals and clinics in San Diego county to access certain information about patients who receive care from both health systems. KP’s merging of the two systems also can be thought of as the flagship model for EMR convergence, leading to an EMR platform under a single-payer, universal health system.

With this type of progress and plan ratings, KP would be a natural fit and even help facilitate the transition to a single-payer system. Even the Democrats in the Senate seem to think that, after demonizing the insurance companies, they could overlook the insurance industry’s greed and other flaws and have them run their new compromise “non-public” option plan.

Furthermore, KP’s chairman and CEO George Halvorson, who took the helm in 2002, has met with Obama and has had several meetings with key figures in the health care debate, including:

March 27–Meeting with Keith Fontenot, who manages the financial resources of government agencies related to health. He oversees funds for Medicare, Medicaid, all U.S. public health agencies, and the entire Health and Human Services Department, from the Food and Drug Administration to the National Institutes of Health.

June 5–Meeting with Peter Orszag, director of the CBO.

July 23–Meeting with Kathleen Sibelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS)

July 24–Meeting with Sarah Fenn, who is a $36,000-a-year White House assistant. Fenn is an attorney and also served as the state legal Voter Protection Director for the Obama campaign in Indiana, Kentucky, and New Hampshire, as well as campaign field staff in Iowa, Idaho, Texas, and Florida.

Halvorson was the only insurance executive to meet with Sebelius.

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