One reason to be thankful the Dems are in control; or, "federalism and local control be damned, I want that blasted snow gone!"

Senator Glenn Grothman doesn't think much of local control:

He wants Wisconsin's Department of Transportation to set standards for the city of Madison. As 27 News has found, that's created a flurry of debate.

Glenn Grothman, a Republican Senator from West Bend, says, "The city of Madison really isn't up to the job."

Firstly, it's terribly sad to see Sen Grothman, who, as a Republican, should theoretically be championing the ideas of small government and local control, putting forward a bill that would extend the power of a non-elected group of bureaucrats at the state level. That's an abrogation of what the Republican party stands for, and he should be ashamed of himself.

Moreover, for someone who flaunts his association with the Tea Party movement, it's a terribly cynical move. The Partiers are opposed to exactly this kind of legislation, and they'll need to call Grothman out on his statist tendencies soon or lose a certain amount of legitimacy on their primary issue: keeping control of government to the most local level, and preventing its powers from expanding, especially into the hands of "czars" and bureaucrats. Anything less than condemnation on their part for this move is base hypocrisy, and should be equally condemned.