"There is no policy or political basis that would justify an agreement to merge the two issues," writes state Rep. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) to Huebsch. "If the two issues are merged, you would be intentionally giving the governor the power to rewrite the compact agreement and possibly provide expanded powers to the Department of Natural Resources."

Nass also suggests that Decker is playing politics with the bill in order to help the election efforts of state Rep. Sheldon Wasserman, who takes on Republican state Sen. Alberta Darling in the fall.

"A merged bill would permit Decker to put a certain GOP state senator in suburban Milwaukee into a possible no-win situation, pitting the Great Lakes Compact provisions against the potential fiscally disastrous budget repair provisions."

Nass wants a caucus on the idea.

On the Senate side, the two leaders got two cents from Sens. Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) and Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay), who want the idea dropped.

"To force legislators to vote in support of a proposal they oppose because it is combined with a proposal they support is unfair to the legislators and to their constituents," they wrote.

Flying Low for the Emu: Don't miss getting in on the action during Emu Week in Wisconsin. From May 3 to 11 the governor has asked the fair citizens of our state to think about that feathered friend. The 5-ft.-tall birds are raised for lean red meat, leather, oil and feathers. The Wisconsin Emu Association promises plenty of emu outreach throughout the state.

Sewer Suit: You just can't quit a job, the Michels Corporation is finding out.

The Village of Elm Grove is suing Michels, a Michels subsidy and its bonding company for breach of contract after Michels quit putting together a $13.1 million flood management program.

Michels -- whose leading corporate exec is Tim Michels, who ran against U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold in 2004 -- was contracted by the Village in 2005 to construct a 2,125-ft. storm sewer of which 890 ft. was to be tunneled through the middle of downtown Elm Grove.

The contract called for the project to be substantially completed by Aug. 1, 2006, but on April 26, after five days of tunneling, Michels left the job site claiming it was unable to continue. The company did not return to the site for 275 days. The downtown area of the village was disrupted by an additional year of construction, causing further hardship on area businesses and residents.

Back in the Ring: It's Kagen-Gard II, coming to polling places near Green Bay in November.

Former Speaker John Gard, who embarrassingly lost his previous bid for Congress against Steve Kagen in 2006, is going at it again. Saying Kagen represents the "extreme liberal leadership 95 percent of the time," the Republican fired his first official shot across the Kagen bow this week.

The former Assembly speaker was expected to easily take the seat, which represents northeastern Wisconsin and the Fox Valley. He's going to embrace a strategy that firmly embraces a no tax increase mantra.

Pundits are bracing for a negative slugfest and it didn't take too long for the Democratic Party to jump into the ring on behalf of Kagen. The Dems promptly sent out a release entitled "Eight reasons John Gard is still too extreme for northeastern Wisconsin."

Among them?

• In Madison, Gard voted to give himself a pay raise, but when it came to increasing the minimum wage, he voted no.
• Gard voted to raise taxes five times.
• Professional politician John Gard voted to raise the state gas tax and add to the burden on every Wisconsin driver. He's taken more than $42,000 from oil and gas companies while running for Congress.
• Gard has been fined for accepting illegal campaign contributions, was caught padding his expense account and when anti-corruption legislation came up, he fought to kill it.