EXECUTIVE BRANCH

plemented by generous boosts from current revenues, resulted in a construc-
tion program of nearly $192 million from 1949 through 1965. It was not
enough.
The state had to find other ways to finance additional construction.
The 1953 Legislature passed a law which authorized private corporations to
hold loans, secured by future office rentals, for the purpose of building facili-
ties for the state. In the celebrated case of State ex rel. Thomson v. Giessel,
267 Wis. 331, decided in 1954, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held:
Where the objective of a lease of an addition to the state office building
by the state from the Wisconsin State Public Building Corporation, a
private corporation, was to benefit the state, and the arrangement was
one highly advantageous to the state, the obligation of the state to pay
future rentals to the corporations until the corporation's loan to provide
funds with which to construct the new addition should be paid, thereby
enabling the corporation to obtain the loan, did not constitute giving or
loaning the credit of the state for the benefit of the corporation in viola-
tion of the provision in sec. 3, art. VIII, Const., prohibiting the giving or
loaning of the credit of the state in aid of any individual, association or
corporation.
This decision opened the way for bond financing of buildings required by
the state, as long as the bonds were not issued by the state itself. In the
press, the new instrumentalities created to provide office buildings for the
state, or dormitories for the state universities, were quickly dubbed "dummy
corporations." This somewhat derogatory term notwithstanding, the building
corporations have been a real boon to the state of Wisconsin at a time when
current revenues proved insufficient to provide the facilities required for a
rapidly expanding population and to keep abreast of an increasing demand
for public services.
Corporation borrowing for the purpose of state building began right after
the 1954 decision. In the 1955-57 biennium, corporation borrowing added
about $17 million to the funds available for state building construction; by
1963-65, the biennial amount raised through bond financing had increased to
about $144 million.
Thus, using its wartime savings as well as current revenues and funds
raised through bonds issued by private corporations, the State of Wisconsin
was able to undertake a building program which added $510,210,096 in new
construction to the physical plant of state government.
For the 1965-67 biennium, the direct appropriations of state funds for the
building program were $36.2 million from general purpose revenues and
$6.3 million from earmarked revenues. In addition, Wisconsin state govern-
ment spent about $1 million on office space rentals.
THE BUSINESS OF ADMINISTRATION
We are frequently inclined to equate government with administration.
This  prejudices  the  answer  to   the  question  "What   is  govern-
ment?"-government is many things. It is a mentally retarded child being
cared for in an institution operated by the Department of Public Welfare, it
is a book lent to a homesteader in an isolated area by the Library Services
Division of the Department of Public Instruction, it is 70 miles of 4-lane
freeway between Madison and Milwaukee. Government is an opportunity to
continue your education in classes at the local vocational, technical and
adult school. Government is a city street that you can safely walk, even at
night. Government is a pamphlet that tells you how to use fertilizer effec-
tively and improve the output of your farm.
But, none of these services of government would be possible without an

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