The "Kettl Commission," formally the (

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

) "Governor’s Blue-Ribbon Commission on State-Local Partnerships for the 21st Century," was a

bipartisan Bipartisanship, sometimes referred to as nonpartisanship, is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system (especially those of the United States and some other western countries), in which opposing Political party, politica ...

1999-2000

blue ribbon commission In the United States, a blue-ribbon committee (or panel or commission) is a group of exceptional people appointed to investigate, study or analyze a given question. Blue-ribbon committees generally have a degree of independence from political inf ...

, chaired by

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

Donald F. Kettl, charged by then-Governor

Tommy Thompson Tommy George Thompson (born November 19, 1941) is an American politician who served as the 19th United States secretary of Health and Human Services from 2001 to 2005 in the Presidency of George W. Bush, cabinet of President of the United State ...

with studying and reporting back to the governor on how Wisconsin government should be re-structured. It was instructed to think of itself as a miniature constitutional convention. Th
133-page final report
was issued in January 2001, with 139 recommendations, some of them quite bold. The Commission concluded the state should provide more aid to villages, towns, cities and counties which collaborate on a regional basis to provide taxpayers better service and spur economic growth, and that the state should ultimately assume responsibility for defining and financing social service and criminal justice programs at the county level, including child welfare, circuit courts and juvenile justice. Like those of most such commissions, the conclusions and recommendations have been only spottily addressed

External links

Commission website
Government of Wisconsin Political history of Wisconsin 1999 establishments in Wisconsin {{Wisconsin-stub