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from: Madison.com

Make a place for rural Wisconsin

An editorial — 11/08/2007 9:12 am

The AT&T-sponsored cable franchise bill now being rushed through the state Senate would have a devastating impact on rural areas, and legislators from those areas want to address the problems with the measure before it expands an already serious "digital divide."

Unfortunately, the chief sponsor of this deeply flawed bill, state Sen. Jeff Plale, D-South Milwaukee, is trying to block amendments.

Plale is wrong. As state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, notes, Plale's proposal does not contain needed consumer protections and offers no assurances that rural areas -- including the western Wisconsin region that elected her last year -- will enjoy the same access to telecommunication services as the Milwaukee County communities that elect Plale.

In proposing to rewrite the cable franchise bill to require AT&T, cable and other companies to contribute up to $7.5 million to a new "digital divide" fund to protect rural areas from being left behind, Vinehout says, "I'm representing the people that weren't at the table."

AT&T and the cable companies were given a place at the table by Plale and his Republican allies. Now, space must be made for rural Wisconsinites.