As a former Midwesterner, I'd like to share my perspective on the Wisconsin budget crisis and the associated public employee fallout.

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Personally, I have a problem with legislators who don't do their jobs, teachers who skip school, doctors who write false sick excuses and opportunists who take advantage of it all.

FIRST, LEGISLATORS are elected to address the problems that are occurring in their state. In this case, we have 14 Democrats who failed in their responsibility to address the budget crisis that has befallen Wisconsin and instead fled the state, costing taxpayers millions of dollars by stalling the democratic process.

Second, teachers who skip school are shirking their responsibilities instead of teaching their students. Students would face strong repercussions for truancy if they failed to appear for class. The teachers are setting a very poor example by staging a sickout, wasting school district money.

Also, they are incurring immeasurable costs to parents and families, who frequently live from paycheck to paycheck, being forced to leave a private job on short notice to stay at home for emergency child care.

THIRD, DOCTORS who have devoted more than decade of their lives to higher education and the study of medical sciences are now applying their highly specialized skill set to writing false sick slips for healthy people. I suggest to the good docs the consideration of applying their skills by volunteering in free clinics instead, thereby helping the truly unfortunate, who are down on their luck, sick and without health insurance.

Finally, there cannot be a media spectacle without the presence of Jesse Jackson and myriad national unions, further polarizing and gridlocking the situation, which in the end, costs Wisconsin taxpayers even more money.

I grew up in a union town -- Austin, Minn. -- and witnessed firsthand how the Hormel labor strike of 1986 split the community right down the middle, through families, churches and labor. A quarter-century later, the rift still can be felt. During the Hormel strike, the national union disavowed the United Food and Commercial Workers Local P-9 union, struck a deal with Hormel and left the local labor force in disarray.

I THINK THE following should happen in Wisconsin:

- The Wisconsin budgetary crisis should be addressed by the people of Wisconsin and their elected representatives in an expedited fashion.

- Legislators who left the state should be recalled.

- Teachers who skipped school should be let go. There are plenty of unemployed teachers willing to do the job!

- Doctors falsifying documents should be sanctioned by the state medical board for unethical behavior.

- Opportunists should seek other venues for media attention, but not in Wisconsin.

And for the rest of us:

Let's roll up our sleeves, sharpen our pencils and do the jobs we are responsible for. Love God, love your family, love our country and hold our government accountable to do the right thing at all levels.

Last, but not least, be very grateful we don't have the cold, the snow and the ice that is still in Wisconsin.

(The writer is first vice-chairman of the Columbia County Republican Party.)