The "Kettl Commission," formally the (Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

) "Governor’s Blue-Ribbon Commission on State-Local Partnerships for the 21st Century," was a bipartisan 1999-2000 blue ribbon commission

Blue-Ribbon Panel

Blue-ribbon panel is an informal term generally used to describe a group of exceptional persons appointed to investigate or study a given question. The term generally connotes a degree of independence from political influence or other authority, and such panels usually have no direct authority of...

, chaired by University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

 political scientist

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 Donald F. Kettl, charged by then-Governor Tommy Thompson

Tommy Thompson

Thomas George "Tommy" Thompson , a United States Republican politician, was the 42nd Governor of Wisconsin, after which he served as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Thompson was a candidate for the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, but dropped out early after a poor performance in polls...

 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

Constitutional convention (political meeting)

A constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...

.

The 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. http://www2.jsonline.com/news/state/may01/kettl16051501.asp http://www.wisdc.org/campfinreform_progrpt.php http://www.fightingbob.com/article.cfm?articleID=49