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We all want to be a part of something bigger, and movies are large shared dreams. Our legislatures, yours in Oregon and ours in Wisconsin, have to determine the value of the product they will purchase with a large amount of our tax dollars. It's a big-ticket item.

[A recent news article about our debate: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/43253947.html]

[And an anecdote: I returned from Madison to my home in Green Bay today, but I took a detour from the freeway (much to the chagrin of my recalculating GPS receiver) just to see a building.

In many news articles, local television news broadcasts, in conversations at work, at the grocery store or tavern, I had heard about "the Johnny Depp movie." Wisconsin's film incentives program had brought a major production to locations from downtown Milwaukee to the rural Northwoods. And everyone knew. And we're pretty excited to be a big part of this dream. And if I could just see that old building in downtown Columbus, Wisconsin, just off the freeway, then maybe I'd have just a little bit better grasp of this dream.]

I would urge our legislatures to make the dream work. The value of being a part of something bigger is difficult to calculate. In fact, it is immeasurable.

And to use a line from a movie, "That's my wish. And is there enough magic out there in the moonlight to make this dream come true?" - Field of Dreams (filmed on location near where I used to live - the Tri-State area of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.)

posted 4 years ago
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