A Risk Worth Taking

The other day, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Falk made an amazingly bold statement.  She said that she would veto any budget that did not restore collective bargaining.

As news of this statement spread, you could hear Republicans' heads exploding across the state.

Jeff Wagner, afternoon squawker on WTMJ radio, was damn near in hysterics as he was predicting that such an act would do everything  short of causing the universe of imploding.  With panic in his voice, he was stating that this was so "reckless," "irresponsible" and that it would "endanger every person in the state."  He followed that up with a fear-filled blog post:

Let's break this down.  Falk has apparently promised to veto a $60 billion document unless it restores collective bargaining rights.  In other words, Falk is willing to potentially destroy the credit rating of the State, devastate municipal budgets, jeopardize public safety and bankrupt programs - all to appease her Union masters.

John Mercure, the late afternoon squawker on the same station was having the same level of histrionics.

In a frenzy, the right wing echo chamber started flailing about this.  One blogger called it "really stupid."  Another twit said that Falk would be "holding the state hostage."

Ernst-Ulrich Franzen, another pro-Walker blogger, disguised as a member of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board, tried to use it to prove that the recall is about just one issue, and in doing so insults every child, every parent, every senior citizen, every vulnerable citizen, every woman, every taxpayer, and every working man and woman in the state.  That's a whole lot of apologies he needs to do, and he still hasn't apologized to John Weishan yet.

And as you can imagine, the Koch Brothers, via one of their front groups, was practically apoplectic.

By the way they were acting, one would think that Falk had proposed making cannibalism an official state function, or even worse, saying that women shouldn't be treated as breeding stock.

As I watched this happen, amused and bemused, I started thinking about the absurdity of their statements.

First of all, as any intellectually honest person knows, the recall is about much, much more than just collective bargaining.  The abolishing of workers' rights is a big part of the movement, but not even the most of it, much less all of it.  There is so much more to it.

But when we recall Walker, what are we really risking?

Higher taxes? We already have higher taxes thanks to Walker.

Job losses?  Under the Walker plan, the state has seen six straight months of job losses, leading the nation for two of them, while the rest of the county has seen job growth.  In fact, Walker's record at losing jobs is nearly twice the rate of Governor Jim Doyle's rate, and Doyle had the full brunt of the recession to contend with.

Destruction of the economy?  Under the Walker plan, Wisconsin is ranked 50th in economic activity.  Dead last.  How could anyone destroy it more?

But there are things - besides job losses, higher taxes and a stagnant economy - that Wisconsin would risk by recalling Walker.  They include, but are not limited to:

• Women being treated as breeding stock;
• Senior citizens and disabled citizens not receiving services that would keep them out of nursing homes and other institutions;
• Our children crammed into overcrowded classrooms and receiving a poor education;
• Workers not receiving the necessary training for the few jobs remaining;
• People not being allowed to vote just because they're poor or a student;
• Having fresh air to breathe or clean water to drink;
• Everyone receiving medical attention;
• A government that is representative and responsive to the people;
• An increase in transparency in government; and
• A government that doesn't operate through a secret wireless router in a closet.

You know, come to think of it, it's a risk I'm willing to take.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part LXXII

Gee, who didn't see this one coming?

First, Scott Walker takes gives every public sector worker in the state a massive pay cut, thereby reducing their income and hence the amount they pay in income tax.  

On top of that, the public sector workers have their personal budgets cut to the breaking point, meaning they have a lot less buying power and thus are not spending as much.  This leads to a predictable cut in sales tax revenue for the state.

This then leads to ripple effects, where local businesses that depend on people's discretionary spending start feeling the pinch and end up laying off people or closing up shop, leaving everyone out of work.

And if that wasn't enough, Walker's "pro-business climate" is turning out to be anything but that, and the state loses nearly 50,000 jobs in the first six months that Walker's budget has been in effect.  What is obvious to everyone but Walker and his apologists is that all of these laid off people also aren't going to be paying as much in income tax or sales tax, thereby keeping the downward spiral continuing.

Eventually all of that money that's no longer being spent, since he gave it all to big corporations that only use it to enhance their profit margin, will come back to have a very bad effect on the state budget.

That day of reckoning came today.

The State Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported that this loss of revenue is causing the state to lose $216 million dollars when compared to previous projections.  That means that Walker's "balanced budget" is facing a deficit of $143 million.

And amazingly, Walker continues on with the same worn out cliche that "Wisconsin is headed in the right direction."  

When I heard that line, the first thought that I had, and still have, is that of when John McCain, running for the President of the United States, said that the "economy is fundamentally sound" as the Lehman Brothers went belly up, the stock market started to crash and the full impact of the Great Recession was being felt.

I hope Walker has the same success with his gaffe as McCain did with his.

Then once Walker is ousted, maybe the real healing could begin.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part LXXI

I'm so glad that Scott Walker keeps telling us that he made things so much better for companies, because otherwise, we'd have no way of knowing.  Especially not with stories of even more people losing their jobs:

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is cutting nearly half of its workforce in Milwaukee, the company said Thursday, weeks after it announced the end of its manufacturing in Two Rivers. 

The company is eliminating about 43 of 100 jobs at its Milwaukee location, which makes laboratory reagents and performs product development. The work is being transferred to other Thermo Fisher locations, including a plant in Lithuania, company spokesman Ron O'Brien said.

When Walker said that he was going to create 250,000 jobs, he forgot to mention that they would be everywhere but Wisconsin.

RIP Pewter Gryphon

It is with heavy heart that I must report the passing of Diane Echelberger, more commonly known by her Twitter name, @pewtergryphon.

Diane was one of the strongest champions in the fight to reclaim Wisconsin.  Even though she knew she was terminally ill, she spent much of her remaining time fighting for Wisconsin, participating in rallies, live tweeting hearings and government hearings so that those who could not attend could follow what was happening, doing data entry and phone banking.

During her working life, she was a defender of Wisconsin as well, as noted in this moving tribute to Diane, written when Senator Jon Erpenbach presented her with a plaque and a Certificate of the Senate to honor her lifelong compassion and dedication to Wisconsin.

The words that I wrote when I first introduced the gentle reader to Diane holds as true today, maybe even more so, than when I wrote them:

When I realized that I was seeing Diane in the video, I immediately tweeted it, making sure that I pointed out that she was in it. Literally within seconds, it was favorited and/or retweeted a dozen times. But that is just the way we roll. We pick each other up when we're down and celebrate with each other when the news is good. 

And that is why Walker, even with all of his out-of-state big money, will still be removed from office. He's not fighting special interests, he's fighting for them. He's fighting against the good people of Wisconsin, people like Diane and her friends. And trust me, we stick together like only family can. 

Every day, our resolve grows even stronger while Walker and his allies grow even more desperate. 

We will do this! 

We'll do it for Diane.  

We'll do it for ourselves.  

We'll do it for all of Wisconsin.

Sail on, Gryphon!  We will carry on in your memory and win the state back for you.

Wisconsinites Going To Where The Jobs Are

Oh, look! There are jobs coming that could be filled by the unemployed workers in the Janesville area!

Of course, those jobs are in Illinois:

Janesville native Dave McKee expects to see more traffic later this year on his daily commute to Chrysler's assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill.

That's because Chrysler plans to add about 1,800 jobs at the plant 40 miles south of Janesville, and some of those jobs could be filled by dislocated Rock County residents.

Aout 9 percent of the plant's workforce of 2,700 comes from Rock and Walworth counties in southern Wisconsin.

The expected increase in workers to a high-water mark of 4,500 later this year presents another opportunity for local job seekers willing to work for about $15.78 per hour, which is about half the rate paid to longtime auto workers.

"If someone is willing to commute from Wisconsin, they are more than welcome to apply," said Jodi Tinson, a Chrysler Group spokeswoman.

And it wouldn't be at all surprising that those lucky enough to land those jobs eventually move to Illinois to cut down on the money and time they spend on the commute to work, cutting Wisconsin's revenue even that much more.

Meanwhile, Scott Walker is still traveling the country raising money for his defense fund so that he can continue to drive jobs and citizens out of the state.

It is really beyond me how any honest person could still support Walker.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part LXX

While the rest of the nation is gaining jobs, we in Wisconsin still get to see the "benefits" of Scott Walker's budget. This time 120 people get to see the impact first hand:

C&D Technologies Inc. announced Wednesday that it will retain its factory in Milwaukee while moving some of its product lines to a plant in Reynosa, Mexico.

The move will result in the loss of about 120 jobs at the Milwaukee plant, 900 E. Keefe Ave., in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood.

The decision came after a comprehensive business evaluation, according to the company.

The workers in the state don't like Walker's budget. Businesses in the state don't like it.

The only ones that like it are the big-moneyed out-of-state special interests that Walker's been flying to, crying for help. Walker needs to go and we need to get someone that listens to the people. All of the people.

An Undeniable Pattern

Last evening, I had been interviewed by an out-of-state reporter who was trying to get a grasp of the timeline and the expanse of Walkergate.

As we were discussing the course of events, a larger picture of things occurred to me and a pattern of poor behavior from Scott Walker became undeniable.

It started some 25 years ago, when Scott Walker ran for President of the Student Government at Marquette University.  Even then, he violated election laws, campaigning where he wasn't allowed to.  He then tried to smear his opponent.  On top of that, when the school paper, the Marquette Tribune, retracted their endorsement of Walker and called him "unfit", he and his buddies grabbed all the issues of the paper that they could and destroyed them.

In 2004, when Walker was running for his first re-election as Milwaukee County Executive, the question came up whether he kept a campaign promise of having his at-will staff sign waivers regarding the enhanced pensions.  He hadn't.  But to cover it up, once an Open Records Request had been filed, scrambled to get the promised signatures.  He then submitted a form in response to the ORR, written in such a way to disguise the fact that they hadn't signed it until then.

For this unethical act, he received a severe dressing down by the Department of Justice.  As Bill Christofferson, who worked for Walker's opponent in that race, put it:

The indisputable point is that Walker himself ordered his staff to engage in cover up and deception to keep the public -- the voters, since this was in the midst of an election campaign -- from learning the truth. [Dave Umhoefer, a Journal Sentinel reporter, uncovered the truth after the election.] 

The dishonesty was deliberate. It was calculated. It was wrong. And it was ordered by the guy at the top of the chain of command, Walker himself.

Over the years of being a career politician, Walker has also demonstrated a continuing problem of being unable to file a legal campaign finance report.

And who could ever forget the way he acted as the sycophant to a caller whom Walker believed to be David Koch.

Most recently, in the unfolding Walkergate saga, it is becoming increasingly evident that Walker did not win the Governor's office by honest means, having surrounded himself with ne'er-do-wells who have been charged, and some already convicted, of illegal politicking.  And it has gotten to the point that the only time a Walker staffer hasn't been charged, convicted or granted immunity  is because they're still being investigated.

And now, as governor, it appears that Walker still hasn't earned his Eagle Scout badge for integrity yet.

Case in point is Jocelyn Webster (emphasis mine):

Late last year, the governor's office announced it had hired 28-year-old Jocelyn Webster to serve as communications director for the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA). The department manages the state buildings where most of the anti-Walker protests have been held, and its duties include setting rules for protests. Webster started her career with Rove's notorious Office of Political Affairs in the George W. Bush administration 

A congressional investigation of the activities of that office yielded allegations -- including specific allegations against Webster – that Rove's team was involved in partisan campaigning on the public dime, a claim also leveled at aides of her newest boss during his tenure as Milwaukee County Executive.

Well, as least she should fit in real well with the rest of this boogle of weasels.

Over the span of decades, Walker has shown an undeniable pattern, not of leadership, but of deceit, dishonor, bullying, manipulation and an utter and complete disregard of the law.

In other words, Walker has shown that he is completely devoid of any ability to be a leader worthy of respect, much less any position of authority.

How Appropos!

Collective nouns for a group weasels include boogle, gang, pack and confusion.

Instead of calling it the Walker administration or the Walker campaign, I just might have to start referencing them as Walker's confusion and Walker's boogle, respectively.

What Walker Knew

Here's a video created by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin regarding Walkergate. Watch it all the way through. The look on Scott Walker's face at the end is priceless:



The video is part of a full-fledged look at Walkergate.

The video is good, but, in my humble opinion, they could have saved a lot of time and money by just offering one link.

Tell Obama To Nominate New FEC Commissioners

Tired of our government being controlled by Big Business? Do you want a government that is truly of the people, by the people and for the people?

Then sign this online petition telling President Barack Obama to nominate new commissioners to the Federal Election Commission:

We expect candidates for federal office to follow our campaign finance laws, but the FEC – the agency charged with enforcing those laws – is completely dysfunctional.

Three of the six commissioners staunchly refuse to enforce the law and five of the six are serving despite expired terms.

Prior to your election, you professed support for campaign finance reform. We agree with you that the Citizens United Supreme Court decision was disastrous and the failure of Congress to require disclosure of campaign-related spending was outrageous. Nevertheless, you have failed to appoint new commissioners who actually would enforce such laws.

To restore some faith into the democratic process, we urge you to nominate new commissioners to the FEC prior to the 2012 elections.

Holperin Introduces Anti-Dumpster Bill

State Senator Jim Holperin (D-Conover) has introduced a bill that would make state government more transparent:

State Sen. Jim Holperin (D-Conover) urged an Assembly committee Thursday to favorably move forward his bill to end the Legislature's exemption from the public records retention law.

Holperin testified at a public hearing on the bill before the Assembly's Committee on Judiciary and Ethics. The senator has authored companion legislation in the Senate, and is the principal author and driving force of the measures.

Holperin thanked the committee and its chairman, Rep. Jim Ott (R-Mequon), for holding the session. The Conover Democrat had requested a Senate hearing last Dec. 19 in a letter to Sen. Rich Zipperer (R-Pewaukee), the chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, but Holperin said Thursday the committee had yet to afford the bill a hearing.

Technically, the open records law does apply to lawmakers. Right now, though, according to an analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the state Public Records Board supervises the state's public records management and preservation program and sets retention schedules for records, but none of those management and preservation procedures apply to the records or correspondence of members of the Legislature.

Hence, a lawmaker could dispose of any records at any time. Holperin's bill deletes the exemption.

This is a good bill and the State Senate judiciary committee should hold a hearing on that as soon as possible. Transparency in government, which this bill would strengthen, is always a good thing.

The Republicans probably would hate to see this bill pass though. It could be a real embarrassment given the Walkergate Dumpster and the revealing of the Super-Secret Money-Loving Voter-Hating Club they've got going on.

Esenberg Shorter

The law is "fairly weak" because it doesn't say what I want it to say.

And he is the right wing's "expert."

Another famous line involving Esenberg:

Ubiquitous Republican-for-hire lawyer James Troupis despatched sometime co-counsel Rick Esenberg to Madison yesterday to pronounce definitively that the WISGOP plan "is simply not vulnerable" to legal challenge and that "any challenge to the plan would be almost frivolous." 

Well, that didn't prove to be true either, did it?

Walkergate: A New Wink-le In The Story

Darlene Wink, who worked for Scott Walker when he was Milwaukee County Executive and was the first name to come out in what appears to the scandal of the century, made it in the news again today.

Wink was first brought to the attention of the public when she was busted leaving comments on JSOnline and other blogs promoting Walker's gubernatorial candidacy and ripping at his opponents.  Little did we know at the time that this was just the very tip of the tip of a huge iceberg of corruption and scandal.

It was only after that news came out that it raised suspicions about other things.

One such thing was an incident in which I, acting as the Chair of Milwaukee County First, asked about a Milwaukee County Parks logo being on a banner announcing a Tea Party rally held at the lakefront.  Stemming from this, Cory Liebmann was able to figure out that it was Wink who not only handled my request but also a suspicious Open Records Request within minutes, leading to suspicions that Wink and other county staffers were behind the official unofficial Walker campaign site, ScottForGov.com.

It was also suspicious that when Walker sent an email, from his campaign website regarding Wink getting busted and demanding that there should be "no laptops, no websites, no time away during the workday, etc.," the site disappeared into thin air.

Wink then came up again when she was found to be tied in to "Operation Freedom," the political stunt posing as a charitable event, from which Tim Russell was embezzling  thousands of dollars.  Despite warnings from the Ethics Board, Walker had Russell and Wink running this thing from his executive office.

Then finally, a couple of weeks ago, almost as an afterthought, Wink was arrested and charged with two counts of illegally campaigning and fundraising.  Much about her arrest was drowned out as people were trying to come to terms with the level of corruption happening with Kelly Rindfleisch.

The Milwaukee County District Attorney offered a plea bargain to Wink.  The deal was that they would drop the charges from felonies to misdemeanors and not recommend any jail time.  In return, Wink was to plead guilty and act as state witness against the others that have been charged and to give information about the "destruction of digital evidence."

Photo illustration by
Anna Ironside

It could very well have been Wink who told investigators where to go in which underground parking area to find the Mystery Dumpster'O'Fun.

News of the deal has many Wisconsinites excited and hopeful that this means she'll spill her guts and give enough information for them to indict Walker.

I wouldn't be too sure about that.  While it's obviously true that, like most people, she really, really doesn't want to go to jail, but how strong is that aversion to incarceration?

I have spoken to people who have known her and they have described her as being very zealous, almost to the point of being cultish, to all things Walker.  In other words, she has drunken long and deep and often of the Kool-Aid and that they could see her taking a fall if it meant protecting her Dear Leader.

I was reminded of this when I saw this quote in the report by Marie Rohde, writing for WisPolitics.com:

“Miss Wink just wants to put this behind her,” Wolff said. “She doesn’t like being in the limelight, and she’s a very loyal person.” 

The question is whether she is more loyal to herself or to Walker.  Of course, they could also be using her to put the pressure on others in an effort to get them to turn on Walker.

But then again, there is this blurb from Dan Bice's report for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Wolff said Wink was able to complete all her legitimate county assignments in her courthouse job, as well as the campaign work done at the request of someone else. Wolff declined to identify that person. Wink was not pressured to do the campaign work, Wolff said.

One could easily assume that it is Walker who asked her to do that work.  My guess is that it wasn't Walker, but that it was Tim Russell.

If my guess is correct, the question becomes who told Russell to have it done.

That person could be very well the same person who told Russell that there should be "no laptops, no websites, no time away during the workday, etc.," and then violated that same directive within days himself.

While Wink turning state witness might not necessarily be the direct downfall of Scott Walker, it could very well be the beginning of the end.

Two Down, One To Go

Those that have followed me a long time know that there are certain things that really tick me off (besides Scott Walker).  Things like child abuse or animal abuse raises my anger like few other issues do.

One story that I've been following for three years, involved one of the harshest acts of animal abuse I've ever heard of and was made only worse because it happened in one of my favorite areas of the state, Central Wisconsin, where my castle is located.

The story involved three assholes that thought it'd be great fun to take snowmobiles and run down some deer, tormenting them and mangling the bodies.

The ring leader of these pukes, Rory Kuenzi, who was already serving a term for a drunk driving killing of a young man, was sentenced last year to 11 years in jail.

Now the second of the three has been sentenced:

A Waupaca man will serve a six-month jail sentence and probation time for his role in the 2009 snowmobile slaughter of several deer. 

Nicholas D. Hermes, 26, was sentenced Tuesday in Waupaca County Court for his role in the deer deaths along a trail in the Town of Lind. Hermes will spend 2½ years on probation and pay about $6,200 in fines and costs. 

In December, Hermes pleaded no contest to three felony counts of animal mistreatment and three misdemeanor charges of hunting deer out of season. Two felony mistreatment counts and two more counts of illegal hunting were dismissed as part of the plea deal.

The third fool, Robby Kuenzi is scheduled for trial April 3.  I expect him to get put away too.

Maybe they can share cell blocks with the Walkergate gang.

Walkergate: What's In Your Dumpster?

Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had a column up with a batch of three stories in it.

The one story that my esteemed lefty blogger colleagues caught on to was the story of Scott Walker's hypocrisy regarding how governor's should behave when they have bad-acting underlings.

But it appears that might not be the most interesting one of Bice's stories.

He also had one about a mystery dumpster that is now part of Walkergate:

The John Doe investigation of Walker's tenure as county executive has taken many odd twists and turns.

But what to make of this?

Last week, Frank Busalacchi, head of the county Transportation and Public Works Department, was asked by investigators for a particular county Dumpster.

"All they asked was if I could move it, and we did," Busalacchi said Thursday. "I think they wanted to look through it."

Was it full or empty?

"I have no idea," he said. "They asked me that, and I said, 'You know, I just got here in November. I don't know what's in a Dumpster on the side of the courthouse. I have no idea.'"

Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf, who is overseeing the John Doe probe, wouldn't provide any further insight.

"I have no comment," Landgraf said.

Well, I might have some more information on that.

From what I have learned, the dumpster was indeed moved and had to have a lock broken or cut open. Inside, the dumpster was reportedly full of papers of some sort. What kind is unknown, but it took a number of deputy sheriffs and staff from the District Attorney's office to go through and they are probably still sorting through them

Your guess at what those papers are would be as good as mine, but the first thing I thought of was the missing files that were reported shortly after Walker and his entourage left the courthouse at the end of 2010:

The dozens of Walker's file cabinets were virtually emptied of their contents by the end of last month, and 16 bankers' boxes of records retrieved this week from storage by aides to Holloway appear well short of the total paper-load once held in the courthouse's third-floor executive suite.

A tour this week of the sparsely staffed offices revealed banks of empty file drawers, save a set of various bureaucratic forms, county budget books and one stack of papers on various issues left in the office of Fran McLaughlin, who was Walker's county spokeswoman.

The empty drawers, coupled with the absence of any message or memo telling the whereabouts of Walker's office documents - and at least two bins of shredded paper left by Walker staffers - were perplexing, Mester said.

It was probably those or leftover copies of the Milwaukee County First's Survival Guide to Scott Walker's Courthouse.

Sources have told me that the authorities knew just where to go to find this dumpster, which originally made me wonder if they had put it there, until I learned of the need to force the lock. That would tell me that maybe one of the other persons of interest in this ongoing investigation has cut a deal and turned state witness and told them where to find said mystery dumpster'o'fun.  Remember that Darlene Wink has already agreed to testify about the "destruction of digital evidence."

Now, granted, a lot of the details are vague and a lot of pieces to this latest puzzle are obviously still missing, but it does not appear to be a good omen for Walker as he is going to be meeting with the investigators himself in the near future.

The one thing that I can tell you with some certainty is that it definitely appears that the most eye-popping twists to this story are still in store for us.

But wouldn't it be a form of poetic justice if the contents of that dumpster is what puts Walker's political career, and his demented ideological agenda, in the dumpster instead?

The Secret Republican Money-Loving Voter-Haters Club

Are the state Republicans that megalomaniacal or just plain stupid?

The whole mess the Republicans made with their gerrymandering is coming back to bite them in the arse.

Now it's starting to sound like a bad movie based on the Godfather movies but starring the Marx Brothers.

This story will not bode well for them at all, and it shouldn't:

Included in the documents released Monday was a set of talking points that stressed that those who discussed the maps could eventually be called as a witness in a court case.

"Public comments on this map may be different than what you hear in this room. Ignore the public comments," the talking points also say.

[...]

An immigrant rights group contends that Republicans violated the state's open meetings law in how they developed the maps and filed a complaint Monday with Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne.

Legislative leaders sometimes ask rank-and-file legislators to keep quiet about sensitive legislation, but they do not ask them to sign pledges of secrecy.

The agreement tells each lawmaker "you agree not to disclose the fact and/or contents of such discussions or any draft documents within your possession."

And there's a part that the gone but not forgotten Illusory Tenant would have been all over (emphasis mine):

All the agreements were also signed by Eric McLeod of Michael Best & Friedrich, one of several attorneys who advised lawmakers on the maps. Legislative leaders have committed $400,000 in taxpayer money to pay Michael Best and the Troupis Law Office for their work on the maps.

McLeod has drawn attention in recent months for providing legal services to state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman under an arrangement in which Gableman did not have to pay.

That old peppercorn won't go away, will it?

When this matter hits the Supreme Court, and you know it will, Gableman will either have to recuse himself or set himself up for the third wave of recalls.

Outside of Waukesha and Washington Counties, where money rules all for those Republicans, I wonder if there will be any left in power within the next couple of years. I cannot imagine how any person with even a shred of self-respect could stand by Scott Walker or any of these other corrupt fools.

Once, Twice, Three Times A Liar

Scott Walker is a compulsive liar.  Even when he doesn't have to lie, he does.  And even when he knows he'll be found out to be lying, he still does.

One of the more recent examples was when he tried to tell the people that he "found" all sorts of savings and because of that, he would lift the caps on Family Care.  The truth was that the federal government forced him to do it.

Now, there's a more recent example.

On Friday, his campaign issued a press release, complete with grammatical errors, regarding Walkergate.  In it, he tried to make himself appear the Eagle Scout and was just trying to help out the cause of justice:

Over the last 20 months, District Attorney John Chisholm has been conducting an examination of issues in connection with former employees of Milwaukee County. Throughout that time, our campaign has cooperated with requests for information.  

My cooperation in this matter extends beyond a willingness to supply any and all requested documents. I have already said that I would be happy to sit down with the people looking into these issues and answer any additional questions they may have. To make that point clear, last year, my representatives voluntarily contacted Mr. Chisholm’s office to arrange a time to discuss any outstanding issues. I will be voluntarily meeting with Mr. Chisholm.  

To assemble additional background information, I hired counsel to insure [sic] that I am in the best position possible to continue aiding the inquiry. These attorneys, Mike Steinle and John Gallo, have been reviewing a great deal of material from the past few years, but no public money has been used or will be used for these purposes.  

While all of us need to let this matter run its course, I will continue to cooperate and provide any appropriate information that is requested. 

However, today it's a different story, as reported by Dan Bice:

Gov. Scott Walker acknowledged Monday that prosecutors initiated the upcoming meeting they will have with him as part of the John Doe investigation about activities that occurred during Walker's tenure as Milwaukee County executive. 

"Up until now, we've provided written documentation (from the campaign)," Walker said during a briefing with reporters in Waukesha. "They'd like to talk to us about what they've found and what additional help we can provide."

Even funnier is this line from TMJ4's report:

Walker says his lawyers are examining thousands of emails his campaign has turned over to the DA. He said he hired the lawyers because it would take him too much time to do that work.

Not to mention a dumpster full of hidden files, eh, Walker?

I bet the trifecta in the big lies will be when Walker said, "I am not John Doe."

Walker Finally Gets That High Ranking He's Been Looking For

Scott Walker is in the top five worst governors in United States.

Way to go, Scott!

And once Walkergate is fully revealed, I'm sure you be number one!

Scott Walker: The Artful Dodger

So who hired Kelly Rindfleisch? Scott Walker ain't telling:



Expect to see a lot more of this in the weeks and months to come, either in regards to Walkergate or the recall.

The Walkergate Files

One Wisconsin Now has the neatest websites.  The Walkergate Files is no exception.

I'm especially glad that they got the name right.

But how come I only get one link? They could have saved themselves time and grief by just linking my whole blog.

Can A Sun Devil Learn To Do The Bucky?

We'll find out soon enough as the good people of Arizona try to recall Governor Jan Brewer.

Hopefully, their organization is better than their website.

Their Facebook page is here.

Go Arizona!

Bill Kramer: Little Big Man

Future Lord of
the Flies contender

State Representative Bill Kramer (R-Palookaville) shows just how "macho" he is by packing heat on the Assembly floor:

The Republican lawmaker who presides over the state Assembly says he’s been carrying a concealed weapon during floor sessions.

Bill Kramer of Waukesha is speaker pro tem of the Assembly. He controls debate and can order spectators out of the chamber.

He says he obtained a permit to carry a concealed weapon in November and has at times carried a Glock 26 on the Assembly floor.

He says he feels he needs the weapon given the toxic atmosphere at the state Capitol. Bands of protesters still angry over Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s contentious collective bargaining law have spent the past year harassing GOP legislators.

So what is this little big man afraid of? Having his actions known apparently:

Democratic representatives requested Kramer to rescind his order, saying it was unfair for the whole gallery to be cleared based on the behavior of only some people. Kramer took back the order, saying, “The gallery is for observation. We have public hearings for a reason and that is where you can be heard. We have prohibitions against holding signs and against filming so please put down your signs and cameras. We have prohibitions against showing support or disapproval so I hope you’ll abide by that.”

Then law enforcement began to haul people out for silently holding signs or taking pictures with their cameras. The Progressive’s own Matt Rothschild was arrested for taking a picture of these arrests being made.

A total of eighteen people were arrested and ticketed for offenses that will likely be thrown out in court.

People feel so strongly about protecting and defending their ability to record and document the goings-on in the Assembly because corporate media is doing such a poor job of it. If you’re not at the Capitol on a regular basis, you would find it difficult to believe the impunity with which the rightwing is shoving their racist, sexist, corporatist agenda down the throats of the people of this state.

And just think, he's supposed to be one of the "leaders" in the Republican Party. No wonder Fitzwalkerstan is starting to feel like a scene from "The Lord of the Flies."

Private School Suspends Menominee Girl For Speaking Native Tongue

But there's no racism in Wisconsin, right?

What's love got to do with it? Not much, especially if you say the words "I love you" in the Menominee language in front of a certain Wisconsin teacher.

Seventh grader Miranda Washinawatok, Menominee, found this out.

Miranda speaks two languages: Menominee and English. She also plays on her basketball team. However, two Thursdays ago she was suspended for one basketball game because she spoke Menominee to a fellow classmate during class.

Miranda attends Sacred Heart Catholic Academy in Shawano, Wisconsin. The school body is over 60 percent American Indian. The school is approximately six miles from the south border of the Menominee Indian Tribe Reservation.

[...]

Miranda and a fellow classmate were talking to each other when Miranda told her how to say "Hello" and "I love you" in Menominee.

"The teacher went back to where the two were sitting and literally slammed her hand down on the desk and said, "How do I know you are not saying something bad?"

The story did not end there. In the next session, another teacher told Miranda she did not appreciate her getting the other teacher upset because "she is like a daughter to me."

The article goes on to point out the irony that the Green Bay Diocese, which operates the school, has an answering machine that works for English or Spanish, but not for Menominee, even though Menominee children make up 60% of the school population.

Even though the article points out that the school is Catholic, they don't own the market on bigotry and racism.

What I do think of is the Republican push to restore the racist and bigoted Native American nicknames and mascots for school teams.

The Solution To Milwaukee County's Furlough Problem

Milwaukee County has a big problem thanks to Scott Walker.  One that could cause real fiscal mayhem to the county.

But first, for those that haven't been following the goings on in Milwaukee County under the Walker regime, some background.  And for those that have been following, please consider it a refresher.

In 2009, from the onset of the fiscal year, then Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker was claiming that the county was in a fiscal crises due to his budget.  The problem was that he was demanding a lot of concessions from county workers, but refused to sit down and negotiate said concessions with the unions.

Reports at the time calculated that Walker was squandering anywhere from a third to half a million dollars a month due to unseen savings because of his posturing.

In other words, he constructed his own artificial crisis and now was running around crying that the sky was falling.

At midyear, Walker said that the only way to resolve the supposed fiscal crisis was to put all county workers on an indefinite five-hour a week work reduction.

As one might imagine, the unions protested this and took it to arbitration, claiming Walker violated good faith bargaining and that this stunt was a violation of the contract.

The arbitrator heard the case and ruled in favor of the unions and then some.  During the hearing it came out that Walker exceeded his authority in trying to impose an indefinite reduction of pay, that he acted illegally when he made this unilateral decision, and that it was indeed in violation of previous arbitration decisions which limited the reduced work time by 45 hours.

The real kicker was when it was also revealed that Walker was lying through his teeth when he claimed there was a $15 million deficit.  His own fiscal guy, Steve Kreklow, said that it was $5 million and the County Auditor, Jerome Heer, found it to be under a million dollars.  Neither of those numbers would qualify as a crisis in a budget of more than $1.5 billion.

Unthwarted, Walker took the ruling to circuit court, where a Republican judge ruled in his favor and voided the finding of the arbitrator.  The union responded by appealing this ruling.  In a ruling written by the Honorable Ralph Adam Fine, the appellate court ruled that according to the law, the arbitrator's decision was final unless fraud could be proven and thereby voided the lower court's ruling.

During all of these court hearings, Walker devised his 2010 budget and guess what, did the same illegal thing.  This time, instead of shortened work weeks, he decided to just implement full day furloughs.

And not only did he follow the same illegal actions, he doubled down by implementing them illegally.  Besides just exceeding the allowed amount of time, he treated various employees differently.  He gave deputies eight days of furlough, some other workers like the staff at the mental health complex 12 days and others, such as myself, a full 26 days.  Sometimes, people in the same Local were getting the different treatment.

(Ironically, the money that Walker claimed would be saved by this illegal action was eaten up by having to pay other workers overtime to make up for the loss of work hours.  Some workers were able to actually come ahead on this deal, making more money than they lost due to the overtime and still getting days off.)

So the unions took their complaint to the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC), and well, as I told it at the time:

Walker and the County Board continued to pass budgets that presumed these savings despite the fact these concessions were never negotiated.  Milwaukee County First warned at the time that the budgets were illegal and that the tax payers would be on the hook for them. 

The unions would in turn file complaints with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC).  The county asked WERC to drop the complaints saying that it belonged in arbitration.  The unions agreed and dropped the complaints.  However, Walker then backstabbed the unions by refusing to go to arbitration. 

So the unions, with no other alternative, went back to WERC and refiled their complaint.
Last Friday, WERC handed out there ruling regarding the complaint about furloughs and about whether the county was participating in bad faith bargaining. 

In a nutshell, the furloughs were done illegally and the county was found to be guilty of bad faith bargaining.

WERC ruled that the county had to pay the workers back pay for all the furlough time in excess of the 45 hours allowed through arbitration.  Not only did they have to pay it back, but WERC also imposed a penalty of 12% interest, compounded daily, for every day until they do pay it back.

And that is where the problem comes in.  The ruling means that the county owes the workers millions in back pay. With the interest figured in, it's probably about $5 or $6 million by now, maybe even higher.

But thanks to Walker's dishonest budgeting as county executive and his slashing funding to the county as governor, Milwaukee County just doesn't have the money to pay this debt.

Over a year ago, I had written something that seems rather prophetic today, suggesting a way for current Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and the Milwaukee County Board could meet its obligation without sticking it to the taxpayers or endangering our most vulnerable citizens by cutting services even further:

This means that the original arbitration is indeed to be held up.  This could the cost the County millions of dollars in back pay for excessive furloughs given to county workers. 

Because the County cannot afford such a large payout, it is possible that this will instead weaken the County’s position in contract negotiations, with the unions holding it as a bargaining chip. This, of course, could end up costing the tax payers dearly. 

Using the Mercer trial as a precedent, where Mercer had to pay the county for giving bad advice regarding the pension scandal, Scott Walker’s campaign should have to pay the county back for the damages it occurred directly due to Walker’s campaign stunt.  As further evidence that this was nothing more than a political stunt, Walker’s campaign regularly touted his use of these furlough days to gain the supposed surplus for that year.

The Mercer decision was one where the county sued Mercer for giving bad advice regarding Tom Ament's pension scandal.  Worth noting is the fact that Walker, who has spent years badmouthing his predecessor and the County Board for "their greed," changed his tune for this and blamed everything on this company, thereby, in effect, declaring his predecessor and the board innocent.  (Of course, like all things Walker, even this has a scandal involved with it.)

When I wrote the above passage, I didn't really think that the county would proceed with suing Walker and/or his campaign.  After all, even though Walker's actions were obviously a campaign stunt, there was no proof of it.

Until now.

Cory Liebmann, one of the most knowledgeable people in all things Walker, put up a post regarding some of Walker's emails from 2009.  Most notable of these was this one which Liebmann accurately describes (emphasis his):

An email that appears to be from Cynthia Archer to Walker at his campaign email address (and copying other staff...including Walker campaign consultant RJ Johnson). In that email she spells out their various "options" after a greatly anticipated arbitration hearing. It looks like Walker then takes that Archer email and forwards it from his campaign account to his county account.

You can see the actual email (starting on page 5) in a Scribd format, again thanks to Liebmann.

In summary, Walker imposed these excessive furlough days despite having a ruling deeming them illegal and despite refusing to negotiate with the unions creating an artificially constructed fiscal emergency.  And Walker did these things knowingly and what is obvious from the above email, as I had correctly stated all that time ago, he did so not for the purposes of saving the county taxpayers any money nor to fix any fiscal crisis, but he did this only to enhance his image as a candidate for governor. This is shown in the concerns expressed by Archer in her email and the fact that it was sent to his campaign email and included a campaign consultant.

I once again urge County Executive Abele and the County Board to look into this and consider trying to recoup the losses Walker forced onto Walker for illegal purposes. They could do so by suing Walker and the Friends of Scott Walker, which has ample funds to pay the bill.

Granted, they probably couldn't get everything they owe the workers, due to the interest accrued as they stalled paying what they were ordered to pay, but it would still be a large chunk of it.  It would be worth at least looking into.

Homophobia Run Amok

A collection of nutjobs misnaming themselves as "American Family Association" and their offshoot "One Million Moms" are on a rampage against gays.  This time they after JCPenney for daring to have Ellen Degeneres as a spokesperson.

If you look at their history, they should just be calling themselves Bigots'Я'Us.

Who To Root For In The Superbowl?

With it being Superbowl Sunday, many in Packer Nation are at a loss, not knowing what to do with themselves since the Packers won't be in it.

Some are not watching it altogether.  Those that are watching it don't know who to root for in the game.

Well, let's take a look at who's playing.

Repping the AFC are the New England Patriots.  Normally, when one thinks of patriots, they think of American heroes that fought to gain and then to keep our freedom, our liberty and our sovereignty.   Sadly, the term "patriot" has been bastardized by the teahadists, who have misapplied the term to themselves.  Now patriots leaves a bad taste in most people's mouths.  Ergo, patriots = teahadists = hating America = bad.

On the other side, repping the NFC are the New York Giants.  The word giant has become a common word in Wisconsin during the past year, mostly used in the reference of "Scott Walker has awoken the sleeping giant."  Thus giant has come to be associated with the good people of Wisconsin, commonly referred to on Twitter as #wiunion, who want to take their state back from the big-money special interest corporations that want to turn the state into a third or fourth world area, just in order to increase their profit margins.  Ergo, giants = #wiunion = loving Wisconsin, freedom and justice = good.

In conclusion, GO GIANTS!

ADDENDUM: Called it!

Voter Fraud Found Just Where You'd Expect It

The Republicans are notorious for accusing their opponents of committing wrongdoings that they themselves are the real culprits.

Whether it's the misuse of government property or voter fraud:

Indiana's top elections official could lose his job and his freedom after jurors convicted him of multiple voter fraud-related charges on Saturday, leaving in flux the fate of one of the state's most powerful positions.

Republican Secretary of State Charlie White has held on to his office for more than a year despite being accused of lying about his address on voter registration forms.

A Hamilton County jury found White guilty of six of seven felony charges, including false registration, voting in another precinct, submitting a false ballot, theft and two counts of perjury. He was acquitted on one fraud charge.

And even though caught red-handed, the scumball won't stand down. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

And while we're on the subject, what the heck is Scott Fitzgerald doing, sending out postcards to the people who signed the petition to recall his sorry butt?

That sounds suspiciously like voter caging to me, and I'm doubt that I'm the only one.

Walkergate: Is This It?!

As is the norm for any politician who has bad news to share and wants to try to control the early spin, Scott Walker did a Friday afternoon news dump.

In this case, his campaign sent out a very terse, carefully worded and ambiguous press release indicating that he would be meeting with the Milwaukee County District Attorney in regards to Walkergate, the John Doe probe into illegal campaign activities and other misdeeds among his office as county executive and his campaign:

Over the last 20 months, District Attorney John Chisholm has been conducting an examination of issues in connection with former employees of Milwaukee County. Throughout that time, our campaign has cooperated with requests for information.

My cooperation in this matter extends beyond a willingness to supply any and all requested documents. I have already said that I would be happy to sit down with the people looking into these issues and answer any additional questions they may have. To make that point clear, last year, my representatives voluntarily contacted Mr. Chisholm’s office to arrange a time to discuss any outstanding issues. I will be voluntarily meeting with Mr. Chisholm.

To assemble additional background information, I hired counsel to insure that I am in the best position possible to continue aiding the inquiry. These attorneys, Mike Steinle and John Gallo, have been reviewing a great deal of material from the past few years, but no public money has been used or will be used for these purposes.

While all of us need to let this matter run its course, I will continue to cooperate and provide any appropriate information that is requested.

When this news hit the airwaves, I had people, some who were off vacationing in Florida, calling me, asking me, "Is this it?! Are they going to finally nail that dirtbag scum?!"

My answer to them was that it sure didn't look good for him, but cautioning that you never could be sure.

In his press release, as is always the case with Walker, what he doesn't say is at least as important as what he does say.

Walker basically admits that, contrary to what he's said before, he's been in contact with the DA's office at least two months ago regarding the investigation. He's also tells us that he had retained these two top-gun attorneys a while ago for them to pore over everything and develop a defense strategy.

Maybe the real tell to the release was the way Walker emphasized that no public money was going to his defense. By this, he's basically admitting that Walkergate is weighing heavy against him.

Also significant is who his attorneys are.

One of them, Mike Steinle, has quite a legacy. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he has a prestigious heritage and that his father defended crime boss Frank Balistrieri. Likewise, the Wisconsin State Journal reports that he also represented a Fox Point teen who killed his grandfather with an ax.

One Wisconsin Now also pointed out to the way Walker is lawyering up in a really big way with this interesting tidbit (emphasis mine):

Gov. Walker’s announcement that he’s beefing up his legal team with attorneys specializing in complex criminal law and real estate is just the latest twist in the scandal that’s engulfed his administration over these last twenty months.

The fact that one of them is a specialist in real estate law raises a red flag.

Not too long ago, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported about an angle of the Walkergate investigation that involved a shady bid-rigging and pay-for-play politicking. The story is fairly complex, but to simplify it, investigators were looking into some suspicious behaviors regarding a decision on where to house the Milwaukee County Department of Aging.

The Department of Aging was housed at the Reuss Federal Plaza in downtown Milwaukee from 2005-2010. In 2010, the county moved out of the Reuss building and into a county-owned building. However, in 2005 and again in 2010, there was some suspicious things being done to first get the agency to move in and then to stay.

And the agents in the case are people the gentle reader should already be aware of. One of them is Andrew Jensen, the commercial realty broker who was a guest of the county jail for a couple of days last year for not cooperating with the investigation. Another player was John Hiller, who was Walker's campaign treasurer for 18 years until mysteriously leaving last spring. (Hiller's departure was not even known until the fall, that's how secretive it was.)

Also entangled in this deal was Timothy Russell who seems to be in just about every mess there is in Walkergate and Bob Dennik, another Walker campaign worker turned county staff person. Both of these men wee also into realty. (I believe that Jim Villa, who was named in the Kelly Rindfleisch complaint, and is also a realty broker, was Walker's Chief of Staff at time.

I would take this moment to remind the gentle reader about the cozy relationship the realtors have with each other as well as with Walker.

So, to recap, Walker has both his campaign as well himself personally well-lawyered with some of the highest profile attorneys in the Midwest. His former and current staff, up to the highest levels, have either been charged or given immunity in relation to the John Doe, which has gone everywhere from illegal politicking to illegal donations and possibly pay-for-play.

While his apologists will be quick to point out that Walker himself has not yet been charged with any wrongdoings, there are a few facts to keep in mind:

• He is surrounded by the people being charged with wrongdoing or given immunity,
• In the things we do know for certain, there are holes in the story.  These holes appear to be most logically filled by Walker's involvement, 
• There was the infamous email from Walker to Russell, after Russell has already left the county executive's office, mentioning specific issues such as laptops and websites,
• There are some very questionable, even incriminating, emails that Walker had in 2009 involving both his county and campaign emails and the intermingling of the two.

Overall, it's pretty damning.

But it doesn't necessarily guarantee that this is Walker's Waterloo.

One must remember that the John Doe has already taken surprising twists, such as the recent charging of Supervisor Johnny Thomas, for allegedly taking a bribe to get a contract with the county approved.  There also may be other supervisors who under investigation.  But this still wouldn't necessarily exclude Walker from also being in deep water.

Another possibility is that Walker is going to be testifying against some of his former and/or current staffers and/or campaign workers.  The problem with that theory is that it doesn't explain the high level of lawyers.

Overall, one could safely say that Walker is a person of interest.  Whether he's John Doe or not has yet to be seen.  The same goes for whether this actually means that Walker is going to even get charged.  The events of Friday don't prove that.

But they sure make it seem likely, don't they?

Scotty, We're Coming For You!

Live from the Malt House, Madison, WI:



The Kissers

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part LXIX

At long last, Scott Walker's nightmare of constantly being hounded about the six months of jobs losses is soon to be finally over.

Now we can start hounding him about what looks like will be seven straight months of job losses:

Nationally, jobless claims dropped by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 367,000 in the week ended Jan. 28, the U.S. Labor Department said today.

The four-week average of claims fell by 2,000, to 375,750. The monthly average remains near a four-year low and stands at a level that usually suggests a healing labor market.
However, the initial claims in Wisconsin surged last week to 15,045 from 13,957 in the previous week, according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

The number of ongoing weekly claims in Wisconsin rose last week to 126,212 from 123,620 in the previous week.

The monthly numbers won't be out for a couple of weeks, but this sure doesn't look good for him, or for us. Too many people have lost their jobs in the past several months.

Whether it's the recall or the indictment, we can't be rid of him soon enough.

Grandma Didn't Need Her House Anyway

Remember how Scott Walker said that he balanced the budget without raising taxes?  Well, he didn't and he did.

We already know that the budget isn't balanced, by Walker's own admission.

And we already know that he raised taxes, especially among the poorest of the poor.

Now we know he is really sticking it to Grandma:

Last year, however, Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature reversed that decision, freezing the credit at its current level. That move was projected to save the state $14 million over the next two years.

As a result, a senior living on Social Security will now see their tax credit drop by $209, or 28 percent, over the next five years, according to an analysis by the Wisconsin Budget Project, an initiative of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families. The full report is available here.

Other seniors will lose the tax credit altogether, the group warns, because their Social Security income will increase while the level for the Homestead Credit eligibility stays frozen. That could push many recipients out of the program entirely.

"This is money that will come out of seniors' pockets," said Budget Project research analyst Tamarine Cornelius in a statement. "The effect will be relatively small at first but will continue to snowball."

The Budget Project estimates the Homestead Credit by 2016 will cover only 16 percent of a Wisconsin senior's property taxes. That's down from 25 percent in 2011.
Twenty years ago, the Homestead Credit would have covered nearly 60 percent of that same person's property tax bill, the report says.

Nothing says "I love seniors!" like raising their taxes and cutting their SeniorCare.

I think that kind of cements the notion that Walker's not going to Florida to lure the retirees back after all. Or maybe this is just the way he intended to get them to "invest" their money in Wisconsin businesses, since that's who Walker is giving Grandma's medicine money to.

It also shows how dumb Walker really is. In the face of an inevitable recall, he will now have to face a very powerful voting bloc of pissed off seniors. All of his jetting around the country, kissing up to the big time donors won't help save his worthless political hide.

Money doesn't vote.

But Grandma does.

Big Bird Will Be Next

"Is that Big Bird on that grill?!"

State Representative Joel Kleefisch (R-Back of the minivan) apparently missed the news that Wisconsin is still leaking jobs like a sieve, has a stagnant economy and that people are really suffering.

Otherwise, Kleefisch wouldn't be wasting time and taxpayer money to come up with the bird-brained idea of having a hunting season for sandhill cranes.  Kleefisch said that his concern is that the cranes are doing to much damage to farmers' crops, but then reveals his real reason:

"They not only make great table fare, often they are called 'the ribeye of the sky,'" said Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc. "With our hunting heritage in this state, we thought we'd look at a sandhill crane hunting season."

Apparently those mourning doves just don't fill him up enough, or maybe their just too much of a challenge for a poor marksman.

Whatever the reason Kleefisch feels that he needs to pass this moronic bill, it's not going to do anything but feed him, according to the experts:

The International Crane Foundation hasn't taken a position on the bill, but Barzen said science shows hunting is not the answer.

"In order to control crop damage by removing cranes from the population, you'd probably have to remove a significant portion of the crane population, and nobody is really proposing to do that," said Barzen.

Instead, Barzen said treating crop seeds can keep cranes away. More than 76,000 acres were treated by Wisconsin farmers last year. Some farmers said that only pushes cranes to other fields, and doesn't control the population. But wildlife experts said cranes won't migrate far and instead will find other food sources.

I think the real reason that Kleefisch wants to do this is to help appeal to the wingnut base in order to save his wife's job. Because if she loses her job, she'll be home all day and all night, lecturing the furniture about abstinence.

The Breathtaking Audacity Of Scott Walker

Even after ten years of calling out Scott Walker on his bad policies, his misconduct in office, and his malfeasance, he still has the ability to leave me flabbergasted from time to time.

Please let me explain.

Just yesterday, I wrote about how Scott Walker blatantly abused the power of his office as Milwaukee County Executive in taking a taxpayer-funded Harley Davidson ride around the state, purportedly to promote tourism, but was nothing more than a campaign stunt:

If you take a closer look at Walker's email, he sent it on Friday, May 14, 2010. Yet on the very next day, Saturday, May 15, Walker left Milwaukee on his infamous Harley Davidson "Executive Ride." This ride, which was purportedly to promote tourism for Milwaukee County, was nothing more than a poorly disguised campaign event for Walker. He moved the ride up from it's usual time at the end of June because, get ready for this, it was too warm then to go for a motorcycle ride. In what I'm sure is a coincidence (meaning it was anything but a coincidence), Walker's bike ride led back to Milwaukee just in time for the Republican state convention, in which the party nominees were named. Shazam! How'd that happen?!

This campaign bike rid is also what led the DPW to file a complaint against Walker, first with the GAB and then with the Milwaukee County District Attorney, based in part on the fact that Russell, who went along on the ride as a county employee, was apparently doing what appears to be campaign work.

Walker didn't even wait a day before he violated his own directive.

Fun fact: For some reason, Walker didn't take a bike ride in 2011. I can't imagine why not.

But there's more. There's always more.

There's always more indeed.

I noticed today that Walker, despite having a John Doe investigation actively looking into his campaign and his county staff because of this, is doing the same bloody thing all over again!

On Wednesday, February 1, Walker went to Wausau as part of something he calls "Governor Walker's Turning Around Wisconsin Tour."

As the gentle reader will notice, this was sent from the Governor's Office, making it official state business.

But does anyone really believe that?

It's so obviously another gimmick, just like the bike ride was, in which Walker is using taxpayer dollars to run his "Please don't hold me accountable for my misdeeds by recalling me" campaign, that it's actually breathtaking in its audacity.

What's even more stunningly outrageous is that his "Turning Wisconsin Around Tour," according to the press release, is about his "agenda" for job creation.*

Well, to be fair, maybe it's not so outrageous after all.

As I have previously discussed, and as the following graph so eloquently shows, when it comes to job creation, Walker has definitely turned this state around, from a positive job growth period to six straight months of job losses, at twice the rate that Doyle had even in the height of the recession:

One does wonder how anyone can believe the tripe that Walker and WISGOP is trying to force down our throats.

However, regardless of Walker's hypocrisy and outright lies, this continued pattern of abusing the power of his office, whether county executive or governor, should not and can not be allowed to go on without Walker being called out on it.**

Whether it's via the recall or via being indicted in Walkergate, we cannot be rid of this weasel soon enough.

*Strangely, the WSAW-TV story on this decided to focus on education, which is another area he has failed miserably in. Also noteworthy, in the comment sections, it appears Walker's appearance at the school caused fights to break out. He's even divisive to our children.

**I would also like to know where the hell is the media who is supposed to be watchdogs for the people.  Has journalism dropped to such a low standard? I hope not, but still...

On The Next Edition Of "Do You Know Where Your Governor Is?"

Yes, folks, another edition of Wisconsin's favorite game show, "Do You Know Where Your Governor Is?" is coming up.  It is programmed for Wednesday, February 8.

And just to give you a hint, the secret location of your governor is Naples, FL.

But the next question is why would Scott Walker go to Naples, FL?

Would it be to visit the jobs he's been chasing out of Wisconsin for the last six months?

In a word, no.

Is it because he got screwed up on the dates and was going to surprise everyone by entering the Florida presidential primary?

Well, he might have dreams of being President of the United States, but I don't think a recalled and/or indicted former governor would have much of a chance.

Is he going to invite all the fleeing Wisconsin retirees back to the state to invest their hard earned money in his corporate welfare scheme?  He did promise to do that, you know.  Instead, he's tried to kill SeniorCare and Family Care and other services they would need., which I'm sure will draw them back in droves.

No, no, and no.

If you haven't guessed, he'll be abandoning his duties here in Wisconsin for yet another big-money, out-of-state fund raiser:

Yup, while more people are losing their jobs, falling behind on their bills and losing their homes because Scott Walker thinks that they made too much money and were leaving the poor multimillionaires behind, Walker will be yucking it up at a luncheon 1,500 miles away from Wisconsin.

And he wonders why people want to recall him.

MSJ Doesn't Report The News, They Fabricate It

I would expect that the Friends of Scott Walker will have to list this as an in-kind contribution unless they want complaints filed against them.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part LXVIII

The Scott Walker budget is really in full steam when businesses, big and small, are closing almost daily, laying off even more workers. Now, it's another 100 workers in Madison feeling the hit:

Sub-Zero said 100 workers at its Madison plant will lose their jobs by the end of June.

The privately owned company, which makes upscale refrigerators and stoves, sent a letter to state and city officials Tuesday saying it will close operations at 4717 Hammersley Road on June 29.

[...]

Tuesday's notice spelled out the details: Seventy-five Sub-Zero employees and 25 temporary workers will lose their jobs in three rounds of cuts, starting April 2. In the letter the company blamed "changing business circumstances" for its decision.

Goodspeed said the workers affected earn $22 an hour, or about $30 an hour, including benefits.

"Some of these workers — they're having a tough time dealing with this. These are good-paying jobs. They know similar pay and similar benefits are not waiting for them on the outside," he said.

Goodspeed said up to now, the union has helped 20 other workers from the Madison plant find jobs in Fitchburg, where about 300 employees make Sub-Zero built-in freezers and refrigerators and 200 produce Wolf ranges and cooktops. He said he hopes some of the remaining employees can also be shifted to Fitchburg.

Though they are not new, the job cuts are still hard to swallow, Goodspeed said, especially with concessions employees took in order to keep their work here. Bitterly fought contract agreements, reached over the past year and a half, cost union members 20 percent of their pay and benefits and froze wages for five years but promised to keep their jobs until at least 2018.

Did you notice that the unions have done more to keep people working in this one case than Walker did in the last year? Walker's not only corrupt, he's incompetent. And he needs to go.

Question Of The Day

How does the time that Scott Walker has spent going to out-of-state fund raisers compare to the time the Fab 14 spent in Illinois to buy Wisconsinites time to realize what a bloody mess Walker and company were making of our state?

Walker's Web

Although I should point out that there should be direct line from Jim Villa to Scott Walker.


With gratitude to my dear Lisa Mux.

Walkergate: But There's More. There's Always More.

When Kelly Rindfleisch was arrested and charged last week for illegal politicking, I pointed out the following email from Scott Walker to Tim Russell, which he sent just after Darlene Wink got caught posting comments on JSOnline and other sites:

I pointed out that this showed that Walker knew exactly what was happening and what his county staff was doing.  It does this by being very specific about the laptops and websites and other activities.  

Also very telling is that Walker sent this email, which one would think would actually be county business, from his campaign email address, during what would be considered work time.  This shows he was more concerned with the damage Wink's outing did to his campaign than there was anything illegal actually going on in his executive office.

The astute Jud Lounsbury noticed that when Walker sent that email to Russell, Russell was no longer in the county executive's office.  Two months earlier, Walker had transferred Russell to the Department of Housing, meaning that he was no longer in any authority of what happened in the executive office, unless it was to oversee the  illegal campaigning that Walker denies knowing anything about.  I would only add that was Russell no longer in the executive office, he was no longer in the courthouse, but had been moved to the Coggs Building, one mile away.  Although Russell didn't seem to be in his office all that often.

The esteemed Jay Bullock, formerly known as the blogger named folkbum, took Lounsbury one step further.  Bullock points out that the same day that Wink was outed, the official unofficial Walker campaign website up and disappeared - poof!  As Bullock states, this email shows that Walker knew exactly who to go to when he wanted it stopped, even though that person wasn't even in that office or that building.

Now, some of the Walker apologists might argue that the email shows that Walker ordered the illegal activity stopped and fired Wink, and that shows that he is a straight shooter.  Of course, to believe that, they would have to ignore the issues described above and the fact that Wink resigned on her own and there is no evidence that she was asked to do so.

But there's more.  There's always more.

If you take a closer look at Walker's email, he sent it on Friday, May 14, 2010.  Yet on the very next day, Saturday, May 15, Walker left Milwaukee on his infamous Harley Davidson "Executive Ride."  This ride, which was purportedly to promote tourism for Milwaukee County, was nothing more than a poorly disguised campaign event for Walker. He moved the ride up from it's usual time at the end of June because, get ready for this, it was too warm then to go for a motorcycle ride.  In what I'm sure is a coincidence (meaning it was anything but a coincidence), Walker's bike ride led back to Milwaukee just in time for the Republican state convention, in which the party nominees were named.  Shazam! How'd that happen?!

This campaign bike rid is also what led the DPW to file a complaint against Walker, first with the GAB and then with the Milwaukee County District Attorney, based in part on the fact that Russell, who went along on the ride as a county employee, was apparently doing what appears to be campaign work.

Walker didn't even wait a day before he violated his own directive.

Fun fact: For some reason, Walker didn't take a bike ride in 2011.  I can't imagine why not.

But there's more. There's always more.

Via Lounsbury again, we learn that as recently as this past October, Walker again crossed the line between government duties and campaign work when he had a WISGOP staffer sending out his official state press releases:

I had a rather strange exchange with the spokeswoman for the Wisconsin GOP yesterday morning as I tried to get Walker’s side of the story. First, Walker’s press secretary had emailed that the trip was not official state business and the Wisconsin GOP was handling everything.  Nicole Larson, deputy director of communications for the WISGOP, called me back after I left a voice mail message. 

“His schedule’s actually completely booked while he’s in Iowa,” Larson told me. “But what we can do is, I mean, since you’re radio I’m sure this might not be helpful, but we can send you the statement from his office.” 

I asked: “The statement from his office, that’s not handling his trip?” 

“Well, technically, I’m doing his communications,” Larson said, pausing before she added: “Because I am. We can send you a statement, but that’s all we can do because he’s booked.”

Let's recap for a minute.  There's some illegal politicking going on in the Walker's office while he was county executive.  He knows what's going on but doesn't do anything until one of his staff gets busted.  And then when he finally does act, it's only to do damage control and not address the personnel issues occurring, meaning he's still OK with it as long as no one gets caught.  The day after issue his edict to stop, he violates his own orders.  And he continues to do the same illegal politicking as governor.

But there's more.  There's always more.

One Wisconsin Now and We Are Wisconsin are calling for Walker to ask for the resignations of Cullen Werwie and Brett Davis, who were caught being involved in Walkergate and doing illegal politicking, just like in the caucus scandals of ten years ago.  They are basing their demands on Walker's very own words regarding another one of his scandalous friends, Darlene Wink:

“Had we been aware of anyone else who violated the…policy [against campaigning on taxpayers’ dime], we would have taken the same action [that we took against Darlene Wink and requested their resignation].”

Let me take a second to interject that Walker's email to Russell shows he knows Russell was in on the scandal, not to mention was with him during the entire campaign bike ride, but he never did fire him.  Russell stayed a county employee until he was fired by Walker's immediate temporary replacement, Lee Holloway.

But there's more.  There's always more.


Walker himself has violated this policy time and time again, both as county executive and now as governor.

But to be honest, unless the public outcry becomes so great that he can't conceivably ignore it, don't expect him to ask for anyone's resignation.  If he let's them go, he loses even the pretense of being able to influence their testimony in any upcoming trials.  And he doesn't dare risk anything more incriminating come out about him, between the Walkergate investigation and the recall election coming up.

Likewise, Walker will never resign.  Like most megalomaniacs throughout history, he is unable to conceive the fact that he could do wrong or is any way vulnerable.  Besides, if he resigned now, it would be effectively an admission of guilt.  And owning up to anything he did wrong is something that he has never done in his entire life.  I would not be at all surprised in the event of his recall and/or indictment, he will go down blaming others and accepting no responsibility himself.