Sunday, July 29, 2012

Help Keep Our State Government Ours - Support Laura Hauser-Menting

I have written many an article slamming Republicans, most notably Scott Walker, for all of the out of state money that they have brought in to win their races. And with all of that out of state money comes a helluva lot of out of state influence to get laws passed that will benefit those same out of state donors, regardless of the maleficent effect that they have on we Wisconsinites.

Some examples would include every ALEC generated law, from Act 10 to the systematic destruction of our education system to the anti-women laws to the failed (for now) mining bill.

Well, guess what. If it's wrong for the Republicans to sell out our state, it's wrong for Democrats to do the same thing.

Laura Hauser-Menting
But that's exactly what could happen in the state's 71st Assembly District race.

In that race, I've endorsed Laura Hauser-Menting. Laura is a true Wisconsin women, right down to her Harley Davidson and her love of all things Wisconsin. And her greatest concern is the people of Wisconsin and making sure that our laws are in their best interest and not tailor made for some out of state special interest.

Unfortunately, not all of her primary opponents can say the same thing.

Katrina Shankland is also running in the primary for this seat. If you visit her Facebook page, she seems like a decent enough person. She boasts of her working on the recalls, gathering signatures, standing up for teachers and women, and all that.

Shankland also makes a bold claim on her website:
Katrina Shankland is the grassroots candidate and the candidate of the people.
And therein lies the rub. She's not.

Giving her resume, Shankland mentions her time working for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin as a field organizer. More notably is her boasting that she is now working as "a State Political Leader Fellow with the Center for Progressive Leadership and a Fellow with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee."

Indeed, if you go to their website, she is listed as one of their "fellows" with this cute little bio:
Katrina Shankland

Katrina is a honey badger from the Badger State. She just finished organizing the recall campaign against Governor Scott Walker, after fighting in the Capitol and on the streets for clean government and fair legislation. Katrina has experience in nonprofit advocacy and field organizing, and is looking forward to taking up the November elections as her next challenge.
The problem comes in with the fact that the same PAC Shankland is working for is also raising money for her. In fact, they are promoting an Act Blue page tying Shankland with Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts.

Just on Saturday, they raise more than $2,000 from out of state donors.  That's a lot of money to raise in one day for a state assembly race.  And I'm sure this out of state money grab will only get bigger over the rest of the weekend and into next week.

My first thought upon seeing this was whether it was even legal. I mean, really? A PAC raising money for one of its own members in a political race?!

Well, it most definitely doesn't pass the smell test. This stunt could and should be considered a conflict of interest at the very least, if not outright illegal.

Adding to the sick irony of it all, Shankland boasts on her Facebook page of a radio interview where she is talking about her "campaign for clean government."

I have news for Ms. Shankland. Her campaign sure doesn't seem clean and her campaign is as grassroots as a gathering of teahadists hosted by the Koch Brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity.

Like I said at the top of this post, if it's wrong for the Republicans, it's wrong for the Democrats. I am damn sick and tired of out of state groups trying to buy our elections, regardless of the party they claim to be associated with.

Which is why I implore you, gentle reader, to help us keep our state government ours by supporting Laura Hauser-Menting. Please contribute to her today, even if it's only a few bucks. Laura is one of our own, and has stepped up to keep our state ours. The least we can do is to stand with her and help her help us, and not some out of state special interest group.

No comments:

Post a Comment