Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Judas Plale Gets His Thirty Pieces of Silver

14Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, 15And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. 16And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

Last fall, Jeff Plale, former state senator, was soundly defeated in the primary by Chris Larson, who went on to win the office in the general election. Plale, who is more of a Republican than a true Democrat, lost because he failed to fight for the causes important to his constituents, such as passing the sales tax which would have saved Milwaukee County's transit and parks systems from further decline and had been approved by county voters in a referendum.

In return, Plale turned around and betrayed Wisconsin's working families and Wisconsin tax payers by joining Russ Decker in voting against the Tentative Agreements that the state had reached with the unions.

The news coming out of Madison today is that Scott Walker has rewarded Plale for his betrayal of the Wisconsin people by appointing him to a state position. From WisPolitics:
"Plale, who lost his seat in the September Dem primary, will serve as administrator of the Division of State Facilities, according to an e-mail sent to DOA staff this morning. The notice touted Plale's work on the State Building Commission."
This is actually even more outrageous than it would seem on the surface, as if the obvious corruption and back door dealings weren't bad enough.

Not only has Walker rewarded Plale for playing along with his grandstanding regarding the unions, but Plale's appointment serves another purpose for Walker.

With Plale as the administrator of the Division of State Facilities, it all but guarantees that there never will be an independent investigation into the cause of the tragedy at O'Donnell Park, in which 15 year old Jared Kellner was killed when a 27,000 pound slab of concrete fell on him.

This maneuver fits in snugly with the proposal Walker is having pushed through the state legislature, which would eliminate many protections and rights for the citizenry against the misdoings of businesses and/or incompetent, corrupt politicians.

Between Plale being able to block any attempts for an independent investigation, and the "tort reform" bill sapping the rights of Jared's parents, any responsibility Walker and his habit of deferred maintenance might have had in the O'Donnell tragedy will probably never be known.

8 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. Interesting... when the TEA Party insists on conservative purity they're radical nuts but when one Dem senator won't play ball its betraying "the people"... and he's Judice? What no Nazi angle?

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  3. Plale sold his vote for a personal gain. That is a much different matter than demanding purity.

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  4. With Plale as the administrator of the Division of State Facilities, it all but "guarantees that there never will be an independent investigation into the cause of the tragedy at O'Donnell Park, in which 15 year old Jared Kellner was killed when a 27,000 pound slab of concrete fell on him."

    How is the State involved in the investigation of a County facility?
    Also, when the family of the boy sued, they didn't sue Milwaukee County, they sued the builders, engineers and contractors.
    Using the tragedy of the boy's death for political reasons isn't very nice.

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  5. Dan,

    County supervisors and community groups, such as MCF, asked the state to do an independent investigation, due to the county's inherent conflict of interest.

    By preventing this from ever happening, it is Walker that is playing politics with the boy's death. I am merely demanding answers Walker is obviously trying to bury.

    The family had to get the lawsuit filed before Walker could change the law. They will still be able to amend the petition.

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  6. "Using the tragedy of the boy's death for political reasons isn't very nice. "

    No,it's sleazy...

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  7. Ah, so you're finally admitting that Walker is sleazy. It's about time you started facing and admitting the truth. Good for you!

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