Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Chris Abele's Plutocracy And The Supreme Court Race

I had just written about a particularly nasty piece of legislation being worked on by newly elected State Representative Joe Sanfelippo (R-Teabagistan) to cut the salaries of Milwaukee County Supervisors and to slash their operation budget.

The issue has nothing to do with money however.  It's all about handcuffing the Milwaukee County Board so that Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele can proceed with his agenda of dismantling Milwaukee County government.

But not only is this bill going to be bad for Milwaukee County, it could prove to be devastating for the rest of the state due to its impact on the Supreme Court race.

Spring elections are historically notorious for going in the favor of conservatives and Republicans to begin with.

However, there is cause for a certain amount of optimism in the upcoming race.

Two years ago, Joanne Kloppenburg came within a few thousand votes of beating David Prosser.  And that is when she was so far behind just two months before that no one gave her a fighting chance.  She took Milwaukee County 57-43.

Likewise, in the last two gubernatorial races, Tom Barrett, despite his particularly awful campaigns, still took Milwaukee County in a 2:1 margin.

The same could be said for the elections this past November, when Tammy Baldwin and Barack Obama had strong margins of victory in Milwaukee County.

But with the introduction of this bill, and you can count on the Republicans ramming it through, changes things in Milwaukee.  It will bring out the conservatives and the teahadists in droves.  How often do they get to vote to cut the pay of some politicians, even if they end up hurting themselves in the process? And it's not like the Republicans don't already have a history of voting against their best interests and taking us down with them.

And even though Abele is purportedly a Democrat, he would be more than pleased to see the Wisconsin Supreme Court remain in the control of the corporate-owned conservative bloc of justices.  With all of the illegal stunts he's pulled, and all the lawsuits the county keeps losing, he's counting on a supreme court that is more interested in the corporate interests than in the law or the rights of people.

So if Ed Fallone loses to Pat Roggensack in April, take a look at the voting totals in Milwaukee County.  My guess is that they would be very skewed from the past several elections.

And if Fallone would lose to Roggensack, you can thank Chris Abele for making it happen.

Helluva thing, sacrificing a whole state because of a temper tantrum by a spoiled rich brat.

17 comments:

  1. Damn, can't believe the whiny shit-face, college drop-out Abele. Damn is he related to Walker by some of that country cousin bumpkin sex. How could we get two dumb, belligerent, idiotic, low-life, thieving suckers in a row.

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    1. That's all that ran. Would Stone be better? ABELE had money.

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  2. This isn't making any damn sense. The JS is polishing a turd and calling it reform. The Executive branch has almost always been at odds with the Legislative branch. If the state is concerned about cutting back the meager costs of legislative representation, they should look at cutting state legislator pay, not taking a big government approach to legislate what locals can or cannot do.

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  3. IMHO, Journal Communications Chairman Steve Smith is orchestrating this. Since Google took all the ad revenue, he's desperate for income. The only place he can get it is election campaigns.

    He's already got Sykes priming the pump, giving away FREE advertising to Justice Roggensack "Ed Fallone's Interesting Paper Trail."

    http://www.620wtmj.com/blogs/charliesykes/186015401.html

    If there's a way to get marijuana legalization on the ballot, that might be a good idea.

    "Michigan’s Two Largest Cities to Vote on Marijuana Decriminalization This November"

    http://justsaynow.firedoglake.com/2012/10/29/michigans-two-largest-cities-to-vote-on-marijuana-decriminalization-this-november/

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    Replies
    1. The way the bill is being written, it won't allow for any other referendum items to be also on the ballot. So much for democracy.

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    2. How can disallowing a referendum be constitutional?

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    3. It's not, but since when has that slowed down this administration?

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  4. You better pace yourself Capper. The session is just getting underway. There are sure to be many things for you flip out over.

    The county board should have reformed itself years ago as they're the most disliked body in the entire state. They reached the lowest of lows with the pension scandal and haven't done anything for their cause since. It is clear they will not reform themselves, so now it will be done for them via the people and a binding referendum.

    If it's politically untimely- too bad. They should've done something about their sorry butts before it came to this.

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    Replies
    1. Naw, the most disliked body was the 2011-2 state legislature, don't you recall? (Get it? Recall?)

      And that's only until the current state legislature gets going.

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  5. Abele is no way a Democrat. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

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  6. Anon 6:06, thanks for defending the GOP, even if it is from hiding behind your too-lazy-to-think-of-a-name handle. Not many have your courage.

    "State ranked 42nd in job creation at midyear, census report shows"

    http://www.jsonline.com/business/state-ranked-42nd-in-job-creation-at-midyear-census-report-shows-3h89vns-186044541.html

    And what's up with Robin Vos? Everytime I see the JS lately, it's another photo of him. It's almost as if they thought he was the Governor. What's up with that?

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  7. Finally!
    an issue liberals and conservatives can agree on!
    I can't wait to take this vote and stick it to Marina Claus the way she stuck it to Milwaukee taxpayers when they raised taxes! ;)

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    Replies
    1. You think your taxes are high now, wait until Abele dumps everything on the City of Milwaukee and the burbs will have to pay for it.

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  8. Yep- this over reach into MC will go to court. Falone winning is essential.

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  9. We can debate the value of reform (and we should). I disagree with the shenanigans that will go into placing this before the electorate (low turnout election, no other questions on the ballot) that almost assures a stacked deck at the polls. Place this on the Nov. 2014 ballot (when governor and other statewide offices, Congress, Assembly, and half the Senate are up) and a more representative voice will be heard.

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