Sunday, May 26, 2013

Who's Behind The Attack On The United Council


The United Council of the University of Wisconsin students is the nation's oldest
student association that has a long and proud history of advocating for the students and for social justice.

As is the norm for Fitzwalkerstan, because the United Council (UC) is a good thing, it could not be allowed to remain.

So late on Friday afternoon, when many people were mostly concerned with the three day weekend, the state Republicans decided to introduce and pass a UW-related omnibus.  As most laws, the omnibus bill passed along party line votes.

Among the miasma which made up the omnibus, is a bit that attacks and basically defunds the UC.    Even though the UC had been working closely with the Republican legislators on the UW budget, this had never been mentioned in any of their discussions (emphasis mine):
As United Council’s government affairs director Dylan Jambrek (a veteran Wisconsin student government leader himself) noted on Twitter late last night, not only did the JFC pass a two-year UW tuition freeze yesterday, Republican legislators thanked United Council for their work in helping to bring it about, even as they were plotting to defund the organization. “United Council has worked closely with GOP legislators this semester on the UW budget,” he writes, and “this was never discussed. This is simply a backstab.
So, if this was never mentioned in the meetings between UC and WISGOP, where did it come from?

Rep. John Nygren shed some light on this just before the Republicans performed their betrayal, citing a letter from the council at UW-Eau Claire:
Where did this assault on UC come from, and why is it happening now? One Wisconsin politics blog reports that Republican committee-member John Nygren said last night that the committee received a letter from the UW-Eau Claire student government calling for an end to the funding referenda. Wisconsin student activists I’ve spoken to since yesterday confirm that account.

As to why the student government at Eau Claire — which is, bizarrely, a United Council member campus — would want to cut off funding for their own statewide student organization, that’s an interesting question.

Campuses become members of United Council via referendum, as noted above. At the moment the students of a robust twenty out of the state’s twenty-six public colleges (nine of thirteen four-years, and eleven of thirteen two-years) have chosen to affiliate.

The Eau Claire student government has been unhappy with United Council for some time, and released a lengthy critical report on the organization last year. Dissatisfied with UC’s response, the student senate this spring voted to disaffiliate from the statewide organization. That vote appears to have had only symbolic effect, however, given that the referendum mechanism for UC membership is a matter of systemwide University of Wisconsin policy.

So why didn’t the Eau Claire student government run a UC referendum? Well, it turns out that they did just that, barely a year and a half ago. In the fall of 2011, with nearly two thousand voting, the Eau Claire student body endorsed UC — and a 50% increase in the per student membership fee — by a 65-35 margin, despite a campaign against UC by the statewide group’s critics. What’s more, the turnout for that referendum was more than double that of the student government election that brought UC’s current antagonists to power.

As a result of that 2011 precedent, when the Eau Claire senate took up the issue this spring, the UC opponents on the body declined to even propose a campus-wide vote. Instead they declared that they “did not see a referend[um] as a feasible means to accurately gauge student opinion,” given their expectation that UC and its supporters would be present on the campus organizing for its passage.
Well, that is the usual fascism and Machiavellian scheming that we're used to seeing from the Republicans. But outside of it being the UW-EC's student council, it still doesn't answer our question on who is behind that attack.

This might get a little wonkish, but as a background note, UW-EC's student council was recently hijacked in a concerted effort by college Republicans. The president and ring leader of this group of thugs is one Corydon "Cory" Fish.

So who is Cory Fish? Well, besides being president of the UW-EC's student council, he is also a former intern for Robin "Popcorn Balls" Vos:

Click to embiggen if you like seeing really bad hair.
So now we know where he gets his marching orders from.

Fish is well on his way to being a true Republican.  Not only does he make a good sockpuppet and minion for those in power, but he also is quite sufficiently endowed with the mandatory arrogance and maliciousness.  '

For a case in point, there is the oily and false press release crowing about the impending death of the student's Right to Free Speech and Right to Association, but Fish couldn't resist putting this picture on his Facebook page, adding insult to injury:



Fish also shows that he is a typical Republican coward by having already taken the picture down.

But I gotta tell ya, the picture piques my anger as much as this one of the drunken, adulterous, whiny Randy Hopper wearing the Mighty Green:


I hope that the students at UW-EC wake up and see what has happened and oust the tick turds like Fish in all due haste.

4 comments:

  1. Boy, oh boy. Peter Barca had better wake up from his sleep and understand that Robin Vos needs to be THE number one target for removal in 2014. Vos is EVIL, pure and simple. A fascist in the truest sense of the word.

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  2. This might be even more "wonkish" but some years ago - 8 or 9 or so, a group of very intense progressive students ran for EC Student Senate in a block, that was certainly perceived by many as a "take-over" too, and those people were really high profile on campus for several years before moving seamlessly into the state Democratic party mechanism and numerous campaign/elected positions of not insignificant influence. That includes your UC man Dylan Jambrek. He coasted in on the shirttails of that original, more colorful posse. The Republicans were pissed at some things those earlier student progressives did. And when I say "some" .... Of course I can't speak for them,but it's been obvious they (campus Republicans) have been wanting revenge. Remember too the state Dems went really high profile on that Lora Rae Anderson thing, so it all rankles of course. Campus Republicans have been eating big plates of dirt here for years.
    And, as an additional note, the "methods" of the young Progressives were...often creative. Aggressive. Very dramatic and "line crossing" in the opinions of many. Scandals and criticisms were not lacking. Sure, Republicans act like jerks, especially Team Walker. But, people who have lived in Eau Claire and have been aware of local political behaviors, are a.) not surprised at plotting, behind the scenes "creativity", and b.) don't think Eau Claire is as sleepy and Mayberry-ish as you perhaps do.
    Those student Progressive powerhouses are still around. And still creative. Don't bother feeling "victimized", you have definite aggressive talent on your team. You have people who will do whatever it takes and have it done yesterday, if that's what you want. Stating the obvious, this is the new normal. Young politicians came to the game in a ultra-Machiavellian post-Rove world. We all remember the left's reaction to Rove - "we gotta do that too". Right? Progressives often sought to best the neo-cons at their own games. Some did, some are. Some yet will. How can anyone think a dirty game hasn't gotten a whole lot dirtier? who is surprised anymore? Personally I wish they'd all stop perfecting their backstabbing skills and shut up and govern before the planet explodes in a BFBVFS, but that and 5.95 will get me a cup of coffee in a UC mug
    p.s. if it makes you feel better, the progressive clique drove the Republicans mind-numbingly crazy for quite some time. They set the bar pretty high, this Fish kid has some large shoes to fill and probably not the drive and charisma levels of previous persons I mentioned. Whether that's worse or better for the good of humanity is not for me to know. But anyways I hope Cory Fish enjoyed his wee cuppa. And if he's hungry, I'm pretty sure there's folks that are planning a nice Fish fry real soon.

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  3. Mmmmmmm. Fish fry. I love Wisconsin on Fridays...

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  4. Look at Brian Westrate's (chair of the repubs in EC County) facebook. He is wearing a UWEC College Republican t-shirt. I am sure this young, gullible boy was a project of the Westrates misinformation!

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