Monday, September 30, 2013

Scott Suder IS the New Wisconsin



By Jeff Simpson

One of my absolute favorite writers in WI is Ruth Conniff, who recently received a well deserved promotion to editor of The Progressive Magazine.  

I usually love her work, and make a point to read all of her columns. 

Today I vehemently disagree with what she wrote about the recent United Sportsmen controversy.  


What does United Sportsmen have to do with all that?

Since it was formed two years ago, the group has spent a lot of money lobbying for a wolf hunt, easier access to wetlands by developers, and the massive open-pit mine proposed by Gogebic Taconite in northern Wisconsin -- including a measure to keep hunters and other outdoorsmen off the land where GTAC wants to build its mine.

Doesn't sound like much of a conservation group, does it?

Oh, and it sent out a mailing, along with Americans for Prosperity, supporting Republicans in the 2011 recall elections.

Former Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder, who is about to start making a big salary as a Walker appointee to the Public Service Commission, carefully crafted grant language to exclude real conservation groups from getting the $500,000 state grant. If you were a chapter of a larger, national organization, you were not eligible for the money.

Suder rigged the grant for United Sportsmen. But also, by writing the rules the way he did, he jeopardized $28 million a year in federal wildlife management funds.

Talk about not upholding Wisconsin values.
This is where I disagree.  

This is EXACTLY what Wi values are now.

Until we prove otherwise in an election, reward donors, punish enemies and grab for taxpayer cash are the new WI values.  

Good Government, responsibility, fiscal conservatism, bipartisanship, wanting to benefit all, hard work and earning your pay, are all Wisconsin values of years past. 

As they say that ship has sailed.  

If you don't believe me, just do an Open Records request for a typical say in Scott Suder's life. 

The lobbyist for a self-described sportsmen group offered free fishing excursions to then-Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder just days before an affiliate of the group secured a now-canceled $500,000 grant from the state, newly released records show.

Suder, an Abbotsford Republican, went on the Lake Michigan outing with the head of the United Sportsmen of Wisconsin in August, about 21/2 months after he engineered money for the grant into the state budget. Also scheduled to be on the Aug. 22-23 trip were a lobbyist and a former lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. The former NRA lobbyist, Darren LaSorte, is also a board member of the foundation affiliated with United Sportsmen.
Don't worry Ms. Conniff, Rep. Nick Milroy agrees with you.   

"Public officials are held to a higher standard," Milroy said. "The people who elect us expect more of us than this."

No Mr. Milroy, unfortunately the people of Wisconsin no longer do.  












6 comments:

  1. We are now Wississippi. It is going to be one hell of a fight to bring Wisconsin back from the disaster that Walker and his ink has done to this state.

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  2. Walker isn't lying when he says he turned Wisconsin around; we use to be recognized for clean and transparent government now it is the opposite.

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  3. Integrity,

    A word unknown.

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  4. In the 80's and 90's Wisconsin became synonymous, in the minds of television writers, with yokel or rube, but it won't be long before late-night comedians start using it as a lead-in to a joke about political corruption, in the same way Chicago was used as a laugh-line for decades. Just wait. Ineptly corrupt, yokels and rubes -- put that in the tourism ads.

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  5. Scott Suder fits right in on the long list (past and present) of crooks, liars and thieves hired by Scott Walker.

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  6. Jeff-

    Unfortunately, I couldn't agree more with your sad assessment.

    Talk about "rubes"--roughly half of the state fell (and continues to fall) for Hitler's old trick of finding a scapegoat on which to blame all of the state's ills. "Hey, look over there--it's the Jews!" "Hey, look over there--it's state employees!" Now we've got a couple million Wisconsinites whipped up into a lather over civil servants who have done them no harm at all.

    The worst of it is that Walker told us that this was EXACTLY what he planned to do, in the infamous Diane Hendricks video. Um.... feel used much?

    Read the comments section of any online article having to do with Walker, and you can actually see his supporters screaming "SCOTT HEIL! SCOTT HEIL!" It doesn't matter that he has not done a single constructive thing for Wisconsin or its people--he has given the people someone to hate, and apparently that's all that's required for half of our state. Tragic.

    Utterly predictable was this morning's headline news: Now that his opponents keep mercilessly bringing up his epic jobs failure, Walker found a piece of ALEC legislation that will strip state workers of the right to choose their health care plans. And the Walker Youth are already cheering.

    I am deeply ashamed. I never thought I would live in a place this messed up, and I used to love it here.

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