Thursday, June 5, 2014

Let Him Speak!

By Jeff Simpson

Mike Tate was accused early on of endorsing Mary Burke for Governor.   Tate felt that the criticism was unfair and issued a statement:

Gang- I often promote the FB pages of all Dems running for an office, especially higher profile offices. More of a public service. Did the same thing in 2010, 12 and now. Not an endorsement. We promote Democrats running for office. If another serious candidate for Governor announces you’ll see myself and the party do the same thing. If you want someone else to run, go ask them to do so. Additionally there is no primary at this time and isn’t unless someone else enters it. So much as with Tammy Baldwin last year the party will promote Mary’s candidacy and should another serious candidate enter the race would promote that candidates activities too. Don’t remember anyone complaining about us promoting Tammy prior to her receiving full support of the party. No difference here.

Well, there is another Democrat on the ticket,  Brett Hulsey, and Mike Tate and the rest of the party has done their best to freeze him out.   Brett Hulsey wants and deserves a chance to speak at the upcoming Democratic convention but is not being allowed to.   

As Mike Tate himself said:

Not an endorsement. We promote Democrats running for office. If another serious candidate for Governor announces you’ll see myself and the party do the same thing. If you want someone else to run, go ask them to do so
Well Mike, another Democrat is running for Governor and as head of the Democratic party will you live up to your own words and allow him to speak at the convention or have you shown us that your word is not to be believed ever again?  







I also want to be perfectly clear that this is not an endorsement for Hulsey for Governor, but a sign of respect for someone who not only collected the required amount of signatures to run for office, but also has served as an elected Democratic official for many years.  

Let Hulsey Speak!  





32 comments:

  1. Agree. Hulsey's buffoonish ness needs to be seen by all in attendance. The only time he looks good is when he plays the victim card.

    Give him 5 minutes around 530pm- when few people are there anyway. Problem solved.

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  2. If you do not let him speak, I dont know where you draw the line. Do we let the exec board tell us who is and who is not a "viable" candidate?

    i would say the 2300 signatures tell us he deserves a spot to speak. Then let the people there decide who to endorse after hearing from everyone. We all know the vote would be 90% Burke.

    Nothing to be afraid of except to have Hulsey maybe bring up an issue or two that Burke has been advised to stay away from.

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  3. Hulsey, for all his antics, is a smart guy with some important things to say (especially on Act 10 and the environment). I don't know if he'll say them, but let him speak! He could offer some important points the party would do well to adopt. He could improve Burke's readiness for the campaign. He could be a waste of time but the principle of fairness is more important than a lost half-hour or so.

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    1. Hear! Hear! Or, in this case, Speak! Speak! What Hulsey says may do some good, or not, but it will never do more damage than trying to shut him out of the Democratic Party's convention. We'll need a big tent -- the biggest we can make -- come November. Time to start sewing now!

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  4. hulsey threatened to leave the dem caucus and caucus with repugs (who wouldn't have him),

    But it is a fact that he tried to desert the party -- you are spreading lies.

    Those of us in Madison know Hulsey is batshit insane -- yes, there's the incident with a child at the beach and his aid claims he pulled a boxcutter on her...

    I saw him lecture an activist last night -- saying "be nice" and "don't make trouble" -- this from the man that grabbed headlines with his KKK stunt at the repug convention!

    Hulsey is a loose cannon -- yet you take any opportunity you get to slam dems and Mary Burke.

    It was solely BRETT HULSEY that created the divide between him and the party and you want to misrepresent it as being Mike Tate's fault.

    The party, whether you think Mary Burke is the ideal candidate or not, is showing good sense in distancing himself from a man that tried to throw the dem party under the bus.

    And you want to lie about this? Shame on you.

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  5. The only person we have who has said that Hulsey tried to join the repubs is Robin Vos. We all know how trustworthy he is.

    I am not saying endorse him, I am saying let the people decide. I just want Mike Tate to live up to his word. Thats simple enough isnt it?

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    1. No, barca is saying it too -- and he's your hero:

      Brett Hulsey, Democratic Party appear ready to go their separate ways

      And Hulsey himself is going around saying that it is Barca that is saying this:

      Peter Barca is telling that story"," he [Hulsey] says, referring to the Assembly Democratic leader with whom he has had a falling out.

      For someone that constantly proclaims to have inside knowledge -- you are really uninformed -- but that is by choice, right?

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    2. Actually from the way i read the story Barca only has Vos's word also. Besides I dont care if he did or not, that is not the point.

      the point is he is a dem, he should be allowed to speak. Its that simple. Mike Tate gave his word, and now it is up to him if he keeps it or not.

      PS: you can look long and hard for any mention anywhere that I have ever claimed to have inside knowledge.

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    3. Well you misread the story -- nothing came directly from vos -- an aide, yes; but that's not the point.

      Your guy HULSEY himself is saying it comes from Barca.

      Your PS is BS -- you specifically did challenge an comment I posted about the disrepect directed towards Burke here. For some reason, you and capper think that holding your breath and throwing a temper tantrum will help.

      You directly did state that it was the dem party that kept others out of the race -- and you stated you knew this.

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    4. You are lying -- you specifically stated that you had inside information that the dem party has not allowed anyone else to run -- and there is certainly not any public information.

      You misread story and the post (and now you are deleting when your mistake is pointed out).

      It is HULSEY himself that is claiming that the whole story about him leaving the causus comes from BARCA (see second link above).

      And you are mistating -- it is not vos that says Hulsey tried to join caucus -- it is an aide.

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    5. Thats not insider info, thats from reading the papers. The republican model will not work on the dem side, no matter how many times you try it.

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  6. Hulsey is a clown, who cares if he speaks.

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    1. Hey, as long as he doesn't start arguing in favor of secession... ;-)

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    2. hulsey didn't actually have enough signatures -- he's been pedalin' his @ss off around town trying to get more the past 2 days.

      He isn't entitled to a spot if, in-fact, he does not have enough signatures that GAB will recognize and it would be irresponsible for dem party to feature him as a speaker (as a candidate) if he may not qualify for the ballot.

      It was his choice to let this go to the last minute and to have such a small margin when we all know that some were going to be invalidated.

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  7. I suppose it's not surprising that the trolls are showing up here right before the DPW convention. They are easy to see through.
    I got involved with politics by volunteering to canvass for the county DPW in 2012. I logged hundreds of miles going door-to-door, finding out about what the locals thought. Few knew about our local candidates, while many knew about the national. It led me to think that our state DPW takes its directions from the national party. This, I think, is based on where the money comes from to promote our candidates.
    Mike Tate is wrong to equate Burke's campaign with Baldwin's. They are both women, no kidding. Mike, it's insulting to view your constituents as thinking that all they care about is the brand name, as if we had to choose between Crest and Colgate.
    Tammy Baldwin was very up front about what she stood for. I believe in progressive Democratic ideas and policies, which Baldwin expressed. She made the choice clear between voting for her or Tommy Thompson. Burke doesn't say much, other than she's not Scott Walker.
    As a progressive, I think that centrist, Democratic Leadership Coucil ideas throw many Democrats by the wayside, hardly a plan for Democratic success.
    Brett Hulsey has at least been able to express some political ideas that traditional Democrats stand for, so let him speak. I don't think he's a viable candidate, though, due to his personal off-the-field baggage exploits.
    We in Wisconsin suffer from the vast disparity of the 1% versus the 99. Being Tea Party Lite is not going to attract many votes from within the 99.




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    1. Mary Burke is playing not to lose, rather than playing to win.

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    2. Nah, Hulsey speaks and that's all the media will cover. The DPW is doing the right thing. Whatever else, Democrats must not get painted as wild-eyed nut jobs as happened during the recall.

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    3. Happened during the recall??? huh?

      You mean dont want to be painted as wild eye nut jobs like say voting on secession?

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    4. Ummm, Hulsey won't be the candidate in November and he wasn't even going to be brought back in his own Assembly District, so let him say whatever he'll say this weekend, and he'll fade into the wilderness. Plus, it makes Burke look even more reasonable than she already is.

      And to the Anon poster, stop worrying about what the GOP hacks on AM radio wll say, they're paid to lie. The only thing I wish the Dems would do is to be running Burke "intro" ads now, so average people know the inevitable Koch smears coming this Fall are lies.

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    5. brilliant anon -- you and capper can hold your breath, stay home, and tell everyone else to.

      thanks for doing your part to send walker back into office so he can finish off the koch brothers agenda.

      that would be real progressive, wouldn't it -- thanks for undermining the process of change so that you can say, "SEE I TOLD YOU SO" after the november election.

      We need more people like you to disenfranchise voters and stay home, at least, until after you help walker get re-elected and they finally impose voter ID so many of us won't have to troll the democratic party candidate -- dems just won't be allowed to vote.

      And folks like you make this possible -- outstanding of you!

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  8. LOL -- blogwhore and virtually unread daily kos poster jake thinks he's more important because he hides behind an relatively anonymous handle like Jake formerly of the LP instead of posting as anon!

    bwah ha ha ha ha ha

    You and your little blog have so much more credibility because you hide behind handle that brands your essentially anonymous little blog!

    David Blaska, big walker fan and ultra-conservative blogger that simpson knows about, is promoting the Hulsey candidate -- great idea -- give hulsey a platform at the convention even though he will likely be struck running because he will fall short on sigs.

    The circle-jerk here is being dishonest when they say that the only source for hulsey switching parties is vos -- vos never directly stated anything.

    And anon above is right -- it was HULSEY that said Barca was behind it and that is your hero, right, Jake.

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  9. Replies
    1. That could be the single most uninteresting piece bice has ever written. Big deal he signed his papers. I personally respect that democratic process and would sign anyone's papers who asked. It means nothing but you want to help them get on the ballot.

      It also cracks me up that the people who make fun of Hulsey do not get the irony of then vehemently supporting walker.

      Finally to all of the dem anon trolls in here, should everyone just vote in lockstep because of the letter after the name or should candidates take personal responsibility and earn people's votes?

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    2. Mary Burke has got to take away the governorship from Walker by showing she would definitely be a better governor. Otherwise Walker wins, unless he is indicted or cops a plea.

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    3. simpson, your integrity (lack there-of) and credibility as a progressive blogger are showing.

      You and your allie blogwhore jake have repeatedly dishonestly stated in this thread that vos is behind story that hulsey would leave party -- BUT HULSEY HIMSELF SAYS IT IS BARCA (who you commonly hold up as an ideal candidate, but he was too chicken to run).

      Now your misrepresenting the bice story as being about one blogger -- it is not -- it is a call for walker backers to sign the Hulsey nominiation papers.

      Hulsey is short and scampering around town today to get more.

      So what percentage of Hulsey nomination sigs are repugs?

      Are you afraid that your blog will become irrelevant if walker is removed from office?

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    4. Great idea, simpson, let's divide the dem party at the upcoming convention with a candidate that thumbs his nose at Peter Barca!

      Excellent...

      That should be a recipe for success!

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    5. The party leadership has been saying for months if someone else decides to run they would welcome them. Its not me dividing the party.

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    6. If PETER BARCA is saying that Brett Hulsey was gonna book the party and it is BRETT HULSEY that is saying that Peter Barca is the source for the story, then embrassing Brett Hulsey divides -- but you do nothing but undermine the party anyhow.

      Without walker's divide and conquer, you have no blog -- just like to stir up the sh!t and watch the chaos, don't you.

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  10. Omg. Would you listen to yourselves?
    This discussion is worse than listening to two old men on a park bench.
    Oh wait...

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  11. If Hulsey gets the signatures needed let him speak, if he doesn't, then don't. The fact is we need to set an example on the Democratic side, that your voice will be heard and not fall into the false equivalency of both parties are the same.

    IF he does get the signatures and makes some good points, MAYBE that is what his goal is, and hopefully Mary will listen and move toward those ideas IF she is not already there.

    Hopefully then Hulsey will bow out as to not split the vote, and prove he is really standing with the Democratic party. I see a lot of possible Redemption, if the convention is done right, and set an example of what Democracy looks like!

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  12. If Hulsey is not allowed to speak and gets enough signatures to make the ballot, he will be able to play the victim card, attacking the party leadership for suppressing free speech at the convention. You can bet that the righty radio blowhards and bloggers will give him lots of time to expound on the conspiracy.

    I know that people in the Capitol carry grudges for all sorts of reasons but the convention is not the stage to play them out on. Frankly it strikes me as childish.

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    1. I agree entirely with the last two posters. The only way an NPD type like Hulsey is paid attention to is if the DPW makes him out to be martyr. Let him say his piece and he'll fade away.

      This is silly stuff that no one outside of a few Dem Party insiders really cares about. Fight a bigger battle, like against the destructive garbage that WisGOP has put upon this state

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