Walker's Enemies List

Last week, I wrote about how a black Wisconsin legislator, Representative Mandela Barnes, was ousted from Scott Walker's presidential campaign announcement event.
My friend, Bert, also had a negative experience when he tried to attend the event. In his own words, as he wrote for Cognitive Dissidence:

I printed out my ticket. I cleaned up a bit and even raised my clothing game to business casual. Then I drove across Waukesha Monday to the Scott Walker campaign announcement extravaganza at the county fairgrounds. What happened once I made it to the first entrance and handed the ticket to a smiling young woman is both appalling and entirely predictable.

The flow of people from the parking lot brought me to the entrance, a temporary shade tent where attendees were channeled by tables through three lines. The friendly woman scanned the code on my printout, said okay as it beeped recognition, and then called me back as she looked at the hand-held gizmo's screen. It's been rejected, she said in a surprised tone.

Then she pointed me to the far row of tables to talk to another aide there. The young red-headed man named Nathan started punching at his pad and looking at the ticket. He wasn't resolving the rejection right away, asked for me email and then said this with his eyes on the pad: "Oh, did you sign the recall?"

"Yes," I said. "Oh, that's it then" he replied.

Others who had been behind me continued to pass through to the main building. Nathan, a cool cat for being in his early twenties, told me I could watch the proceedings from the overflow tent with the people who had no ticket or who got to the event later than me. I pushed him and then he would not make explicit that the rejection was given to any and all petition signers.

As I say, my rejection is predictable. A similar, but funnier, denial happened to Democratic state assembly member Mandela Barnes. The careful managing of a TV bite's backdrop is par for the campaign course.

I have gone to other events in the Waukesha area and seen Walker at least three other times, even chatted with his sons at a rope line once about Wauwatosa East High sports at the Country Springs Hotel. I am a former reporter and news junkie and would attend any event in my neighborhood that garners national attention. Since my neighborhood is Waukesha, though, these events tend to all be Republican deals. However, I am not surprised I did not get in to this Walker announcement Monday because now Scott is in the big time and the place was bristling with police and handlers.

Not a huge deal, then, but I bring it up anyway because it is a good reminder, on the occasion of Walker's official entrance into the presidential race, about some of the core weaselisms of a sadly craven man.

Sadly, Bert's experience isn't a solitary one.

Walker's McCarthyism has been going on for years.

Immediately after the recall election in 2012, Walker started retaliating against anyone and everyone who stood against him.

Then, using a database which included the names of all the people that had signed the recall petition, Walker and his goons started going after others, including yours truly:

As of the time of this writing, some of the first victims of the New McCarthyism includes Dane County Judge David Flanagan, who was the first judge to rule against the Jim Crow laws; UW staff and Regents; and Mary Lou Young and Linda McFerrin, officers at United Way of Greater Milwaukee.

Even yours truly isn't immune from the harassment from the right. For the umpteenth time, someone has filed an Open Records Request against me with my employer. The requester wants to see if he can find more dirt on me from the acts of retaliation Scott Walker and his minions threw at me as well as to see if I'm qualified to do my job.

I am not worried about this in the sense that they will find anything to discredit me or get me into trouble. But I do find it irritating that they will not cease in their harassment because they don't like that I speak the truth and keep exposing Scott Walker and his allies for the miscreants that they are. And yes, questioning my qualifications to do my job is nothing short of an act of harassment and retaliation.

Walker even went so far as to withdraw the name of Joshua Inglett as his nomination to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, because he had signed the recall petition two years ago.

There is a myriad of other stories of people being harassed, threatened and intimidated by Walker and his supporters for no other reason than they signed the recall petition.

Whenever a person announces that they are running for an office at any level - even nonpartisan positions like judges or town councils - the first thing the Republicans do is run the name on the database to see if they signed the petition. If the person did, the Republicans will try to pin it on them like a scarlet letter.

Richard Nixon's Enemies List had only 20 names on it. Walker's has nearly one million and counting on his Enemies List. It's McCarthyism on steroids.

Let's just hope that we don't have to go through the embarrassment of another Nixonian presidency and Watergate (although Walkergate would be a highly appropriate name) before people realize that Walker is not fit for any office, especially not president.

(Cross posted from Crooks & Liars.)

The People Have Spoken

Time to move on and accept the election results and if you do not like them wait until the next election! **

**  Does not apply when Democrats win, or if Democrats enact legislation, after being democratically elected.   

I think maybe instead of protesting and recalling the republicans we should have just said we have no interest in following anything the republicans enacted until the next election.  O wait, Justice Bradley tried to delay a Walker policy by a few days to make sure she got her decision right and Justice David Prosser tried to choke her into submission.  

Also in Racine, it appears that there is a true republican thug Lou D'Abbraccio who is a bully who likes to try and stomp his feet, mess with elections and bully people into submission.  To the republicans of Racine, nice way to represent your party!  For anyone interested in learning more about this republican lunatic check here and here! 

Seriously! Vote for Lori Compas!

Whatever happens when the dust settles today(whenever that is) there are two universal truths that have come out of the last 16 months.   

1.  That Scott Walker has no ethics or moral compas! 

2.  Win, lose or draw, Lori Compas is a hero to the working people of WI and she personifies everything our Founders envisioned in our great constitutionally limited democratic republic!!   I hope we see her involved in making WI a better state for a very long time!!

Moderate Republicans Are Not a Myth!

Once upon a time, we had moderate republicans in our great state of Wisconsin.   There are some still left AND  they are voting for Lori Compas and Tom Barrett/Mahlon Mitchell! 


From the Capital Times , this letter from Barbara Lorman, former Republican State legislator:

Barbara Lorman: I was GOP lawmaker, but I’m voting for Barrett

May 31, 2012 4:45 am  •  Barbara Lorman

Dear Editor: Why would a longtime Republican and former legislator vote for Democrats Lori Compas and Tom Barrett? Why would a business looking to expand consider moving to a state that is ruled by right-wing extremists whose ideology has caused endless conflict? Why would anyone look up to leaders on a mission to tear apart public education just when we need educated workers more than ever?

I believe a national agenda is at work here that has little or nothing to do with us and a lot to do with changing how we will look to the rest of the nation. Ask yourself if you want us to look like those states where parents with enough money avoid the public schools.

Of the many issues that have upset so many, , I worry most about the undermining of public education. Just like good medical care and good roads, good education costs a lot. Without a doubt, quality teaching is expensive. The draconian slashing of funding and targeting of teachers has made me sad. Do we not want a top-notch technical college system? One of the best higher education systems? The best-prepared high school graduates? Did the governor not get just about everything he wanted when he was offered concessions from the unions? And why have teachers been made scapegoats for everything that is perceived to be wrong with Wisconsin? Where is this coming from? It needs to go away.

I served with Tom Barrett in the state Senate. He was well liked by Republicans and Democrats. He is smart and decent. He would be a healer and consensus builder. I have met with Lori Compas and have the same impression of her. I believe we must move away from the narrow emotional issues that divide us and have little to do with good government. We need people in Madison who will restore our faith and confidence — people who will govern with evenhandedness and an open mind. I believe Tom Barrett and Lori Compass are such people. They will receive my vote, and, I hope, yours.
Barbara Lorman
Fort Atkinson

More on Lori's opponent here!  

Astroturf in Action!

This weekend the koch brother's front group Americans for Poverty held their rally in Racine over the weekend. As we have pointed out here, The well funded Kochster's have brouht in busloads of out of state agitator's, (and they pay these out of state dead ender's well)!!

They also brought in a group of D-list celebrities to speak for them and "fire" up the crowd. These "celebrities" come in and attempt to tell the people of WI, how great Scott Walker's "reforms" are while they live as far away from WI as they can. This years out of state celebrities were Dana Loesch and Tony Katz( I would link to them, but even Google has never heard of them).

Then they brought in a couple of speakers reportedly from Wisconsin. The great thing about these speakers at the "tea party" rally s that they have spent their whole career engaging in everything the "tea party" has said they were formed to fight. Yet the "tea party" faithful cheered them on Saturday? Are the two Wisconsinites charlatans or is the "tea party" just a branch of the republican party(my vote is a little of both). The first speaker was double dipper Van Wanggaard who likes to collect two state pensions while working to end others. Then the hero of the day was the champion of Medicare Part D, Wall St. bailout, and the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars(off the books) Paul "hey big government spender" Ryan (R - Wall St.) I wonder how many $350 bottle of wine were promised to Ryan to lure him back to WI?

 I also wanted to give special attention to the ultimate out of state agitator and vermin Tim Phillips. Tim Phillips is the koch brothers stooge and you will have to look far and wide to find a human being more disgusting than he is. Here is a great rundown of Phillips.

So lets take a better look at the crowd. Why did they have to have this rally in Racine? easy access for the busloads of Illinois people coming up from Chicago! Then Fox news ran a story showing us the exact differences. While the Barrett campaign and those on the left, have actual grass roots and Wisconsin people power and boots on the ground, armed with a clipboard and pen.

What does the Walker campaign have(besides paid out of state agitators) As Fox News itself reports "Americans for Prosperity Poverty has supplied their workers with "cell phones, dialing software, a bus that has been traveling the state, Ipads, and tablets with campaigning software, and their own media machine. Astroturf in Action.

Do we want a few out of state agitators and billionaires deciding Wisconsin's future or do wewant the people of WI to be able to govern themselves?

We know what the Founding Fathers wanted, what will the people of WI chose?

For the Sake of Public Education, Walker Has To Go!

Great letter in todays JSonline, written by Diane Ravitch, author of the bestselling book "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education" (Basic Books)

Here it is in it's entirety(emphasis mine):

If you are concerned about the future of public education in Wisconsin, vote to oust Gov. Scott Walker. Since his election in 2010, he has proved himself to be a steadfast enemy of the public schools.
In the world according to Walker, the best way to reform public education is to demoralize its teachers, attack the teachers' union and hand over more taxpayer dollars to privately managed charters and voucher schools.

He is wrong on every count. In his role as governor, he has a constitutional duty to preserve, protect and strengthen the state's democratic institutions. He has violated that trust by his ongoing efforts to undermine public education, which is a cornerstone of our democracy.

As a conservative, he should have done his best to strengthen the public schools, not tear them down. Conservatives don't blow up traditional institutions. His approach is radical, not conservative.
As the state's leader, he should have set a good example and thanked the teachers who do the public's work every day. Regardless of what the contract says, the typical teacher works 11-12 hours every day, preparing the next generation to take their place as citizens and workers. But instead of acting as a leader, Walker spent the past two years as the state's bully-in-chief, showering the state's teachers with disrespect and blaming them for the ills of an unequal and unjust society.

Walker thinks that he will improve education by getting rid of the union, which is the collective voice of the state's teachers.The nation's highest performing states-Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut-have strong unions, while the lowest performing states-in the Deep South-have weak unions or none at all. Very likely, what Walker really wants is to remove the teachers' voice when legislators are cutting the schools' budget. The best way to silence the strongest voice for public education in Madison is to weaken the teachers' union.

Walker has cut the budget, thus requiring public schools to lay off teachers, increase class sizes, close libraries, and reduce essential services on which needy children depend. Lest we forget, the victims of these budget cuts are children, the very children who will determine the future of the state in years to come.  Walker has expanded the voucher program, so that more children can use taxpayer dollars to enroll in religious schools. But he fails to mention that the Milwaukee voucher program has had unimpressive results. Twenty-two years later, the children in voucher schools get no better scores on the Wisconsin tests than children in Milwaukee's public schools.

Walker claims that competition among vouchers, charters, and public schools will lead to big improvements, but Milwaukee has had exactly that competition for the past two decades. According to the federal assessments, Milwaukee's public schools are one of the lowest performing in the nation. Competition did not make them improve, and the children in the alternative systems are doing no better. Black children in Milwaukee were supposed to be the beneficiaries of school choice, but the federal tests show that black students in Milwaukee have scores no better than black children in the Deep South.

Walker is determined to dismantle the public education system and to replace it with a choice system. But that won't be good for Wisconsin and it won't be good for children. No high-performing nation in the world demoralizes its teachers and creates alternatives to public education.

The best performing nations in the world have built a strong public education system. They respect their teachers. They do not judge them by student test scores. They do not launch public campaigns against their unions (in high-performing Finland, all the teachers and principals belong to the same union). The most successful nations recognize the importance of having teachers and principals who are dedicated professionals, not a revolving door of young college graduates. They understand that successful schools establish a culture of collaboration, not a culture of competition.

It's time for a change in Wisconsin. End the attacks on public education. End the attacks on teachers. It's time for leadership that seeks to build a better school system. It's time for a leader with a positive vision, a leader who puts the needs of children and communities first.

Thank you Diane!  

Let's stop the circus, vote for Tom Barrett on June 5th:

Malfeasance in Interviews

Tom Barrett scored many points in his debate drubbing of Scott Walker on Friday night.   One of the best was when Soon to be Governor Barrett called out Scott Walker on signing recall petitions for Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl.  Scott Walker ignored the fact that he has spent his whole political career knee deep in recalls of democrats and now thinks we need to reform our recall rules.

When finally asked, soon to be ex Governor Walker has "no memory" of signing previous recall petitions.    As our friend Jud points out, Scott Walker is lying(again). 

And, because Walker was at these events with Neumann, the issue of partial birth abortion and Feingold's alleged support of it was the focus of Walker's speeches.  My specific recollection is that Walker said, on multiple occasions, something in the vein of: We came up a little short with the recall effort, but that effort was not a wasted effort. History will remember it as the first step in Feingold's 1998 defeat.

The reason I remember that particular line is that we were trying to make the case that the 1997 recall campaign was not a grassroots movement, but a GOP-backed effort that at best would trigger a recall election over an issue that was deeply unpopular with the public and at worst would weaken the populist image of Feingold as he prepared for his 1998 reelection. We were specifically concerned that Neumann and the GOP was using the hundreds of thousands that signed the recall as fundraising and organizing tools to defeat Feingold.

However, now Walker is making the absurd claim that he was not only not a leader of the recall Feingold / Kohl movement, but told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that didn't even sign the petition, claiming that he has "no memory" of signing the recall petitions against Kohl and Feingold and that "I don't believe that I did."

So we see that he is perfectly willing to throw his friends under the bus to advance his political career.  What do you think he will do to us when he gets a chance?   We already know the answer to that question!  

Open Suggestion To Tom Barrett

Dear Mayor Barrett,

If you win today, please re-consider and reschedule the unity rally that was planned for tomorrow night in Madison.  You can not call for unity amongst the candidates, and then cancel the unity rally because you think you are going to win and want to avoid protestors.  You insult the people of Wisconsin who worked so hard and gave up so many of their personal hours away from family and friends to get here.

It was honorable of Mike Tate to fall on his sword to cover for you, but it begs the question if he has to do that before you are even elected, what do we have to look forward to for the next two years?  

The prevailing theme has been, we will unite behind whoever wins.  While I agree with that, leadership starts at the top.    In America, we elect officials, not leaders.  Leadership is something over and above that, that needs to be earned.  This is a chance to start out your successful campaign(if you prevail today), by showing leadership and unity amongst all the citizens of WI.  

We have had a year and a half of politicians doing everything they can to avoid protestors.  It is time we had a candidate who governed so we do not need protestors.  

Please, Mayor Barrett, if you win, (for that matter whoever wins)RESCHEDULE the unity rally.

Forward!!

Sincerely;

Jeff Simpson

Discussion Question of the Day

There has been much discussion the last few days regarding who is the better candidate - Kathleen Falk or Tom Barrett.   The Barrett supporters seem to think that he is the most electable candidate while the Falk supporters(myself included) seem to think that she is the most progressive.   Many times, the Barrett support, even amongst his most fervent supporters, comes with  caveat(as seen in this posting):

 I’m only convinced that Barrett will be an adequate governor. I don’t think he’s the next “Fighting Bob” by any stretch of the imagination. He lacks… substance.

That being said, Sly’s an important voice, mostly because those of us in the progressive world don’t really have a local voice in Wisconsin. And he’d better be on board with finishing the job this time next week. He can hammer Barrett and keep him in line after he’s in the Governor’s chair (and frankly, I wouldn’t mind if Sly did just that).

So my question is, shouldn't we elect someone who we do not need to plan to keep in line before they are even elected?   as Capper brilliantly put into words today, don't we owe it to the hundreds of thousands who stormed the Capitol and those who fought for these rights before us, to not settle for adequate?

Kathleen Falk is THE most electable candidate!

Despite what some of our friends on the left like to say about Kathleen Falk's statewide electability, a picture is worth 1000 words!

By the way in case it was not clear, Kathleen Falk ran in 2006 against JB Van Hollen for Attorney General which IS a statewide office. Unfortunately, she had to primary Peg Lautenschlager to do so, which meant that many of Peg's loyal supporters refused to vote for Kathleen in the general election(which was a big year from democrats) and Kathleen was one of the few democrats who lost that year. She performed well in every category but hardcore democrats. Do you think she will have a hard time pulling in the Hard Core left on June 5th? Kathleen Falk is the most electable candidate statewide and the one candidate we will not have to spend our time holding accountable to their campaign promises when they get elected!

Republican Thugs - Phil Dziki Edition

When I was at Blogging Blue, there seemed an endless supply of stories to write about the bad behavior of the republicans and Walker supporters, as they realized they were losing their short term grip on power. I even labeled these stories as part of my Republican Thug series that had too many instances to count. Now that I have relocated here at CogDis, the republican thug stories keep on coming. This one from a republican, walker supporter and former elected official!

A federal investigator and former local elected official has been cited for repeatedly harassing a man gathering signatures during the governor recall petition drive Phil Dziki, 60, of Trevor, was cited for harassment and for unlawful use of a telephone. According to Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department reports, a man in blue Toyota — later determined to be Dziki — confronted the alleged victim while he and another man were gathering signatures in Old Settlers Park in Paddock Lake on Jan. 9. Dziki reportedly shouted at the man that he was not allowed in the park then pointed his finger at him “like a gun” or with “gun-like action” and drove away. Feeling threatened, the petition gatherers called 911. Before they were off the phone with the dispatcher, the car returned and the driver again pointed his finger at them in a gun-like motion.

So this federal investigator & former elected official is threatening others with a "gun-like" action. Brilliant! But as is wont to be the theme at this blog- but wait there's more!

When deputies traced the car’s license plate, they found it was registered to “Elmer D. Fedd, 123 Rabbit Hole Drive in Coon Valley.” “It appears given the close reference to the cartoon character Elmer Fudd, the registration was made fictitiously,” the sheriff department report states. Further investigation revealed that the car was registered to Dziki, an industry operations investigator with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and a former member of the Wilmot School Board and Salem Town Board.

Wow he lied, who have ever guessed that republicans would lie??? SO he was driving around illegally, I wonder if JB wants to deport him? But wait, before we wrap this up, there's more!

About two month later, the alleged victim told the sheriff’s department that Dziki called him twice, saying he would be “scrubbing” the signatures the man collected on petitions “and if they find any false or bogus signatures he is going to fill out a sworn complaint” to make sure the man would be prosecuted. Dziki reportedly said he knew where the man, a retired firefighter, worked and said “when the recall ends in favor of Walker, I’m going to make sure that everyone knows that you and (the other man gathering signatures) and the others will be rewarded with a present. It will be a nice set of flowers with a note on it. It will be delivered to your fire house in Bristol.” In a second phone call, the caller said “I consider you to be a pariah in this county.”

So this sick freak not only threatens a recall petitioner with "gun-like" gestures, could not let it go and kept harassing this poor man! You say what harm could come with a former elected official messing with a citizen? Let me see if we can find any cases of a lunatic with a gun in WI causing any damage???? Nuff Said!

Falk Fact of the Day

Statewide electability:

• Kathleen Falk was born in Milwaukee and raised in Waukesha County with deep German and Irish roots in Wisconsin.
• Kathleen earned over 1 million votes in her statewide race in 2006; in fact, she earned 50,000 more votes in 2006 than Tom Barrett received in his statewide race in 2010. In 2006, Kathleen lost by about one-quarter of one percent: Barrett lost in 2010 by about 5%.
• In Northern Wisconsin, Kathleen received both a higher percentage of total vote cast in 2006 than Barrett did in 2010 (7.6% higher) and a higher number of actual votes (29,094 more) than Barrett did.
• Kathleen was an environmental attorney helping citizens all across the state for over 20 years before serving as the highest elected official in the state’s second largest county for 14 years. She knows how Wisconsinites differ in various parts of the state and how we share the same values.
• Wisconsin voters do elect Dane County “liberals” to statewide office: for example, Jim Doyle and Russ Feingold won statewide office repeatedly. Recent polling also shows Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin leading several Republican challengers in her senate race.
• Kathleen Falk is an experienced statewide campaigner and proven fundraiser.

Kathleen Falk forWisconsin

The Professor and the Propagandist

About a week ago, Christian Schneider posted a lengthy post at Wisconsin Policy Research Institute regarding the history of recall in Wisconsin. His conclusion, supported by an especially cruel torturing and mutilation of facts and logic, is jaw-dropping in its obfuscation:

Unions and their supporters immediately turned to the state Constitution to exact their revenge. In 1926, voters approved a change to the Wisconsin Constitution that provided for the recall of state officials if a petitioner could gather 25 percent of the signatures cast in the previous gubernatorial election for the relevant district. In Wisconsin’s history, only two state elected officials had been successfully recalled. Nationally, only two governors have ever been recalled from office.

But in 2011, nine state senators faced recall elections (six Republicans, three Democrats). In 2012, four more Republican Walker-supporting state senators are scheduled to face recalls, as are Gov. Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch. 

Recall supporters defended the sudden use of recalls as simply part of the democratic process. “The exercise of the constitutionally guaranteed right to force a recall election is a just and proper tool to force accountability upon those elected officials who act as if there is none,” the Democratic Party of Wisconsin explained on its website.

Recall supporters maintained that Gov. Walker’s action threw out 50 years of settled state law in essentially repealing collective bargaining. This might be true, but a review of history shows that the current effort to recall Gov. Walker is not at all in line with what the progressives intended when they championed the recall amendment 85 years ago. Documents and press accounts from the time indicate that the current use of the recall is far from what the original drafters envisioned.

The recall amendment began in the early 1900s as part of a slate of progressive “good government” reforms meant to decrease the role of special interests on the political process. Progressives believed the recall put more power in the hands of the people, allowing voters to remove corrupt elected officials. Further, they believed the recall mechanism was a way to purge the political process of the influence of money.

But as recent recall elections have demonstrated, the effect of the recall amendment has been the exact opposite. Additionally, the recall provision’s original supporters never intended it to be used as it has been in the past two years.

My first thought to Schneider's assertion was "It's a lie! That's not what LaFollette intended!"

At the end of February, I had the honor of representing #wiunion as the pro-recall side of a forum. One of my co-panelists was the erudite Professor Edward Fallone of Marquette University. In his introduction, Professor Fallone gave a brief, but accurate, historical lesson of how and why the recall became part of the state constitution:

As it turned out, Professor Fallone was a life saver without meaning to be.

In his introduction to recalls, he gave a brief history on how the recall process was introduced into the state constitution. He said that at the time this law was being written and made part of our heritage, the people were outraged. He told the group that the people felt that the businesses were having too much influence on the government. The people felt that the politicians were being controlled by these businesses and that they were no longer paying heed to the citizenry.

Gee, now who does that sound like?

Contrary to what Schneider would have us believe, Scott Walker, Becky Kleefisch and the ALEC-controlled Republican senators are the textbook examples of why the recall was initially installed into our constitution.

But if you don't believe me, take it from Professor Fallone himself, who politely and systematically deconstructs Schneider's fallacious statements:

However, in order to arrive at this rather novel conclusion, Mr. Schneider contravenes two basic tenets of constitutional interpretation.

First of all, it is a mistake to construe the intent of a constitutional provision to be narrower than the plain text of the document. The text of Article XIII of the Wisconsin Constitution provides for the recall of “any incumbent elective officer.” Mr. Schneider would asks us to believe that the 1923 advocates of the recall did not understand the word “any” to include the governor. In so doing, he asks us to substitute his preferred result for the plain meaning of the text. This would be a mistake. In the Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36 (1873), the United States Supreme Court made the mistake of assuming that the drafters of the Fourteenth Amendment could never have intended the Privileges or Immunities Clause to have the broad application suggested by its language. As a result, the historian Edwin Corwin observed, this provision of the federal constitution was “rendered a ‘practical nullity’ by a single decision of the Supreme Court within five years after its ratification.”

Second, it is never proper to attempt to divine the original intent of a constitutional provision by relying upon the arguments of its opponents. Almost all of Mr. Schneider’s evidence in support of his proferred interpretation comes from editorials and statements of persons who opposed the ratification of the recall provisions. The statements of opponents are no evidence at all of the intention of supporters. When we seek guidance for the intention of the Framers of the United States Constitution, we look to the authors of the Federalist Papers (Hamilton, Madison and Jay) who argued in favor of ratification. We do not seek to understand the Framers’ intent from the characterizations of the text put forward by those who opposed the Constitution’s adoption. Opponents have every motive to misconstrue the language in order to alarm the public.

There is one aspect of this debate so rich in irony that it should not be lost in the debate itself.

As I've already noted, the recall process was incorporated into the constitution to prevent businesses and other well-moneyed special interests from having an undue influence on government officials. Schneider, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, first wrote this for WPRI, which gets a lot of its funding from the Bradley Foundation. The Bradley Foundation, as we are already aware, is one of those very same well-moneyed special interest groups which is having an undue influence on Walker and who knows how many others. The Bradley Foundation's chief officer, Michael Grebe, is Walker's campaign chair, for crying out loud.

Thus it would be a reasonable conclusion to say that Schneider's essay wasn't written to share the story of the recall, but to provide propaganda he was paid to produce, in order to protect his benefactor's investments in Walker and other government officials.

I also feel obliged to point out that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also ran a version of Schneider's propaganda in the Sunday paper. While they did identify Schneider of being part of WPRI, they do not disclose the truth of what WPRI is, thus giving the propaganda piece the illusion of credibility and thereby putting another nail in the coffin of journalism in Fitzwalkerstan.

ADDENDUM:  Schneider is now sniveling and actually saying that Fallone doesn't know what he's talking about.  Gee, who are you going to believe, a constitutional lawyer and a college professor or a paid political hack?  Schneider would have been smart to just take his losses.  Instead, he proves the adage regarding letting people thinking he's a fool instead of proving them correct.

My Evening At The Forum

Last Friday, shortly after my appearance on The Sara Schulz Show, I received  a phone call.  Apparently, there was going to be a forum debating the merits of the Scott Walker recall.  The person who was to be pro-recall part of the panel was called away for business and would not be able to participate.

The event was scheduled for Tuesday evening and was going to be held at the beautiful facility of St. John's on the Lake.  The host and moderator of the panel was Tony Busalacchi.  Tony was featured in this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article from a couple of years ago, and yes, his collection o art is gorgeous.

The anti-recall pundit was Rick Bass (pronounced boss), who had a very impressive bio, including being a member of Homeland Security and being a ranking officer in the Republican Party of Milwaukee County.  (That's the same group that had members like Darlene Wink and Tim Russell also as ranking officers.)

The other member of the panel was Professor Edward Fallone of Marquette University, a most learned man with whose work I was familiar and for whom I had a great deal of respect.  Professor Fallone would be a neutral participant there to explain the legal and historical background for recalls in Wisconsin.

Would I be willing to stand in as the pro-recall part of this panel of distinguished men?  I almost burst out in open laughter at the thought.  Who was I to be on stage debating the future of Wisconsin with these distinguished gentlemen?  But after a few minutes of cajoling and flattery ("Who else knows all the issues as well as you?" is like kryptonite to a blogger), I squelched the voice of reason and suppressed the drive of self-preservation and agreed to take part.

Later on, Tony called me and explained the format to me.  He would introduce the panel and then Professor Fallone would speak for a few minutes to explain the history and legal issues surrounding recalls.  After that, the panelists would be able to ask each of the other panelists one question.  After that, the panel would answer questions from the audience.

Seemed easy enough.

But then I spent the weekend obsessing about what questions I should ask.  I contacted some trusted friends to use as sounding boards and to get their input.  (Thanks for your patience, guys!)  I neatly wrote out the questions that I had in my notebook.  I reviewed the things that I had written and what others had written regarding the recall to prepare.

Tuesday morning finally came. I was as ready as I'd ever be.

I got dressed in the same ensemble that I wore last year when I participated in a panel discussing the role of social media and the protests.  I wanted to remember the support I received from my #wiunion brothers and sisters that day and use those memories to help carry me through this day.

After work, I went straight to St. John's.  I got there a little early, so I figured I'd take the time to review my notes in preparation.  But there was one slight hitch to that plan.

I forgot my notebook at home.

Feeling the panic rise, I did what came naturally.  I cried.  OK, not really.  What I did do was get on Twitter and tweeted about my nervousness.  The response was immediate and overwhelming.  Despite the fact that they couldn't be there in body, my #wiunion family was with me in spirit.

I took that strength and went in.

I met Tony and my co-panelists.  Tony then went over the format again.  He said that after Professor Fallone  gave his introduction, Mr. Bass and I would each have five minutes to speak towards our cause and then we would go to the questions.

Mentally, I started screaming.  A speech?!  A bleeping SPEECH?!?!  No one told me about a speech!  First I forgot my notes and now I had to ad lib a speech?!  Well, wasn't that great?

I then remembered having written a post about the five reasons to recall Walker.  I tried to remember all of the reasons and try to figure a way to put in a shortened version.

The crowd came in.  There was about 50 people there, almost all of them residents of St. John's.  They were a charming group of kind senior citizens with a reputation of being very active in their community and having a consistently high turn out in the polls.  But Tony had advised us that, like the rest of the state, this was a community divided, with very strong feelings on both sides of the issue.

My nervousness was starting to climb again.

As it turned out, Professor Fallone was a life saver without meaning to be.

In his introduction to recalls, he gave a brief history on how the recall process was introduced into the state constitution.  He said that at the time this law was being written and made part of our heritage, the people were outraged.  He told the group that the people felt that the businesses were having too much influence on the government.  The people felt that the politicians were being controlled by these businesses and that they were no longer paying heed to the citizenry.

Gee, now who does that sound like?

I won't bore the reader with a blow by blow account of the discussion, but I do want to give you some of the highlights.

My question to Professor Fallone dealt with all of the money that Walker was collecting, purportedly for the use of defending himself against the recall (but got the taxpayers to pay for).  As I had surmised, Walker gets to keep collecting unlimited amounts until a recall date has been set, which explains why he is pulling all these stalling tactics.  (On a side note, I called it - the teahadists are going to sue to prolong the process.  I guess legal defense attorneys don't come cheap.)

My question to Mr. Bass was to explain why it was OK for Walker to come into the Milwaukee County Executive position on a single-issue recall and to call for Doyle's ouster in 2006 for supposed corruption by his administration but it was wrong to recall Walker under the same offenses.  He dodged answering that one.

Mr. Boss' question for me was whether there would be the protests or the recall if the unions had not been harmed.  My answer was an unequivocal yes.  I pointed out that many of the protesters and recallers were non-union, private sector workers.  I added that it was people from all walks of life that were at the Capitol for months on end and it was this same wide sampling of Wisconsinites that braved this winter to collect the nearly two million signatures to trigger this round of recalls.  I added that as far as I was aware, there were no public sector unions that consisted of senior citizens, or of children, or of housewives, parents and/or grandparents.

I think that the most moving and inspiring part of the night is that each and every question was directed to Mr. Bass and challenged him on the current state of affairs.  That told me that everyone was seeing through the standard talking points offered by Mr. Bass and by WISGOP as a whole.

Mr. Bass took an interesting approach by stating that he's not there to defend Scott Walker and that Scott Walker could defend himself.  The other thing that I noted was that during the question and answer time with the audience, he often deflected the question to me to answer first.  It was as if he was more comfortable reacting and attacking my points rather than to try to defend or even endorse Scott Walker's actions.

I would say that I scored one of the biggest points of the evening when I, in response to a question about the mining bill, pointed out that it was the mining company that had written the bill and tied that into what Professor Fallone had taught us about the origin of the recall procedure in Wisconsin.  Another big point, judging from the reaction of the audience, was when I pointed out Walker's ever-present hypocrisy and made a comment to the effect of, "In Scott Walker's world, every day is Opposite Day."

After the event, Tony invited us all up to his apartment for a nightcap and a riveting conversation.

I would like to thank Tony and the others at St. John's on the Lake for a lovely evening and a warm reception.  I also thank them for the bottomless coffee cup.  I think I will by making more use of that than I'd care to admit.

I would also like to thank Professor Fallone and Mr. Bass for a lively discussion and making the nice a success.

I would most like to thank my brothers and sisters of #wiunion, who gave me support and cheered me on, and gave me their strength to successfully meet this challenge.  If I were to name each one, it would double the length of this article.  But at the risk of alienating all of the others, there is one person I'd like to thank for the strength lent to me and the inspiration to be as good as I could be: Thank you, Diane.

Now THAT'S A Shirt!

And I really, really want one.

Scotty, We're Coming For You!

Live from the Malt House, Madison, WI:



The Kissers

I Thought The Mines Were Supposed To Create Wisconsin Jobs...

Here all along, Scott Walker and his cronies were telling us how allowing mining companies to come in and rape our natural resources and pollute our air and waters would be OK because they created good-paying jobs for Wisconsinites.

We now learn that not only is this not true, it brings scum here to endanger our police officers and clog up our courts and prison systems and use up more of our preciously scarce tax dollars:

“We wanted to isolate the room before we made contact with the individual,” Tomah Police Chief Wes Revels said.

He said the displaced guests, all of whom were part of a construction crew with Roark, were moved to vacant rooms on the second floor. Revels said they were performing work at a local sand mine.

Roark was arrested and was being held in the Monroe County Jail on suspicion of endangering safety while intoxicated with a firearm, failure to comply with police, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon.

So, while Walker has driven tens of thousands of jobs out of the state over the past six months, the few jobs remaining our going to out-of-state, drunken, gun-toting idiots?

We can't get rid of him fast enough.

#wirecall Goes International!

And #wirecall got a very nice summation from the Guardian with this classic ending:

As attention remains fixed on the fervent, fierce conservative-dominated contest in South Carolina, careful observers of American politics should be keeping an eye on events elsewhere. They are showing the American left – so often derided and so often ineffective – can sometimes throw a pretty mean tea party of its own.

But it is a sad commentary that we have to go overseas to get find a media source that gets it and is willing to tell it as it is.

H/T to the great, but not late, Illy-T