The Janesville Gazettes Going Away Present To Paul Ryan

By Jeff Simpson 

We have pointed out before that the Janesville Gazette is having trouble letting Paul Ryan go.  After Paul Ryan announced he would no longer be running, the editorial department at the Gazette wore black for days.   I would guess that anytime The Donald makes major news, that you can find the editorial staff at the Looking Glass, drowning their sorrows in what might have been!   

After much thought, different ideas, and cake the Gazette had to figure out what parting gift could they give their dearly beloved.   With the dwindling state of the newspaper industry, coupled with Paul Ryan's extravagant tastes, made a nice dinner out of the question. 

The Gazette did the next best thing. and decided to give Paul Ryan one last parting gift, endorsing his clone.   They felt that if they can not have Paul in office, his driver would be the next best thing.    

What really freed up their time though to do this, was they let Paul Ryan's SuperPac - Congressional Leadership Fund write the endorsement for them.    

The 1st Congressional District race is a story about Randy Bryce’s shortcomings as much as Bryan Steil’s qualifications.
With a lengthy arrest record and a history of falling behind on child-support payments, Bryce is in no way congressional material. How Bryce managed to defeat Cathy Myers, a school teacher and Janesville resident, in the Democratic primary would be a mystery except that Bryce benefited from a much larger campaign war chest.

The paper that loves Paul Ryan complaining about a candidate having too big of a war chest.  Thats rich(pun intended).  

  A candidate’s character matters less today than it once did, but Bryce’s personal failings are extraordinary, even by today’s crumbling standards for our nation’s leaders. The problem is not so much Bryce’s past mistakes but that he showed an inability to learn from them. He didn’t rack up merely one OWI in 1998 (plenty of voters can identify with this). He was then picked up three times for driving with a suspended license and was arrested on a warrant for failure to appear. 

Really?   The Gazette, who refused to endorse in the last Presidential Race, has decided that Randy Bryce's history is outrageous but The Donald's is not. 

 And lest there be any doubt as to whether Bryce is a “changed man,” the state of Wisconsin placed a lien on Bryce’s property in 2015 for delinquent child-support payments to his ex-wife. Bryce paid off the debt only after announcing his candidacy last year.

The "money shot" from the paper that perennially posts about the great family man that Paul Ryan is, now judges how Randy Bryce raises his child.   Apparently they know more than Randy's ex-wife who says:

Boudreaux says she is very grateful to Bryce for the "supportive and respectful co-parenting relationship we have" for their 12-year-old son

Now I do not know who to believe, the Janesville Gazette editorial board or the mother of Bryce's child.   Diane Hendricks would be so proud! 

His background more closely resembles the kind routinely encountered by probation officers, not 1st Congressional District voters. To attempt to twist his arrest record into a symbol of the everyday working man, as Bryce’s campaign has done, is perhaps one of the most cynical and offensive ploys we’ve ever witnessed.

Because no normal person has ever committed the crime of driving to work without a license. 

 While we’re not fans of negative campaigning and believe every candidate must make a case for himself, Bryce’s personal failings are too egregious to ignore. The stakes are too high for someone of Bryce’s caliber to slip into office.

There is no place for negative campaigning only negative editorials and endorsements. 

 As for Steil, he is sometimes derisively described as a clone of House Speaker Paul Ryan, though Steil is no Paul Ryan (and we mean that as a compliment to Ryan). Indeed, it’s an impossible comparison for Steil to live up to, as it took Ryan years to develop into the powerful statesman he’s become.

Some people compare Steil to Ryan as a criticism, but we think he is dreamy.   

Steil has a lot to learn, including fleshing out his policy positions. One of our criticisms of his campaign has been its underwhelming message and lack of policy specifics. For all the criticism we’ve leveled against Bryce, his platform (as radical as much of it is) leaves no question on where he stands. We can’t say the same for Steil’s.

While Steil, has no substance at least he isn't the radical socialist leftist that Randy Bryce is.   Did you know he actually thinks all people should have health care and a living wage? 

But we’re not too concerned about Steil’s future, and we suspect he’ll take a path similar to Sen. Ron Johnson’s. As a businessman without any previous political experience when elected in 2010, Johnson had a large learning curve to overcome. He’s matured as a politician and today exhibits a strong handle on many issues affecting Wisconsin.

We like Steil’s eagerness to tackle the nation’s spending problem and hope he can make progress on one of Ryan’s major goals, entitlement reform. Securing the financial future of both Social Security and Medicare should be a top priority for the next Congress, and Steil has an opportunity to shine on this front.

“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group of course that believes you can do these things. Among them are a few other Texas oil millionaires and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”― Dwight D. Eisenhower

As Steil learns the job, he’ll likely close the knowledge gap with Ryan. He’ll have to put up with comparisons to Ryan for a while, but we’re confident he’ll leave his own mark on Congress.

Now I feel bad, I would not want anyone compared to the real Paul Ryan!  

The Gazette, in fawning over Paul Ryan and anyone in his entourage(life Steil) has really done a disservice to the great city of Janesville and our state of Wisconsin.   
They still need to change their name to the Paul Ryan Messenger!

Please vote for Randy Bryce in the 1st CD, instead of Paul Ryan's chauffeur!   

We need someone who actually cares enough to stop things like this from happening in the future(Janesville GM plant)! 

Ryan Takes The Low Road Out Of Office

More than a year ago, Randy "Ironstache" Bryce introduced to himself to the world and announced that he was running to repeal and replace Lyin' Paul Ryan. The video quickly went viral and his campaign became a juggernaut.

As the gentle reader knows, he already repealed Ryan who announced his retirement rather than try to take on Bryce and his swelling grassroots campaign. In his stead, Ryan offered up his hand picked successor and clone, Lyin' Bryan Steil. In no time, it was apparent that Steil was faring no better than Ryan.

To bolster Steil's flailing and failing campaign, Ryan decided to have his super PAC launch $1.5 million dollars worth of attack ads. In two consecutive days, he's put out two such ads. The first ad tries to besmirch Bryce for 20 year old traffic tickets and a couple of recent arrests when Bryce was protesting Ryan's malicious agenda and standing up for DREAMers.

Ryan's second ad really bottoms out when he has Bryce's own brother expressing faux outrage at Bryce's "anti-police behaviors." This is a rather odd line of attack since Bryce's father was a cop and Bryce's brother is a cop. It's not surprising, though, that Bryce's brother would be a willing participant in this smear job. He is a Republican, has donated to both Ryan and Steil, and had even considered running against Randy himself but couldn't get any support from the Republicans.

Ryan really put his foot in it when he decided to air this ad. He got Momma Bryce very upset and everyone knows that there is nothing fiercer than a mother whose baby is being put in harm's way.

Randy's mom, Nancy, penned a letter and sent it to the media:

The mother of Democratic congressional candidate Randy Bryce said she was deeply hurt to see a Republican group launching an attack ad featuring Bryce's brother.

Nancy Bryce called for that ad, which is part of a massive $1.5 million media blitz by the Congressional Leadership Fund, to be taken off the air.

"I’m used to my sons getting into disagreements with each other — every mom is. And I understand that my boys see the world differently when it comes to politics," Nancy Bryce wrote in a letter provided to the Journal Sentinel by the Bryce campaign.

"There is now a group of people from Washington who consider it a good idea to pit my boys against each other for their own political gain. But they didn’t consider a mother’s pain at seeing her children used as tools in a political fight, splashed with millions of dollars of ads across the airwaves."

Mama Bryce also called for the ad to be taken off the airways.

Randy also replied to Ryan's smear job with his own ad, basically admitting that he had made mistakes and that he owned up to them:



This much honesty is unfathomable to Lyin' Ryan or Lyin' Bryan who haven't taken responsibility for anything in their miserable lives.

Seeing how Ryan is willing to put limitless money into this race, it is all the more important that we support Randy anyway we can. Please help, if you can.

Sore Loser Of The Day

Randy Bryce told me that when Cathy Myers called him last night to concede the election, she was actually pleasant.  I thought that was a nice surprise, especially after the highly negative and vitriol-filled campaign she ran.  I naively thought that that was at least over and we could just move on to take out Lyin' Bryan Steil, Ryan clone.

Then when I got home tonight, I saw this:

Man, that is just sad.  I just hope that Myers keeps her word and endorses Randy for the general election.  

Lyin' Ryan, Cathy Myers Try To Slow Down Randy Bryce's Momentum

Every since Randy "Ironstache" Bryce ran his introduction video last year, his campaign has only continued to pick up momentum and energy. This led to Bryce repealing Ryan earlier this year and has continued as he steams towards replacing him.

What the reader might not be aware of is that Bryce has to get past a primary first. Bryce's democratic opponent is Cathy Myers, an Illinois school teacher who lives in Wisconsin, just north of the Wisconsin state line. She has been desperately trying for a year to gain any sort of traction, becoming increasingly desperate and increasingly negative.

After the first debate between Bryce and Myers a couple of weeks ago, Paul Ryan's super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, came out with their results of a push poll they did. In their bogus poll, they showed that Bryce and Myers were in a statistical dead heat even though they provided no proof of how they reached their conclusion. Interestingly, it is the only time that Myers even registered on a poll.

Either unaware or not caring that it was a bogus poll put out by Ryan's group, Myers has been trying to run with it, using it as a talking point to raise funds:

Now that there is only a couple of weeks until the the primary on August 14th, there is evidence that Ryan and his super PAC are at it again. People are starting to ask about a push poll phone call they received which was heavily slanted towards Myers and paid for by Ryan's super PAC:

While it is not surprising that Ryan is trying to interfere with the Democratic primary for his old seat in order to help his hand-picked, would be successor, it is annoying. On the bright side, it is a clear sign of just how scared the Republicans are of Bryce and how desperate they are not to face him in November.

Bryce vs Myers: The Bernie Test

In advance of the upcoming primary, left leaning voters have been looking at the candidates, especially as to where they fall on certain issues.  One of those issues is where the candidate stood in the 2016 presidential election.  Were they standing with Bernie Sanders or did they support Hillary Clinton?

Randy Bryce has undoubtedly been a Bernie backer from the beginning.  In fact, Bernie asked Randy to speak at one of his rallies when he was running for president.  While Randy will readily admit that he voted for Clinton in the general election, that was only after Bernie dropped out and asked his supporters to support Clinton instead.

This year, Bernie has been here in Wisconsin for two separate rallies in support of Randy.  

But what about his opponent, Cathy Myers.  Myers also claims that she was a Bernie backer and denies repeated statements from people who were at the 2016 convention that she supporter Clinton.  However, there is no evidence of any pictures of Myers with Bernie or even at a Bernie rally.

But the thing that really blows holes in Myers' lies is the actual list from that convention on who was caucusing for Clinton.  If you look at the top of the list, you will see that Myers was one of the eight delegates from that district that were eligible to be a delegate for Clinton.

Click on image to embiggen it

It also blows her claim of being the more progressive candidate out of the water as well.

The sad part is that this far from the first time she's tried to mislead the voters and most assuredly won't be the last.

Randy Ironstache Bryce: First Unionized Campaign

Lyin' Paul Ryan has earned that moniker by his inability to ever tell the truth. Ryan will lie about anything and everything from the real results of his tax cut scheme to calling Social Security and Medicare "entitlements" to his own personal feats.

The polar opposite is Randy "Ironstache" Bryce. Not only does Bryce talk the talk, but he also walks the walk. Living up to his campaign positions, he now has the first and only unionized campaign:

Today, the staff for congressional candidate Randy Bryce announced their unionization, becoming the first campaign to sign a contract under the new Campaign Workers Guild. Bryce is challenging House Speaker Paul Ryan in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District.

“As a longtime member of the Ironworkers Local 8, I understand the importance of basic guarantees such as living wages, healthcare, and protection from sexual harassment and discrimination,” said Bryce. “I’m running for Congress in order to ensure that all hardworking people can have these protections, so it only makes sense to start with our campaign team now.”

The contract, ratified in December, includes reimbursement for health insurance premiums up to $275/ month, a one percent pay increase, a formal grievance process and a third-party reporting system for sexual harassment.

“The members of the Randy Bryce for Congress Union are proud to work for a candidate who practices what he preaches,” said Bryce Digital Director and Union Steward Nate Rifkin. “Campaigns are fast-paced, start-up like environments. There is no H.R. department, so having formal systems set up around grievances and sexual harassment are sadly rare on campaigns – but we’re proud that Randy is leading the way.”

Not only his campaign staff now unionized, Randy urged them on because he knows and believes in the value of organized labor:

Wisconsin congressional candidate Randy Bryce is a union man. He’s a proud member of Ironworkers Local 8 in southeastern Wisconsin. He has organized with workers, marched picket lines, and rallied against Republican assaults on labor rights. Bryce maintains a heart-and-soul faith that working men and women have a right to representation.

Including, he says, the working men and women who staff congressional campaigns.

So when Nate Rifkin, the digital director for the Democratic challenger to House Speaker Paul Ryan, brought up the idea of organizing workers on the campaign, Bryce recalls that his immediate response was: “Let’s do this.”

[...]

“If I’m talking about the importance of unions on the campaign trail, it makes sense that the people who work on the campaign should have representation,” says Bryce, who encourages other candidates to get to know about the efforts of the Campaign Workers Guild to assure that campaign staffers are treated with respect. That goes for the campaigns of Democrats and Republicans, says Bryce.

Does that mean that Paul Ryan should welcome union representation of his reelection campaign staff? “Absolutely,” says the challenger. “I would encourage him to do so.”

I can't say that this surprises me at all. I served with Randy on the Executive Board of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council and together, we organized one of the most original direct actions to support our brothers and sisters in the service industry. When Scott Walker and the Republicans were about to pass Act 10 in the middle of the night, Randy was there. When these same goons were about to pass Right to Work, Randy was there. When fast food workers protested for a living wage, Randy was there. When Michigan was working on their own anti-union laws, Randy was there.

It doesn't matter whether they were in the same union as Randy or even if they weren't union members at all, when workers were fighting for their rights, Randy would go where he was needed.

Randy also knows that a buck and a half a week isn't going to keep anyone's boat afloat, especially when they will lose hundreds of dollars at tax time. He knows that to raise all boats, it takes organized labor.

So naturally, he would be more than willing to not only allow, but help, his staff get organized. That's just who he is. He not only talks the talk, he walks the walk.

Although not surprised, I am doubly pleased and proud to be a friend, a fellow union member and a long time supporter of Randy's.

Please help Randy help all of us by fighting against the anti-worker agenda of Ryan, Trump and their Republican toadies and cronies. Please give whatever you can, even if it's just the $1.50 Ryan gave you in his tax cut.

Is Serb Hall's Fish Deep Fried?

Long time readers of this here blog might remember back almost six years ago to the saga of Serb Hall and the Solidarity Fish Fry.

The management at Serb Hall were trying to bust their union, blaming the union workers for costing them too much money. When we learned of the news, Randy Bryce (yes, THAT Randy Bryce) and I spearheaded one of the most unique direct actions in labor history.  Instead of the usual informational pickets or even a boycott, we organized the Solidarity Fish Fry.

The idea of the Solidarity Fish Fry was, instead of avoiding Serb Hall, everyone would go to Serb Hall every Friday for the then famous fish fry and eat to their heart's content.  The thing though was that when the people were to be seated, they needed to ask for a union table.  If a union table was not available, then you'd say you'd wait for one. 

The effects were clear on the first night when scores of people showed up for dinner.  Randy and I did this week in and week out for six straight months.  We had people from all walks of life - and from all parts of the globe - come join us to raise their forks in solidarity.

Unfortunately, it did not work out the way we had hoped.  During negotiations, the management declared an impasse and broke the union.  As it turned out, they also broke their own backs at the same time with businesses dropping as word got out.

The reason that I bring all this up now is that over the weekend, I had run into one of the union waitresses Randy and I and few score of our closest friends tried to help.  She said that she was still at Serb Hall but only part time because things were going to badly.

As we talked, two things that she said really struck me.

One, she said that Serb Hall's business had cratered so badly that they were having problems meeting payroll.  Sometimes workers were going for days after payday before receiving their checks, putting the worker's personal budgets into tailspins.

The other thing was that whatever money problems Serb Hall was having had nothing to do with the unions.  It turned out that one of the managers was embezzling tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.  But given the top manager's boorish and idiotic tendencies, I would not be surprised to learn that he new about it for a while but still blamed the unions.  I hope he's proud of killing the business out of spite and ignorant hatred.

Greed never wins.

ADDENDUM: Oh, Randy, if you're reading this, I'm supposed to tell you that the waitresses are cheering for you in your race to repeal and replace Lyin' Ryan!

Ryan Reluctantly Calls Trump's Shithole Comments "Unfortunate, Unhelpful"

Lyin' Paul Ryan hadn't commented for a whole day after news of Trump's racist shithole comment broke. It was only when pressed to do did Ryan give a response to it, and to say it was lackluster would be an understatement:

"I read those comments later last night," he said. "So, first thing that came to my mind was very unfortunate, unhelpful. But you know what I thought of right away, I thought about my own family.

"My family, like a whole lot of people, came from Ireland on what they called the coffin ships then. Came here and worked the railroads. The Irish were really looked down upon back in those days. I hear all these stories from my relatives about 'Irish need not apply.' We could basically get construction jobs, cops and firefighter jobs."

Ryan spent most of his time as he usually does, trying desperately to get someone - anyone - to like his tax cuts for the wealthy.

Of course there was no mention at all of censuring Satan's Oompah Loompah.

Ryan's Democratic opponent, Randy "IronStache" Bryce laid it out clearly:

No @SpeakerRyan, Donald Trump's remarks aren't "unfortunate." They're racist, bigoted, and un-American. And if you can't see that, you just might be too. https://t.co/w5VTY8hzo8

— Randy Bryce (@IronStache) January 12, 2018

Personally, I think Randy was a little harsh on Ryan. After all, I'm sure it's hard for Ryan to take a stand against evil when he doesn't even have a spine.

But the clear difference between the two candidates is part of the reason why IronStache continues to run such a strong campaign. He's connecting with people on their level. That would also explain why in the last quarter of last year, Team Stache raised $1.2 million from 82,000 people, averaging $24-25 per donation.

If you want to be part of the Blue Wave that sweeps Ryan out of Washington and replaced by Randy, you can help out here.

Randy Bryce: It Takes A Lot To Do A Little

Six months ago, Randy Bryce took the State of Wisconsin and the nation by storm when he announced his candidacy to run against Lyin' Paul Ryan and launched one of the most amazing videos in this cycle. It struck a chord with almost everybody because it accurately portrayed Randy as an every day guy - a guy who is struggling to meet the needs of his families but finding it harder and harder to do so.

If the gentle reader thought Randy's first video was powerful, grab a tissue as you watch the second one. This time, Randy points out that his campaign is not about him - it's about all of us. In just a few short days, during the holidays even, the thing has gone viral.

When Randy introduced his video, this is the message he sent with it:

We used to have something waiting for us. Footsteps to follow. A trade. The promise of better times for our families if we paid our dues.

But now, that promise has been broken.

CEO's close factories to avoid paying pensions to workers who have been loyal for twenty-plus years, just so their stock price goes up and they can make more money.

Drug companies that used to sell decades-old drugs for a few dollars a bottle sell-out to private hedge funds and wealthy investors who jack up the price of that same medicine hundreds and thousands of times over.

Politicians cut pay for teachers, close public schools, and increase our kids' class sizes so they can give billionaires and corporations another tax break.

So we break a sweat and we break our backs, single moms, and line workers, and teachers, moving mountains, working our fingers to the bone, pouring every ounce of blood and sweat, making sure the foundation of the work today makes tomorrow better for our families, for our brothers and sisters, and for our communities.

Because it's about survival.

From the beginning, this campaign has been about whether ordinary people can come together to build each other up like we do in our neighborhoods and shake the foundations of Washington.

Paul Ryan and his allies have made it perfectly clear they don't care about us anymore. After giving the top 1% another massive tax cut at our expense, Ryan now wants to decimate Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. And that's not even a surprise.

When we defeat Paul Ryan, and swing the massive arm of change back towards working people, all of this hard work will have been worth it. This is why we're going to win. It's what separates us from the other side: We care about everybody -- and they don't.

When Randy is saying that this campaign isn't about him, it's about all of us, he's not just offering up empty rhetoric. He's no Paul Ryan. Ryan will say what he thinks the people want to hear and then go about doing the dirty work that his dark money masters tell him to do - giving them massive tax breaks, even if it means breaking our backs to do so.

Randy is a good union man and not only knows, but lives, the meaning of solidarity. He knows that no one person can do this alone but it will take all of us, pulling together, to overcome Ryan's masters and make ourselves a seat at the table. The rich aren't going to give us anything just because we ask for it. We have to wrest it away and make it ours.

Let me remind you that it took all of us to show Randy that we had his back and we were going to be with him every step of the way.

Now, we still have 10 long months to go. The fight to win this won't be easy. But nothing worthwhile ever is. Randy needs us to support him and help carry him just as much as we need him to take on Lyin' Ryan and put him out of office. Please help out Randy - help out us - see this all the way through. You can give Randy your support by sharing his video and by chipping in whatever you can afford to get this done.

But what ever you do to help, don't think of it as just giving another politician a bit of your money. Think of as investing in your future, just like paying union dues.

Solidarity Fish Fry - The Stache Edition

Friday night fish fries are a Wisconsin tradition. Lyin' Paul Ryan getting reelected feels like another tradition - a really unfortunate tradition.

But traditions are made to be broken.

So, Saturday night, State Representative Christine Sinicki and yours truly took great pride in hosting the first ever Saturday night fish fry and the first ever #StachSolidarityFishFry.  We hosted this event in order to raise funds who is going to break that most miserable tradition of Ryan getting reelected.

It was a grand event with good food and even better camaraderie. And thanks to Christine, everyone got a special surprise which made the event all the more fun.

Without further ado, here are some pictures from the event.

First, here's Randy addressing the crowd:

And here are some pictures of the attendees showing their support for Randy in a very fun and nontraditional way, thanks to Christine's surprise:

This couple, John and Annie, had their first date at the original Solidarity Fish Fry.  Their love is still going strong.  Randy is not only a hard worker, a champion  of the people, but also moonlights as Cupid:

Your hosts:

Randy's son:

The best picture of the night:

Group photo!

Lastly, in case anyone thought I was kidding about Randy's fondness of tartar sauce...

If you missed this one, don't feel bad.  We're already talking about having another one later on.

Of course, I'll keep you, gentle fish eater, informed.

Paul Ryan: Cut Rate Action Hero Wannabe

Ever since Randy Bryce hit the campaign trail with a video seen around the world, Lyin' Paul Ryan must be feeling a tad bit nervous.

So what's a scared, pencil-neck geek supposed to do? Why, make his own video of course! And just any video, but one that shows he's just as macho as any iron worker and one that throws red meat to the base, like xenophobia and bigotry.

The part Ryan forgot was not to make himself look even more like a 90 pound weakling in the process. Thus, hilarity ensues:

RT if you agree→ It is time for The Wall. pic.twitter.com/s5MO8SG7SL

— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) August 1, 2017

Oooh! He flies in a chopper! He rides on a boat! He rides a horsie, and not just the one in front of the Walmart!

The thing Ryan likes most about his little video is that the taxpayers got to pay for it because he disguised it as a video about the wall and not himself.

But it does raise more than a few questions...

Is it me, or is Ryan riding a pony? And doesn't it look like he's about to fall off of it at the end? Are we sure that's even Ryan and not a stand in? Did anyone else hearing the village people singing "Macho Man" as they watched that video?

All I know for certain is that Dudley Do-Right has nothing to fear from Ryan.

The twitterverse doesn't seem to be very impressed with Ryan's video attempt either.

This isn't Ryan's first go at being an impostor either.

When he was running mates with Mitt Rmoney, he did a photo op at a soup kitchen in Ohio. But they weren't serving anyone at the time and the pots that Ryan was scrubbing were already clean. To make matters worse, Ryan hadn't called ahead to even get permission and just barged into the place.

It's time and then some to repeal and replace this faker with Randy Bryce, a real hero (US Army veteran) and a person who knows how to do real work. And if you can, throw a few bucks to help Randy lead on to victory. If you can't afford anything right now, give him a shout out of encouragement and thanks on teh twitter at his now famous @IronStache account. He's very appreciative of those and it helps him keep going.

Eat Fish Fry, Support Randy Bryce #StacheSolidarityFishFry

Long time readers of this blog will remember that a few years ago, Serb Hall, the go to place for Friday night fish fries, had a management change and were now trying to bust the union there.

Randy Bryce and I came up with a unique way to send a message to management that we were not going to accept that, the Solidarity Fish Fry:

Something has to be done to help our brothers and sisters out.

But that something is not what some of you might suspect.

Usually the response to this sort of action would be to go to Serb Hall and protest their unfair labor practices and/or to boycott the place.

I do want you to go to Serb Hall, but not to protest or hold a rally.

I want you to go to Serb Hall and enjoy a fish fry. But I want you to go and make sure you ask to be seated in one of the union waitress sections. Ask for Patricia, Sandra, Mary Ann, Victoria, and/or Michelle. If the hostess tries to tell you their sections are full, tell her you'll wait until there is an opening.

And while the board had taken away their gratuities, the union won them back through arbitration. So after you have enjoyed your meal, please make sure you leave a healthy tip. The waitresses will appreciate it and it will send a clear message to the board that they would do well to rethink their policy.

And tell them Cog Dis sent ya.

Every Friday for about six months, Randy and I could be found at Serb Hall with scores of friends and allies, union and non-union, eating fish fries, enjoying the solidarity and camaraderie, and supporting the union. Unfortunately, it didn't work out the way that we had hoped. We were able to force management into arbitration, but they declared an impasse and ended up breaking the union. So all the unions and the Milwaukee Area Labor Council stopped holding meetings and events there. It's turned into a ghost town ever since.

And even though things didn't work out the way we wanted, people missed the Solidarity Fish Fries. It had become a support group for all of us as much as it was for the union members at Serb Hall.

Well, boys and girls, it's baaaaaaack!

Given that my union brother and friend, Randy Bryce, is running to dethrone Lyin' Paul Ryan, he's gonna need all the help he can get. Ryan is sitting on a king's ransom of money and feels so secure in his gerrymandered seat that he is willing to dance on the third rail of taking away health care from 23 million people, tens of thousands of whom live in his district.

Randy is off to one helluva start with that awesome video, a slew of TV appearances, both nationally and locally and a breathtaking groundswell of grassroots support from around the district, the state and the nation.

Now is our time to be the change we want to see and work - and eat - to help get Randy into Congress, thus the first ever Stache Solidarity Fish Fry!

Join Randy and I for the a fish fry at Clifford's Supper Club in Hales Corners, on Friday, August 11, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.

(Fun fact: We will be in the same hall that my beautiful bride and I got married in 18 years ago. Expect us to do a lot of reminiscing.)

The details for the Stache Solidarity Fish Fry are the event page on Facebook:

Please join the Ironstache, Randy Bryce, and our hosts for a great Friday Fish Fry to support his campaign to defeat Paul Ryan.

Please arrive at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, August 11, 2017, at Clifford's Supper Club, 10418 W. Forest Home Ave. Dinner will be served at 6:00 p.m., with a short program during the meal.

There are limited seats available so get your tickets now! Please note that RSVP'ing on Facebook does not reserve your seat - you must purchase your ticket at https://secure.actblue.com/donate/randybrycefishfry.

$25 of your ticket goes to pay for your all-you-can-eat fish fry, including 1 beer or soda, tax, and tip (although we encourage additional tipping for the workers at the restaurant!) and the remaining $25, $75, or $125 is a contribution to the Randy Bryce for Congress campaign.

Please note, this venue is not disabled-accessible. We apologize for that and we will be having additional events at disabled-accessible spaces.

Questions? Please email info@randybryceforcongress.com or call (262) 260-9366.

Kid Friendly

You can order your tickets here but please be advised that you might experience a little sticker shock at the prices. As noted above, it does cover a lot of things, not the least, support for Randy.

So come and break cod with us and support Randy as he goes on to recall and replace Lyin' Ryan! All are welcome, both old friends and new!

Paul Ryan's Vulnerability Grows, As Does The Republicans'

Lyin' Paul Ryan's popularity continues to fall into a sinkhole.

There's RyanCare (or Trumpcare, if you prefer) in which 24 million people will be put in harm's way so that Ryan can give huge tax breaks to the already filthy rich. He wants to give away the nation's natural resources for fun and profit, the environment be damned! He's waging war against women, minorities, workers - well, basically anyone and everyone who isn't a rich, white man that donates generously to him.

Then he refuses to meet with the people he is supposed to be representing. He doesn't hold town halls, he doesn't accept phone calls and he ignores emails. Even worse, he unconstitutionally denies even allowing the people to air their grievances by refusing to accept petitions.

And now, we see that 300 good paying jobs are being lost to Canada has Ryan and the other Republicans had their little political tantrum over the Export/Import Bank. As they shut the bank down for five months, Canada swept in and stole GE and all those jobs.

According to a poll done last month by Public Policy Polling, Ryan has only a 43% approval rating and a 51% disapproval rating. More significantly, Ryan is losing by two points to "Someone New." by a 48-46 score.

As Ryan continues to snuggle up to Trump, you can safely bet his numbers will continue to drop like a rock.

That is why it is so important that we are successful in drafting Randy Bryce to take him on.

In an opinion piece, Alan Talaga makes an interesting speculation about a possible Bryce - Ryan match up:

The combination of a good Democratic challenger, national voting trends and the increased exposure of the speakership add up to spell trouble for Ryan. Bryce doesn’t even need a lot of financial support from the national Democratic Party to get his campaign started. Bryce will be able to raise money by focusing on small, online donations.

[...]

That’s a drop in the bucket compared to what it will take to battle the sitting speaker. But it shows how eager people are to unseat Ryan. They are willing to throw a Subaru’s worth toward a candidate with no chance. If Bryce can show that he’s a viable candidate, he’ll be able to raise small funds from a nationwide coalition of those who see Ryan as a spineless lackey willing to put our democracy in peril in order to slash the social safety net.

While Bryce’s candidacy doesn’t have to cost Democrats much, it could end up costing the Republicans a lot. Ryan is an incredibly effective fundraiser for his party. That’s largely because he hasn’t had to worry about campaigning in his own district. If Bryce can get close to Ryan in the polls, it forces Ryan to spend time in the 1st District shoring up support. Every time Ryan has to attend a pancake breakfast in Elkhorn or a rally in Beloit, it hurts Republican efforts to hold on to their House majority.

Similarly, firing up Democratic voters in the 1st to come out against Ryan could reverberate throughout the state. The vast majority of new voters who come out to support Bryce will vote for Governor Walker’s challenger and to re-elect U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin. As we’ve seen time and again in Wisconsin, a handful of voters can make a seismic impact on election results.

Like I said, we've been working hard to draft Randy to take on this daunting task.

The good news is that sources tell me that an announcement will be coming real soon. Better yet, it looks like Randy has heard our collective voice and will get in it. This alone already has Ryan and the right wing corporate media getting their undies in a bundle:

House Speaker Paul Ryan, for the first time since entering Congress, may next year face a Democratic opponent who has a professionally managed campaign and the prospect of significant financial backing.

Randy Bryce, a local labor activist, is preparing a campaign launch in the coming weeks to challenge the Wisconsin House seat and has enlisted staff members including Bill Hyers, a Barack Obama alumnus who ran upset campaigns for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.).

In an interview, Mr. Bryce said he would seek to tether Mr. Ryan to President Donald Trump and argue that their effort to dismantle large parts of the Affordable Care Act has hurt working people in the district.

“They’re handcuffed together,” Mr. Bryce said. “People are having buyer’s remorse and they’re seeing what’s going on. Trump made a lot of promises that I can see why working people would support, but now they’re waking up.”

Get your checkbooks and credit cards ready, gently readers. Those of us in Wisconsin, make sure you have some comfortable shoes. It looks like if we are going to finally get rid of Lyin' Ryan, after 18 years of him feeding at the government trough, we are all going to work together to get it done.