History Made And Other Election Night Thoughts

First of all, congratulations to President Elect Barack Obama and Vice-President Elect Joe Biden. And congratulations to all of the volunteers, community organizers, and voters for a job well done. Whether you supported Obama or not, history was made tonight with the election of our first African American president. It is a sign of how far our world has come.

It is a sad commentary on our world though that PE Obama had to give his victory speech behind a box of bullet proof glass.

Congratulations also are in order to Senator John McCain. It was nice to see he regained his personal dignity and integrity. He gave a very classy concession speech. Too bad the same couldn't be said for many of his supporters, both at his party and in the blogosphere.

Many of the other races that hold interest have not been officially declared yet, but the signs are hopeful.

Congratulations to Sandy Pasch, who just one the State Assembly District 22. I hope that she continues the fine work her predecessor has done.

Also, it looks like Sheldon Wasserman is on his way to a fairly decisive victory of Alberta Darling to become the State Senator for Dictrict 8. It shows that the negativity of that has become too common among the Republicans is no longer being favored by the public.

AMENDED: It appears that negativity might win the day in this race after all. When I wrote this post originally, 60 percent of the votes were in, and Wasserman had a 60-40 lead. Now at 98% of the votes in, Darling appears to have eked out the election, although nothing has been formally called.

If Darling should manage to escape, I would like to offer her my congratulations. I would also offer my cond0lences to the people in the eighth senate district, as well as all the citizens of Wisconsin.

Congratulations to the citizens of the City of Milwaukee who voted for fairness in the sick leave referendum.

Congratulations also to the citizens of the County of Milwaukee, who were finally given a chance to voice their opinion, and used that voice to state that they want to save the parks and the transit system. Hopefully, the people in Madison will hear us now.

Finally, I would say to my fellow liberals and lefties: Celebrate now and enjoy the moment, for a moment. However don't get too happy or celebrate too long.

The real work starts now. We, of course, need to start taking measures to put this nation back on track to greatness. To secure the economy, to get our troops the hell out of Iraq and back to work on getting bin Ladin, and to restore our place of greatness in the world.

Yes, that is a list of hard jobs right there, but they aren't the only things we need to do. We need to be responsible and hold the people we just worked so hard to get elected to the promises they gave us. It does not matter whether they are in the state legislature, the US Congress, or the president elect himself. It is up to us to hold their feet to the fires, and ensure they do the jobs we elected them to do.

We also have to be vigilant ourselves and remember what we have been through, what inspired us to work so hard this election season. We do not want to become our leaders to become the liberal version of the Bush administration, nor do we want to become like some of the worst of the right wing supporters. We must reach across the aisle to those on the right.

Oh, I know the temptation is great to go to some of them and say something like: "Obama won. Get over it." Lord, do I know the temptation is great. But we must keep our values in mind, and not lose sight of who we are. I remember the pain I felt in 2000 and 2004. I remember the anger I felt as some, no way all, but some from the right rubbed our noses in it those years. Even though it would bring some satisfaction to turn around and do the same to them, I do not want to become like that which I hated.

I ask you, my liberal friends, to do the same.

Cognitive Choice '08: State Races

There are just too many state races for me to catch them all, but there are some that I would like to address.

Wasserman vs. Darling

I have already written extensively about this race in various posts, so I shan't rehash it all over again (you can thank me later). But I will offer this quick recap. Alberta Darling has probably done more in the past two months regarding her campaign than she has done in the last 18 years in the state legislature. But much like her long career, her campaign has either been ineffective, or actually a negative to society. Her lies have continued until today, at the eleventh hour.

Darling has nothing in 18 years to stand on, so all she has done is spread fear, innuendo, and outright lies regarding her opponent. Milwaukee Magazine has her own colleagues calling her a big do-nothing in office, and don't hold a lot of respect for her.

Wasserman is well liked by his constituents and his peers. If he does not have enough bills passed to satisfy some, well, most minority party members don't usually get their things through. What he has tried to get passed is commendable and would go long to benefit the state. Things like affordable health care, open and free elections, and dignity for all people, regardless of class, race or gender.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that would rather listen to Darling's lies, without looking at the fact that they are unsubstantiated and that she is equally guilty, if not more so, of what she is trying to hang on Wasserman. But from what I understand, the race is a close one, with Wasserman having a chance to eke out a victory.

As he should, given that he would be the cognitive choice.

Krupp vs. Ryan

Even though she is vastly underfunded when compared to Paul Ryan, Marge Krupp has Ryan scared. That is why even Dan Bice of MJS has noted that Ryan is sounding more like a Democrat than the ultra conservative that he really is. Ryan is realizing that his pro-Big Oil and pro-Big Business stances are not so popular as people, like the autoworkers in Janesville, are finding themselves unemployed in the start of a recession. Furthermore, Ryan has done nothing to help the state, much less the nation.

The cognitive choice would be to follow the Democratic wave and elect Krupp to replace Ryan, who is still trying to figure out how to fold his road map.

Kagen vs. Gard

Obviously, Kagen is the cognitive choice here. Even the Republicans realize this, or they would have fielded someone more competent than John Gard. Gard's claim to fame so far is to prolong the hit on Milwaukee taxpayers by not allowing the law to change, which would have allowed crooked cops, like the Jude cops, to be fired without pay.

Other races

As I said at the beginning of this post, there are just too many races to cover each one, but here are the cognitive choices in some of the other races around the state:

Sandy Pasch is the much better choice for the 22nd Assembly District. She has a more rounded background and is looking to improve life for all of Wisconsin citizens, and not just a select few.

Peggy Krusick is not my favorite person, but she is the strongest candidate for the 7th Assembly District.

Glen Brower should be the obvious choice to replace for Assembly District 21. Likewise, Tony Staskunas for District 15 and Dave Hucke for District 14.

Cognitive Choice '08: The Sales Tax Referendum

The other local referendum on the ballot tomorrow is regarding the sales tax.

The Milwaukee County Board has overridden a Walker veto to but an advisory referendum on the ballot. Let me re-emphasize this: It is only advisory. Even if it passes, it would still require action to be taken by the state legislature and the governor, and then it would still have to go through the county level, including another override of another guaranteed veto by Walker.

Opponents to the sales tax argue two basic points. That it would drive business out of Milwaukee and that it would not do anything to relieve property tax.

The first argument is the same tired old line that does not stand up to history. Milwaukee County's sales tax is already higher than surrounding counties, and businesses are doing fine. Furthermore, there are plenty of other cities that have relatively much higher sales tax than their neighbors, but they are also doing fine.

The second argument is also bogus. To support their argument, Walker and his allies have to stretch their time span by a decade or more to show a substantial increase. But tell me one thing that has not gone up drastically in 10 or more years. That is again a silly argument.

Proponents argue that it is necessary to save the parks, and especially the transit system, which will be all but destroyed in less than two years if another, stable funding source is not found. Another benefit would be the relief to the EMS system, and the ability to keep that running at top efficiency, and less overall cost than if each municipality tried to operate their EMS totally independently of their neighbors.

One other thing to keep in mind is the simple face that without the sales tax, bus routes will be cut drastically. Studies have shown that this means that 45% of people that are dependent on the bus to get to and from work will no longer be able to. This will not only cost them their income, but it will hurt the business that employed them. This in turn will also hurt the overall regional economy. Given the situation of the country's current employment situation, the county, and the entire southeastern Wisconsin region cannot afford to take that kind of blow, especially to save a possible couple of bucks.

I don't like paying more taxes any more than the next person. But I sure as heck don't want to pay more for everything because of the short-sightedness of others.

The cognitive choice would be to vote yes on the sales tax referendum. For more reasons why this would be a good idea, please click here.

Given the city's recent passing of the wheel tax, and the MPS approving a huge tax increase, I don't have a lot of hope of this passing. But there is still some hope that the people will see the value of their small investment, and the high level of return that they would see, and vote yes.

Cognitive Choice '08: The Sick Leave Referendum

This is really a no-brainer. The municipal referendum calls for mandatory paid sick leave for all companies in the City of Milwaukee.

The benefits are immeasurable. It gives parents the opportunity to stay home if sick, to take care of a sick child, and for abused and battered women to get to a safe place. Without fear of also losing their jobs.

It will help the economy and it will help people stay healthier. Sick kids won't be as likely to go to school to infect other kids. Sick parents won't be going to work to infect coworkers and customers. All of this will boost production in the long run.

I am sure that there will be some that will abuse it. There always has been and always will be, but the method to correct that is still the same. Fire 'em.

Likewise, I agree with some critics of the referendum in that it should not be the City of Milwaukee issuing this referendum. It should be statewide. But you have to start someplace.

And as for the worn out argument of costing jobs, ruining the economy, etc. That is the same tired line that they have used for generations to protest child labor laws, the 40 hour work week, paid overtime, and all the other things that many of take for granted.

For more information on the referendum, click here.

So vote yes on the municipal referendum.

And I predict that it will pass overwhelmingly.

Is Darling's Campaign In Trouble?

I wrote last week that Alberta Darling has been doing nothing but negative campaigning through this whole election cycle. I also remarked how her campaign seemed to be echoing McPalin's strategy, and how it wasn't working out for them.

Well, after conversing with some friends on the whole matter of negative campaigning, I thought I'd do some research on it. I was curious on the whys and whens of negative campaigns. For the most part, everything I've read appeared to be conflicting and not very definitive.

The most succinct explanation for these questions, comes from Wikipedia, which gives a few reasons on when a politician usually goes negative:

• when taking on an incumbent;
• when being significantly outspent;
• when there is irrefutable information that the opponent has done something wrong;
• when the candidate has little name recognition.

Well, Darling is the incumbent, she doesn't have proof that Wasserman has done something wrong, and she surely has name recognition after all these years serving her district.

Now, I am not privy to their campaign war chests, nor do I have knowledge of any current polls that have been taken regarding this race, but it seems to me that Darling is feeling the heat of a close race, or a race that she is actually losing. This would be hard for her to deal with emotionally, especially after all the times she was re-elected without any serious competition.

I then looked at what happens when a politician goes negative. Studies indicate that it is effective, which seems counterintuitive to me. But further reading shows that one of the results of excessive negative campaigning is that is reduces voter turn out, which is usually good for the incumbent, especially if the incumbent is a Republican.

But there can be backlashes, and that seems especially true this year. John McCain blew all sorts of money on negative ads, yet keeps falling farther and farther behind in the polls.

From The Moderate Voice:

An Ipsos public affairs poll released a few days after the final debate reveals that 57 percent of voters said the negative ads aren’t effective. Unless a candidate has a strong positive message outlining what he or she believes and is willing to push if elected, negative ads may also have a backlash effect as voters see only the dirt being thrown.

Sens. Norman Coleman (R-Minn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) are among leading
Republicans who have attacked the McCain attack ads. “They don’t serve John McCain well,” said Collins, co-chair of McCain’s Maine campaign. She said the ads, especially an automated telephone “robocall” that ties Obama to radicals, “does not reflect the kind of leader that he [McCain] is.” McCain’s negative ad campaign was also one of the reasons why Colin Powell—chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under George H.W. Bush, secretary of state under George W. Bush—crossed party lines three weeks before the election to endorse Obama.

Another negative arises with the use of negative ads. With voters being bombarded with radio, TV, Internet, and direct mail ads, the effect isn’t so much an additive effect—the more ads, the better the possibility of retention—but a subtractive effect—voters aren’t even paying attention. If they do, it’s solely to names, with name recognition often overriding political issues. Thus, if a negative TV ad mentions an opponent twice as many times, the voter comprehends the name, not the message; the brain may be subconsciously processing names, as it does when confronted by thousands of lawn signs and billboards, with the most mentions leading to a vote.

And from The Nation:

So when should a candidate use negative information about an opponent? The rule of thumb for professional campaign consultants is: "Never, never use negative campaign tactics unless your have to." Clearly, a candidate that can run an impeccably positive campaign and win by a comfortable margin is much better off running a "clean" campaign than a negative one. However, there are many instances in which a candidate cannot (at least in his or her own estimation) win simply by presenting positive information about him or herself. In every electoral contest, candidates try to secure the support of enough voters to win on election day. This process is a zero-sum game. A vote for one's opponent is one few vote a candidate will get on election day. A vote taken away from one's opponent is generally transferred to one's self. Winning voter support, then, can be accomplished by building strong support for one's self or by undercutting public support for one's opponent. When candidates struggle in their efforts to build positive images of themselves, many choose to close the gap by tarnishing the images of their opponents.

Given the realities of modern political campaigning, it should come as no surprise that the candidates most likely to use negative ads are challengers. Incumbents have generally spent years building positive images of themselves among voters. The longer an image of a candidate is maintained in the minds of voters, the more difficult it becomes to change that image. A challenger hoping to unseat and incumbent must provide evidence that the positive images voters have of their opponents are inaccurate. It is generally not enough for a challenger to simply present a positive image of him or herself. In fact, if voters have equally positive feelings about both candidates, the incumbent is bound to win on election day because the incumbent is a more familiar and proven commodity.

Sheldon Wasserman is technically the challenger in this race. However, due to his long record of serving ably in the State Assembly, he already has the name recognition and the good reputation enjoyed by incumbents. That is why he was able to come out with a positive commercial whereas Darling's commercial have been negative.

It can't be a good sign when the incumbent is feeling like the challenger, and feels the need to go negative against her opponent, in a vain effort just to make herself look better in the eyes of the voters. I've said it before, but I still wish Darling all the same results that her negativity brings, as it has been working out for McCain. As I said at the beginning of this post, I don't know what the finances of either campaign are, nor do I know any polling results. But, judging from her desperation and extreme negativity, the numbers can't be good for Darling

I'm not the only one that thinks Darling must be in trouble. Watchdog Milwaukee has seen similar signs, using lawn signs. The only point I disagree with is that I'm thinking Wasserman is not catching up, but is actually ahead.

ADDENDUM: JSOnline is reporting today that Darling is still at it, but that she's just as bad at running a campaign as she is representing her district.

Darling's Bad Day At The Forum

On October 16th, 2008, the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations hosted a forum for the candidates running for the 8th Senate District and 22nd Assembly District. The Assembly candidates were Republican Yash Wadhwa and Democrat Sandy Pasch. The candidates for the Senate were Democrat Sheldon Wasserman and Alberta Darling.

Wisconsin Eye has a video of the entire forum archived at their site, and it can be found here.

I won't go into the Assembly race here, except to say that Pasch is obviously the much stronger candidate.

Regarding the Senate race, Alberta Darling probably was wishing she was at the driving range, or anywhere else for that matter. She did not have a good day.

Some highlights, with the approximate time on the Wisconsin Eye video:

For someone who had picked up the Right To Life endorsement, I'm sure she didn't make many friends among her neocon base by apologizing for her vote in favor of the "Conscious Clause," and basically through all her pro-life backers under the bus. (Approx. 1 hr 6 min)

Darling further alienates her conservative backers by stating that she backs a state wide smoking ban. (Approx. 1 hr 18 min)

One voter confronted Darling on her abusive and offensive robocall, which features Mark Belling literally screaming on his radio show. The voter really let her have it, severely admonishing her for her lack of class and decorum. The voter said that it shows what she really thinks of her constituents. Darling ended up apologizing for that as well. (Approx. 1 hr 23 min)

To hear the offending call, WisPolitics.com has it up as a podcast.

Immediately, after the apology, Darling tried to again offer up her unsubstantiated allegations of Wasserman breaking his no tax pledge. Wasserman quickly pointed out that Darling is lying. He pointed out that if it was true, she would be pointing out to the specific vote(s) in which Wasserman voted to specifically raise taxes. She has nothing.

A little time later, a business owner stood up to ask Darling a question about what the State of Wisconsin is going to do to help him and people like him survive, especially in today's foundering economy. As Darling gave a typical "we need to do this" and "we need to do that" type of answer, the businessman confronted her on her record.

He asked her how long she's been in government (he actually had to ask twice to get the answer). When she told him since 1990, he said that she's been saying the "we need to" spiel for 18 years and wanted to know when she was going to finally start actually doing something.

The business owner then started to walk away in disgust. It was Wasserman who got him to stop and become engaged again. He did it simply by asking the man what help he was looking for, instead of doing like Darling and talking about all the non-actions she had taken.

In summary, Darling managed, in the course of less than two hours, twice dissed her base, got blasted on her lies on her record and Wasserman's record on taxes, was scolded for disrespecting her constituency, and was further scolded for not doing her job for 18 years. Not a good day for her at all.

In related news, Darling seems to subscribe to the political theory of "If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes truth." JSOnline's All Politics blog points out that she is still trying to misrepresent the facts regarding their tax records.

Wasserman himself put it's best in a quote from the post:

"I signed a pledge in 2002 not to vote for any tax increases. Since signing the pledge I have not voted for a single tax increase. Senator Darling voted for 2005 Assembly Bill 58. She can call it whatever she wants, but attaching a catchy name won't hide the fact that the bill authorized increases in property tax levies across the state. ... The truth is that Senator Darling has a long record of supporting tax increases. If she had her way, drivers in Wisconsin would have paid an additional billion dollars in gas taxes over the last 13 years. Look it up. She voted for Senate Amendment 117 to 1995 Assembly Bill 150. She wanted to add a 3.2% oil franchise fee which would have increased the gas tax by 3.52 cents per gallon. I helped defeat that the amendment. It is a shame that the groups like Americans for Tax Reform have stopped fighting for taxpayers and become spokesmen for the Republican Party. Why else would they be attacking the only true fiscal conservative in the race? "

See how easy it is? All one has to do is offer proof to be credible. Darling still hasn't done that simple thing.

Watch the video for yourself, and you will see that Wasserman is the much more powerful, responsible and invested candidate. He is much more deserving to serve in the State Senate than Darling.

But being the helpful type of fellow that I am, I would offer her this link so that she can remain gainfully employed after she loses this election.

ACORN Is Not The Problem

I remember two years ago when various Republican legislators from each state had their own perverted version of a performing art stunt in which the legislators would stand in front of a house, usually in the inner city or other poorer area of a major city, waving papers they said had a list of thousands of names of fraudulent voters, and use almost the same speech to demand voter suppression. It turned out that these lists were bogus, and there was no mass conspiracy to steal the election. Not by the Democrats anyway. The Republicans obsession with trying to put the fear of voter fraud into people reached the point where any US Attorney with enough integrity to say that there was no conspiracy, was summarily fired.

Now the Republicans are up to the same shenanigans, but this time, ACORN is their bogeyman.

In the Seattle Post Intellingcer, there is an article this morning about the ACORN issue. Basically, it sums it up as that it is not ACORN that is the problem, but the individual canvassers:

But however deplorable the behavior of ACORN workers in submitting phony registrations for the likes of cartoon characters and sports stars, it seems unlikely that the group's misdeeds will affect many votes in November.

In issuing his dire warning in the debate, McCain apparently conflated voter-registration fraud with voter fraud. Voter-registration fraud -- at least, of the type ACORN workers committed in Seattle last year and allegedly engaged in elsewhere this year -- is annoying, potentially costly to taxpayers and certainly illegal, but not, by itself, a serious threat to democratic foundations.

Voter fraud, on the other hand, can change the outcome of elections.

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, a Republican, said last year that the ACORN case in Seattle had nothing to do with manipulating outcomes and everything to do with the workers' efforts to keep their $8-an-hour jobs. If anyone was defrauded, it was ACORN, an acronym for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

"The defendants ... cheated their employers to get paid for work they did not actually perform," Satterberg said. "The defendants simply realized that making up names was easier than actually canvassing the streets."

[...]

Voter fraud occurs when voters deliberately cast ineligible ballots. For example, a voter may fill out, sign and return a mail ballot sent to a fellow resident who recently died. Or a voter could impersonate an eligible voter and register and vote in that person's name. Or a voter who is not a U.S. citizen could nonetheless sign the oath of citizenship on the registration form and be placed on the rolls. Proven cases of voter fraud are rare.

Another type of elections fraud involves crimes committed by elections workers, such as creating bogus registrations and then filling out and counting ballots under those entries. McCain has not suggested that might occur in November.

Of course, facts like this won't slow the Republicans from trying to make ACORN into the Willie Horton of 2008*. This is even more clearly limned by the erudite Brew City Brawler, who highlights the fact that the recently announced FBI investigation into ACORN is purely a political stunt by the Republicans in a desperate effort to maintain what little control they may after the upcoming election.

The bigger concern should be the concerted effort across the country by the Republicans to blatantly prevent eligible voters from exercising their Constitutional right to vote. Fortunately, their scheme is so blatantly unconstitutional that even the conservative Supreme Court of the United States couldn't back up their efforts at voter suppression.

Tis a sad thing for the Republicans that they can not win on policies, nor even with their string of negative personal attacks. They have to resort to oppression and intimidation just to have a chance of minimizing the losses they are sure to face on November 4.

* The line was so good I had to steal it from Gretchen Schuldt.

Scott Walker: Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Last week, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker had a major hissy fit about the County Board sending out an informational mailing regarding the sales tax referendum that will appear on the November 4 ballot.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a story about Walker's outrage:

A planned mailing from the Milwaukee County Board to voters on the November sales tax referendum should be halted as inappropriate advocacy, County Executive Scott Walker said Wednesday.

[...]

Walker acknowledged the letter was within the law but said it was biased in favor of the sales tax increase proposal. County Board spokesman Harold Mester called the letter factual and neutral.

[...]

Walker called the mailing “outrageous.” He strongly opposes the sales tax increase and tried unsuccessfully to stop the referendum. Even though the letter may be technically legal, it still reads like propaganda aimed at persuading voters to support raising the sales tax, he said.

The very next day, the supposedly liberal editorial board of MSJ fell into line behind Walker with an editorial echoing Walker's outrage:

While the mailer apparently falls within the legal boundaries of what officials can do on referendums — state law prohibits them from advocating in a referendum, but it does allow for informational activities — the letter sends a distinct signal: The advisory referendum is a good idea. Just because “so, vote yes” isn’t explicitly written doesn’t mean it’s not there, in spirit and intent. That’s an inappropriate message for officials to send with taxpayer dollars.

[...]

Holloway argues that the mailing provides necessary information and that the County Board “should encourage voters to participate, regardless of their opinion.” He’s right, but the board shouldn’t advocate. We hope someone does step forward to get that useful information to the electorate. And we hope someone steps forward with the counterarguments for a vigorous debate. But none of the advocacy should be done with tax dollars.

[...]

But taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay for a mailing that seems to favor one argument over the other. The mailing comes too close to advocacy. It shouldn’t go out.

I wrote earlier this week that I thought it was questionable of the Board to take this action, but couldn't quite work up the outrage given some of the questionable actions of Walker, with his constant phoning in and emailing to talk shows like Charlie Sykes, Jay Webber, and Vicki McKenna.

But the real outrage is Walker's hypocrisy. While he is lambasting the County Board for wasting tax payer dollars on alleged advocacy regarding the sales tax referendum, he is doing the same damn thing.

On the official Milwaukee County website, Walker has his own page, which, again, is official property of Milwaukee County. A link on Walker's page leads one to another County website called Executive Updates, and is all full of Walker's newsletters. These newsletters are supposed to be informative and let the reader know of upcoming events, improvements to various County properties like the Zoo or the parks, and the such.

Walker's newsletter dated October 10, 2008 opens up to a two-page newsletter. The first page is all about Walker's outrage regarding the referendum and the Board's mailing.

In the left column is an editorial piece called "Message from County Executive
Walker" and it reads like one of his political press releases:

Supporters of the referendum to raise the sales tax by $130 million want to use our tax dollars to send an "informational" mailing out to the voters in Milwaukee County just weeks before the November 4th election.

Anyone can see that the "informational" letter being sent out to voters contains more than just the facts. It is clearly designed to sway voters to their position on the referendum question.

Worst of all, the very same taxpayers who will get stuck paying the bill on a $130 million tax increase (if the sales tax goes through) are the same people getting the
bill for the mailing and printing costs of the "informational" letter. All of this comes just weeks after the I asked all county departments to freeze travel and other
non-essential spending.

The Supervisors who are pushing this letter are the same ones who expect voters to believe that raising the sales tax will somehow lower our property taxes. It did not happen the last time the sales tax went up. In 1991, the County Board passed a sales tax with the promise of property tax relief. From 1992 to 2002, the tax levy went up 55%.

These are the facts but we are not going to use taxpayers funds to print them out and put them in a letter to voters.

Scott

P.S. Kudos to Supervisors Borkowski, Cesarz, Rice and Sanfelippo. They all rejected Chairman Holloway's request to send the mailing into their districts.

Good Lord, but if that doesn't sound like someone advocating against the referendum, I don't know what does. It is also chock full of half-truths and misinformation.

Walker doesn't mention that the County was having to increase taxes because the state legislature, of which he was a member at that time, kept short changing the County on mandated services. Much like he is griping about every year around budget time.

And for the truth about the referendum, you can visit the website for the Quality of Life Alliance by clicking here, or clicking on that big yellow icon in the sidebar.

The worst part is that he is doing this on an official County website, which was designed, supported and updated with the use of our tax dollars. For him to lambaste the Board for doing the exact same thing he does is the height of hypocrisy.

And if that wasn't enough, he continues in the next column, boasting about his press conference to express his faux and hypocritical hypocrisy:

...Walker pointed to Waukesha County businesses as the beneficiary of a sales tax increase in Milwaukee County. A new sales tax that is a full 1.5% higher than several of our neighbors - and the highest in the state - would create a tax island. At a time when the 2008 budget is tight, Walker asks why members of the County Board are spending funds on a campaign mailing to voters just before the November election.

Now, I am not a lawyer. Nor am I an expert on all the ins and outs of using governmental property for politicking. But if Walker and the MJS editorial board feel that the County Board's action, while perfectly legal, smacked to much of advocacy, what the heck are we supposed to make out of Walker's blatant use of County resources to advocate against the sales tax referendum?

To me it seems fairly obvious that if this doesn't run aground of the law, it should definitely be in the area of an ethics violation.

It is my understanding that this has been or is about to be referred to County District Attorney John Chisolm's office. It is also my understanding that members of the County Board have been made aware of Walker's misuse of County resources. I don't know if anything will come of this, but I will keep you, gentle reader, apprised of things as I learn of them.

If you are as angry at Walker's hypocrisy as I am, I encourage you to contact his office to express your anger. It also would be a good thing to let your County Supervisor know of your anger as well. You can find your Supervisor's name and contact information here.

And while we're at it, can we do that recall yet?

ADDENDUM: Not only does Walker use County property to expound his political points, but it is doubtful that Walker would have the necessary skill to produce these newsletters. The additional question would be then: Who did the work, and how were they paid? Was the author county employees? And if not, were tax payers monies used to pay whomever wrote and produced these "newsletters"?

Election News From The Northern Land

Despite the right wing meme that Obama doesn't relate to the country folk, I am glad to report that in the area of me northern castle, which lies in the shadow of the GOP's breeding ground, otherwise known as the Fox Valley, there are at least as many, if not more, Obama yard signs as there are McCain yard signs.

I realize that yard signs don't vote, but the people that put them on their lawns do. What is funny is that many of the McCain signs were in front of empty fields or forested regions. Read into it what you will.

I also saw this Kagen ad on the local TV stations up there:



I thought it to be a pretty powerful ad, and also probably helps explain why Kagen enjoys such a large lead over Gard at the moment.

Alberta Darling: My Staff Will Not Be Outworked

Last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a story about the political races that are forming up for this fall's elections.

Without a doubt, one of the biggest races on the local scene is the match up between state Senator Alberta Darling and state Representative Sheldon Wasserman. This is what Greg J. Borowski wrote about the race (emphasis mine):

In the Milwaukee area, the marquee battle pits Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) against Rep. Sheldon Wasserman (D-Milwaukee). In what could become an expensive battle, Democrats hope a win will add to their edge in the Senate.

“There is a huge mood in this country for change,” said Wasserman, who added, “This race will not be bought. It will be earned by someone knocking on doors.”

Wasserman said he has knocked on more than 17,000 doors (17,274 to be exact). Darling said she and her staff have visited 25,000 homes, including 10,000 since spring.

“I will not be outworked,” Darling said, adding: “People are looking for somebody who listens to them, hears them and works for them.”

It would be interesting to know just how many of those 25,000 homes Darling did herself, and if she spent any time with the people that live in those homes. It is also rather tacky to take credit for the work of others, even if they're volunteers for her campaign.

My personal impressions of Darling are not favorable, and she has spoken out of both sides of her mouth on more than one occasion. I remember that in the mid 1990's, she, along with Mia Farrow and a few other Republican Senators, spearheaded getting Milwaukee County's child welfare system privatized. On the morning that she came to speak to the county workers, in which she was going to thank and praise us for our years of devotion, the MSJ ran an article in which she completely smeared the workers, and not the fact that three different auditors found that the state had been shorting the system for years. Since then, the privatization efforts have only made things worse.

Now, more than ten years later, she even admits that she did a lousy job of it.

Crossposted at folkbum's.