Zeus Gets Greedy

By Jeff Simpson 

Zeus Rodriguez, cousin to Assemblywoman Jessie Rodriguez (R-Scott Jensen), has decided to go for the money.    

Until recently, Rodriguez was president of Milwaukee's St. Anthony School, the country's largest K-12 Catholic school system.  

The standards are so high at St. Anthony School that they hired Mr. Rodriguez to run their school, despite having zero experience in education.  

He did however, have experience, and a huge conflict of interest, in running a "non-profit" Hispanics for School Choice. 

How someone could run the "largest Catholic school system in the country and also run a "non-profit" especially where the two are not exactly equal is a question that needs to be asked. 

A quick look at the results and that question is easily answered.   

Rodriguez greatly increased the numbers of students attending St. Anthony.  

He was hired by St. Anthony a year later, in 2011. Since then the school has grown from about 1,476 students in four buildings to almost 2,000 students in five buildings, plus 280 employees.

Every child in the school means more and more dollars to pay for "presidents".   However the one thing that Mr, Rodriguez did not deliver is results or a high quality education(despite making that his priority(wink wink)).   

 As president, Rodriguez said, he aimed to focus on improvement."Our model was: Let's get aggressive. Accountability. Testing. Internal reviews. Let's improve," he said.

Like most urban schools serving predominantly low-income students in Milwaukee, overall state test scores for St. Anthony were and still are low. In the fall of 2010, just 7% of children could read proficiently, and about 10% could do math on grade level.

State data shows they jumped considerably by the fall of 2013: 12% of children were proficient in reading; 19% were proficient in math. That beat the average math proficiency score for all voucher schools but was the same for reading.

St. Anthony scores about the same as Milwaukee Public Schools; score comparisons vary, depending on whether all students or just low-income students are compared

While they have improved very slightly, I would guess much of that improvement came from the extra 500+ kids they sold snake oil too and stole from the public schools.   

88% of the kids in his schools are NOT proficient in reading and 81% of his students are NOT proficient in math,   In most schools that is a very solid F.    

It could possibly be blamed partly on the massive turnover at the school or it could be blamed on hiring a president to run a school who is a college drop out with zero experience in anything but selling Snake Oil.   

Mr Rodriguez had this to say:

"I feel like I've been called to effect change for underserved kids," Rodriguez said.

The problem is we see by the (lack of ) results he has delivered  for his kids and the fact he is now expanding his reach into other states (like Wisconsin), run by anti education far right ideologues, that maybe he was misquoted.   

This seems a more fitting quote for Mr. Rodriguez:

"I feel like I have been called to collect change(and dollars) by taking advantage of underserved kids".   

 

Jessie For Assembly

Not all political campaigns are created equal.  Some are better than others.

Whatever you think of the man or his policies, an objective, honest person would have to admit that President Barack Obama had run two very effective campaigns.

Likewise, there are people like Scott Kenneth Noble who would be able to campaign their way out of a paper bag even if they had a map.

There is another campaign, although only days old, that is showing that it could be one of the worst campaigns if it doesn't prove to be too forgettable.

The candidate is Jessie Rodriguez, the wife of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blargher Aaron Rodriguez, aka The Red Fox, Hispanicon and A-Rod. (Not to be confused with the PED-using ball player - the local A-Rod could never hit one out of the park, no matter what).  Jessie is running for Assembly District 21, whose seat is being vacated by the retiring Mark Honadel who was snubbed by Scott Walker but still wants his slice of the pie and thus is going into lobbying or something.

So even as she hits the ground running, she is disadvantaged with the craziness of her husband.  Aaron Rodriguez has such claims to fame as:

• Claiming that one should listen to what Scott Walker said he said and not actually what he said.
• Either lying about knowing facts regarding Walkergate or knowing about the criminal activities and doing nothing about it.
• Being one of Chris Abele's ghost writers.

Unfortunately for Jessie, it looks like she might be using her husband as her campaign manager.

If one looks at her Facebook campaign page, the first thing one might notice is that it's rather stark:

Click to embiggen

The second thing one might notice is that it doesn't even give her last name.  How is anyone supposed to know who she is. Thirdly, the page is missing any "paid for by" information.  Who is running her campaign? No one knows.

If you check her "About" page, one will find that it also doesn't include the "paid for by" information.  But it does show she's as whackadoodle as her husband:

Again, click to embiggen

Yes, she really said that the state was moving in the right direction on job creation and education.  

On the bright side, she's already gotten the support of such winners like Dan Sebring, whose running for the umpteenth time against Congresswoman Gwen Moore and Chris Abele's very own personally bought and paid for supervisor, Deanna "Purple Unicorns" Alexander.

After several minutes of searching, I did manage to find Jessie's campaign website, which is most definitely not ready for prime time yet:

Now, as I've stated at the beginning, this campaign is only a few days old, but with her loadstone of a husband and the apparent lack of knowledge of whoever is running her campaign, I hope she hasn't gotten her sights set too high for this campaign.

Chris Abele's Ghost Writer

In politics, it's not unusual for a politician - of either party - to want to stay above the fray of the fight, especially during a campaign or during a fight about a hotly disputed issue.  If there is some talking point that they really want to get out, but don't want to get their hands dirty, they will leak that information out to a reporter, a radio squawker or a blogger*.

The Teapublicans are exceptionally skilled with this sort of strategy.  They give a talking point to one of their propagandist groups like MacIver Institute or Media Trackers.  Then someone like Charlie Sykes or Mark Belling picks up on it and they all keep hammering on it.  Eventually, the local paper or TV news picks it up and suddenly a smear campaign becomes "news," giving a false credibility to the story.

But sometimes, this strategy can backfire, especially when it becomes too obvious.

Case in point would be these past two weeks and the fight over what form the "reform" of Milwaukee County Government should take.

Aaron Rodriguez, an extremist Teapublican who has delusions of being a reporter,  has a blog at JSOnline.  Most of his writing is blase at best, and is often painful to read.  But all of a sudden, he was breaking stories that broke bad against the county board.  On the same day or the day after that one of his "breaking reports" would appear, Milwaukee County Executive Chris "Lil Walker" Abele and/or Supervisor Deanna "Whatever you say, GMC" Alexander would be on the radio touting the story and expressing their shock, dismay and/or anger about it.

Then they would take great pains to tout Rodriguez' "reporting."

Gee, could I have been wrong all along about A-Rod, as he likes to refer to himself?

Not really.

As this screencap of one of Abele's emails shows, Abele and A-Rod were rather close buddies:

Click on image to embiggen

For over a year, Abele's been using Rodriguez to put out his talking points, his smear jobs, his fabrications and his obfuscations.   So much so that he couldn't even wait until he returned from vacation or use one of his staffers to do the job.  And there are hundreds like this.

The only thing that's not clear is whether this came from a county phone.  If it did, well, that would be against the law.  As Kelly Rindfleisch, Darlene Wink, and Tim Russell can testify, one can't use county equipment for politicking.

Alexander is even worse.  Anything that she got was immediately shared with Abele, Rodriguez, Sykes, Belling and even WVCY, a conservative Christian radio station.

So does anyone really think that a partisan hack like Rodriguez was breaking these stories, instead of having them spoon fed to him?

But now, when it comes to efficiency audits of the county, they will be able to get rid of Brendan Conway, Abele's official spokesman. Why spend taxpayer money on a redundant service when they can just give their information for Rodriguez to regurgitate.

*Yes, sometimes my tips come from a politician, but the majority of the articles I write come from tips from people like you, gentle reader.  The biggest difference is that I, unlike Rodriguez, will independently verify the truth of a story before running it.

Milwaukee County Board Accused Of Following The Law - Right Wingers Are Hypocritcally Outraged

Last week, the Chris Abele for Milwaukee County Emperor campaign took a really peculiar attack strategy against the Milwaukee County Board that frankly left me rather baffled.

It started when Aaron Rodriguez was fed some misinformation from Abele's camp, and accused the County Board of "secretly" meeting with AFSCME in labor negotiations.  Rodriguez accused this meeting of being illegal based upon a blog post by Rick Esenberg, a lawyer who is sponsored by the Bradley Foundation, who claimed that via Act 10, AFSCME was decertified.

As a secondary blame, Rodriguez pointed to the recommendation by Abele's Corporation Counsel, who advised against bargaining with the union.

This was followed up the next day with another lengthy blogpost by Rodriguez, this time blaming the County Board for putting a "gag order" on Supervisor Deanna Alexander, who has to be the most put upon woman in America or simply a pitiful, whiny liar.  The smart money would go on the latter.

Later in the week was an article by the corporate media itself with the news that State Senator Mike Ellis and Alberta Darling had their support hose in a bundle because of these vile accusations.

This line of attack still has me scratching my head.  It's the political equivalent of accusing someone of obeying the speed limit and using their directional signals.

Using Rodriguez' own reporting, we find that his histrionic accusations of the bargaining to be illegal to be absolutely false (emphasis mine):

Judge Colas held all of the following provisions of Act 10 unconstitutional:

• the requirement for annual recertification elections by unions wishing to remain the certified bargaining representative for a bargaining unit,
• the prohibitions on negotiating fair share and voluntary dues deductions by payroll withholding,
• the limitation on negotiating anything other than increases in base wages, and
• the requirement for a referendum prior to negotiating wage increases greater than the CPI increase set forth in the statutory formula.

In the same article, Rodriguez again contradicts himself by including the fact that Corporation Counsel said that there were risks associated with either choice on whether to open negotiations.

There is nothing to make one believe that Milwaukee County is somehow exempt from this.  In fact, as part of a reason lawsuit lost by the county regarding pension multipliers, it was agreed by the county that even though it was the nurses union that started the suit, the ruling was applicable to all of the unions.  This same precedent would indicate that Milwaukee County would indeed be subject to this ruling.

As for any meetings being held in double secretly and in the cone of silence, that is even more laughable.

In every Finance and Personnel Committee agenda, such as the one coming up, his this item:

The Committee may adjourn into closed session under the provisions of
Wisconsin Statutes, Section 19.85(1)(e), (g) for the purpose of the Committee deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session; And for the purpose of the Committee receiving oral or written advice from legal counsel concerning strategy to be adopted with respect to pending or possible litigation with regard to the following matter(s). At the conclusion of the closed session, the
Committee may reconvene in open session to take whatever action(s) it may deem necessary.

And yes, contract negotiations fall into this description.

And to double down on this, in legislation which was signed off by Chris Abele himself, most of the most recent contract had been codified.  This includes the right of the union to meet with county officials.

It sure takes some brass for Abele to be angry at the Board for following county ordinances which he himself had enacted.

The next bit of foolishness, the one where Alexander is complaining about being under a "gag order," is equally inane.

It has always been the rule that supervisors are not supposed to talk about things discussed in a closed session.  These rules were tightened down even further when former Supervisor Lynne De Bruin broke the rules to blow the whistle on the deplorable conditions in which Scott Walker had allowed the mental health complex fall.  For her troubles, De Bruin was censured.

Ironically, the person who led the push for the censure and the more restrictive rules regarding closed door sessions was former Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo.  If Alexander wants to whine about following the law, perhaps she should look at her old friend Joe who made it harder for her to do so.

And as for the state senators complaining about this, there are two things to consider.

One is the fact that no one would expect them to come clean and admit that their precious Act 10 was not only unconstitutional, but also has been the main factor in the state's continuing nosedive in job creation and economic activity.

Secondly, their outrage is rather selective, since they didn't say boo when Dane County and the City of Madison struck deals with their unions.  Then again, the authors and sponsors of AB 85 is the Greater Milwaukee Committee, not the Greater Madison Committee.  Apparently not enough money was thrown the legislators' way when Dane County was doing the same thing.  It should also be noted that Dane County is doing much better in economic activity and job creation that Abele's Milwaukee County.

The only thing about this whole saga that makes any sense is why they picked Rodriguez.  He is foolish enough to believe what they tell him without checking the facts and he is very anti-union, although he has no problems enjoying the benefits that the union has won for him.

The really hilarious thing about this whole line of attack is that Abele better hope and pray that he is wrong about whether the unions are decertified.

If the unions are indeed deemed to be decertified after reaching a contract agreement, the worst that could happen is that Abele would have to wait a year or two before really gouging the workers the way he wants to.

However, if the unions are deemed decertified, then the county could stand to lose as much as $60 million due to a lawsuit regarding the Rule of 75.  And that is on top of the other lawsuits that have been filed against the county due to actions taken by Abele.  These include a lawsuit about pension multipliers - which the county has already has lost and is now appealing against legal advice.  Another lawsuit has to deal with the backdrop and is based on the same legal grounds.

And all this is on top of  the fact that Abele has cost the taxpayers nearly one million dollars in interest by fighting the payouts - again against legal advice - for Scott Walker's illegal furlough days in 2010 and 2011.

In other words, if the County Board were allowed to negotiate a contract with the unions, it might indeed end up costing the taxpayers a couple million dollars in the worst case scenario.  But if Abele gets his way, it could taxpayers exponentially more.

Chris Abele isn't fit to be the county executive, much less the emperor as he wants to be.  We can't afford him now, how the heck will we be able to afford him if this bill is passed?

A New Contender For Calumnist Of The Year

Just a couple of weeks ago, we saw two strong contenders enter the contest for Calumnist of the Year.

Brian Sikma of Media Trackers and Christian Schneider at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel each put in their entry as they told utterly false and reprehensible stories regarding the alleged beating of a GOP operative. That story, as the gentle reader already knows, proved to be a hoax.

Sikma falsely claimed that he had verified the story and swore up and down that it was true. He also included the libel that Philip Frank, the partner of Representative-Elect Mark Pocan, had been involved in the fake beating.

Schneider, not to be outdone by Sikma, claimed to have interviewed the phony victim, and when found out, started telling lie upon lie in trying to cover up his own liability for libel.

Sikma and Schneider need to step aside for another late entry, Aaron Rodriguez.

Aaron Rodriguez

Rodriguez, who like to refer to himself as A-Rod, is another teahadist calumnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. For reasons known only to himself, he calls his blog at the paper The Red Fox. Rodriguez also runs another blog called the Hispanic Conservative.

Rodriguez is well known for telling some tall tales, such as how he "knew" that no one from Scott Walker's county executive office was doing anything illegal or unethical.

On Wednesday, Rodriguez published a post on his blog with the paper*, mewling about what teahadists mewl about most, taxes. In this post, he was carping about how the Milwaukee County Board was likely to raise taxes. But then he issued a stunningly bold lie about the benefits Milwaukee County employees receive:

If a good health insurance plan is analogous to a Cadillac, then the Board just gave themselves a Bentley. For Milwaukee County workers on the family insurance plan -- which includes most supervisors -- the maximum out of pocket cost in 2013 is $50. That's not a typo. Fifty dollars will cover their pay in deductibles, tests, and screenings all year.

Whoa! Only $50 out of pocket for the entire year for health care? Wow! I didn't know I had it so good.

My mistake must have been that I went by the benefit description put out by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele's administration:

Click on image to embiggen

As you can see, the family plan for Milwaukee County will cost employees a helluva lot more than $50. In fact, the out of pocket expenses, when one takes in the deductibles and copays, can quickly total in the thousands of dollars.

And God help the employee that has a medical crisis. There are county employees that are not receiving necessary surgeries and other medical treatments because, thanks to Abele and the County Board cutting their pay and increasing the costs of the deductibles and copays, they are now insurance poor. This means even though they have the insurance, they can't afford to use it until it becomes a crisis. And even then, they could easily face bankruptcy.

Now, I grant that the gentle reader is probably wondering how this lie is anywhere close to the slanderous lies told by Sikma and Schneider.

Well, it's because Rodriguez adds a new ingredient to his calumny - hypocrisy.

Leading up to this past spring's elections, Rodriguez wrote not just one, not just two, but three blog posts praising Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele.

But just three short months before he started to praise Abele, Rodriguez was bewailing the fact that Abele was going to cut the funding for the Milwaukee County Paramedic program. (It never bothered him that Scott Walker would try the same thing year after year.) Rodriguez, a paramedic himself, when he is not practicing calumny or pushing for school choice, was lamenting that this could lead to layoffs for his fellow paramedics. After lashing out at me for not riding to the rescue fast enough, Rodriguez wrote this:

The Milwaukee County Paramedic Program - ranked #2 in the nation in cardiac arrest resuscitation - is now on Abele's chopping block. Although Abele is sounding the fiscal alarm, defunding the Paramedic Program creates somewhat of a dilemma for the County Executive. The last thing Abele needs during campaign season is a controversy. You can count on the fire community bristling to the threat and don't discount the growing bipartisan support on the County Board. This is gearing up to be a big fight. If Abele isn't careful, he may find himself embroiled in a controversy that could make his tenure short-lived.

Oddly, when the Board voted to restore half of the $3 million Abele had cut, he attacked them for raising taxes.

In his post on Wednesday, Rodriguez again attacked the Board, with most of his vitriol aimed at Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic, for raising taxes. He claimed it was so they could give themselves raises.

The fact is that much of the tax hike was due to enhancing public safety, including the paramedic program he values:

Veto 14 (1A036, Item 6) overridden 16-2 (No: Sanfelippo, Schmitt), increasing the Emergency Medical Services (paramedics) subsidy paid to specific Milwaukee County municipalities by $500,000 to $2,000,000.

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.  It takes some brass to complain about people doing what you want them to do.

It's one thing to commit calumny by telling such outright and ridiculous lies like Rodriguez does. But to add that level of hypocrisy to it vaults him to the position as one of the top contenders for Calumnist of the Year.

And even if Rodriguez doesn't win, he might get the consolation prize of either working for Media Trackers, Wisconsin Reporter or some other propagandist agency where journalistic integrity is not required.  Or maybe even a spokesman for Scott Walker administration, where honesty is considered a liability.

*Given the paper's propensity to try to scrub their site of these sorts of false reports, I have already taken a screen shot of Rodriguez' post.

Paul Ryan Has No Spine for A Debate

JSONLINE recently retained the services of some local bloggers on "both sides" and dubbed it the purple project.  It has really turned into a pretty red project with just more opportunity to push the WPRI agenda for free.

I have a hard time taking any project seriously that includes Christian Schneider.  Schneider does not take himself seriously so why should anyone else?  This however is about the one righty blogger of this group that I actually like and how ridiculously bad his most recent post is!

In his post, Rodriguez tries to give Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.) cover for ducking debates with his challenger Rob Zerban!  Aaron also fails miserably, let's take a look.

  Described by many pundits as the top intellectual mind of the Republican Party, Ryan excels in economic and fiscal policies. He’s a policy wonk for sure, but also possesses the finesse to communicate his ideas in a relatable format. 

Granted, thebar is not very high, however, outside of schneider(who once compared Paul Ryan to Batman, no kidding), and Rodriguez you would be hard find to find "many" more people to describe Paul that way, especially since his convention speech.   You will however find "many" who would call Paul ryan a fraud(27,900,000 google matches to be exact).  From Chuck Schumer, to Paul Krugman to Bill Maher and many others. 

But Ryan’s ideas and voting record are now the subject to national scrutiny by journalists, bloggers, economists, think tank analysts, and partisan advocacy organizations. What can a debate with an untested county supervisor add to the national discussion?

Umm Aaron, Paul ryan is also running to be congressman from the 1st Congressional District of Wisconsin.   Ryan understands that his prospects of becoming VP are not looking good, so he hedged his bets and bought $2,000,000 worth of ad buys.   So he must feel the need to get his "message" out to the voters of the First Congressional District.   WHat is $2 MILLION dollar ad buy going to ad to the "national debate"?

Ryan has not been timid about his views on pretty much anything from entitlement spending to tax reform. For years, Ryan has sounded the fiscal alarm, introducing multiple budgetary plans that sought to reform third rail issues like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Yes Ryan loves to talk about his "views" on almost anything, as long as he can control the debate and the questions.  If he does at least he understands his weakness and refuses to ever answer a question from someone who he does not know!

We have seen Paul in action over and over have complete disdain for his constituents who want to ask him a question.    When is the last time you saw paul on anything that was less than extremely friendly to him?   I have been trying for over a year to get an interview with him.  

If Ryan refuses a debate Rob Zerban, it’s not because he’s ducking a challenge by a formidable opponent. It’s because the debate is unnecessary. Debates tend to prove two things: who has the better ideas and who is better at communicating them. Fortunately for Ryan, he has skills in both areas.

The problem here is, that Aaron just does not live reality.   Here is a quick exchange betweenRyan and some reporters that you have seen over and over and over again:

Ryan declined to address Obama's charge that he was among House Republicans "standing in the way" of legislation designed to help the drought-stricken heartland. He said only that he would get into "those policy things later."
"Right now I just want to enjoy the fair," he said.

 Mr. Transparency and exchange of ideas!

 Even if Zerban were a quick study and proficient at communicating, the debate would likely be a wash. If he’s not particularly adroit, he’ll last about as long with Ryan as a balloon in a room full of kittens.

Yes it is very hard to debate this logic:

Critics of Mitt Romney's tax reform plan say his proposal leaves out too many details, but Paul Ryan, the Republican presidential nominee's running mate, says keeping the proposal vague gives it the best chance for passage through Congress.

During an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody, Ryan said Romney is following Ronald Reagan's playbook by not divulging the details about what specific tax loopholes he would close and the rates that would be set under his administration. Ryan said the reason is "because we want to get it done."

It does take a lot of balls to tell people we will not tell you what your plan is as a politician UNTIL your elected.  The "just trust me" approach, has a hard time working with someone who is a well known liar!

So to wrap up, let's be perfectly clear.  Paul Ryan (R-Ayn Rand), is ducking a debate with Rob Zerban because he is scared of losing his Congressional seat.  Paul Ryan enjoys the wonders of a government paycheck every week.  

Please sign the petition telling Paul Ryan to debate Rob Zerban!!

Help Rob Zerban retire Paul Ryan! 

Every Rodeo Has A Clown

As the conservatives continue to try to conflate and obfuscate and tantrum in the hopes to change the fact that Van Wanggaard lost his state senate seat, the reach new and even deeper lows.

Appearing through the dust that the Republicans are kicking up in their tantrums comes the Red Fox, aka A-Rod, aka The Hispanic Conservative, aka Aaron Rodriguez. On his corporate media blogsite, Rodriguez comes up with this bit of rodeo clown antics, making some rather presumptive and unsubstantiated accusations:

Following a tip from a Racine student, we did some canvassing of our own.

A student reported that when he was approached to sign a petition, he told the man he wasn’t yet 18 years old. The petitioner said this wouldn’t be an issue since nobody would verify their ages, the student said. Unsettled by what he had heard, the boy said he went home and began cross-checking names in the Racine Horlick, Case, and Washington Park yearbooks with the names listed on Wanggaard’s online recall petition. After two weeks of meticulous work, he claimed to have found more than 300 name matches.

I sat down with the student - including several of his friends - and we went through Racine Horlick’s yearbook for three hours canvassing all the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors in the school. We found that more than 120 names that matched the names on Wanggaard’s recall petition. We excluded high school seniors since some might have been 18 at the time they had signed. It’s possible, of course, that some of the students have the same names as their parents. But what we found should raise questions about the petition drive.

In a rather precocious op-ed by Voces intern Kennia Coronado, she said that youths in Racine have a history and pride in fighting against injustices. “If there is any manipulation taking place,” Coronado explained, “It is being done by those who are painting our efforts as partisan and somehow shady.”

We cross-checked known underage YES members who attend Racine Horlick, Case, and Park high schools and found a few of their names on Wanggaard’s recall petition as well. Due to the relative unavailability of their names, our search was restricted. I called Voces de la Frontera to see if I could get a full list of YES members in Racine, but nobody was available to speak with me at the time of the call.

Let me summarize this: Rodriguez got "a tip" from an unnamed student that said hundreds of other unnamed students signed the recall petition from months and months ago, but is only mentioning it now. He joined forced with the first unnamed student and some of his unnamed friends and confirmed that at least 100 unnamed students signed the petition. This proves everything is illegal and Wanggaard should be state senator until he dies, and then some.

Or something like that.

Oh, and the fact that Rodriguez is still pissed at Voces de la Frontera because they won their suit regarding the illegal and secretive gerrymandering has nothing to do with his post.

My first reaction is that Rodriguez has managed to combine the worst aspects of Media Trackers into one post.

Media Trackers is known for making false allegations of underage youths signing recall petitions in exchange for cigarettes. Of course, this was an absolute fabrication, but they still ran with it.

Media Trackers also helped launch the most disgusting round of McCarthyism we've seen in decades.

Rodriguez manages to do both, using the McCarthy-like checking of lists to see who's the commie as well as throwing out unsubstantiated allegations without a stitch of proof except for the hordes of unnamed teens that seem to plague Racine.

Then again, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Rodriguez would show this lack of journalistic ethics, since he is not afraid of committing libel, such as accusing me of violating federal laws based on nothing. Yeah, this is also the same guy who said that nothing illegal was going on in Scott Walker's county executive office. (How's that working out for you, Aaron?)

I'd complain about the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel giving pixels and ink to this hack, but I realize that corporate media types stick together and Journal Communications gave up any pretense of journalistic integrity a long, long time ago.  Meh, they get what they pay for.

The more desperate that the right becomes in trying to draw attention to Wanggaard's loss and their implications of some sort of fraud, the more I belief that it is an attempt to keep the public's focus off of the highly questionable electronic voting machines which were used in the counties of the Northwoods.  One may recall there was a sudden and unpredicted shift from blue to red.

It might also explain why Command Central, the company that supplied these machines for free, are in such an almighty hurry to get the cartridges and memory packs from those machines so they can override them with for the August primary, instead of simply supplying new ones.

Buresh Campaign Caught In An Egregious Lie

A few weeks ago, I pointed out how Bill Buresh, the candidate challenging Marina Dimitrijevic for her seat representing the 4th District on the Milwaukee County Board, was using some dirty politics in his effort to unseat her:

But Buresh's campaign may have started to implode on Tuesday.

A person named Jason Auerbach issued a press release alleging some serious ethical, and possibly criminal, misdeeds that Dimitrijevic had done regarding campaign financing and a PAC. But as I was reading through it, I started to wonder about its veracity. in the release, Auerbach included this accusation:

Citizens for Marina Dimitrijevic, did knowingly accept $989.46 in campaign contributions from a registered lobbyist and agent representing "Milwaukee County Behavioral Healthcare Consortium Inc, and affiliates". While in the process of creating, and seeking the passage of a wellness plan called "Step UP" or as 2012 Milwaukee County Budget item 1C006. This budget item 1C006 was later vetoed for adding $434,663.00 to the tax levy. Marina Dimitrijevic then filed false and misleading information about these contributions on her January 31, 2012 filed campaign finance report. The companies belonging to Karl Rajani and Milwaukee County Behavioral Healthcare Consortium Inc and affiliates would have directly benefited from this wellness program.

That doesn't make any sense. The consortium mentioned wouldn't benefit from the wellness program, had it passed. Nor does Auerbach provide any proof that it would have outside of his accusation.

At the time, Buresh tried to distance himself from the accusations.

Also at the time, I questioned why Aaron Rodriguez hadn't advised him that it's not smart to lie to a blogger. That question still remains in place.

Buresh sent out this mailer today to the people in the fourth district:

As you can see, it shows a cartoon of someone, presumably Dimitrijevic, that is buried in a pile of papers, each representing a supposed issue. Prominently displayed in the center of the pile is one that reads "campaign finance violation?" It seems that Buresh is embracing the allegations after all.

That presents yet another problem for Buresh. The allegation is a lie.

I have recently received an email from Karl Rajani, the individual who Auerbach, and now Buresh, are accusing of making illegal campaign donations to Dimitrijevic in some sort of pay-for-play scheme. The email, which was sent to the same people Auerbach emailed, is duplicated here with Mr. Rajani's expressed permission:

Dear Mr. Auerbach: 

I have received from one of my County Supervisor friends a copy of your e-mail (reproduced below) pertaining to the above subject. Point #4 of your e-mail states as follows:

4. That Citizens for Marina Dimitrijevic, specifically Marina Dimitrijevic did knowingly accept $989.46 in campaign contributions from a registered lobbyist and agent representing "Milwaukee County Behavioral Healthcare Consortium Inc, and affiliates". While in the process of creating, and seeking the passage of a wellness plan called "Step UP" or as 2012 Milwaukee County Budget item 1C006.

Mr. Auerbach, although your e-mail does not mention “Karl Rajani”, your Press Release of March 6, 2012 makes clear that you are in fact referring to me as the “registered lobbyist and agent”. Please be advised that the allegations contained in the foregoing point #4 are categorically false. Here are the facts:

1. I have made a single contribution, in the amount of $494.73, to “Citizens for Marina Dimitrijevic”. The contribution was made on September 28, 2011.
2. My significant other, Patricia M. Faulhaber, RN, MSN, with whom I maintain a joint checking account, has also made her own contribution – in her own name and under her own signature - to “Citizens for Marina Dimitrijevic” in the amount of $494.73, on the same date.
3. I have never lobbied Supervisor Dimitrijevic with respect to the “Step UP” program. In fact, I don’t even know what this program is; and, frankly, I don’t have the time to look it up.
4. Whereas I have attended fundraisers for Supervisor Dimitrijevic, I have never discussed any business with her. Except for attending these fundraisers, I have never met with her or discussed any business with her in her office or anywhere else. In fact, I have never met her anywhere except at various fundraisers; and except one on occasion when I testified in an open, public forum before a County Board Committee that she was a member of.
5. Ms. Faulhaber and I made the foregoing contributions as private citizens exercising our right to participate in the political process; and because we strongly believe in the candidacy of Supervisor Dimitrijevic. We believe she is an exceptional public servant.

I am including D.A. Chisholm and Assistant D.A. Altenburg in this e-mail, since you have filed a complaint in this matter with the District Attorney’s office. Ms. Faulhaber and I are prepared to provide the DA’s office whatever documents and information they make require from us.

Mr. Auerbach, I hope this addresses your concerns with respect to point #4. Please do not reply to this e-mail, as I have other, more important matters to attend to. I am sure that if there is merit to the allegations that you made against me, the DA’s office will take up your case, as they should.

Very truly yours,

Karl Rajani

This email was sent out two days ago, and not only have neither Buresh or Auerback apologized for their false accusations, they have doubled down on the hopes that the voters will not catch on to their dishonesty until it's too late.

Marina Dimitrijevic vs.
Bill "Empty Chair" Buresh

Perhaps that is why Buresh refuses to go to debates against Dimitrijevic. He's afraid that is own misconduct will catch up to him and he'll have to answer to the voters for it.

I would fully expect that Buresh openly apologize to Supervisor Dimitrijevic for his slander and libel.

Likewise, I would expect the same from Aaron Rodriguez and El Conquistador, Rodriguez' employer, who have repeated the false accusations. Perhaps they should consider their own liability in printing his libelous allegations.

Aaron Rodriguez' Walkergate Culpability

Almost two years ago, when people started taking a closer look at the very pro-Scott Walker blog called ScottforGov.com, they started a hasty retreat, closing their Twitter account and deleting all the comments on their site.  At the time, I followed the logic chain and concluded that all indicators pointed at the unknown bloggers being people in Walker's office as county executive.

Aaron Rodriguez, a pseudo-journalist at the Conquistador and pro-Walker blogger, left comments at other posts stating that he knew for a fact that no one from Walker's office or his campaign was writing at ScottforGov.com.

But lo and behold, after the arrest of Tim Russell, long-time close friend of Scott Walker, and who had served both in Walker's office and in his campaign - sometimes at the same time - it was found that Russell had used his stolen money to purchase the domain for ScottforGov.com as well as for Walker's official website.

This can only mean one of two things: Either Rodriguez was lying when he said he knew who the bloggers for that site was or he did know that there was wrong-doings going on in the county executive's office and didn't say a word, making him culpable for not standing up for the taxpayers.

I would normally call out Rodriguez to clarify this issue, but on second thought, why bother? There's no way anyone can trust what he says.

Walker Supporter Suffers Cognitive Dissonance

Poor Aaron Rodriguez must be suffering from some buyer's remorse and doesn't know how to deal with it.

For the unfamiliar, Rodriguez is a conservative blogger who has drunk deeply of the Scott Walker Kool-Aid.  So much so that he had even done some posts that ended up on Walker's campaign website.

Rodriguez is also a member of a local first responder department.  Unfortunately, his conservatism has led him to stop supporting the union that supported him.  There has been no word that he has given up the benefits that the union had won for him, like a living wage, vacations and holidays, or a respectable health care and pension benefit package, which makes him a goldbricker and a user.

Now, Rodriguez is bemoaning the fact that Scott Walker's inept and maleficent tenure has Milwaukee County Executive has caused the county to have a $55 million budgetary deficit, which has only been exasperated by cuts in state aid, ordered by the same man that Rodriguez promoted for governor.  As an end result, the current county executive, Chris Abele, has put the county's contribution to the paramedic system on the chopping block.

Ironically, last year, when his hero, Walker, had proposed the same very thing, he dismissed my concerns as not really being a problem.

But now that Rodriguez could lose his job, it is suddenly a serious issue.  In his lashing out at everyone but the person to blame for the fiscal mess that could make this a necessity, he decides it's my fault:

In the campaign season of 2010, one liberal blogger led the charge to protect the paramedic program from the clutches of then County Executive Scott Walker. Although the County Executive didn't say for sure he would cut the program, it didn't stop activist blogger Chris Liebenthal from drawing up a petition bemoaning the cuts and claiming that areas in Milwaukee would go without paramedic services. Where is Liebenthal on the issue now? He has not posted single word on his blog about preserving the integrity of the program. We're not giving up hope though, there is still time for him to make his stand.

Really? Most rational people with the ability to use basic logic would recognize that if it was bad last year, it's bad this year as well. Perhaps Rodriguez also needs me to confirm that water is still wet and that the sun still rises in the east. I haven't written that in a while either, so that might mean my thoughts on that changed, right?

But it is unfortunate that Rodriguez, like other conservatives that have forsaken reality for Walker's false promises, cannot just admit that he was wrong on this as well.  But then again, like most conservatives, they only care about something when it finally has a direct impact on them.  It's sad that it takes so much longer for some folks to hit rock bottom and start making the necessary changes in their attitudes and lives that they need to make in order to make things better, not only for themselves, but for their communities as well.

Walker Blogger Doesn't Like Independent Thought

My, oh my! Hell hath not the fury of a bad blogger scorned.

Aaron Rodriguez, who used to occasionally post at Fairly Conservative, is now going after his former BFF, Cindy Kilkenny, who had shown the truth behind another one of Scott Walker's whisper campaign lies, this one being that Neumann is tapped out of cash. The meme that Team Walker is trying to spread is that Neumann is no longer investing in his campaign (even though it is Election Day Eve) and thus wouldn't have the money to run against Tom Barrett if he were to win Tuesday's primary.

Aaron is quite perturbed with this, to the point of originally titling his post "Kilkennys a political operative":

Okay, where do I begin. First, how telling is it that Neumann was crunching finance numbers with his campaign manager in front of Cindy? How stable is a campaign if they have Cindy sitting at the table during inside strategy discussions? Eeeks!

How desperate does Neumann look when he befriends the only blogger in Wisconsin that supported him? I suppose if Neumann wins, Cindy could become his 4th campaign manager. Perhaps someone should tell him that Cindy almost voted for Barrett because he looked her in the eye when he spoke. Never-mind the minor details that he's a tax and spend liberal that supports partial-birth abortion.

One thing is for certain, I cannot wait until the primaries are over. Although I'm fearful that Cindy and Capper will have a serious meltdown, at least they can still comfort each other when it's all over.

Eeeks? I never knew that Eeek could be pluralized.

Anyway, this is not the first, and I suspect it won't be the last, time that Rodriguez has played fast and loose with the truth. Kilkenny is not the only blogger supporting Neumann. A repeated critic of Walker's, the pseudonymous author of Wisconsin Truth Project just wrote this tonight:

One of the reasons I started this blog last year was because I wanted to point out some issues with the Walker campaign that I knew I could not do with my name attached. Personally, I wish for a future in Wisconsin conservative politics but, if you live in Wisconsin’s Republican political sphere, you cannot afford to suggest anything but that Mark Neumann is out of line in challenging Scott Walker and must be stopped.

Ever wonder why no currently-elected Wisconsin political figure has endorsed Neumann? Or why he had to another state to find a campaign staff?

Because you can forget about getting a job in the Walker Administration – or anywhere near the Wisconsin GOP – if you support Mark Neumann.

Well, Mark Neumann DOES have a right to run for governor – and I have a right to vote for him. And it just so happens that Walker’s baggage from the Milwaukee County Health Complex has compromised his own electability and signified Neumann’s emergence as the biggest threat to Tom Barrett.

I’m voting against Reince Priebus and the Republican establishment – and FOR Mark Neumann.

There have been numerous other bloggers that have also been critical of Walker and the many negative issues connected to both the way he has mismanaged the county and the way he has mismanaged his campaign.

I also really need to point out the hypocrisy of Rodriguez calling Kilkenny an operative for Neumann, since he is a blogger for Walker's website.

But it isn't Kilkenny or any other blogger that Walker and his faithful blogger needs to worry about. It's the regular voters who can see for themselves what a failure Walker has been, and are tired of the machine of either major political party that will decided Walker's fate. For now.

Hot Rod A-Rod Throws A Rod

Ah yes, what would life be like without Aaron Rodriguez, self-purported journalist and blogger at The Hispanic Conservative, giving me easy posts to write on a busy night?

Anyway, my friend, Anna Landmark, writing at One Wisconsin Now, notes how suspicious it is that Walker was announcing the cause of the tragic incident at O'Donnell Park lat month:

Even though the investigation into why the concrete slab fell from the O'Donnell garage, killing a teenager, isn't complete, and lawsuits may be pending, Scott Walker has declared what happened and who is to blame: the slab wasn't hung properly.

As far as I know Walker doesn't have an engineering degree (nor even any degree at all), he isn't leading the investigation, and he has a very good reason for sloughing any responsibility for this off of his shoulders as quickly as possible.

To declare in advance of the completion of the investigation screams of political posturing and a total and callous disregard of the severity of the situation.

Some commenter from Germantown took umbrage at Anna pointing out the fact that Walker is a Marquette drop out. The commenter goes on to say that despite the fact that Walker is over a year from graduation, Marquette should just give him his degree. Apparently, Walker's followers feel that this "his time" for that as well. Of course, they feel that it is "his time" to be governor, even though he is not qualified to be either a college graduate or governor. Talk about an entitlement attitude...

This is where our friend Aaron goes and puts his foot in his mouth. As you read his comment, remember, the post is about the tragedy at O'Donnell Park:

Honorary degree? Wouldn't that be something.

I think Walker's "lack of a degree" provides a perfect narrative of how degrees are essentially useless certificates in today's world.

Here we have a guy who has done a good job with the county (national gold medal parks, strengthened the county's bond rating, record breaking international airport, and so on), thus showing that one doesn't need a degree to make a success of one's life.

Yeah. I would have thought that someone who purports themselves to be a professional journalist would have a little more sense, not to mention tact, than to brag about how wonderful the parks are in a story about a park structure that killed a boy and maimed a woman. I mean, it's bad enough that Walker was making this into a political story from day one, Aaron didn't need to further prove that Walker and his supporters are only interested in the gubernatorial race, and not the public welfare.

And it would be wrong of me not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance in all of the parks.

To add to his shamelessness, Aaron then brings up a couple of other of Walker's talking points which have already been proven to be falsehoods.

One of these falsehoods is the "strengthened bond rating." While that is technically true, what Walker and his acolyte don't mention is that came at the expense of the capital funds, which Walker raided to give himself cover on the budgets. Of course, those capital funds were supposed to go to thinks like inspecting and maintaining the infrastructure, including O'Donnell Park. It also doesn't mention that mammoth structural deficit that Walker has built up.

A-rod also throws a rod when he mentions the "record breaking airport." It is only doing as well as it is due to the millions of dollars of stimulus dollars thrown into it. But even with all of this money, Walker tried his darnedest to screw that up by laying off airport maintenance workers, even though he didn't save tax payers one red cent by doing so. Of course, Walker's political grandstanding of laying off those workers helped create a situation where another young man was injured by a part of the airport falling on his head.

Mmm. A guy who purports himself to be a journalist, but cannot even handle simple honesty or tact. I wonder if he knows Patrick McIlheran.

ScottForGov.com V.2.0

As first reported by Cindy Kilkenny, and later touted by Team Walker, Walker's campaign site now has a blog of its own.

Now, don't confuse this blog with his former unofficial offical blog, which *ahem* mysteriously shut down a few months ago, including having all the comments and its Twitterfeed to go poof into cyberspace.

I already see some interesting dilemmas coming up for Walker's blog:

• I noticed that they allow comments, for now anyway. The question is are they going to moderate the comments, and if so, will they allow opposing views on there. For example, in one of the posts, the apparent Site Master, Michael Brickman, takes a dig at Barrett for giving cops a couple of furlough days and streamlining the fire department. What if a commenter would point out that Walker gave the Sheriff Deputies eight furlough days and actually laid off all of the firefighters at the airport? Will he allow that to be posted?*
• It will be only a matter of time before other people, besides myself, notice the similarity between this new blog and the defunct ScottForGov.com site. Both sites apparently use much the same style of blogging, which relies a great deal with citing other bloggers and doing a lot of copying and pasting. This will only rejuvenate the speculation on who were the pseudonymous bloggers at the old site, and if there is any carryover. Along with that will be the raising of the Darlene Wink incident, which I understand is still being investigated.
• Aaron Rodriguez has already contributed a "guest post." Since Rodriguez purports himself to be a writer for one or two of the local community Hispanic papers, does this conflict with any journalism ethics? Granted, you have shills like Patrick McIlheran who echo talking points at his blog sponsored and hosted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. But that is vastly different than actually contributing to a campaign's website directly.
• Related to the previous point, since Rodriguez is a "professional" journalist (in the sense that he does get paid for writing his fawning drivel), does Walker's campaign have to claim this as an in-kind contribution?
• Any bets on how long until they violate Fair Use practices?
  

Oh, I can see this is going to be fun for months to come.

* UPDATE: Apparently we already have one answer already. Dave Reid, who is a reasonable man and a leader in our community, tried to leave a comment at Walker's blog without success, based on this tweet:

@ScottKWalker so u won't open you're[sic] blog to real comments. That's fine.

We can tell now that Walker will run his blog like he does everything else, and will not tolerate any speaking of the truth.

How Desperate Are Walker's Backers?

They're so desperate that they'll throw away any credibility they might have had.

(Former) Supervisor Toni Clark

I was deeply dismayed when I learned last night that County Supervisor Toni Clark was going to resign from her position and plead guilty to the felony charge of filing a false campaign report. I have had opportunities to speak with Ms. Clark and found her to be very intelligent and compassionate.

Unfortunately, as can happen to many people, she succumbed to inner demons and apparently developed a gambling problem.

Regardless of any excuses, Clark deserves some credit for owning up to her shortcomings and taking full responsibility for her wrongdoings. There are many politicians that have been found in similar positions that have not faced their problems head on, and have cost their families, themselves and the tax payers much unneeded expense.

Buy my sympathy and empathy might stem only from my background in working in the social services field. Not many others feel the same way.

Former County Supervisor Jim McGuigan is not shedding any tears over her demise.

Then there are some people, like Walker supporter Aaron Rodriguez, who are taking advantage of this story to make political hay. It is ironic considering that the person he supports is as unethical as they come.

And speaking of irony, Scott Walker himself wins that award for his statement which includes the lines:

"Former Supervisor Toni Clark failed the people she was elected to serve," Walker said in a statement. "It is good that she resigned from office.

"It is also a reminder to all others in office that we must maintain the highest ethical standards."

Talk about your "kettle meet pot, pot meet kettle" moments.

For what it's worth, Clark was sentenced today to six months in jail, with work release. This is more than the prosecution's recommendation of probation.

I have no fear that the harsher than recommended sentence won't assuage the right wingers when they find out that she still might be eligible for a pension, even if it is a paltry $7,000 per year.