There has been some push lately, for Tony Evers to keep Stephanie Klett, as head of the Department of Tourism. I would like to state that I publicly agree with this idea, with some context.
While I have been critical of some of her decisions, I think that Ms. Klett has done a very admirable job running the Department of Tourism. In an era where her boss has been openly hostile to public employees, unions, teachers, LGBTQ community, people of color, the English language etc... she has still found a way to market our great state despite the obstacles. Stephanie has done such a good job, that it amazes me that it was a hire Scott Walker actually made.
Now some quick caveats, I am all for bipartisanship but it has to work both ways and there has to be some sanity and logic involved. I hope everyone on the right who wants Governor Evers to show some bipartisanship and keep Ms. Klett on, also calls Vos and Fitzgerald and tells them to not redefine the Governors powers.
I am on board, I thoroughly recommend keep Stephanie Klett on as head of the Department of Tourism.
I am also of the strong belief that anyone else that Scott Walker has hired or appointed in our Government, gets walked to the door the second Governor Evers gets sworn in.
It can not happen soon enough!
* Full disclosure, Stephanie and I attended Beloit College together in the 80's, and while I would not say we are friends, I would say we are acquaintances.
The fake Democrat Abele's group, led by GOP allies George Aldrich(Abele's Chief of Staff) and Andy Suchorski(Abele's Political director), have been attacking progressives in Milwaukee.
The criticism surfaced Monday about comments Schmidt made last year during a podcast interview. Schmidt told domestic violence victims who are Christians to submit themselves to the Holy Spirit, adding that God would restore their relationships.
Schmidt also failed to criticize the podcast host, a minister who said the victim should change, not the abuser.
“If someone is struggling, and their marriage is just a disaster ... get off God’s throne, submit yourself to that person and love that person,” Schmidt said. “If we’re Christian we submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit ... get off the prideful ladder, [and] God can bless that marriage and restore those relationships.”
Yes, if your spouse is beating you, you need to be a better person. As the saying goes in right wing wacko land
Q. What do one million battered women have in common?
A. They just don't listen!
What does the Milwaukee County Exec Chris Abele. the guy who paid to keep the courthouse open so our LGBTQ friends could get married, one of the main funders of Emerge, do about this revelation?
There is a saying that you reflect your values in how you spend your money. Abele has shown his by going all in with Schmidt. Which means the next move is Emerge's.
Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, $900,200. Abele, who was first elected county executive in 2011, is also a businessman and philanthropist who traditionally supports Democratic candidates and groups. Abele’s 527 contributions went to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which backs lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender candidates nationwide, and Emerge Wisconsin, which helps elect women Democratic candidates.
EmergeWI has the following vision and mission:
Our Mission: To increase the number of Democratic women leaders from diverse backgrounds in public office through recruitment, training, and providing a powerful network. Our Vision: To change the face of power, politics, and leadership in this country in order to have policies that are responsive to all Americans.
A great organization, dedicated to a great cause surely would publicly let everyone know that this was a bridge too far for them.
Unfortunately no.
When I contacted Emerge about it, I was told that he is just a donor and not on the board and that the money does not come with strings, so while they were disappointed they have no control over it.
Money ALWAYS comes with strings.
Readers of CogDis, will remember, that when Diane Hendricks became chief fundraiser for the Donald, that I asked that my alma mater Beloit College remove her from the Board of Trustees(Here, here, here and here).
I was given the same basic response from Beloit College, which can be interpreted as Money Changes Everything.
But wait there is more. Another person who has not weighed in on this horrible controversy is Kelda Roys, candidate for Governor?
Why is this issue relevant to Kelda? Because as a small business owner, she relied on investments. One of her biggest investors?
While I admire Emerge WI and Kelda Roys for the positive difference they have made and are making in our state, their failure to publicly admonish Chris Abele in this instance, because he writes big checks, is very disappointing.
As Margaret Atwood says:
“Better never means better for everyone... It always means worse, for some.”
We have covered Diane Hendricks numerous times here at CogDis. She is the widow of Ken Hendricks of ABC Supply company in Beloit and one of the richest women in the world. Ms. Hendricks is also a Trustee at Beloit College and also one of the top GOP funders in Wisconsin,. Ms. Hendricks was also VP of the Trump victory fund.
While it turned the stomachs of most sane Americans, and many business people and community leaders started distancing themselves from these sickening events.
However it was pretty much widely accepted that the completely failed the humanity test, was elected Republicans. From The Donald on down, no leaders stepped up in the Republican party to say - hey that is not who we are or what we want to be! Most just ran from the questions.
With the outrage and disgust, still white hot among the country, The Donald tried to do damage control. No not the kind where he truly denounced this hate, but the kind where he made sure the billionaires would still hand him unlimited money.
Among this select group of far far right billionaires was Beloit, Wisconsin's own Diane Hendricks. Ms. Hendricks let The Donald know that no amount of Nazi's and white supremacists would stop her from donating to the cause.
Of course we know the cause being, less taxes and regulations for billionaires and no chance of the working class to ever organize of stand up for themselves.
All for me, none for thee!
Ms. Hendricks, who lives in a city with approximately 25% people of color, let it be known that she sympathizes with the white power marchers!
This is what she told The Donald was OK! They might as well be giving free rein to David Duke.
On August 21st, Beloit College welcomes its newest freshman class to town. Maybe this is the video that their most famous Trustee might as well have helped produce this video:
Welcome to Beloit my white friends, the rest of you watch your step.
It is sad what has happened to America, it is even sadder to me that my College overlooks hate for the almighty dollar!
If you want to voice your displeasure that a Trustee of Beloit College is a Nazi sympathizer, here is the contact info:
Office of Development and Alumni Relations Beloit College 700 College Street Beloit, WI 53511
Toll-free Phone: 800-331-4943 Local Phone: 608-363-2656 FAX: 608-363-2459
BELOIT, Wis. — When Diane Hendricks sees something she doesn’t like here, she buys it.
A bankrupt country club. A half-empty mall. Abandoned buildings. The rusting foundry down by the river.
Beloit used to be a town that made papermaking machines and diesel engines. Ms. Hendricks thinks it can be a place where start-ups create the next billion-dollar idea, and she is remaking the town to fit her vision.
The problem is Diane Hendrick's vision is blurry, extreme and very, very white.
The Times considers Diane to be a boom to Beloit because:
She took the library from its historic location downtown and resurrected it inside a failing mall at the edge of town, replacing the original with a performing arts center where dance and music students from Beloit College can study and perform each year. Then she scooped up nearly every building on a downtown block and knocked each one down, making way for a sushi restaurant, a high-quality burger joint and modern apartments with marble counter tops and exposed-brick walls.
I agree that the downtown of Beloit, WI is looking nice, however, let us take a closer look at what is actually happening in Beloit.
While it is great to buy things for a few million dollars, when you are a billionaire, but FYI - that is not an economic plan.
We have seen her economic plan for Wisconsin:
While Ms. Hendricks, has a vision of bringing start-ups to WI, the reality of her political vision is she is failing spectacularly. Wisconsin, under Scott Walker (one of Diane's most high profile employees), has ranked dead last in business start up activity for the last three years! On the bright side, we have no where to go but up!
However for Ms. Hendricks, with help from the Governor, has to have an actual plan (tax cuts and cutting education is not one either).
After discussing this topic with someone heavily invested in the Beloit Community:
There needs to be an economic development plan that let's millennials of color see a pathway to ownership through education. We need to economic development plans that are inclusive and not driven by fox valley. Millenials of color will stay in Wisconsin, if they can get a piece of the pie.
In Madison, there have been those opportunities in tech and health fields but we need to expand those opportunities beyond those two sectors to keep the best and brightest, regardless of color or history, want to stay in Wisconsin and actually help us grow from the ground up.
Yet Beloit, a classic Rustbelt town impacted by the decline of manufacturing, remains “deeply troubled” despite Hendricks’s efforts, the story notes, with high unemployment and boarded-up shops. “About a quarter of the population lives in poverty, twice the rate of residents in the rest of Rock County. One in every four children lives in poverty in the county.”
Which raises the question of whether Hendrick’s vision for America is one that leads to economic success for average Americans. Stevenson doesn’t report that Hendricks urged Gov.Scott Walker to go after private sector unions, or that the Right to Work law he signed has been found to lower average wages in stateswhere it has been passed. Stevenson doesn’t tell us how many employees at ABC Supply have family-supporting jobs.
PS: To the author, Alexandra Stevenson, Instead of talking to Charley Sykes, maybe you should have gotten in touch with this former student who has had a problem with Ms. Hendricks serving as a Trustee for Beloit College and as a major member of the Trump team.
She was an early supporter of Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign here in Wisconsin, a state with a history of progressive politics, and that has pitted her against some current and former students at Beloit College, a liberal arts school and one of Beloit’s other big employers. (Ms. Hendricks sits on the college’s board of trustees.)
The Beloit College campus features 20 conical, linear, and animal effigy mounds built between about AD 400 and 1200. One, in the form of a turtle, has inspired the symbol (and unofficial mascot) of the College. Similar mounds are found throughout southern Wisconsin and adjacent portions of surrounding states. They were built by Native Americans identified by archaeologists as Late Woodland people. These people may include ancestors of the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) people and other tribes. Wisconsin Indian mounds were usually built along bluff tops adjacent to rivers. The Beloit College group illustrates this pattern, as it is situated on high ground overlooking the confluence of the Rock River and Turtle Creek. Early maps indicate more than 20,000 Indian mounds once existed in Wisconsin. Today, fewer than 3000 remain, the others having been destroyed by farming and development. The Beloit College group once totaled 25 mounds; five were leveled unfortunately by building and grounds projects many decades ago. See the 2003 Beloit College Magazine article by Logan Museum of Anthropology director Bill Green for details on the history, study, and preservation of the College mounds. Midwestern mounds generally served as burial sites. Human remains have been found in many mounds, including the College mounds. The College mounds and many others in the state are “catalogued” burial sites, meaning they may not be disturbed without a permit from the director of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Maybe Ms. Hendricks can come and explain why Mexicans would be attacking a Trump rally in a commercial airline and how that is funny. She could do so during National Hispanic Heritage Month.
“and we are looking at that. We are looking at that. We’re looking at a lot of things,” Donald Trump. What exactly is he looking at?
I wonder if getting “rid of all these hibijabis they wear at TSA" was part of the Fight against Islamophobia discussion at Beloit College this year. Or does that help Professor Majeed feel welcome at Beloit?
Ms. Hendricks, as a major representative of Beloit College, is sending a clear message to the people of the world that the above instances are totally acceptable
Beloit College, President Bierman and Trustee Hendricks...we can do better.
We MUST do better.
But wait there is more. Shortly after I finished posting this, this happened.
Donald Trump, a prolific tweeter, on Saturday tweeted an apparently photoshopped image depicting Hillary Clinton in front of a background of cash and alongside a red six-pointed star in the shape of the Star of David.
Inside the star, a sentence reads, “Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!”
Trump tweeted the image with the caption, "Crooked Hillary – Makes History! #ImWithYou #AmericaFirst."
The tweet later disappeared from the twitter feed of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. It was replaced by the same image except with the six-pointed star replaced by a circle.
Mr. Trump tweeted it, left it up for a while, changed the tweet to a circle and then deleted it completely. Honest mistake you can say by someone who tweets regularly.
Dear Jeff,Thanks very much for your note. I can easily appreciate your perspective. Having said that, I do not agree that the college should be severing relationships with members of the community who support the presumptive republican candidate for president. If I understand your argument, it is that being on a board that supports Beloit College and on a board that supports Mr. Trump constitutes a conflict of principles. In my decades of citizenship, it is likely that nearly every single presidential candidate has said things or done things that can be interpreted as being at odds with key college principles. I think making decisions about what college relationships pass a principles test based on politically charged interpretations is dangerous.Furthermore, I do not see why your argument would only apply to joint “board” membership and not to other joint relationships. I guess there is a “visibility” case you are making about being on two boards (e.g. the alleged damage to the college’s reputation), but that seems thin at best. In my opinion, this makes a principles test even more dangerous.On a different note, it is worth saying, that in the time that Diane Hendricks has served on Beloit’s Board of Trustees she has embraced and supported the college’s mission in every way. There is no exception. It is with great pride that I call Diane a member of the Beloit College family.Thanks again, Jeff, for reaching out.Sincerely,Scott
Dear President Bierman, Thank you for replying to my letter stating my concerns with Ms. Hendricks representing Beloit College as a Trustee. While I vehemently disagree with Ms. Hendricks politics, this has nothing to do with politics. You notice I did not send this letter while she was donating millions to our Governor and hundreds of thousands of dollars to his legal defense fund. She has a right to her opinions and beliefs. I support that fully and while I will work individually to make sure her candidates lose, I would never seek to deny her any position outside of the political spectrum. However, I truly believe that the reason that supporting Donald Trump so publicly is a conflict of interest for Beloit College because the vitriol that Donald Trump brings is almost unprecedented in our history. I am sure I do not need to rundown his offenses for you but let me just touch on a few. Donald Trump started the original "birther movement" where he tried to discredit the first African American President in our History as not being a "Real American."; Has called most Mexicans who have crossed the border, Drug dealers and rapists(although did allow wiggle room by sayings some of them are possibly ok). has had visions of dating his daughter, has continually shamed women and treated them as second hand citizens, has called for the deportation of all Muslims, has promised to build a wall between the USA and Mexico. derided Senator McCain for getting captured in Vietnam, and mocked a disabled reporter.
Nothing in that list, is (I hope) partisan at all. It is about Ignorance and hate not Democrats and Republicans.
On February 27th of last year, there were racial incidences around Beloit College, where you addressed the problem of racism on campus by starting a campus wide initiatiev initiative of "Inclusive excellence". Then you had this to sau in your Spring 2015 Beloit Magazine:
These have been some of the hardest weeks I’ve known in my career. To see students, faculty, and staff I admire stung by overt acts of racism, and then hurt by my own mistakes and shortcomings has been hard. But, discomfort needs to be converted into thoughtful action and sustained change. There are many on this campus who feel or have felt embattled, endangered and excluded. Some of them are our people of color. Others have been women (and yes, men) who were sexually assaulted by classmates and friends. Many of these came to Beloit believing this would be the place where they could finally, totally be themselves—only to find that acceptance fleeting or incomplete.
Beloit Memorial girls soccer coach Brian Denu said the Elkhorn students taunted black and Latina girls soccer players with racial slurs and chants like "Donald Trump, build that wall." "Those are just words you'll never be able to take back from those kids and an experience that you wish you could take back," Denu said. "It was really disturbing for them." Denu said the chants affected some of his players to the point they had to leave the game. "They came off the field and weren't able to finish the game because they were too upset and distraught over what happened to them," Denu said. "One of the girls was cradled in the arms of one of our assistant coaches for a good 15 to 20 minutes." Denu said even though the chants came from a small group of Elkhorn students, their words had a big impact on his players. "I could just see the hurt and pain on their face and know that this was obviously something that they hadn't seen before," Denu said. "You know, it was from a small pocket of the Elkhorn fans, but those words are things you can't take back." Denu said he and other coaches consoled players during and after the game.
I would argue that these kind of incidences are worse than racist Graffiti, because now that the GOP nominee for President has made it "OK" to say things like this in public, the racists no longer need the cover of darkness to hide their hate. As you know, the Beloit community is very diverse:
The Beloit College community is diverse and noted for its passionate engagement with ideas and the world. Its 1250 students are from nearly every state, the District of Columbia, and 40 nations. Twenty-seven percent of its students are domestic minorities or students from countries other than the United States. No more than ten percent of a graduating class is represented in any one of Beloit's majors.
All of this and Mr. Trump seems to be getting more extreme by the day. The whole world is watching us as a country to see how we treat Mr. Trump. The Beloit College community, our children, friends and community members are watching to see if the College makes the right decision here and stands up for our friends and community. who Mr. Trump has decided to attack.
As you once said:
We owe them better than that. Beloit can do something. We will do something. Tomorrow can be a great day to be a Beloiter.
Tomorrow is here today! Let's do something! Have a great day, Jeff
By Jeff Simpson As an alumnus of Beloit College, I was greatly disturbed when I heard that one of our Trustees, Diane Hendricks is VP of the Trump Victory Fund. Here is the letter that I sent our President Scott Bierman: Dear President Bierman: My name is Jeff Simpson and I am a proud alumnus of Beloit College, class of 1988. I am writing because something has been bothering me the past couple weeks. I am deeply disturbed that Trustee Diane Hendricks, is also vice chair of the Donald Trump Victory Committee.
This has nothing to do with my personal political beliefs. I did not write you while Ms. Hendricks has been the largest donor to Governor Walker. Nor did I call attention to the conflict of interest when Ms. Hendricks has given millions to a Governor who has ended tenure at the public University of Wisconsin system, while having a say in who gets tenure at our fine institution. Despite the fact that I vehemently disagree with her on these, and many other, issues. I understand what makes America, and Beloit College, great is a variety of opinions and viewpoints all brought together.
That being said, Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump takes things to a different level. Mr. Trump has shown us continual flashes of racism, sexism, xenophobia, misogyny, hatred and calls to violence throughout his campaign. He has been endorsed by white nationalists all over the country and has landed his latest supporter – the communist Government of North Korea.
The whole world is watching America in this election season and Donald Trump is not showing a shining example of who we are or what we as a country could/should be.
The Beloit College mission states in part “Our emphasis on international and interdisciplinary perspectives, the integration of knowledge with experience, and close collaboration among peers, professors, and staff equips our students to approach the complex problems of the world ethically and thoughtfully”.
Mr. Trump, with his talk of building walls, deporting foreigners, banning Muslims, abhorrent treatment of women, making fun of the disabled and giddiness over people who have struggled through the last recession, among many other disgusting examples has shown to stand for the exact opposite of what Beloit College stands for.
As you know, Beloit College welcomes students from 46 states and nearly 40 countries throughout the world. Is having one of our Trustee’s working very hard to elect and one of the faces of the Trump campaign, the message we want to send these prospective students, current enrollees and alumni as representative of OUR college?
I came to Beloit College fresh off the farm, where the most diversity I have dealt with was the kids who wore Lee Jeans and the ones who wore Levi’s. Attending Beloit College amidst its diversity of races and locations, is what really helped me grow and become the person I am today. On one side of me my freshman year was a classmate from Sweden and on the other was a gay male. Being exposed to and learning to not only get along but become friends with people who I had never seen or associated with before is what gave me the amazing college experience that I treasure.
Let’s not put up a “Not Welcome” sign to people that look and believe and worship differently than me.
I do not have a problem with Ms. Hendricks serving on one board or the other, but I believe for her to serve on both boards simultaneously is not only a conflict of interest, but also will do lasting damage to the excellent reputation Beloit College has earned and deserves.
Bradley's true hateful homophobic colors being shown made for a panic on the right.
Her good friend from right wing hate radio, Vicki Mckenna had this to say to try and defend her.
I attended Beloit College when Ms. Pyzinski was there and I can unequivocally say that the Professors at Beloit College in the mid to late 1980's did NOT call vietnam vets "baby killers".
So before MS. Pyzinski drags the great name of Beloit College down the drain with her in order to keep the Supreme Court packed with partisan cronies, I challenge Ms. Vicki to tell us EXACTLY which professors called Vietnam Vets baby killers. While you are at it, please also tell us which Professors encouraged you to "go over the top" because none of mine did. Come on Vicki you said it, now back it up.
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