The Jensen Deception

BY Jeff Simpson

 In Monona Grove, like many other public school districts in Wisconsin, we have a code of conduct that students have to sign and we expect them to live up to.   In this code of conduct this line is prominent:

Honesty (Students will be trustworthy and truthful, no matter what the consequence.)

 

The Elmbrook School District hasa special policy on Academic Honesty:  

Policy 5131.2 - Academic Honesty
The District regards academic honesty as vital to the academic, social and emotional development of all students. Honest and ethical behavior is an essential component in the learning process. Academic honesty requires that all academic work is the legitimate, truthful effort and product of the student. In contrast, academic dishonesty is an attempt by students to claim and show possession of effort, knowledge and/or skills that are not their own. Academic dishonesty in any form shall not be permitted.
Which brings us to the issue of the day, public education, and the recent November elections.  
We will see an expansion of "school choice" and the head of the "school choice" movement in Wisconsin is formerly convicted felon, Scott Jensen.  Jensen was basically given a "get out of jail free' card from his good friend and fellow Republican, Attorney General elect Brad Schimel.    
After Jensen left in disgrace, he went right to be head lobbyist for American Federation for Children(AFC). AFC is funded by the Walton and DeVos family and their main goal is to privatize our public education.   

AFC's visions is defined as(emphasis mine):

 

The American Federation for Children envisions an education system where parents are empowered to choose the best educational environment for their child, where innovation and entrepreneurism revolutionizes our education system, ensuring all children, especially low-income children, are provided with the opportunity to receive the finest education possible, whether it be in a traditional public school, public charter school, virtual learning, private school, home school or blended learning.

Doesn't there seem to be a disconnect that the organization that just wants parents to be "empowered to choose the best educational environment for their child" hired as its point person someone who has a proven history of not being able to be trusted to help serve the public?  

To make matters worse, they give the ethically challenged Jensen lots of money to buy elections.  As Bill Lueders recently pointed out:

 

School choice proponents, many from out of state, funneled $64,000 directly into candidates’ coffers in 2014, through AFC and another group. (The AFC-affiliated funder, Wisconsin Federation for Children Political Fund, filed its last report Nov. 26, a month late, risking a penalty of up to $500. Its Washington, D.C.-based administrator did not respond to an emailed question about the late filing.)In addition, AFC made independent expenditures of $866,000 to boost or oppose candidates. This adds to the nearly $10 million in state electoral spending by school choice proponents between 2003 and 2012, as tallied by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
AFC’s spending in the Nov. 4 elections included $148,000 to help narrowly defeat Democrat Rep. Mandy Wright, a former teacher and school choice critic. It spent $123,000 to help Republican Todd Novak score a razor-thin win over Democrat Dick Cates. And it poured $240,000 into GOP choice proponent Howard Marklein’s successful bid for an open Senate seat.**
** To put things in perspective, while they are spending tens of millions of dollars on elections, our annual budget(approximately 3200 kids, 250 staff, six buildings is $32 Million).   Also average teacher pay in WI is approaximately $47,000/yr, while Scott Jensen makes a over $200,000/yr.   

 When you give Scott Jensen that kind of money to play with, he uses it just as you would expect!    

 

Yet, in its electioneering, AFC commonly doesn’t even mention school choice. It attacked Wright for allegedly using sick leave to attend a protest, which she insists is not true. It went after Cates for his vote on the local school board concerning the Pledge of Allegiance. And it ripped Democratic Rep. Gordon Hintz for threatening a female colleague and being cited in a massage parlor sting operation, both in 2011.

 

Now let's sum it all up, we have a disgraced former elected rep, who is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in small time races, to attack certain candidates disgracefully and dishonestly, late in the game, about every issue BUT school choice, and then AFC wins by razor thin margins.   Then Mr. Jensen declares:

 

Jensen is proud of these victories, which he says give it “a school choice majority in both houses.” He attributes this success to public support for school choice.

 

How Jensen sleeps at night is something he will have to answer, but why we continually reward this behavior in our political system is something that we have to take a long look at.  

 

Mr. Jensens behaviors, if he were a student in our district, would result in probably suspension and possible explusion(depending on the behavior plan we would work out between the principal, his teachers and parents).   

 

Is the person who would not be able to be hired into our schools, the person we want entrusted with millions of public education dollars?   

 

Do you feel safe knowing that YOUR children's future is in Scott Jensen's hands?    

 

Images from public profiles!  

Cross posted at Purple Wisconsin

Boss Abele Breaks FOIA Laws

Over the summer, during the hotly contested Milwaukee County Sheriff's primary, it was revealed that the incompetent incumbent, David Clarke, refused to release his calendar in an open records request filed by One Wisconsin Now.

Scot Ross, Executive Director of One Wisconsin Now, hit the nail on the head when he was quoted saying this:

“David Clarke owes Milwaukee County residents answers about how he spent his time,” said Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now. Ross accused Clarke of being "AWOL" during one of the state's biggest tragedies.

He's right. The citizens of Milwaukee County have a right to know how their elected leaders are spending their time.

This is especially true as all the sordid details of Scott Walker's term as Milwaukee County Executive keeps coming out, showing how his staff spent a lot of their time doing campaign work.  Unsurprisingly, Walker also had issues with transparency - he didn't like it at all.

Which leads us to Chris "Boss" Abele.

Just like his buddies, Clarke and Walker, Abele has a problem following Freedom of Information Act laws.

On June 26, 2014, David Eisner, Contract Administrator for AFSCME District Council 48, sent the following FOIA request to Abele's office:

Subject: Open Records Request

County Executive Abele,

This letter is to request, under the state's Open Records Law,(Wisconsin State Statutes s.19.31-39) the following information:

1.) A listing of all public appearances currently scheduled by the Milwaukee County Executive between the date of compliance with this request and December 31, 2014

2.) The scheduled date and time of these events

3.) The location name, street address, and any room designation of the scheduled appearance

4.) The name of the sponsoring or host organization of the appearance

I agree in advance to pay actual, necessary and direct costs of producing these records up to $100.00.
Please advise me if the total cost will exceed that amount.

I understand that public records must be produced as soon as practicable and without delay per Wisconsin State Statute s.19.35(4)(a). Please advise me promptly of any delays in your response, and please let me know if I can clarify or refine this request.

If you are not the records custodian for this information, please notify me and forward this request to the appropriate person. Thank you for your assistance. A hard copy of this request has been mailed to you also.

Sincerely,

David Eisner
Contract Administrator
AFSCME, District Council 48

On July 11, Abele's spokesman, Brendan Conway, replied that they received the request and that they would respond in a "timely fashion."

So AFSCME waited. And waited. And waited. And waited some more.

On August 8th, four weeks after Conway promised a timely response, Eisner sent another email to Conway, asking for a follow up to the FOIA request.

Still, there was no response.

On August 14th, Eisner followed up with Claire Zautke, Abele's Senior Executive Assistant.  She said that Conway was out of the office "for a while," and would follow up with Abele's Chief of Staff.

Still, there was no response.

Finally, on August 22nd, Eisner sent the following email directly to Boss Abele:

Good Afternoon County Executive Abele,

On June 29, 2014, pursuant to Wisconsin State Statutes s.19.31-39, and s.19.35(4)(a), District Council 48 made an Open Records Request to your Office, of which such request is outlined in the attached string of emails. Please review. On July 11, 2014, your Director of Communications Brendan Conway emailed me acknowledging the Union's request and indicating your office would respond in a timely manner. Subsequent to that email, I have further communicated with your staff regarding this request.

Please be advised, to date, the Union has not received the requested information from either yourself or your staff. It has been fifty-four (54) days since this request was originally submitted. 

This delay from your office is unreasonable, unacceptable, and in violation of Wisconsin State Statutes. I have included the parties legal counsel in on this email communication due to the non-compliance of State Statutes. On behalf of AFSCME, District Council 48, I am again asking you when we can expect compliance with this Open
Records Request? Please advise as soon as possible, and without further delay. Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

David Eisner
Contract Administrator
Lobbyist
AFSCME, District Council 48

That was finally enough to light a firecracker under Conway and got him to finally respond, nearly two months after the initial request. Unfortunately, Conway's response was less than acceptable:

Mr. Eisner,

Thank you for your patience, I had hoped to respond sooner but my newborn daughter had other ideas and I was on paternity leave the past few weeks.

Per your request, County Executive Abele's future schedule is constantly in flux. The scheduling document he works from is never more than a draft, subject to revision at any time. Corporation Counsel has advised us that a draft document prepared by or for an official is not a record subject to release.

Have a good day,

Brendan

AFSCME consulted with their attorney, Mark Sweet, who also found Abele's position to be untenable.

AFSCME also contacted Bill Lueders, President of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, and asked him about Abele's position. Lueders said that Abele's response was "outrageous" and directed AFSCME to one of their webpages which discusses such issues, citing court decisions and pertinent laws. And yes, such claims as Abele's, that documents are drafts and not subject to FOIA requests is covered:

2. Draft status. The Open Records Law contains an exemption for drafts, which it defines as records “prepared for the originator's personal use or prepared by the originator in the name of a person for whom the originator is working.” Despite the clarity of this language, and case law (Fox v. Bock) and an AG opinion (77 Atty. Gen. 100) affirming it, custodians sometimes claim that draft status extends to any form of a document short of the final version they deem fit for release.

Best practice: Once a document is shown to anyone besides the originator or a person working on his or her behalf, it is no longer a draft. Records custodians should also release early versions of documents, to show how they were changed as the result of review, reconsideration or outside pressure.

Clearly, Abele is in the wrong and is in violation of the Freedom of Information Act, despite what he claims his corporation counsel says.

Now, it just might be that Boss Abele is reluctant to follow the law because he doesn't want people to know how much time he's spending at the University Club with Julia Taylor, Sheldon Lubar, Michael Grebe and Joe Sanfelippo, plotting out the demise of Milwaukee County.

More likely, he just doesn't want the citizens of Milwaukee County to know where he is because they might show up and hold him accountable for his multitude of failings.

As with his failure to deliver the county budget on time, Abele needs to stop playing these games with open records requests and do his job!