Mark Borkowski's Campaign Keeps Getting Sleazier

On Sunday, I wrote about the questionable mailers from Mark Borkowski, in which he used the images of private citizens without their images and exploited the grieving widow and mother of the late Alderman Joe Dudzik.

Now it has come to my attention that Borkowski's campaign is even sleazier than his mailers.

At a recent fundraiser, Borkowski was lauded by Chris Kliesmet and Orville Seymer, the two goons who make up the highly misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government  (CRG).  Yeah, these are the same two guys who have explored the depths of depravity.

Ironically, these two who made their names infamous with the recall of the late Tom Ament and numerous county supervisors for the pension scandal were touting a man who had voted for the same pension scandal that they supposedly hated.

Adding to the irony is the fact that as they tout Borkowski's fiscal conservatism, Borkowski will be collecting that enriched pension he voted for as he also gets paid $73,000 from city taxpayers.  That's a move called double-dipping, which Republicans like Borkowski denounce - unless it's them doing the dipping.

If that wasn't enough to turn off voters, sources report Borkowski also reportedly has Darlene Wink aiding his campaign.

Yes, that Darlene Wink.  The woman who was arrested, charged and convicted of doing campaign work for Scott Walker on government time and on a government computer.

Given Borkowski's choices in campaign tactics and in friends, he is definitely not someone I would want representing me on any level of government.

I encourage my fellow residents of Milwaukee Aldermanic 11th District to join me on Tuesday to vote for Tim Carpenter for alderman.

Irresponsible Citizens for Responsible Government

Milwaukee, Wisconsin is the home base for a right wing, small government group with the ironic Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG). CRG consists of two socially inept misfits named Orville Seymer and Chris Kleismet.
name of

Orville Seymer

CRG's usual modus operandi is to threaten liberal elected officials with a recall in an order to try to intimidate them. (This, by the way, is how Scott Walker got to be Milwaukee County Executive. CRG recalled the former executive and paved the way for Walker)

Their other activities include trying to interfere with John Doe investigations, using federal court to interfere with John Doe investigations, trying to intimidate teachers and other public sector workers by giving out their personal information and filing false criminal complaints against innocent bloggers in retaliation for writing unfavorably about Scott Walker.

Ironically, at least one of them, Seymer, doesn't feel responsibility should apply to him:

Long a local government watchdog and critic, conservative activist Orville Seymer is now asking the federal government to help him sort out his money troubles.

Seymer -- a top official with Citizens for Responsible Government -- filed for bankruptcy last month, listing $147,126 in assets and more than $1 million in liabilities. He is seeking Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, which stops all legal actions and could allow him to write off many of his debts.

Seymer is pinning much of the blame for his financial woes on City Hall, saying he has been targeted by city building inspectors for speaking out against local officials.

[...]

In his federal petition, Seymer said he and his wife owe the city more than $50,000 for everything from property taxes to what he dubs "nuisance fees." The couple lives in Franklin.

He reported owing $742,000 to Waterstone Bank in Wauwatosa for mortgages on four properties and another $103,000 to Sunset Bank in Waukesha for two additional mortgages. He said six of his seven rental properties have no equity in them.

He listed his gross income from his real estate business at $13,776 a month, or roughly $165,000 a year. Of that, he said he pays more than $8,000 a month on his various mortgages.

In Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a court trustee liquidates some of a debtor's assets to pay off as many creditors as possible. Once this is done, most of a bankrupt individual's debts, including credit card and medical bills, are wiped from the books. Seymer hopes to exempt six of his rental properties from liquidation.

In sum, a guy who thinks that paying public sector workers $40,000 a year is being lavish can't make it on more than four times that. On top of that, Mr. Small Government wants Big Government to bail him out of the mess he made for himself.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Orville.

Corrupt Jude Randa Rules That Prosecutors Can't Stop Corruption

Rudolph Randa

In February 2014, the Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCfG) and its director, Eric O'Keefe, filed a frivolous lawsuit in federal court, asking the court to stop the John Doe investigation into illegal collaboration between dark money special interest groups, likw WCfG, and Scott Walker's campaign. The goal of the group was not only to stop the investigation but to get the court to legalize the corruption they were participating in.

The case was heard before Judge Rudoph Randa, who not only ordered an injunction against the investigation but also that the evidence gathered thus far be destroyed. This ruling was appealed to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, who immediately quashed the order to destroy the evidence and later overruled Randa's decision altogether.

Within days, another dark money group, the utterly misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG) filed yet another lawsuit - the sixth one related to the investigation. This time, they were asking for the court to order prosecutors and the Government Accountability Board to be kept from interfering with their collaboration, because corruption is free speech, or something like that:

Chris Kliesmet

Citizens for Responsible Government Advocates has not been involved in the investigation connected to Walker. But the group has been a longtime Walker ally, and its lawsuit addresses what has been raised in the investigation into his campaign's activities. The lawsuit is being funded by a group affiliated with O'Keefe using lawyers who have represented O'Keefe and the Wisconsin Club for Growth.

"My rights to speak out are being violated and they're being violated in a violent way," Chris Kliesmet, president of CRG Advocates, said in explaining why his group brought the suit.

It needs to be emphasized that the lawsuit is being funded by Citizens for Self-Governance, another dark money group affiliated with O'Keefe and using the same lawyers that represented O'Keefe in his frivolous lawsuit.

Apparently there is a shortage of federal judges, since this lawsuit was also heard by Randa, who quickly ruled in the dark money group's favor.

Outraged yet? Just wait. There's more. There's always more.

Randa should never have heard either of these cases due to the obvious conflicts of interest. Randa, who was appointed by George H. W. Bush and is a member of the Federalist Society, has many ties to the cases he presided over:

• Cary Biskupic, the wife of Walker's campaign's attorney, Steve Biskupic, is Randa's judicial assistant.
• Randa's own wife is a big time campaign donor to Walker
• Randa himself has attended Koch-funded junkets

Then there is CRG, which consists of a couple of local yokels, Chris Kliesmet and Orville Seymer. They're biggest claim to fame is being the face to a recall of former Milwaukee County Executive Tom Ament, which opened the door for Scott Walker.

Since then, all they've managed to do is make unsuccessful attempts to recall other politicians, including former Governor Jim Doyle.

CRG was also responsible for trying to intimidate teachers by publishing their personal information and filing false criminal complaints against innocent, mild-mannered bloggers (namely me).

Click on image to embiggen

Interestingly, CRG also held an "educational seminar" on how to interfere with a John Doe investigation and start one of their own (which is something that O'Keefe has tried to do when he's not filing frivolous lawsuits).

The gentle reader should expect that this ruling, like Randa's other one, will be appealed and overturned.

In the original overruling, the appellate court said that Randa "had abused his discretion."

In this case, Randa again went beyond the pale:

But Larry Noble of the Campaign Legal Center said Randa’s order likely will be appealed because it contradicts U.S. Supreme Court decisions about the legality of such coordination.

“He refuses to accept what he was told — that the law is not as he wishes it were,” said Noble, former general counsel for the Federal Election Commission. “He keeps trying to limit the application of the law in a way that has never been required by the Supreme Court. The court has never said it is unconstitutional ... when you’re dealing with coordinated activity.”

Added Noble: “I assume this will go to the 7th Circuit, and the 7th Circuit will reverse it.”

On a final note, would someone please go to the Chief Judge of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and file an ethics complaint to get Randa off the bench?

Cross posted at Crooks & Liars

Send CRG A Message

As I reported a few days ago, the horribly misnamed group, Citizens for Responsible Government, is joining up with Charlie Sykes to push for Chris Abele's Plutocracy Bill.

Response mustn't be too good, since they had to send out an email blast to promote their stunt, including sending one to me. (Thank you to all you liberals who buried my inbox making sure I knew about it.  Why they sent it to liberals, I'll never understand. But they've never been known for being too bright.)

The email in itself is an interesting piece of propaganda.

It starts out with some cheap graphics:

Given the overreaching nature of the Plutocracy bill, it causes one to wonder if they mean "fix" as in repair, or "fix" as in getting your pet fixed.  I doubt that either of the members of CRG have enough brain cells to rub together to have thought this through.

Indeed, the rest of the email proves that out.

It starts out with this:

10 years ago, we learned the Milwaukee County Board couldn’t be trusted.  That tough lesson cost taxpayers over $200 million and promised reform, never happened.

As I pointed out in the previous report, Scott Walker had given a sworn deposition leading up to the Mercer trial, in which he testified that the Board was innocent of the conspiracy and that it all came from the executive's office and the faulty information given by them and by Mercer.

By the way, I also predicted that they wouldn't figure that out, much less bring it up.  My perfect track record continues unbroken.

Next up on their hit parade of talking points:

A decade later, Chairman Dimitrijevic lies to us about secret, illegal negotiations, and cons us with more fake reform.  Sounds a lot like Tom Ament.

Would someone tell the two dumb asses at CRG that Marina Dimitrijevic is a woman, thus making her Chairwoman, not Chairman, of the Board?

And when you're telling them this, also point out that it's their sponsor, Chris Abele, whose fingerprints are all over this alleged scandal.  That's the same guy they want to make emperor.

And finally, there is this:

Opponents of reform claim state legislation interferes with local control. 

The TRUTH: the bill allows a referendum to be put to a vote, a right most Wisconsin counties have...but not Milwaukee County. 

Demand real, guaranteed reform!

Actually, if the state continues with their plan to destroy our democracy and our representative government, the damage will be done long before any referendum hits the polling booth.  No one is buying this anymore with the apparent exception of these two schmucks.

It's also ironic that they are holding their dog and pony show demanding "real,

guaranteed reform" on the same day that the County Board is voting on an override of Abele's veto of real, guaranteed reform.  Go figure.

This kind of insidious lying and personal attacks will continue unless they are called out.

So please fell free to call them out on their lies, their sockpuppetry and for their efforts to ruin the local democracy and economy.  You can reach them at crg@crgnetwork.com or at 414-801-0800.

Abele and CRG

Chris Abele and his plutocratic pals at the Greater Milwaukee Committee has been flailing around to keep momentum going for their hostile take over of Milwaukee County.  They have stooped so low as to try to frame the entire County Board.  But every time he turns around, he shoots himself in the foot by revealing his true nature.

But no need to fear, for CRG is here!

Starting this week, the ironically and utterly inappropriately named Citizens for Responsible Government is running ads in support of the power grab and advertising for a rally which is scheduled for this coming Monday at the anti-union Serb Hall.

Yes, that is the same CRG that have plumbed the depths of depravity, attacking public service workers without hesitation while committing acts of corruption themselves.

Bruce Murphy also caught the commercial and spoke with Chris Kleismet, one of the two thugs that makes up CRG.  The reason Kleismet gave Murphy for the rally was hilarious:

CRG spokesperson Chris Kliesmet say that up to now, all the grass-roots organizing on this issue has been by liberals. “There are people on both sides of the issue,” he notes. “There hasn’t been a lot of conservative grass-roots action. I think it’s important for people to understand, just like with Ament, if you want change it’s up to us.”

Murphy went on to worry that the CRG stunt will hurt the cause, making it a conservative vs. liberal issue.

He needn't worry though.  There  hasn't been one bona fide liberal who has stood up in support of this attack on democracy.

According to the paper, speakers at the rally include the figurehead sponsor of the GMC bill, Joe Sanfelippo, and former supervisor Joe Rice.  

Now would be a good time to mention that Rice has been very busy running around as a lobbyist for Sanfelippo in the ongoing issue regarding taxi permits as well as mercenary pawn for GMC in their power grab.

But the highlight of the event is going to be the emcee, Charlie Sykes.  For those that didn't know, or knew and forgot, Sykes and Abele don't like each other very much. It all stemmed from 15 months ago, when Sykes making the inference that Abele is a pedophile.  I wonder if Abele and Sykes will hug on stage and make up for their past differences.

What it truly ironic is that in their commercial, CRG is attacking the County Board because UNIONS! PENSIONS!  However, CRG's and Abele's common hero, Scott Walker, had given a sworn deposition leading up to the Mercer trial, in which he testified that the Board was innocent of the conspiracy and that it all came from the executive's office and the faulty information given by them and by Mercer.

Somehow I don't think that will be brought up on Monday.

Hey Hey, We're The Knotsies....

While there is much competition for silliest most ignorant group of right wing trolls in Wisconsin, between Citizens for a responsible government , Americans for Prosperity , Maciver , US Senator Ron Johnson and various tea parties, there is one group of republicans that stands out(even amongst that crowd) - knot my Wisconsin!

They fit the typical right hate group profile,  limited, local membership, maturity of a third grader, intelligence of a second grader, cowardly, likes to viciously attack people anonymously, takers on the system, mad at the world, well you get the drift.

Luckily for us and unluckily for the anonymous cowards, someone took the time to research them and expose who they are!

trolling is different though, in the last national election cycle we saw trolling taken to a new level as right wing groups had taken to paying individuals to sit on the computer day and night and harass people online and present false claims and information.  Some individuals have taken it upon themselves to up the stakes though and have developed tactics that take trolling even further, to something that borders on terrorism.  Here in the badger state a loose collection of such people formed under the banner of "knot my Wisconsin."  During the process that led to the recall election of Scott Walker, they began organizing themselves to impede the democratic process of recall.

They colluded together to harass people involved in the recall process online and launched attacks against elected officials as well.  Threatening violence against those people and in some cases carrying out those threats.  They killed family pets and threatened people's children. Employers and supervisors were repeatedly called in an effort to lead to termination of employment.  They organized and carried out efforts to trespass on people's property and destroy political signage.  Later they publicly posted online that they intended to beat or kill people on election day at the polls.  They likewise threatened to take carloads of people and perform drive-by shootings in largely minority neighborhoods to feloniously obstruct the election process which is key to maintaining a democracy.  Not everyone on this list of course was involved in every and all aspects of the activities listed, but they are all part of the same group.

If you want to know more about them check here, but my advice when you see them, just realize that they are little people, with little minds and ignore them.

Remember from here on out, they will known as the GNAT my Wisconsin, named after the annoying little bug! They are just an unnecessary distraction, which is truly all the potential for making a difference they ever will have.  

Swat them off your sleeve!

Now let's get back to WORK!!!

Greater Milwaukee Committee's Epic Flail

A few years ago, the Greater Milwaukee Committee, the group that wrote and is pushing the Usurpation Bill, teamed up with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to form a front group called "MY Milwaukee."

Taking a page from their friends at the Bradley Foundation, they have used this
front group in a thus far vain effort to justify their overreaching power grab in Milwaukee County.  In their fact-free endeavors, they end up citing their propagandists, who in turn cite MY Milwaukee, making it nothing more than an example of "We're right because we said we are."

Their latest endeavor to stop the tide from turning on them even further is a series of email blasts which they call "Myths & Facts."  Let me tell you, gentle reader, they are heavy on the myth and very light on the facts.

Their most recent blast included a number of myths.  Unfortunately for them, their "facts" are just as mythical.

Their first myth is "The Milwaukee County Board has always been full time."  They go on to correct this.  It is true that the Board had been part time at one time.  But it is also true that no one is using this as an argument to defend the Board, thus making it a straw man argument and a waste of time.

Their second myth is "County Supervisors do way too much work to be part time."   Even more silly is their justification for this argument:

Fact: County supervisors should be primarily focused on developing policy for the county. Unlike Common Council members, who provide wide-range of constituent services covering a wide range of everyday issues (e.g., garbage, snow plowing, roads, police services, etc.), supervisors generally take few constituent calls. This is particularly true in Milwaukee County, which is the only fully incorporated county in the state. As a result, every Milwaukee County resident also has a city or village government they can reach out to regarding these services.

A 2011 Journal Sentinel article also showed that six Supervisors missed at least a dozen board or committee meetings over the past three years. That amounts to an absentee rate of about 10% or more, depending on a supervisor's particular committee assignments. "We get trashed enough," said Supervisor Borkowski in the same article. "Committee assignments and the board meetings are the extreme least that we can do. The job is not really that complicated."

Additionally, on his blog, Supervisor Jason Haas described a "busy week" of three committee meetings and two community meetings as "Not too shabby."

Gee, that would be so damning if it were even slightly true. The real fact is that a supervisors job is not just in the office. A good supervisor is out in the community they represent, listening to and working with their constituents. Also, a good supervisor does not work from 9-5, but are out there attending meetings and events in the evenings and on the weekends.

For example, since they use Supervisor Jason Haas as a an example of having only five meetings in just one week, what they don't tell you is that he has been setting up "Friends of the Park" groups for almost every park in his district. He also holds regular listening sessions in community businesses and centers.

Perhaps the folks at GMC are perplexed because they only know Chris Abele, who rarely leaves his ivory tower to mingle among the commoners. Or perhaps they are using Joe Sanfelippo as an example, because he spent most of his time at this family's taxi company, counting all the money he voted to pay their company with taxpayer dollars. Sanfelippo's interaction with the community usually was nothing more than insulting women with mental health issues.

MY Milwaukee's third myth was "A part-time board will make it even tougher for constituents to reach someone to help get their problems solved." As in the previous example, their rationale is laughable:

By restoring a part-time board, supervisors will be more responsive to their community by:

• Holding meetings during the evening, when constituents can actually participate without having to take time off of work;
• Ensuring that supervisors are not isolated all day, every day, at the courthouse, surrounded by employees. Instead as citizen-legislators, they are members of the community, accessible and sensitive to the needs and interests of neighbors and colleagues; and
• With a county board and staff no longer focused on micromanaging and otherwise trying to assume the administrative functions of the executive, they will be able to focus that time on constituent services.

I cannot believe that they had typed that with a straight face.

First off, the bill calls for a salary of $24,000 which is not a livable wage.  This means that the supervisors will have to find other work.  How can they be responsive when they are working their other jobs?  The quick answer, which we already knew due to former Supervisor Paul Cesarz, is they cannot.  In fact, things got so bad that Cesarz' successor had to do an open records request on his own office to get access to Cesarz' computer files.

As for their second bullet point, I just discussed how a supervisor's job is not a 9-5 office job, as the GMC is trying to argue that it is.  But considering the role models that they have to work with, it's not surprising.

The GMC's fourth and final myth is "We need a full-time board to monitor county services, like the already challenged mental health facility."  They go on to blame the Board for not making the changes recommended by the Public Policy Forum, which GMC paid to make the recommendation of throwing the people out of the mental health complex.

They ignore the fact that this opposed by the doctors and clinicians, many of whom Abele has fired for standing up for their patients.  They also ignore the fact that it was former County Supervisor Lynne De Bruin who was the one that blew the whistle on the horrid conditions, including frequent sexual assaults, that was happening at the complex.  And they most definitely don't want to go into the fact that the deplorable conditions stem directly from Scott Walker's agenda of austerity and his hand-picked director.

As an added bonus to their lunacy, the folks at GMC's MY Milwaukee added a little blurb at the bottom in which they cite cherry picked data in a failing effort to portray the County Supervisors as being overstaffed and overpaid.  One of the things they cite is a six year old study by the misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG).

This is telling for two reasons.

One, their numbers, like all of their other arguments, are patently false.  The real numbers show that the Board is actually underpaid:

"I'm not changing anything," state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo (R-West Allis) told the Milwaukee Rotary Club. By imposing part-time status on supervisors, he's trying to restore a balance that state legislators intended when they created the office of county executive in 1959, Sanfelippo said.

However, a review of past supervisor pay shows supervisor salaries from decades ago exceeded today's $50,679, when inflation is factored in.

Supervisors were paid $11,500 in 1970, which translates to $68,812 in today's dollars when accounting for inflation. The pay was up to $21,537 in 1980, the equivalent of $60,682 in today's dollars. The calculations were based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology.

While the County Board's pay has been considered full-time compensation, the post hasn't been formally designated a part-time or full-time job.

Milwaukee County supervisor compensation greatly exceeds that of any other county in Wisconsin. Milwaukee County supervisors' pay in 2007 - the same as now - ranked 14th of 18 similar-sized counties elsewhere in the United States in a report by the county auditor.

The gentle reader should also remember that the Milwaukee County Board is actually the same as every other county in the state: One dollar per person represented. If they wanted to keep it equitable to other counties, but only pay the supervisors $24,000, they would have to double the number of supervisors.

Secondly, it is very telling that GMC is stooping to the level that they are referencing CRG. CRG is a group of particularly unpleasant anti-government thugs that are used by groups like the Bradley Foundation. CRG's claims to fame including attacking public sector workers who are whistle blowers and illegally dispersing private information about Janesville teachers.

The fact that GMC is stretching the truth so much, scraping the bottom of the barrel in an effort to find allies and flailing like mad men in general is showing the depth of their desperation.  If their overreaching power grab had any merit, they wouldn't need to go to such extremes.

Cudahy - District 3!

There is a very interesting race for Cudahy Alderman - District 3 that I wanted to point out!   It is a race between a progressive leader in ZachWisniewski, and far right blogger Randy Hollenbeck! 

A couple things I wanted to point out.  It appears that you do not have to love Randy Hollenbeck as he seems to love himself enough for everyone.  His self description falls just short of declaring himself "the most interesting man in the world": 

I am an Ultra-Conservative, Alpha-Male, True Authentic Leader, Type "C" Personality, who is very active in my community; whether it is donating time, clothes or money for Project Concern or going to Common Council meetings and voicing my opinions. As a blogger, I intend to provide a different viewpoint "The way I see it!" on various world, national and local issues with a few helpful tips & tidbits sprinkled in

As Margaret Thatcher once said

"Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't!"

Another and even more important thing to keep in mind is an old Japanese Proverb:

 “When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.”

Here is Randy giving a speech at a CRG(citizens for responsible government) rally in 2009.   The readers of CogDis, are familiar with a Wisconsin based right wing hate group called CRG!  If you remember, they were the Vile cowards that sent out the loathsome anonymous attack on the Janesville teachers!  They are also well known for being deceitful and dishonest. 

Is this the kind of people you want your Alder people beholden too?   I did not think so!

Help Zach, throw him $5, tell your friends, offer up your yard for a sign, and most important of all - VOTE for Zach Wisniewski on April 2nd, 2013!  

The "Yes, We Did Build It" Scam

David Koch, Sheldon Adelson and other multibillionaires have said that they were going to throw a lot of money into the upcoming election in an effort to buy the presidency and put their puppets, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, into the White House.

We now see that some of their lucre being used in Fitzwalkerstan in the form of a scam.

Right wing front groups like Citizens for Responsible Government, Americans for Prosperity, the Heartland Institute and others are coming together this Saturday to host an event they are calling "Yes, We Did Build This!"

The event is supposed to star such teahadist heroes such as Rebecca Kleefisch, Ron Johnson, and Charlie Sykes. They are hyping the event as the revelation of their "plan to take back America." For a taste of just how thick they are laying on the absurdity and grotesque masquerade of being patriots, look at the tripe they have posted on CRG's website:

It is no surprise that the first American Revolution was led by independent business people like Samuel Adams. Large corporations such as the East India Company were too economically important to the throne and were protected. The brunt of new taxes and regulations fell squarely on the shoulders of colonial small business people. Adams sounded the alarm not simply based on current taxes and regulations but what would happen if the trend continued unabated.

Current conditions bear a striking resemblance to those of the first American Revolution. The president and his supporters tell outright lies and use sweeping, "king-like" powers to fundamentally change the the laws of the land. They insinuate that honest, hard-working, risk-taking entreprenuers [sic] and businesspeople "didn't build that" and use it as a pretext to extort ever larger sums for redistribution to the king's cronies.

The time has come for a new, well-mannered American Revolution, one that demands honest representation and an end to the lies, waste, corruption and theft of property by outright taking or regulation that have become the calling cards of these new and would-be kings.

Once again, it must be led by those damaged the most, the economic lifeblood of our country, the small business person. This revolution will not be fought with muskets but with elections. If business as we know it is to survive, we must become adept at winning elections. Sadly, this self-evident fact of life has been widely ignored. We believe we have developed a foolproof plan to win the overwhelming majority of elections.

Wisconsin has been identified as a primary battleground in this new revolution and has attracted significant national attention. We must supply leadership to manage and grow the budding revolution that has produced leaders like U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, Governor Scott Walker, and Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan. These bold and visionary leaders need strong and organized support to counter and defeat our ideological competition, support that only the business community can provide. In order to implement our shared vision for the future of America they need the assurance that can remain in office and, moreover, to rise to higher office in order to finish what they started.

Join us to discover and participate in the new and innovative plan that will make this happen!

This is a free and private event specifically for businesspeople and their employees. Seating is limited and reservations are required for reasons of security and logistics. Register today!

In other words, they are trying to say that the business people are the only ones to save the day against the evil old government, personified by Barack Obama. (Without doubt, there will be a lot of racist code words bantered about at the event.) I also note they don't mention the working people at all in their propaganda. Maybe they are already considering us to be nothing more than serfs.

But what is truly amazing about this event is how much hypocrisy and irony that they can cram into one room.

For example, let's look at some of the characters, or should I say caricatures, involved with this farce.

The figurehead of CRG is Chris Kleismet. Despite his pretenses of wanting to cut governmental spending and having a "responsible government, nothing could be further from the truth. Some of Kleismet's claims to infamy includes trying to parlay his support of Scott Walker for Milwaukee County Executive into a lucrative county contract for getting the county to buy into his Six Sigma plan. This included trying to get Walker to give them an office in the Milwaukee County Courthouse, a move that was not only unethical, but also illegal.

Apparently Kleismet found it too difficult to build it on his own and was looking to Walker to give him some government money to help him out.

The emcee of this hootenanny is local squawker Charlie Sykes. Sykes, as we all know, uses the publicly funded airwaves to promote the Teapublican agenda, even if it means breaking the law to do so.

And Sykes isn't above using those same public airwaves for free advertisement to peddle his books. If he built his reputation as an author on his own, shouldn't he have to pay for commercials like anyone else would?

Likewise, Rebecca Kleehisch first got her name recognition from being a reporter for Channel 12 in Milwaukee. After leaving the station, she got free air time on WTMJ-AM from Charlie Sykes. This naturally led to Sykes giving her more free air time when she was a candidate for lieutenant governor. One has to wonder how well she would have done if she hadn't gotten all that free air time on the publicly funded airwaves. Odds are we'd be looking at Lt. Governor Brett Davis.

But leave it to these teahadists to make the biggest hypocrite their keynote speaker.

RoJo ran for the US Senate claiming to be a self-made millionaire by working hard and building his business from the ground up. The truth is an entirely different matter:

• RoJo didn't start his company, Pacur. He married into it.
• RoJo got a $4 million government low-interest loan to buy equipment and expand the business.
• RoJo got a railroad line built to Pacur using HUD grant money.
• RoJo had his employees using BadgerCare, the state-funded healthcare insurance.
• And speaking of his employees, some of them were prisoners who worked cheap and already had their healthcare covered by the state.

It's a strong possibility that the only thing RoJo did build on his own was his reputation for being a liar and an idiot.

But perhaps the biggest irony of the whole affair is that all of these hypocrites and fakirs are gathering together to preach about their independence and the need to cut government spending in the Waukesha County Expo Center, a government-owned building.

I tell you, I like to think I have a good imagination, but there is no way that I could make up all of this and be ever considered credible again. Leave it to the teahadists to manage to be stranger than fiction.

Perhaps it's the absurdity of this entire charade that is having them make sure that only the true believers are allowed access to the event. Per CRG's website:

This is a private event. Holding a ticket does not guarantee entry nor a right to attend the event. The event organizers retain the right to deny entry or remove attendees without cause. Behavior deemed disruptive or inappropriate by the event organizers may also result in removal from the event and/or prosecution for trespass and disorderly conduct.

Heh. Usually they have to keep the insane locked in a facility. Here they're trying to keep the sane locked out.

I hear that besides their sure fire method to richness and power, they will also be selling the secret to eternal youth, the cure for cancer, Love Potion #9, Dr. Carter's liver pills and other assorted snake oils, elixirs, tonics and charms.

Birdbrains Of A Feather Squawk Together

The ethically-challenged Milwaukee Alderman Bob Donovan is at it again.

Just after his umpteenth consecutive incident of embarrassing himself about the proposed streetcar, he comes back for another round, this time trying to recruit the 70% of Milwaukee citizens he thinks doesn't like the proposed streetcar and is also as moronic as he is not to realize that the money can't be used on road repairs, per the federal guidelines.  He wants to flood the streets with signature gatherers for a petition to have a referendum on the streetcar.

Not surprisingly, Chris Kliesmet of the misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government has sounded off to support Donovan's Don Quixote imitation.  It's not at all surprising since CRG is as ethically-challenged as Donovan.  Kliesment likes the idea of feeding at the government trough, even though his group apparently doesn't like to pay their taxes to keep said trough full.

What is surprising is that Kliesmet hasn't sounded off on the whole Walkergate investigation.  You would think that the head of a group that claims to be the watchdog for government spending would be screaming about corrupt politicians using taxpayer dollars to do their campaigning.

What do you suppose it is that would keep a guy so vigilant about every tax dollar that he would go as far as making things up about public workers from saying something about actual misuse of taxpayer money?  It's almost as if he doesn't want to draw attention to it...

More Whine! More Weenies!

This morning, I put it out there that Scott Walker's "brat and beer summit" was nothing more than a campaign gimmick, just like he played the veterans in Milwaukee with Operation Freedom.

As usual, I was correct.  Badger Democracy did the leg work and compared the contributors to the summit to his campaign contributors.  Not surprisingly, there were a lot of match ups.  Badger Democracy also pointed out that many of the contributors just so happened to be part of the Wisconsin's Grocers Association.  You might remember them from last year with their fake alarm about union members and protesters planning to deface boycotted products.

The next step would be an Open Records Request between his staffers and the contributors.  It would be interesting to see if Walker did this as an official gubernatorial act or through his campaign.  If he holds true to pattern, Walker had his government staff doing a combination of strong-arming and pay-for-play to get the vendors to cough up their shares.

In a related story, the supposedly fiscally conservative groups Citizens for Responsible Government and the Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty let the cat out of the cellophane bag by showing that they are really nothing more than puppets for the Koch Brothers when they send out a mewling, petulant press release whining that Senator Chris Larson also abstained from Walker's photo op/campaign stunt.

These knuckle-dragging neo-neanderthals used a comment from Larson's Facebook page as his reason for not going.  While Larson is correct that Walker isn't serious about fixing all the damage he has caused, the bumbling buffoons mistakenly identify Larson's clarity for why he didn't go.

Doing what they should have done in the first place, I got in contact with Larson.  Yeah, he didn't go. The reason though wasn't political.  He stayed home to care for his newly born baby son in order for his wife to go to work on the last day of school.

Maybe CRG and WGL have something against kids.  Or maybe they hate the thought of women doing anything but being barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.  Or maybe, like I said, their just tools.  Remember, CRG is the cravenly cowards that put those anti-teacher fliers out in Janesville.  And the Grandkids are the same ones that "hosted" a teahadist convention in a Milwaukee County park with Scott Walker's endorsement as County Executive.  In other words, they're as corrupt as he is.

Whatever the reasoning for these malefactors to issue such an insane release, they better have one out tomorrow apologizing.  To help motivate them to do the right thing, they have thoughtfully provided their phone numbers:

CRG: (414) 573 -8709

WGL: (414) 465-8683

So, go ahead, give them a call and tell them to apologize to Senator Larson for lying about him and that they're thuggish behaviors will no longer be tolerated.  And if you want to share a few other thoughts with them, well, that's your business.

P.S. For what it's worth, I hear that Kleismet, like most bullies, was practically in tears when people confronted him about those fliers.

CRG: The Depth Of Depravity

My colleague Jeff Simpson has already done a yeoman's job of calling out the utterly misnamed group Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG) and their malicious attack on the teachers of Janesville.  As to be expected, I have more to say on that subject.  But first, I want to share with you exactly who these cretinous miscreants are.

CRG is basically a two man operation.  The leaders are a real odd couple, Chris Kliesmet and Orville Seymer.

Kliesmet is a diminutive man, both physically and emotionally.  Kliesmet is always seen in an oversized suit, and would make the perfect stereotypical bookkeeper.  Although he is always claiming poverty, he lives in Bayside, one of the wealthiest communities in Milwaukee County.

His partner, Seymer, is the exact opposite.  He is a large, brutish man who is always unkempt, grungy and greasy.  Like his partner, he is always claiming poverty, but owns several rental properties, but doesn't invest too much time or money into upkeep, judging from the lawsuits and complaints.

As the gentle reader probably has already surmised, they are Scott Walker's personal thug enforcers.  When there is dirty work to be done, Walker whistles and these two wretched hounds come running.

Orville "Pretty Boy" Seymer

CRG first came on the scene in 2002, when the news broke of a pension scheme devised by then Milwaukee County Executive Tom Ament.  CRG stepped up and, with the help of radio squawkers Charlie Sykes and Jeff Wagner, were able to fan the flames of anger to a point just short of breaking out torches and pitchforks, and started a recall against Ament and several county board supervisors.

After they got Walker was ensconced as county executive, he tried to pay them back by giving them office space in the Milwaukee County Courthouse. Yes, you read that correctly.  He offered this right wing nut job group, the precursor to the teahadists, an office in a public building. This move was shot down by the board due to it being illegal, but word is they still got one on the sly.

After that, CRG became Walker's enforcers.  When it came to be time to vote on one of Walker's draconian budgets or some other act of malfeasance, CRG would start threatening progressive supervisors who might oppose his cuts to staff and service with a recall, regardless of how unlikely they were going to be successful.  However, outside of those very first ones, they were never successful and became the laughing stocks of  Milwaukee County.

However, their interest in Walker and his career was never very altruistic or very interested in having a responsible government.  Via former County Board Supervisor Jim McGuigan, we catch this missive from George Stanley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to Kliesmet who was upset about an article written about his corruption being exposed:

Cary Spivak and Dan Bice have very detailed notes from a July interview and a second interview on Tuesday in which you talk quite openly about making money as a Six Sigma adviser to other government entities. Here are just a few examples of things you said to them: 

"Yeah, I might be inclined to sell my services to those people (you were talking about other governments contacting you about Six Sigma services)

"Loss leader " that's a good way to put it (you were talking about your work at no charge for Milwaukee County and later getting business from others) 

"Could I make a dollar on it in the future? I guess the answer is true. 

"I have no intention at this point of starting a company and doing this. But If somebody came to me and made me a better offer, of course I would." 

"I'm also a capitalist. I don't have any altruistic motives toward San Diego or any other place." 

Given your openness about how your Six Sigma work for the county could lead to business with other government units, I see nothing inaccurate about today's Spivak & Bice column.
When you lobby government officials, pressure them with your clout as a citizen organizer, and mention possible business dealings with them, you should not be surprised that this newspaper will watch you with the same scrutiny as we do others who lobby and do business with government officials spending taxpayers' money. 

We will continue to watch your actions in the future.

Chris "Macho Man" Kliesmet

Unfortunately, Stanley's threat was not to be and the corporate media giant started to actually use CRG as a credible authority despite their knowledge of CRG's corrupt nature.

Over the next few years, they tried to expand their reach across the state. They launched one failed recall attempt after another against politicians in all corners of the state, including too laughable attempts to recall then Governor Jim Doyle.

In 2010, they chose to go after someone other than county supervisors.  Just a few weeks after Darlene Wink was caught leaving comments on JSOnline and other blogs and Tim Russell was taped doing campaign work during county time as a county employee, CRG filed a criminal complaint against yours truly. Using falsified data to prop up their false accusations, they claimed I was blogging on county time using county equipment.

Only thing is, I wasn't.

The Bloggerati stepped up to defend me, pointing out that the days CRG used in their attacks were vacation days, furlough days and {gasp} major holidays.* How dare I use my off time as I see fit!  Obviously, I had to be punished! (Or at least used as a foil in an effort to take people's attention to the real criminals.)

Interestingly, to this date, this group, which claims to be watchdogs of the government, has never said one thing regarding the ongoing Walkergate scandal, which is the ultimate waste of taxpayer dollars.

Many have also wondered about where CRG was getting all there money from.  After all, running all these recall attempts and doing literally hundreds if not thousands of open record requests costs quite a bit of cash.  And like I said, the only people that appear in charge of their mayhem is this unlikely Mutt and Jeff duo.

Well, thanks to their malevolent attack on the Janesville teachers, people like karoli at Crooks & Liars started looking at this group.

Unsurprisingly, it turns out that they've gotten a large amount of cash from groups like the Koch-funded Club for Growth, as well as American Majority and the Sam Adams Alliance.

And to show off their hypocrisy, they've failed to follow tax laws in their filings:

That grant to CRG was for $126,500. It was, according to the Club for Growth return, all paid in 2009. The identification number on the postcard filing matches the identification number on the Club for Growth filing. 

CRG filed a postcard return with the IRS for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2009, just as it had for 2008, 2010, and 2011. There are special rules connected with the postcard filing. For example, an organization could receive more than $50,000 in one year, (the usual threshold for the postcard filing) and still file via postcard as long as their average receipts were less than $50,000 over a three-year period. 

Let's see if they qualified. In 2007, CRG received 40,959. In 2009, CRG received at least $126,500. Assuming no receipts in 2008, the average receipts comes out to $55,819.67, which exceeds the permissible threshold for filing an information-free return. Oops! 

Why is this important? It's important because it seems clear that the Wisconsin Club for Growth used CRG and other allied right wing groups as funnels and fronts to avoid accountability for purely evil acts like publishing an enemies list of public school teachers, for example. It's important because there might have been at least a shred of accountability for their prior bad acts. And yes, there have been many

Well, that's not very responsible now, is it? Maybe we should start a group called Citizens for Responsible CRG.

Their hypocrisy and their depravity really show when it comes to their attacks on the Janesville teachers.  As noted before, they stuck their attack fliers in the boxes for the Janesville Gazette, which is stomping mad that they've been made to look like they were the ones that put them with their paper.  (Judging from the fact that they regularly print the tripe from Kevin Binversie of another Koch front group, Wisconsin Reporter, the assumption appears to be a natural mistake.)

I have learned that since the Gazette ran the story Wednesday morning in which CRG was outed as the cravenly culprits behind this malicious attack, Kliesmet has been crying the blues to whoever will listen that people have been calling him to ream him out.

He is so upset about finally being held accountable for his actions that he is threatening to sue the paper for connecting him and his group to the fliers, even though it was his group that did the open records request and gathered all the information.

Even more incredulous is the fact that Kliesmet has been saying that they wouldn't have had to do that if it wasn't for the recalls.  This coming from the King of the Recalls.  Can you say "hypocrite?"

But that could be the least of CRG's concerns.

I believe that they might have broken the law with their little escapade.

While it is true that the names and salaries of the teachers are public record, their malfeasance didn't end with their McCarthy-esque use of this data by printing it out and shoving it in people's paper boxes.

On the flier, they said people should look for the names of their children's teachers on verifytherecall dot com.  And then they included this portion:

click on image to embiggen

With this attachment, they are calling teachers that signed the recall petition "radicals" and are urging parents to disrupt their work by asking their children to be removed from their classrooms. And that's where the rub comes in.

Civil service codes state that public employees cannot be punished or harassed for partaking of political activities, joining a political party or any other group on their own time.  Yet this is exactly what CRG did.

If I were the teachers, I would get in touch with an attorney who specializes in labor law and/or civil rights and see if they got a case.  Hell, just the discoveries that CRG would have to go through would be worth it, as they have to reveal the other culprits who joined in this act are, as well as who ordered it and who bankrolled it.

Then Kliesmet and Seymer can finally learn what being responsible is really all about.

*The legal bills which I accrued (and am still paying off) and lost time at work to deal with their smear job have totaled over $4,000.  Who said that Freedom of Speech is free?  Anyway, if the gentle reader would like to help me with my legal costs, they can donate to the capper defense fund by clicking here or on the button to the upper right side.

Cowardice Has a Name

Orville Seymer! 

We found out the person behind this cowardly hate flyer that was circulated in Janesville over the weekend.  Not only was this ridiculous and hate filled but it was meant strictly to intimidate the teachers of Janesville.  Well one person stepped forward to deflect the credit from the people who actually circulated the attack. 

HT Democurmudgeon:

Seymore on the anger of anonymous unpopular cowardly tea party snakes: "They're angry that the teachers are getting such a good deal, and the taxpayers are paying for that.

Well Mr. Seymer if its such a good deal, why aren't you doing it? Here at Cog Diss we do our research and have come upon breaking news. It appears that Mr. Seymer is still bitter that his acting career piqued in 1984.

Cowardice as an Art Form - Updated!

As Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.), has been saying, "courage is on the ballot".  Scott Walker and all of his supporters failed massively in Janesville(ironically Paul Ryan's home town) over the weekend.  This full page advertisement appeared out of the blue ON people's Janesville Gazette all over Janesville.

For those that can not see, it supposedly lists all of the teachers in Janesville who signed the recall petitions, and their salary and then has a form to sign on the bottom asking to opt out of these "radical teachers" classroom.   They then use Verify the Recall as their source.

And who put out this ad, calling teachers out by name and salary?  Why the people are anonymous of course.  

Scott Walker and his cronies have outdone themselves this time.  Their cowardice, attempts to Bully and Intimidate and  Divide and Conquer are on display for everyone in Wisconsin to see.   When you see the kind of people the Walker brigade are, you realize it is not a pretty sight!  

I guess Paul Ryan supports Tom Barrett after all.  

Do not worry, we at Cog_Dis will continue investigating until we find the cowards behind this ad!!    if you have any information, let us know!

Stay Tuned!   

UPDATED:  The Janesville Gazette brings us more to this story and a little about who was behind it:

Citizens for Responsible Government, also known as CRG Network, filed a freedom of information request with the School District of Janesville on March 29, said Brett Berg, spokesman for the district. Those figures were used to create the flier, said CRG Executive Administrator Chris Kliesmet.

"The group and its representative, Orville Seymer, filed a freedom of information request for a list of all Janesville district teachers, their job titles and annual salaries," Berg said.

When contacted by The Gazette, Seymer said he knew the names of local participants but was asked not to release them.

"They want to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation," Seymer said. "However, this is all public information."

The flier lists the names and salaries of 321 teachers whose salaries range from $59,344 to $75,695. The district employs 765 teachers; the lowest salary is $34,676.

"We did most of the grunt work at the request of people over there," Kliesmet said. "We did the freedom of information request and gathered the data. People in the area printed the flier and distributed it."

At least Superintendent Karen Schulte stepped up:

Schulte said she was shocked when someone showed her the flier Saturday. She said it was interesting that she saw the flier at Craig High School, where 400 people—including teachers—were volunteering to package food to be sent to feed the hungry in Haiti.

"I think it's wrong to go after any group that has an honest profession," Schulte said. "I don't understand where this intense anger is coming from."

so while this hate group was distributing anonymous hate fliers over the weekend,  the teachers that they are attempting to demonize were busy organizing a food drive for the people of Haiti.   Nuff Said


One last thing though, about those exorbitant have's of the Janesville School District:

 Only two teachers make more than $74,000. Salaries are based on a salary schedule that awards pay raises for years on the job to a maximum of 17 years and for continuing education up to the doctoral level. Teachers pay out of their own pockets to take the graduate courses. Teachers also receive extra pay for additional duties, such as coaching.

 765 teachers in the Janesville School District and only 2 make more than $70/k year.  The nerve of them...

CRG contact info:

 crg@crgnetwork.com   |   414-801-0800

Walkergate: The Reek Of Desperation

The Republicans are becoming so afraid of the ramifications of the ongoing Walkergate investigations and trials that they are starting to flail around in a blind panic.

There's no telling what's got them so scared.  It could be that they're afraid that Tim Russell will make the smart decision and cut a plea deal.  They might be afraid that one of the other people charged or being investigated will turn state's witness.  They might be afraid that more charges are about to hit.  It might be that their internal polls show that Scott Walker's corruption is really hurting him.

Whatever the reason or reasons, they are frantic with terror.

Case in point: Today former Waukesha County District Attorney and failed candidate for Attorney General sent a letter to the guy that beat him, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen asking him to take over the Walkergate investigation.

The letter is nonsensical in its hysteria.

 Bucher complains of leaks from the DA's office but gives no evidence of any.  Bucher also complains that the rights and reputations of the accused are being harmed, which is pretty damn ironic coming from a previous prosecutor that has done a lot of grandstanding from atop people's reputations, especially when he was making his failed run for Attorney General. Bucher rises to the height of absurdity by suggesting that the extremely partisan Van Hollen take the case away from Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisolm to protect it from being politicized.

No, really.  He actually said that.

Van Hollen wisely declined from intervening into the investigation and prosecutions, although the reason for this decision is not exactly clear.

According to Van Hollen, he states he doesn't have the authority to take a case away from an elected county district attorney.  But that is pretty much what he did with the trial of Rory Kuenzi, a guy from Waupaca County who was suspected of killing another young man in a drunk driving hit and run.

DA Chisolm reports that Van Hollen's department had originally been involved with the Walkergate investigation and helped with the conviction of railroad tycoon William Gardner.  Chisolm states that the state pulled out when the investigation started going after Walker's people because Van Hollen represents Walker and did not want to be in embroiled in a conflict of interest.

Lisa Kaiser, of the Shepherd Express, comes up with a number of valid points including being afraid of what will be discovered during the investigation in general and of angering the Republican machine.  Kaiser also points out that the case regarding Brian Pierick, who is facing child enticement charges, could be a major embarrassment for Van Hollen.  It was Van Hollen's agency that OKed the hiring of Pierick to work with kids.

Sadly, the nonsense does not end with Bucher's histrionic letter or Charlie Sykes' breathless grasping at straws, endlessly repeating the hysterical and inane allegations.

Nope, now they gotta bring in the clowns.

The grossly misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government, the pet attack dogs for Scott Walker, are bringing their circus back to town.  Via Vincent Schmuki's Facebook page, who has teamed with CRG before, is touting an upcoming event hosted by CRG (the spastic keyboard is all his):

OK FOLKS, HERE IT IS! Your opportunity to hear and understand the JOHN DOE PROCESS and how you personally can get involved in STOPPING THE CORRUPTION that we are seeing! This seminar is April 21st 10am-12:30pm at Serb Hall (51st and Oklahoma in West Allis) To sign up CALL CRG-Citizens for Responsible Gov't. 414-801-0800. This will be run by Former Wauk Cnty D.A. PAUL BUCHER (there is a small $10 cost that will go towards hall rental)

I think that Schmuki is missing the point.  Walkergate is the vehicle to stop the corruption.  Unless their values are so upside down that they think that adhering to the law is now a sign of corruption, which is entirely possible.

Anyway, Schmuki posted that along with the following poster:

Well, CRG should know about starting their own John Doe complaints, since they tried that against me two years ago, falsifying their "evidence" in order to do so.  (How much you want to bet I'll have to go through the same garbage again now?)  Seeing how it came just weeks after Darlene Wink and Tim Russell were busted campaigning on county time, it's pretty obvious that it was a purely retaliatory move, trying to deflect attention and heat from Walker's stealth campaign team during the contested gubernatorial election.

I have to admit, I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around this.  It's just that bizarre.  Can you imagine going to a rally to support people who have been accused of running a version of the caucus scandals?  I wonder if there will be some person selling "Free Scott Walker" or "Free The Walker Six" buttons and T-shirts.

The absurdity of this cannot be overemphasized.

Citizens for Responsible Government, a self-described taxpayer advocacy group, is sponsoring a rally featuring Paul Bucher, who ran for Attorney General as a law and order candidate, in order to smear and denigrate the judicial system in defense of people accused of using taxpayer-funded equipment on taxpayer-funded time to do illegal campaigning, stealing money from veterans and sexually assault children.

Please note that no where and at no time does any of these people claim that Walker or any of his staffers are innocent.  Just that the system is bad for holding them accountable.

You just can't make this stuff up.  I wouldn't be surprised if the next stunt won't be the Republicans calling for a special session so they can retroactively legalize illegal campaigning.  In order to create jobs, of course.

Walker's Long History Of Pay For Play

Ever since the Koch Brothers bought the governor's office, we have seen Scott Walker paring off hunks of Wisconsin and giving them to his campaign donors in return.

We've seen everything from his trying to give the north woods to Gogebic Taconite to giving cushy jobs to lobbyist's sons to rewarding the generous road builders to giving big tax breaks to his corporate cronies.  And he paid for his generosity on the backs of the workers and the poor.

But these horrific and unethical pay for play schemes are nothing new to Walker.

In what is being reported as something John Doe is looking at in the ongoing Walkergate saga, there was pay for play with his campaign staff and/or county staff (who can really tell the difference anymore?) and the commercial real estate brokers (who again blur in with the county/campaign blend).  This edition involved giving  county taxpayer money to seal a deal, thereby making a nice profit for his people, in order to rent a high-priced office building while county-owned building sat underused or even vacant.

There is also Walker's questionable relationship with Air Tran, who decided to sponsor his campaign Harley Davidson ride around the state at about the same time Walker just gave them a big expansion at Mitchell International Airport to serve as their base.

And thanks to a savvy and observant commenter who pointed out this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article by Dan Bice and Cary Spivac which showed Walker was double talking and double dealing during his first campaign run for governor:

When Scott Walker was a Republican gubernatorial candidate, his position on accepting donations during the state budget season was clear: Don't do it.

"That way, you remove any appearance that fund raising during the budget time has anything to do with the budget process," Walker said in January, two months before he dropped out of the governor's race.

Good advice - too bad Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker didn't get the message.

If he had, Walker would not have sent out a letter begging folks to send his campaign a few bucks right now - while the county budget was being debated.

Not only did the solicitation go out a week after he introduced the $1.26 billion budget, but Walker's plea uses the budget fight as the sales pitch for contributions.

"We have bold and creative ideas to balance the county budget," Walker wrote to some 8,000 supporters this month. "On the other hand, they (County Board members) continue to resurrect the same tired and old tax and spend ideas."

Then Walker - who is up for re-election this spring - passed the collection plate.

"To combat the attacks we will get from the liberal county board members and the special interest groups, I need your help," he wrote. "We have a powerful message of hope for the future, but we cannot depend on the media to get it out.

"That's why I hope you'll take a moment and renew your support of my campaign through a generous gift of $500, $250, $100, $50 or $25 today."

John Hiller, Walker's campaign chairman, defended the letter, arguing there was no contradiction between Walker's words and actions.

"He, in spirit, complied with what he was proposing," Hiller said.

Oh! John Hiller! We've heard that name recently. He was Walker's campaign treasurer for 18 years before Walker suddenly decided he wasn't up for the job. The fact that they started looking at the shady Reuss Building deal mentioned above had nothing to do with it, I'm sure.

But there's more (emphasis mine):

Curious as to what Walker thinks, we called him at the courthouse. His flack Rod McWilliams wasn't very helpful.

First McWilliams was aghast that we even asked him - a county worker - for a statement about a campaign matter.

We explained to McWilliams that we didn't want his opinion. Rather we wanted to talk to Walker - you know, the guy who mixed county business with politics in the first place. So, we again asked McWilliams to ask Walker to call us.

McWilliams refused to take the message.

"That's not how we do things," he lectured, explaining there is a wall between campaign and county business.

Hmm, that's one tall wall. Sounds like McWilliams has been listening to the Walker who ran for governor, not the one who is using the county budget fight to raise campaign cash.

And even before any of these examples, there are my good friends at the misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government. Before they started with filing false and falsified charges against me or attempting to recall popular politicians, they were the front group that led the charge in recalling Walker's predecessor and getting Walker elected. In exchange for their favor, Walker tried to give them some office space in the Milwaukee County Courthouse (which is illegal. Furthermore, Walker worked at getting the county to buy into Six Sigma, which CRG's ring leader, Chris Kleismet, was involved with.

As you can see, Walker has a long history of corrupt and unethical behavior.  So the reprehensible stunts he's pulling now or when he was running for governor doesn't surprise me on bit.

What does surprise me is that after more than ten years of it, he hasn't gotten any better at concealing it.  Then again, I shouldn't be surprised at that.  I also know that Walker's always been a slow learner.