Of Private Practices And Public Servants

There is very little doubt left that Scott Walker, Rebecca Kleefisch and the Teapublicans and Republicrats in the state legislature serve the will of the corporate special interests despite their empty rhetoric about being concerned about the taxpayers and working families.

To confirm this fact, Becky Kleefisch has been going around the state meeting with business leaders in order to get their marching orders:

In a closed meeting with Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, business operators argued — sometimes forcefully — for lower taxes and more financial incentives for commercial interests.

A recently released video of the Dec. 9 session at Beloit College shows Kleefisch and state Revenue Department Secretary Rick Chandler extolling state efforts to reduce taxes since Republicans took over state government in 2011, and saying they wanted private-sector ideas for another round of cuts.

“We want to know how we can love you more,” Kleefisch told the group of about 30 executives, managers, accountants and others during the 1-hour, 40-minute session.

The Beloit meeting was planned as an invitation-only affair so participants could speak freely without worries about divulging private financial information, Kleefisch said in an interview Thursday.

Gov. Scott Walker directed Kleefisch and Chandler to stage a series of “Tax Reform Roundtables” with state residents to find out how taxes affected “their businesses and their families,” and he said the Beloit session was a great start.

I find it ironic that the woman who compared same sex marriage to bestiality is willing to get some good loving going on with non-human corporations. I guess big campaign donations are an aphrodisiac.

The article goes on to report that Kleefisch was not only amorous to the corporate special interests, but a little bit voyeuristic, taking a video of the meeting.  The video was undoubtedly to make sure they got their orders correct, since accuracy is not a strong suit for this administration.

However, once Kleefisch learned that the video was subject to open records requests, she stopped videotaping her escapades.  Apparently, allowing the public to know what their public servants are doing is worse than the risk of getting the corporate demands wrong.

Side note: It's rather hypocritical that whenever a Democrat or a liberal (no, they are not always the same thing) says or does something the Teapublicans don't like, the first thing they do is run to see if the person signed a recall petition, but they don't want anyone to know what they are doing themselves.

Finally, as if there was any doubt about who the takers really are, the article includes this excerpt of some of the demands from the oligarchs:

They said the state should do more to attract new businesses and help existing companies, loosen restrictions on tax credits, simplify the tax code, cut commercial property taxes, consider lowering income and property taxes while increasing the sales tax, and issue more business loans that don’t need to be paid back in some circumstances.

Four of the 29 at the meeting are employed by Hendricks Holding Co. and its subsidiaries, including ABC Supply Inc. HHC’s owner is billionaire Diane Hendricks, who has been among Walker’s top campaign donors.

ABC’s tax director, Scott Bianchini, said the state should stop disclosing how much residents pay in taxes, saying the information is used for “sabotage.” Contacted Thursday, he wouldn’t say if he was referring to 2012 newspaper reports indicating Hendricks paid no taxes in 2010 because of a change in her company’s structure.

But my personal favorite was this one, also by Bianchini:

At the Beloit meeting, Bianchini told Kleefisch that tax credits for businesses are too stingy because some can only be applied to taxes owed to the state.

The state should pay the credits in cash to companies that didn’t earn enough to have tax bills, Bianchini said.

“That company needs that money that year,” Bianchini said. “This is going to require Wisconsin to take a chance on the people they are asking to come into the state.”

The gentle reader should keep in mind that Walker and the Teapublicans have already cut taxes for businesses so much that most of them, like Hendrick's companies, don't pay taxes at all. Now they are arguing that if they can't cut taxes anymore because they're already paying nothing, then these businesses should just be given taxpayers' money for no reason other than to make them even richer.

Because making sure that veterans have health coverage, kids receiving a good education or other needed public services are being provided are out of the question when there are CEOs that can't buy their third yacht or seventh limo out there.

Corporate Special Interests Step Into Local Court Race

Wisconsin Club for Growth has dropped $167,000 to buy ad time for their candidate of choice, Rebecca Bradley. The ads call Bradley "thoughtful, compassionate, fair."

Janet Protasiewicz

It's not surprising that this group, funded by the Koch Brothers and the Bradley Foundation would back Bradley, since their definition of "thoughtful, compassionate, fair" matches hers, in that they both support voter suppression and anti-minority right stances.

Janet Proasiewicz' campaign has rightfully called foul on the corporate special interests trying to buy the election for Milwaukee Circuit Court Branch 45. From their press release:

Today, the right-wing extreme group Wisconsin Club for Growth entered the Milwaukee County Circuit Court race with a $167,000 television ad buy, attempting to buy the seat for the right-wing darling and hand-picked Governor Walker appointee Rebecca Bradley.

“Outside special interest groups have no place in our courtrooms or judicial campaigns,” said campaign manager Marshall Cohen. “The Wisconsin Club for Growth is a shady, right-wing group supported by secretive money that is trying to buy a judicial seat in Milwaukee County. It’s no wonder extreme political groups are supporting their political darling Rebecca Bradley after her track record working with organizations who make it harder to vote and giving large donations to help elect Scott Walker. The question is: what are these groups expecting in return? Instead of putting the campaign-funding special interests first, Janet Protasiewicz will always put the law first and protect Milwaukee families.”

Worth noting is Bradley's reaction to the support from the corporate special interests:

The group purchased radio spots supporting Bradley prior to the the primary election in Februay. At a candidates' forum earlier this month, Bradley said she had no knowledge of the ads or control or influence over how outside groups speak out about the election.

Her campaign did not immediately return email seeking comment on the latest ad or the Protasiewicz campaign's characterizations. The Wisconsin Club for Growth had no comment.

You know, if she was true to her campaign statements of leaving politics out of the courtroom and adhering to the law and not her own political viewpoints, she would have come out immediately denouncing this involvement by the special interests and asking them to stop.

The fact that she hasn't shows where her true intent is, which is not with the law or the people.

Besides the fact that Protasiewicz is simply the much more experienced and qualified candidate, this is just another reason that I will be voting for her on April 2 and I urge you to do the same.

Learn more about Protasiewicz and how to support her from her website and her Facebook page.