The ALEC 5!

Common Cause and the Center for Media & Democracy have been following and exposing ALEC's activities in Wisconsin.  They have done Yeoman's work on this important issue!  Such good work that 5 of Wisconsin's republican assemblymen tried to break the law to keep their association with ALEC private.  

  

"Please send ALL ALEC material to the Representative's PERSONAL email . . . from now on," says a June email to ALEC sent from Jeremy Thiesfeldt's state account.

The good folks at CC and CMD did not give up though and took these five to court, and of course, easily won.   Now the fact that these five "fiscal conservative" republican's tried to govern in private, it ended up costing the taxpayers of Wisconsin $2520 in court costs and fees.   There are plenty of places that could use that money right now!  

Five Wisconsin state legislators have agreed to turn over any correspondence and documents with or related to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and held on their personal email accounts; the action settles a lawsuit brought by the Center for Media and Democracy and Common Cause.

The Attorney General’s office will conduct the agreed-upon document search.

"As part of the settlement agreement, the five legislators admitted that ALEC-related records were held on their personal email accounts and are covered by the Open Records Law," said Center for Media and Democracy Staff Counsel Brendan Fischer, who filed the complaint. "They are finally complying with the law and agreeing to release those records to the public."

The five legislators -- Representatives Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-Fond du Lac), Tyler August (R-Lake Geneva), Dan Knodl (R-Germantown), Tom Larson (R-Colfax), and Pat Strachota (R-West Bend) -- also acknowledged they have a duty as elected officials to fully comply with records requests from the public. They will pay $2,520 in court costs and attorney’s fees involved in bringing the lawsuit.

 "This agreement should put to rest Rep. Pat Strachota’s ridiculous assertion to the press that the suit was a 'political witch hunt,' and ALEC’s absurd claim that seeking its communications with lawmakers was 'abusing' the open records law," said Lisa Graves, Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy, which publishes PRWatch.org and ALECexposed.org.

However I doubt it will put to rest Stachota's ridiculousness or ALEC's desire to remain secret.   I also doubt it will mean that republicans will agree to open government in the future.  Remember this is the group that signed "secrecy agreements" during the redistricting process!   

For those of you who care about transparency, open government, not ceding responsibility to shadow organizations and wasting valuable taxpayer money should take a look at these legislators who stand for all of these things and their races!   

1.   Jeremy Thiesfeldt of the 52nd Assembly district.  To change from the tea party extreme to join the ranks of the rest of Wisconsin, Paul Czisny will represent you!  Check his website out here and his facebook page here! 

2.  Tyler August of the 32nd Assembly District.   If you understand that to move WI Forward to the future and job creation, you do NOT cut $1.6 Billion from education, then support and vote for Kim Peterson!  Her website is here and her facebook page is here!

3.  Dan Knodl of the 24th Assembly District.  If you are sick of wild partisan conspiracy theories and blatant dishonesty in advertising and want to be represented by a moderate intelligent skilled thoughtful representative, then Shan Haqqi is the one to vote for.  Check out Shan's website here and his facebook page here! 

4.   Tom Larson of the 67th Assembly District.  If you realize that the health care system in our country and state is broken and needs fixing and want someone with real world experience and ideas to do so, the support and vote for Deb Bieging!  Her website is here and her facebook page is here!

5.  Pat Strachota of the 58th Assembly District.  Unfortunately, Strachota is running unopposed.  If you want to know why the Wisconsin Democratic Party would allow an extremist who completely disregards open government like Strachota to run unopposed please contact the Wisconsin Democratic Party - infor@wisdems.org and (608) 255-5172

Let's show a message to all politicians and let them know that shadow private government behind closed doors and private email accounts is not something we will tolerate in WI!  

This IS What Hypocrisy Looks Like.....

My old friend Julaine Appling was profiled in the Capital Times today.  The UNMARRIED and childless Julaine Appling is ahead of the anti-gay group Wisconsin Family Action,and also has "lived" with a female colleague for "many years".  There is obviously nothing wrong with that, unless of course you ask the Wisconsin Family Action hate group.  

In lieu of President Obama's recent announcement of support for gay marriage, the anti gay rhetoric has been ramped up, so the CT thought they would give Ms. Appling a forum to do so.  She did not disappoint!

I would submit that (Obama’s announcement) was the culmination of decades of the media and education sending a message that “marriage is whatever I want it to be, marriage is about my personal happiness, it’s about me!”

It’s not about me. It’s about children. Now, there are couples who choose not to have children and that’s their right, but the bulk of them do have children. What we know (is) the way we prepare the next generation to become the workforce, the taxpayers, the geniuses, the entrepreneurs … is for them to be brought up by a married mom and dad.

Then she talked about where her views come from:

CT: A poll recently showed that the vast majority of people — even those born during the 1940s — have had pre-marital sex.
Appling: No polls and no societal drift will ever make right wrong and wrong right. I come at life from a core set of beliefs. My worldview is fixed firmly in one source, and that is Scripture. That is my external, objective, forever-settled truth.

Unfortunately, they did not ask her what Scripture she is referring too.   But wait there's more.

CT: What do you say to somebody who says he or she wants to follow Christian guidelines but is attracted to members of the same sex?
Appling: I can understand that. You have to make a decision and you may need help to make this decision. People have left gay lifestyles by the droves successfully. I believe they need to talk to people, maybe they need to speak to both sides but they at least need to speak to the side that says you can go in another direction.
Same-sex attraction is real. The question is do you have to act on it? I would submit you don’t have to act on it.

I wonder how exactly people have left the "gay lifestyle" in "droves", any documented cases?   Finally the kicker.  The one where she shows exactly who she is and why her opinion means nothing.

CT: And what if Walker wins and the GOP keeps its majorities? What’s the next step for your movement?
Appling: We’ll pick up where we left off to make sure that we get language to protect religious freedom. We’ll be working on divorce modification as it relates to couples with minor children. Things like changing the waiting period (required before a divorce is finalized).

I am sure she will have no problem working with multiply divorced Robin Vos to make sure divorce is harder to get.  She can always enlist the help of  Luther Olsen, Steve nASS, Scott Suder, Scott Krug, or Dan Knodl.  

She can also count on the help of two of her most important allies.    Her wonder twin, the unmarried childless Glenn Grothman, and also Rep. Don Pridemore who also thinks that women should stop complaining about their husbands and remember the time:

 By now, most people have heard of the Wisconsin GOP’s efforts to label single parenthood as a form of child abuse. There’s no basis in the claim, of course, and is simply another way to shame women (who comprise the majority of single parents) for not existing within a narrow and rigid social structure. A new wrinkle has surfaced as the bills’ co-sponsor, Representative Don Pridemore (R-Heartless Scumbag) has gone on the record as opposing divorce even in the event of a abusive spouse.
So if you are a woman regularly being beaten by your husband, you are a bad mother if you seek a divorce.
“If they can refind those reasons and get back to why they got married in the first place it might help,” said Representative Don Pridemore.