Koskinen, Others, Get the Walker Civil Service Special Bonus Reward Program

Two months ago, it was uncovered that Scott Walker had manipulated civil service laws in order to give Capitol Commandant Dave Erwin a 11% raise - which translated into over $11,000 raise - for the top brown shirt in Walker's stormtroopers.

Erwin's second in command also got the same bypass of the rules and a hefty raise from it.

Walker said admitted it wasn't proper and was glad it was only a one time incident.

But c'mon now.  Is there anyone who still believes Walker on anything?

Lo and behold, there were more bending of civil service rules to reward good cronies.

One of Walker's other beneficiaries was John Koskinen.  If the gentle reader was not aware or had forgotten, Koskinen was the guy that dreamed up a new way for Walker to invent job numbers, since the real ones aren't working out too well for him.

According to the article, Koskinen got the enrolled in the Walker Civil Service Special Bonus Reward Program which netted him a $14,416 raise:

A July 11 email between two DOA personnel workers laid out the shadow job transfers for Koskinen. First, he moved from the Revenue Department to the Administration Department as an executive policy and budget manager at a salary of $100,501 a year. Then he was made the administrative manager of the Division of Administrative Services at a salary of $107,705.

After that, Koskinen was transferred to be the administrative manager of the Division of Enterprise Operations at a still higher salary of $114,917. Only then did he return to the Revenue Department with this latest salary as a civil service employee.

The email from DOA's Bureau of Human Resources director Kim Pomeroy outlined that the changes could all be made on a single day or over a two-week pay period.

The article reports that this is 26% higher pay than another person with similar duties and skills - except that the other person didn't pull Walker's arse out of the fire now, did he?

And the giving didn't stop there either.

Walker used this gimmick at least two more times:

Paula Veltum, a former building superintendent for state facilities, has seen her pay jump by more than 23% over the past two years.

As recently as 2011, she earned $66,375 in her DOA post, a figure that includes overtime, according to a Journal Sentinel database of state employee pay. By the next year, she was named an administrative manager overseeing state buildings, and her salary was boosted to $73,080 per year.

In the administrative manager post, Veltum was responsible for working with staff at the Capitol, governor's mansion and other major state office buildings to maintain those facilities, according to Marquis. But Marquis emphasized that Veltum was not in a position to receive direction from either the governor or his wife.

Records show that on May 19, officials moved Veltum from being an administrative manager to a phantom slot as an "architect/engineer manager," a transfer that pushed her annual salary to $80,213.

Two weeks later, Veltum returned to her previous job, receiving a $1,220 per year pay hike as a result of the transfer. She also received a $1,000 lump-sum bonus on the same day, a Journal Sentinel database shows.

"Veltum received offers for jobs in the private sector and at another state agency," Marquis said, explaining the reason for the moves.

In fact, Veltum left DOA in July — six weeks after her transfer from the ghost position — to join the state Department of Safety and Professional Services as a section chief in the field services bureau.

She was the only applicant for the civil service post, which pays $82,246 per year. That's an increase in her base salary of $16,871 from 2011, of which about half came from the phantom transfer.

Marquis said that politics didn't play a role in the raises given to Koskinen or Veltum, just a desire to keep good employees.

"All of these increases were related to retention," Marquis said.

[...]

In addition, Laura Ellingson, a DOA civil servant who oversee the workers' compensation program for state workers, received a 5% raise to $84,501 as part of a shadow jobs transfer over two weeks, the records released to the Journal Sentinel show.

Y'know, this may sound crazy, but maybe instead of focusing on the old Walkergate investigation, I think it's time to open up a whole new one. Preferably this time it would be done by someone who has the fortitude to prosecute.

Victim Of Capitol Police Brutality Speaks Out

Earlier this week, Dave Erwin and his storm troopers took things to a new level of depravity by becoming violent against people observing and photographing the Solidarity Singalong.  I'm sure it was purely coincidental that both men who were brutalized happened to be black.

Workers Independent News, which has been taking a keener and keener interest in the SSA, has a special report including testimony from C.J. Terrell, one of the victims of the police brutality:



I have no idea what they hope to gain with this continued idiocy, but what ever it might be, it's already starting to backfire on Walker and his presidential pipe dreams. The left will only hate him more for his fascist ways and the right will be disappointed in his inability to intimidate the singers.

Hmm, maybe that's what he meant with Unintimidated. He must have meant unintimidating.

When Violating Constitutional Rights Just Isn't Enough

As the gentle reader is fully aware, for two and a half years, a loose group of people would gather at the state capitol every workday at noon to sing songs of solidarity.  For two and a half years, this has occurred without incident.

Then, a few months ago, the new commandant of the capitol cops, Dave Erwin, got a very large raise, even though it was done through unethical means.

Suddenly - in what is surely coincidental timing with Scott Walker revving up his campaigns - arrests started happening.  Dear Leader could not be made to look bad by having some discontents breaking up the day singing about such frivolities such as equality and solidarity and unions and respect.

Such rubbish!

So Kapitol Kop Kommandant Erwin started the arrest.  He arrested grannies.  He arrested vets.  He arrested children.  He arrested ACLU members.  He arrested mothers.  He arrested firefighters.

But the singers remained unintimidated.  In fact, not only did singers keep coming to the capitol, they came in greater and greater numbers.  And as their numbers and their resilience grew, so did the national attention.

Now Erwin and his jackboots have taken it to an even lower, more reprehensible level.  They have started using violence.

As most rational people would agree, the use of force against someone for singing - especially when the law actually would call for the issue of a citation - is absurd.  But it's not even that good.  They are physically attacking observers.  Note the man's camera in his hand before the cops jump him:



In this video by Rebecca Kemble, one can see the cops needlessly using compliance holds against another peaceful person:



Did you notice something else about the two men being physically accosted?

They are both black.

That's apparently just too much uppitiness for Walker and Erwin to handle.

As Walker gets more desperate to be president, how long do you think it will take for him to build gulags, er, private prisons, to hold all these scofflaws that think they still have rights?

Walker might think he is unintimidated.  But in reality, he and his pet police chief are merely unacceptable and unmitigated fascists.

Austerity Doesn't Apply To Fascism

As the gentle reader is already aware of, Scott Walker has sent his pet storm trooper, David Erwin, have spent the past couple of weeks cracking down on the Solidarity Singers for their audacity of singing truth to power and exercising their First Amendment rights.

Some of the Erwin's claims to infamy include arresting reverends, friars, veterans, grandmothers, mothers and teenagers.  They have also arrested Madison Alderman Mark Clear.  They have threatened to arrest State Representative Sondy Pope and other state officials for just observing.  These Keystone Kapitol Kops even arrested Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive, who was there to cover the ongoing story, violating another aspect of the First Amendment, Freedom of the Press.

Now it's being reported that Erwin, who is supposed to be a civil servant, has received a most uncivil raise for his fascism:

Gov. Scott Walker's administration rewarded the new hardline Capitol Police chief and his top deputy with double-digit pay raises earlier this year after moving the pair on paper to phantom jobs for two weeks and then back to their real posts.

Chief Dave Erwin — who has overseen a crackdown on Walker protesters at the statehouse — received an overall salary hike of 11.7%, to $111,067 a year, the same rate as his predecessor. That amounts to an $11,680 annual raise.

That hefty raise was possible only because Walker officials transferred Erwin on Feb. 5 to a ghostposition in the state Department of Administration, according to a copy of the transfer letter obtained by the Journal Sentinel. Then, on the same day, he was shuffled back to his real job as head of the Capitol Police force.

Each of the moves, backdated to earlier in the fiscal year, came with a retroactive boost in pay for Erwin. Under state rules, the chief is a civil servant, not a political appointee.

The article goes on to report that Deputy Police Chief Dan Blackdeer had also received a huge jump of 14.6%.

Those raises are considerably better than the 1% raises the rank and file workers got, which weren't even close to covering the extra bite taken out of their contracts.  Then again, we have seen how cronyism and nepotism has become the norm for the state under the Walker regime.

I also find it very telling that the Teapublicans - who will wail, gnash their teeth and pull at their hair every time a dime is spent to help a poor person - are so mum about all these blatantly unethical giveaways.

Apparently, austerity doesn't apply to fascism.

"We are declaring this an unlawful event."

As the gentle reader is well aware, Scott Walker and his top goon, Chief David Erwin, have been going above and beyond the call of dopey in their harassment of people exercising their Right of Free Speech.  It go to the point where the ACLU had to join in and fight Walker and his goon squad.

Recently, a judge ruled that any gathering under 20 was legal and did not require a permit, as Walker was demanding.

Now, one would think that Walker and company would move on and get around to retraining that laser sharp focus on creating jobs.  But one would be wrong.

Walker's biggest beef is with the Solidarity Singers, a random collection of people who gather at the Capitol Building during the lunch hour and sing patriotic songs.

Walker's complaints against the Singers include:

• Disrupt people who stay in the Capitol over their lunch hour
• Scare little children
• Cause bodily harm
• Keep visitors from feeling welcome

So what does Walker and Erwin do now.  They declare it an "unlawful event" and bust out the trusty old LRAD.

The LRAD is designed to:

• Disrupt people who stay in the Capitol over their lunch hour
• Scare little children
• Cause bodily harm
• Keep visitors from feeling welcome

I wish I was kidding, but this is the sad truth.  And coming from this administration, the hypocrisy is only to be expected.

Here is a video displaying the LRAD in action:

Scott Walker Wants State Fair Stormtroopers

Rebecca Kemble of The Progressive took some very interesting video of Department of Administration Executive Assistant Wendy Croomer trying to justify having the fascist Capitol Police Chief Dave Erwin take over the control of the State Fair Police:



My, she is stammering a lot! I suppose it could be nerves. After all, the stuff she was trying to peddle reeked more than the cow barn on Day 10 of the Fair.

The reason Walker is pushing for this has nothing to do with more efficient use of staff, as if having a police chief trying to handle troops 75 miles away is even remotely efficient.

The real reason Walker wants the stormtroopers to pick up the cream puff patrol is because he wants to be president. And, as I'm sure the gentle reader has picked up by now, Walker is all about image because he has no substance. But even this college drop out is savvy enough to know that something like this won't help his image at all:



It would be interesting to see Erwin try to send his troopers to all those people's homes after the fall of night in order to give them citations for exercising their Freedom of Speech.

I wonder if Erwin will also demand that anybody going to State Fair will need a permit before being allowed to do so.

We've not gone to State Fair for the past few years, mainly because we can't afford to anymore. I think this year we might save up our pennies in order to go. It promises to be rather entertaining, and that's not even with the booked stage acts.

Mass Shooting On Gun Appreciation Day Leaves Five Dead

On Saturday, while the gun nuts were celebrating Gun Appreciation Day, there was a mass shooting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which left five people dead, including three children:

A slaughter was discovered at a Albuquerque, New Mexico home on Saturday, five are dead (two adults and three children) and a teen has been charged and is being held in the murders.

CNN cites Deputy Aaron Williamson, a spokesman for the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department who said each victim had been shot multiple times.

The report adds that "several guns were found inside the home, including a "military-style" rifle he said had been used in the crime."

One of the dead has been identified as a Fire Department chaplain, who also worked for 13 years with inmates a the prison.

I'm waiting for Wayne LaPierre, the head of the NRA to come out and tell us how America needs to have a highly-trained, well-armed tactical officer in each and every home around the clock.

You know that the Republicans would go along with this, and not just for the NRA campaign donations and endorsements. This way, they can make sure the gays aren't having gay sex, that women aren't using birth control, that people aren't practicing critical thinking, and that no one has any money of their own.

I would suspect that they would put Police Chief Wiggums Erwin in charge of this operation. After all, he's used to coming to people's homes in the dark of the night to intimidate them and punish them for using their First Amendment rights.

Was Kvon Smith A Terrorist Threat Or A Political Pawn?

On Tuesday, Scott Walker put on the pageantry he euphemistically called the "State of the State" address.  It was a rather nauseatingly choreographed event to make it appear that he was finally, after more than two years, getting serious about jobs.

It is common knowledge and a long standing tradition of Walker's to grandstand and showboat whenever he can.  He is forced to try to inflate his image as much as possible to cover up for his lack of substance.

In this case, he had to try to avoid as much as possible his dreadful job of creating jobs while pushing for the mining legislation he was paid to get done last year.

But as much pageantry that went on during the speech, there was a lot more during the day leading up to the speech, but of a much more subtle nature.

It started out with Walker releasing all of the supposed death threats he's received over the past two years.  Of course, if one reads past the headline and the first few paragraphs, one finds out that critical emails and calling him a poopyhead were considered threats.

Now enter Kvon Smith.

Smith is a young black man who, as Jeff had already pointed out, obviously has some mental health issues.  Smith allegedly had made some unspecific threats and was eventually arrested for allegedly carrying Molotov cocktails into the Capitol.

So far the story has a certain amount of plausibility to it.

However, this story is starting to break down.

First of all, witnesses are reporting that the police had originally detained the wrong guy.  Apparently all black people look alike to them, not that they are racist or something.

It is also being reported that the police allowed Smith to hang around outside for a while with the Solidarity Singers and near a group of grade schoolers.  That's not what one would expect them to do with someone they see to be such a great threat.

It was also found that the Molotov cocktails weren't explosive or even flammable.

Now it could be rationally explained that the police were just protecting the public safety by taking into custody a guy who had made threats and was carrying bottles of unknown substance.  But when one considers all the missteps and lack of concern, it becomes a story that's harder to swallow.

What makes me really suspicious is that they waited until he was well inside before arresting him.

I think that there is a strong possibility that they used Smith to meet their ultimate goal, which was to evacuate parts of the Capitol and control who was going into the building leading up to Walker's speech.

The reason they would want to do that is because they did not want Walker's dog and pony show to be blemished like it was last year when Walker was met with a large group of rather vocal protesters.  They were so loud that they could be heard on tape during his speech:

Protesters also made their opinions loudly known during the course of the event, with most gathered in the rotunda and audible on the Wisconsin Eye broadcast of the speech chanting "Recall Walker." A few anti-Walker activists made it into the public galleries to watch the speech, and five were escorted out after interrupting Walker at various points in his speech.

One woman yelled "Liar!" after Walker said, "I will continue to be a good steward of the taxpayer's dollar," and another later shouted "Walker doesn't care about poor people!"

I could see Chief Dave Erwin - who has had already ordered his men out into the night to hunt down and accuse and intimidate an elderly woman of being a criminal mastermind for singing at the Solidarity Singalong - would not hesitate to use a mentally ill man as a political pawn to appease his boss.

And like I said, Walker is desperate to build up his image, since he has no substance to stand on.

You Look Mahvelous!

We know that new Capitol Police Chief Dave Erwin, is someone who has a very poor understanding of the law and the Constitution, despises when people disagree with him and likes to flaunt his power(which is why he and Scott Walker get along so well). 

Now we know that Chief Erwin cares about more than just squashing dissent, he also likes to look good! 

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Two Milwaukee uniform companies have charged Gov. Scott Walker's administration nearly $26,000 for new state Capitol police outfits.

Invoices show Lark Uniform Outfitters, Inc., billed the state Department of Administration $1,279 for gold and silver buttons and caps. Badger Uniforms billed the agency $24,500 for shirts and pants.

New Capitol Police Chief David Erwin ordered the new uniforms as part of his plan to upgrade the department's image when he took over in July. The retired Marine and Wisconsin State Patrol veteran also has banned his officers from wearing beards and goatees.

You must CONFORM!!  

These 'fiscal conservatives" are breaking the state!

Erwin Tells Lies About The Solidarity Singers

This afternoon, Capitol Police Commandant David Erwin was on the air with pseudo-journalist John Mercure on WTMJ-620 AM in Milwaukee.

What I heard nearly floored me.

Erwin was talking to Mercure about his crackdown on the First Amendment and on the Solidarity Singers in the Capitol Building.

The radio station has a report on the interview, but sadly did not include the podcast. I believe they intentionally left it off so that people couldn't hear what the commandant had to say, since it was so obviously out of line.

It was painfully easy to see that the whole thing was a staged attempt to get certain Republican talking points through since they weren't about to give attention to President Barack Obama's event at Madison.

During the brief interview, Commandant Erwin told three big whoppers that would have, if heard in Madison, brought out the largest contingent of Solidarity Singers ever on the next day.

The first whopper was that he has the Solidarity Singers under control. He backed this statement up by claiming that there were only about 60 Singers showing up each day at the Capitol.

Now, I might be wrong about this, but if I remember correctly, the Singers were averaging about a third to half that number until he started to trample on Free Speech with his jackboots. Doubling or tripling the number of people that you're trying to squash is not exactly being in control.

The next doozy was he was trying to make the Capitol accessible to everyone in the state. First of all, the only people that have been trying to make the Capitol inaccessible are the Republicans that are passing these unconstitutional administrative codes. There's never been one incident of a Solidarity Singer trying to forbid any other person from entering the Capitol.

But the real kicker, the one that got me to actually yell at my poor old car radio, was when Mercure asked him, in his best concern troll manner, why the Solidarity Singers just won't go ahead and get a permit.

Erwin said that he did not know why they wouldn't get a permit and "really wished" that he did.

Ryan Wherley

Really? He missed all the signs pointing out the First Amendment's Right to Free Speech? Did he miss all the stuff about Right to Assemble?

Permits? Permits? We don't need your stinkin' permits! We have the Constitution, dammit! That's all the permit we need!

I also noted that not once did they bring up how Erwin is being called out by a growing number of legislators, threatened to arrest an ACLU observer or almost allowed a woman to die.

The part that makes me sick is knowing that their are some people that actually buy into this crap propaganda that they are shoving down our throats.

But the worst are the brownshirts who not only see anything wrong with this but actually support it and want more of it.

Yoo Hoo! Erwin! Huebsch! You Got Some Explaining To Do!

On September 12, Representative Chris Taylor sent a missive to Commandant Erwin and Secretary of Maladministration Michael Huebsch asking for some dialogue on the latest outbreak of brownshirted and particularly cowardly fascism going on in the People's House.

On September 20, she had to second a second missive since the miscreants wouldn't respond.

Finally, On September 21, Huebsch responded with a letter denying getting the first missive and trying to make their irrational behaviors seem rational.

Today, Rep. Taylor was joined by a few friends in her response, calling Huebsch out on his lie (they did get the first communication) and confronting him on his dancing around the issues.

Read, enjoy, and then contact Sec. Huebsch and tell him as the People's Servant, he is obliged to respond quickly and honestly.

Huebsch's number is 608-266-1741 and his email is Mike.Huebsch@wisconsin.gov.

Tell them capper sent ya.

Capitol Police: To Protect And To Serve - But Whom?

Commandant Dave Erwin and his troops are there allegedly to protect and to serve.  But the question is whom are they protecting and whom are they serving?

Apparently, it's not the people of the state.

Watch this video as they completely mishandle a real crisis as they try to bully people around in their artificial crisis of illegal sign holding:



Please note how the cops' first concern was to try to intimidate the group with their fascist rules, then to cover their butts when they slowly realize that they have a real emergency on their hands.

The woman having the medical emergency is Dawn Henke. She is, fortunately, OK.

But she did have a word for the people that flooded her page with concern and love:

Absolutely overwhelmed with comments/messages/feedback.
Thank you everyone for all of your well wishes and concern. I appreciate all of it.

I am now safely home in Wausau with my husband who is very relieved to have me home, especially after seeing the videos and such before I could make it here. He was about as close to wanting to throw some CP over railings as one could imagine. He is taking g
ood care of me.

I just want to say this, and I'll keep it as vague as possible intentionally:

The decision to "unarrest" me was not something the CP made out of feeling bad about what they had done or feeling compassionate toward me- it had more to do with the fact that once that ambulance was on VA property, I was in federal jurisdiction and they no longer had any right to "detain" me while was in the VA hospital which has federal jurisdiction, which trumps state jurisdiction. Do not think for a second that they "unarrested me" to be kind.

I will also say that I was only "unarrested" after giving up my identification and address so that the CP can now perhaps pay me home visits with citations for whatever the ticket of the day is, or maybe they'll decide to mail them to me. Either way, I will not back down. I will not stop. They will not silence my voice, or OUR voice in OUR house!

Further, I am forever grateful to Ted Voth who was a true gentleman and hero today by speaking up when he saw injustice. I hope that people will only be encouraged and find even more resolve in our fight against those that wish to silence us.

As it has been said by a few musicians, but sticks out most notably by Kurt Cobain's use of it, "it's better to burn out than to fade away."

My heart may well go someday whether far off, or someday soon, but I have already come to terms with the fact that our time here is finite. It is not how much time we have, but rather, how we spend our time that matters.

To everyone, thank you, truly. Solidarity forever and always! ♥ ♥ ♥"

As far as I can tell, there's not been one news story about this, much less a statement from Erwin, much much less an apology from Erwin.

Like I said, the Capitol Police are there to protect and serve...but whom?

How To Get Sued In One Easy Step

Threaten to arrest an ACLU legal observer:



How stupid is Capitol Police Chief David Erwin? Does he think Scott Walker and/or the Prosserized Supreme Court will be able to pull his butt out of the sling in federal court? Or is he like Walker and figures, "Screw it! Let the taxpayers pay for my ego trip!"

The video was taken by Nicole Schulte, wcmcoop.com 

You will be cited, but I can't tell you why

Un-freaking-believable:



Saying that Scott Walker and his own Sheriff of Nottingham is turning our state into a banana republic would be an insult to the banana republics of the world.

Pure, Unadulterated, Unmitigated Fascism

After Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs left his position, he was replaced by Commandant David Erwin.

For the past two weeks, the right wing propagandists have been trying to pave the way for Erwin's jackbooted approach to "law enforcement." They came off sounding more like the little bully brat who can only act tough when he's hiding behind his big brother.

Kevin Binversie, hack propagandist at Wisconsin Distorter, tries to compare arresting political opponents to free speech. Media Hackers gushed all over him as he echoed their talking points, regardless of their baseless hyperbole. Ryan Ekvall, also at Wisconsin Distorter, gave Erwin the open door to paint his own scenario, fitting right into their boss' desired talking points.

And sure enough, late last week, Erwin sent his stormtroopers in to start citing people for exercising their First Amendment rights. How dare they carry a sign! Singing cannot be allowed! They are the very threats to civilization, dammit!

But lo and behold, on Thursday, a court ruling stated that holding signs was indeed free speech. Erwin called his stormtroopers back to regroup.

On Friday, when over 200 people showed up for the Solidarity Singalong, no arrests were made, no tickets were issued.

On Monday, Erwin settled on a new technique that belied his true nature.

Instead of dealing with the alleged crime when it was occurring, Erwin waited and then sent his troopers out to the people's homes to have them pulled out and cited.

Erwin also sent his troopers to the workplace of Bart Munger, of the Capitol Singers, to get his supervisor involved in this act of intimidation.

To be very clear about what is happening: Walker is ordering his police chief to send armed police officers to people's homes and to their jobs and punish them for voicing political opposition. That, gentle reader, is a textbook example of fascism. It's the same as when Walker and Scott Fitzgerald sent state troopers after the Democratic senators last year, even threatening to take the six-month pregnant Senator Julie Lassa feet first into the Capitol so that they could ram through their immoral power grabs.

The fact that Erwin is a willing accomplice and actor in this act of fascism proves him to be a disgrace not only to the uniform he wears now, but the ones he wore as a state trooper and a US Marine.

When given a chance in the Wisconsin Distorter interview to justify his behaviors, Erwin had this to say:

I looked — the administrative code was in place since 1979. So I’m like — what’s different? What did this administration change from the (former Gov. Jim) Doyle administration?

And you know what I find out — nothing. It’s written down and we’re moving forward with it.

Would someone please point out that the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights was written a helluva lot earlier than 1979 and supersedes an administrative code. Furthermore, he has taken a number of oaths to uphold the Constitution, and oath he is now breaking.

It does make me wonder if it would be still a violation of Godwin's Law to call these people of acing like the Nazi Brownshirts, if that is indeed what they are doing.

But the news is not all bad.

As I stated a while ago, the Solidarity Singers and anyone else choosing to exercise their First Amendment Rights, you have a back up chorus with the ACLU. In fact, I saw this message earlier tonight on their Facebook page:

For those who share our concerns about recent citations for protest activity at the Wisconsin State Capitol building: While the ACLU of Wisconsin's legal department works with local attorneys to review options for litigation over enforcement of unconstitutional Capitol access rules, individuals who receive citations should contact the Madison Mass Defense coalition at (608) 352-0138 to speak with a National Lawyers Guild attorney for immediate assistance. If individuals wish to further file a complaint with the ACLU of Wisconsin, they can email inquiries@aclu-wi.org or visit the legal link on our website for more on what kinds of cases the ACLU of Wisconsin accepts.

I am curious about how much the right wingers who have been cheering on Walker and Erwin are going to be cheering when they have to pay for the legal costs associated with the class action lawsuit coming out of this mess.

Carry Your Signs High!

On Wednesday, newly appointed Commandant David Erwin had his Capitol Police arrest eight people who had the audacity to exercise their First Amendment Right of Free Speech inside the Capital.

Keep in mind that they weren't disrupting anything, causing a disturbance or behaving out of line in any way, shape or form. They were just holding signs.

On Thursday, the stormtroopers infringed on the constitutional rights of three more people.

But they stopped suddenly and arrested no more.

Why is that? Well, because word came down that what they were arresting people for is perfectly legal, even under the Republicans' draconian rules.

Dane County Judge Frank Remington issued his ruling on a lawsuit filed by people arrested last year. Part of his ruling held significance for the crackdown on Free Speech:

"...the language of § Adm. 2.07(2) does not prohibit the Plaintiffs' conduct. The title of the rule is 'exterior and interior displays and decorations.' The text of § Adm. 2.07(2) states that the DOA's express written permission is required for a sign to be 'erected, attached, mounted or displayed.'
"Here, the Plaintiffs were issued citations for holding a sign on the first floor of the rotunda. As such, their signs were not 'erected, attached, [or] mounted,' which therefore means that their actions could only fall within the text of § Adm. 2.07(2) if their signs were 'displayed.' However, the word 'displayed' implies something more than an individual holding a handmade sign over their head. Instead, as is generally known, the Capitol rotunda is frequently a place where freestanding artwork and such things are showcased, especially around the holiday season.

"The term 'displayed' implies something like a freestanding exhibit showcased in the Capitol, not an individual holding a handmade sign over their head comparing the governor to a character in a comic book. Thus, the terms of § Adm. 2.07(2) does not prohibit the Plaintiffs' conduct. Second, the DOA's new Facilities Access Policy supports the conclusion that § Adm. 2.07(2) did not apply to the Plaintiffs' conduct. (Lazar's First Aff. Ex. C). The Policy defines an 'exhibit' as '[a]ny display of... signs or banners not held by an individual.'"

The whole decision can be found here.

The Solidarity Singers were planning on showing up in mass tomorrow as a sign of, well, solidarity. And if the police tried to squelch their rights they'd come back in even greater numbers, just as they have done before. I'm sure they'll be bringing other friends as well.

I hope they do follow through with their plan, just to remind Walker and the other Republicans that there reign is fleeting.

As Representative Tamara Grigsby said after the first day of arrests:

“These heavy-handed tactics in the name of ‘safety’ put our Constitutional rights in peril. We must not only support but celebrate the right of the people to express themselves peacefully, regardless of who is exercising the right or what the message is.

“This is especially true in our Capitol, the People’s House. If basic democracy has no place here, where does it belong? The Capitol Police should be protecting people as they exercise their rights, not arresting them.”

Now, I'm sure that Scott Walker and his teahadist supporters are gnashing their teeth out of frustration from being foiled by the Constitution once again, they really should be sending letters of gratitude to Judge Remington.

After all, if he had not made that ruling, the police would have kept infringing on the people's constitutional rights. That, in turn, would lay the groundwork for the most expensive and historic class action civil rights lawsuit ever seen in this state. The state would have been sure to lose that fight as well. Ultimately, it would have cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

Unfortunately, Walker and his supporters won't ever do that. They simply can't think things through that far, otherwise they wouldn't even be doing what they are doing.

Solidarity Singers Get A Back Up Chorus

Not being able to bear the thought that people might be exercising their constitutional rights, Scott Walker set out to bring in his own version of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Thus he installed Dave Erwin as commandant of the Capitol Police.

So far, Erwin's claim to fame is threatening innocent citizens and advising politicians to hit their constituents.

Commandant Erwin has set his eyes on the Solidarity Singers, a group of citizens who come to the Capitol every day at lunchtime and sing songs of solidarity. Obviously, these fiends must be stopped! After all, how are the Republicans supposed to go about systematically destroying the state if there are people running around exercising their First Amendment rights?!

Now, if the singers wanted to become the Solidarity Shooters and bring in handguns, that's perfectly fine. But singing? No way!

To deter the Solidarity Singers, and everyone else, of their rights, Erwin wants to strictly enforce the draconian permit requirements.

One could just imagine Walker, Mike Huebsch and the Fitzgerald boys rubbing their hands and snarling in delight of the prospect of getting those democracy addicts behind bars where they belong.

Only thing is there is something they forgot about. The law.

They also forgot about another thing - the ACLU.

The ACLU has fired a warning shot over Erwin's bow by challenging his ridiculousness:

Ultimately the ACLU of Wisconsin believes the new rules issued by the Wisconsin State Department of Administration, including the requirement for groups as few as four people to secure a permit for a “rally… for the purpose of actively promoting any cause,” are not reasonable. Particularly if the rules are applied to the Solidarity Sing Along which takes place at a reasonable time (the hours between noon and 1:00 p.m. are defined in the DOA’s rules as not being normal working hours) and place such as in the rotunda, where state of Wisconsin has long allowed the public to hold rallies of all sizes.

“Chief Erwin said the permit process has been in place for decades,” said ACLU of Wisconsin Communications Director Stacy Harbaugh. “However, I have been organizing volunteer legal observers to witness protests at the Capitol over the past six years and it has been my experience that Capitol Police have asked for voluntary compliance in filling out permits and in practice have only required permits for protests that require extra staffing, closed streets, access to building electricity and other logistical needs. There has typically been reasonable accommodation for protests large and small, planned or spontaneous.”

The Constitution allows “reasonable time, place and manner” regulations. But such restrictions on the use of space must be content-neutral. By requiring permits for “rallies” of four or more people, the DOA and Capitol Police must look at the content of the event to determine whether or not a group in the Capitol is a “rally” promoting a cause versus a gathering of four people who want to talk about where to get lunch.

In addition, any restriction must be narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest. Chief Erwin suggests that permits are required for police to adequately accommodate public safety interests, but it is unreasonable to suggest that a group as small as four would overwhelm the police force. Further, the First Amendment requires and the DOA’s own rules allow for defined, spontaneous events. It is the responsibility of the Capitol Police to have staffing plans in place to have the flexibility to protect the safety of all announced and unannounced visitors to the building.

The participants of the Solidarity Sing Along have worked with the Capitol police and staff to accommodate multiple users of the Capitol rotunda. This relationship can and should continue to meet the needs of police to make narrowly tailored, content-neutral space management decisions.

As for the public safety concerns outlined in Erwin’s letter, we believe it is the responsibility of the Capitol Police to ensure that the Capitol building is both a safe place to work and for demonstrators to engage in peaceful speech activity in the rotunda. To threaten to enforce a permit requirement against peaceful, cooperative protesters on the basis of safety concerns arising from the alleged actions of a few individuals would punish those engaging in protected speech activity. If criminal harassment or intimidation is occurring against Capitol workers or singers alike, it is the responsibility of police to address it, not crackdown on peaceful protest.

Indeed, all Erwin - at the orders of Walker - is doing is trying to act as a jack-booted thug. Perhaps instead of threatening the singers, he should be looking at ways at protecting them from the real criminals.

Erwin might also want to try to help enforce the law by finding and confiscating Walker's secret router. That's what a real law enforcement officer would do.

Tin Soldiers, Tin Badges

Last week, I pointed out that rights are becoming rather scarce in Fitzwalkerstan, especially the right of Free Speech.

Not only is the constitutional right to Free Speech becoming increasingly scarce, but the brownshirts are getting downright violent to anyone who tries to exercise it.

In Madison, the new commandant of the Capital Police, Dave Erwin, is already trying to make a name for himself by cracking down on peaceful protesters. Because you know, people singing about workers rights is a threat to our society or something like that.

And how far is Erwin willing to go to return "normalcy" to the Capitol? Well, as far as condoning violence, apparently with or without just cause:

Erwin recently met with legislative aides who were feeling threatened or intimidated by protesters who have come into the aides' offices to berate them and have followed them to their cars. He suggested they try filming a demonstrator and, if that didn't work, punching the person with their free hand.

"I said if it wasn't working you could try to hit them," Erwin said.

Rep. Brett Hulsey (D-Madison) had a person in his office with a box cutter in the spring of 2011 and said he thought it was a good idea that Capitol police are having panic buttons installed in some legislative offices so staff could call police in an emergency.

But after talking with several aides who were in the meeting with Erwin, Hulsey said it was bizarre advice to recommend hitting someone with police nearby. He said several Democratic aides left the meeting early because they were taken aback by Erwin's suggestion.

"I was kind of amazed by that," Hulsey said.

But Madison isn't the only place with this new breed of stormtrooper.

In Milwaukee, under the auspices of the Cowboy Sheriff, David Clarke, there has been an incident of violence by a deputy against an innocent Overpass Light Brigade protester.

From the press release issued by Voces de la Frontera and the OLB is a description of the course of events:

Milwaukee police arrived at the bridge around 9:00 pm, after supporters had been holding lights reading "PALERMOS - NEGOTIATE" for about an hour. The first MPD responders stated they had been called to the bridge by the Milwaukee County Sheriffs Department. They stated that they were unsure as to why they had been called, and waited for the Sheriffs Department to show up.

Deputy Callies of the Sheriff's Department soon arrived and immediately stormed on to the bridge, which was filled with striking Palermo workers and their families holding signs, including several young children. Around 30 people were present in total, including many community supporters. Deputy Callies demanded that the lights be taken down and turned off. He then stated loudly that he would be arresting everyone on the bridge for disorderly conduct.

At this point, close to twenty police vehicles had arrived or were en route (witnesses counted one paddy wagon, two bicycle police, two motorcycle police, six Milwaukee police squads, including a K-9 unit, and nine Milwaukee County Sheriff vehicles). Lisa Moline of OLB tried to reason with Deputy Callies, who grew more and more agitated that he was being challenged on the constitutionality of his order to shut the message down.

As the video clearly captures, Deputy Callies then turned around lunged at a woman who was videotaping his tirade. He forcibly reached for her camera, pushing himself into her (most likely realizing she had just captured his entire episode digitally). In the process, he grabbed the woman’s arm and ripped the camera phone out of her hand, giving no explanation for the confiscation, despite pleading efforts from the woman as to why her camera phone was stolen. He then tore another supporter's phone away in the exact same manner. Click here for videos of the above incident.

Eventually more officers arrived on the bridge. Many of the MPD officers seemed uncomfortable with the actions of Deputy Callies, and once he left the bridge, one officer told supporters they could go back onto the bridge with the lights, and that it was “all a misunderstanding". By that point, many supporters were intimidated by the Sheriff department's actions and had already left.

The OLB has had countless visits by numerous local law enforcement agencies during their bridge actions of the past nine months. They have always been calm and civil, and have repeatedly resulted in the reaffirmation of the legality of their actions. Office Callies' aggressive response is the single exception to this respectful relationship.

Voces de la Frontera and OLB will be filing a Freedom of Information Act request to determine the process for which orders were given for Friday's action to be broken up- and why this particular message led to this particular response. Additional charges against Deputy Callies are currently being filed by the woman whose hand was injured when he grabbed her cell phone.

We are also asking the many elected officials who have endorsed and supported Voces and OLB actions in the past to demand a public investigation of this unacceptable violation of freedom of speech.

And from the website for Occupy Riverwest is some raw footage of the assault:



Fortunately, despite the Republicans' best efforts, we are still a land of laws, and their attempt at totalitarian rule is not working. The people involved with the Milwaukee incident have filed a complaint against the deputy in question and have filed open records requests to find out who gave which orders and when. Likewise, in Madison, the ACLU is ready to step in and teach Chief Erwin an expensive lesson on the Constitution.

As the saying goes, it's hard to keep a good man down. And Wisconsin is chock full of good men and women that won't stay down and won't stay silenced until we have our state back.