For years, people would say that the Democrats had a messaging problem, which is true. However, their messaging problem is secondary to a listening problem.
For example, in 2014, as Wisconsin began to feel the real impact of Act 10, people wanted someone to take on Scott Walker and reverse the Republican attack on workers. Instead, Mike Tate and the Democrats forced Mary Burke, a millionaire who said she liked parts of Act 10, on us. They weren't listening, and Burke lost.
In 2016, we were calling for Hillary Clinton to come to Wisconsin. She didn't listen to us, never came to the state, lost the state, and the election to Donald Trump.
In 2024, people from all over the country said that they didn't want their tax money going to Benjamin Netanyahu's genocide against Palestine. But Kamala Harris told us she was talking, so she didn't listen, and then we got a Trump presidency again.
Jeff Simpson and I would complain about this until we were blue in the face. And the establishment Democrats would only say, "Sit down, shut up, and vote the way we tell you to vote." Needless to say, it rarely worked out well for them.
Unfortunately, this year isn't looking any better. The people are calling for an end to the corruption. They are calling an end to the grift. And they are calling for an end to the rich not paying their fair share.
So what does the Democratic establishment do? They give us Sarah Rodriguez, who takes PAC money left and right, including from the power company after she voted their way. They give us Sarah Godlewski, a millionaire who doesn't have to pay taxes.
Unfortunately, Godlewski is a given because no one good is running. But if the establishment forces a Rodriguez-Godlewski ticket, there could be a serious enthusiasm gap, like there was in 2024.. And if they should lose, the Dems will just do what they always do. Blame the voters they didn't bother listening to.
In 2018, US Senator Ron Johnson (R - Russia, NRA) proved that he was a Russian asset when he spent the Fourth of July in Mother Russia, kissing Putin's butt while pretending to be patriotic. Immediately upon returning from his little junket, he offhandedly dismissed any and all concerns about Russia hacking our elections.
And we already knew that RoJo was a puppet for the NRA, receiving the fourth highest amount of money from the fascist organization during the 2016 elections.
Now, RoJo is the subject of a complaint filed with the FEC that his campaign was illegal coordinating with the NRA, possibly using Russian money:
The nonprofit and nonpartisan organization Campaign Legal Center has filed an FEC complaint alleging the NRA’s coordination with Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin in the 2016 campaign through a shell corporation called Starboard, which illegally funneled potentially millions from the NRA in in-kind contributions. "There is substantial evidence that the NRA funneled millions through a shell corporation to unlawfully coordinate with candidates it was backing," Brendan Fischer, director of federal reform at the CLC, said. "The NRA using inside information about a candidate's strategy to create 'independent' ads supporting him creates an unfair advantage and it violates the law."
The NRA's lobbying organization as well as its PAC had a contract with Starboard to create ads not just in Johnson's 2016 campaign, but also to help Republicans Tom Cotton, Cory Gardner, and Thom Tillis in 2014. Which means that those three, now running for reelection in 2020, also had illegal help from the NRA in their elections. That's not much of a problem for Cotton looking ahead because it's Arkansas. But Colorado and North Carolina are a different ball of wax.
How much of the millions the NRA was laundering through Starboard was actually Russian money laundered through the NRA? It spent a record $55 million on the 2016 elections; $30 million went to Trump, $25 million to other Republicans. That's the money that it actually had to report, though most of it came from the PAC arm, which doesn't have to disclose the identities of its donors.
Ah, but there's more. There's always more.
On Monday, RoJo showed some very erratic behavior, which might one wonder about his mental acuity.
First, he tried to distance himself, ever so slightly, from the Orange Shitgibbon:
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on Monday that he thinks President Trump has changed the presidency, but signaled it isn't necessarily in the right direction.
"I think so, not necessarily toward the positive either," Johnson said during an interview in Wisconsin with WTMJ.
RoJo immediately regretted his statement and tried to going back to kissing Trump's ass by blaming Bill Clinton for also damaging the office.
Just to make sure Trump knew that RoJo was still the faithful and loyal lackey, he kept piling on by accusing the DNC of working with Ukraine to get dirt on Trump. He also tried to smear former Vice President Joe Biden, for good measure. One can't be too careful or too stingy when kissing Cheetolini's ass.
GOP Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Charles E. Grassley of Iowa sent a letter to Attorney General William P. Barr asking for more information about whether Ukrainian officials sought to undermine Mr. Trump’s campaign. They also want to know more about 2020 Democratic presidential front-runner, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s interactions with Ukrainian officials.
“Ukrainian efforts abetted by a U.S. political party to interfere in the 2016 election should not be ignored,” the senators wrote. “Such allegations of corruption deserve due scrutiny, and the American people have a right to know when foreign forces attempted to undermine our Democrat processes.”
Yes, the gentle reader read that correctly - Ukraine. You know, the same country that Trump tried to coerce into helping him, leading to a probable impeachment:
I could almost, key word is almost, feel bad for RoJo. One can't have that much exposure to Trump's enormous butt without eventually it having some detrimental effects on them.
Nor are young people simply opposing things with easy slogans; they have overwhelmingly gathered behind Bernie’s standard this year. They preferred him to Hillary 84-14 in Iowa; that’s not a typo. Here’s a video from a *side street* next to Sanders’ rally in Washington Square Park, NYC this week.
And yet the older generation continue to shut younger voters out, denigrating their causes as pie in the sky. It’s amazing that they continue to make their voices heard, with all the institutional and media forces acting against them. Again, credit where credit is due.
Since Obama became President, Democrats have lost 13 net Senate seats, 69 House seats, 11 governorships, a whopping 913 state legislature seats and 30 state legislature chambers. No typos there either. In most of those categories, these are the biggest losses by a two-term President in history.
Despite the passions stirred during the primary, Mrs. Clinton does not feel pressure to enthrall the supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, since she thinks most of them would ultimately vote for her, an assertion backed up by polling.
Over the past year, the insurgent political campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders has revealed quite a bit about the reasoning of partisan Democrats, and thus separated the progressives from the liberals. As a populist candidate who has refused support from Super PACs and big monied interests, Sanders has shined a light on the unpleasant reality that the Democratic party — and its likely presidential nominee — is almost as reliant on funding from billionaires and Wall Street as the detested Republican party is.How much will partisan Democrats be willing to forgive a Hillary Clinton administration? Many neoconservatives have already admitted that they prefer Clinton over Trump. At this rate, Clinton could fulfill most of Trump’s reactionary platform and still find widespread support among the Democratic faithful.
Earlier this week, the Clinton campaign accused Sanders “of trying to convince the next generation of progressives that the Democratic party is corrupt.” But do progressives really need to be persuaded that the Democratic Party is part of a corrupt political system, or that it is more reactionary than progressive on many issues? This is self-evident, and the Democratic party has done an excellent job over the past few decades making that case itself. The question is: how long will Democratic voters remain blindly loyal to their party?
One last thing, for the hillbots and Clintonistas who brag about the New York primary win....lets not go so fast.
One good thing to know is that the elected officials in Wisconsin and most of our superdelegates side with Charlie Koch
Hillary Clinton, went further this primary season than some might have imagined at the outset, but despite her significant accomplishments, her race to the White House is over. Democrats will head into November with Bernie Sanders as their standard-bearer to face off against Donald Trump (assuming he survives an attempted coup by his party’s establishment).
In short, there is no plausible route for Clinton to overcome the momentum Sanders enjoyed with 8 straight wins. Since the former first lady leads the pledged delegate race but the lead is declining. Unfortunately, the poorly named "super delegates" have decided that the people's voice does not matter and are trying to steal the election for Hillary Clinton.
That's just not going to happen.
Clinton beat Sanders in the South where Democrats have not done well since Nixon. She beat him in Florida where they have elected a person who gained his fortune by defrauding medicare. She beat him in white-dominated industrial states like Ohio but since then has taken a beating in the industrial heartland.
In caucus states, Bernie has dominated all but two, both of which leave serious doubts about who actually won. While Caucuses might not be the most democratic process they are much more intimate where people show up who are passionate about their candidate. It has been such a white washing in Caucuses, that the Clinton campaign and her Hillarybots keep pushing the false narrative that she is leading the popular vote. Caucuses mean that that state does not have a primary so popular vote is not and can not be counted. Its misleading and meaningless and the Clinton campaign knows that!
The problem is after performing poorly in the southern states, the Clinton campaign keeps trying to push the false meme that Mr. Sanders does not have the support of African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians. Blatantly false.
The second half of the primary schedule looks far more favorable to Sanders. Caucuses in Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota, Wyoming and Washington should favor Sanders, as well as primaries in places like Oregon and Utah.
But he would still need to perform exceedingly well in states like New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as more and more people hear his message and the momentum builds it can happen. .
While we need to eventually get rid of the ridiculous super delegate hijacking of our elections, we have to keep pointing out that the super delegates are what is making the math so hard. They pledged early to Ms. Clinton so people who would normally support Mr. Sanders would think it is an impossibility that he gets elected and vote for Hillary.
On the heels of declared Democratic candidates, Mark Struble and Kirk Bangstad, suspendng their campaigns, I heard privately from another declared candidate for the State Assembly, that he was also thinking of suspending his campaign.
It seems that he has been beating his head against the wall trying to get some help from the State Party and even the elected Dems. It is a daunting task with help and practically impossible without it.
Having complained before about lack of action or competence within the party, I have been told to make sure and email them and ask questions and bring concerns and they will respond.
Since I have no response from the party and this is an opinion piece, let me offer my opinion.
With the very real threat of a political "consultant" from a firm with Republican ties and who has a track record of losing, taking over the job of Chair of the Democratic Party, many activists(as they have been known to do(see Barrett, Tom - recall election), paniced and felt that Martha Laning was the perfect mix of new Democrat and centrist needed to win. Martha Laning is in way over her head(quick tell me the last time you saw her in the news). Ms. Laning kept most of the same staff that helped turn Wisconsin from solid blue to dark red for a long time, thus stymying her ability to get anything new done. Then when many of them left to the Chris Abele(D -in disguise) campaign, she had the ability to hire her own people. She failed at that, as if you look at her staff, you see retread after retread. It appears if you work on one campaign, you have a job in politics for life, regardless of the outcomes. If you look at the staff, you will see the resumes loaded with failed races upon anonymous wins. We are now a year away from what will probably be the biggest election in our lifetime. While the Republicans have gerrymandered the state, they have also governed it in an extreme far right way, passing bad policy upon horrible policy for WI. It is also a Presidential year where Democrats typically bring voters to the booth and perform well up and down the ticket(watch the debates and you see no reason why that can not be true again in 2016). If we are ever to capture the State Senate, some seats in the Assembly, and possibly a seat or two in the House(I am already counting on a Feingold win), this is THE YEAR. Unfortunately it looks like everyone in a position of power in the Democratic party (from the State party, to the local electeds) are perfectly comfortable being safely in the minority, and have no interest in changing that or bringing new ideas into the fold or new people into the legislature. It is sad really for people who need insurance, for our children who need a quality education, for our formerly world class educational institutions and many many others in WI. At least the Bucks will have a new arena at some point. Back to the reality of extremists rule with no opposition party in WI. At this point I do not now that it is fixable anymore. Fighting Bob would be rolling over in his grave!
Back in 1995, I started working for Milwaukee County as a foster care worker. Little did I know that I was also stepping into a maelstrom.
The State of Wisconsin and Milwaukee County were being sued by a children's rights advocacy group because the system was letting foster kids linger without any sense of permanence. This lawsuit led to an independent study of the system being done.
The study found that the county was providing the best services it could, but that it was being underfunded by the state. It turned out that Governor Tommy Thompson and his Republican allies like Alberta Darling, Margaret Farrow and Scott Walker were skimming money they got from the federal government and using it to fill their own budget holes and giveaways for campaign donors. (Sound familiar?)
The state refused to accept these findings and blamed it on poor management by the county. The state ended up slipping a clause in the state budget stating that the state would take over the county's welfare system. They did this in 1998 and by 2001, they had privatized almost all of it. Not only did they fail to improve the system but were now spending tens of millions of dollars more each year on their failing venture.
At the same time, Bud Selig and the Milwaukee Brewers were committing an act of sports extortion. They threatened to move the Brewers to another city unless the public coughed up hundreds of millions of dollars to build them a new stadium.
With a cry of "Stick it to 'em!", Thompson led the charge to raise a sales tax on the region to pay for the stadium.
I was outraged. They could raise taxes to pay for a playground for millionaire players and millionaire owners but couldn't afford to pay to care for abused and/or neglected children?! WTF?!
I vowed at that time that I would never set foot in Miller Park and would never spend a dime for Brewers gear.
That's a promise that I've kept to this day and there is no sign of my wavering from it.
I feel the same way today about the news that there was a bipartisan agreement* in the state senate regarding the Bucks arena. It's about the same as the plan devised by Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele with two real differences.
One, it adds a surcharge to tickets to events at the arena, with 75% of that going to the Bucks' billionaires.
Secondly, it cuts out Abele's plan to gouge the poor before having state aids to the county cut by $4 million per year. The end result is the same with taxes going up and/or services being slashed, but at least Abele won't be able to kick people while they are down.
But with those minimal changes, the deal still stinks to high heaven.
There is no justification - especially given the perilous fiscal situation the state and the county is in - for taxpayers to have to pay for the corporate welfare to billionaires. Heck, if Bucks owner Wes Edens can buy up his third company in a week, he can afford to pay for his own playground.
Supporters of this corporate welfare use basically three talking points to try to defend their indefensible position:
It creates lots of jobs.
It will create a lot of development, especially with the addition of the Plutocrats' Plaza.
It will keep tax revenue coming in.
These are easy to discredit as reasons why we should hand the store to the billionaires.
Those jobs would still be created if the billionaires paid their own way.
Let the people who would profit from the development pay for it - the owners, the land developers, MMAC, WMC, etc.
The area will be a big money-sucking black hole that will take revenue and tax dollars from other places in the city that need it a helluva lot more. The only exception to this would be the other money-sucking black hole that Abele and Tom Barrett are creating at the lakefront with the streetcar and Couture.
Besides being an inexcusable example of corporate welfare, this is also a major political blunder by the Democrats who have voted for it.
For the first time in years, they have some leverage against the Republicans, but let them off easy. On top of that, they also gave the Republicans a foil by giving them a way to avoid accountable under the guise of "bipartisanship." (Really, shouldn't we be calling it "buy-partisanship" since it's nothing but corporate controlled legislation?)
For these reasons, I am going to make the same promise that I made regarding the Brewers. I will never set foot in the new arena or the Plutocrats' Plaza. They are not going to get any more money from me than what they are already stealing with the corporate politicians' help.
*I don't know how they can call an agreement between Republicans and Corporate Democrats bipartisan when they are two sides to the same coin.
Assembly Representative Dean Knudson, who misrepresents the Hudson, WI area, tweeted this recently:
In typical Republican, intimidated, cowardly fashion, he deleted this tweet shortly after. This does show the Republican mindset in Wisconsin. The problem with hiss "62 Assembly Colleagues" is that he actually has 98 Assembly colleagues. In modern day Wisconsin, Democrats are less than human and their ideas and opinions are of no interest to the Republicans, despite the fact that the Democrats represent millions of Wisconsinites.
There is a reason they gerrymandered the state, this kind of attitude would not be approved by the voters of Wisconsin in an even remotely swing district.
The talk of the week has been the proposed privatization of Milwaukee Public Schools. State Senator Alberta Darling and State Representative Dale Kooyenga are pushing for taking away public control of MPS schools and handing them over to Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele so that he could proceed in privatizing them. Abele is absolutely giddy about the prospect.
But why Abele?
Sources have said that Darling and Kooyenga had originally approached Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to do it. They probably figured that Barrett would be the best choice because he is the mayor and because he had already proposed taking over the school system himself. The backlash from parents, voters and teachers was so great that Barrett quickly dropped the idea.
Barrett, remembering the sting of the strong rebuke, wisely passed up on the Republicans' offer to be their stooge.
So then they went to Abele, even though his jurisdiction is Milwaukee County and not the city. Abele was a better fit for them because he's more like a Republican. Abele also embraces the pro-poverty agenda of plantation economics. And heck, Abele even made campaign donations to Kooyenga. On top of this, Abele is good friends with - and heavily influenced by - Michael Grebe, the head of the Bradley Foundation, which has been pushing for school privatization for decades.
As noted above, when the Republicans came to Abele, being the dimwitted and pompous ass that he is, he gladly took up the offer.
SIDE NOTE: Abele's apologists are saying that it was either Abele or Walker leading this and Abele felt he was the better choice. This is, of course, utter bullshit. Abele is just as incompetent and maleficent as Walker. Politically, it would have been better to make Walker own this, especially as Walker is spending all his time and our money running for president.
Claire Zautke
But with Abele being the proposed education privatization czar, there is a big red flag and a potential scandal.
Besides being a Milwaukee School Director, Zautke is also Abele's Principal Executive Assistant at Milwaukee County. Per her Linked In profile, she does Abele's scheduling, liaising, organizing, internal communications and employee relations. She is also in charge of Abele's internship program.
Obviously, she works very closely with Abele.
Think about it for a minute. A school board member, who is less than friendly to the public schools and has voted for charter schools, working for and closely with the guy that has been tagged to privatize the schools.
What could possibly go wrong?
I'm sure that they have both maintained a strictly professional attitude at work, focusing only on county business. I'm sure that there were no communication between them about information of the school system, its budget, its staffing levels or anything like that. Even though Abele has never displayed that kind of professionalism or ethics before, there is no reason not to believe there is a first time for something like this.
By the way, don't expect the Democrats to do anything about any of this. They are too afraid that if they criticize Abele for his role in selling out our children and their futures, he might stop writing them the occasional check - not that all of his money has helped them win any races for the past several years.
Chris Dodd is a former Democratic Senator and Presidential candidate who championed himself a man of the working class. Then this happened.
Dodd listed a number of policy priorities for the
industry, from tax credits to intellectual property law, and explained:
“We need the capacity to gain and maintain relationships, and with
campaigns getting more and more expensive, fundraising does have an
impact.”
Dodd in particular encouraged industry executives to donate to Rep.
Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which
has jurisdiction over intellectual property and copyright issues
important to the movie industry. Dodd evidently had to overcome one
hurdle, however: Squeamishness about giving money directly to the
National Republican Congressional Campaign, whose goal was to increase
the GOP House majority. …
Dodd chose not to run for reelection to his Senate seat in 2010,
after revelations that he had received a special discount mortgage from
Countrywide’s “VIP program.” During his time in Congress, Dodd was a
senior member of the Banking Committee, a position that oversaw mortgage
lenders.
As he retired, he told the public he would not become a lobbyist —
though he soon signed up for the job as the movie industry’s top
lobbyist, a gig compensated at over $3.2 million a year.
There really is no hope politically for our country.....none.
Are you sick of the way Scott Walker and his gang of Teahadists are running roughshod all over the state and its people? Are you tired of the way the corporate Democrats want to sell you out to their plutocrats and oligarchs? Are you frustrated that truly progressive candidates keep getting the short shrift from the Democrat Party machine?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, do I have good news for you!
Working Families is a progressive independent political organization that fights for economic and racial justice -- and wins. Formed by labor unions, community organizations and grassroots activists, our aim is to advance bold policy goals that support dignity and justice for working class communities and communities of color. Working Families combines issue advocacy campaigns with a year-round electoral engagement to win ground breaking policies and elect strong progressive champions.
Wisconsin State Director
Working Families is hiring a State Director to launch and lead a new state based organization in Wisconsin where we seek to challenge to current anti-worker agenda in state government, advance progressive values and the interests of working class communities and communities of color. The ideal candidate will have a deep commitment to economic and social justice, excellent political instincts, entrepreneurial energy required to lead a start-up and build it to scale.
Job Scope:
The State Director oversees all issue and electoral campaign activities and the growth and development of the organization. Serving as the political and legislative strategist for Working Families within the state, s/he works with the National Executive Director and the local Working Families’ board to develop the state’s political strategy and oversee that strategy’s implementation in a complex, competitive political environment. The position is located in either Madison or Milwaukee, WI.
Job Duties:
Set the comprehensive organizational priorities for the state and execute effective strategies and tactics to advance the mission of the Working Families Party within the state;
Develop and staff a local board of key institutional partners to guide the organization’s electoral and issue campaign priorities.
Identify and prioritize candidate and legislative opportunities within the state and leverage resources to secure political and legislative victories at the local, regional and state level;
Build a political network: expand coalitions with local and state progressive organizations, identify and mobilize concerned citizens, and reach out to new constituencies to expand the Working Families Party’s base of support;
Cultivate external relationships with political decision-makers, coalition partners, donors, and other stakeholders;
Generate media attention and build public awareness of Working Families initiatives and campaigns;
Ensure full compliance with state and local election and campaign finance laws;
Direct fundraising efforts: design and implement a fundraising plan;
Develop and adhere to a statewide budget;
Hire, supervise, and train staff, interns and volunteers working on legislative and electoral projects;
Required education, experience, knowledge, and skills:
Commitment to social and economic justice.
Five or more years of relevant professional experience, post college. Relevant experience includes (but is not limited to) working in political, policy, union, advocacy, legal, journalistic, or government settings;
Experience with multi-faceted planning processes;
Excellent analytical skills and sound judgment;
Strong verbal and writing skills; the ability to communicate persuasively in a charged atmosphere;
Must be a results-oriented self-starter able to work under pressure on several projects at one time;
Demonstrated fundraising experience;
Demonstrated staff management experience;
Bachelor’s degree required.
Salary is commensurate with experience. Excellent benefits including medical, dental, and vision insurance, generous paid time off, and 401k plan.
To apply: Send cover letter and resume to WIDirector@workingfamilies.org with “WI State Director” in the subject line. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
The Working Families Organization is an equal opportunity employers with a commitment to economic and social justice. Women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and members of other historically disenfranchised populations are strongly encouraged to apply.
When I was a young man, my grandfather told me that he almost always voted for Democrats. He
said that they were the party that stood with the working people, with unions, for equal rights and for more democracy.
Indeed, as I look back on my life, I can't help but note that when times were good, Democrats were in charge. I would get raises if not chance to move up in the company or move into a better job. My taxes would go down and I had big dreams.
But when I would get laid off, take a pay cut and see my taxes go up, Republicans were in charge.
So when it came to elections, I would take a close look at both candidates, but would usually vote for the Democrat, even though I never joined the party. Their candidates reflected closest to my values and had plans that would make things better for everyone and not just a select few, like the Republicans wanted to do.
But then things started to change.
While there were still good Democrats to support and vote for, they seemed to becoming more scarce. Many Democrats started to forget what made them popular and kept them in office and started top embrace the corporate agenda that the Republicans hold dear.
This retreat from their tradition values escalated after the protests of 2011 ended.
We had an alarmingly large number of Democrats that were willing to sell out their constituents in regards to things like school privatization and food stamps.
We had people like Senator Lena Taylor that not only was feeding at the education profiteers' trough, but feeding into the NRA and going along with concealed carry and the Castle Doctrine.
Most alarming was Chris Abele, whose only value that could be progressive would be his support of marriage equality. But when it came to other traditional Democratic values, Abele was actively opposed to them.
In the past four years, Abele has tried to bust public sector workers twice; sang the praises of Act 10; he actively fought against a living wage; he destroyed representative government in Milwaukee County; he attacked fellow Democrats, including State Senator Chris Larson, County Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic and other county supervisors; he donated money to rabid Teapublicans like Dale Kooyenga and Joe Sanfelippo and even held a fundraiser for Deanna Alexander.
Yet the leadership of the Democratic Party - namely Mike Tate - did nothing to hold him accountable. Even worse, they actually honored Abele by having him speak at one of their dinners. Fortunately, the unions were present to hold him accountable even if the party was unwilling to.
It's not like Tate and the Democrats couldn't hold him responsible. After all, President Obama did so when he came to Milwaukee to celebrate Labor Day with us. At the request of the unions and the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, Obama made it clear that Abele was not invited to participate in the day's events.
Things culminated last week when the Democrats got their butts handed to them again - the third time in four years - on Election Day.
Now, Tate was not responsible for Burke's horribly ran campaign or for her decisions to take the wrong stance on some key issues.
But he was responsible for clearing the field of other candidates and taking away any other choices for the people to support. And yes, Tate was pushing for Burke even before she was an officially declared candidate. He met with me while her candidacy was just a rumor and red flags were already popping up.
Obviously, he did not listen to my concerns at the time. Just like he is not listening to the concerns of the people now:
Tate said he would make a decision on running in the new year. He said if he does run again he expects he would win, but if he doesn’t it would have nothing to do with Tuesday’s election.
“I think that we’ve done a tremendous job of building the party infrastructure,” Tate said.
“I have not had a single party leader or single party member or anyone active in the campaign (say), ‘This wave that swept across 30 states was your fault, you need to step down,’ ” Tate said
Tate is obviously not telling the truth. Plenty of party members are calling for him to step down, as illustrated in the petition drive Jeff Simpson had already reported on.
And even if they hadn't called for him to step down, there is nothing keeping Tate from doing the right thing on his own initiative, as his counterpart in Ohio did.
The most clear example of how far the Democrats have drifted from their origins is presented that when one considers how Tate led them to yet another bloodbath in the same election that several referendum questions that included raising the minimum wage, expanding health care and lowering costs and getting corporate money out of politics all passed with resounding success.
If the Dems had stuck to what works and improved their messaging, they - and the state in general - wouldn't be in the mess they are in now.
Tate needs to do what's right for his party and for the future by resigning now. His failure to do so only shows that he is more worried about himself and about preserving the party machine instead of the party and its people.
Then, and only then, can they get back to be Democrats instead of Republicrats and get about winning elections and restoring the state.
That starts especially in the State Assembly where Peter Barca has overseen a complete transformation from being the majority party to being a party that hold the same amount of power as the office cactus(water rarely but usually pretend its not there). Barca, overseeing the Assembly races, let 26 of the seats go unchallenged. Does he even try anymore?
Why in the world with that record he would want to continue on is beyond me. Unfortunately for the left side of WI he does. Fortunately though Evan Goyke is stepping up to challenge him! if you are lucky enough to live in one of the few districts represented by a Democrat that is left, call your rep and say - "Please for all that is Holy do NOT vote for Peter Barca to be Minority Leader. Fine Assemblyman, horrendous Minority leader." (or something to that extent).
Chris Larson, fresh off the Pat Bohmack debacle, is running again. While Mr. Larson blatantly mishandled this Senate race and cost the dems a seat, he has only done it one term. I would not be opposed to giving him another chance, BUT Jennifer Schilling is challenging him(sad Kathleen Vinehout isn't). I highly recommend voting Schilling!
Below are some of the highlights of Tate’s career.
He was the State Field Director for Kathleen Falk’s losing bid for
the governorship in 2002. In 2004, a year before he graduated from the
University of Wisconsin with a bachelor’s degree in political science,
he was named the Deputy State Director of America Coming Together (ACT).
The national organization disbanded in 2005.
Also in 2004 he served as the State Director of Dean for America.
Howard Dean had lost several primaries by the time Wisconsin’s came up.
Dean had pretty much listed Wisconsin as a must win and indicated he
believed that a win in Wisconsin could turn his entire campaign around
and lead him to the Presidency. Under Mike Tate’s leadership of the
state campaign Dean finished third here with only 18% of the vote. It
pretty much ended his campaign and any chance of becoming President.
Fair Wisconsin in its desperate bid to defeat the 2006 Constitutional
amendment banning gay marriage in the state of Wisconsin hired Mike
Tate to lead the campaign against it. The citizens of the state voted
for the amendment with just under 60% of the voters supporting
discrimination against their fellow citizens.
In 2008 he was the Executive Director of Advancing Wisconsin, a group
that funneled money into the 2008 campaign to elect Barack Obama. Obama
did win Wisconsin that year, one of the few things Tate has been
associated with where his candidate or position fared well. According to
an NPR special series called “secret money project” by Will Evans
(11/3/08) Tate was quoted as saying that instead of the group fading
away after the election he wanted to create “a permanent grassroots
field-organizing infrastructure in Wisconsin.” Great idea if it were
true. The organization’s website is no longer active and they are no
longer registered with the Internal Revenue Service.
After his service with Advancing Wisconsin Tate became the chairman
of Wisconsin’s Democratic Party. There has not been much to cheer about
during his tenure. Wisconsin lost one of its most popular Senators when
Russ Feingold fell to Ron Johnson. Also in that time Scott Walker won
the governorship in 2010, became the first governor in U. S. history to
survive a recall election, and proceeded to win re-election in 2014. The
Democrats put forth Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett against Walker in 2010
and tried him again in the recall. This year the party, under Tate’s
leadership, got behind the virtually unknown businesswoman Mary Burke
almost as soon as she announced her candidacy. It was clear they had
handpicked her and while Tate denied the party was endorsing her they
did everything but come out and say it. Party regulars were denied a
meaningful primary and never got fired up for her candidacy. She lost by
5%. Madison and Milwaukee voters did not turn out for her.
The amount of pain his incompetence has cost this state is almost unimaginable. One good thing to come out of this though, is we finally found a way to bring the state together. Start a petition to get Mike Tate to resign and people from all over the state will gladly sign it!
It is time that Mr. Tate, Mr Barca and Mr. Larson do the right thing. Step aside and clear the way for new leadership in our rudderless state. Continue serving your constituents as well as you have been, work with the new leaders to advance our party, but please do not get in the way of needed and necessary change!
Despite the political pundits, republicans and too many Democrats telling us that the 2014 election is poised to see Republicans make major gains, that ain't necessarily so!
For instance, Gallup released a poll on Friday
that showed the favorable rating for the Republican Party is at its
lowest point during any election year since 1998 — lower than 2006, 2008
and 2012 when Democrats won in landslides. And the reactions was: Meh,
Democrats are more popular than Republicans but who isn’t? The
Sterlings?
However, pundits should stop pretending that this election is
foregone conclusion. There are numerous reasons to suggest that 2014 may
stun the experts.
The Senate Minority leader — who has about a 45-67 percent chance of
becoming the Senate Majority Leader, depending on the model you prefer —
is running neck and neck with his Democratic challenger. The GOP’s
popularity is near all time lows and it it’s still more popular than the Tea Party.
“In tonight’s State of the Union address President Obama laid out the Democratic vision for opportunity and action.
“The President’s vision stands in stark contrast to Scott Walker’s
so-called ‘Blueprint for Prosperity’ -- a tired retread of the same Paul
Ryan plan that voters overwhelmingly rejected in the last election.
Instead of moving forward, the Walker/Ryan plan would take us back to
the failed policies of the past and continue a rigid social agenda
instead of putting Americans back to work.
The President gave a brilliant speech that goes against everything that Scott Walker stands for. President Obama wants to get America working again, strengthen our economy, raise the minimum wage and generally help the middle class(I know some exceptions may apply...Cough TPP . cough).
However with that message, and being the President of the United States and the leader of the Democratic party, you would think that the current frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Wisconsin would embrace this opportunity for party unity.
Madison -- Democratic candidate for governor Mary Burke won't be present for President Barack Obama's visit to the state Thursday.
"Mary Burke has a full day scheduled in western Wisconsin Thursday
and will not be able to join the president during his visit to
Wisconsin," spokesman Joe Zepecki said.
When Mary Burke is ready to run a real campaign that proves she wants to actually win, I will be the first on board! Until then we need to find someone who can actually end the reign of the worst most extreme Governor in our history!
Contact Mary Burke and tell her to stop disrespecting our President and the people of WI. Do not expect party unity if you are not willing to show it!
Burke for Wisconsin
P.O. Box 2479 Madison, WI53701
Rodriguez, outreach coordinator for Hispanics for School Choice,
received 4,546 votes, and Coppola, a United Way fundraiser and former
member of Milwaukee's Social Development Commission, received 3,520,
according to preliminary results.
In our center left state, which has a proud history of progressivism, the Democratic party lost yet another election handily. Is it because the Democratic message is not accepted? of course not. If the republican message was one that the people wanted to hear, then they would not spend their time suppressing the vote and gerrymandering districts. They get that their hold on power is fleeting, and have rigged the system to delay that as long as possible.
We can either whine about the system being rigged or do things to change it.
I recomnend unrigging the system.
Here are some recommendations, would love to hear yours:
*Consistent Message!
Can anyone tell me the message that the Democratic Party and all of the elected officials stand for? Is there a line in the sand, written with sharpie, anywhere that has 100% support from the collective of the dems? I am not talking about the party platform, because no electeds follow that anyway and most people could not tell you what it said anyway. I am talking something even the most apathetic person in Wisconsin would answer when asked what the Democratic party stands for.
Not only do we not stand for anything, we have a Gubernatorial candidate who pledges to not stand for anything.
* Keep Up With Technology:
Secondly, the DPW website is incredibly outdated. You go to it and you see a picture of SCOTT WALKER(who is not a democrat fyi). You had to search for unformation about Ms Coppola or Mr. Slezak. I know you can not focus on individuals usually, but when there are only two races you sure as hell can.
I would have had a split screen for the last week, with Ms. Coppola's picture and Mr. Slezak's picture each getting half. Then allowed the visitor to click though and get more information about each of them. I would also have sent a camera crew out with them and captured them out and meeting citizens and voters. Then I would have emailed the videos to the Dem list and the candidates list.
* Use Your Resources:
I would have used the Democrat's email list to send out an email on Tuesday morning, stating something like this.
Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address:
Executive Mansion, Washington, , 186 .
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this
continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that "all men are created equal"
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,
or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a
portion of it, as a final resting place for those who died here, that
the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But, in a
larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not
hallow, this ground-- The brave men, living and dead, who struggled
here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The
world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can
never forget what they did here.
It is rather for us, the living, to stand here, we here be
dedica-ted to the great task remaining before us -- that, from these honored
dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the
last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve these dead shall
not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and
that government of the people by the people for the people, shall not perish
from the earth.
The great Abraham Lincoln knew that we could not long endure a "civil war" and we have seen the effects of that first hand here in WI. The party that is in control has made a conscious decision to use divide and conquer to govern our great state.
It is time to put the people of Wisconsin first. Today we have two great candidates who are running that can help put us there. Elizabeth Coppola and Kenneth Slezak. Please go out and vote today and if you do not live in these districts but know one person who does, call them for us! .................
* Turnout:
How many people in each of these districts signed the recall? One of the keys to winning is not only a great candidate but TURNOUT. A few things we know for certain about people who signed the recall petitions:
- At one point in their life they were motivated to care about politics.
- They probably agree with us more than they disagree.
* Media Stunts:
We know that the right leaning media will never cover an issue the way it should be covered to get the facts out. I mean now they are saying that Paul Ryan wants to fight poverty(seriously). We can not count on the press to cover issues the way so we need to do things that draws media coverage.
Using eye glasses equipped with hidden cameras, the men recorded their
experiences and plan to release a video blog next week. It’s clear that
there is interest. A Facebook post
Monday by Johnson about their experiences registered more than 40,000
"likes" in less than 24 hours. Johnson said he has been contacted by
scores of local officials, media outlets and individuals.
40,000 "likes" in less than a day. People are desperate for real news, unfortunately it takes stunts to bring it to them.
I propose that the Democratic party coordinate a week, where every elected official(and candidate) spends one full day in a school in their district. See what is happening first hand, the good and the bad. Then do the same as these three - video blogs, written blogs, special contributor op-eds in their local papers. Really get the word out what is happening in their own schools and why we need to support them.
A stunt for sure but imagine if they did something where every elected official came back with a story and got 40,000 "likes". That puts them over 2,000,000 chances to get their message out! Plus they might even learn some things they did not know to begin with! * STORIES;
the Democratic party needs to tell stories when they speak. They never do. In the Coppola race for example, get together with the local school districts teachrs and find out the mess that ACT10 has caused them. It has caused a mess for everyone, I am certain it has caused one for the school districts in the 21st also.
The problem with the mess and problems is we can not afford a PR department. We need the Democratic party to do that for us the way the Republican party is for the voucher movement. Most people have no idea the chilling effect that ACT 10 has had on their schools.
When you knock at a door then you have a story. When they say they like the way things are going, they support vouchers, et al... You are ready to tell them what is happening at their local school.
"Well I respect that you feel that way, but were you aware that class sizes have increased the last three years from _____ to ___ and your school district has had to cut ___________ from the budget and we have lost __________ teachers.
* Stop the madness!
We have two very important races going on and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin is putting out a billboard promoting Scott Walker's book?!?!?! Seriously? Who the hell makes that call?
How about using that money for a billboard in the 69th about Scott Suder, the republican party and United Sportsmen?
"The legislator should direct his attention above all to the education of youth." Aristotle
You get the idea:
* Competition!
We need to make sure there is a legit candidate running in every single race in the state. This story is unacceptable!
If Slezak hadn’t decided to run mere days before the deadline to file
paperwork with the Government Accountability Board, there might have
been no Democrat in the race. Slezak said he chose to run when it became
apparent no other Democrat in the district was going to.
Contrast
that with Kulp, who had created a campaign Facebook page the weekend
before Suder even officially announced he was leaving the Assembly. Kulp
also received the support of top Assembly Republicans, and Walker spoke
in support of Kulp at a Marshfield fundraiser last week that drew
hundreds of supporters.
We can not be unprepared in any district.
* Leadership.
If we are not willing to change course and change it soon we have no chance of winning next year. We can not be satisfied with just winning the dem safe seats and maybe winning a senate seat. We need to do better.
If our current leadership is not up to changing their ways then we need new leadership. Time is of the essence!
There are thousands of people who spent countless hours in the state collecting recall signatures, who are also not part of the party. We need to figure out a way to reach them and get them more active. We need to figure out a way to be much more successful at community and minority outreach!
Another suggestion here, would be instead of holding focus groups with party activists, hold them with people who do not vote and figure out how we can reach them in the general elections.
It is time to be bold, change our ways and win elections!
Mike Tate was re-elected last year at the 2013 Wisconsin State Democratic convention to lead the party again:
Mike Tate was easily re-elected state chair over Joe Kallas.
Tate received 476 votes to 95 for Kallas
In a party with over 15,000 members and with a million(give or take a few thousand) votes needed to win the Governor's seat, 381 people set the agenda for the 2014 election season.
That agenda has handed us a party of choice candidate - Mary Burke:
Here is Mike Tate when asked about Mary Burke:
"Should Mary get in and run, she would be an instant frontrunner and potentially clear the field," Mike Tate, the party chairman, told reporters in a conference call.
In response to the above picture:
Gang- I often promote the FB pages of all Dems running for an office, especially higher profile offices. More of a public service. Did the same thing in 2010, 12 and now. Not an endorsement. We promote Democrats running for office. If another serious candidate for Governor announces you’ll see myself and the party do the same thing. If you want someone else to run, go ask them to do so. Additionally there is no primary at this time and isn’t unless someone else enters it. So much as with Tammy Baldwin last year the party will promote Mary’s candidacy and should another serious candidate enter the race would promote that candidates activities too. Don’t remember anyone complaining about us promoting Tammy prior to her receiving full support of the party. No difference here.
Most notably, in a recent fundraising letter to Democratic Party members, state party chair Mike Tate flatly refers to Mary Burke as “the candidate who is going to win the game” against Gov. Scott Walker.
“We can elect Mary Burke, win Wisconsin back and restore our progressive legacy,” the letter concludes.
While calling Vinehout a “phenomenal public servant and intellectual heavyweight,” state Democratic Party chair Mike Tate expressed concern that she would be able to mount an effective campaign, adding that it would be a “great loss to the people of Wisconsin” if she weren’t still in public office in January of 2015.
"The reality is that while we will never have as much money as Scott Walker it is not realistic to believe you can defeat him without running a serious, professional campaign that raises enough money to get the Democratic message out,” Tate said in a statement. “The stakes are too high for our families that are struggling under Scott Walkers policies for anyone to attempt a bid for Governor that will not and cannot raise the money needed to run a grassroots campaign that can communicate with voters at their door, via television, direct mail and the Internet. Modern times require modern campaigns."
Sure does not sound like equal support to me. Sounds like someone has picked a side! What does the Constitution of the State Democratic Party say about picking a side?
ARTICLE VIII – Endorsements of Candidates in Primary Elections
The state organization, congressional district organizations, county organizations, the College Democrats of Wisconsin, the youth caucus, and all other subdivisions at any level of the state organization are prohibited from endorsing or supporting any candidate in a Democratic presidential preference election or any partisan primary election which will determine the candidate of the Democratic Party for the ensuing election to office unless the county or local Democratic group or congressional district recommends a certain candidate (or candidates) be endorsed or supported due to unusual circumstances and these circumstances be submitted in writing to the state Administrative Committee in a timely manner for approval of an endorsement and support of a specific candidate (or candidates) for a specific reason and the Administrative Committee approves said recommendation by a two- thirds majority.Democratic Party of Wisconsin Constitution
I know Mary Burke has received other endorsements and I say good for her. Her job, when she entered the race was to win it. Her securing endorsements, means she is actively campaigning and has a strategy she feels will help her win. I applaud that.
That being said, the Mike Tate blatant fawning is inexcusable. There is no doubt who Mike Tate is favoring, and who he is supporting. The head cheerleader routine needs to be explained and it should be explained soon and it should also be stopped. If we do not follow our own Constitution, why have it?
It is up to the party chair to navigate the waters amongst the different factions and beliefs that make up the Democratic party not to foster them.
The WisconsinDemocraticPrimary will be held on Tuesday, August 12th, 2014. At that time, if there is a split within the party, the blame will lie exclusively upon our party chair!
"The legislator should direct his attention above all to the education of youth." Aristotle 
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