Top Ten Election 2018 Thoughts

By Jeff Simpson

It is a new day in Wisconsin with the end in sight finally of the Scott Walker reign.   Tony Evers and Mandela Barnes will be the next Governor/Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin.    Scott Walker will be forced to do something he has not done since getting kicked out of college - find a job not on the taxpayer dime.  Apparently the same fate has been bestowed upon Rebecca Kleefisch but she appears to be a comet, completely disappearing, but showing up every four years. 

The Democratic Party also won the US House but lost seats in the US Senate.   The Blue wave turned into some occasional heavy rain storms but in too many other areas no rain in sight.   It was like being in the winter in Alaska, no sun, no rain and hell mostly froze over. 

However we need to look at Wisconsin, what went right, what went wrong and how do we fix it. 

The first thing we need to do is acknowledge the successes.   Very few seats were uncontested(although still room for improvement) and there were some incredible candidates on the Democratic Ticket, who unfortunately did not win, but it is important that they do not disappear from the fight.

Secondly and best news of the night, Tony Evers/Mandela Barnes are the new leaders of Wisconsin.  Along with Josh Kaul, Sarah Godlewski and Doug LaFollette swept the statewide races (More on this later). 

This means that in 2020, when the Republicans sign secretive agreements to gerrymander even worse, and before Rick Esenberg can testify that the maps are Constitutional (before he even sees them) they will have to be signed off by Tony Evers.   

Gone are the days of Scott Jensen having final say on all maps, and bills.   No matter what else happens, that was a net positive.

Josh Kaul winning is also a net positive for the people of Wisconsin.   Brad Schimel might be the most partisan person ever born.   He is the former Waukesha Attorney General that the GOP changed the law for, so they could move their trials. to his court room.  Schimel is known for giving Republicans a slap on the butt and saying "Go Get Em Tiger" to any major Republican that crosses his path.  That and not being bothered to test rape kits. 

Doug Lafollete also won easily, but I knew that when Nation consulting decided to find a Democrat to primary him, ensuring his victory in this election cycle.

Turnout was huge and Madison and Milwaukee showed up. 

Robyn Vining Won her race for Assembly seat 14 against Agustus Gloop.

Not a terrible night but things could/should have been so much better.  Let's dig a bit deeper. 

1.  I love that we beat Scott Walker as much as the next person, BUT we need to stop declaring total Victory.     No one won last night.  When the nation projects a Blue Wave and we pick up one seat it is not a successful night.

2.  The Democrats are still using the Gerrymandered seats to dismiss the numerous defeats across the board.  Yes, I am not naive enough to think that gerrymandering does not make a difference.  It was unbelievably unethical  how they gerrymandered the state.

It is also impressive.

The GOP nationally, and locally,  realized that power is fleeting and elections are cyclical and decided to change the rules.   They had a multi level plan, but one of their main action steps was understanding the importance of local elections and in turn, being able to rewrite the maps.   You can be so much more successful when you pick your voters, instead of relying on the voters to pick you.

The problem though is this is the fourth straight election where we have had to play by the same rules and lines   The Democrats have a good number of people who make alot of money, and have during every one of the last four elections, and yet they can not seem to figure out how to win an election anywhere.  In Wisconsin that is - seems our brethren in Kansas have figured out some secrets.

3.  The WISDEMS have never been able to stop chasing the money.   Moneyed donors are pheromones to Wisconsin Democrats.  Understanding that you need money to run (unfortunately) but if you chase the money you are running from very thing that you need to win.  The real winners of this election cycle are the consultant class once again.  Their checks are in the bank.  They will be on vacation, enjoying some much needed downtime, while we sit here and watch the lame duck session bring Wisconsin even further down the rabbit hole.

How do we win?  We can break that down also!

1.  Look Deep Inside.  
The first thing to do is form a committee and take a deep deep inside look into what happened.  Nothing off the table, do not worry about feelings hurt and ask and demand raw honesty.  A few years ago, the WISDEMs did form a committee but it was laughable as it was mainly intended to push the blame on everyone but themselves.   On this committee you need some WISDEM party members and some people who refuse to pay dues but are liberal/progressive activists etc. 

Then they need to interview and listen to, every candidate on the D side of the ballot, activists, party members etc...  With such questions as What re your impressions of being a candidate, what were the successes, what were the failures, what would be your advice to future candidates, what would you need to run again, what were the success and failures of the help you received from the WISDEMS, etc...

Then let's start building an infrastructure that uses the advice given.

2.   Get over yourselves.   We still, even after the fiasco of electing the Donald, have too many party party members that think because they pay their $25 that have "stars upon thars".   They truly believe that paying $25 makes their opinion matter more, they are more liberal/progressive/smart/logical/pragmatic etc...   We have to understand that if we rely only on the dues paying members of the party then we will continue to lose every single election. 

It is time to welcome all people in.  I understand that you pay your $25 and you want extra privileges, you get to vote for the chair and attend meetings where people talk down to you, and can attend an annual picnic.   Take those privileges and enjoy but when it comes time for election, lets open the doors and welcome everyone.   Here is a suggestion, maybe open the door for a $5 membership fee, it allows you access to so many more people. 

3.  Chill on the direct mailers.   We have to stop running elections like its 1972.  We can reach people in so many more (less expensive)  ways than killing trees and filling recycle bins. 

3.  STOP PAYING CONSULTANTS!  What in the world have they won?  We have to have this conversation after every single election, for some reason.    Its like Groundhogs day every two years in WI.  We run a campaign, exactly like the last campaign and then when we get beat and whine about the maps and tell each other how great we are.

A consultant is by definition, a professional who provides expert advice.  The rules for the last 8 years have been the exact same, and so have the results.  You would think that having four straight chances at something you could eventually start having some success. 

Hire the right campaign coordinator and go from there.   Get someone with skin in the game, instead of a mercenary.  Stop with the conflicts of interest.  I documented numerous times that Mary Burke's campaign was run by someone who owned a lobbying firm.   Nothing to see here.   A partner at Nation Consulting is the DNC Secretary.   We can not keep having so many Blurred Lines and wonder why we fail.

4.  Use Wisconsin Businesses.   How many candidates are spending tens of thousands of dollars on Amazon, Uber, Printers in DC or New York, Firms from DC, New York, San Francisco, etc...    The message of I am going to protect small business in WI, I just have no interest in using them, is one that does not play well.  Yes Republicans do the same thing, make sure and point that out as often as possible.

A perfect example of what not to do would be the Bryce Campaign.   Kudos to them for raising over $7 million dollars.  I remember talking with Marge Krupp and she was excited to raise $100k for her run against Paul Ryan.   However while I praise him for raising so much money a quick look at his campaign finance report and it is hard to see any of that money staying in WI.   When you send tens of thousands of dollars to a "strategy" group based in the heart of the Midwest - New York City, who is used to working with billionaires and your candidate is Joe Sixpack, not sure why anyone thought that was a good idea.

The deadbeat dad meme and multiple arrest record of Randy Bryce was too much to overcome as Bryce lost to Paul Ryan's Chauffeur by 13 points.  The problem was that these overcome able  problems should have been addressed at the beginning of the campaign and not made it look like the campaign was trying to hide something or surprised that the allegations came out.   Making the impact of the ridiculous accusations substantially more than it should have been, 

As someone who used to work for a multi national company, we all know that when ever Wisconsin comes up in a conversation at the GSG, they all have plenty of redneck/hick jokes ready to go.   It is hard to then from thousands of miles away, tell someone who they would never associate with in public, how to win over voters in Janesville, Racine and Elkhorn WI.    Bryce's comms director grew up in DC and New York, and now was in charge of communicating with people in Clinton, Mukwonago and East Troy.   Which leads to Bryan Steil in Congress and I would guess some very nice holiday bonuses at GSG.


5.   Use your resources. 

Mike Crute ran a progressive radio show on a progressive station here in Madison.  After the last election all of the major corporate owned radio stations purged the Progressive shows and then doubled down on far right wing shows.   So Crute bought his own radio station and broadcasts his own line up of Progressive radio.  1510Am on your dial.     A perfect vehicle to help spread the Progressive message. 

Yet the real resistance in the Dem Party these last few years, have been the Democratic Insiders resisting anything that Progressives no party approve have done.  I know as being part of a Progressive blog(there are not many of us left), we get more pushback and resistance from inside our own party than anything the Republicans throw at us. 

As I have pointed out on more than one occasion, the GOP has their network of radio, tv and blogs and use them all.   At anytime you will heard a perpetual stream of candidates on their shows or giving interviews.  Anytime they want to push something or start a message for the echo chamber there they are.  No questions asked.

If you want to be a Republican, be a Republican.   You are not going to get that from any of the blogs I know or Crute.  However we are all progressive, have similar goals and can help push the right message.   If your feelings get hurt because we criticize something that we disagree with, then you are in the wrong business.  Instead of having the lets work together when we agree attitude, it comes back to The Sneetches.   How dare you question us, we have "stars upon thars" and you need to know your place!

When they do take a break from fighting With progressing outlets, it is usually to complain that they do not have enough money or exposure. 

Crute spent an extended period explaining this recently on his show.  I highly recommend checking it out for an insiders view of what happens within the party.

Listen here! 

It is hard to complain about lack of coverage and people not knowing your candidates when you have built in outlets to reach people and you treat them worse than your opponents because they are mad that you do not agree with them 100% of the time.


6,  Study successes all over the country (there were some). 

In Kansas they beat the Trump candidate easily, and the best advice they gave is "run your campaign" not always chasing and responding to your opponent(which I felt the Evers campaign did a very good job of).

In Texas, Beto O'Rourke unfortunately lost his race, but there are lessons to learn from his enthusiasm and positivity.  He also emphasized no corporate PAC money. 

In Kentucky, Veteran Amy McGrath had a very high profile in this election thanks to her original campaign video. 

Ms. McGrath, was urged by the DCCC to got hard and negative at her opponent and she refused to get slimy.   Congrats on her for that, but there is a difference between going slimy and answering BS attacks.  Good for Ms. McGrath, we will hear from her again.    One thing that I have always found interesting, the reddest states and thee hardest core Republicans who wrap themselves up in the flag and have changed their middle name to "support the troops" are never scared to smear a veteran if it will help them win an election.  It was Paul Ryan's SuperPac that did the smearing of Ms. McGrath. 

Boy are we quick to anger at Pete Davidson for making a joke about a Veteran but then hold The Donald and Paul Ryan up on pedestal as they attack vet after vet.   Party over People. 




7.  PROMOTE the Hell out of the bottom of the ticket.   

Notice that the four candidates that the Democratic Party outright supported won.   That is not a coincidence.   Check out their generic lit piece and wonder why we only picked up one seat. 

If the down ballot member running is an afterthought to The Democratic Party, why wouldn't they be with you?   Another example, President Obama came to Milwaukee for a GOTV rally and look who was on the stage.

Know who isn't on stage?  Julie Henszy.    Who is Julie Henszy you ask(and shouldn't)?  She ran for Leah Vukmirs old Senate seat outside of Milwaukee and lost to Drunken Dale Kooyenga by around 2000 votes.   A few kind words from Obama, could have gotten more people out to the polls for her and maybe been the last minute adrenaline shot need to push even further across the finish line.  We will never know though because the bottom of the ballot is insignificant to party insiders. 

For example, while Julie Henszy wasn't on stage, our old friend Tonya Bjork was backstage getting pictures with President Obama and her kid.    It is much more important to pat each other on the back, and tell each other how great they are, than it is to win elections.   Until that changes we will continue to be in the minority.

The correct response here would have been to have it go as it did and at the end bring up everyone who is on the ballot that could make it there that morning and introduce them and let them get a team picture with president Obama. We ran some great candidates and a team pic with Obama would have shown the Dems to be a much different party than their opponents.

Drive big turnout in the lower ballot races, and that will trickle up.   Drive big turnout in the top of the ballot and the Democrats win, and no one else does. 

8.  Can we finally admit, that many people are left behind in this economy?  

I have found, since the Hillary campaign really started this, that too many good liberals want to show everyone how "Woke" they are.  It usually starts out with someone saying something that is not politically correct but comes from a good place.   Then instead of having a conversation about it, the WOKE superstars start attacking.   They save their venom for people that are mostly on the same team because they all their friends to know how inclusive they are and want to be at the forefront of flogging the "bad liberal".

Let's look at it another way.  We are all in this together.  If you are an African American female, you head out into our current world with alot of strikes against you. If you are a single white mother who is trying to work and raise kids on your own with the rising costs of healthcare etc...you also have strikes against you. Instead of comparing "woes", lets join together and start eliminating those strikes against everyone.

White Privilege is a very real thing, but not everyone who is white has the same amount of privilege in this country.   If you are living in a mostly rural, mostly white area and the factory, your family has worked at for generations,  just closed down, you do not want to be preached at about white privilege.    Sure you can send your son out into the world and be pretty sure he will come back if he gets a speeding ticket, but you also send him out knowing if the car breaks down you do not have the money to fix it.   

The white family, that was working at the closing Beechworth Windows in Ladysmith, and the African American family in Grover Heights Milwaukee and the Latino family in Cambria all have more in common than not.    Let's focus on our commonalities - healthcare, good education for the kids, a roof over your head, a job that pays a fair wage and where you can be safe at, the ability to buy healthy, fresh food, have transportation and can maybe take a vacation every year or so.     These things transcend race and each of the families have too many obstacles, although they may be different, to get their slice of the American Dream pie. 

9.  Grow with the times.   

I admire that so many Democratic candidates worked so hard doing doors upon doors. I question the effectiveness of it though.   I would guess that except for maybe some married women whose husband was gone, Robin Vos has not knocked on a door in years, yet he runs the show.    I think doors are still important but there has to be more.   I do not have the answer but it is out there.

We also need to figure out more ways to reach people in (free) social media platforms.

Stop fighting yard signs.  Yard signs do not vote but they are like mini billboards that you can place all over your district,.   Which beats actually having to spend limited resources buying billboards.  They also help start conversations between neighbors.   The conversation between neighbors is what will change the world.

Use the WISDEMS platform to push all candidates not just the top of the ticket. 

Be ready to learn and listen when you do #1.

10.  Keep fighting and Stay Positive.  Never Give Up. 

Complete election results here!  


Our friend Dom has his take here.  

Vox take on it is here, where they emphasize the long term plans of the Republican Party that put us here.

I appreciate that we had an OK election night in Wisconsin.  I will forever be grateful that Scott Walker lost to a teacher.  It was awesome.   However we have a long way to go to take back our state and it needs to start now. 

The Triumvirate of Tomfoolery

By Jeff Simpson 

This story has been circulating for a few days but I ignored it because I did not think it could actually be true in the year 2015.    Unfortunately it is.

Wisconsin state officials on Tuesday banned employees of a state agency from discussing climate change, conducting any work on the topic, or even responding to an email about the warming climate, Bloomberg News reports.
The ban applies to state employees who work for an agency that oversees a Wisconsin public land trust. The effort was spearheaded by State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk, a Republican, and enacted by a vote of Wisconsin’s Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.

I was hoping the stupid was confined to Florida.  Unfortunately I was wrong.

H/T Democurmudgeon for reminding us that this all started with our Republican politicians signing a pledge to the Koch Brothers to put their profits over the Wisconsin environment and budget.

Signers of the pledge, now numbering 411, promise to "oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue” ... They include all Republicans, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, U.S. Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner, Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble, state Sens. Leah Vukmir, Alberta Darling, Rep. Glenn Grothman and Mary Lazich, and state Reps. Dale Kooyenga, Don Pridemore, Jim Ott and Bill Kramer. Governor Scott Walker,Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch … for ideological reasons and because of the state's wealth of frac sand.

Here Secretary of State Doug LaFollette explains it very well:

The two people who voted for this are new Attorney General and Scott Jensen puppet bitter Republican partisan Brad Schimel:



Brad's contact information:
@wisDOJ 

U.S. Mail:

Wisconsin Department of Justice

P.O. Box 7857

Madison, WI 53707-7857

Phone: (608) 266-1221

Fax:     (608) 267-2779

Also new State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk voted against it.   Adamczyk comes from a family that owns a HVAC company in Milwaukee(I highly recommend someone anyone else for your HVAC needs).  If they raised such an ignorant bully, is that who you really want to do business with? 

(Matt Adamczyk has worked in the family business, Adamczyk Heating & Air Conditioning, 6019 W. Bluemound Road, Milwaukee, phone:414 258-7880)

Mr. Adamcyzk contact information is:

 @voteadamczyk
Wisconsin Office of the State Treasurer  • B41 West • State Capitol •  Madison, Wisconsin 53701
Phone: 608-266-1714
Matt.Adamczyk@Wisconsin.gov 



The stupid does not stop at this agency either, as Mike Huebsch felt the need to weigh in and embarrass himself once again:

The Wisconsin Radio Network reported that when Huebsch was questioned on his climate change opinions in his confirmation hearing over the week, he said:

“I believe that humans can have an impact to climate change, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near the level of impact of just the natural progression of our planet. You know, the elimination of essentially every automobile would be offset by one volcano exploding. You have to recognize the multiple factors that go into climate change.”

People actually elected this guy at one time? 

By the way, if you can just wash away the lunacy for a minute and spend five minutes on google. you would see that Global Climate Change is very real and very much a problem for our world.   

Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities,1and most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position. 

U.S. Global Change Research Program"The global warming of the past 50 years is due primarily to human-induced increases in heat-trapping gases. Human 'fingerprints' also have been identified in many other aspects of the climate system, including changes in ocean heat content, precipitation, atmospheric moisture, and Arctic sea ice." (2009, 13 U.S. government departments and agencies)12

Who Does Walker Want To Face In The Recall?

As the gentle reader is well aware, we here in Wisconsin have been to Hell and are trying to climb our way back up.

Scott Walker has, in fifteen months, undone a century and a half of proud tradition, vibrant success and and exalted status.  He's sold us out to his special interest/corporate/fascist supporters, destroyed our education system, attacked the rights of workers, of women, of children, of the elderly, of the disabled, of the poor and just about everyone but the privileged elite class, commonly referred to as the 1%.

But even the dark cloud of Walker's maleficent reign, there is a silver lining.  Four of them, in fact.

Those four silver linings are the four candidates that have stood up, shouted "Enough!" and have put themselves out there to run for the honor of being the state's champion and being the one to unseat the malicious and avaricious Walker:

• Kathleen Falk: The former Dane County Executive led her county to unprecedented and unmatched success in job growth and prosperity, even in the height of the Great Recession.  
• Kathleen Vinehout: One of the heroic Fab 14, the Wisconsin Democratic Senators who left friends and family behind in the beginning of the Republican onslaught in order to buy the people time to raise up as one and protest the evils being forced upon us, often illegally.
• Doug LaFallotte: The Secretary of State who helped in our struggle against the unnecessary and the unwarranted Act 10, the bill aimed at busting the unions and the middle class.
• Tom Barrett: The man who's serves as state legislator, U.S. Congressman and most recently, just overwhelmingly won his third term as Mayor of the City of Milwaukee.

Not only are we fortunate to have these four superstars standing up for Wisconsin, but we are fortunate that no matter who wins the primary in less than two weeks, we will all gather behind the winner and propel her or him to the governor's office and start the long arduous task of taking our state back completely and healing the wounds that Walker and his Republican cohorts in crime have done.

But who should be that champion is of contention, among both the left and the right.

On the left, each candidate has their base group of supporters, but many people have either remained neutral or have at least not revealed their intentions publicly.  There has been some disagreements on who is the best candidate, but these, for the most part, end with an agreement to disagree and a pledge to support whoever does win the primary.

For what it's worth, I've already publicly thrown my support for Kathleen Falk.

On Sunday, I saw this article come out of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in which Walker opined on who would be the stronger candidate against him:

Walker said he believes Falk is the weaker candidate. 

Belling, who hosts an afternoon show on WISN-AM (1130), pressed Walker on Thursday to "come clean" and "be honest" as to why his campaign was running ads critical of Barrett but not Falk. Go here (starting at 30 minutes) to hear the full interview. 

"Do you acknowledge that, that Falk's the weaker opponent?" Belling asked. 

"Let me explain why I think she is," Walker said. "Because she has clearly staked herself out as being in the pocket of the public employee unions. That has not clearly been attached to Tom Barrett." 

Walker, who holds an edge over the two top Democrats in recent polling, accused the Milwaukee mayor has been "falling over himself" at union functions. But Walker focused his sharpest criticism at Falk and what he believes are his political problems. 

"I think her weakness was coming out early and acknowledging that she - and doing not just acknowledging -  that she signed a pledge saying she’d veto any budget that did not include a full repeal of our reforms," Walker said.

That took me aback.  What in the world would make Walker come out and say that he felt more vulnerable to Barrett than to Falk?  Was he, for one of the extremely rare times in his life, being completely candid and honest with the people?  After all, it is undeniable that Barrett holds a commanding lead over Falk in most of the polls when they are stacked against each other.  However, when they are individually stacked against Walker, they both do equally well.

In support of Walker's statements and the what the polls say, most of Walker's attacks, as well as the myriad of third party smear ads, have been against Barrett.  But I have noticed a definite uptick in the attacks on Falk.

All of this made me wonder if Walker wasn't using some psych ops and reverse psychology to get the Dems to put up a candidate he felt he could beat more easily.

I then started to ponder who Walker would want to face in the general election on June 5.

The obvious answer to that would be Gladys Huber, the clueless, retreaded fake Democrat that the Republicans are running because, you know, they're so very concerned about election integrity.

However, old Gladys isn't even worth the pixels I've already wasted on her. There is no way she will win.  Oh, sure, there will be some of those integrity-challenged Republicans that will cross over and vote for her, but she will be just another black mark of shame on the Republicans and nothing more.

At the risk of angering and alienating some of my friends here in Wisconsin, it's also a pretty save bet that neither Vinehout nor LaFollette will be the candidate.  They don't have the name power, the financial backing or the support that would make them strong contenders in such a short race.  If there was more time, Vinehout might have been able to make it more competitive.  But there isn't and so she won't.

That leaves Falk and Barrett.

Which would Walker really rather end up facing?

The best way to look at it is how do they stack up in regards to the issues and their vulnerabilities.

Kathleen Falk

Walker already said that he thinks Falk is more vulnerable because of her pledge to restore collective bargaining by making it a budget issue and threatening to veto any budget that does not contain this.  This admittedly has been a turn off to many people. I believe that is a reflection of how mamsy-pamsy the Democrats have become where assertively pushing for the restoration of these civil rights is considered "too extreme."  

But all one has to do is consider the fact that Falk has received the endorsements of not only all of the major unions, but also of women's rights groups, minority rights groups and environmentalists to see that she is very much more than a one-issue candidate.  And she is pushing that fact in her latest ad, which is why Walker has stepped up his attacks against her.

Barrett, despite his claims of being a friend of the unions, has not gained their support, with the exception of less than a handful of the smaller ones.  But that is far from his biggest problem.  Walker has already been hammering him on using the "tools" of Act 10, although to be honest, he had little choice, given the severe cuts in shared revenue that Walker imposed.  It's akin to blackmailers trying to frame a bank robbery on the guy on whom they placed a bomb collar which they could remotely detonate.  

But Barrett is also going to have to explain why he was trying to get the unions to give up these same rights even before Act 10 was made into law.  Likewise, he's going to have to be able to explain why he wrote to the state, asking them to take Act 10 even further than what it was.

Tom Barrett

Related to the labor issues is the jobs issues.  As noted above, Falk is able to point out that during the height of the Great Recession, she was able to lead Dane County to prosperity while Walker, who was county executive for Milwaukee County, was losing jobs even before the recession hit, due to his austerity measures.

During the 2010 elections, Walker was successfully able to pin Barrett with the results of Walker's own failings and Barrett was not very successful in fighting that line of attack.  If Barrett has found a way around that this time, I haven't seen it.  In fact, Walker is already trying to spin the numbers to again blame Barrett for his own shortcomings.

Regarding Walker's War on Women, Falk is also less vulnerable.  Falk has been a strong advocate for women's rights and has gained the endorsement of EMILY's List and Women's Campaign Fund.  Barrett on the other hand could be attacked by Walker based on his opposition to and defeat of mandatory paid sick leave, a law that was brought about by public support and a petition drive spearheaded by 9 to 5.

Unless these two campaigns, most notably Barrett's, figures out a way to respond to each of these vulnerabilities, they will have to hope solely on the people to be able to carry them on their disgust of the current status of this once great state.  And when faced against the well-moneyed machine of Walker, greased with the money of the Koch Brothers, the Bradley Foundation and other uber-conservative groups, we need a candidate that will be able to fight and just not get bowled over.

There is simply to much at stake to not have everything in place and every possibility planned for.  Simply running on name recognition or some empty platitudes will prove to be a gross underestimation of the opponent, and I don't us to go through this or something even worse, again.

I'll Be Voting For Kathleen Falk On May 8th

As the gentle reader already knows, there are four Democrats running to be the one to take on Scott Walker in an effort to defeat him in June and start putting the state back on track of gaining jobs, rebuilding the economy and repairing all the damage done by Walker in the last year and a half.

The four contenders are Kathleen Falk, Doug LaFollette, Kathleen Vinehout and Tom Barrett.  I've already had some discussion on this matter earlier, explaining why I would not be supporting LaFollette or Vinehout in the primary, despite their status of being some of Wisconsin's heroes during the Walker regime.  I also had the opportunity to speak with Falk, two months ago, which I wrote about here.

That left the choice between the two front runners, Falk and Barrett.

While many of my fellow progressives have been focused on only who might have the best chance of winning in June, my focus went further.  My focus was not only on who might win, but who would also give the best chance of fixing the wrongs and making the state and its people whole again.  To do that, I looked at the major issues.

As for who might have the best chance of beating Walker in the general election, Falk and Barrett poll numbers are equal for all practical purposes, so this is not an area of contention.

Both Falk and Barrett claim to be the friend of the workers and the unions.  But Falk has earned the endorsement of most of the unions, including all of the major ones.  She has earned it by taking a strong stance on fully restoring collective bargaining rights.  .

However, she has received the most criticism for this.  Some have said that the unions were wrong for coming out so early with their endorsements, saying they should have waited until all the candidates were known.  They further add that the early endorsement and the pledge that Falk made about putting collective bargaining in the budget.  The third complaint was that she was only about the unions and that the recall was about much more than the unions

This is the poppycock that the right would have you believe.

When the unions realized that there were more than enough signatures to ensure a recall, they took proactive measures and reached out to all of the candidates, both announced and presumed.  And being the unions, their focus was naturally on workers rights and collective bargaining.

Falk was not the only one to pledge that she would put collective bargaining in the budget. Kathleen Vinehout and Peter Barca, two name just two of the others, also made the same pledge.  However, Vinehout changed her stance immediately after making her pledge and Barca was undecided whether he would run.  In the end, Barca chose to continue to be the brilliant leader in the State Assembly, providing us hope for that body.  Barrett, by the way, never even bothered to respond to the invitation to even speak with the unions.

As for whether collective bargaining should be in the budget, well, the budget is the only bill that the legislature is required to pass.  A special session wouldn't mean a tinker's damn.  The Republicans could just sit and stonewall the year around on it.  Then we would be in the same place we are now, only with a governor with a different name.

Let me put it this way: If my home was burgled and my stuff was stolen, I would expect that the police would do everything they could to get all of my stuff back.  I would not be satisfied if they said that they tried real hard to get my stuff back, but the thieves just wouldn't give it to them.

That Falk is only about the unions is the biggest misperception that people have about her.

Besides the unions, which is what most people only see, Falk has earned the endorsements of many politicians, women's rights groups and environmental groups, including Emily's List, Women's Campaign Fund, Clean Wisconsin Action Fund and the Sierra Club.  She has also earned the endorsements of the UW-Madison chapter of Young Progressives and Voces de la Frontera Action.

While any of the candidates would be a marked improvements over Walker, it is my firm belief that that Kathleen Falk presents the best chance of not only beating Walker in June, but then going on and correcting the wrongs that Walker and his associates have done to this state and its people.

Falk is fully aware of all the things that need to be addressed, from getting the economy moving again and bringing jobs to the state to rebuilding our education system to collective bargaining to ending the War on Women to restoring environmental protections.  Furthermore, she has plans on how to address those issues, instead of just talking points.

Her knowledge, her skill and her experience that she would bring to the governor's office has earned her the endorsement of a wide number or politicians and progressive causes.

I am proud to throw my name in with those that will vote for her on May 8th.

You can learn more about Kathleen Falk at her website.

And I shouldn't have to say this after ten years of fighting Walker, but yes, if someone else wins the primary, I will support them in the effort to stop Walker.

Ladies And Gentlemen, We Have Us A Recall!

In the world of politics, there is what is commonly referred to the "Friday news dump" in which a politician will release some bit of controversial and/or negative news, hoping that it gets lost in people's excitement about it being the weekend.

A prime example of a recent Friday news dump is when Scott Walker finally admitted to forming his legal cooperation fund.

As to what the news dump actually is, Vice President Joe Biden mentioned it when he was in town on Thursday:

Biden then praised Doyle, saying, "Oh, what a difference a governor makes! Elections have consequences, man, and nobody in the country knows that better than you here in Wisconsin and maybe our friends in Ohio.”

He then said, "I wish you luck on your recall efforts,” which reportedly drew "hearty applause."

And a recall it is!

The Government Accountability Board announced that they have over 900,000 valid signatures as needed to initiate a recall against Walker as well as more than ample to get one going against his independent-thought-less sidekick Becky Kleefich:

GAB staff said in a memo released Thursday that 900,938 valid signatures were collected on petitions seeking to recall Walker, and about 808,990 were gathered on those seeking to recall Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch. The minimum needed to trigger a recall was 540,208 signatures for each of them.

If the board orders elections on Friday as expected, recall primary elections — if necessary — are expected to be held on May 8, followed by a June 5 general election. At least three Democrats are running for governor, and another three have said they are running for lieutenant governor, making primaries likely. Four Republican senators also face recall.

But I do have some bad news for you, gentle reader.

That was the easy part.

Now we must chose who will be our champion in the contest against Walker and his millions of dirty money supporting him.

And that choice won't be easy. That much is evidenced by the spirited debate going on among people all over the state, some of which does get rather heated.

I think part of the reason for the temporary division stems from the general disappointment that Russ Feingold, who would have had the state handed to him on a platter, refuses to run. That disappointment has left a lot of people with searching about for another champion which won't be decided until the primary in May.

The choices now include these announced and potential candidates:

Kathleen Falk:  I'll come out with saying that I like Falk.  She is saying all the right things and supporting all the right causes, including, but not limited to, collective bargaining, education, women's rights, voters' rights and the environment. She is not afraid to make bold statements and say things directly and plainly, which I admire and think will be needed in the upcoming race against Walker.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that hold a level of animosity towards her, but have not been able to provide, from what I've seen, a clear reason why they feel this way.  What does have me concerned is this "Wisconsin for Falk" group.  While I agree with their message, they way they are delivering it makes me uncomfortable.  What we don't need is a liberal version of Americans for Prosperity or a liberal MacIver Institute.  We've seen how they've turned off everyone but the deepest Kool-Aid drinkers.  We don't need to do the same thing and drive the middle into a feeling of apathy.

Kathleen Vinehout:  Vinehout has a very faithful, if not very large, base of supporters.  However, I cannot throw my support behind her.  She has already started to present a shifting picture on where she stands on some subjects, most notably collective bargaining and women's rights.  Because she is unwilling to take a clear stand, much less one on the right side, on these important issues, I cannot, in good faith, take a stand supporting her.

Doug LaFollette:  LaFollette, I'm afraid, is running on his iconic last name and the hero worship he received when he struggled with Act 10.  That's not enough to win the race.  There are other things which I'm not willing to divulge due to their nature, which makes me concerned about him being the potential candidate.

Peter Barca:  Barca, like Falk, has said many of the right things and supported the right causes.  But the fact that he hasn't decided in all these months leading up to this moment causes me no small concern.  It makes him appear wishy-washy and/or unwilling to run, which would spell disaster.

Tom Barrett:  Barrett has a lot going for him.  He enjoys a high level of popularity and name recognition from his unsuccessful run last year against Walker.  He also probably has the largest campaign war chest.  He has also said many of the right things and supported the right things.  But there is one notable exception to that.  Barrett is not a big supporter of the unions or of collective bargaining.  He also has other issues to contend with such as timing.  He is currently running to be the mayor of Milwaukee and it's a real turn off to know that he is already looking to hop in the gubernatorial race.

Chris 'capper' Liebenthal - Oh wait, never mind. I just put this in to see if you're still paying attention (and to make some Republican heads explode.).

What we each need to do, every one of us, is to look into our own hearts and minds and decide if what we want is to nominate the person who is most likely to beat Walker or are would we rather nominate someone who can both win AND will start correcting all the wrongs that Walker has caused.

I, for one, did not work so hard or for so long just to change the name of the governor.  I want to fix the wrongs that he has caused as well.

And even though we may be temporarily at odds as we each seek out the person whom we think is the best candidate, there is one thing that I do know with utmost certainty.

That one thing is that regardless of whoever the nominee ends up being, we will again come together with the cohesiveness that is brought on by hundreds of thousands of people working for a single cause - to Reclaim Wisconsin.  And all of the millions of dollars of dirty money Walker raises and all the airtime he buys with that lucre (not to mention all the free airtime squawk radio gives him) won't be enough to stand up to the ground game we have.

Republican Panic Button Is Taking More Hits Than Charlie Sheen

The way that Scott Walker and the Fitzgerald boys are totally screwing up their own schemes would be hilarious if the consequences weren't so severe.

After the Dane County District Attorney successfully pursued a Temporary Restraining Order preventing the publication of the Union Busting Bill, the Republicans decided to pursue it to a higher court in order to have it overturned.

This decision caused a bit of disconcertion among the right, who, like Cindy Kilkenny, were left to speculate why the Republicans just didn't concede the court fight and take a second vote on the bill. I answered Cindy's puzzlement by pointing out that if they voted a second time, it might not pass, but she didn't believe me.

Well, if she won't believe me, maybe she'll believe Senator Scott Fitzgerald, who said pretty much the same thing.

So, if taking a vote was too risky, their only other option appeared to be in court.  But this wasn't going swimmingly for them either.

This resorted to what Republicans do best: Turning an end around run into running into their own rounded rear ends.

In a bit of classic Walkeresque overreach, Scott Fitzgerald pushed the Legislative Reference Bureau into "publishing" the law that they had illegally passed.  He and Walker claimed the law published and said that they would be putting it into effect tomorrow.  Their rationale was because it was on the legislative web site, so that made it law.

Needless to say, many right wingers broke open the proverbial bubbly in what turned out to be premature acclamation.

As it turns out, and I need to point out that Illy-T led the way locally on this, the "publication" that Fitzgerald ordered was actually more of a printing of the law.  In other words, Hissy Fits Fitz drove the LRB to the local Kinko's and had them print the law.  Word is that Fitzgerald even had them attach a shiny gold ribbon to it so he could show it off.

But according to the Legislative Review Board itself, the law isn't a law until the Secretary of State actually publishes the bill.  And, of course, Secretary Doug La Follette is under the Temporary Restraining Order which is preventing him from publishing it.  Ergo, the job destruction that Walker and the Fitzgerald boys want to do will have to wait for another time,  Of course, I would hope that they aware of the fact that if it ever does get successfully passed, then it will only be immediately stalled again as lawsuit after lawsuit is filed against it.

But one thing that hasn't been talked about a lot is the fact that the LRB is traditionally a strictly non-partisan entity which is highly respected by both Republicans and Democrats.  Fitzgerald expended a lot of political capital in pushing this non-partisan board into printing a very partisan law.  The ramifications from that could be rather interesting to watch.  And Fitzgerald didn't even get a T-shirt for his troubles.