Walkergate 2: The Sons Of Doe Ride Again

After the Walkergate investigations ended with the conviction of six of Scott Walkers aides and supporters, may people thought that that was it.

But in October, news broke that there was another John Doe, or to be more accurate, five more John Doe probes, being conducted.  Precious little was known about these newly discovered investigations.  What we did know was that the investigations involved possible illegal collaboration between the Koch Brothers - Bradley Foundation-supported front groups such as the Wisconsin Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity and the political campaigns of at least one of the recalled Republicans.  

Trying to get a grasp of what was going on was greatly hindered by the fact that the possibilities were so vast and the network of these front groups and the politicians were so immense, it was hard to keep it all straight.  Another issue was that the credibility of the sources of information was dubious at best.  Unlike Walkergate, these investigations started to leak like a sieve.  Sadly, the leaks were all right wing operatives, some who were claiming to be the subjects of the investigations.  To complicate things further, they were leaking to the right wing front groups and propagandists, adding to the doubt.

Fortunately for us, Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express was digging into it already.  Kaiser was the first to point to some of the central people/groups that were part of the investigation.  She pointed out that Eric O'Keefe, who has claimed to be one of the subjects of the investigation, was the head of Wisconsin Club for Growth and has ties to the Sam Adams Alliance, which in turn funds the Franklin Center and by extension, Wisconsin Reporter.

Kaiser also pointed out the enmeshment of R.J. Johnson, who was a consultant to Scott Walker's campaign as well as involved with Wisconsin Club for Growth.  Johnson was one of the people regularly copied into the emails that were flying between Walker's campaign and his county staff.

Kaiser went on to take a closer look at the front groups and their levels of enmeshment with each other. She was also able to confirm that the Koch Brothers were indeed funneling dark money into Wisconsin to influence the  recall elections.

The right wingers threw everything they could at the Does to at least impede, if not completely stop, the investigations. They ran a damage control barrage on squawk radio and through their various propagandists.  They also hired some very expensive attorneys to challenge the dot on every "i" and the cross on every "t."

A little less than a month ago, retired Appeals Court Judge Gregory Peterson ruled against the Does.  In his ruling, Peterson found that the prosecutors did not provide sufficient cause to believe that a crime was committed. As a result, he squashed the subpoenas that had been issued to, y'know, help investigate if a crime was committed.

The right wing was ecstatic.  Charlie Sykes and his White Wisconsin went on for days and days, claiming that this was some sort of victory for Freedom of Speech.  We heard how this was all some sort of political witch hunt aimed at Republicans.  They even went so far as to try to have White Wisconsin and former ALEC operative Brian Fraley act the martyr because - insert dramatic music here - a reporter asked him a question!

I found all of their antics to be particularly irritating, but especially their painting of themselves as martyrs.  These are the same schmucks that would go after the likes of Professor William Cronon for daring to expose the workings of ALEC.  They also went after me for daring to report the truth about Scott Walker.  Yet when they break the law, they think they should somehow be exempt?

Even though their antics were annoying, I held my tongue, knowing that that when it comes to these types of things, there's more.  There's always more.

On Thursday, the "more" came out.

Among the legal flailings of the right wing martyrs was that it was illegal to have a special prosecutor to run a John Doe investigation and that it was illegal for said special prosecutor and John Doe judge to run investigations in several counties at once.

Three appellate court judges ruled against most of these motions, finding that there were actually five different investigations going on even though they shared some commonality.  They also found that the special prosecutor took away the concerns of politics being the motivation for the investigation ans well as helped streamline the operations for everyone involved.

But the court also ordered that some of the court documents should be unsealed.  These documents include:

• The motion to stay the investigation,
• A memo to support their petition to stay the investigation,
• The response of the John Doe judges to the petition, and 
• The response from the special prosecutor to the petition.

Unfortunately, the unsealed documents don't reveal any more specifics about who is being investigated or what they might have supposedly done except for ""suggested criminal campaign finance violations may have been committed by residents of Columbia, Dane, Dodge and Iowa counties."

But some of the unsealed documents do reveal that Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm asked Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen a second time to get involved in the investigation.  Van Hollen again denied this request, claiming that his office could not act with impartiality regarding the case.  And this was long before his office got tapped to represent the judges that they right wingers were suing in their efforts to impede justice.

Keep in mind that Van Hollen often was involved with various political campaigns.  It should make one wonder if what he knew of the Son of Doe investigations led to his decision to not seek reelection.  The question would be because he was part of the shenanigans or because he wants the job of someone who was involved with the shenanigans.

There are a couple of other tidbits that are worth keeping in mind.

One is that Van Hollen tried to dump the investigations onto the Government Accountability Board even though they do not have the authority to conduct criminal investigations, much less prosecute anyone.  With all the attacks on the GAB by the Republicans and their efforts to make it a more political entity, I wonder how much these investigations played into their motivation for doing so.  I think it's not unreasonable to question if they were trying to rig the system.  It would, after all, fit perfectly into their modus operandi.

The other thing to keep in mind is that two of the DA's requesting the John Doe proceedings and the use of a special prosecutor are Republicans.  This is in no way a political witch hunt or an attack on anyone's Freedom of Speech as the Republicans and their propagandists are trying to portray it to be.  

Rather, this is a legitimate investigation into possible crimes against our democracy. 

Madison Retains Title of Crony Capitol of the World

As soon as Scott Walker took office in 2011, he started going about the job of thanking all of his cronies and campaign donors by giving them cushy jobs in state government, where they did little more than collect their paycheck.

Nearly three years later, and he's still paying back the favors, with the latest being Lynne Van Hollen, the wife of Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen:

Lynne Van Hollen has been named an assistant legal counsel at the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Van Hollen, who is married to Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, will start January 13, says Joy Staab, director of public affairs for the Department.

Staab says she did not know Van Hollen's salary and would have to check with the Human Relations coordinator who was out of the office Thursday.

As usual for the corporate media, the real story is buried at the bottom of the article:

Ed Wall, the secretary of the Department of Corrections, was one of J.B. Van Hollen's top deputies at the Department of Justice when he was tapped by Gov. Scott Walker in 2012 to head the Department of Corrections.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This isn't a government anymore, it's a corporate-run syndicate.

Van Hollen Leaves At The Bottom Of His Game

When people announce their retirements, it's usually when they are at the best they can be.  It could be the CEO of a business, a worker who has put in decades for a company or an athlete who just won the title for their sport.

When Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced that he was not going to run for election next year - a move that was obviously timed to steal Mary Burke's thunder - one's thoughts should go to Van Hollen's "achievements," which don't add up to much.  They include:

• Failed to investigate, much less arrest, anyone in the ongoing WEDC scandal,
• Opened the floodgates for the gun nuts making all our lives less safe,
• Failed to prosecute the disgraced District Attorney of Calumet County, Kenneth Kratz, even though he knew of the crime for a year,
• Failed to investigate, much less arrest, anyone in the ongoing Sportsmen United scandal,
• Tried to help Leah Vukmir dodge open record requests dealing with her role in ALEC,
• Prosecuted political prisoners, like participants in the Solidarity Sing Along,
• Joined in the frivolous lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act
• Helped set up a Big Brother police state where police can take your DNA for any arrest.

And those are just a few of his "highlights."

Van Hollen might have this mental image of him being a hero riding into the sunset, but the sad reality is that he is a rat running off into the sewer from whence he climbed out of.

Where Is The Attorney General On The Sportsman United Scandal?

The following was pointed out by a fan of Cog Dis.  The level of corruption and culpability is just breathtaking, even for me, who has decried Scott Walker's corruption long before most of the state had ever heard of him:

Lobbying by Republican lawmakers on behalf of a politically connected sportsmen’s group that received a $500,000 state grant was far greater than previously known, state records show.

Eighteen lawmakers signed on to an Aug. 22 letter urging the state Department of Natural Resources to award the grant to the United Sportsmen of Wisconsin Foundation, according to the records obtained by the State Journal under the state open records law.

The records also show that when hundreds of emails poured in to the agency in late August and early September opposing the grant amid questions about United Sportsmen’s tax status and qualifications, top DNR officials plowed ahead with the award, saying they had no choice but to follow the budget language inserted by lawmakers. The grant was later rescinded.
And three hours before the grant was awarded on Sept. 3, United Sportsmen’s president acknowledged to DNR executive assistant Scott Gunderson that he incorrectly told the committee considering the grant that the group received tax-exempt status from the IRS as a charitable organization. 

The documents also show that Deputy DNR Secretary Matt Moroney spoke at United Sportsmen’s annual banquet and fundraiser May 9 in Madison.

Weeks later, language requiring the agency to award $500,000 to a group to recruit and train people to hunt, fish and trap was inserted by lawmakers into the state’s two-year budget. After the budget was passed, critics charged the criteria were narrowly drawn to exclude every group except United Sportsmen, which ended up being the only bidder.

Among the records was an Aug. 22 letter from 18 GOP members of the Assembly and Senate urging the DNR to award the grant to the group, which had close ties to then-Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder and Americans for Prosperity, a conservative organization that spent an estimated $3.7 million on behalf of Walker to help him beat back his 2012 recall.

Some people might blame Scott Suder for this whole mess. And he definitely played a major role in it.  But as the article points out, seventeen other Teapublican legislators played a part in the corruption.

As did Scott Walker, who rewarded Suder for his betrayal of the Wisconsin voters and taxpayers.

And none of the top officers in Walker's DNR - from Cathy "Bambi Killer" Stepp to Matt Moroney - are clean on this bit of political money laundering.

All of this blatant corruption occurring in broad daylight shows that the Teapublicans aren't afraid that they will be held accountable in any way, shape or form.  And why should they be?

The top cop in the state, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, is nothing but a political hack with aspirations of being governor some day.  If he actually does his job and hold his fellow Republicans accountable for their actions, he could hardly expect their support in the future, even for reelection.

Perhaps the best way to describe the current state of the state government is to paraphrase am old adage and say, "The rats will play while the cops look away."

Since we can't count on our Attorney General to do his job, I would say it's time to file a formal complaint with the U.S. Attorney and have this case investigated by someone who isn't part of the problem.

Is Van Hollen A Paul Ryan Man?

It is common knowledge that Fitzwalkerstan Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is a political hack who abuses the power of his office to advance the Teapublican agenda.  Whether it's from joining in the frivolous lawsuit against Obamacare to defending fellow Teapublicans from having to follow the Freedom of Information Act to not prosecuting any of the high levels of corruption in the state, one could count on Van Hollen not to do the right thing.

So when the news broke that an appellate judge had ordered that the emails and documents related to the Kelly Rindfleisch case should be released, one might have expected that Van Hollen would argue against that or at least ask them to remain sealed.

Surprisingly, Van Hollen said that his office would not request the documents be sealed:

The Department of Justice will not seek to seal emails and other records that are to be added to the case file in an appeal by a former aide to Gov. Scott Walker when he was Milwaukee County executive, a department official said Thursday.

But the former aide, Kelly Rindfleisch, could seek to keep those records secret, and the judge in the case has not explicitly said whether the records will be made public.

Appeals Judge Patricia Curley on Wednesday ordered that the emails and affidavits be filed with her as part of Rindfleish's appeal within 15 days. Curley did not specify whether the records must be filed under seal, but documents in case files are ordinarily public records unless a judge orders that they be sealed.

Why would Van Hollen not ask for the documents to be sealed? He must know that they would at best be embarrassing to Scott Walker.

Is Van Hollen a Paul Ryan guy and is hoping to sabotage Walker's presidential aspirations? Or maybe he is tired of squawkers like Charlie "White Wisconsin" Sykes always ripping into him and this is Van Hollen's way of getting back at them?

Whatever Van Hollen's motivation might be, this could get real interesting real fast.  It might be time to make a run to Pick'N'Save for some more popcorn.

When Our Leaders Fail Us

As the nation weeps with the citizens of Newtown, Connecticut as they bury 20 of their children, there has been a wide range of reactions and statements regarding this senseless nightmare that should never have happened.

By far, most of the statements have been simple expressions of grief and condolences.

But there also has been no shortage of statements that extend beyond that.

From one side, there are calls for reasonable gun laws to be enacted and to be enforced. There are calls for a vamping up of our mental health system. Even has they weep, people are looking for ways to keep anything like this from ever happening again.

From the other side, there are quick calls to stop making sense and to leave our guns alone (even though almost no one is calling for a complete gun ban). Instead of worrying about their constituents, these people are more worried about losing the support of the NRA and their big buckets of money.

Then there have been the extreme nut jobs that both sides look upon with scorn. People like Westboro Baptist Church, who for some deranged reason thought it a good idea to protest at the funeral of six year old child. Or the goof that thought this happened because they teach evolution and homosexuality in schools. (No, really. That was an argument from more than one person, which is even scarier.)

In Wisconsin, our leaders again prove themselves to be embarrassments.

Scott Walker, true to his nature, would only say what he thought people wanted him to say, even if it meant lying through Charlie Sykes' teeth.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen demeaned any new life-saving laws as something to make lawmakers "feel good about themselves."

Here in Milwaukee, it was even worse.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele took a lot of words to say a whole lot of nothing* (spelling and grammatical errors are all his):

What is perhaps the saddest thing to see in the current discussion about gun control is the immediate entrenchment of so many of the loudest in the commentariat to familiar, intractable positions. The most corrosive thing in american politics today is the divisiveness of political identity - too much of defining ourselves by what we are against and not nearly enough defining ourselves by what we are for. Too many declarations of grievances and accusations, not enough statements of understanding and offering of solutions. To borrow from Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, undoubtedly one of the greatest pieces of political address ever: with malice towards none, with charity towards all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind the nations wounds.

To my friends who support the Second Amendment, so do I. To my friends who are horrified at what happened in Newtown (and Oak Creek, Brookfield, Aurora, etc.), I share your horror. To everyone who believes it is no compromise of the rights we all treasure to bind their scope and couple them with accountability, let's embrace the First Amendment to discuss how we can protect the Second while never forgetting the reason our founding fathers instituted them in the Constitution of this government - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Please note that he says nothing about the need for greater mental health services since he's busy in the process of dismantling the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex.

As mealy-mouthed as Abele was, it's Sheriff David Clarke who takes the cake for the worst response. Clarke wrote a rambling, disjointed piece for his teahadist supporters in which he uses just about every red meat term and buzzword he could think of. But unlike Abele, Clarke offers a solution of sorts, even if it is one of the more idiotic ones:

I have a better idea to all this run and hide advice. An armed tactical trained officer or security officer in every school and public place (theaters, malls, etc) in America. How are we going to pay for it? With all the money we spend on “going green projects and other waste of money social service spending we do. And spare me the idea of more gun control. Gun control has never worked and never will. That’s a sheep mentality. It’s like saying lets capture all the wolves and then the sheep will be safe. Yeah right. I’ve had it with these sociopaths slaughtering innocent people who are in no position to defend themselves.

What Clarke is suggesting is a totalitarian police state. Given his rabid mindset, how long do you think it would take the unstable Clarke to start suggesting that anyone who doesn't agree with him be considered a threat to society?

Also keep in mind that Clarke was against concealed carry before he was for it, so that shows you how much weight you should give any of his opinions.

It truly is embarrassing that at the time when we need real leadership, we get milquetoast and buffoonery.  Heck, even the deplorable, maleficent governor of Michigan had enough sense to veto a bill that would have allowed guns in schools.

Is it really asking too much for our leaders to show a modicum of common sense and responsibility?

*Since Abele apparently had this posted it before and then deleted it because of the negative reaction to his non-reaction, I have taken the liberty of making a screen shot of it.

Live In Fitzwalkerstan? No Rights For You!

Ah yes, good old Fitzwalkerstan, where the corrupt Scott Walker and his Republican cohorts simply cannot bear the thought that someone might be able to live freely or have constitutional rights.

Don't believe me? Well take a look at two stories that broke today.

In one story, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is again trying to circumvent the course of due justice by pleading for the second time in four months for the Supreme Court to bypass the appellate court and arbitrarily impose a restriction on the people's right to vote.

Keep in mind that there has not been one documented case of voter fraud in which the voter suppression law would have made a difference. In other words, the only "problem" that Van Hollen and the Republicans are trying to resolve is that they could lose elections if people are allowed to exercise their right to vote as guaranteed in the constitution.

Also keep in mind that this would throw the electoral system into chaos. In the most recent elections, there have been a multitude of stories of poll workers not being clear on the current status of voting laws and giving people incorrect information and wrongfully denying some people their right to vote.

Lastly, and maybe most significantly, Van Hollen has a direct conflict of interest since he is the campaign co-chairman of Tommy Thompson, who is running for the US Senate. Van Hollen cannot ethically file a lawsuit asking for the voting rights of people who are more likely to vote against his candidate during the height of the campaign season.

Then again, since when do the Republicans give two hoots about ethics?

In the other story, we see that Van Hollen is also sending his underlings to go after more political opponents.

Someone from Walker's administration or the legislature has asked the Attorney General's office to pursue a civil forfeiture case against Segway Jeremy Ryan, a well-known protester.

Now, anyone who has been following Fitzwalkerstan news for the past year and a half knows who Ryan is and that sometimes his behavior is over the top. But in the incident they have chosen to squander state funds on (remember - the state is broke!), Ryan's alleged crime is going into a legislative chamber with - gasp - a sign and a camera! Obviously, the fiend must be stopped at all costs! The barbarian was trying to exercise his right to Free Speech!

The article goes on to state that the brownshirts are very hush hush when asked if they are planning on going after the Solidarity Singers.

The Republicans like to compare Scott Walker and themselves to the honey badger, a particularly tough and vicious beast.

At the rate they're going though, it won't take them long to learn that the honey badger ain't shit compared to the Sconnie Badger!

Scott Walker: Healthcare Reform Desperado

Even with the original mass explosion of Republican heads that followed Thursday's SCOTUS ruling allowing the Affordable Care Act to proceed, the hilarity continues.

Scott Walker, the Desperado of Healthcare Reform, says that he won't follow the law and start phasing it in before the mid-November deadline.

That shouldn't really surprise anyone though.

First of all, this grandstanding will allow him to continue to seek out the national attention he craves, such as his appearance on "Face the Nation" on Sunday morning, while he inexplicably thinks he could someday be President of the United States.  (He must be thinking that Kochs et alia will buy it for him if he is a good boy and destroys Wisconsin.)


Secondly, Walker has shown on more than one occasion that he has no qualms about breaking the law, with Walkergate being the crown jewel of an example.  (Yes, yes, the indictments are coming. Please remain patient.)

Thirdly, the Republicans don't want people to see the effects of the Affordable Care Act.  If the people were to see that they are actually still get quality health care and save money to boot, well, that wouldn't bode well for Romney or any of the other Republican candidates running on all levels.

Even Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said that Walker needed to obey the law, although he did backpedal like the coward he is when the radio squawkers barked at him.

My guess - Walker will let the feds do the heavy lifting and do the work he's supposed to do.  Then he'll have something to mewl about until it starts working, and then he'll take credit for it.  Yes, he's done it before, such as with the Milwaukee County Board who had to force him to take the stimulus funding and then tried to take credit for the work it created and the good things done with it.

PS: For a bonus, here is a piece of unbelievable irony:

“The court was wrong,” said state Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa. “We are left with virtually no limit on federal power. I believe this is a victory for the authoritarian state.”

Walker, Van Hollen: Protecting People From Keeping Money

Shortly after Scott Walker was elected, he gave the green light for Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to enter the fight against the Affordable Care Act. It's gone to the Supreme Court on whether it will be allowed to proceed, but when it was attacked by the ALEC-owned Republicans on the appellate level, Van Hollen was celebrating a ruling in the favor of Big Insurance:

If Van Hollen is right and the entire law is tossed out, Wisconsin would not have to implement the law requiring states to create insurance marketplaces known as health care exchanges. States also wouldn't have to expand Medicaid coverage or oversee new rules on private insurers.

It could also give Gov. Scott Walker and lawmakers greater power to cut existing state health care programs, such as Badger Care Plus, to fix the state's budget deficit. Walker last week created a new Office of Free Market Health Care that will fight health care reform. Walker's spokesman praised Vinson's ruling in a statement Thursday.

If Van Hollen is wrong and Wisconsin doesn't carry out parts of the health care law, the state could lose federal money and face a federal takeover of some activities.

In other words, they're hoping they don't have to provide health care coverage for all those unworthy poor, disable and/or elderly people. What better way to redistribute all that money to wealthy CEOs than to allow deny people affordable health care?!

But today, word comes out on what it could mean to people with their own health insurance:

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that 12.8 million Americans will benefit from $1.1 billion in rebates from insurance companies this summer, because of the Affordable Care Act’s 80/20 rule. These rebates will be an average of $151 for each family covered by a policy.

However, the fate of the Affordable Care Act is still subject to a Supreme Court ruling on its constitutionality. That ruling is expected to be announced soon.
The health care law generally requires insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of consumers’ premium dollars on medical care and quality improvement. Insurers can spend the remaining 20 percent on administrative costs, such as salaries, sales, and advertising. Beginning this year, insurers must notify customers how much of their premiums have been actually spent on medical care and quality improvement.

Insurance companies that do not meet the 80/20 standard must provide their policyholders a rebate for the difference no later than Aug. 1, 2012.
The HHS Department today said that Wisconsin consumers will receive nearly $10.4 million in rebates from insurers that did not meet the 80/20 standard. Individual market consumers in Wisconsin will receive $649,028 in rebates, the small group market in Wisconsin will receive $2.95 million in rebates and the large group market will receive $6.77 million in rebates.

Is it any wonder why Koch Brother employees are rooting for SCOTUS to rule against healthcare reform? If it is allowed to stand, Big Insurance would no longer be allowed to gouge us to make their CEOs even more filthy rich.

They just can't allow the common folk to have a few bucks. We're not worthy to have money.

Let His Hypocrisy Be Your Protest

This coming Friday will be a day of remembrance as the state honors its fallen law officers.

Sickeningly, the event in Madison will be tainted with hypocrisy as Scott Walker and J.B. Van Hollen are slated to be guest speakers.

Yes, I know that Walker does not deserve to be there, given the way he has slashed shared revenue to counties and municipalities which have cut police forces and reduced the availability of equipment, only to make their jobs even harder and more dangerous.

And yes, I am fully aware that Walker will not hesitate, if re-elected, to put the screws to Wisconsin's finest.

And yes, I know that Van Hollen is a political hack that puts his ideology and vainglory before officer safety or honor.

But as tempting as it might be to call out Walker for his malfeasance and his hypocrisy, we must not.

This is not our day, nor is it Walker's.

The day belongs to the men and women who put their lives on the lines every day so that we can safely go on with our lives.

We need to honor them by giving the day the solemness it rightfully deserves as we honor them and the fallen officers.

As my friend, Brian Austin, a police officer himself wrote on his Facebook page:

To all my fellow winter soldiers in Wisconsin (please share widely): 

The Wisconsin Law Enforcement memorial ceremony will be held on Friday, May 18th at noon on the Capitol square. It appears that Governor Walker will attend this event and may even speak. The Governors of Wisconsin have had a long history of speaking at this event, and there has been little departure from this tradition over the years.  

This is a very emotional event for us, a time where we honor our fallen brothers and sisters and remember the incredible sacrifice they and their families have made. The name of PO Craig Birkholz, killed in Fond Du Lac last year, will be unveiled at that ceremony, and many families of other fallen heroes will be present to celebrate the lives of their fathers and mothers, sons and daughters.  

As distasteful as the Governor's presence is to me and many of my police family, it was not the decision of the officers attending the event. I make this plea as strongly as possible, in no uncertain terms: Please, please do not protest the Governor or his presence at the event. You are welcome to attend to support us in our grief, but this is not the time for protest or political statements, silent or otherwise. The ONLY result of such action would be further suffering for the families and coworkers of the fallen officers, and an utter discrediting of the movement to reclaim our state. Protesting can occur another time, but give us the opportunity to mourn our fallen and honor their lives. To do otherwise would cause irreparable harm, and it would be a mistake no apology or explanation could fix. 

Thanks for your consideration. ON WISCONSIN 

In solidarity,
Brian

We would do a disservice to Wisconsin's finest by protesting at this event.  Not only is it disrespectful to the officers and their families, but you know the propaganda trolls from MacIver, Media Trackers and the other Koch/Bradley Foundation front groups will be there to try to take advantage of even the slightest slip so that they can conflate it and politicize this solemn event.

DON'T give them that satisfaction.

Go and honor the officers, both alive and dead.

But leave the signs home for a day and scream at your TV, in the privacy of your own home, if you must.

The best way to honor those that gave their all is to protect the living.  And the best way to do that is to make sure we do what we must - and not do what we mustn't - to get Walker out of office.

Kathleen Falk is THE Most Electable Candidate (updated)

Lets take a look at an updated graphic:

For those who think a "dane county liberal" can not be elected,lets compare how well Joanne Kloppenburg (who did not campaign in northern, WI) did compared to Tom "top of ticket" Barrett. Clearly all of the evidence points to Kathleen Falk being the "most electable" candidate!! Also wanted to point out that there is some misinformation about Kathleen Falk losing her statewide race in a big year for democrats.

Let us look at the ACTUAL RESULTS from that race!

Total Votes:

Jim Doyle: 1,139,115

Mark Green: 979,427

JB Van Hollen: 1,065,453

Kathleen Falk: 1056,594

Statewide Kathleen Falk drew 82,521 less votes than Jim Doyle and lost to JBVH by 8859. That is 10%, if 1 in ten people who voted for Doyle and did not vote for Falk had done so she would have won!

Now lets look at Dane County:

Jim Doyle: 149,661

Mark Green: 58302

JB Van Hollen: 72,348

Kathleen Falk: 138,507

In Dane County Kathleen Falk underperformed Jim Doyle by 11,154 votes. She lost the state by 8859. So breaking this down again, if80% of the people who voted for Doyle and did not vote for Falk would have, no one would know who JB Van Hollen is right now!

Now try and tell me that the Peg Lautenschlager supporters did not affect this race! 

PS: I have no problem with the Peg supporters feeling slighted and not voting Kathleen(even though I wish they would have voted for Kathleen). I just wanted to debunk the silliness that Kathleen Falk has not run and can not win a statewide election.

Kathleen Falk is THE most electable candidate we have! 

Tell all your friends, family and neighbors!

Walker Establishes Cronyism Program

Unbelievable.

Even though Walker is claiming the state is broke and doesn't have enough money to fund things like education, women's health programs or services for sexual assault victims, he's found enough money to hand out more than three quarters of million dollars to "select" employees.  Or to be more accurate, cronies, just like Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen did.

Don't let them kid you. Merit has nothing to do with these raises. It's all about if the workers have been good little toadies.

Bruce Murphy, recently of Milwaukee Magazine, had warned of this:

Meanwhile the Walker administration has announced it will begin a system of merit pay for exceptional employees. The idea, ostensibly, is to make government work like the private sector. But private companies are driven by the profit margin and reward employees who contribute the most to that profitability. 

Not so in the public sector. Government leaders are inevitably tempted to reward political loyalty. And all the changes occurring under Walker are leading in that direction. Unions have lost all ability to represent workers. There will still be civil service protection for those threatened with firing, but it’s difficult to see how civil service rules will prevent cronyism in the awarding of merit raises. And that sends a message to all workers: Be loyal or you’ll never get ahead.

But we already knew that over a year ago, just a month after Walker was sworn in, that Madison had become the Crony Capitol of the World.

Does Van Hollen Want To Be Governor?

Last night, I wrote about the panic setting in amongst the Walker supporters.  The extremists are desperate enough to attack the integrity of the Walkergate investigation and of the fine people that work in the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office.

They even went so far as to say that Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen should step in and take over the investigation for no reason than other than they don't know how to deal with the fact that things don't look good for Scott Walker.

Van Hollen chose not to get involved and issued a quick response saying as much.

But the reasons for Van Hollen's refusal weren't clear, as I pointed out:

According to Van Hollen, he states he doesn't have the authority to take a case away from an elected county district attorney.  But that is pretty much what he did with the trial of Rory Kuenzi, a guy from Waupaca County who was suspected of killing another young man in a drunk driving hit and run.

DA Chisolm reports that Van Hollen's department had originally been involved with the Walkergate investigation and helped with the conviction of railroad tycoon William Gardner.  Chisolm states that the state pulled out when the investigation started going after Walker's people because Van Hollen represents Walker and did not want to be in embroiled in a conflict of interest.

Lisa Kaiser, of the Shepherd Express, comes up with a number of valid points including being afraid of what will be discovered during the investigation in general and of angering the Republican machine.  Kaiser also points out that the case regarding Brian Pierick, who is facing child enticement charges, could be a major embarrassment for Van Hollen.  It was Van Hollen's agency that OKed the hiring of Pierick to work with kids.

But there is one reason that I failed to look at.

Is it possible that Van Hollen wants to be governor himself?  So much so that he would let Walker be fed to the wolves without raising a finger to stop it?

Think about it.

Van Hollen, per Chisolm, had at one time been involved with the John Doe, and had a chance to see a lot of the evidence they have uncovered up to that time.  While he might not be current on all of findings of the Walkergate investigation, he has enough skills as a lawyer and is savvy enough as a politician to know that Walker is in deep trouble.

So Van Hollen claims that he can't get involved and watches Walker go down in cuffs.  Along with the dirty politics and low popularity levels of people like the Fitzie boys, the recalls, the overreaching and all the other malfeasance that has been happening, the Republican Party will be in shambles and politically crippled for a long time.

That is, unless a law and order, dyed in the wool Republican like Van Hollen and offers to lead the Republicans out of their downward spiral.

And word has it that Van Hollen is salivating at the thought of being governor.

Not that Van Hollen would have much popularity either, given his own poor track record with the gun law fiasco, defending the illegal gerrymandering and the despicable secrecy, taking part in the war on health care reform and the war on workers.

I do have to admit feeling schadenfreude at the thought of these dishonorable reprobate Republicans turning on each other as they prepare to fall apart completely.

The Generous Attorney General

A reader of Cog Dis alerted me to this story, which shows the generosity of Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, who gave out hundreds of thousands of dollars of "merit awards":

Records show DOJ bonus pay totaled $289,629.

Among those receiving a Discretionary Merit Compensation Award (DMC) was Deputy Attorney General Kevin St. John. St. John successfully argued the state's collecting bargaining case last year before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

St. John's merit bonus raised his annual salary more than $5,000 to $134,307.

St. John's wife, Assistant Attorney General Rebecca Rapp St. John also received a DMC, raising her annual salary more than $4,000 to $66,844.

Assistant Attorney General Steve Means told 27 News the merit bonuses to St.John, his wife and others were warranted.

Apparently, as was predicted, merit means crony in Fitzwalkerstan.

Meanwhile, over 350 DOJ employees were snubbed, as were tens of thousands of other public sector workers, despite having to take massive pay cuts so that Walker could redistribute the wealth to the already-wealthy. I long for the day when your pay was based on merit and contractual agreements instead of political whims of petty feudal lords.

Sadly, it will be another two months before honor can be restored to the state by voting Walker and his minions out.

Terrorism Strikes Wisconsin - Governor, Attorney General Are AWOL

One of the many sad stories in Wisconsin came from the Fox Valley, where a Planned Parenthood clinic was damaged by a homemade bomb:

A Planned Parenthood clinic in Wisconsin remained closed Monday after a homemade bomb was placed outside the building, the state organization said.

The explosive device was found around 7:40 p.m. Sunday at the Appleton North Health Center and had caused a small fire by the time Grand Chute fire officials arrived, Teri Huyck, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said in a statement.

No patients or staff members were at the health care center at the time, Huyck said, and no injuries were reported. The clinic remained closed Monday as a precaution, but the organization says it will reopen Tuesday.

Fortunately, no one was hurt in this act of domestic terrorism.

But what is disconcerting is that our so-called leaders are mute about it.

Jud Lounsbury points out how Scott Walker has been silent about this attack in his own state.

I don't know why Walker would be mum about this. Maybe he was visiting his friend David in Cali, doing some grilling and loading up on "legal cooperation fund" donations.

But just as, if not even more alarming, is the silence from Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. I was sure Van Hollen would have sprung to action, seeing how he was the one that warned us about the terrorists in Wisconsin.

With elected officials like these, who needs more bad guys?

Election Fraud Found!

And it was right where one would expect it - Waukesha County:

The Menomonee Falls student apparently running for Waukesha County Clerk has announced he will not run and that he was the victim of a senior prank.

This comes in stark contrast to The Waukesha Freeman's report of an interview with 17-year-old Kurt Heins, published Saturday, in which he was quoted as saying, "I guess I just really got into politics, so I figured the first thing I could probably have a good shot at running for would be Waukesha County clerk."

NOW spoke with Kurt's mother, Karen, who said she wasn't sure if it was actually Kurt who gave that interview. She further said that she'd been informed by Kurt's twin sister, Melodie, that Kurt did not plan to run for office and that someone else had turned in a registration statement on his behalf.

Shortly thereafter there was a post on the 'Kurt Heins for Waukesha County Clerk' Facebook page: "After extensive media coverage I, Kurt Heins, must inform you that I will not be running for county clerk. This decision was made from the victim of a well-planned senior prank. I have no intentions to run and will not be taking any future steps to run."

In a television interview Monday night, Kurt's father, Keith, signaled that Kurt did, in fact, intend to run. Now, less than 24 hours later, the story seems to be that all of this was a prank.

Whether Kurt ever planned to run remains a question. It's possible he realized he had been pranked and simply thought it might actually be a good idea to follow through.

I fully expect that Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, who abhors all sorts of election fraud, will immediately investigate this and have the culprit(s) arrested and charged in no time.

I further expect that the Republican legislators - who are so diligent about the potential of voter fraud that they are willing to keep the elderly, the disabled and the poor from voting, just in case, you know, there might be some voter fraud that they just know is there but cannot prove - will also spring into action during their "special session" and pass a law that no one in Waukesha County is allowed to vote. Better yet, they might want to err on the side of caution and pass a law banning all Republicans from voting, since they seem to be the ones doing all the fraud.

H/T Waukesha Wonk on the Twitter

Van Hollen's Abdication Of Duties Continues

Usually, when a person runs for office, they do so because they feel that they can make a difference, or they want to right a wrong or some other noble reason.

Apparently, Van Hollen wanted the job of Attorney General so that he could be a more useful puppet for the GOP/Koch Brothers machine.  Or because he thought it give him a chance to show off his line of apron wear. Whatever his reasoning was to run for that office, it wasn't to uphold the law.

Two and a half years ago, the state legislature's budget committee voted unanimously to ask Van Hollen to conduct an investigation into Milwaukee County's Income Maintenance Program.  The legislators concerns stemmed from the fact that then County Executive Scott Walker was taking state and federal funding meant to run the program and illegally using them for something other than what it was meant to be used for

Van Hollen declined to do so.

Move up to a year ago, and we again find Van Hollen dropped the ball.  This time it involved Kenneth.Kratz, the disgraced former DA for Calumet County who was sexting a crime victim on whose case he was working.  Not only did it take public humiliation to have Van Hollen look at the case regarding the Republican DA, but it turned out that his office had done already done an embarrassingly lazy investigation into it before and found that there was nothing wrong, even though they didn't interview all the people or look at all the evidence.

Now it has come out that Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisolm had asked Van Hollen to work with him in the investigation into Walkergate.  They had worked together quite well a few years ago on the corruption case against Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee, getting a conviction on the thuggish politician.
But when it came to investigating fellow Republican Scott Walker, Van Hollen flatly rejected the idea again.

The article says that the reason for the rejection is unknown, but I think this video shows the reason quite clearly:



It's obvious that Van Hollen is not interested in enforcing the law, unless it gives the Republicans an edge.

It's also obvious that when the people again rise up to recall the corrupt Scott Walker, we will also need to recall the political hack Van Hollen.  The reason can be be abdication of responsibility and dereliction of duty.

Corruption + Cronyism + Incompetence = The Walker Administration

There is a story that is just the latest example of the corruption that is par for the course from our temporary governor, and has been the talk of the town for a day or two already, but there is more to the story that people are seeing.

With a shout out to Jake, who already did a darn fine job on the story himself, the gist of the story is that Scott Walker, who has been repeatedly telling us that the state is "broke" and can't afford things (like paying a sustainable wage; providing care for the poor, the disabled or the elderly; protecting our ecology; or creating jobs, to name just a few things), can somehow afford to pay a private law firm a half million dollars to defend his union busting law.

And I can guarantee you that that is only the first half million. Given his track record as Milwaukee County Executive, he will keep racking up the bill, most likely without informing the legislature until it's another fiscal crisis.

The key point is he signed the contract for the high priced ($300/hour) law firm four days before he even introduced the bill!  Walker knew it was going to be challenged and that it didn't pass muster, but he took our tax dollars that could've supported working class families and provided aid to those in need, and chose to willfully squander them on this poorly-if-at-all thought out plan.  You think for that kind of money, he would have at least given them time to look at it and determine if it would even survive a challenge. But then again, forethought has never been one of Walker's strong  suits.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

From Madison.com, Jake's source, we see this tidbit:

Signing the contract for Michael Best & Friedrich was attorney Raymond Taffora, a month after he left his job with the state attorney general's office, which usually represents the state on legal challenges.

And as Jake pointed out, the Attorney General, J.B. Van Hollen, received thousands of dollars from Traffora, while he was an employee of Van Hollen's. On top of that, Walker received $37,000 from the law firm.

Right there you have the epitome of corruption AND cronyism.

But to put the cherry on this garbage sundae is their official excuse why they're dropping all this money (emphasis mine):

Correspondence shows the governor on Feb. 4 requested legal assistance from the attorney general's office in anticipation of litigation on the bill. The office declined, citing a lack of sufficient non-union staff with the necessary expertise. It recommended that the governor appoint special counsel.

There are two points to take away from that one line:

• Van Hollen doesn't trust his staff, especially the represented workers, and
• The people that Van Hollen does trust (read: control) aren't up to the job he hired them for.

Of course, these excuses are probably bogus and a false front and mere contrivance to justify their corrupt pay-for-play with a couple of campaign donors.

At the rate he is going, Walker would be better off just stepping down or hoping to be recalled.  Otherwise, when the people take the government back from the special corporate interests, he will be wishing he had all that money to defend himself from impeachment and corruption charges.   

Did The State Legislature Violate Open Meeting Laws?

Yesterday, I wrote about how the state legislature, hidden behind the mask of the Groundhog Day blizzard, went about carrying on their extremist, irresponsible and weaselly agenda.  These items included making the exception for one of Scott Walker's campaign donors to pave over a wetland for a store that won't build on a wetland and the attempted sabotage of the wind power industry.

My good friend, grumps (proprietor of the Happy Circumstance), posted a most intriguing question:

What's the Open Records Law say about holding a session in a building that has been declared "Closed To The Public?"

What grumps is referring to is the fact that Scott Walker had declared a State of Emergency across 29 counties, including Dane County. This included the statement that they were closing all state buildings to the public.

My curiosity piqued, I made a number of phone calls to people who might know the answer.  As of the time of this writing, only two had gotten back to me.  One said that since the Capital Building was open, it was technically not a violation of the open meeting law.  The other said that this was a gross violation of the law and expressed surprise that no one had brought this up before.

Unsatisfied with the split decision, I looked further.

I found that the BizTimes.com as well as The Milwaukee Business Journal both reported basically the same thing, that he buildings were closed.  Heck, even one of Walker's staffers tweeted as much.

It wasn't until I tracked down the blurb that JSOnline had posted that I found one small but significant difference:

After sending out the order, Walker amended it Tuesday to ensure that the Capitol will still be open to the public Wednesday since lawmakers are scheduled to take up several major bills that Walker says will boost job creation in the state.

In other words, the Capitol was open, closed for the emergency, then re-opened, all less than twenty-four hours before they legislature was to hold session.

According to "Wisconsin Open Meeting Law: A Compliance Guide" written by Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen in 2007, there needs to be a minimum of 24 hour advance written notice before a session of a governmental body.

One could nitpick that there was not the required time before the session started, since Walker declared the State of Emergency closing the Capitol, before amending it to leave the Capitol open.  Then again, it could be argued that since this was the originally scheduled session, it would still satisfy the requirements.

But further perusal of Van Hollen's guide indicates that the open meeting session also be reasonably accessible to the public:

An “open session” is defined in Wis. Stat. § 19.82(3) as “a meeting which is held in a place reasonably accessible to members of the public and open to all citizens at all times.”  

Given that Walker had originally declared the building closed due to blizzard conditions.  The State's and Dane County's Emergency Management as well as the Dane County Sheriff's Department were all stating that people should stay off the roads and that travel was not advised.

One could easily deem that the public was denied reasonable access to the session since the State's own Emergency Management was telling people not to travel and to stay off the roads and that Walker had declared the State of Emergency due to the fact that things were going to quickly become exceedingly unsafe.  The situation was further needlessly complicated by Walker's continuously changing the status of the Capitol.

Whether the state legislature violated the open meeting record would be a very fine line, in my lay opinion, and would require someone with more expertise in the open meeting law to offer a strong opinion either way.  Even if the session held by the legislature on February 2, 2011 wasn't technically illegal, one could surely be able to convincingly argue it was unethical given the weather conditions at the time.

This whole incident raises another point, besides the question of the legality and ethics of the state legislature holding session that day.

Scott Walker...or is it one of the Fitzgerald boys?

It also highlights another broken promise, as well as a huge dose of hypocrisy, from Scott Walker.  Last spring, when he was still merely a gubernatorial hopeful, he criticized the state legislature for holding votes on bills in the wee hours of the morning.  He stated that this was a violation of the public trust, since it was unlikely that most people would still be awake, much less paying attention to what the legislation was doing, and that he would never allow this to happen as governor. He made these criticisms in spite of the fact that he had participated in the same sessions as a state legislator himself, and even had voted against limiting how late sessions could go.

So how does not only allowing, but actively abetting, the state legislature to work on the bills in the heart of a blizzard come out any better than the wee hours of the night?  It is unlikely that anyone would be foolhardy enough to try to make the trip to Madison, much less the Capitol Building.

And while I'm on the subject: Where are all the people who were caterwauling when Congress was looking at health care reform? Even though that bill was on the table for more than a year, people were complaining that the public had no time to look at it, much less offer any input or feedback.  But when you listen for their complaints about Walker and his crony capitalists in the legislature passing these fly by night bills, which are often incomplete and will create no jobs, but will make an unholy mess of this state, all you hear is the wind blowing the snow around.

The Absentee AG Was Really Absent

Last week, I asked where was Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen during the whole Kenneht Kratz scandal. I labeled him as being absentee.

As it turns out, I was off the mark. He was worse than being absent.

Van Hollen has since criticized the Office of Lawyer Regulation for dropping the ball in investigating and taking action against Kratz last year when the allegations about Kratz' sexting first was made known to the authorities. However, he should have checked his own office's files before leveling blame at anyone:

The Wisconsin Department of Justice closed its investigation into Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz's sexually charged text messages to a crime victim without interviewing Kratz, according to records of the investigation made public Friday.

DOJ executive assistant Dean Stensberg said his agency's investigation was "absolutely" thorough. He said agents collected all the evidence they needed to determine that a crime had not been committed.

Sadly, it took this public humiliation to get Van Hollen to start doing his job.

Isn't it time to get someone in that office that doesn't play political games with people's lives?