Lowell Holtz's Comedy of Errors

By Jeff Simpson

Molly Beck of the Wisconsin State Journal reported on the Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction race after the primary but there are some holes that need to be filled in.

On the April 4 ballot will be two-term incumbent Tony Evers, a public school advocate backed mostly by liberals and teachers unions who has been at odds with Republicans for years over his adoption of the Common Core State Standards and his opposition to the expansion of private school vouchers in the state.

While it is true that Superintendent Evers has been a supporter of Common Core, it is not necessarily true that he has been at odds with Republicans for years over this.   It was just a few years ago that Governor Walker ws a supporter.  While Common Core is far from perfect, the biggest objection to it seems to be that President Obama supported it.

His challenger, Lowell Holtz, is backed mostly by conservatives and school voucher supporters. He is making his second run for the position and opposes the Common Core State Standards and favors expansion of educational options — including taxpayer-funded vouchers — other than public schools.

So teachers unions (the bogeyman) supports Superintendent Evers and Dr. Holz just has generic 'school voucher supporters" in his corner.   In case you need some clarification.  School voucher supporters are funded by this woman and enacted by this formerly convicted felon.  

Holtz got 23 percent of the vote Tuesday, and was dogged by allegations he sought to get out of the race in exchange for a guaranteed, taxpayer-funded $150,000 job that would let him oversee the state’s largest school districts, including Madison.

Its not allegedly! 

Evers is seeking a third term in the wake of massive membership losses for the state’s largest teachers union — a strong campaign contributor for Evers in the past— setting the stage for the potential of third-party groups spending on behalf of Holtz to ensure the election of a voucher supporter.

The states largest teachers union, has massive membership losses strictly because of the passage of ACT10, which was put in place to punish Scott Walkers "enemies".  

 “We have absolutely no control over whether that comes in or not,” Holtz said about outside spending. “It’s illegal for me to work with them. I’m supposed to run my own race. If they do get involved, I have no control over it.”

Cough  cough

A spokesman for Wisconsin’s arm of the pro-voucher group American Federation for Children did not respond to a request for comment. 

The whole point of outsider, dark money, and past history of moral failings by their spokesman, Scott Jensen shows us they are not always the most forthcoming.   However the money to attack Tony Evers will be forthcoming.    Count on it!

 “If it’s all in, it’ll be very difficult to compete with that amount of money. There’s just not that much in the state that’s available,” Evers said. “And we’re talking about Amway money and the money from the family that owns Walmart and I don’t know any of those people.”

While Superintendent Evers has never been the best campaigner, coming off his massive primary drubbing of his opponents, is very much in the drivers seat.  We do have to stay vigilant though! 

Holtz said he has not sought any money from outside groups.

Yo, Lowell!

  

 

Republican lobbyist and former state party official Brandon Scholz said the donors to outside groups that typically spend on behalf of conservative candidates in spring races are not necessarily going to spend in a state superintendent race, even if the candidate is aligned with their ideology.

 In other words, why throw money at this race, when they have already bought the legislature.  

Holtz is the latest conservative Republican and ALEC candidate for state superintendent to try to defeat an incumbent backed by Democrats and teachers.

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Holtz was recruited to run by a former Republican lawmaker. He was one of more than a dozen candidates interviewed by a nonprofit group headed by former Rep. Don Pridemore of Hartford called Wisconsin Needs Necessary Education Reform, or WINNER.
An email released Wednesday by the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now written by Holtz when he was superintendent of Whitnall School District shows Holtz in January 2016 expected the group to do organizing and fundraising for him.  

Does anyone really think Don Pridemore is running the opposition?  He was the candidate last time, got destroyed and his candidacy was so bad that even GOP sycophant and gopher James Wigderson did not endorse him.   

The person who is running the show, which we were able to find out thanks to One Wisconsin Now obtaining these emails, is Billionaire widow, and high school diplomaed, Diane Hendricks.  

Holtz and Pridemore had these discussions, via school (ie Government funded ) email, which really upsets our friends on the right when a Democrat does it.    Also as a School district superintendent and former long time state Assembly Rep, both know better than to actually have those discussions via school email.  Yet did not care.   

 Between now and the April 4 general election the group will seek to “educate voters” about the race. “If we want any education reform, the only way to get it is through the DPI superintendent and (Evers) shows no sign of reforming anything,” Pridemore said. 

I hate to have to point out to former Assembly Rep Pridemore, that a true way to education reform would be through the assembly.    Of course Mr. Pridemore would not know that because the way our current Government works, people inside the GOP party are told what to do and how to think if they want to keep their job.     

“So far, he’s shown us an abysmal lack of ethics and commitment to public service in pursuit of his personal political ambitions and enrichment,” OWN research director Jenni Dye said. “Now we find out he never even intended to do work on his own campaign, claiming that outside groups were going to do the organizing and fundraising for him.”

Yes Jenni is correct he never intended to do any of his own real work, because we know from experience, like Dave Blaska, Holtz is just a figurehead for the right in their bid to buy Wisconsin,    They want people who will do what their told, no matter how much heat they get.   Hoping to get rewarded with some of the wing nut welfare money they hand out.  

The Holtz-Humphries controversy in the last week of the race, contested school board races in Madison and a burst of political interest following the election of Donald Trump as president may have contributed to a larger turnout than usual in spring primaries. And unusually warm February weather might have helped get people to the polls, too, observers say.

Mentioning some of the most ridiculous slimy people in Wisconsin(Coward Clarke, Orv Seymer, etc...) and the one person they want to distance themselves(even in private) from is Robin Vos.  

 In the end we had about an 8% voter turnout for the primary which is hardly something to rave about.   However with the people that turned out,. like communities all over Wisconsin, have shown that they overwhelmingly support our public schools.    

We see the lengths that our friends on the right will go to to tap into public education money.   Ethics, law and logic get thrown out the window when there is an opportunity to make a buck! 

Finally, a few interesting observations that have surfaced during this race.  

*  John Humphries garnered a whopping 6% of 8% of the electorate.  That translates into about family members only.  Humphries tried a new "bipartsian" approach by having Jeremy Thiesfeldt( R- far far right) and Jason Fields (D- AFC) as his campaign co-chairs.    Apparently Mr. Thiesfeldt and Mr. Fields are not as popular or as respected as they think they are.  Lucky for them they were drawn very safe seats.   

*  In their email correspondence, they gushed over how much they like Orville Seymer and CFG.   Anyone who has followed CogDis, knows that Mr. Seymer is the true definition of slime.   He makes used car salesmen seem like the Pope.    

*  Another interesting topic, which our friends at Democurmudgeon pointed out :

In the email, Holtz describes being supported conservative Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Republican state Rep. Jim Ott. Holtz's wife wrote back and suggested not mentioning Vos: "Fitzgerald seems to be more well liked in the republican camp," she said.

When the gales of November came early...

By Jeff Simpson

After having a few days to digest the August 9th Primary, its time to take a look at the results.

1. I had called for Democrats/Independents/Republicans to Team up with Paul Nehlen to defeat Paul Ryan in the primary.   If every single Democrat that voted has crossed over for Nehlen, we would have only needed 22000 more people to turn out at the polls.

A little perspective, Paul Nehlen put a big push on to get out the vote, hitting (by his count) thousands and thousands of doors, had big name Republicans (Coulter, Malkin, Palin) campaigning for him and plenty of free press coverage.  Add to that Ryan Solen and Tom Breu who were battling for the Democratic nomination.  Both of those candidates brought something different to the race and were both working hard to be the person representing the 1st Congressional district on the November Ballot.

The combined efforts of these three candidates, barely turned out half of what Paul Ryan turned out to keep him in power,   I am certain Paul Ryan, who has taxpayer funded security and walls around his Janesville home, was not out pounding the pavement, knocking on doors at anytime.

I get that he has the bully pulpit, and they gerrymandered his district to be more right wing friendly, but it amazes me how the press and the Democratic Party keep treating him with kid gloves.

Paul Nehlen said in an interview that he wanted to discuss deporting all Muslims.  While it was a stupid thing to say, it made national news everywhere, and he was painted as a crazy extremist.

On the other hand, Paul Ryan, was the leader of the group of Republicans that met the night if President Obamas Inauguration where they launched the plan to block and obstruct everything he did no matter how big or how small. To my knowledge, no one has ever asked Paul Ryan about this borderline treasonous act.  

As we know, there is always more.   Paul Ryan also is set on cutting Military pensions, and has held over 60 votes to repeal (not replace) the Affordable Care act.  Yet they call him the GOP ideas guy and called his opponent extreme.

I hope Ryan Solen can mount a strong challenge but with Paul Ryan raking in millions upon millions from Wall St. and the Democratic party seemingly scared to speak up and criticize Mr. Ryan it is an uphill battle.

Like everything that has happened over the last 6 years, we can no longer rely on the Democratic Party to be the opposition, if we are going to take our state back we need to supersede the party and do it ourselves.   If you care about our country and not the political class, and understand the damage that Paul Ryan has done to his district, please help Ryan Solen out!

You can like his facebook page here and go to his website here!

Lets put someone in Washington who wants to represent Wisconsin, not Wall St.  Wisconsin needs someone who has put their life on the line for our country, not someone who sees our troops as an expense.

2.  Public Education lost big!  Mandela Barnes, one of the better Assemblymen in Madison, made a major decision to challenge Senator Lena Taylor.  Due to some strange rules of incumbent protection by the WisDems, he had to start out not only fighting MS. Taylor for the position he had to also fight the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, Ms. Taylor was getting help from not only the Democratic Party, but also formerly convicted felon, and millionaire school privatizer Scott Jensen.  Ms. Taylor campaigned on the ability to cross the aisle, but the reality is anyone who works with Scott Jensen is working directly against our children.  

In the end, Mandela Barnes lost his bid to unseat Lena Taylor and we lost a champion of public schools while giving more power to someone who wants to privatize.

It did not end there either,  Democrat Leon Young, who formerly convicted felon Scott Jensen called a "school choice champion" turned back two very qualified progressive candidates.

Unfortunately there is more!  Another formerly convicted felon Scott Jensen ally, Jason Fields, also won a seat back in the Assembly beating another progressive in his race.

When Scott Jensen wins a seat in the Democratic Primary, we need to take note.  When Scott Jensen wins three Democratic Primaries, there is cause for panic.

3.  The Democratic base was all over the board.   Unfortunately, all Democratic incumbents remained in their seats but that is as far as they were able to go.   In the race to replace Robb Kahl, Jimmy Anderson was hammered on by members of the Democratic Party in the assembly and many of them endorsed his opponents, yet Jimmy Anderson prevailed.

The same in the Leon Young race, many Democratic electeds, endorsed Edgar Lin but young was able to retain his seat.

It does not stop there either. Long time Democratic Assemblyman, Andy Jorgensen was sick of the fight in the Assembly and tried to get a safer, more stable job as Rock County Register of Deeds, but was beaten handily by the outgoing incumbents second in command.

Andy Jorgensen would probably been able to continue winning his Assembly district but got beaten handily in his bid for a different title. Now the State of Wisconsin has lost two very good Assembly reps in one fell swoop.  

My opinion as to why that is, is because people are sick of politics.  People in the middle and lower classes have the same problems as they have had but things are getting even harder on them.   In Wisconsin, poverty is rising, income inequality is also rising, it is statistically the worst state in the union for people of color, and it is almost weekly that we see the headlines of yet another Wisconsin staple manufacturer is closing its doors and moving.  

With as many elections as we have had the last few years, if anything has changed, conditions are getting worse.

There is no politician(except Bernie Sanders) who has told the people that they understand their plight and that we need a quick fix.

With politicians that are tone deaf, a depressed labor market and declining services for people in need, people are starting to check themselves out of politics.   It has become a turnout problem because the people are not seeing the difference in the parties, nor are they hearing anyone talk about their actual daily concerns and fears.

After the last election blowout, The Democratic Party did a self study where one of the conclusions that they came too was that they need a better consistent message to bring to the voters.  Unfortunately, they did follow their own advice, but the message they came up with was Trump is scary vote for us.

When you are working two jobs, yet living paycheck to paycheck, worried about how you can afford gas, a place to live, health care and food, Trump does not scare you!

When you can not get off work to tend to your sick child or attend their school events because the pay you lose could cost you your apartment, Trump does not scare you.

When you were recently homeless, but now am sharing a one bedroom apartment with three families, just to be able to have a roof over your head, Trump does not scare you.

When your child has special needs and your only reprieve is when they are at school, and you have to worry about the schools having the funding to help your child, while also trying to figure out what is the best thing to give up so you can buy the meds that your child desperately needs, Trump does not scare you.

When your spouse has a heart attack, can no longer work and the deductible that your health insurance charges has left you broke, Trump does not scare you!

There is still time to turn the ship around but there does not seem to be much interest in doing so. This primary election sent a message to the Democratic Party, the question is will they listen, or will the good people of Wisconsin just be a bone to be chewed when the gales of November arrive?

Jason Fields' Conversion To Republican - 99% Complete

Almost a year ago, I wrote an endorsement for Mandela Barnes to be the next state representative for the 11th District.  At the time, I pointed out that the then representative, Jason Fields, was the Republican's Democrat.

Since then, Fields has just sunken lower and lower.

Among his most shameful moments, Fields sold his soul to Chris Abele and the Greater Milwaukee Committee, becoming a face for them as they pursued the plutocratic power grab of Milwaukee County.

But now Fields has really taken it to all time lows, teaming up with the Bradley Foundation's hack lawyer and Mr. School Privatization himself, Scott Jensen, in order to attack the state constitution:

Today, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (“WILL”), on behalf of former Speaker of the Assembly Scott Jensen and state Representative Jason Fields, filed an amicus curiae brief in support of 2011 Act 21 that allows the governor to veto proposed rules from government agencies. The brief, accompanied by a motion asking the court to accept the brief, was filed in the state Court of Appeals District IV.

Last October, the Dane County Circuit Court held that Act 21, as applied to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, violated the Wisconsin Constitution, Article X, Section 1, which grants the Superintendent the duty of supervision of public instruction. “In its holding, the Dane County Circuit Court made the unfounded claim that the Superintendent has a constitutional right to make public policy. But we know from history that this cannot be. Like other non-supervisory powers, the legislature gave the Superintendent the ability to make rules, so they are well within their right to put restrictions on rulemaking – or even take it away completely,” said CJ Szafir, education policy director at WILL.

WILL filed on behalf of Reps. Jensen, a Republican, and Fields, a Democrat, because they wanted to protect the integrity of the legislature to be able to pass constitutional reform of the rulemaking process, such as Act 21. “Whether – and to what extent – the agencies have the ability to make regulations is a public policy decision made by the state legislature. It is not for the courts to second-guess such a decision,” said former Speaker Scott Jensen.

Act 21 changed the law relating to state agency rulemaking in various ways that limit the power of state agencies to regulate Wisconsin citizens. Explained Jason Fields, “In recent years, the legislature has enacted historic education reforms, such as allowing more charter school authorizers and expanding school choice. We can’t afford to see these gains jeopardized by agencies imposing more rules and regulations on Wisconsin schools and families.”

Now, aren't you glad you listened to me by electing Representative Mandela Barnes?

One would think that Fields, being a former legislator, would understand the system of checks and balances. Perhaps he does, but being a sellout, he just doesn't give a damn as long as he gets paid.

Disgusting!

Lawmakers Harrassing The Constitution

By Jeff Simpson

The Manitowoc News brings us the story of ASSemblyman Garey Bies! 

A Wisconsin lawmaker is pushing for tougher laws to deter people who would intimidate or harm members of the Legislature and their families.Under legislation introduced by Rep. Garey Bies, a Republican from Sister Bay, acts such as striking, shoving or kicking a lawmaker or a family member with no legitimate reason would face harsher penalties.

For one all of this os obviously already illegal and secondly, what legitimate reason would anyone have to  "striking, shoving or kicking a lawmaker or a family member"?  

As is the theme here, but wait there is more:

Bies said harassment of lawmakers is a longstanding issue but has worsened since Gov. Scott Walker signed a law in 2011 that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers. Opponents of that measure “would stand in your face and bump into you,” Bies said. “They chased you down the hallway and all the way to the office.”

Just look on the bright side,  I hear they are considering adding - pretending your an elected official running away from your constituents as a new Olympic event! 

Bies said he has personal experience. During that tumultuous period, he said he got enough derogatory calls at home that he got caller ID.

 Wow, as a legislator, his constituents called him so much he had to get Caller ID!  Of course  Caller ID was introduced to the US in the late 1980's, we cant expect our republican legislators to be up on the latest in technology, heck its only been out 25 years. 

The restroom of his restaurant was vandalized twice within two weeks during September 2011, which he attributed to his status as a legislator.

 I never heard of a public restroom being "vandalized".  Care to expand on what exactly happened and how you know it was people who disagree with you?  Any arrests made? or should we just enact laws on based on conjecture?  

 Under current law, people who intentionally harm a public official can be convicted of a Class I felony, punishable by up to 31/2 years in prison. Bies’ legislation would create a Class A misdemeanor — punishable by up to nine months in prison — for acts of repeated intimidation or use of force to influence a lawmaker’s action, or for lingering within 100 yards of his or her private property.

 Does that mean Charlie Sykes will be arrested soon?   Can we expect that Verify the recall website will be taken down? 

Acts that cause a lawmaker or family member’s fear of death would be a Class H felony, meaning up to six years in prison.

So the bigger the coward the politico is, the more severe the penalty is.  Got it!  

Bies said he supports freedom of speech, but there’s a line people shouldn’t cross when they disagree.

More accurate:  Bies said he supports free speech, as long as you agree with him.  Attaboy's only! 

Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, and Rep. Samantha Kerkman, R-Randall, are co-sponsoring the proposal.

See Plale, Jeff and Fields, Jason.  

 Madison police last year cited a Racine man who they said was involved in dumping a glass of beer on the head of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. The suspect’s motive was unclear.

 The Motives were very clear, the suspect was a goof and Robin Vos is a douchebag!   

“This bill is a solution in search of a problem,” Chris Ahmuty, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin said in a statement

Well Duh.  However we can give the Wisconsin republicans in Government a break, its not like that have any other more pressing issues! 


 

Jason Fields: The Republicans' Democrat

During the two rounds of recalls, the Republicans made a mockery of democracy and showed their disdain for the people by running fake democrats, and even running them as retreads. Fortunately, in those races, the fake Democrats were easy to spot and the Republicans' nefarious plot was easily thwarted.

But sometimes, the Republicans get good at their underhanded dealings and they get some fake Democrats who are established.

One might be able to describe Representative Jason Fields that way.

Fields created a stir when he passionately advocated for school choice from the Assembly floor, despite the fact that it would hurt the children of Milwaukee. It also got him a lot of love...from Republicans.

Charlie Sykes and other squawkers couldn't stop gushing over Fields and his ill-advised advocacy.

Likewise, Fields got some interesting supporters.

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce joined with Field's group, Democrats For Education Reform, to push for school choice and Mayor Tom Barrett's failed attempt to usurp control of the Milwaukee Public School system. Fields also became a beneficiary of the disgraced and corrupt Scott Jensen, who was embroiled in the caucus scandals and is now a force of a major pro-school profiteering group.

But Fields' questionable relationships don't stop there.

In the mailbox this evening, I received this email:

All,

Please see the attached invite and consider joining me and my “biz” partner the La Macchia Group, on Thursday, July 26th 2012 for a reception in honor of State Representative, Jason Fields.

As a current member of the Governor’s Read to Lead Task Force and the Council on Financial Literacy, and former Chair of the Financial Services Committee Jason leaves “no” question he remains committed to improving the quality of education and promoting financial literacy to the demographics of our community that need them most!

Equally, I also remain intensely involved in promoting education and financial literacy on a local and national scale – assisting youth with scholarships to support their efforts to continue their pursuit of a post-secondary education from any university, college, vocational or technology institute of choice.

Thank you in advance for consideration and please share this invite with others as well…

Here is a screencap of the attached invite:

So who are Ralph and Mary Lou La Macchia?

Well, they're big time Republican funders, that's who.

Ralph La Macchia has donated money to the likes of Terry Moulton, Rich Zipperer, Mary Panzer and Ted Kanavas.

Mary Lou La Macchia is much more liberal with her donations to conservatives. She's donated a lot of money, nearly two grand, to the likes of Terry Moulton, Alberta Darling, Rich Zipperer, Jeff Fitzgerald and Scott Walker. On top of these acts of benevolence to the malefactors, she has also given more than a $1000 to the Republic National Committee

While the donations are presumably perfectly legal, it should give one pause to wonder what Fields' true agenda is and who is he representing - his constituents or the people that want to profiteer off of them?

Fortunately for the voters in 11th Assembly District have a real progressive Democrat running for office. That person is Mandela Barnes.

Mandela Barnes

Barnes has a long history of working to improve his community, serving as a youth and workforce development specialist. Per his website, Barnes wants to revitalize the local economy and create jobs via local investment, modernize the transportation services and restore our education system.

You can also learn more about Barnes on his Facebook page. You can also help support Barnes as he goes up against the Republican machine's money by donating to his Act Blue page.

With strong progressive leaders like Barnes, we can start to restore the damage done to Milwaukee and to Wisconsin by Fields and his Republican friends.

I hope you will join me in full support of Barnes for the 11th Assembly District.

ADDENDUM: Cory Liebmann shows us that not only is Fields supported by the education profiteers, he's part of them.

Barnes Calles Out Fields On Retirement Fund

From the inbox:

Barnes calls on opponent to support current Wisconsin retirement system

MILWAUKEE—In response to Governor Walker’s remarks this week that he is open to making changes to the State of Wisconsin’s retirement system, Mandela Barnes, candidate for State Representative of Wisconsin’s 11th Assembly District, is calling on his opponent, Representative Jason Fields, to support the current retirement system in the State of Wisconsin, and to vow to not support any reforms that would privatize the system.

“A national survey conducted by the Pew Institute found that Wisconsin has the most sound public retirement system in the nation, which should be a large indicator that the system does not need to be privatized or changed at all. It’s working just fine,” Barnes said.

“I am calling on my opponent to stand against any attempt by Governor Walker to privatize the system or make sweeping changes to a system that is clearly the best in the country. There are a half of a million people in the state who need their elected officials to not play politics and gamble with their futures by privatizing the system. I hope we have learned something from our national financial collapse, and all of the people who lost everything.”

Barnes also stated that he is concerned with where Representative Fields will stand on the potential reform of the state’s retirement system, given the fact that Fields has stood with the governor on many other issues.

“I think it’s more than fair to ask this Representative to commit to standing with public workers by protecting their retirement system."

I think Fields is finally figuring out that he's sided with the wrong side when he kowtowed to the Republicans.