DPMC's Delegate Debacle

A few weeks ago, I called attention to some of the shenanigans that were being pulled by Jason Rae's team.  I followed this up with my concerns about how the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County (DPMC) would be figuring out who were delegates to the state convention and who would be assigned as alternatives:

If the number of applicants is equal or less than the number of delegate seats allowed, there is no problem. All applicants should get a seat.

However, if the number of applicants exceed the number of allowed delegates, then the party officers decide who gets to be a delegate and who is slotted as a reserve delegate.  The problem with this is that it is rather arbitrary.

County party officials are supposed to make their decisions based on who is the most active and who are the strongest supporters of the Party - a rather subjective basis that gives short shrift to the grassroot activists in favor of the establishment members.

This is even more disconcerting when one considers that in places like Milwaukee County, party officials like Marlene Ott have come out in full support of Jason Rae.  Given the personalities of many of these officials, it is not a great leap of logic to believe that they would favor Rae supporters over others.  Or in other words, one would have to pass their purity test.

Our friend DFL did an analysis of the chair election and found that the deck was indeed stacked heavily in favor of Rae.

As we drew closer to the convention, Team Rae has become nastier and nastier, doing their best to alienate the very people that Rae is going to need if he wins the chair.

Team Rae scoffed at those of us who expressed concern about the delegate selection process as conspiracy nuts and worse.  Unfortunately, the original list of delegates and alternatives only seemed to confirm our fears to be well-founded.  Among the concerns that were found were things like these:

• People assigned as delegates/alternatives without confirmation of where they were living.
• People assigned as delegates/alternatives even though they were never members or had allowed their memberships to lapse - some for several years.
• Contrary to what people were told, the level of activity appeared to be a non-factor in the decision making, unless one counts endorsing Rae as an activity.
• People who had been told months ago that they were delegates were bumped down to alternative status. And yes, most, if not all, of these people supported a candidate other than Rae.

What I found to be particularly egregious was that while they made sure that their friends and relatives were delegates - whether they were qualified or not - they made someone as prestigious as Vel Phillips as an alternative.

Well, lo and behold, the DPW's Constitution and Bylaws Committee found Milwaukee County had in fact violated the bylaws. Some corrections were made, such as Ms Phillips being made into a delegate.  Seven non-dues paying members were taken off the list. Ten people who got bumped from their delegate status will be the first put back at the convention.  It should be noted that a judge will be making these decisions. DPMC Chair Marlene Ott and other officers have been removed from the process.

However, much of the damage to the chair election process had been done and can't be undone.  Rae stills holds a large advantage due to these shenanigans.  

But here's the real kicker - Rae was the Chair of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee until he stepped down to run for the DPW Chair.  Don't you think he would have made sure that his own county party knew the rules before this became an issue?  Or maybe he didn't want them to know...

So much for the establishment's argument that you have to be with the party a long time to know how it works.

Either way, if Rae couldn't or wouldn't make sure his county did the right thing in an area of his expertise, how will he be able to handle all the aspects of the entire state party?

On a final note, if the establishment's manipulations and delegate rigging is successful, will they put an asterisk after Rae's name?

The Consultant Circus

By Jeff Simpson

This weekend is the Democratic Convention, where we can finally retire Mike Tate and possibly pick a replacement.   While I have come out supporting Joe Wineke, I think it is just as imperative that we kick Nation Consulting out of the upper echelon of the party!

With Friends Like These....

By Jeff Simpson

We recently brought you the story of Thad Nation, Founder of Nation Consulting and all of the work he has done helping Republicans destroy our state.   Nation Consulting is relevant because one of their associates, Jason Rae,  is trying to become the new chair of the Democratic party of WI.  

Nation Consulting consists of the Founder(Thad Nation), two partners and three associates.   We have documented the right wing bent of Mr. Nation and one of the other partners is Jeff Blumb.  

As they say, a picture is worth 1000 words, and here is Mr. Blumb:

Is this what you want running the Democratic Party?  Is there any wonder Nation Consulting's Democratic clients are not successful in elections?  


Please, if you are lucky enough to be deemed a delegate by your local Democratic party, do the right thing and let's star ridding ourselves of these right wing lobbyists from the leadership of the Democratic party,   

Our state depends on it!  

Joe Wineke For Chair

By Jeff Simpson

The Wisconsin State Democratic Convention is coming up and while I will not be there, there is an incredibly important vote going on.  The vote for who will be the next head of the State of Wisconsin Democratic Party(and first vice chair).

In the running are:

Martha Laning/David Bowen -  Martha Laning ran for WI Senate in the 9th district and while running gave basically the same answer as Mary Burke was giving regarding ACT 10.  Some gobbeldygook about it helping balance the massive budget deficit which showed she didn't understand the deficit, or ACT 10 and is more than willing to throw public workers under the bus.   Laning also does not support a raise in the minimum wage. No thanks!

Also, running on her ticket for first vice chair, is Representative David Bowen.   I really like and respect Mr. Bowen and see a strong future for him in the Democratic party and the state of Wisconsin.   However he needs to get his own house in order before worrying about the party.   The Assembly, under Peter Barca's "leadership" has lost seats every year, and last year let 26 of the 99 seats go unchallenged.   When Bowen challenges Barca, I am on board 100%, now I am not on board at all.

Jeff Smith/ Stephanie Findley:   I also like and respect Jeff Smith,   I hope he stays involved and active in the Democratic party for many years to come.   However I can not support his candidacy at this time.  I personally think, that the number one issue that Democrats can get behind and win on is public education.  We see it every election cycle with referendum after referendum passing.

People want what is best for their kids, and what is best for their kids is a strong public education.  

Unfortunately, Ms. Findley is very much on the wrong end of this argument.   The alternative to public education, is a public education that has the resources needed to succeed,  When you want to give even a penny of our public education dollars to snake oil salesmen like Zeus Rodriguez or formerly convicted felons like Scott Jensen, then you are running for leadership of the wrong party.    
Jason Rae//Penny Bernard Schaber:  This is the biggest head scratcher of them all.   It amazes me that someone from the lobbying/consulting firm - Nation Consulting, would be bold enough to try and run the Democratic Party.   One of the important issues that Democrats stand for is getting money out of politics.  To elect a lobbyist to run the party would be like hiring a someone who was knee deep in the caucus scandal to run the gubernatorial campaign against Scott Walker.   Ok, we tried that and it did not work out very well.

All we need to do is allow Thad Nation, to have access to the full party and who knows how many pipelines we can get flowing through Wisconsin.

It is unfortunate that Ms. Schaber has hitched her wagons to a lobbyist because she has served our state well.

Please, whatever happens, putting Nation Consulting in charge of the Democratic Party would be a death knell to the party.

All of the people running, I appreciate that they are.  I also believe that the Democratic party has to be a big tent party.  I also understand that party purity is hard to find in terms of candidates and members, however we need it in our chair.  

Finally the team that I support and fully endorse:

Joe Wineke/Dottie LeClair:

Joe Wineke used to be party chair and last time he was in control, the Democrats had both houses and the Governor.   My how things have fallen.

I know one of the biggest complaints is that Mr. Wineke brought Nation into the Democratic party and was a lobbyist for AT&T.   While everyone makes mistakes, hopefully we know enough now about Nation Consulting that they will be blackballed from the Democratic party and all Democratic candidates.   I know I personally will not send a nickel to any candidate that hires them.

As for the lobbyist gig, let me address that.   I have always, and still do, hold the profession of lobbying, slightly below ambulance chasers and snake handlers.  That being said, Mr. Wineke was taking no salary at the time as head of the party(people need to make money, so the chair should take a salary) and everyone needs to make money.  Secondly, while it was not the best move in the world, after getting some pressure, he resigned his position.

Let me say that again.  After getting pressure from the people in the party, he actually listened and resigned his position.

Had our last "leader" actually listened to the people in the party we might be in a different position right now.

In the end, it is results that speak to me and it is undeniable(while I understand Wineke does not get full credit) that when he was in charge of the party, Democrats won elections.  

That is enough for me and I urge the people who signed up to be delegates(and who actually get to vote) to vote for Joe Wineke/Dottie LeClair ticket!

Some more on Joe Wineke:

Here he is on Sly

Here he is again on Sly discussing the party chair position

A Q & A session with his local paper

A Blogging Blue interview

Dave Zweifel of the Capital Times, take on Joe

One last thing, the last time I joined the Democratic Party was the day the Senators left Wisconsin to slow down the fast tracked Walker anti-worker agenda.   After that year, I let me party membership lapse because it seemed like once they came back to WI, they stopped representing us.  If Joe Wineke wins the party chair election, I will join the party the following Monday.

More Democratic Party Games

Last week, I pointed out how the Democratic Party of Wisconsin is becoming more and more like their counterparts on the farther right in that the party has become under the control of the establishment machine.

Unfortunately, it appears that I was just scratching the surface.

With the DPW convention just two short weeks away, the deadline for applying to be a delegate to the convention is close of business today.  To be a delegate, one has to pay the $25 membership fee ($10 for low income) and then another $25 to go to the convention.  And that's if you live in town.  If you are upstate, then you also need to get an overpriced hotel room for a couple of nights.

The number of delegates from each county is determined by the number of Democratic votes in the last presidential election.  Obviously, this would favor Dane County and Milwaukee County, since they have the largest populations and also have the highest concentration of delegates.

If the number of applicants is equal or less than the number of delegate seats allowed, there is no problem. All applicants should get a seat.

However, if the number of applicants exceed the number of allowed delegates, then the party officers decide who gets to be a delegate and who is slotted as a reserve delegate.  The problem with this is that it is rather arbitrary.

County party officials are supposed to make their decisions based on who is the most active and who are the strongest supporters of the Party - a rather subjective basis that gives short shrift to the grassroot activists in favor of the establishment members.

This is even more disconcerting when one considers that in places like Milwaukee County, party officials like Marlene Ott have come out in full support of Jason Rae.  Given the personalities of many of these officials, it is not a great leap of logic to believe that they would favor Rae supporters over others.  Or in other words, one would have to pass their purity test.

Then at the convention itself, they do not have a secret ballot. This way the Party bosses can make sure that the delegates vote the way they're supposed to.  I pity the delegate that doesn't vote the "right way."

Furthermore, the vote is a plurality vote, meaning that the winner is the one that has the most votes, not necessarily the majority of votes.  That means the winning candidate could get just 21% of the vote to carry the election.

Now, given that the bulk of delegates will be coming from Milwaukee and Dane Counties, and that Jason Rae has been out there working the system even before Mike Tate formally announced that he was finally going to step down, it doesn't seem that there is a snowball's chance in Hell that this will be a truly fair election.

I checked Rae's website and Facebook page, but I could not find his plan on how he is going to reunite the party when he has to game the system just to win the chair.

I tell you, the Working Families Party cannot get here soon enough.

Jason Rae - The Choice of Christian Schneider

By Jeff Simpson

Nuff Said. 

The last thing @JasonRRae needs is me defending him, but the Koch brothers nonsense has gotten out of hand: https://t.co/ixHhYvEkMp …

— Christian Schneider (@Schneider_CM) May 10, 2015

From Indiana to Enbridge - A Nation's Journey

By Jeff Simpson

We found out recently that Nation Consulting(where one of their four associates is trying to take over the Democratic Party Leadership) has close ties to right wing extremist groups Americans for Prosperity and Freedomworks.  The IRS filing that was linked to was very telling.

It is even worse than you think at first glance.

Readers of Cogdis, know to wait - Because there is always more.

When we take a look at Nation Consulting's founder - Thad Nation, we see there is a whole lot more!

We see that he got his start in politics the old fashioned way - Daddy.

Thad Nation followed in the footsteps of his father -- literally.
Soon after graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 1994, Nation became the press secretary for former Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh. Nation's father, Fred, was the press secretary for Bayh before his son took over.
"I sat in the same chair at the same desk with the same photos on the wall," Nation said.

After a few years of working for the Governor of Indiana, Nation had enough.  He wanted to go to the private sector where the real money was.   This time he did not follow in daddy's footsteps, he laid his own path - literally!(emphasis mine). 

After Nation broke away from Wilhelm & Conlon, Wisconsin Energy became his first client. Nation still counts Wisconsin Energy as one of 20 companies on his client roster. Other clients include the Wisconsin Bio Industry Alliance, a coalition of companies that produce ethanol; New North, a regional development group based in Green Bay; TV4US, a trade coalition advertising on behalf of the Wisconsin video services bill; and Global Pipeline Partners.

"Two things distinguish Nation Consulting from the pack -- pragmatic advice and a superior network of media and political contacts throughout the state," said David Stegeman, an executive vice president for Michels Corp., Brownsville.

Stegeman is also a spokesman for Global Pipeline Partners, which is a joint venture made up of four companies building a new oil pipeline for Enbridge Inc. from Superior to Delavan. Nation Consulting works as the public relations and community affairs firm for Global Pipeline. Michels Corp. is the lead partner in the joint venture. Enbridge is an oil and gas distribution company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

If you have not heard of Michel's corp., that is fine by them, but Scott Walker has $129,000 reasons to know them very well.

If you have not heard of the Enbridge Pipeline, let's pray to God that you never do.  

Kaufman told CMD that Enbridge Line 61 hasn't received the national attention that the Keystone XL Pipeline has because "the pipeline itself already has been built and it is carrying roughly 400,000 barrels of Tar Sands-derived and lighter conventional crude oil already. Theenvironmental assessment that was done in 2006 was prior to one of the largest spills -- probably the largest inland oil spill -- in American history, which was a spill by this company, Enbridge, who also owns Line 61."

Kaufman was referring to Enbridge's disastrous Kalamazoo River oil spill in Michican in July 2010, which took an estimated $1.21 billion and four years to partially clean up. A Sierra Club report detailed that since 1999, Enbridge has had 800 spills, including spills in Wisconsin and neighboring states. Enbridge was fined a record $2.4 million in connection to an explosion that killed two workers in Clearbrook, Minnesota.

After the Kalamazoo spill, Enbridge was strongly criticized by the National Transportation Safety Board for lapses, including ignoring alarms in their system and trying to restart the pipeline twice, which discharged more oil.

Enbridge claims to have invested several billion dollars more in improving its response since the Kalamazoo River disaster, but as Kaufman noted, there have been spills since.

PS;  When it spills in your backyard, you do NOT get to keep the oil.

So how does a pipeline that carries dangerous crude oil from Canada through our backyard and we do not see any benefits of it but it could completely destroy our ecosystem, get approved?

Thad Nation.

"I have found something here I like and that I think I'm good at," Thad Nation said.

Thanks Nation!

As Meghan Trainor might say - "It's all about that bank, bout that bank -no morals".

Democratic Party Games

The Republican Party of Wisconsin has a long history of being a machine.  In 2006, party leaders (read: the establishment) decided that Mark Green should be their gubernatorial candidate.  Scott Walker, who was making his first run for governor, quickly got the point (although he said that God told him not to run) and dropped out of the race before making more of a fool of himself.

In 2010, Walker became the Republican establishment's chosen one.  So much so that Reince Priebus, then head of WISGOP, was giving Walker warnings on what the other Republican candidate, Mark Neumann, was planning on doing.  It got so bad that they even kept Neumann's supporters from entering the state convention that year.

Sad to say, this is not a partisan occurrence.

After six dismal years of Mike Tate's lack of leadership, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin finally has a chance to pull out of their downward spiral by electing a new chair.  Sadly, things have quickly turned as ugly as a Republican convention.

At first, it looked like that Tate's hand-picked heir apparent, Jason Rae, was going to walk away with the race.  Rae is obviously the establishment candidate and has picked up most of the establishment endorsements.

But when Martha Laning announced that she was running, things changed.  Laning picked up the endorsements from people like State Senator Kathleen Vinehout and former state legislator Sandy Pasch.  Laning also seems to have picked up a number of union endorsements, including AFSCME.

Dominique Paul Noth covers the race and points out the issues with Rae's candidacy better than most could:

The leader, though, in terms of inside endorsements is young Jason Rae who has groomed party connections for years and has close ties to influential PR team Nathan Consulting. He is a member and advocate for  the LBGT community (which also supports other candidates) and  according to rumor has strong ties to well-heeled sources like Chris Abele (who has officially stayed out of this). Rae has earned the backing of David Obey, Penny Bernard Schaber (with whom he’s running) and many other well-known Democratic names.

On the negative side, his supporters have gone on the attack against opponents in personal and disturbing terms on social media, where the party needs to go to attract new blood to its operations.  It has upset many traditional funders  of the party who told me they are flat disgusted with the tone of the attack – and rightly or wrongly are blaming Rae.  Perhaps to counter that he has used his future husband to promote his candidacy, almost as if daring anyone  who attacks him to realize they are attacking a gay leader (something I frankly had not even thought of till I got the newsletter using his logo from his significant other).

His supporters (I don’t want to blame him without evidence) have made their main target a woman new to  many in the party, where Rae has been an activist for years. Yet in short order Martha Laning  has earned endorsement from many union groups, progressive leaders such as Kathleen Vinehout and Sandy Pasch (and Rep. David Bowen, who is partnering with her)  and certainly from the groups that are encouraging strong progressive Democratic women to seek office (2016 looks like a good year for that, doesn’t it?).

[...]

Rae’s supporters are attacking Laning for what I regard as trivialities. Like almost everyone who votes Democratic in the state she has only been a formal member of the party for  a few years.  Anyone who runs for office under the party label must join, which she did in a senate race in 2014, but I can name several long-term party members I wouldn’t vote for even if  they were running against Scarface.  It’s what a person stands for, and how they will stand, it’s what you glean from  lifelong principles that should count, not ridiculous opposition research twisting partial statements from years ago, which I detest  when either party does this.

Indeed, Laning's sudden surge was enough to make Rae's camp nervous and made them pull some deplorable stunts. A prime example of this, and of the points made my Noth, can be exemplified by this poorly written  post that appeared on Political Heat.  While that post is heavy on grammatical errors, it makes up for it by being amazingly fact free.  The arguments made had already been debunked, if the author had taken a minute to do some research instead of regurgitating Team Abele/Rae/Tate's talking points.

I have not made up my mind on who I like yet, mostly due to other issues pressing on my time and attention, and I make no apologies for it.

That said, I do have to agree with MAL Conteds, who referred to Rae as the Karl Rove of the DPW and said:

If Wisconsin Democrats elect Jason Rae, progressives in Wisconsin should be ready to bash these idiots on all fronts.

Then again, if the gentle reader is happy with the continuous losses to the Republicans, or even worse, the backing of more corporate Dems who are just as bad, if not worse than the Republicans, then Rae just might be the one you want.

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout Speaks Out On DPW Chair Race

As I sat through the Joint Finance Committee's budget listening session on Friday, I could not help but reflect on how we got to the point where people were begging the state legislature not to use our children and our most vulnerable citizens as chattel on an auctioning block, where workers rights were a thing of the past, where people are afraid for their future.

During my day, I had a chance to briefly meet and observe State Representative Chris Taylor in action.  I've always been a fan of hers and came away from the day even more impressed with her.  I still can't help but wonder what the results would have been if Mike Tate and his fellow big money sycophants hadn't manipulated the situation and clearing the field for Mary Burke.

True, Taylor isn't a millionaire like Burke, but that turned out to be a non-factor when Burke decided to withhold her cash anyway.  But Taylor has something that Burke cannot buy - popularity.  I still believe that Taylor - or someone like her - would have been able to do what Tate and his hand-picked candidate failed miserably at - turning out the vote.

Over the weekend, I was alerted by several readers and friends of Senator Kathleen Vinehout's interview with Wisconsin Eye.  Vinehout spoke about the problems with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and what she saw as the solution for these problems:



While I don't necessarily agree with her endorsement of Martha Lanning, I do agree with her that the Party needs to invert itself and let the people control its direction instead of a handful of corporate Democrats.  It's at about the 14:55 mark where she really nails it, where she is discussing Tate's heir apparent, Jason Rae:

"He represents the corporatization of the Democratic Party.  He represents the power of money to control what I believe is the power of the people.  The party of the people, the little guy, that guy is not represented."

She's hit the nail right on the head with that.  When you have people like Tate and Rae praising and supporting the likes of Boss Abele, who are about as unDemocratic as they come, you are going to lose the people and keep losing elections.

If Rae wins the DPW chair, the Democrats will have conceded the state for the rest of the decade, if not longer.  The Democrats cannot beat the Republicans by being Republican Lite, which Tate has made the Party into and which Rae would only continue.  And even if the Democrats win, the people that they promote, like Abele, well, you might as well have the Republicans anyway.

As I wrote above, I'm not too sure about Lanning.  The shady way they manipulated her entry into the race raises red flags for me.  That's is as sketchy as the way Tate tried to set it up for Rae.

If I had a voice in the matter (I don't because I won't join a group that supports those who attack me and my union brothers and sisters), I would say that the ticket of Jeff Smith and Stephanie Deena Findley is the most interesting and the most desirable for the Party.  This ticket can connect the urban and rural members, as well as help address the poor treatment that women and minorities have received from the Party elite.

ADDENDUM: I just learned that Findley had hitched herself with the education privatization vultures.

My recommendation is now the Working Families Party.

Mike McCabe Weighs In On DPW Chair Race

Earlier this year, Mike Tate, current chair of the Democrat Party of Wisconsin, saw the writing on the wall and announced that he would not run for reelection.  Thus far, to the best of my knowledge, five people have announced their candidacy for this position.

Jason Rae appears to the establishment candidate and has the backing of the party machine and the corporate faction of the party.

However, another candidate, Jeff Smith, has picked up a significant endorsement, Mike McCabe:

Quite a few people who presumably are card-carrying members of DPW and are planning to attend the convention in June have asked me which of the announced candidates for state party chair best embodies the ideas in my book Blue Jeans in High Places. That would be Jeff Smith, by a longshot. Jeff knows how to relate to people in rural areas of the state that used to elect Democrats but now prefer the GOP. He not only knows how to talk to them, he’s shown he can win their trust and has been elected to represent voters in areas that have become so bright red. I can’t say I will vote for Jeff because I don’t have a vote in this election. I am not a party member and will not be a delegate at the convention. But I can say that Jeff Smith is without question the most “blue jean” of the candidates for state chair.

This could mean a significant change among the party members that are tired of the status quo.

Jason Rae Announces Bid For DPW Chair

As the gentle reader is surely aware of by now, Mike Tate, current chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW) has finally made his decision  not to run again for the chair.  If he had any sense of decency, he would have stepped down two months ago, like his counterpart in Ohio did.  Some say that Tate's delay was due to wanting to milk his six figure salary for all its worth, he wanted to secure a job first and/or that he wanted to set up his heir apparent for the chair position.

A few people have already confirmed that they are running for the now open seat, including former DPW chair Joe Wineke and former state legislator Jeff Smith.

Also announcing his intent to run is party insider Jason Rae:

Dear Fellow Democrat,

Over the last several weeks, I’ve met with grassroots activists and leaders all across the state to talk about the future of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. I’m overwhelmed by the support and encouragement I am receiving as I talk to leaders from Kenosha to Ashland and from Platteville to Marinette.

It’s because of that support and encouragement I’m excited to announce today that I am running for Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair.

I’m ready for the next challenge and I’m ready to work with you more as we build an even stronger, more diverse party that will help win elections in 2016, 2018, and beyond.

For those of you that may not know me and my story, I wanted to share a little of my background. I got my start in politics in my hometown of Rice Lake, where I would ride my bike to county party meetings before I could even vote. I was soon elected Vice Chair of the Barron County Democratic Party and started on a path of passion and love. I learned in Barron County what I still know to be true now – Democrats need to compete all over Wisconsin, especially in the rural communities, if we want to be successful.

For more than a decade, it has been my honor and privilege to represent Wisconsin on the Democratic National Committee. I’ve worked hard since my election in 2004 to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot and to continue to expand and grow the party. Through that work, I’ve served on the DNC Executive Committee, on the DPW Administrative Committee, and as Chair of the DPW Constitution Committee.

Over the next several months, I look forward to traveling the state and explaining my positive vision of change for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and for our state.

Together, we are going to regroup, refocus, and reenergize so that we can grow the party and be successful in 2016 and beyond. I am running for Chair because I want to work with you to grow our party.

Together, we will strengthen the Democratic Party infrastructure by investing in county parties, building a strong bench of candidates, and growing our constituency caucuses.

Together, we will regain a digital advantage that will differentiate us from Republicans and help to win. We need to provide candidates and county parties with new tools and technologies that will help them be successful in the work that they do.

Together, we will reclaim our progressive values and put forward a positive vision for the future. We need to start talking about what we stand for and not simply what we stand against.

Together, we’ll win elections. We have too much at stake to lose and watch Republicans continue to roll back the progressive programs and ideals that our party’s founders and leaders fought for over many decades.

By investing in county parties and strengthening the party infrastructure, reclaiming our progressive values, and creating a digital advantage, we will win elections and take back the State Senate, State Assembly and the Governor’s Mansion, and elect a Democrat to the United States Senate and Presidency in 2016.

I’d be honored to count you in as a supporter of my campaign. You can click here to sign up as a supporter.

You can also visit my website at www.jasonrae.com to learn more about my vision for the future of the DPW and why I’m running for State Party Chair.

There is a lot of work to be done – and it’s work we will do together. I’m excited to work with all of you to grow and strengthen the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

I’d be honored to have your support on June 5 and 6 at the State Party Convention in Milwaukee.

Democratically yours,

Jason Rae

PS: In addition to visiting our website, be sure to "like" our Facebook page to follow updates from the campaign trail around the state.

A few things strike me about this announcement.

First, it's awfully full of fluff and light on any specifics. His website it not any better.

Secondly, I find it curious that he claims to have been spending weeks talking to grassroots groups and other party leaders when Tate only announced a couple of days ago. Furthermore, I don't recall Rae ever saying that a change needed to be made. That strikes me as sounding like he knew for weeks that Tate wasn't going to run and was using that insider information to leverage an advantage. That type of behavior is frowned upon in public office. I would hope it's frowned upon in the party as well.

Add to that point that I've had grassroots leaders tell me that they haven't heard from Rae at all.

Thirdly, given the current atmosphere in the state and across the country, I'm not sure bragging about being a political insider is the smartest move.  It seems rather tone deaf.

I do like the idea of bringing the party's technical aspects up to date. Unfortunately, it will probably just mean that they will be more efficient with their ineffective messaging.

As if this isn't enough, Rae is rather cozy with Boss Abele, who has become toxic for the party.

It would seem that Rae would only maintain the status quo for the party, which is painfully obviously not working.

Time For A Closer

By Jeff Simpson

Mike Tate is going out, the way he came in and ran the party - selfishly, condescending, and self delusional.

According to Dan Bice, which shows Tate's selfishness that he told Bice this and not any long time liberal bloggers or party members, Mike Tate is "stepping down".

“Accordingly, today I am announcing that I will not seek another term as chair at our convention in June.”
Tate, whose combative style made him a lightning rod to Republicans, leaves behind a decidedly mixed record as head of the Wisconsin Democrats. The 35-year-old party boss could not be reached for comment on Thursday morning.
A little more than two months ago, Tate’s team suffered major losses up and down the ballot, failing for the third time to defeat Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who is now considering a presidential bid in 2016.
All three branches of state government are now firmly in GOP control.

Technically Mike Tate is not "stepping down" he is not running for re-election.  He is going to keep his cushy, well paying job until the very last day he can.  Besides he has one more spring election to lose.

Mike Tate relinquishing his role as head of the ole boys club, will now set  in motion a bunch of people trying to take over his seat at head of the Ole Boys table.  Hopefully whoever ends up taking his place has a firmer grip on reality.

"I have had a front row seat to all of the historic highs and lows Wisconsin has seen in the last six years. It has been a period of great upheaval and change; we have experienced heartbreaking setbacks and incredible triumphs," he wrote. He makes only a brief mention to "the lows of Scott Walker's electoral success."

 Considering when Mike Tate took over the reigns, the Democrats were in charge of all three branches of Government and now are an irrelevant minority, and lost to the most extreme Governor in our history(and one who is under a huge cloud of ethics investigations) three times, leaves one flabbergasted.



 It is interesting though that Jason Rae from Nation Consulting, wants to take his place.   Since Nation Consulting is the group that is responsible for Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, it seems like a natural thing for Tate and Rae to switch positions.  That way we can continue losing elections and not skip a beat!

Hiring lobbyist to run the party, has worked so well for us, why stop now?

No more steak knives!   

Tax Return Hypocrisy

There is no limits to republican hypocrisy and no issue they will NOT politicize.  The latest issue is tax returns:

Let's look at some things we know about tax returns and politicians:

We know that George Romney(Mitts dad) was the first politician to release multiple years tax returns because  “One year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show".

We know that when Mitt was desperate to be John McCain's running mate he gave the Senator over 23 years of tax returns!  

We know that Mitt will NOT release his tax returns to the general public:

We know that Ann Romney says they have given us all of the info "that you people need to know".  

We also know that Washington DC resident,  Eric Hovde has no interest in releasing his tax returns! 

We know that the republicans think that releasing tax returns is a non issue and has nothing to do with the upcoming election.  

 NOW, thanks to some very good reporting from Jason Rae, we know that when it comes to their opponents, tax returns are a very significant issue.  

From June 27 to July 16, 2012, the Republican Party of Wisconsin, through its political director Jonathan Wetzel, filed an open records request with the Wisconsin Department of Revenue for the tax returns of 26 Democratic candidates for the Assembly. The requests varied from ten years worth of filings to just one year’s return. 

 

You see, unlike federal tax returns, state tax returns are subject to open records.  It’s just one more aspect of the Wisconsin tradition of transparency in government that has been under assault by Governor Walker and the GOP led legislature in the last year and a half.  But don’t get me wrong, even if they don’t like the transparency, they will use it when it benefits them.

....

 

I just don’t understand how they can deny releasing their own returns saying it shouldn’t matter and that it’s an attempt to, as a Hovde spokesman said, “incite class warfare,” and yet go and seek tax returns from other candidates.

 

Here again we have Republicans talking out of both sides of their mouth. It is actually making me wonder what Tommy, Mark, Eric and Jeff are all hiding if they refuse to release theirs? Its classic do as we say, not as we do.  

 

Hypocrisy, thy name is Republican.