Let's HOPE School Choice Starts Doing Better Protecting the Kids!

By Jeff Simpson


Jim Bender is head of the poorly named "School Choice" Wisconsin.

Readers of CogDis may remember Mr. Bender as the guy who did an open records request on numerous school districts throughout the state where he asked for all of the kids, names, addresses, phone numbers, pictures, activities, height, weight, etc.....  

Luckily we were able to stop that, even if it did get Charlie Sykes knickers in a knot and he was successful in getting me kicked off of Purple WI.  We were successful in stopping some of Mr. Benders invasion of privacy of our children.

If you remember, I pointed out that now that Mr. Bender let it be known that this information was available to the world, thanks to some silly open records laws, anyone now has access to this information.  When I say anyone I mean anyone, people recruiting kids, cults and sexual predators.   I had no idea at the time that one was right under Mr. Benders nose.

 The dean of a Milwaukee choice school was charged Monday with sexually assaulting a girl over the past several years, the fifth area educator to face sexual assault charges since December.Jermaine A. Evans, 32, dean of students and coach of the girls basketball team at HOPE Christian High, was being held in the Milwaukee County Jail.

The complaint charges two counts of sexual assault of a child, once in 2013 and once in 2014. Each offense is punishable by up to 25 years in prison and 10 years of extended supervision.

 

HOPE Christian Schools is a network of six schools that participate in the Milwaukee and Racine voucher programs. Its high school, where Evans has been girls basketball coach the past four years, is at 3215 N. King Drive.

Evans is currently on PAID leave.  Your taxpayer dollars at work!

While as is typical, when horrible things like this happen, Jim Bender is no where to be found.

Yet he is quick to heap praise.

“It is really difficult to not have an appreciation for what’s happening on the north side at Hope Christian School,” said Jim Bender, president of Wisconsin School Choice, which advocates for Wisconsin’s growing parental choice program.

 Our Friends over at the also poorly named "Watchdog" even compared Hope Christian Schools to the John Wooden UCLA  championship winning college basketball teams.  

“The near north side of Milwaukee has probably one of the biggest racial learning gaps of anywhere in the country. (Hope) put their school in the heart of that area to specifically address that problem,” Bender added. “And they have this unbelievable group of staff that is so committed, and that’s obvious with 100 percent of the students accepted to college four years in a row.”

The staff was very committed thats for sure and now the Dean of Students will be committed(for about 50 years).  

Edit note:  Before I get the inevitable righty talking point of the success rate at HOPE Christian, understand that they are graduating about 30 kids a year.   Its much easier when you can pick and choose your kids and work with them more individually.  Unfortunately with the education cuts in WI and the bleeding of public education dollars by the for profit educationers like Mr. Bender that makes it impossible for public schools to give this intense personal education.       


Here is Mr. Bender(center) celebrating the ten year anniversary of Hope "Christian"schools taking unaccuntable taxpayer money to fund his salary and school.   That is school choice lobbyist Jeff Fitzgerald sitting next to him(Robin Vos missed the picture).  A list of School Choice VIP's are here.  

Scott Walker - See Something, Say Something!

By Jeff Simpson

Scott Walker, held a press conference on the day of the latest mass shootings to tell Wisconsinites to be afraid, be very afraid this Holiday season,.




As with every one of the Governor's great  ideas, I am all on board.  

Although, Mr. Walker did not tell us who we are supposed to contact when we see things that are suspicious, so let me start here. 

In the last few years, I have not seen anything as suspicious as this pic.   A group of unscrupulous, morally bankrupt people with no checks and balances and who were up to no good gathered in one spot as this right here:

 

Please feel free to forward to the proper authorities.  

But wait!  There is more! 

While that may be the most suspicious, there is plenty more like these:

       

 



Ok have to stop here.  Getting nightmares.  

If this is not enough proof that we need to be vigilant and inform authorities when we see suspicious characters roaming the streets, I do not know what is!    

Income Inequality That Your Kids Suffer From

 

By Jeff Simpson

The average teacher salary in Wisconsin is $46,000/yr.  Governor Scott Walker's signature piece of legislation ACT10 cut public workers take home pay by up to 12%.    Which for the average public teacher salary in WI comes to approximately $5520. Act 10 has been in effect for four years now which would be $22,080 in lost income(or demand in Wisconsin).


What was the motivating factor behind that?

Scott Walker in that time has received over $2,400,000 in support of privatizing schools, increasing vouchers and ending teachers unions.  This is money given by the ruling class earmarked as just donations for the politicians they own(for those of you scoring at home, that is equivalent to over 52 teachers complete salaries).     

It doesn't stop there.  

The Democracy Campaign report showed that spending by voucher supporters skyrocketed in the last election cycle, with more than half of the $9.8 million spent over the past decade coming in 2011 and 2012.

Of the spending, $7 million was for activity like independent campaign ads or mailings. The remaining $2.8 million was given in individual campaign contributions to mostly Republican and conservative candidates for office. Nearly two-thirds of that $2.8 million came from donors outside of Wisconsin.

The most donations came from billionaire voucher advocates Richard and Betsy DeVos of Michigan, who gave $337,330 to Wisconsin candidates between 2003 and the first six months of 2012.
Walker received $2.35 million from voucher supporters since 2006, but most of that came during his recall campaign. He got $1.1 million from individual school choice supporters — including $252,600 from Richard and Betsy DeVos. He got another $1.1 million from the Washington-based American Federation for Children, the report showed.

That group is the main driver of outside spending from voucher supporters in Wisconsin, accounting for $4.4 million of the $7 million over the past decade. The group’s Wisconsin lobbyist is former Republican Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen.

Two other former Republican speakers, John Gard and Jeff Fitzgerald*, work for School Choice Wisconsin.

*  total spending does NOT include salaries to the many many lobbyists they employ.  All of which make more than the average teacher does in salary for a year.

So ask yourself why billionaires, who have spent their life increasing their salary and worrying about ROI would be investing millions in privatizing our schools. 

Do you think it is because they worry about YOUR child's education or is it because they see massive return on investments by privatizing our schools?

Wisconsin Citizens Need Cancer Drug Bill; No Vote Planned

By Jeff Simpson

H/T our friends a Malcontends:

Update - Woke up to a scathing editorial this morning in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau, Wisconsin) "taking extraordinary measures to block" Senate Bill 300, a measure requiring "oral chemotherapy drugs to be covered the same way as IV treatments."

Despite overwhelming support, Fitzgerald is blocking the measure from coming to a vote, with Scott Walker's approval.

A vote. Voting for stuff; it's what a democratic Republic is designed to do.

Who besides Fitzgerald, Scott Walker and the health insurance industry comes out in favor of blocking cancer treatment?

While I always recommend reading Macontends blog, I believe he gives the Journal Sentinel Editors a bit too much credit!

Let's look at their editorial  

  More than two-thirds of GOP senators and four-fifths of the state Senate now publicly support a bipartisan bill to help cancer patients get critical treatments, but the measure is still being blocked by the head of that house.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said Wednesday he's going to unusual steps to block the proposal because a majority of his GOP caucus opposes it, not because his brother is lobbying on behalf of influential insurers to kill the bill.

But a review by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel shows that as of Friday, at least 13 of the 18 Republicans in the state Senate and all 15 Democrats have taken a public stance in support of the legislation. In the Senate, Fitzgerald is now the main force holding back the bill, drawing on one of his body's most arcane rules to keep the legislation trapped in the committee he chairs.

"The result of that bill passing would be chemotherapy would be cheaper for many families and people would have healthier lives," said Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee), asking why Fitzgerald was using the rare maneuver to prevent that. "He and his (Republican) caucus owe families an explanation for why that is."

 Ok, they spell it out clearly that a majority of Senators support it, it has bipartisan support and Scott Fitzgerald went to great lengths to block a vote.   Now lets get to the kicker, the scathing words condemning Fitzgerald and Vos for these despicable actions. 

You can read every word here!   

Now you ask yourself: Why is  there no vote scheduled(besides the obvious that Fitz the elder is protecting Fitz the lesser)?

You can ask yourself,  Why won't Scott Walker condemn this attack on our democracy and on the people of WI?  After all Scott Walker recently came out and said the MOST pressing issue for the people of the state of Wisconsin is that we need to enact obstacles for the poor and minorities to vote.  He should know, if he ever talks to his Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, that if you are a cancer survivor and need Chemo, than the last thing on your mind is voting.   


The answer is simple.  It boils down to pleasure and pain. While there are dire consequences for the people who will suffer for this bill being blocked, there are NO consequences for the despicable people blocking this bill.  

In a "scathing"editorial, not a single bad word about Fitzgerald or Vos, that comes from someone other than a Democrat.  Fitzgerald, Vos and Walker know that come November, the papers of record will endorse them, the Democrats will not use it as a campaign issue and the voters will not hold it against them. 

Sure some people will be very sick and might even not make it through because they can not afford this treatment, but they will be too busy trying to find other ways to fight cancer or mourning the loss of their loved one to speak up. 






 For all of the non-doctors out there(and in the legislature), here is a quick reference guide to what oral chemotherapy is:

What is oral chemotherapy?

Today there are many types of chemotherapy (chemo). Oral chemo is any drug you are taking by mouth to treat cancer. Oral chemo is not put into the body with a needle, but is taken as a liquid, tablet, or capsule that you swallow.

Chemo taken by mouth is as strong as the other forms and works just as well. One of the best ways you can help fight the cancer is by taking your chemo exactly the way your doctor or nurse tells you to.

Some chemo drugs are never taken by mouth because the stomach can’t absorb them. Others may cause harm when swallowed. In fact, most chemo drugs are put in through an IV (intravenous) line in a person’s vein. The chemo you take by mouth is easier because it can be taken at home. You don’t need to go into a hospital or clinic for every treatment.

Still, oral chemo drugs cost a lot. Many times you have to pay more out of pocket for them than the IV drugs. If you have insurance, this might mean a higher co-pay. Make sure you know how much you will have to pay for each treatment.

Sometimes chemo is given in cycles. This cuts down on the harm to healthy cells and allows the drugs to kill more cancer cells. Your doctor will decide if you need to get your treatment every day, every week, every few weeks, or every month.

Let's Navigate the Capitol - Bjork Style

By Jeff Simpson

I have written lately about Mary Burke's top political advisor - Tonya Bjork.   I covered her initially into her being knee deep in the Caucus scandal, secondly being a major player with Wisconsin Hospital PAC who has given thousands of dollars to Scott Walker.

Before we get into today's lesson, we need to clarify something.   There was some sloppy criticism of my post about Tanya Bjork's association with the Wisconsin Hospital PAC.   Apparently she gave all of the money to their Conduit.  A conduit is set up(and quite possibly illegal) for someone like Tanya Bjork to give money to Wisconsin Hospitals PAC and then direct that money elsewhere.  That way if you want to give more than the max.  You can funnel your money through their PAC allowing you to give more than the legal amount, and hope the media stays lazy and does not track your donations.(*clarification, I am not accusing Tonya Bjork of doing this, I am merely pointing out that I do not see any other reason for a conduit.  If you want to give money to a politician give money to them.  No need to give it to someone else to give to them).

Just some more context, before we move on(H/T one of our readers).   Wisconsin Hospitals PAC, of which Tanya Bjork was a major player and fundraiser for,  gave approximately 80% of their donations to the red team.  Would you belong to an organizations that so directly conflicts with your values?   I would not.


Today we are going to cover her day job.  Owner, with her husband/partner Scott Tyre, of a LOBBYING firm called Capitol Navigators.

Here is Tanya's husband at a typical day of work:
 

Here is their client list:

• Altria Corporate Services
• American Petroleum Institute
• American Express Co.
• Association of General Contractors of Wisconsin
• Aurora Health Care
• Community Corrections Corp.
• DCI Group
• Deloitte
• Dewey Square Group
• General Motors
• H & R Block
• Hill Top Public Solutions
• HSBC
• Johnson Controls, Inc.
• Kwik Trip
• MulchSeal
• National Association of Professional Employer Organization
• SC Johnson & Sons Inc.
• Superior Services, Inc
• TDS Telecom
• US Oil
• Water Remediation Technology, LLC
• Webber Merritt
• Wisconsin Bankers Association
• Wisconsin Cable Communications Association
• Wisconsin Cluster of YMCAs
• Wisconsin Early Autism Program
• Wisconsin Hospital Association

Before we go any further, let me address the first objection.  That this is her husbands firm.   1. Wisconsin is a 50/50 state, if they were to get divorced she would be part owner of it real quick(just ask Robin Vos) and 2. She lists her employer as (drum roll please) Capitol Navigators!

Yes, I understand that the donations under her name are all Democrats, but let's take a look at a partial list of the rest of the people that Capitol Navigators have donated too(recognize any of these names):

*Robin Vos
*Jeff Fitzgerald 
*Scott Fitzgerald 
*Committee to elect a Republican Senate
*Republican Assembly Campaign Committee
* Scott Suder 
* Mike Huebsch 

"Dont play both sides of the fence because one day your leg is going to get caught trying to get over on the other side."  Unknown

 Nothing says progressive champion like sending $500 to Robin Vos!  Let's be real, CapitolNavigators has made lots of money suppressing and squashing progressive legislation and helping get the current extreme right wing legislation passed.  Hey, whatever makes you a buck.  Its a tough economy out there(thanks in part to the legislation you lobby). 

Before I come to my conclusion, let's bring one more piece of evidence into the equation.  Do not forget that Scott Walker withdrew a student appointment to Board of Regents(a basically figurehead position) because the original pick, they found out signed the recall.petition.  (FYI: Tanya Bjork and her Husband Scott Tyre did NOT sign the recall petition).

 

Now to my conclusion, We have a very vindictive and petty republican party running our state government.  Tanya and her husband make a very nice living with their lobbying firm, lobbying both parties.   DO you trust Tanya Bjork to do the right thing and attack Scott Walker, when and where he needs to be attacked, to win?  Knowing that her living depends on playing both sides in the Capitol?  Do we trust that when there comes a time, when her career and her current job, collide, that the people of Wisconsin will not get the short end of the stick?

Looking back at her career, from the caucus scandal(which still disgusts me) through her time at Wisconsin Hospitals PAC and beyond, she  has a definite pattern of having an ambitiously me first attitude.   Her willingness to break the law to advance her personal career in the Caucus scandal, and her apparent willingness to suppress her personal beliefs and values, with Wisconsin Hospitals PAC in order to pad her resume speaks volumes to me.

When it comes down to making the tough call, one that might win the race but cost her Lobbying firm business in the end -  Whose side will she be on?

I think we know the answer to that.  I also think we do not like the answer!

Draw your own conclusions.

However, there is enough bad, evil, slimy, play both parties evidence there for me to far outweigh the non existent progressive credentials of this supposedly democratic lobbyist, that I know what side I believe she will pick!

If you're going to connect with the good people of WI, a well connected, political insider who makes a living lobbying, and was in the middle of the biggest political corruption scandal, is probably NOT the best choice to do that.  

I was also hoping, that one of the campaign issues would be Walkers cronyism and incompetent politically motivated hires, one that we would easily win.  Unless, we allow Tanya Bjork to run the campaign and we send the message that cronyism is alive and well in our party also!  


I personally would rather this Bjork be running the show, at least she understands marketing:




It has been made perfectly clear to me, by party members, that no amount of grassroots support matters.  So the only thing they will listen to is our pocketbooks.

For me personally - No Money for Burke until Bjork is gone.   I prefer my Democratic Candidates sans republican lobbyists on their staff.  

@Burke4Wi

Burke for Wisconsin
PO Box 2479
Madison, WI 53701
(608) 807-0602
info@burkeforwisconsin.com


PS:  In case you were wondering, Wisconsin Hospitals PAC - Supported ACT10.  Helping break the Nurses union, maybe not the most progressive position someone could take.

PSS:  To the people on the Burke Campaign, you might want to add Mary Burke's twitter account to the website contact info.  It is the year 2013 after all.

PSSS:  Adding the twitter account does not count as actual content.   The website could use some of that also.   

Private Schools Dirty Little Secret

 

By Jeff Simpson

There is an epidemic going on and it is going under reported.  The epidemic I am speaking of is cheating in Voucher/private schools.   We have documented numerous times how the private school cadre is in it for one thing - profit.  Heck, even the "education reform" crowd has let it slip that they see "gold" in the classrooms.   When the ranks of the privatize school crowd is run by convicted felon Scott Jensen, and lobbied by people like John Gard - profits come first and ethics never enter the equation. 



When an industry is strictly about profits, you should expect problems and there are.  All over the country!

The first comes to us from Florida via Indiana:

Florida's education commissioner resigned today amid allegations that he changed the grade of a charter school run by a major Republican donor during his previous job as Indiana's school chief.

Tony Bennett announced his immediate resignation at a news conference, saying that he while he did nothing wrong he didn't want to be a distraction to Gov. Rick Scott's efforts to overhaul Florida's education system. Emails published by The Associated Press this week show that Bennett and his Indiana staff scrambled last fall to ensure Christel DeHaan's school received an A, despite poor 10th-grade algebra scores that initially earned it a C.

 In case you missed it:

 Emails published by The Associated Press this week show that Bennett and his Indiana staff scrambled last fall to ensure Christel DeHaan's school received an A, despite poor 10th-grade algebra scores that initially earned it a C.

Bennett, recently beaten as Indiana's head of education,  says that the charges against him are "malicious and unfounded".   Now we can look at his email and marching orders to his staff:

After Bennett learned about a likely low grade for Christel House, he fired off a Sept. 12 email to his chief of staff.

"This will be a HUGE problem for us," Bennett wrote. "They need to understand that anything less than an A for Christel House compromises all of our accountability work."

                           

While he has been disgraced in two red states now in his quest to "reform" education has two supporters left - "Waiting for Superman" right wing movie star - Michelle Rhee.  

Bennett’s leadership in IN showed his commitment to kids. With better grad rates & fewer failing schools, IN kids benefited from his tenure.
— Michelle Rhee (@MichelleRhee) August 1, 2013

Florida Governor and Medicare Fraud recipient Rock Scott, doing his best George Bush impression, said that Bennet is doing "A great job"!

After a couple days of radio silence about the scandal involving Florida's education commissioner, Gov. Rick Scott finally has something to say. He told Channel 5 in West Palm Beach that Tony Bennett is "doing a great job."
Scott praised Bennett for being "very focused on accountability" and reiterated how well Florida's students are doing. Scott didn't say whether Bennett's job is secure, however. See the interview here. Scott has been through several education commissioners during his tenure as governor.

Yes this is the future of public education money in the hands of the anti education republican party!  We have seen it enacted all over the country and we are seeing it right in front of our own eyes in WI.

We can stop it in Wisconsin, in the next election.     WE MUST STOP THIS IN 2014!  

if we allow republicans to maintain total control of our state after the next election, be prepared for more stories like this one.....lots more stories like it actually!  

A Milwaukee County judge has ordered the operator of a defunct private voucher school to repay about $300,000 in taxpayer money, after the state sued him for falsifying documents and forging his college diploma to get into the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, court records show.

But Wisconsin may not be seeing that money anytime soon from Corey C. Reed Daniels, who operated the disastrous Milwaukee Institute of Academic Achievement in 2011-'12 before reports of student endangerment prompted the Department of Public Instruction to terminate it from the choice program.

 His institute, which enrolled between 100 and 180 students in kindergarten through eighth grade at 4920 N. Sherman Blvd., is not the first private voucher school to get shut down by the state. But it remains one of the most recent examples of how quickly an operator — given the right circumstances — could start a private school, enroll students and receive hundreds of thousands of public dollars before being cut off after allegations of impropriety.

 

“fraud, misrepresentation or misconduct”

By Jeff Simpson

That is what a 3 judge panel accused the Wisconsin republicans of engaging in, when looking into missing records in the Wisconsin redistricting case.

  It is appearing that AFTER they were ordered to turn over all files to the democrats, someone logged into the taxpayer owned computers and deleted hundreds of thousands of emails! 

New federal court filings allege that legislative aides appear to have deleted “hundreds of thousands” of files at “suspicious times” from state computers used by Republicans in redistricting.

The plaintiffs in a case that challenged the redistricting law are asking the Legislature or attorneys representing the state to start paying for the forensic investigation. They say the probe has racked up nearly $100,000 in costs so far, fueled largely by the complexity of restoring deleted files.

The filings are part of a post-trial investigation ordered by the three-judge federal panel that heard the redistricting case. A final report on the investigation is due May 10.

Finding that “fraud, misrepresentation or misconduct” likely occurred, the judges ordered a post-trial investigation into the missing records. In February, the panel ordered the state to turn over three redistricting computers that had been housed at the Madison office of the Michael, Best and Friedrich law firm.

 Predictably, the party of "personal responsibility"(yes, I know.  That is funny to me also) took none.  Scott Fitzgerald who will take any chance to ramble aimlessly on telling us how bad democrats are seems to have lost his tongue when it comes to fraud on his watch.  Robin Vos has forgotten anything that happened, and refers all questions to the Wisconsin taxpayer funded attorneys representing him in this misconduct.  

There were also two legislative aides and a lobbyist who were involved in this fraud on the Wisconsin taxpayer(their families must be so proud of them):

The computers were used by legislative aides Tad Ottman and Adam Foltz and consultant Joe Handrick. Ottman and Foltz work for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), though Foltz worked for then-Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) at the time of redistricting. Handrick worked for lobbying and law firm Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren at the time he served as a redistricting consultant for the Legislature. Handrick, a former GOP representative, now works at the state Department of Workforce Development.

 For those scoring at home, a quick timeline of the events:

According to the filing, the first deletions came Jan. 6, 2012, just after attorneys for the state were ordered by the panel to turn over additional records in the case. The second deletions, on July 25, 2012, were made days after control of the Senate shifted to the Democrats as a result of recall elections in July 2012. (Republicans have since regained the majority in the Senate.)

“On July 18, 2012, after majority control of the state Senate shifted, the new majority leader (Democratic Sen. Mark Miller) requested Michael Best’s redistricting file,” the filing states.

“The following day (July 19), Michael Best agreed that it would make its redistricting file available for review. One week later (July 25), a user logged into the account of Tad Ottman, aide to state Senator Scott Fitzgerald — who just had been replaced as majority leader — deleted hundreds of thousands of redistricting files.

“The following week, Michael Best turned over its redistricting file to the new Senate majority leader (Miller).”

The republicans have sure ruined the name brand of Michael Best over these last two years!  It also amazes me that Ottman and Foltz still have jobs being funded by the taxpayers.  Is there not a fireable offense for the republicans? 

If you think fraud, directly defying court orders and deleting emails that the public have a right to know, then call these people up and let them know! 

Scott Fitzgerald -  (608) 266-5660 @senfitzgerald

Robin Vos -  @speakervos

Toll Free:  888-534-0063

Madison Office:  608-266-3387

Home Phone:  262-514-2597

Tad Ottman - tad.ottman@legis.wisconsin.gov

Adam Foltz -  adam.foltz@legis.wisconsin.gov 

Can both be reached at (608) 266-5660 Capitol 211 South

And even Joe Handrick, who was the "consultant" who helped consult that secrecy agreements, partisan redistricting and engaging in fraud was the way to go about representing the people of WI, has been rewarded with a nice cushy taxpayer funded state job and taxpayer funded state benefits in the Department of Workforce Development!

Joe can be reached at @joeminocqua or  (608) 267-8997

The Wisconsin Republican Party has no shame!   

MY Thoughts on Today's Primary

Ok some quick thoughts on the election....Tommy won and its time to introduce the new tommy to the electorate.  People need to know he is the older, crazier, meaner version from the old days.  He cant walk back the fact that he had to go crazy to win the primary.  

I also cant wait to see the "tea party" pretend that they like tommy all along despite all of the things they said about him.   I would guess we havent seen a flip flop like this since mitt got the nomination.  

Good to see eric hovde get humiliated, despite spending millions.  That speaks to the idiocy of rojo.  Wisconsinites had enough of spoiled rich lightweight brats...

Jeff Fitzgeralds showing says that after all the walker dirty work he did, he had zero support showing how much the money in the repub party care about pushing their agenda and NOTHING or NO ONE else

Mark Neumann's special brand of hate will hopefully never win another election again!  

Compare/Contrast this primary to the dems big primary in the 2nd Congressional district.  Where the more negative that Tommy went, the better his numbers.   In the Democratic primary, Kelda Roys went negative and she lost all of her support.   What was shaping up to be a close race, turned into a blow out.   I guess really bad consultants run deep in the Democratic party! 

Finally it was good to see all of the Scott "Scooter" Jensen candidates get beat.  Anyone that associates with him shows themselves to be the loser that Jensen is!   There is no room in the Democratic party for candidates who associate with the likes of Jensen!  


Your Thoughts??  

Caucus Scandal: The 2011 Edition

A little more than a decade ago, Wisconsin was rocked with the caucus scandals, where it was found that both Republicans and Democrats were found to be having their caucus staff doing illegal politicking while working on state time and using state equipment.

The caucus scandals again rose in prominence in the past year as Walkergate, the John Doe investigation into Scott Walker, his campaign and his staff at Milwaukee County, revealed that they were also partaking in illegal politicking while on the taxpayers dime.

While many in the state, including myself, thought that Walkergate was the be all end all of scandals, it appears that it might have been just the tip of the iceberg.

Let me explain.

Recently, when the Democrats finally reclaimed the majority in the state senate, many people, mostly Republicans, thought it was a meaningless gesture and a waste of everyone's time and money. Their rationale for this feeling was that, thanks to their gerrymandering, the Republicans were ensured to regain the majority in the fall. Furthermore, because the legislature is out of session until next year, the Democrats would be unable to get anything done before they lost control of the senate again.

However, it just may be that gerrymandering that they were so proud of which might prove to be a major problem for them.

We saw some of the corruption that went on behind the gerrymandering when it was revealed that the lawmakers had done such things as signed secrecy pacts. It was then learned that at least two Republican aides, Tad Ottman and Adam Foltz, were working out of the Michael Best & Friedrich law offices while they were supposed to be doing the state's work.

When the Democrats regained control of the senate, one of things that did happen is that they were able to get their hands on all the documents regarding the gerrymandering. When these became available, most of the media focused on the partisanship of the gerrymandering and how it was obviously meant to infringe on voters' rights. While this is undeniably true, it is also only part of the story.

For example, there is one email from Andy Speth, who is Paul Ryan's Chief of Staff:

Thank you for being available to participate in the call this afternoon with the Speaker, the Majority Leader and Congressman Ryan. The purpose of the call is to get everyone on the same page as far as the process and timing of the congressional redistricting map is concerned.

What a nice, polite email showing a team working together, right?

Well, not exactly.

Take a look at the whole email.

First note the names of the people to whom Speth is emailing:

• Tad Ottman - Staffer for Senator Scott Fitzgerald and one of the two working in the law firm while being paid by the taxpayers.
• Adam Foltz - Staffer for Representative Jeff Fitzgerald and one of the two working in the law firm while being paid by the taxpayers.
• Andy Gustofson - Another staffer for Jeff Fitzgerald.
• Judith Rhodes-Engels - Now this is where it starts to get interesting. Rhodes-Engels works for WISGOP and his the main fundraiser for Scott Fitzgerald.

So what is a fundraiser for WISGOP doing on this email list?

Scott Fitzgerald and Judith Rhodes-Engels

Well, that might be answered in part by the next revelation. Look at the email addresses that Speth sent his missive to. They are all the private emails of the people involved.

This would indicate that they were doing government work using their private emails, except for Rhodes-Engels. For that, Speth used her WISGOP address. You don't suppose they were doing this to avoid open record requests, do you?

Now look at the time of the email: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 9:53 am.

I find it unlikely that they all were off on that day. And even if they were, that still doesn't explain why they were discussing government business on private emails or why a political operative was involved in the discussion.

I also find it curious why the Fitzgerald boys and Ryan were having their staffers and political aides involved in a process that was so super secret that they had to have all the legislators sign secrecy pacts. Was it secret to give them an advantage or was it secret to hide the fact that they were practicing illegal politics?

Now let's take a look at a second email:

Look at the first line of this missive:

To keep all of us in the loop at the staff level, I want to share with you the feedback I received from Congressman Ryan regarding the conversation he had this morning with the Speaker and the Majority Leader.

Well, that clarifies that they are doing this as staffers. But it also highlights the fact that they are doing so on private emails and with a political operative, Rhodes-Engels, in their midst.

Keep in mind that Rhodes-Engels has been discussed here before. She was first introduced when she pretended to be just a normal Milwaukee County-residing, Harley-riding woman who supported Scott Walker and went along for his campaign motorcycle ride. Her name also came up in Walkergate in that she shared Scott Fitzgerald's campaign donor database with Kelly Rindfleisch so that Rindfleisch could help raise funds for Walker and Brett Davis, Walker's choice for Lieutenant Governor.

I have also become aware of the fact that she has often been witnessed to be in Scott Fitzgerald's office in the Capitol, which is a distinct no-no.

Now we find her involved with the gerrymandering scheme.

Was she involved in order to glean information to be used in fundraising for the inevitable court fights? Was she there to give insight on the possible political ramifications? Or is she simply a Jill-of-all-trades and used interchangeably between legislative and political business?

What makes this even more ridiculous is that Rhodes-Engels was involved in the first caucus scandal (p. 16):

[DCI Special Agent] Strauss reports that she has participated in interviews with Judith Rhodes Engels (“Engels"), who has stated in part the following. Engels was state-employed in the Ladwig Capitol office November 1996 - March 2001. Sherry Schultz was in charge of fundraising for individual Republican members of the Assembly, including completing their campaign finance reports and assisting in fundraisers. After the 1998 elections, Engels and Ladwig discussed the fact that Schultz was “creating a monster” in that legislators were becoming too dependent on Schultz and her campaign finance related services. Engels worked with Schultz on fundraising issues. Schultz did not appear to have any duties other than fundraising. Engel's job was to keep track of contributions from legislators to RACC, which are referred to as "assessments." Schultz's duties included keeping track of where this money went for the individual campaigns. On occasion Engels received checks for individual campaigns and provided them to Schultz. Schultz created various documents regarding fundraising at RACC meetings held in Jensen's Capitol office. In a RACC meeting after the 2000 election in Jensen’s Capitol office, Jensen thanked Schultz for all she did for members of the “team” in connection with the money that had been raised.

It does make one wonder if Rhodes-Engels is just stupid, so arrogant she thinks she is above the law or so sleazy she just doesn't care.

But what this does show us is that the Republicans didn't learn one damn thing from the first caucus scandal. It also shows us that our previous estimates of the spread and depth of corruption in the Republican Party were grossly short of the mark.

WISGOP is nothing more than a vast criminal syndicate.  They need to have their crimes brought to the light of day and to the halls of justice.

I certainly hope that someone has brought this to the attention of Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne. Not that the John Doe investigations into Walker and his crew aren't keeping him busy enough.

Congratulations, Senator Baldwin!

What? Don't be shocked by the title. After all, if the mainstream news can call Scott Walker's victory before people are even finished voting, I should be able to call Tammy Baldwin's before they start voting.

And this is Baldwin's election to lose right now.

Over the past several months, Baldwin has been able to rack up quite the war chest and do nothing but run a couple of positive campaign ads focusing on the important issues.

Meanwhile, the four candidates vying to be the GOP nominee for the senate seat has not been doing much more than showing exactly why they shouldn't be the next senator. They haven't done much more than try to pretend they're more conservative than the others and then sling mud at each other while complaining that the others are being negative. It's gotten to the point where a thinking person can't take any of them seriously.

Let's take a quick look at each of these four stooges:

Mark Neumann

Neumann is one of the two true conservatives. He's greedy and a raging anti-homosexual fascist. He's dumping a lot of his own wealth into the race, which is not inconsiderable, in an effort to buy the seat.

But his expenditures also come with a dwindling return.

He is not running a very effective campaign. For example, he's running an ad where he states he knows that church is important and starts talking about how he met his wife. The gist of the ad is that he is a good anti-abortion type of Christian, but it really comes across as that he was trolling his church for dates when he was ten years old.

Despite flooding the airwaves with ads, it appears that Neumann is coming in a distant third. The reason for this is that he is considered a pariah among many of the tea-bagging conservatives. Neumann's sin was not only running against Scott Walker during the 2010 primary, but also telling the truth about Walker and his inability to lead, which we are seeing today. But for Neumann to dare to even utter this out loud is the equivalent of heresy. He's lucky he doesn't get stoned for having done that.

Some people are still sniveling about Neumann's audacity of trying to do the right thing. Perhaps that's why Neumann is now running an ad with the theme of "Gee, if I only knew how great Walker was, I wouldn't have run."

Note to Mark: Trust your instincts. Walker will be going down and taking a hell of a lot of people with him.

What I find hilarious is while the TEA Party Express has endorsed Neumann and is taking their song and dance around the state, the local teahadists are scrambling to denounce their fellow teabaggers. Apparently even the big money bags that are trying to buy are elections are torn on who to back.

Tommy Thompson

TOMMY!! is the penultimate politician. Thompson will tell you whatever you want to hear, whether it's true or not. Want your taxes cut? Thompson's your man, even though he will raise them. Want spending cuts? Thompson will promise you that, even though he will increase spending. Are you against the Affordable Healthcare Act? So is Tommy, when he's not endorsing it, that is.

Tommy is also very savvy on how to turn a buck. He took his position as former governor and former Secretary of Health and used it to get hooked up with all sorts of companies, and their lobbyists. There's little doubt that one of the reasons Tommy is even running is that he wants to increase his name value and rake in the bucks.

The other reason is, of course, to feed his gargantuan ego with a lot of publicity and attention which he constantly seeks.

Tommy has a pretty decent chance on getting the nomination next week, but not because of who his is or who he claims to be, but just because of name recognition. This is causing some people to have a log of angst and screaming "Caveat emptor!"

Eric Hovde

Eric Hovde has dreams of being the next Ron Johnson, meaning he wants to be another multimillionaire who got all of his money with the help of the government and now wants to use that money to buy his seat in the Senate on the pretense that he wants to end the graft that made him rich. Right.

While that might be how Hovde wants to portray himself, that's not the way he is coming across. His negativity and hypocrisy is turning a lot of people off and what should have been his race to buy is slipping through his fingers.

In reality, Hovde is like one of those spoiled frat boys in a Grade B teen movie who thinks the world owes him just because he's rich and good looking. And just like the movies, it turns out his character is a spoiled little brat that whines like mad when he's asked to take some responsibility for what he's done or hasn't done, like voting.

Hovde, like Thompson and RoJo, only want the seat to help stack the deck even more in his favor so that he can increase his wealth. The poor darling can't be expected to make it on the paltry few millions of dollars he has.

Jeff Fitzgerald

Jeff Fitzgerald is like the lost child in this race. Even though he won the popularity vote in the state GOP convention, he has not been able to parlay that into support or campaign donations.

Bruce Murphy thinks it's because he's not serious about being a candidate for the US Senate, but is rather just setting the stage for him to become a lobbyist, where the pay is much more lucrative.

I think another factor is that the only thing Fitzgerald has got to run on his the way he hitched his wagon to Scott Walker's. His latest ad, which I heard for the first time this week, brags about, among other things, weakening gun laws and the castle doctrine. That might not be something he'd want to run with the week after the horrific mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek. Not only that, but people are starting to finally catch on that the Walker/Fitzgerald plan is not working on bringing jobs to the state. While Walker and his supporters were able to buy the recall election, this shows that the Republican snake oil has a bitter taste to it.

All that Fitzgerald has been able to do with his ill-conceived plan is to make himself completely irrelevant and only remembered as long as the programming integrity of his entry in Ballotpedia remains intact.

With the polarity and in-fighting of this race, whoever the surviving candidate is will be a bloodied, damaged man who already spent millions of his own dollars that they were going to need for the general election. And WISGOP won't see the coming together to support the winner that they will need. The candidates' egos won't allow it, nor will the divisiveness this race as caused among the faithful.

The only way that this person is going to beat Tammy Baldwin is if he has the election bought and/or stolen for him. And even then, I don't think they will be able to overcome the Democrats' backlash as well as their own side's self-anathema.

So, again, congratulations Senator Baldwin!

Isn't It Ironic....

Don't Ya Think?....a little too ironic...

The "Tea Party Express" hate group led by Amy Kremer, is back!!  This time, these out of state agitators are endorsing Mark Neumann for the Wisconsin Senate Seat! 

“The Tea Party is united behind Mark Neumann because he is the proven conservative in the race,” said Tea Party Express Chairman Amy Kremer in a statement. “Mark earned the support of the Tea Party Express, and Tea Party members from every corner of Wisconsin, because he is the only one with a plan that cuts spending, balances the budget and repeals ObamaCare. He understands that we must get back to Constitutional principles in Washington. And, he is the one we can trust to stand up to Barack Obama.”

 Of course that is utterly ridiculous, but so is this....the Wisconsin "tea party" he one funded and founded by the Koch Brothers, with the vermin tim phillips at the head nationally, did not agree.   See The billionaires, want the multi-millionaire Eric Hovde to be Wisconsin's next Senator.  So they sent this letter to whoever seemed to care:

See the Out of State "tea party" wants a Wisconsin Candidate to be the next Wisconsin Senator, but the local "leaderless" "tea party" sent by paid state "leaders" wants the out of state people to stay out of our race so they can support the out of state candidate, Eric Hovde.     

It is amazing they coined the term for election season "the silly season" before the "tea party" came into existence!

By the way, isn't Jeff Fitzgerald running for Senate???  

Breaking News!!

thanks to the Democrats taking over the Senate and getting the documents regarding the redistricting that should have been released all along, we found out some earth shattering news! 

1. Republicans Lied to the people of Wisconsin:

2/7/12 - Jeff Fitzgerald and Scott Fitzgerald:

 Jeff  Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, and his brother, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, told The Associated Press in an email that Republicans developed the district lines properly.

August 1, 2012 not so much:

Newly released documents show that Wisconsin legislative Republicans talked privately about using the redistricting process to keep GOP incumbents from losing elections.

2. Republicans lied to a judge and ignored a court order:

Emails showing the internal debates among Republican lawyers were released this week after Senate Democrats gained the majority and took hold of the legal file and made them available to reporters. The files take up three banker boxes and several computer discs, and Democrats are putting them online so the public can easily view them.

Some of the emails appear never to have been released before. If they were not, it could spell legal woes for Republicans because of a raft of court orders to release material earlier this year. During that earlier fight over records, a panel of federal judges fined attorneys for lawmakers about $17,500 for filing frivolous motions to block the release of records.

"I have some very serious concerns about whether the Legislature was forthcoming about the documents they produced and the representations they made to the court," said Peter Earle, an attorney for immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera, which sued over the maps.

Earle and Doug Poland, an attorney for a group of Democrats who also sued over the maps, said they did not recall seeing the two email chains in which Troupis, McLeod and others discuss citizenship. Earle and Poland are checking whether they had been produced during the lawsuit.

"They appear to go right to the heart of the Voting Rights Act claims," Poland said. "It's hard to believe we would have missed something like that."

Troupis, McLeod and another attorney involved in the case did not respond to questions Thursday on whether the material had been previously released.

3.  Republicans have absolutely no problem wasting taxpayers money if it helps keep them in power:  

 The state paid Voces $185,500 because it lost the case and is in negotiations with the group Poland represents over paying its legal fees. All told, taxpayers have paid $1.6 million so far to draw the maps and contend with litigation.

4.  Then followed this all up with a massive dose of hypocrisy:  Scott Fitzgerald seriously asked Mark Miller to release all of the redistricting documents?? 

And this is just one issue! Imagine what they are doing that we do NOT know about! 

The Fall of Tommy Thompson

"A drowning man will clutch at a straw"

With the current rise of Washington DC resident Eric Hovde as the front runner  in the republican senatorial primary, Tommy Thompson sees his future in politics as non-existent.  With Time running out, Tommy is getting desperate.   Time to call in some help! 

Recently Michigan's native son Ted Nugent penned an editorial in the Cult leader Reverend Moon owned Washington Times, saying it might have been best of the South would have won.  

Chief Justice Roberts squandered the opportunity to restore judicial, financial and legislative sanity to a government that by any sane person’s standards is insane and addicted to centralized federal control of our lives.

Because our legislative, judicial and executive branches of government hold the 10th Amendment in contempt, I’m beginning to wonder if it would have been best had the South won the Civil War. Our Founding Fathers’ concept of limited government is dead.

Because of the chief justice’s vote, Fedzilla just burped and is now prepared to gobble up even more of our tax dollars, more of our GDP and limit even more opportunity in the private sector

 Tommy thompson, who is in need of help in his campaign, reads this article and decides that the person who advocates for the slave owning south to have won the civil war and says such incendiary things as this, is THE perfect person to come up to Wisconsin and rescue his falling campaign!  

Earlier this spring Nugent was in the news after comments he made saying he would be “dead or in jail by this time next year” if President Barack Obama is re-elected.

During the rally, Nugent joked that he was very politically engaged and that there were Secret Service agents in back just to prove that, which was met with laughter.

During his speech, Nugent also called the president “a Chicago gangster.”

 PERFECT, exactly what he was hoping terrible Ted said and reached exactly who he wanted to reach!  

Was Dick Morris busy??  

Isn't Jeff Fitzgerald running for Senate also???  

Tommy's New Campaign Song:

A Few Observations

1.   If Scott Walker is so wildly popular, why is former Assembly leader Jeff Fitgerald(Fitz the lesser) and one of the people most responsible for passing Scott Walker's agenda polling a whopping 6%?   Yet Washington DC resident, Eric Hovde, who had absolutely nothing to do with Scott Walker is leading in the polling?   Even the astroturf koch brother's operation, Freedomworks, run by the vile dick armey has endorsed Washington DC resident Eric Hovde!   Even paid hack and perpetual fabricator Wiggy, took a very informal poll and Fitzgerald finished a far distant fourth. 

 I guess the scott walker coattails are not very long!   Fitzgerald appears to be running on his record, it just appears as though he is running in sand(or his record is that bad).

2.  Hmmmmmmmm

3.  Eric Hovde is worse than Tommy Thompson???  

4.  Mark Neumann takes time away from hating gays to attack Eric Hovde:

5. Finally, George W. Bush was awesome!!  Just ask him.   Ummmm George:

Bush left office in 2009 with a 22 percent approval rate, making him one of history’s least-liked presidents, according to CBS News. In all, 73 percent said they did not approve of the way he ran the country for eight years.