Wi Politics - Recycle, Rinse, Repeat

By Jeff Simpson

Time to clear out my open tabs and catch up on sme news stories that might be flying under the radar a bit. 

* Politifact Jumped The Shark: 

Randy Bryce, candidate for the 1st CD, recently said:

McKinnon: So you're not a politician?
Bryce: No, and I think that's what people like. But I mean, people voted for Trump because he was seen as a non-establishment type guy.

One thing our WImedia does not like, is anyone talking bad about the Golden Boy - Paul Ryan,   Bryce has done that,  so Politifact decided to "test" Bryce's statement that he is not a politician. 

Their findings - because he has run for previous elected positions, that saying he was not a politician was mostly false! 

Bryce, a single father who has lost every election he has ran in, is considered a politician?  I researched politifact and Tom Kertscher, and find them to be a right wing leaning political tool. 

This is the same outfit that said it was false that Scott Walker cut a billion dollars from education and "fact checked" his claim that he paid $1 for a shirt from Kohl's and gave it a "True" rating without any evidence of seeing a receipt or the actual price tag of the sweater.    Perpetually protecting the right wing in Wisconsin. 

Recycle, Rinse, Repeat! 

*  Hariah Hutkowski, proud Walker supporter, former alderman from Sun Prairie and long time political staffer(for Jeremy Thiesfeldt), was recently fired - for being creep. 

"A Republican legislative staffer was fired amid harassment concerns this month — the same day an open records request was filed asking for information about complaints against the aide. Hariah Hutkowski, a staffer for state Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-Fond du Lac), was dismissed May 3, Assembly Chief Clerk Patrick Fuller said. That was the day the Journal Sentinel filed an open records request for employee complaints against Hutkowski as well as documents from investigations prompted by any complaints.   

Another long time Republican and predator, was kept on until his actions became public then was thrown under the bus.   
 
Recycle, Rinse, Repeat! 

Who is this long time "conservative" player in WISGOP politics?  Exactly who you would expect him to be.

 council member Hariah Hutkowski stands out for his far-right agenda. He has a degree in political management from the Pat Robertson School of Government at Regent University in Virginia and works as a legislative aide to Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-Fond du Lac), who led the charge to repeal the state's comprehensive sex education law. Hutkowski worked previously for Wisconsin Family Action, the socially conservative group that championed Wisconsin's constitutional gay marriage ban and is currently fighting to overturn the state's domestic partner registry.

*  An almost daily headline that does not make anyone even blink anymore:

White supremacist on probation for assaulting a woman at a Trump rally headed to jail for attacking his wife 

I would say that headline is all you need to see, but as we say:

There is more, there's always more! 

Louisville, Kentucky’s WDRB reported Tuesday that white nationalist Matthew Heimbach will serve 38 days in jail after he attacked his wife in front of their two small children over a bizarre love triangle with the TWP’s other co-founder.
The TWP dissolved after a March incident in which Heimbach attacked his own wife after Matt Parrott, the group’s co-founder (who was also his son-in-law), found out he’d been having an affair with his wife. Parrot’s wife is the mother of Heimbach’s wife, and when their affair was discovered, the soon-to-be-jailed white nationalist attacked his co-founder.

#MAGA  #itsafamilyaffair  #recyclerinserepeat #wonderiftheyarerelatedtothepalins

*   Another school shooting, this time in Texas where a junior, killed 10 people and injured another 10.   The tone deafness of the media in our country is on full display here. 

From the story: 

The teen had no previous criminal history and there were no warning signs of the attack, he said.

Also from the same story 

  -  There also is a search warrant out for Pagourtzis' vehicle. He had written in journals and on his computer that he wanted to commit the shooting and commit suicide afterward, Abbott said.     -  Pagourtzis, a junior, shared photographs on a now-defunct Facebook page of a T-shirt that said "born to kill" and clothes adorned with German nationalist iconography.

I know we have gotten to the point where we think, white nationalists are "very fine people" and that they have a right to speak in any platform they want without repercussions, heck we even legislated that in WI(thanks Robin Vos).   
It would seem simple enough to me that if someone is worshipping German Nationalist, you would know what their intentions are.
However, since 1/3 of Americans do not believe 6 million Jews were slaughtered during the Holocaust, we see that the Republican attacks on education are having a real effect on our country and it is not a positive one. 

Recycle, Rines, Repeat!

*  As I have stated numerous times, hate talk radio and far right TV Stations, and even the Donald, squawking 24/7 about how the Democrats are the enemy and coming to take our freedoms and guns away is having deadly consequences. 

As the Las Vegas Shooter was reported to have said:

Less than a month before he killed 58 people and injured hundreds more at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas, Stephen Paddock ranted to a new friend about a supposed government plot to confiscate guns from the American public. The man, whose statement is among many released by investigators this week, told authorities that he met Paddock just weeks before the massacre after the 58-year-old answered an online ad for “schematics to convert semi-automatic guns to fire automatically,” the AP reports.
The man, whose identity is redacted, spoke to authorities in a jailhouse interview after getting arrested on a “possession charge.” He told police during the interview that he was an unemployed chef who’d become desperate for cash after his trust fund ran dry.
The man said in their conversations Paddock ranted about a popular right-wing conspiracy theory that claims FEMA’s actions after Hurricane Katrina were “a dry run for law enforcement and military to start kickin’ down doors and … confiscating guns.”
“Somebody has to wake up the American public and get them to arm themselves,” Paddock said, according to the man. “Sometimes sacrifices have to be made.”

The only thing that has been sacrificed, with the takeover of public airwaves by Republican Hate Talk, is the truth and logic. 

Recycle, Rinse Repeat!   

* Everytime that you skip a rock on the water, you are speeding up our demise! 

"What about erosion?" Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), offered during the exchange. He added: "Every time you have that soil or rock, whatever it is, that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise because now you've got less space in those oceans because the bottom is moving up.

It has nothing at all to do with Global Climate Chang but everything to do with the waves crashing into the shore and rocks being brought back into the water. 

It is incredible that the country that was first to the moon.  The Country that stepped up when our President challenged us:

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

We met the challenge to be the first one on the moon, now we elect people who ridicule NASA and send the least smartest people in the state to Congress and have them decide the career paths of our most brilliant.   

Recycle, Rinse, Repeat! 

To be fair though, in case 97% of the Scientists are all wrong and this guy is right, I will be starting a letter writing campaign to make peeing in waterways illegal.   #dontpeeinthewater

* Finally, just to show that this is bipartisan(even if heavily weighted to the right), the Democrats are working hard to snatch defeats from the jaws of victory. 

Running against Sean Duffy, is Margaret Engebretson. Engebretson is a solid progressive, great on the issues and everything that is good about the Democratic Party. 

Then she announces that she has hired Kristen Hansen:

Margaret Engebretson for Congress is with Joel Sipress.
May 14 at 7:35am ·
We are pleased to announce that Kristin Hansen has joined Margaret's campaign in the role of Campaign Director. Kristin is a veteran of Wisconsin politics who has served in a multitude of campaigns for congressional, senate, and presidential candidates. She will be developing strategies for voter engagement, fundraising, and volunteer action for Margaret's campaign. Please join us in welcoming Kristin on board!

Whis Kristen Hansen, this pillar of Democratic politics in WI?  She used to be the WISDEMS chair of the 5th CD and took to twitter, when Bernie Sanders won the Wisconsin Primary:

 - Can we get hair and makeup into this Sanders event? Thanks.
-  There's only 1 Democrat running for POTUS -  @HillaryClinton. I'm done pretending this is a primary. It's a hostile takeover. #fightback
-  Things I am no longer doing: pretending the Dem race isn't over, being nice to Bernie Bros, nod and smile at misogynists. #emancipation
- You know why we have superdelegates? Because people who are NOT Democrats and don't give a shit about the party can run AS Dems and fuck us.
 - Dear Sen Sanders: I will not let you destroy our party. You were never with us: 'It will be a contested convention'  Ok

Nothing like hiring someone to develop strategies to reach out to voters with that kind of record.   "Hello, I know i told you to FOFF after the primary and liked to ridicule you but would love to sit down and have a conversation about how we can work together to fix the state". 

Not sure that is the best pitch.   At least there is always Bon Iver:

If you want to win elections as a progressive, stop recycling the same people that have been largely responsible for the Democrats demise. 

Recycle, Rinse Repeat! 

 

  

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.

Testimony

By Jeff Simpson

I recently went to the Capitol to testify against the latest Republican attempt to eliminate local control and control our lives via #ALEC.

This was my first time ever testifying at the Capitol and after some reflection, I have a few thoughts about it.

The committee I testified in front of was the Assembly Committee on Education. The committee consist of:

Representative Thiesfeldt (Chair)

Representative Kitchens (Vice-Chair)

Representative Jagler

Representative Knudson

Representative Rodriguez

Representative R. Brooks

Representative Horlacher

Representative Murphy

Representative Quinn

Representative Hutton

Representative Duchow

Representative Pope

Representative Sinicki

Representative Genrich

Representative Barnes

Representative Considine

The Bill I testified against was AB481:

Relating to: limitations on borrowing by school districts and the use by school districts of resolutions and referenda to authorize bonding for capital projects or increase revenue limits and scheduling of school district referendums to exceed revenue limits.

My thoughts:

1.  By the time I arrived(I was the last to testify) many in the committee were not even there.  The ones who were there were perpetually leaving and coming back, in mid speaker, and talking amongst themselves.  

It seems to me that it defeats the purpose of having "experts" and the public take time out pf their day to testify on a bill, when the committee hearing your testimony is not really interested.    I wonder if they would get up and leave during an ALEC convention or if Scott Jensen was in their office, giving them their to do lists? 

I also find it ironic on a bill where they are claiming to protect the taxpayers, they are not really interested in hearing from taxpayers.   

2.  In the interest of full disclosure, Rep. Sinicki sent me a message apologizing for missing my testimony and the reason why.   While I do not think any rep owes me a personal apology or excuse(although I did appreciate it), I do think that every member of the committee should have a public notice of WHY they are not there during testimony of a bill.   They owe the State of Wisconsin the ability to listen to every aspect of an important bill like this before blindly passing/voting down on partisan lines.  

3.  When I arrived, a staffer had arrived before me handing Rep. Jagler a bag from Subway with a 6nch sandwich and chips.   While it is nice that he uses his taxpayer paid staff to serve him lunch,  what was even more telling was the profit in that sub sandwich.   

A subway 6" value meal is $6.00 at most Subway's.   From John Jagler's home town of Watertown, WI to the State Capitol is 27 miles, which at 20 MPG is approximately a gallon and a half of gas (Approximately $3.00 in gas).    For those scoring at home that is $9.00 and change.

Rep. Jagler after the last election was part of the Assembly that voted themselves a 133% increase in daily pay.   

The Assembly is planning to increase the amount members can collect for overnight stays in Madison from $88 to $138.
It would be the first such increase since 2001, when an Assembly committee set the rate for what is known as a per Diem at $88 for lawmakers outside Dane County and $44 for Dane County lawmakers.
Per Diem's are a fixed amount meant to cover food and lodging costs while lawmakers are in Madison doing state business.

That is a profit of $128  Wisconsin taxpayer dollars to sit and occasionally listen to the taxpayers and citizens of WI give their opinions on major bills.  No wonder they needed a raise, a $78 daily profit just was not cutting it.

3.   I also find it ironic that a group of legislators who continually stick bad policy items in the budget(despite promising they would never do that), now are trying to make it illegal that school spending referendums are allowed to be voted on by the public.  

4.   Has anyone ever changed their mind based on public testimony by someone who was not a major campaign donor?

5.  In my time there. listening to people testify and listening to everyone who signed up for/or against the bill and it was overwhelmingly against.  There was only one person who registered FOR the bill and he did not testify.   It was Eric Bott.  

What were some of your experiences testifying?

Thiesfeldt V Ryan

 

By Jeff Simpson

Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-ALEC) has taken time away from reading Alec emails that are sent to his personal email to write a blistering criticism of the George Bush written and Paul Ryan(R-Ayn Rand) supported No Child Left Behind republican education policy!

The near-unanimous adoption of CCS came from recession cash-strapped states eager for bothfederal stimulus funds, and a waiver from the heavy hand of No Child Left Behind.

Of Course Paul Ryan (R-Standardized tests) was a big supporter of No Child Left Behind and the heavy hand of the Federal Government!    Apparently the "tea party" that keeps having Paul Ryan speak at their events are not that opposed to the heavy hand of the government if its done by republicans! 

In the interest of limited government and freedom, Jeremy Thiesfeldt supports Rob Zerban and you should too!  








   

Paul Ryan on Education
Rep. Ryan went along with the Bush Administration in supporting more federal involvement in education. This is contrary to the traditional Republican position, which included support for abolition of the Department of Education and decreasing federal involvement in education.
-Voted YES on No Child Left Behind Act (2001)
- See more at: http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2012/08/paul-ryan-not-opponent-big-government-left-and-right-make-him-out-be#sthash.ycclu7wo.dpuf

Paul Ryan on Education
Rep. Ryan went along with the Bush Administration in supporting more federal involvement in education. This is contrary to the traditional Republican position, which included support for abolition of the Department of Education and decreasing federal involvement in education.
-Voted YES on No Child Left Behind Act (2001)
- See more at: http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2012/08/paul-ryan-not-opponent-big-government-left-and-right-make-him-out-be#sthash.ycclu7wo.dpuf

Paul Ryan on Education
Rep. Ryan went along with the Bush Administration in supporting more federal involvement in education. This is contrary to the traditional Republican position, which included support for abolition of the Department of Education and decreasing federal involvement in education.
-Voted YES on No Child Left Behind Act (2001)
- See more at: http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2012/08/paul-ryan-not-opponent-big-government-left-and-right-make-him-out-be#sthash.ycclu7wo.dpuf

Paul Ryan on Education
Rep. Ryan went along with the Bush Administration in supporting more federal involvement in education. This is contrary to the traditional Republican position, which included support for abolition of the Department of Education and decreasing federal involvement in education.
-Voted YES on No Child Left Behind Act (2001)
- See more at: http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2012/08/paul-ryan-not-opponent-big-government-left-and-right-make-him-out-be#sthash.ycclu7wo.dpuf

Common Core Continued

By Jeff Simpson

I wrote about Scott Walker wanting to overturn Common Core State Standards this morning.

It turns out that was just the tip of the iceberg, as Andy @Wisoapbox explores this issue in depth and puts all other bloggers and media in WI to shame.

 I recommend reading the WHOLE piece but I will share a couple highlights here!    

The first that stood out to me was Captain Voucher, Jeremy Thiesfeldt's attempt to rebrand Common Core STATE Standards to just Common Core Standards to fit better into his narrative.   WISB outted him.

“I was pleased to hear that Gov. Walker called on the legislature to pass a bill in January repealing the Common Core Standards (CCS). I look forward to promptly tackling this issue as our first priority in response to the governor’s appeal.  

Notice how he doesn't say "state" standards. That's a VERY specific and important change conservatives are trying to do in "un-localizing" the Common Core STATE Standards.

Wisconsin’s educational standards need to be improved, but Wisconsin students are best served by standards created within our own state. 

Unfortunately, the Democratic party has decided not to run anyone against Thiesfeldt so all we can do is look at his blatant dishonesty in awe.  

Secondly WISB has a major coup.  It turns out Scott Walker was for CCSS before he was against them:

Also, Walker's statement calling for dumping Common Core comes after he has worked with the state DPI for the past several years on education reform issues that all hinge on successful implementation of the standards. 

But, but what?! Oh, so Gov. Walker was for it before he was against it? (Oh 2004 Kerry campaign.) Seriously, if anyone wanted to know why he wasn't saying much about Common Core before now, this is why - He actually worked with them and utilized them in a lot of what he did with respect to school accountability.

In his 2011-'13 budget veto message to the Assembly, Walker wrote that his budget supported greater accountability and performance in K-12 education by "investing $15 million in the development of a statewide student information system and requiring the Department of Public Instruction to implement new pupil assessment based on mastery of Common Core Standards by 2014-15."

D'OH.  As I always say, whats a few million taxpayer dollars if it will help further Scotty's career?

Using our children as political props and catering the anti intellectuals in the tea party is a sure fire loser in November, let's make sure this backfires on them big time!

Common Clowns With No Standards!

By Jeff Simpson

For those of you who have and have not been following the state of education in the country and in our state, one of the debates right now is a set of Common Core State Standards, that every state is trying to adopt so kids graduate high school with a basic understanding of how the world works.  Whether you grow up in Janesville, WI, Detroit Michigan, Rockland County, New York, or South Alamo, Texas there are basic math, reading writing skills that everyone will have.

The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.

The theory is that we as a country have too much invested in our youth that when someone graduates West Bend high school and thinks that dinosaurs lived with man only a few thousand years ago that kind of ignorance harms us all.   

It seems as though anti-intellectualism has become standard practice in politics today.   Some of it can be attributed to the education vampire profiteers like former convicted felon Scott Jensen who prefers public education money in his pocket instead of your kids classroom.  We can also contribute it to the failed state of our politics when we have serious candidates for president say things like this:

A little refresher course on Common Core, it originated as a republican idea: 

 On the face of it, Republicans should love the Common Core State Standards. Eisenhower called for higher education standards in response to Sputnik. Reagan decried that U.S. standards were too low. Conservatives have railed against lax standards, zero accountability and bloated education budgets for decades. We want measurable results, bottom-line solutions, and we don’t want them come from Washington.

Common Core does that. Developed by teachers, created by the states, it provides the kind of education that big business and colleges are demanding.

 The initiative started in 1989 when President Bush (the elder) hosted a summit of governors to develop higher standards for public education. The idea came to fruition in 2007 when the National Governors Association (led by Sonny Perdue) created standards for English and math.

The goal? To create graduates with the necessary skills to be employable by businesses or go to college. Funded by big business, with 10,000 different inputs by ordinary parents and teachers, developed by teachers, benchmarked against competitive foreign countries, the group created a yardstick that could measure every student across the nation.

 Up until that point, Republicans who knew about Common Core were unified behind the zero-budget, state-led initiative to an education system we’ve been trying to fix for generations. We welcomed these standards because they’d finally make all schools across the nation equally accountable – not to the meddlesome feds – but to 46 of our fellow states.

Then something devastating to Common Core happened.  President Obama endorsed it!  As "tea party" republican school board member Dan Belton from Rural Georgia says:

Then Obama endorsed the initiative, and conservatives turned against it.

 I wish they’d look closer. I’d be annoyed if Obama announced he was suddenly a Braves fan. But that wouldn’t make me cheer for the Mets. That is the kind of backwards logic that some are now employing.

 Obama did not develop Common Core. It is not a federal program. Not one federal official was on any of the teams that created these standards.

 “But, wait!” you say. “The feds are controlling Common Core by using Race to the Top money!” Yes, that is one way federal money can be earned, but it is not the only way. Virginia, for example, won that money while rejecting Common Core.

 “But the curriculum tells teacher what to teach!” Actually, Common Core isn’t even a curriculum. It is a set of standards that each child needs to know. One teacher put it this way, "It's not about how to teach; it's about where students need to be by the time that teaching is done."

 It’s the end zone - home plate - the goalie’s net. It’s a yardstick that nearly every state agreed upon; a goal that is much harder than before.

 Now let's bring it back to WI where a group of "tea party" laggards are foaming at the mouth upset that we would even think about implementing anything the current President of the United States would endorse.  They pressured the extremist elements of the current republican party(which is most of them) and they forced statewide hearings on common core.

Unfortunately, for the children of Wisconsin, these hearings turned out to be as big of a sham as everything the republicans have done in the last three years.   It was so bad that Rep. Christine Sinicki quit the common core committee because nothing was being accomplished but a bunch of paid goons from out of state were the only ones being allowed to talk!

The John Birch Society, a conservative political advocacy group, paid experts to testify against the controversial Common Core academic standards in public hearings last week, which Sinicki called “immoral” in her resignation letter to committee chairs Sen. Paul Farrow, R-Pewaukee, and Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, R-Fond du Lac.
“It has become painfully clear that this committee and its activities are occurring at the behest of interested parties outside of this Legislature, and even this state,” Sinicki said in her letter.
Sinicki said in her letter she would not sit on a committee that involves itself with “extreme” interest groups during legislative hearings but does not pay attention to the teachers and administrators affected by the standards.

(Edit Note: In case you don't know the history of John Birch Society - it is not pretty)

After the right wing extremist were able to force the republican party to hold sham hearings, that was not enough.  Now somewhere around 60 of these extremist groups and their laggard heads all signed a letter asking Governor Walker to display his "unintimidated" principles and not implement it!  

Nor could they better embody the principles that must guide you, Wisconsin’s chief

executive, in boldly rejecting Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in this state

.

Governor Walker, we ask that you match your bold words with decisive leadership and action on the most important issue that will ever be before you in your current office: the future of the children of Wisconsin

Yes a sane person would think they were talking about the devastating effects of his voucher school program on Wisconsin Students. but they are talking about Common Core.  

As HuffPo points out:

The Common Core State Standards have been adopted in more than 40 states and are being taught to the same benchmarks. While the standards are typically seen as more rigorous than what most states previously used, in Wisconsin, some critics are arguing the standards are too mild and represent an example of federal overreach.
On Tuesday, the groups sent Walker a letter asking him to encourage the legislature to pass a bill rejecting the Common Core Standards, even though the state adopted the voluntary benchmarks in 2010.
 Schools in Wisconsin have already spent about $25 million on the standards’ implementation process, the AP notes.

Whats $25 million in Wisconsin taxpayer money to the "tea party" anyway?  they have proven that no amount of money matters when it comes to their agenda.

Their hilarious, yet scary letter can be found here.    

A couple quick thoughts on their letter:

* The people that loved No Child Left Behind now are upset with testing in schools?  Huh?

*  Don't tell us about Wisconsinites are against it when you have a letter signed with "expert witnesses" from Utah.

*   Anytime the cowardly Orville Seymour's name is attached then you know its a joke. 

*   The Southern Poverty Law center, who tracks domestic terrorist groups, tells us that one telling sign of an American dangerous hate group is the word "patriot" in their title.

Finally why do we need Common Core? Back to Ben Belton:

 Why is this necessary? Nationwide, only 75 percent of ninth graders graduate from high school. Only 19 percent of our graduates are ready for college, only 44 percent enter college and only 21 percent earn a degree. Shockingly, 35 percent aren’t educated enough to enter the military. The United States is 25^th among developed countries in math and 21^st for science.

Over 600,000 jobs remained vacant last year because no one was educated enough to fill them. If you think those stats are good enough, then, yeah…Common Core is a horrible idea.

 Common Core gets rid of No Child Left Behind. The dirty little secret is that although the feds administered that very unpopular reform program, they let the each state decide what their individual standards were.

The result? Some states made their standards hard and others quite easy, making it impossible to compare one state to another.

 Common Core isn’t mandatory. State leaders, accountable to their constituents, can withdraw at any time. Which states opted out? Texas, Alaska, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Virginia -- evenly matched between Red and Blue.

Common Core only involves English and math. It does not include social studies or science and probably never will.

 In a nation like France, where people rarely move much from place to place, having national standards isn’t a big deal. In America, where children commonly move thousands of miles from state to state, it’s absolutely essential. Our tiny, rural system has dozens of children moving from out of state every month. Finding that your child is one or two years behind another state is extremely common. 

 I’ve talked to a lot of teachers about Common Core. Their biggest concern? That we’ll scrap it and start over (yet again) with something else. Georgia DOE is famous for rolling out plan after plan without sticking to anything more than a year or two. Teachers have been using these standards over a year. It would be a crime to derail them yet again.

 Some parents complain it’s too hard or too confusing. Welcome to the 21^st century! Our students will either rise to the challenge of the ever-competitive global marketplace or America will fail. Staying the course towards pale mediocrity is not a plan.

 Measuring performance is the cornerstone of accountability. Imagine if the Crimson Tide refused to play anyone outside the state of Alabama! How could they possibly say they were the best team in the nation? States must be able to compete and measure themselves against other states. Every Republican knows that.

Sorry Ben, the republican party of your youth is no longer around. The logical conservative elephant is as extinct as the Zanzibar leopard!  

If Scott Walker listens to this surly group of half wits, anti intellectuals, radicals, subversives and antagonists then it will prove that Scott Walker is not only out of touch with what Wisconsinites truly feel, but that he is completely unfit for duty!









  

PS:  To our friends on the right who signed the letter:  Keep Writing them!  PLEASE!