The Kramer Canard

By Jeff Simpson

Capper had a great story about how upset the republicans are about the whole Bill Kramer fiasco - that they got caught! 

Let's take a small look at the Bill Kramer "alleged" sexual assault timeline(H/T Quint Canard):


*  Travels to a fundraiser in D.C., where he assaults one woman and harasses two others. He's ousted from majority leader post four days later, but no further sanctions are taken.


*  A woman he assaulted three years ago contacts police, and he's charged with two felonies. She had contemporaneously told an official with Waukesha Co. GOP, who not only did nothing, but continued to cheerlead for Kramer.

*  Turns out the woman in the 2011 attack worked for Sen. Ron Johnson. She told his chief of staff and he told Johnson, who did absolutely nothing.  

*  The police report!



*  The criminal complaint!

* Jakehasablog and Blue Cheddar delve more into it also.  

One final note, I called Bill Kramer's office yesterday and his staff refuses to answer any questions regarding Mr. Kramer.  They said that Kramer was "still in treatment" and that they now answer to the chief clerk. It appears the republicans are going to let Mr. Kramer skate through the rest fo the year collecting a taxpayer funded healthcare and salary!  Remember the republcians, knew about these incidences, and still voted him into Party leadership. 







  

So, Just How Upset Are The Republicans With Bill Kramer? Not Much

The Bill Kramer affair has grown to become an epic problem for the Republicans.

As the gentle reader already knows, it all started earlier this year when it was reported by Dan Bice that Kramer was accused of  sexually assaulting and harassing a legislative aide and a lobbyist at a fundraiser event in Washington, D.C.  This, of course, wasn't surprising since another incident of sexual misconduct - this time at a ALEC event - had been reported just before the Republicans voted Kramer in as Assembly Majority Leader.

Since then, we've learned that there was a third incident that happened on April 8, 2011, well before the other two incidents.  It was for this incident that Kramer is now facing two counts of Second Degree Sexual Assault.

After the February incident, Republican leaders couldn't act fast enough to remove Kramer from his leadership position.  Since the criminal charges, there's been calls for Kramer to resign or be impeached.

Kramer won't resign because he's not going to give up the money.  He needs that for his legal defense.  The Republicans aren't going to impeach him because they're still trying to keep the lid on things and prevent more damage from happening.

Not only that, but Kramer hasn't even been convicted of anything yet.  Just how scared are the Republicans?

But there's more.  There's always more.

The victim of the assaults in the criminal case was an aide to Senator Ron Johnson.  The victim had gone to her supervisor, RoJo's Chief of Staff, Tony Blando, who in turn told RoJo.  Yet neither man did anything to help her and kept it hushed up.  Worse yet, they have since blamed their silence and lack of action in protecting the victim or offering her aid on the victim herself.

Per the article, the victim also told one other person of the incident, Keith Best, the Waukesha County GOP Vice Chairman, who was also at the events where the assaults were supposed to have taken place:

At the time of the alleged assault, the woman also told Waukesha County GOP vice chairman Keith Best, who had witnessed Kramer and the woman at the bar. Best didn't witness the assault but did confirm later to Muskego police that the woman and Kramer had been present at the bar that night and that the woman had later been distraught.

Best told a police officer that the incident "had been difficult for him" because Best was friends with both the woman and Kramer. He said he had seen Kramer drink too much and make inappropriate comments in the past but not be physically inappropriate.

Best told the officer that he never spoke with Kramer about the incident and that despite the alleged sexual assault, Best hoped Kramer's promotion to Assembly majority leader would "give Kramer the motivation to 'clean up his act,'" according to the police report.

Best did not respond to requests for comment.

So Best knew of the incident on the date it happened, but did nothing? I would think just as a human being, much less an officer of his party, he would have had to taken some action. But Best, who is also known to be a member of the extremely hateful group of knotzies, did not take any action.

Well, I take that back.

Best did indeed take action. Since the time of the April 8, 2011 incident, he donated at least four times to Kramer's campaign fund:

• 8/24/11 - $100
• 7/27/12 - $75
•  7/6/13 - $50
• 7/31/13 - $100

Contrary to Best's statement in the article, he wasn't having to much difficulty about Kramer's behavior now, was he?  Seems like he was rather OK with it, in fact.

Now, anyone with any experience in politics know that gossip is a staple for any political group or organization.  It would be a pretty safe bet that this story had made its rounds through the party and back, especially within the Waukesha County GOP.  So here is some of the more notable donations made to Kramer since the incident in April 2011:

• John Macy, Chair of the Waukesha County GOP gave Kramer $250 each time on 9/6/11, 6/15/12 and 6/3/13;
• Don Taylor, former Chair of Waukesha County GOP and who is credited for deepening the red in the 262 area code, gave Kramer $250 on 7/27/12 and $125 on 7/25/13;
• John Hiller, Scott Walker's former campaign treasurer, gave Kramer $500 on 12/2/11;
• Shawn Reilly, who was just elected as mayor for the City of Waukesha, gave Kramer $250 each time on 9/23/11; 7/18/12 and 6/3/13;
• Margaret Farrow, former Lieutenant Governor, gave Kramer $250 each on 10/28/11 and 8/14/12 and another $50 on 7/25/13;
• James Klauser, major power broker with WISGOP, gave Kramer $100 on 7/24/12 and $50 on 7/6/13;
• Steven Foti, known for his involvement with the original caucus scandal, gave $500 to Kramer on 8/21/12;
• Daniel Le Mahieu, Assembly Representative from the 59th District, gave Kramer $50 on 8/26/13; and
• Michael Grebe, head of the Bradley Foundation and Chair of Scott Walker's last to campaigns, gave Kramer $250 on 6/3/13.

Also of interest is that the Koch Industries PAC gave Kramer $500 on 2/24/12.

Not only were a number of Teapublicans were happy to give Kramer money, they were even happier to take money from him.  Some of the groups benefiting from Kramer are listed below. Please note that they have all kept the money, to the best of my knowledge:

• Marquette University's College Republicans received $100 each on 4/11/11 and 9/32/12;
• WISGOP received $7,500 each on 1/19/12 and 10/10/12;
• Waukesha County GOP received $300 on 9/20/11, $1,000 on 3/9/12, $250 on 10/1/12; $1,000 on 2/8/13 and $300 on 9/20/14; and
• The 1st District Republican Party of Wisconsin received $250 on 7/21/13 and $125 on 10/818/12.

Irony alerts on the next two!

• The Wisconsin Federation of Republican Women received $150 on 3/21/12; and 
• The Marathon County Republican Women received $500 on 10/18/12.

The following are donations Kramer made to individual campaigns. Those that were guilted or savvy enough to return the money are noted. All others kept their loot:

• Dan Trawicki, Waukesha County Sheriff got $75 on 9/30/11, which he returned;
• Representative Mary Czaja received $500 which she returned. (Interestingly, she returned it on 10/11/12. What did she know and when did she know it?);
• Representative Rob Swearingen received $500 on 7/14/12 and returned it;
• Representative Alvin Ott received $500 on 7/24/12;
• Representative John Jagler received $500 on 8/15/12. He returned it 8/15/12. Again, what did he know that he returned it so fast?;
• Former candidate Pat Snyder received $500 on 8/15/12 and returned it;
• Representative Rob Hutton who received $500 on 8/15/12;
• Representative Joe Sanfelippo received $500 on 8/15/12 and has returned it;
• Representative Mark Born received $500 on 8/15/12 and has returned it;
• Candidate Nancy Vander Meer (rerun candidate for the 70th AD) received $500 on 8/15/12;
• Representative Adam Neylon received $500 on 2/20/13 and has returned it;
• Shawn Reilly, Mayor-elect for the City of Waukesha, received $250 on 9/16/13;
• Representative Jessie Rodriguez received $500 on 10/24/13;
• Representative Robert Kulp received $500 on 10/24/13;
• Lieutenant Governor Becky Kleefisch received $50 on 8/12/13; and 
• Brad Schemel, Waukesha County District Attorney and candidate for Wisconsin Attorney General received $500 on 11/22/13.  He later returned the money.

I find it very interesting that Mary Czaja and John Jagler returned their donations early on. What did they know and when did they know it?  And while many of the people that returned it did so only after the fecal matter struck the air circulation device, they had at least returned it.  What does it say about the people that kept that loot? 

It seems to me that a lot of people in the Republican Party, especially those in Waukesha County, has a lot of explaining to do to their voters and members.  

It also seems to me that some of these people, like John Macy and Keith Best should just resign from their positions now.  Macy is a municipal attorney for several communities and knows the laws.  They are both officers of the party and know their bylaws better than anyone.

And if they don't step down and the party takes no action, well, that will only mean that they are OK with the sexual assaults and harassment done by Kramer.  Then again, as Jeff Simpson pointed out, Kramer has already been portrayed as the face of the Waukesha County GOP.

Then again, that should surprise no one either, given their acceptance of the rape culture.