Time For Dignity!

By Jeff Simpson

In Wisconsin's 7th District, it is time to bring dignity and competence back!

Elect this woman:

And NOT this guy:

Rep. Duffy Puts Campaign Aide "On Leave" For Misrepsentation

US Representative and former reality TV star Sean Duffy must be feeling the heat being brought by his Democratic opponent  Kelly Westlund, even though he is in what should be a safe seat due to gerrymandering.

So much so that he sent a campaign aide to be a plant in one of Westlund's events.

While that's bad enough, said aide is apparently no smarter than his boss. The fool not only agreed to be interviewed by the media, but then lied his butt off:

The man had attended an event in Marshfield on Friday for Democratic party candidate Kelly Westlund, who is challenging Duffy for the Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District.

Following the event, a News-Herald Media reporter asked the man, who had questioned Westlund about mining issues, if he would be interviewed for an article. He agreed. When asked questions about his name and why he was at the event, the man said his name was Tom Jorgenson and he had attended the event to learn more about the candidate and the issues. He said he was not from the area but in town visiting family.

A story about Westlund's campaign stop in Marshfield appeared online Friday afternoon. Shortly after it appeared, a man who had been at the event called the newspaper and spoke with the reporter. The man said the person identified as Tom Jorgenson was a Duffy campaign field director named Jake Thomfohrda.

Duffy confirmed that Thomforhrda worked for his campaign Monday.

He also looked at the reporter's cellphone photo of the man who said he was Tom Jorgenson and said that the man was Jake Thomfohrda.

It's rather telling that Duffy didn't even fire the guy but rather just put him "on leave."

Although it does make sense in a way, since Duffy has spent years misrepresenting himself as a representative of the people when he spends his time complaining that he can't possibly survive on $174,000 per year and belittling and/or avoiding his constituents.

Don't expect Duffy to ever explain why he sent his aide to the event or why he didn't just fire him outright for misrepresenting himself to the media. Duffy is very skilled at dancing around the issues, among other things.

Cross posted at Crooks and Liars

Kelly Westlund For Congress!

Compare/Contrast 7th District

 By Jeff Simpson


Who better represents the values of the great state of Wisconsin?

Kelly Westlund:





Or Sean Duffy:

We report, you decide!  Although the choice is clear! 

Emerge Wisconsin Women Make History

Big news for Emerge Wisconsin members from Dane County:

Sharon Corrigan is making history as the newly elected chair of the Dane County Board. Only one other woman -- Mary Louise Symon -- has held the post, serving from 1974 to 1980.

Corrigan was elected chair by her colleagues Tuesday at a noontime meeting of the board. The reelection of vice chair Carousel Bayrd made for another first -- this will be the only time women have occupied both top leadership posts on the board.

Corrigan is a member of the Emerge Wisconsin Board. Bayrd is an Emerge WI alumna (Class of 2009) and is currently the Vice-Chair of the Emerge Wisconsin Board.

And also in the news is the fact that Emerge WI alumna Kelly Westlund (Class of 2011), the first Emerge WI alumna to run for a federal seat as she takes on Sean Duffy in the 7th CD, was put "On the List" by EMILY's List.

As a fun fact, the two other women that were mention in the press release, Rocky Lara and Shenna Bellows are also Emerge alumnae, from New Mexico and Maine, respectively.

For full disclosure, I work for Emerge Wisconsin and couldn't be prouder of that fact.

Endorsement: Kelly Westlund For Congress

About a month ago, Kelly Westlund announced her candidacy for the 7th Congressional District. taking on incumbent Sean Duffy, best known for his gig as a reality TV star.

Kelly Westlund

Westlund was gracious enough to give me a considerable amount of her time for an interview regarding her campaign.

The first question I asked is why she chose to enter the race.  She replied that she was "frustrated that I had a representative that votes in favor of campaign donors over constituents."  She said that working people in the district were not being represented and did not have a voice in Congress.

She also stated that she did felt it was wrong that Duffy would avoid his constituents and talk down to people who would question or disagree with him.  She said that this was not the way elected officials on any level of government should treat their constituents.

Westlund is correct on this, as it has been evidenced on video repeatedly.

As an example of how out of touch Duffy is with the district, she pointed out that he voted to cut food stamps even though 1 in 4 children in the district rely on them.

She is correct on this as well.  Duffy himself expressed surprise at how many people in the district are struggling, even as he did nothing to help them with unemployment compensation.

I asked Westlund what issues were going to be primary for her campaign.

She said that she wanted to:

• Raise the minimum wage;
• Expand the Affordable Care Act to include things like a public option and the ability to negotiate on drug prices;
• Securing and expanding Social Security and Medicare; and 
• Addressing student load rates.

Regarding the student loan rates, Westlund pointed out that it was just crazy that the banks who crashed the economy get better rates than students.  

Westlund said that she is also in strong opposition to the Penokee iron mine.  She said that the districts GOP have already labeled her as being against jobs because of this, but she pointed out that the mine proponents are the ones that are willing to sacrifice jobs for the interests of an out of state company.  She said that many of the jobs up there deal with tourism, fishing and other outdoor activities.  She said that the mine presents too great of a risk to the environment and all of the jobs that rely on the pristine water, land and air which attracts so many people and businesses.

Westlund added one thing that stood out to me and would have won me over if I wasn't already leaning in her support.  

She said that the corporatization of our government - by either party - is just wrong.  She added that people need to take responsibility for government, but they can't do that when they are working two or three jobs just to make ends meet, keep a roof over their head and food on their table.

I asked Westlund what kind of reception she was getting from the people.  She told me that she was overwhelmed by the amount of support she is receiving.  She said that she is getting support from unexpected areas.  

On a humorous note, she pointed out that her parents, who are Republican, will be voting for a Democrat for the very first time.

She told me that she has already received the endorsement from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, the same group who helped Elizabeth Warren into office.

I should also point out that Jim Miller, the head of the GOP for that district, knows that Duffy is so vulnerable that at the first hint that Westlund was running, bought up all the domain names he could think of and set up a fake website.  From what I've heard, it has not been received very well.  I tried to Google the domains, but did not find any active.

Westlund has been married for four and a half years and has no children, but is very close to her niece and nephew.  

She currently holds the office of City Councilor in Ashland.  She also is experienced as a small business women, helping a local food cooperative to promote local markets and sustainability.

She has a degree in conflict resolution from Northland College, which should prove to be invaluable in Washington, D.C.  Westlund is also an alumna of Emerge Wisconsin and Leadership Wisconsin, both programs that train future leaders and will be useful in getting herself to Washington.  

In summary, I think that Westlund is a wonderful candidate and is taking all the right steps in these early stages of her campaign.  She is showing a strong connection to the people in the 7th CD.  She is taking the very important step of reaching out and wanting to hear what the people think and feel instead of telling them what they should think and feel.  She has her priorities straight and is genuine in her approach.

In light of her considerable knowledge of the issues that are most important to her constituents, her willingness to reach out and find viable solutions and her emphasis on people over corporate special interests, I am proud to endorse Kelly Westlund for Congress and hope that you will join me in doing so.

To learn more about Westlund, please visit her website and her Facebook page.  You can show your support for Westlund by making a donation and by signing up as an endorser on the PCCC page.

ADDENDUM:  Just to be careful, I confirmed with Westlund that there is nothing on the Intertubes that she might be embarrassed by.   That is something  that Duffy cannot say.

Sean Duffy: Clueless and Classless

Reality TV star Sean Duffy (T*-Kochville) sent out a holiday email in which he expressed surprise that there were poor people in his district.  He was also surprised that poor people are suffering:

During this season of joy, I find myself more aware than maybe ever before of the people in our community who are in need of great comfort this Christmas. Whether it is a mother who is struggling to pay her utility bill, or a father who is dealing with the loss of his family’s health insurance plan, this week I have been fortunate to work with many people from our community on ways we can help the neediest among us and hopefully make life a little more comfortable for them.

Building Effective Awareness: A year ago I sat down with many of the pastors in Wausau and asked them, “What are the needs in our community?” I was taken back when all of them commented on the issues of hunger and homelessness in our community. I think I’m like a lot of people in our community who don’t know the issues that a lot of people who are having a tough time are facing. I wanted to do what I could with my team to make sure we can make a difference with those who have fallen on hard times and make sure we can collaborate together on community resources. Also collaborate on the Federal and state side to make sure resources don’t just flow to the urban parts of the country but can actually come to the parts of the country that have real problems but don’t have huge staffs to cut through the red-tape.

This is coming from the same guy who was complaining how he couldn't make it on his $174,000 salary and had to drive - oh, the horror! - a used minivan!

But it shouldn't come as a surprise to Duffy at all.  Scott Walker's agenda of austerity has been repeatedly shown to be an utter failure, causing unemployment to soar across the state.  Some of the highest unemployment rates are in Duffy's own district.  For him to be surprised that there were poor people and they were hurting shows just how out of touch he is with what's going on.

But as with all things Duffy, there is more.  There is always more.

Duffy is also a raging hypocrite.

Even as people were reading the piece of tripe he sent out declaring his compassion, he was also skipping out of Washington, D.C. without lifting a finger to address the 2.2 million Americans who were about to be cut off of unemployment compensation. Because of Duffy's inaction, 24,000 Wisconsinites have were cut off of their unemployment compensation on Saturday, with another 42,000 losing their lifeline in the first half of 2014.  This number includes the 2,770 people in his new hometown of Wausau that just found themselves cut off.

Robert Mentzer, regional opinion editor for Gannett Central Wisconsin Media, wrote a compelling column discussing the folly of letting these benefits come to an end, including this snippet:

“We shouldn’t let emergency federal benefits expire,” wrote Michael R. Strain, a think-tank scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, on the conservative site, “because the same fundamental logic that led to their being (correctly) enacted still holds today: The labor market is still in bad shape, the economy is still weak, there are three times as many unemployed workers as job openings.”

Unemployment benefits require the worker to be available and able to work and to be actively searching for a job. Cutting off the benefit isn’t going to magically force all these people to find jobs. The jobs aren’t there. Instead, Strain and others argue, it will cause many workers to leave the labor force permanently, making them the problem of public and private social services agencies.

Cutting unemployment benefits, in other words, is a very expensive way to save money.

So now we see that not only is Duffy clueless and classless, he's a major spendthrift as well.

Fortunately, the good people of the 7th Congressional District can make a change for the better in 2014.

Kelly Westlund is running to unseat Duffy.  With Westlund, the people of the 7th CD would have their voices heard in Washington and would have someone fighting for them.  That is a much needed change from what they have now - just another Koch Brothers owned sockpuppet.

*T = Teapublican

Kelly Westlund is in!

By Jeff Simpson

Ashland city council member Kelly Westlund has announced she plans on challenging Sean Duffy ((R-$172k/yr is pocket change) for the 7th Congressional District!  

Ashland City Council member Kelly Westlund will announce her candidacy at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Wausau’s Labor Temple, according to a campaign release.Westland, a city council member since 2011, is a former executive director for the Alliance for Sustainability. She owns a consulting firm that works on community development projects.

Her "family values" opponent is so excited he is dancing up a storm: 

Duffy

By Jeff Simpson

In case you have not seen it, Sean Duffy made himself out to be a complete fool the other night on TV:


Tired of being embarrassed continually by the person "representing" her in Congress, Ashland Alderperson Kelly Westlund is thinking about running against him as a Democrat. Since Sean Duffy is no longer working for the people of Wisconsin, he is hard to reach for comments, however we were able to get a peak at his day!