Beware of Trackers

By Jeff Simpson

For those who do not pay that close attention to politics and hardly know the inside workings of campaigns.  There is a fairly consistent phenomena of campaigns sending a kid to video their opponents hoping to film them doing or saying something dumb so that they can make an ad/issue out of a misstep during the election. 

It is so much easier to use millions to smear your opponent for a misstep, than it is to let everyone judge you on your policy positions.

Mahlon, had a "tracker" following him around with a camera and decided to turn it around and film the tracker(Video here). 

Mitchell started filming Republican operative Ben Stelter, and asking him a couple questions:

The video shows Stelter videotaping Mitchell. Mitchell starts asking him who he works for and how much he’s paid. Stelter responds that he doesn’t make as much as Mitchell makes as a firefighter and president of the state firefighter union.
Stelter then climbs into his car and drives off as Mitchell asks why he follows him around.

 You can say that it is just the way politics works, but I would submit that I am curious why it took Mitchell so long to confront him and that allowing these guys to follow you around is downright dangerous. 

In the era of concealed carry, if the "tracker" does not have to identify themselves, how would you know who he was?

Do you just assume that he is assigned by the opposition.  What if he is someone that has believe the hype and believes that Democrats are the enemy of the people and is there on his own?  What if something Mitchell says while having conversations at the doors triggers him?  Has anyone done a background check on Ben?  How much does he agree with Ted Nugent?  Gabby Giffords showed us that it is dangerous to be a Democrat in public.  

We also were witness recently to the Stand Your Ground/Castle Doctrine GOP law in action.  

Markeis McGlockton was shot and killed July 19 outside a convenience store in Clearwater by Michael Drejka, sheriff's detectives say, after McGlockton shoved Drejka to the ground for confronting McGlockton's girlfriend over a parking space.Drejka was not arrested, with the Pinellas County sheriff saying the "stand your ground" law appears to give him immunity because he feared a further attack.
Sheriff's detectives said Drejka, 47, approached Jacobs while McGlockton and the couple's 5-year-old son went into the store. Drejka and Jacobs began arguing about her parking in a handicapped parking space.Jacobs concedes she parked in a handicapped spot outside the Circle A Food Store in Clearwater, and told "Good Morning America" this week that Drejka pulled up in a silver SUV and began yelling and cursing at her."(McGlockton) comes out and sees a guy yelling at me and I'm sitting in the car. So, by this time, my man is defending me and defending his children so he pushes the guy down," she told the ABC show.Jacobs said her two younger children were in the car with her.

We see in the video that Mahlon Mitchell took, when he asked Stelter, who he was working for, Stelter cowered in fear and ran to his car and drove away.  

How long until they send a kid who when he gets acknowledged, or asked a question, feels his life is threatened and takes steps to "defend himself"?  How long until a crowd gathers around the tracker and he slips and pulls his gun?   A privileged white boy introvert, following a Democrat of color who he has learned to fear and conditioned to think of as the enemy, in a diverse or less affluent neighborhood. while concealed carrying could lead to disaster.

While I personally believe that its a lowlife, TMZ thing to do by following someone around perpetually with a camera, I also realize that politics is a unique sport and logic and common sense is not allowed.

My suggestion would be that if a political party, or politician, sends someone to be a "tracker" they should be vetted and have to wear ID that is out in the open.  Or we will end up with this soon:  

When you have this happen at a rally for the GOP Presidential nominee and his response is he promises to pay the legal bills of anyone else who does so, you can not be to careful. 

Hopefully we look back upon Mahlon Mitchell confronting his tracker as a break water point in making candidates safer as they run for office.


Edit note: How could a guy who feels he needs security with him at all time send some young introverted possible psycho to follow Democratic Candidates wherever they go? 

No Time To Despair

I know it has been a rough week for the democratic party in Wisconsin but now is NOT the time to despair. I know I was in a funk last week when I wrote this piece.  What got me to step out of said funk, was to have the republicans start gloating and telling the dems how to run elections. 

First of all it was not as resounding of  a defeat as the republicans make it out to be.   The democrats did flip the Wisconsin State Senate! That is no small feat in itself.  

Secondly, many people on the left and the right have been saying the democrats have "no bench".  While I do think that there is always room for improvement, and I would love to see more people get involved in politics on a local and statewide level, I find this claim from the right to be downright laughable.   Lets exam this a little bit closer. 

It was a year ago that Wisconsin had their first round of recalls.   This was before the recall petitions were scrutinized so the republicans actually were able to file petitions to recall 3 democrats (as opposed to 6 republicans).   All three democrats easily held their seats, while 2 of 6 republican seats were flipped.  Keeping in mind that in terms of money and name recognition and the way the system has been set up(by the incumbents) it is virtually impossible to beat an incumbent (recall or regular election).

So instead of looking at just the actual results, you have to analyze the big picture.  I wrote about it at the time:

* The Democrats have legitimate candidates and talent ready to run and serve and the Republicans do not. While the Republicans are running people like David Vanderleest, and Kim Simac, the Democrats are running people like Jess King, Fred Clark, Shelley Moore, etc… Then you can look at the “bench” of potential candidates and spokespeople where the Democrats have rising superstars like Tony Schultz and Mahlon Mitchell and the republicans have Brian Schimming.

The republicans were licking their wounds when the best they could find to run against the recalled democratic Senators were David Vanderleest who probably belongs in prison( and is thinking of running for office again), and Crazy Kim Simac, who appears to be off of her meds when she speaks.

If you want another example of the lack of talent on the republican side, look at the current race to fill Herb Kohl's US Senate seat.    The best the republican's can come up with is an unrecognizable Tommy Thompson, professional jobber Mark Neumann who no one likes and some rich guy from who lives in Washington DC.  

Excuse me for not taking you seriously when these are the kind of candidates you continue to run. 

I agree that the democrats have some serious problems that need fixing.   When an unethical, under investigation, college drop out with no real world experience and a horrendous record as a politician can get elected twice in two years as Governor of this great state, then there are serious flaws in the democratic party that need fixing.  

We know that the republicans will bury us in money in any election that they are interested in, until we fix the horrendous Citizens United decision, that is NOT going to change.    We found out that with enough money the republicans are able to turn a net loss in jobs to a "supposed strength" in their candidate.   Heck they even ran ads touting his horrendous record on jobs.  

So that being said we need to emrbace and adapt to the changing landscape.   No matter what happened, we stull have the advantage in people power.

The network of activists and enthusiasm we built up on the progressive side can not be replicated by an expensive bus and some crazy speakers. 

Some amazing people have gotten involved in politics on our side and that will all pay off in the end.  What Lori Compas did in her district was literally unprecedented.   Tell me any example of anyone on the right who has or could come close to accomplishing what Lori Compas did.  There are activist's now getting involved in even the more republican of districts and mobilizing progressive's, liberals, democrats, moderates and independents in ways that they have never been involved.   That will pay of in the end. 

We do need, and i am sure when things calm down, we will have some inflection from the democratic party.  We need better messaging and less paid consultants.   Let's hope whoever came up with the messaging in this last recall election will never work in Wisconsin politics again.  We also need the party to listen to the people more and support and embrace the grassroots activists more openly.  I would also like to see more aggressiveness from the elected officials in the party.  

We have some big hurdles to overcome, all is NOT lost for the democratic party going forward in Wisconsin.   We have the extreme advantage of a republican party that is insane and incompetent.  Now it is time to start taking advantage of that!  

My Thoughts on the Recall

First of all %^&*( ....ok thats off my chest.

1. It is sad that we not only rewarded the "divide and conquer" strategy of Scott Walker but we will continue it. We have Scott Walker on video, in numerous places and times, expkaining exactly what his plans were and what he plans to do with our state and to our workers. Of course even to this day he will not ever campaign on his actual strategy but I guess some people believe the commercials over the candidate.

 2. Debates just do not matter. Tom Barrett whipped Scott Walker in both debates handily and it did not move the needle at all. Rebecca Kleefisch is either too scared to debate or the Walker campaign would not let her, but her blatant hiding from the public had no effect on her re-election either.

3. Being outspent 10-1 made a huge difference. If you look at the exit polling, many people based their votes on issues that just were not true.

 4. The democrats had better get their messaging down and quickly. They win the issues in the polls and lose in the ballot box. Who is to blame for that is something that needs to be discussed but it is a problem that the Democratic party has had since I have paid attention to politics.

5. I do not understand how a 50/50 state, with a 50/50 exit poll results in 20 point wins for the republicans.

6. I would really like to know how Alberta Darling, who was interviewed when there was about 30% of the votes in, knew that Scott Walker(who was up 20% at the time) would end up with 53% of the vote which is exactly what he ended up with? Is she Ms. Cleo or did she know something no one else did?

 7. How bad a candidate is Van Wanggaard, that when his cohorts are winning by massive margins he loses?

 8. If you truly think that ACT 10 is "working" you have NOT been in our public schools lately. I challenge each and everyone of you who think it is working to go to your local public school and give them a days worth of volunteering. Call up the principal or your kid's teacher and ask them what you can do. It does not even matter if you have children in the district do it anyway, since not having kid's in the district did not stop you from forming an opinion on the effectiveness of ACT 10.

 9. If you truly think ACT 10 is working, educate yourself on Michael Brickman and then tell me again that Scott Walker cares about public education.

10. Does anyone really think that Foster Friess, Bob Perry, Dick Devos and Tim Phillips have the best interest of the Wisconsin Citizen in mind and thats why they gave millions?

11. Thank you very much to ALL of the volunteers who put the time and effort into collecting signatures, knocking on doors and getting people to GOTV. Many many new registered voters and people that now pay attention to politics. All things are cyclical, DO NOT GIVE UP and DO NOT GO AWAY!

12. Thank you to Lori Compas. Shame on anyone in that district that voted for Scott Fitzgerald! 

13. If you condemned the republicans for running fake democrats in the election to force a primary, feel free to come in here and complain about the cost of the recall elections. if you did not then please be quiet, your hypocrisy is showing.

14. If you are a "tea party" member trying to tell me that you are part of a grassroots movement to be more like "our Founders", and did not condemn the secrecy agreements, then please stop yourself. Nothing that has been done in the last 16 months could have been further from the Founder's original intention for our great country than to have one party sign secrecy agreements and spend millions of taxpayer dollars to write the most bitter partisan redistricting they could get away with.

15. STOP calling them "conservatives" what exactly are they conserving? Let me offer up some suggestions. Righties, right wing, republicans, extreme right, "friends" from across the aisle, red's, etc...

16. I am very proud to have stood beside, walked with and met so many great progressives in this state! Keep up the fight!

17. My Village went overwhelmingly in support of Barrett/Mitchell!  YEAH US!

18. 38% of union households voted for Walker??? Can someone please explain THAT mindset? How many chickens would vote for Colonel Sanders?

19. While I did not like some of the things that he did in the primary, I think Tom Barrett ran a pretty good campaign against Scott Walker. It was a short campaign so it would have been helpful had he started sooner. I would have also liked a stronger emphasis on returning collective bargaining rights and overturning ACT 10. We did not have to attempt to balance the budget on the backs of the working class and we do not need to in the future.

20. I look very much forward to seeing where the "John Doe" investigation takes us.

21. The wind in politics can change in a day. We have another big election in November, we can keep control of the Senate(proud to call Mark Miller Senate Majority Leader) and we can knock off some more of the assembly. We also must deliver Wisconsin for Barack Obama!

The Obligatory Why We Must Vote The Bums Out Post

I had considered to make this post just a republishing of the five reasons to recall Scott Walker, but I realized that it's a bit dated.  But I will try to make it succinct on why we need to reclaim Wisconsin.

Scott Walker


I could have listed all the reasons why Walker needs to be recalled, but by the time I got done listing them, I wouldn't be done before the polls closed and it wouldn't do you, gentle reader, a stitch of good.  So I will keep it down to three basics.

It's the Economy and Jobs, Stupid!

Just after taking office in 2011, Walker "dropped the bomb" on Wisconsin.  His bomb was the initial phase of his previously planned move to make Wisconsin a right-to-work-for-less state.  What he managed to do is take billions of dollars out of circulation so that he could pay back his wealthy campaign donors  And since 70% of the economy is made up of consumer spending, and by decreasing that spending, he's sent the state's economy into a downward spiral.

With the decreased demand which naturally comes from the decreased spending, thousands of businesses closed and tens of thousands more laid people off.  The increase in unemployment, which leads the nation, even if you use Walker's made up, unverified and unverifiable numbers.

And if reelected, Walker will pass the RTWFL law and even more people will lose their jobs and those that are lucky enough to hold onto theirs will see our salaries drop by an average of 5%, thereby accelerating a downward cycle.  And we don't need our salaries cut even more, but that is the path that Walker has already set us on.

Adding to our economic woes is the fact that, despite his false campaign statements, he has not cleared up the deficit or lowered taxes.  The deficit is actually higher than when he took office and he raised taxes on the poorest of the poor who can least afford taking all these cuts.

Our Rights

This is the part that would take forever to itemize.  Walker has not only waged war on workers rights, but also the rights of women, the elderly, the disabled, veterans, hunters and fishermen, students, college kids, microbrewers, the poor, and the unemployed.  For crying out loud, he went after every person in the state when he tried to restrict people from the People's House.  And don't even get me going on what he's done to democracy.

Corruption and Malfeasance

Many of the Walker apologists keep trying to argue that recalls should be only for illegal or unethical acts.  Besides the fact that that position is unconstitutional, we already have impeachment for those sorts of things.

But even this argument of theirs is weak, since Walker's has shown plenty of both.

He has been extremely maleficent in his overreach, his efforts to consolidate all the power in the state to his office, his attacks on our democracy and justice systems, and his movement to make this a corporately-owned state.

And for corruption, do we have to really go any further than his phone call with the phony David Koch, his cronyism, or that thing we all call Walkergate?  I mean, c'mon, the guy is on the verge of being indicted.  He has a better chance of surviving the recall than he does in avoiding indictment and incarceration.  Hell, I have a better chance of winning today's election than he does of avoiding criminal charges.

Rebecca Kleefisch

Regarding Kleefisch and her unworthiness, Recess Supervisor puts it quite plainly and harshly:

For lieutenant governor, one must seriously consider whether Rebecca Kleefisch is capable of doing anything other than putting on a plastic smile and spouting catchphrases - especially in light of Gov. Walker's potential legal issues.  The consensus opinion from those in and around the Capitol seems to be that she is not.  So why not do what many of those closest to the epicenter are doing - cast your vote for Walker, and then vote Mahlon Mitchell for lieutenant governor?  Mitchell doesn't have experience in elected office, but his career experience is certainly more in line with public service than someone who read cue cards for a living and thinks her relationship with Christ is a qualification for elected office.  

Indeed, to my mind, this is the bigger race.  If Barrett would contrive a way to lose this race, but Mitchell wins, it will be only a short time before we end up with Governor Mitchell.  That is something that I would love to see.

Scott Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald is clearly as inept, unethical and corrupt as Walker.  Not only is is he tied up in Walkergate by sharing his list of donors, but he's got a few scams of his own going on.  He's rigged a few scams of his own, including giving himself a big tax break for having "a farm" but is also rumored to be collecting his taxpayer-funded per diem and from his campaign fund for the same days and times and trips. There is also the illegal passage of the Act 10 bill and the attempts at giving our Northwoods aways to mining companies. And who could ever forget his tantrum on the senate floor regarding Kathleen Falk.

Compare that to Lori Compas, who has not only called him out on his misogynistic statements, but managed to keep her cool and use his words against him in one of the best commercials in the recall.  She has a solid grasp on how the real world works.  She will cast her votes as a senator with a clear conscious and a level head, unlike the greedy, power-hungry Fitzgerald.  She will help bring peace and prosperity back to the state, before the corporofascist regime of Fitzwalkerstan took over.

We need peace.  We need prosperity.  We need integrity and self-respect.  We won't get any of those things from Walker, Kleefisch or Fitzgerald.

Vote the bums out already, would ya?

Mahlon Mitchell - Problem Solver

Mahlon Mitchell's new ad:



Notice in the ad how Mitchell worked to solve the dispute over the mailbox? His opponent, Rebecca Kleefisch, would have accused the two men of having a lovers' spat and outlawed mailboxes for being too promiscuous.

Celebrating Freedom

From our friends in Sun Praire, WI:

Celebrate your freedom, and Recall Walker! This video is a discussion involving concerned citizens around the Sun Prairie area, regarding the current political climate in Wisconsin. Get involved, and vote Tom Barrett for Governor and Mahlon Mitchell for Lieutenant Governor on June 5th!

Also H/T to Monologues of Dissent!  Check it out if you haven't already and bookmark it!

My Conversation with Mahlon Mitchell

Last night I had the opportunity to speak with the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor, Mahlon Mitchell.

After exchanging pleasantries, we got down straight to the issues at hand.

Mitchell said that one of the biggest problems this state is facing is that we have a governor who is buddying up to billionaires to get money for his campaigning and his legal defense fund.  He went on to point out that "These are the people he represents, not the people of Wisconsin."

Mitchell also said that that state is in crisis when one looks at the huge loss of jobs which happened because of Walker's policies.  He pointed out that the job crisis stems from Walker's attack on the middle class, who are the real job creators.  He went on to say that it is the middle class that is going to spend the money which creates the demand for products.  Without the money, there is no demand, and the businesses have to lay people off and close up.  To back this up, he pointed to the thousands of businesses that are no longer here and the tens of thousands of jobs that went with them.

Mitchell said that there are a lot of people looking for jobs, but aren't receiving the education and the training that they need to fill the jobs that are available.  He pointed to one of Walker's greatest mistakes and said that he and Tom Barrett would restore money to the technical schools so that people can receive the training they need, through an academic setting and on the job training programs.

Mitchell said that we also need to repair the damage done to Wisconsin schools.  He emphasized this by stating that you can't cut education by a billion dollars and expect it to do well, much less get better.

Mitchell wrapped up by again stating that the entire state is in crisis, and as a firefighter, he knows how to respond to a crisis.  He said that the firefighters have a saying, "All hands working*," which means that everyone has a job to do to stabilize a crisis.

He stated that to address the crisis the state is in, we need all hands working to get out the vote.  He pointed out how he and Barrett have been traveling the state, going to churches, clubs, even grocery stores to reach out to people and get them to the voting booths.

Mitchell said he often hears people worrying about what the poll of the day says or how there is a sudden surge of pro-Walker signs appearing.  He told me that he tells them that he doesn't worry about these things.  He said polls don't vote and signs don't vote.  People do.

Reflecting back on our conversation, the one thing that really struck me is the way he spoke.  He wasn't shouting or preaching hellfire and brimstone if they lost.  He was very serious as he spoke of the troubles the state is facing due to the current administration's misguided ideology.  But at the same time, he exuded an infectious, upbeat confidence.  He presented himself as someone who was facing a serious challenge, but knew that he was up to the task and would be able to competently and quickly get things stabilized again.

To learn more about Mahlon Mitchell and learn how you can help to get all hands working, please visit his website.

Ladies and Gentlemen....

The Moment you have all been waiting for....the primary is over, the race to replace Scott Walker has been decided as Tom Barrett/Mahlon Mitchell have emerged the victors.  Now instead of the democrats infighting, it is time to  turn our attention to Scott Walker.   Scott Walker has spent an unprecedented, $20 million ALREADY on ads and has yet to move the needle.  Now its our turn to introduce the real Scott Walker to the state.  Not the fantasy one that Macgyver keeps trying to make.

Here is the first stop on The Real Scott Walker Express(by the way do not forget he stopped our high speed rail system from being built and costs us thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars, but thats another story).

Check back here often, the Real Scott Walker Express will stop here almost everyday, and the post that Capper is working on now will be a MUST READ!

Vote Today Or Else!!!

This is the future of our state:

Van Wanggaard likes donuts, collecting his pensionS and working to make sure you can not collect yours!  

Let's move this state Forward and make sure that the Republicans know that what they have done to our state is not ok.   Also remember those in the four recall senate districts you are there because of republican dirty tricks, lack of ethics, and complete disrespect for the taxpayers and voters of Wisconsin.  They ran FRAUD democrats in every race.

The respectable thing to do would have been to run a placeholder candidate in the republican race, thus forcing a primary and giving the republicans another month to run around the country raising money.   The problem with that though, is that would have been too confusing for the groupthink of the right to try and figure out who to vote for.   So knowing that running on the issues is a losing proposition for the Wisconsin republican party, they are trying every trick they can think of to not have to campaign on those very same issues.

Here is a list of the candidates you will see on the ballot today, please vote for the real candidates and if you see any of the fraud candidates around town, let them know they have shamed our state!   Also keep Van away from the donuts!!

May 8th, 2012 Recall Primary Election – Democratic Candidates

Governor:

Tom Barrett

Kathleen Falk

Doug La Follette

Kathleen Vinehout

FAKE Democrat:

Gladys Huber

Lt. Governor:

Mahlon Mitchell (Endorsed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin)

Ira Robins

FAKE Democrat:

Isaac Weix

State Senate District 13:

Lori Compas (Endorsed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin)

FAKE Democrat:

Gary Ellerman

State Senate District 21:

John Lehman (Endorsed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin)

FAKE Democrat:

Tamra Varebrook

State Senate District 23:

Kristen Dexter (Endorsed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin

FAKE Democrat:

James Engel

State Senate District 29:

Donna Seidel (Endorsed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin)

FAKE Democrat:

Jim Buckley

Capper's Picks For THE Primary

Unless you live under a rock in a cave in the middle of nowhere, you already know that tomorrow is the mother of all primaries, where Wisconsinites across the state will pick their champions in an all out effort to claim our state back for the people and away from the insatiable corporate interests whose only interest is sucking our land and our lives dry for no other reason than to increase their own hoards of wealth.

As you already know, I'm in full support of Kathleen Falk to be our next governor.  She has the experience and the skill to restore the things that were taken from us and to make the state whole again.  This is why Falk is the only candidate to have the backing of a wide array of people, from environmentalists to women's advocacy groups as well as ethnic advocacy groups  and, yes, the unions.  Furthermore, she doesn't have all the vulnerabilities that Barrett has, which eliminates most of Walker's campaign strategy and forces him to have to run on his record, which we all know sucks sewage water.

For Lt. Governor, the only choice is Mahlon Mitchell.  He is a passionate man, a vibrant speaker and an intelligent leader.  He would be able to help lead  the state back on to the path of recovery and prosperity.

For Senate District 13, Lori Compas is who you want.  If there ever was a folk hero that came out of Fitzwalkerstan, it's Compas.  Without the support of the Democrats, she did what they said couldn't be done and put Scott Fitzgerald on notice by successfully recalling him.  She is running not because she wanted to, but because the people demand it.  It will be nice to have an honest voice in that seat instead of the corrupt, double-dipping Fitzgerald.

For Senate District 21, John Lehman is your man.

Way over in District 23, Kristen Dexter is the woman to back.

And up there in District 29, the smart voter will go with Donna Seidel.