The GOP Short Term Memory Loss

By Jeff Simpson 

The down time between election and inauguration has been way more exciting than it should have been.   First off, Robin Vos, the wanna be Whitey Bulger,  has decided since Walker went down in shame, to follow the age old adage  -  The King is Dead, Long Live the King Robin!  Doing as he was told by the boys at ALEC and Scott Jensen, Robin decided, since he has a gerrymandered legislature. to transfer as much power away from Tony Evers and into his lap as he could possibly get away with, then a little more. 

The problem is this is a new era in politics and the citizens of Wisconsin are paying attention and, all but the hardest core right wingers, are not having it.

    Republican state leaders have struggled to publicly explain laws they enacted in a recent lame-duck session, amid a national onslaught of criticism from Democrats, nonpartisan groups and even fellow Republicans.
The critics largely have offered a unified critique of the measures, signed by Gov. Scott Walker last week. They’ve called them an unprecedented power grab by Walker and legislative Republicans that defied the will of voters, who elected Democratic Gov.-elect Tony Evers and Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul. Both take office in January.

When something is unjustifiable, it is impossible to justify.  That is pretty simple and easy to understand. 

We are just beginning.   There are still a couple weeks before inauguration and the Republicans are having a full out assault on anytime Tony Evers Sneezes.   The attacks this week are going to come against every single person that Tony nominates to his cabinet. 

Its starting now.  Pro CAFO, and Oompa Loompa , who hasnt made a promise he intends to keep thinks that appointing someone from Madison and Milwaukee is unacceptable.

and Jim Steineke, couldnt see the crimes that Bill Kramer was committing right in front of his eyes, but can see how after four appointments that Tony Evers hates WI.

For those that may not be aware, there are good, qualified people outside of Milwaukee and Madison. Hopefully the rest of the state will eventually be represented in this administration. https://t.co/I1ao1ImT5P

— Jim Steineke (@jimsteineke) December 19, 2018

You get the idea, anyone who read the memo and does not want to upset Robin "Whitey Bulger " Vos will be in full attack and discredit mode. 

When there is an all out assault on the Democrats, expect @newsmaciver to get the call and they jumped into action...

But Evers’ lofty words of compromise and bipartisanship don’t seem to jibe with his opening appointments. The governor-elect has quietly assembled advisory committees packed with some of the most left-leaning people from some of the more left-wing organizations in the state. Nary a conservative to be found, of course, and even truly moderate Republicans are missing from the far left-heavy advisory committees.
The lineup includes big labor bosses, extreme environmentalists, social justice warriors, and espousers of socialism.
His liberal picks shouldn’t come as a huge surprise

What our friends on the right are hoping you do not remember is some of the appointments that Scott Walker originally made(all of whom they gladly voted for).

*  Dennis Smith - Smith, the married man with 4 daughters from Washington DC, was appointed head of Department of Health Services by Scott Walker.   Smith who never met an uninsured person he was not proud of, used the job basically to bring his high school crush to WI and start an affair on our dime using our resources and then resigned and took off to DC abruptly after his affair came to light.    Smith now works for a global law firm in DC - Dentons. 

*  Michael Brickman - Brickman, a degree in political science and a member of "Friends of Scott Walker" that helped get Walker elected, was named Walker's top education policy advisor.   Brickman made a name for himself, by going to the bars in Milwaukee and getting intoxicated Democrats to say stupid things that they could run to the press with.   He "disguised" himself as "Rich in retail" when talking to people at the bars.  This experience made him qualified to set education policy in the far right world of fitzwalkerstan.   Now, to the surprise of no one, Mike "Rich in retail" Brickman works for Betsy DeVos. 

 *  Brian Deschane -  Deschane, the troubled son of Big walker donor Jerry Deschane, was appointed to an $81.500/yr job with the Commerce Department.  His qualifications, as one would expect from this administration were- no college degree, no work experience and 2 DUI's. 

* Ryan Murray - Murray, the son of another big Walker donor, Mike Murray,  was appointed original head of WEDC.  Murray, whose first audit of WEDC, found that while they had created no real jobs to speak of, had invested heavily in Wisconsin Badger tickets, vacations and iTunes gift cards( you can not make this stuff up).   This of course led to nothing but a pat on the back and told to continue on until WEDC actually ended up paying off a donors Maserati(that he named Nero).  It took competent people actually quitting, over Murray's incompetence to actually force change.   Murray currently works for the unimaginatively named "The Firm" consulting firm in Milwaukee.   

As our friends on right continue to criticize Governor Evers, remember they not only have no leg to stand on, their continual hiring of incompetents has cost our state millions!   

The Scott Walker Degree

BY Jeff Simpson 

Scott Walker, who likes to campaign Al Dente, has changed his line about not having a college degree once again.   

What about not having a college degree?"I say I’m like the majority of people in America. I’m someone who went to college, had the opportunity in my senior year to go and take a job full-time, which was not the only reason I went to college, but one of the biggest reasons was to get a job. And the American Red Cross offered me a job my senior year, and I took it, thinking someday, maybe, I’d go back. But a few years later, I met my wonderful wife, Tonette, a year after that, we had Matthew, the year after that, we had Alex. And now like a lot of folks in America, you know, your family and your job take the time away from you from finishing it up. But I don’t think anybody -- and I’ve got a master’s degree in taking on the big-government special interests, and I think that is worth more than anything else that anybody can point to."

Once you get past the fact that he changes his life story more than Robert Van Winkle ever did, one interesting line stands out.  

and I’ve got a master’s degree in taking on the big-government special interests - Scott Walker

Well we at CogDis did some digging and we found a partial course listing of classes that Mr. Walker Had to take to earn his imaginary Master's degree.  

 How to please your boss, yet look independent 202:  This course we will teach you how to say one thing to the general public while spilling your true strategy to people who pay for that privilege. By the end of this class, you will learn how to soak millions out of rich widows.  

Kiss the right rings(there is lots of money in Las Vegas) 300:  This course will show you, how to fund raise nationally while traveling secretly.  The more advanced learners in this class, will learn how you can phone reporters in your home state, while traveling, to complain about "out of state special interests".



You have access to unlimited money, use it 220:   This class will show you how to do whatever you want in office because you have unlimited access to taxpayer money to hire lawyers.  If time allows, the student will also learn how to hire consultants to keep from having to make a decision on your own.



Meet the right people - 100:  This is a refresher course to help the student understand that the person you are nice to today, could grow up to become a Supreme Court Justice, who will not only suspend ethics rules to do your bidding but be willing to choke anyone who gets in the way!



You are always, always, always on - no one is bigger than your ambition 400 :  This is an upper level graduate course for those who are willing to do anything to become President of the United States.   This course will teach you to hire felons, snakes, and loons.  You will also learn the importance of hiring your donors to major positions within the Government and the equal importance of throwing them to the wolves the second you need a scapegoat.  Students will also learn that the more taxpayer money you can give to your friends, the more money they will give you.  



You can see with five classes last semester, Mr. Walker had a full course load but it allowed him to attain his imaginary masters degree.

Congrats to you Scott Walker,

Let's hope the walk you take to get this degree involves handcuffs and disgrace!

Either Scott Walker Knew or He Didnt.

 

By Jeff Simpson

As capper pointed out recently, Scott Walker had some very interesting things to say about Mary Burke. 

As mind-boggling as the hypocrisy of these state senators is, the hypocrisy that comes out of Scott Walker's mouth is utterly breathtaking in its audacity (emphasis mine):

During a campaign stop in West Bend, Walker indicated Burke had not gone far enough in dealing with the controversy over the copied passages.

[...]

Asked if Burke should pull out of the race, Walker said, "She should ultimately fess up to what actually happened with that plan."

"People expect a leader that's going to take responsibility for their actions," he added. "Most people look at this and question, either you didn't know what was in the plan, or you did and you hoped that people wouldn't find out that it came from somewhere else."

It is interesting that the person who was on the receiving end of the following emails:

1.  From Scott Walker's chief of staff Tom Nardelli:



 

2.   Another from Nardelli:

 The deputy chief of staff to then-County Executive Scott Walker praised a racist email forwarded to her in 2010 that joked welfare recipients are “mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can’t speak English and have no frigging clue who the r [sic] Daddys [sic] are.”
The email tells the story of a dog owner who asks the government for canine welfare checks because the dogs match the criteria detailed above. Kelly Rindfleisch, Walker’s then-deputy chief of staff in 2010, wrote that the email was “hilarious” and “so true.” The email was sent to Rindfleisch from someone outside Walker’s staff.

 


3.  Then there was his aide, Taylor Palmisano, who tweeted about "illegals" and "half breeds", who wasnt fired until months old tweets were exposed.  

4.  Department of Transportation appointed official, Steven Krieser, compared undocumented immigrants to Satan.   Also fired after it was exposed and public outrage commenced.

5.  His former spokesperson Jill Bader retweeted a racist tweet by his campaign blogger when President Obama visited WI.   (Edit Note: Scott Walker was so upset with his young blogger for his racist tweet that he promoted him to head of writing education policy).

 

6.  Then there is of course,  racist mascot protection bill, that he proudly signed.

7.  Who can forget his love of the people in WI who have mental challenges  -  "No one cares about crazy people". 


 
So as Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker might say to candidate Scott Walker:

Asked if Walker should pull out of the race, Walker said, "he should ultimately fess up to what actually happened with those emails."

"People expect a leader that's going to take responsibility for their actions," he added. "Most people look at this and question, either you didn't know what was in those emails, or you did and you hoped that people wouldn't find out that it came from your inner circle."

 It is high time we actually got some answers from Mr. Walker.  I will however give Mr. Walker some credit, these documents are definitely all original and there is no doubt that they were all written by Mr. Walkers inner circle who all share a common ideology!   

Dennis Smith - The Sequel

By Jeff Simpson

For those who do not remember Dennis Smith the original....here is a quick refresher!

Dennis Smith was appointed by Governor Scott Walker to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health Services on January 3, 2011. The agency is responsible for Wisconsin Medicaid programs which provide health care and long-term care services to more than 1 million enrollees, operates four mental health facilities, regulates state hospitals and coordinates the public health response for the state of Wisconsin.

In addition to his state and federal government service, Secretary Smith has worked as Managing Director of Medicaid Practice at Leavitt Partners, a partnership that advises clients in the practice areas of health, environment and trade. He was also a Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C. think tank(term used loosely).
Smith has a Master's Degree in Public Administration from George Mason University and completed his undergraduate work at Illinois State University. Smith and his wife Laurel have four daughters.

Dennis Smith now is known for two things in his time in the Walker Administration. The first being he wants to destroy Medicaid (and with the help of Scott Walker he looks like he is going to be successful in that) and using Wisconsin taxpayer money to hire his high school crush and bring her to Madison.

It seems as though Mr. Smith, when interviewing for the position of chief legal counsel, interviewed a total of one candidate.    Working in the back yard of one of the most prestigious law schools in the country, Mr. Smith felt that no one in Wisconsin could possibly do the job as well as someone that he allegedly, once took to senior prom in high school.    Apparently she looked good enough in her dress that night that she did not need to be practicing law at the time nor have any working knowledge of WI.

When news of his affair was made public(which you heard here first), Smith, like the recreant he is, turned tail and ran to Washington DC.

Like an annoying stain, the truth eventually comes out with time.   This time the truth backs up what we originally reported on CogDis-

Dennis Smith is a debaucher and YOU and I paid for his dalliances! We, the taxpayers of Wisconsin, paid for him to hire his crush, paid for him and her to have state funded cell phones, computers, offices and office hours(away from their spouses) to carry on their rendezvous!

The Judge himself in the case said logic dictates there was an affair by reading the emails:

 Mary Spear and Smith have denied an affair, although a Dane County judge has said emails between the two would lead someone to believe there was an affair.

See the charges were dropped from the most insidious claim against Mr. Spear(think that would have happened if he were truly guilty?) and he plea bargained on some lesser charges(he always admitted he had a role in the mess).  It seems that Mr. Spear, while originally made out to be an animal to save Dennis Smith's Ass, was in the end, the only one in the whole incident  who actually took responsibility for his mistakes and errors in judgement!   While love makes people do crazy things at times, but it appears from here, that Mr. Spear was the good man that Mrs. Spear said that he was and it is too bad in a time of need, that Dennis Smith used his position to benefit himself and not his long time "friend". 

With the lack of ethics in the Walker administration, and the absolute incompetents he has been known to appoint, the only thing surprising that came out of this mess, was that Scott Walker did not promote him and give him a raise!






WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports

Who in the World is Michael Brickman?

By Jeff Simpson

The fact that the state of education has deteriorated since Scott Walker has been in power can be summed up in two words - Michael Brickman!    Brickman, AKA Rich in retail:






  


Brickman who graduated from an East Coast university three years ago with a Political Science Degree.  Has a  very shallow resume of working for the losing campaign of John McCain and then joining the "Friends of Scott Walker" campaign as press assistant where he had such amazing successes as blatantly racist tweets and a Scott Walker 68 page economic plan typed in 60 point font! 

Brickman then turned his lack of career success and unaccounted for knowledge/interest in education and turned it into a job......Drum roll please......Education Policy advisor!   Honestly, you can not make this stuff up!  

Well Mr. Brickman(@BrickM) was "live tweeting" President Obama's State of the Union speech where he came up with this gem! 

1/2 way through the #sotu and I'm already getting my preschool and mortgage subsidized. IDK about smarter, but defintely bigger gov't
— Michael Brickman (@BrickM) February 13, 2013

It appears that Mike had a problem with this and feels that preschool should not be part of a public education.   As an "education policy advisor" you would think that mike would understand the value and importance of preschool.  

Scores of studies demonstrate that early education can have an enormous impact on a child’s cognitive and emotional development, dramatically improving school readiness and academic achievement. And high-quality preschool is a key reason why Finland now scores at the top in international student assessments.

But the benefits of preschool extend well beyond test scores. Research shows that an at-risk child who doesn’t receive high-quality early childhood intervention is 25 percent more likely to drop out of school; 40 percent more likely to become a teen parent; 50 percent more likely to be placed in special education; 60 percent more likely not to attend college; and 70 percent more likely to be arrested for a violent crime.

Thanks to these kinds of impacts, investments in early childhood education generate very large returns. For example, the National Institutes of Health projects that Chicago’s preschool program will produce up to “$11 of economic benefits over a child’s lifetime for every dollar spent initially on the program.” And the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis calculated that a well-studied Michigan program delivered a real rate of return of 16 percent. Indeed, even after excluding the benefits to the children who participated, the rate of return to the general public still exceeded 12 percent. To put those numbers in perspective, the stock market’s annual rate of return from the end of World War II through 2008 was only 5.8 percent.

I get that Mike Brickman is not smart enough to understand economics and return on investment, but I would expect that an "education policy advisor" in our great state should at least get the basics of education.   

Maybe the best way to close the "achievement gap" is to keep anyone who has never achieved anything away from writing our education policy!   

We all know that Scott Walker has a very very bad record of hiring incompetents,  and criminals.  Let us hope that Brickman is just an ignorant and not evil.  Let us hope that Scott Walker also shows us that he is serious about educating the youth of Wisconsin and re-assigns Mr. Brickman to something more matching his qualifications.

Someone has to wash dishes at the Governor's Mansion right?   

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!

What Act 10 Has Cost Us All - Our Public Education!

We covered Act 10 recently here, and also set up a facebook page for people to share their experiences! While many of the stories were touching and telling one stood out to me. I was given permission to share it here.

Governor Walker's attack on public employees was the deciding factor for me to end my graduate school pursuits. Our family simply couldn't afford to have me drive to Milwaukee from Green Bay to attend anymore, while simultaneously paying for child care. My wife's wages were severely cut due to bedrest in the hospital last year and maternity leave, but it was Governor Walker's cuts that drove our salaries down to almost qualify for food stamps and to qualify for WIC benefits. Actually, we likely qualify for food stamps this summer, as our wages always decrease in the summer and Governor Walker's cuts have pushed them even lower.

As for my wife, a teacher, that has been demonized as a 'bad teacher' and a 'parasite' throughout the year, she's been looking for work elsewhere. She teaches in De Pere at a great school, as everyone in northeast Wisconsin is aware. There were 1,250 applicants for her position when she was hired seven years ago. A couple weeks ago, she had three interviews in five days (one over the phone and two via Skype) with wealthy school districts in the suburbs of the Twin Cities.

Because these districts are wealthy, they are able to better anticipate future hiring needs and have the resources to begin the applicant search earlier than most districts, according to one of the principals that interviewed her. By searching for teachers early, these districts work to snatch-up the best applicants. All three districts offered her positions and gave her the choice of selecting whatever grade level she desired.

One of the principals called her five times and called her principal twice trying to get in contact with my wife last to offer her the job. We thought she would surely take a significant pay cut, because we've heard most schools don't honor prior experience when determining salaries. Plus, Minnesota leads the country in primary/secondary education and these are highly desirable districts to work in. Instead, she received a pay raise over the salary Governor Walker cut in the first place.

So, the accusation that only 'bad teachers' and 'parasites' are going to leave the Wisconsin teaching field are false. We love Wisconsin. We came here because of the quality of education here. My wife and I both earned our bachelor's and master's degrees in Wisconsin schools. We looked forward to sending our kids to Wisconsin schools. This isn't the case anymore.

A wise professor told me when I was considering graduate school, that I should go, because education is one thing no one can take from me. He was right; now my wife and I will take our education and experience with us. If we reversed Governor Walker's policies today, it would take at least a decade to get the education system to resemble its former self.

You can't get retired teachers and professors back. You can't get experienced professors back that took better jobs elsewhere. You can't get experienced teachers back that took better jobs elsewhere. You have to start over with new hires and work to hold on to the remaining wonderful educators and develop their talents. Still, the strain put on the experienced educators that remain in Wisconsin is severe.

The fallout at UW-Green Bay is extraordinary. I've been hired as a full-time adjunct professor for the next year in order to fill holes left by numerous professors. UWGB is hiring grad students to drive from Madison/Milwaukee to fill other teaching holes. Students aren't going to receive the high quality education I received as a student, yet they're paying even more than I had to. We're leaving Wisconsin for a variety of reasons, but the deciding factor is Governor Walker and his policies. If you're not aware of the effects his polices are having on schools and universities, please visit one of them and talk to teachers, professors, and administrators.

BS - Green Bay.

Act 10 has cost the state of WI $1 billion but in reality it has cost our great state so much more!

We have had a civil war, public workers who have worked so hard for us have been demonized, we have lost valuable experience in teachers and other professions that we will never be able to replace, local businesses are hurting because the middle class does not have the money to spend supporting them, $1 billion less of taxable income has come into the state, and much much more etc...

It is nationally recognized that for the sake of public education here and elsewhere, Scott Walker must be defeated. Please Vote Tom Barrett on June 5th.

One last story to take back to your community. Act 10 basically ended teachers unions in Wisconsin. Scott Walker pretends to be for Education reform< but wants to make sure teachers do not have a seat at the table. To be perfectly clear Scott Walker wants to "reform education" but he has no interest in hearing from or working with the teachers who are in the classrooms, with our children all day long.

To make matters worse, do you know who he has put in charge and listens to regarding education reform???

Disgraced lobbyist and convicted felon Scott Jensen and Rich in Retail! Instead of your degreed teacher who has dedicated their lives to education, being the ones who set Wisconsin education policy in the Govenor Walker administration it is now a twentysomething political hack from Delaware named Michael Brickman.

Wisconsin CAN and MUST do better!!

Is There Any Walker Campaign Staff That Didn't Get A Government Job?

Scott Walker's habitual cronyism has been well documented on this site, but I am seriously beginning to wonder if there has ever been a Walker staffer that hasn't been given, or at least offered, a political appointment in Walker's administrations.

When he was county executive, we saw him give cushy spots to Bob Dennik and Tim Russell, to name just two of the horde of them.

As governor, it's even worse.

Even the most inept and unqualified have been given state jobs.

Take for example, Michael Brickman.

Brickman's claims to fame as a Walker campaign staffer was to videotape a low level SEIU guy drunkenly ramble on about embarrassing Walker and for making racist tweets directed at President Barack Obama.

We already knew that Walker gave Brickman the job of "fixing" the schools, then in the Department of Propaganda and Untruths.  Apparently he's been promoted again to the DOA:

I guess Mike Huebsch needed someone to use the calculator when adding up the $7 million that protesters didn't cause at the Capitol last year.

Even more telling is another one of Walker's crony appointments, Ashlee Moore.

Ashlee, when she wasn't busy being Walker's chauffeur, was leaving insulting comments on this site or showing her genteel nature on Twitter.

Do you know what's she doing now? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.  Yuppers, she's worker for Walker:

Executive office? Given her utter lack of tact and class, I sure hope she doesn't have anything to do with working with the public.  Of course, knowing Walker, that's exactly where he put her.

You can find these two on Twitter at @BrickM and @ashleestarin respectively.  Any bets that they'll be tweeting on work time?

Federal Judges Call Out GOP Shenanigans

While Republican lawmakers are trying to obscure their unethical, and probably illegal, gerrymandering, a panel of three federal judges have given them a verbal reality check in how much they will tolerate. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel gives a sampling of the reprimand handed down:

Saying that GOP lawmakers and their attorneys have filed "frivolous" motions trying to keep their information private, the panel also required the attorneys for the Republican defendants to pay the attorneys' fees for the plaintiffs for the motion.

"Quite frankly, the Legislature and the actions of its counsel give every appearance of flailing wildly in a desperate attempt to hide from both the court and the public the true nature of exactly what transpired in the redistricting process," the ruling reads.[...]

The panel of judges - two of whom are Republican appointees - gave a rhetorical smack to the GOP lawmakers and their attorneys.

The court "will not suffer the sort of disinformation, foot-dragging, and obfuscation now being engaged in by Wisconsin's elected officials and/or their attorneys," the ruling reads.

Unsurprisingly, the GOP liars lawyers involved include Eric McLeod, known for giving free legal counsel to Gableman during his first ethics hearing*; Michael Best, Walker's favorite private attorney (read: Walkergate); and the Troupis Law Offices.

I'm almost starting to feel sorry for the right wing apologists, er, pundits.  The Republicans aren't giving them anything even remotely defensible.  Their eventual butt kicking is like a car accident - they see it coming but are helpless to stop it.

*Gableman's second ethics hearing will be stemming from this peppercorn of a problem.

Brat Fest Bombs Out

The self-proclaimed world's largest brat festival proved to be a bit less than advertised this year.

Brat Fest, which is sponsored in a large part by WMC member and Walker supporter, Johnsonville, was the subject of scorn this year due to Johnsonville's participation in buying Scott Walker his current position.  Many people planned on avoiding the fest and instead enjoyed their brats at the People's Brat Fest, which was also held this weekend.

And despite what Walker minion, the Brady Street Mole might have one believe, the Johnsonville event did feel the effect of the boycott, with sales dropping by nearly 25% or 50,000 brats.

And while we're talking about Brat Fest, could someone explain the oddity from this paragraph from the Brat Fest's webpage:

Johnsonville came on board as the official brat of Brat Fest in 2001. In 2006 Johnsonville became a major sponsor and started donating 150,000 brats. Over the years Johnsonville strengthened its relationship with the Fest and all the good things it does for the community, and in 2011 they decided to donate “all” brats at Brat Fest.

Just what do they mean by putting quotation marks around the word all? It certainly gives the appearance of this being some kind of gimmick or scam, doesn't it?

Postscript: I'm proud to say I have not bought or eaten a Johnsonville product for over two years now.

Rich The Tax Payer Funded Propagandist

Last night, via Illusory Tenant, we learned that Michael Brickman, aka Rich in Retail, aka the Brady Street Moleman, and former Scott Walker campaign worker, now had a cushy tax payer funded job in Walker's administration.

Tonight, we learn that Brickman's job apparently is in the Department of Propaganda and Untruths.  How do we learn this?  Well, via his twitter feed, that's how:

Wher the real #shame comes in is the fact that Brickman is simply lying.  To prove that Brickman is being paid with our tax dollars to sit there and lie his butt off, let's roll the tape and see what his own freakin' boss, Scott Walker, has to say about collective bargaining, under oath even:

“Your proposal would require unions to hold annual votes to continue representing their own members. Can you please explain to me and members of this committee how much money this provision saves for your state budget?” question Kucinich.

After an unresponsive answer by Governor Walker, Kucinich pressed, “Did you answer the questions? How much money does it save, Governor?”

“It doesn’t save any,” admitted Governor Walker.

Kucinich then requested permission to enter into the record a letter from the State of Wisconsin’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau (page 3 specifically), a nonpartisan state budget agency that confirmed Governor Walker’s efforts had no effect on the state’s budget.

“The Bureau was asked to identify provisions in the Governor’s bill that are non-fiscal; non-fiscal policy items that have no state fiscal effect. This letter confirms the obvious; that Governor Walker’s effort to repeal the rights of state workers is a non-fiscal policy item. No effect on the state budget shortfall,” said Kucinich.

So even Walker admits that his attempts to strip workers of their rights is not, I repeat, NOT, a fiscal issue. Furthermore, this is backed up by the nonpartisan and widely esteemed Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

There are two things that we can take away from this.

One, it's nice to we can Brickman to be as useful to the Walker administration as he was to the Walker campaign.

Two, it finally gives us a real, clear cut reason to finally use Walker's waste and fraud hotline, which we are also paying for with our tax dollars.

Here A Crony, There A Crony, Everywhere A Crony

Scott Walker's affinity for practicing cronyism is well documented, both in mainstream media and new media, such as this here blog.  From the drunk-driving college drop out sons of wealthy lobbyists to political allies to campaign workers, Walker has given them all some of those cushy, big-salary, high cost benefited government jobs that he, with their support, had campaigned as being against.

Illusory Tenant has found the latest example of still more cronyism. This time, the beneficiary of Walker's pay to play hiring system is none other than the Brady Street Moleman and Train Rider, Michael Brickman.

Nice, eh?

Illy-T, at the end of his post, asks Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to look into this.

But while we are speaking of former campaign workers and asking for Dan Bice to do some follow up investigative reporting, maybe he could look into Tim Russell, who since getting terminated from Milwaukee County, has abruptly moved to Sun Prairie:

Inquiring minds want to know.

Michael Brickman Behaving Poorly

This is a bit dated, from the primary season, but I stumbled across it while working on a previous post.

If this how Walker's team treats fellow conservatives, how do you think his administration would treat the people of a progressive state like Wisconsin?

Here's another clue on how they would treat us.

Walker's Non-Apology Apology

Yesterday, it came out that two of Walker's campaign staffers, Jill Bader and Michael Brickman, sent out tweets with racial overtones. Team Walker was called out on it, but it wasn't until today, when the press finally decided to report on it, that Scott Walker even came close to issuing an apology. But it wasn't much of an apology:

“An honest mistake was made by a staffer that forwarded a message from a blogger that linked to a video rather than a blog post. When it was brought to our attention, she immediately removed the message and apologized to anyone that was offended by it.”

As Tom Barrett and others have already pointed out, it was not "an honest mistake." That much was given away when she tried to convince people that she couldn't tell the difference between "youtube" and "hotair."

Furthermore, the blogger that Walker refers to was Michael Brickman, Walker's own campaign blogger! I am only surprised that the rest of the campaign staff didn't retweet it as well, as is their wont.

That would be like someone apologizing for hitting you in the face because their fist accidentally followed their clenched fingers.

And Walker shouldn't even consider saying Brickman's action was a mistake either. When Brickman started his tweet with the word "Ha!" it would indicate that he had indeed viewed the video and found it funny.

No one shouldn't be surprised by Walker's inability to issue a proper apology, though. First of all, if he had done that correctly, it would have been the first time he did something right in a long time, and he wouldn't want to break his streak. Secondly, as I pointed out last night, race baiting has been a long standing practice of Walker's, so he probably can't even conceive on how it was offensive.