No Lessons Learned

By Jeff Simpson

In the post mortem of the 2016 election, where the "most qualified candidate in history" lost to a carnival barker reality TV show "star",  the results have been analyzed into oblivion.   One of the main culprits that has been identified throughout the spectrum is the highly paid, out of touch, political consultant class.    

It was not just the Democrats side either, 16 other, incredibly well funded (Jeb Bush spent well over 100 million dollars and finished with 3 delegates), and each campaign was run by "experts" the "best of the best".   

The Donald however, not so much! 

And then there was Donald Trump, whose smash success in the Republican primaries was an emperor-has-no-clothes moment for political consulting if ever there was one. Trump spent the primaries boasting about his lack of a super pac or traditional fund-raising operation. He didn’t employ a pollster or chief strategist or speechwriter. His campaign infrastructure was nonexistent; he spent only about $19 million on television ads. His campaign manager was a former cop with no experience in a presidential race, and his press secretary was a 27-year-old fashion publicist. Yet Trump dominated a 17-candidate field that many pundits had considered the deepest bench of Republican talent in decades.

In a profile in Atlantic Magazine, about  political consultants, they point out that it is a 6 Billion dollar industry and all get together yearly in a political consultant convention, where they sit through such seminars as "How to stay out of jail".

Molly Ball of the Atlantic, then talked to Republican, short term, GOP Presidential hopeful(one of the 16 who lost) about his experience with consultants:

Ben carson had never run for office before deciding to seek the presidency last year, so naturally he sought a staff of professionals to guide him through the process. Carson raised more money than any other Republican candidate (not counting super pac funds) during the time he was in the race, only to finish fourth in Iowa and drop out a month later.When I asked Carson in March whether he had been well served by his campaign staff, the mild-mannered doctor didn’t mince words. “We had people who obviously didn’t have, necessarily, my best interest in mind,” he said.What, I asked, did they have in mind instead? “I think that it was a job,” he said. “They wanted a position. A lot of money was made, and a lot of advantage was taken.”

For those on the outside(which is most of us) this is a generic version of how the consultant class works:

Political consultants earn fees and commissions by turning the billions of dollars given to candidates, political parties and “super PACs” — like Mr. Bush’s Right to Rise — into the products and services of contemporary campaigns, especially TV (and Internet) ads.More money means more ads, and more ads means more money. However, media saturation makes it more difficult to grab our attention, requiring more ads, and more money and contributions, to reach the electorate.Consultants want their clients to win, but they also need their businesses to survive. Despite mounting evidence that the effects of TV on the electorate can be uncertain and often short-lived, television remains the single largest expenditure in most campaigns because candidates think they need it to win — and because it is the most reliable source of revenue and the most lucrative part of the consulting business. The economic incentives of the consulting industry are driving up the cost of campaigns.

The consultant class is like a horse, if you leave it with unlimited food, it will eat itself to death.   Unfortunately, no one has out any limits on this group and the gluttony they are showing is part of what turns everyone off about politics.  

As Tim Cullen said, when he decided to bow out of the Governors race, he did not want to spend all day on the phone raising money.  Is it beneficial to society to have our politicians spend their time, fundraising so that they can continue feeding the monstrosity or are there better things for them to be doing(but I digress)?  

Now that we have some history, let's bring this back around to Wisconsin.   The July campaign finance reports just came out and there is one that stood out to me - Representative Dana Wachs.  

Why Dana Wachs?  Because I have been getting emails daily from Mr. Wachs, begging asking for money because he is "the only one who can beat Scott Walker".  

The problem is, Mr. Wachs has not declared that he is running for Governor yet, so why send him money?

Well a quick look at his finance report and we see why - Mr. Wachs is feeding the Beast and feeding it well!

Wachs has spent the following just in the last finance period alone:

*  Rapid Returns -  $11,000 -  a "cutting-edge, direct mail firm", of course in 2017, direct mail is as cutting edge as a reel type lawn mower.

 

* VR Research  - $15,000 .  A firm from Oakland , CA specializing in opposition research, since who would know more about WI than a firm from Oakland. Forgetting the fact that Mr. Wachs has not even declared yet, do we want a candidate who needs to do oppo research on Scott Walker?   Mr. Wachs can just read CogDis and save himself $15/k .

*  Cooke Strategies -  $3000 - A Democratic fundraising consulting firm.  At least she is from Wisconsin, and if you have any questions, you can  - Contat Rebecca - apparently, they are not being paid to edit.  

* Wavecrest Consulting and Analytics -$8000.  This one is my favorite one, because this is Mike Tate's firm.  It is aptly named since Mike Tate is the former head of the WISDEMS, and helped oversee numerous Republican electoral waves in Wisconsin.  

Mr. Wachs has spent almost $40,000 on consultants and has yet to declare if he is running for Governor or going to stay in his safe seat in the Assembly.    

All signs are pointing to another Walker win .....which is why I am all in for Bob Harlow for Governor.  

We need to STOP doing politics the way we have been doing them, and get back to the whole point of public service and that is to serve the public!    To do that we need to stop pretending the Political establishment is most qualified to lead us.  

The Donald won due to anti-establishment fever and  now in Wisconsin we can go the anti-establishment route,except actually elect someone who is intelligent and in it for the right reasons!  

Our politics are broken and it is time to fix them!  

Pre-Convention State of The Party

By Jeff Simpson

I have written before about the state of the WISDEMS party in WI.  From their disappearing acts, to their complete silence on issues that matter, to what went wrong in the Wisconsin Primary.

It is time for a check in as the Fall election cycle starts to really kick in.

The first thing, that we need to understand is this election cycle is not like any other election cycle in our history.  The Trump Phenomona is something that, while was created by the electeds in the GOP party and we should have seen coming, no one did.

Simple case in point. At one point this ended a presidential run:

while this gained Mr. Trump more and more supporters:

The first thing we need to do is never start a sentence with the word "Historically".  

Second thing is we need some self reflection.  After the last election drubbing of 2014, the WISDEMS got togther and came out with a report explaining why they lost.  Unfortunately it was what you thought it would be, one with vague recommendations and no self reflection.   

Lets take a quick look at some highlights: 

*   The committee not only recommends a stronger rebuttal to the basic Republican argument, but to proactively identify and present a different argument.       Two plus years later we are still waiting for that argument.

*   A common point of contention is that the party and our candidates have delivered a flawed message based upon the actions of Governor Walker. Essentially the critical view of that message has been, “Governor Walker is bad for Wisconsin and we aren’t him.”     Find me an instance where Mary Burke or most candidates running criticized Scott Walker in the last race?  Martha Laning, our current state chair ran an ad with the theme "Republicans have great ideas" while running for an Assembly seat.   

*  To understand the crux of the issue of Rural Wisconsin, we sought out and reviewed qualitative academic studies done in Wisconsin.   Yoo Hoo, they are not that hard to find, go talk to the people in rural Wisconsin.   Looking at them through academic studies?  really? 

*  We need the conversation at the rural gas station in the morning to shift from the bad things that government is doing to a discussion about how government is working to enhance rural lives.  If you really think that rural Wisconsin 2016 is the same as life in Mayberry in the Andy Griffith show then you really really need to get out and talk to people.   WOW.  

* Candidates: A common perception in Rural Wisconsin is that “candidates don’t come here.” This is a difficult conundrum as the logistics of campaigns make it impossible to be everywhere.   So says the consultants we pay big money too,  Bernie Sanders seems to have made it to more rural parts of WI during his campaign here. 

*  The 72 County Strategy, much like Howard Dean’s original plan, is not about winning all 72 counties,   'Nuff said! 

Now the recommendations:

*    Do not be afraid of primaries, hold the internal party units to the constraints of party rules and understand we do not control the decisions of outside forces.    The party has compeletely ignored this recommendation as when Jimmy Anderson announced a run against Robb Kahl(who later dropped out), Gordon Hintz became unhinged.  In Madison, Progressive Jacob Wischmeier, decided to challenge Lisa Subeck in a PRIMARY, and the Democratic party challenged his signatures.   We also see where Myron Bucholz has challenged Ron Kind and Mandela Barnes has challenged Lena Taylor and yet both were denied the VAN and shut down by the party.    

*  When possible, hire campaign staff who have a background in rural organizing or if possible give those staffers additional time to shorten the learning curve.  Great idea I look forward to that actually happening.   

*  Look for opportunities to build new relationships with community groups that have similar progressive interests to the Democratic Party to create a larger base of support.   With the aggressiveness that local party leaders have against anyone who questions them, the complete lack of outreach or interest in people with Democratic ideals who have yet to join the party and the lack of interest in engaging with the million Wisconsinites who signed the recall of our Governor, shows me that relationship building and increasing support is not even remotely in their plans(but it sounds really good). 

Finally their conclusions

Despite the current electoral status of Wisconsin, history shows us that we not only have a road forward but the path to a new progressive era is entirely possible. We heed the advice of the late Congressman Robert Kastenmeier on this topic: "Don't give up the ship...there are better days ahead."    Apparently wishing so, while on the same path as previous elections,  will make it so.

Now the things they ommitted!  

* Leadership:  Not a word about how much leadership has let the party down.   Mike Tate was in charge for 6 years and in that time, the Democratic Party lost seats in almost every election and went from having control of the Governor's office, the Assembly and Senate to being so far in the minority that they are no longer relevant in any debate.   

In the whole time Mr. Tate was ahead of the party, it seems as though he was able to work mostly on advancing his own career.   Mike Tate allowed union busting Chris Abele prime speaking spots at Democratic dinners and in turn Chris Abele then hired Mike to help run his campaign against Democratic Senator Chris Larson.   Quid pro quo at its finest.  Then Mr. Tate did not just hekp Chris Abele win the election, he smeared Chris Larson, his old friend, often.  When you have someone in charge who will turn on his friends and allies for a few pences, then you can expect to have an organization with no ethics.   Heck even Rick Nielsen had more loyalty to the Party then Mike Tate.  

* Party Insiders:  After the Democratic convention, and after Bernie sanders won he Wisconsin Primary handily, Kristen Hansen unleashed a series of tweets@KHansen1724 aimed at Senator Sanders and his supporters:  

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

I am not sure if that is the new inclusive message that the party is looking to send to win elections or not but there was no apology and she was so proud of these tweets that she has them still up.   

*Democratic Party of WI: The current state of the party shows major signals that even more dire election results are ahead.   If you pull up the WISDEMS website under the "Our Candidates" tab, you see a picture of Senator Russ Feingold and no one else.   Apparently no one explained to them that the 's' after candidate, means plural = more than one.   We have important races all over the state, local and nationa,l and the WISDEMS are only aware of Senator Feingold.  

Secondly go to the "news" section and what do we see there?  Under the latest from our party section:

The Latest from Our Party

November 24, 2015

Democratic Weekly Radio Address: "Happy Thanksgiving"

I 

For those of you scoring at home, it is currently July 18,2016.  I guess nothing that is newsworthy has happened since last Thanksgiving.  

The Political Establishment in WI:  Tune into a Sunday political TV show and who do you see?  The same people week after week, Bloggers David Blaska, and Christian Schneider, For some un beknownest reason, Joe Zepecki and Sachin Cheda, etc...   All on, talking like this is a similar election to the one before and the one before, etc...   All bringing nothing to the table but the same ole drivel.   

Even my second favorite writer in WI recently wrote a column on the state of the Democratic Party and does not really get the new dynamic. 

   Against this backdrop, I attended a forum on building the Democratic bench recently, which The Progressive magazine co-sponsored, along with Emerge Wisconsin, New Leaders Council and Wisconsin Progress — three groups that are doing the hard work recruiting and training candidates to try to take back citizen control of our government.These groups’ efforts are unimpeachable. They are in the trenches trying to get smart progressives to consider public service, and they are supporting their campaigns and achieving some victories.

Actually these groups efforts are fine but hardly unimpechable.  As entrenched political organizations, while they do some good, they really have just become employment factories for political lifers.   

For instance, Scott Spector was running Wisconsin Progress unril Senator Tammy Baldwin called upon him to be her chief of staff. Which will be a nice job for him for a couple years before he founds a political consultancy/lobbyist firm where he will go and make quadruple his salary now.  

As Matt Taibbi recently pointed out, with the political lifers, winning is secondary to continual employment.     A Former head of the local Jefferson County Democratic party disliked a Democratic candidate running in Assembly District 38 because 10 years prior he had a messy divorce (with no actual charges filed against him and he ended up with full custody of his children).  The head of the JeffDems at the time was able to get this candidates blackballed from various fundraisers and from any help at all within the party.  He ended up putting up a good race but slightly losing.  The irony here is that the woman who was upset with him and got him blackballed, actually had charges AGAINST her for Domestic Violence but felt the need to be judge jury and executioner, all be herself. Now we have Representative Joel Kleefisch who has bills written to stop all stem cell research, while the former head of the JEFFDEMS is now in charge of one of these unimpeachable groups.    

Their main focus is raise lots of money, and only talk to Democratic Voters.  Which is a terrible way to bring more people into the party and has not led to many election victories.  

Then Ms. Coniff saw the only way out of the Democratic funk was by Hail Mary's" - 1. Getting someone charismatic to run for Governor and 2.  Win the lawsuit against redistricting. and hoping new districts would be much more fair.     

That is the self defeatist, lets look at historical attitude that we are so used to seeing, and one that will help us continue our landslide.    

Now that we have acknowledged much of the problems, let's look at some solutions. 

Unlike the bloodsuckers of the political consulting world, that have consulted us right into the minority(I am looking at you Nation Consulting), I am giving election advice for free.   

Some can be run this election cycle yet and some needs to be systemic changes.  Here are 9 observations, bits of advice that could be used to take our State back.  

1.  Go on the offensive at all times!   Quick, name all of the times you can think of that Scott Walker or the WISGOP have apologized?  When calling protesters ISIS(no)?  When Bob Gannon was writing racist press releases and flipped off the Democrats on the Assembly floor(no)?  There is not a time that the WISGOP will ever apologize. 

2.  Have each others backs at ALL times.  Yes, Gordon Hintz flipped out when someone decided to run for the seat that he felt Robb Kahl owned(Kahl ended up not running again), but when Hintz went unhinged, he tried to throw most of his base under the bus.  That is not what having your back means.  Hintz did not have a word to say about anyone else who had primaries and in his rants did not say a bad word about the GOP only the Dem base(most of which had nothing to do with the situation).   

When I say "have each others backs", I am thinking specifically of when Senator Dave Hansen retweeted a stupid tweet and was mercilessly attacked by the Wisconsin right wing echo chamber.   On the same day that Republicans at a Donald Trump rally were yelling "Sieg Heil" the right wing echo chamber was outraged over Senator Hansen's retweet.   While it was a dumb thing to retweet, Senator Hansen ended up closing his twitter account, but while he was being attacked, not a single Democrat stood with him. It was shameful.   Hard to build party when you so quickly throw your peers under the bus.  

3.  Update the website: There has unexplicably been a picture of Russ Feingold on the front page of the Democratic Party of Wiscosnin website for months now.   There should be a page you can go to and find not only your Assembly Rep, but your State Senator and if it is a Republican, who on the Democratic Party is running in your area, with a picture, a short bio and a link to their website.  If there is a primary then all candidates running should get the same treatment.  

Secondly update the news!   Coordinate with the party.  Rep. Kolste just write a very good op-ed that we picked up at COgDis.  Those should be written more often by all the reps, and they should be featured on the website when they get published. 

Finally, tell stories(more on this later).  I would send someone with a video camera to drive around Wisconsin and tell us stories of what is really happening, not the "Its Working" crap we get from the GOP.  

4 Stop Talking about all of the races you plan on LOSING!  How many times have you seen one of the rare appearances by someone from the Dem Party asked about the upcoming elections and they talk about the bare minimum that we could maybe possibly win.  Case in point: 

Democratic Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, highlighted three seats as pickup opportunities for her party: Senate District 18, an open seat; Senate District 12, now represented by Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, and Senate District 10, represented by Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls.
Democrats would need to win all three to wrest control of the Senate — something Shilling isn’t willing to pledge.
“I always like to under-promise and over-deliver,” Shilling said. “This is a several-election-term plan that we want to implement.

I'm Sorry Jen, when have you over delivered?  Maybe when you start talking about all of the races that we are GOING to win, That will help build up some momemntum and enthusiasm from places that normally do not vote Democratic?  Who wants a quarterback that goes into the season saying "I can see us maybe winning three games?"  

5.  Stop letting the Republicans get away with their extremist, incompetent ideology!  Scott Walker, spent $7 Million dollars in about three months campaigning to the most right wing of his base and ended up with 0.0% support.   One of the straws that broke the Right wing camels back, was because he actually said that walling off Canada was a "legitimate issue".   I have yet to hear a Wisconsin Democrat bring that up.   

For example, look at Chris Larson's recent run for Milwaukee County Executive, or anytime he is in the news actually), he get referred to every time by the right wing echo chamber as "sticky fingers" Larson.  Why would the Democratic party not take advantage and bring up the Canadian wall every single time the get asked about Scott Walker?   Almost every GOP member running for office this time has statements/actions in their past that equate the Canadian Wall and yet the Dems never call them out.   

6.  Fire Nation Consulting from all inner workings of the party.  I know that candidates are free to hire whoever they want.  I also know that candidates are strongly encouraged who to hire and who not to hire. Over the years, they have been very strong advocates for their bank accounts and not much else.   Just stop it with them.   If they want to volunteer on campaigns fine, but in terms of sending them ANY money from anyone with D behind their name....just stop!    

7.  Stop the Madison/Milwaukee V the rest of the state debate.  As someone who grew up on a small family farm and has lived in Milwaukee and Madison, I am confused as to which issues matter to Madison/Milwaukee and not to rural areas and vice versa.  People in WI want much of the same things, a good education for their chidlren, opportunity, healthcare, a family supporting job, a chance to go on a vacation a year and have a house and a car that works.  There is some nuance between different areas and people on their main issues but in the end we all want the same things.  

8.  Do not fear the Republicans but watch what they are doing and learn.   They have more money than the Democrats and while they govern horribly, they do win elections.   In the recall elections, I knew it was over when the Walker campaign stopped campaigning on issues and focused on the recall itself.   The last couple months, their ads were strictly focused on - "while me dont like Scott Walker, we do not think he should be recalled".  We did not even need to see their internal polling, it was obvious his internal polling showed that as the biggest issue.  In the meantime, the Democrats responded with calling Scott Walker a rockstar.   The results speak for themselves.

The Donald easily won his primary because he ran as anti-establishment.   People are sick of the same people doing the same things over and over and also being perceived as above the law.   Senator Sanders also made huge inroads running against the estbalishment.   Look at how they campaigned here, Senator Sanders, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, had open speeches all over the state, while Hillary Clinton had private events where people in the inside could get in and take selfies for their facebook page.   Its great for them, but she also got creamed on election day.   Think about that.  

9.  Do Not Be Afraid of Progressive Populism. Actually, Progressive Populism is the ONLY thing that will beat Scott Walker in the next election.  It has nothing really to do with charisma(although that does help).   People in Wisconsin, did not take to Senator Sanders (and he won handily here) because of his sparkiling personality, award winning smile and ability to tell jokes.  Senator Sanders won here because he was saying what the people in WI have been desperate to hear.    Ms. Coniff pointed it out in her article, but did not recognize it for what it was.  

But what do you say to young people who are willing to devote their time to local community service when, at the state level, there appears to be very little infrastructure to bolster the opposition against a right-wing juggernaut?
I asked the panelists at the forum this question, and they looked pained. But then they started talking about some of their favorite candidates, and about the dedication of these young teachers, farmers and community activists to local issues. Most get involved in public work by running for nonpartisan offices, and at the very local level, they make common cause with their neighbors — including conservatives — on doing what’s best for their communities.
It occurred to me that if we can bring that community spirit up the chain to higher office, it would fix a lot of what has been going wrong in our state.

What do you say to young people willing to devote their time?   This:

Tell them that you understand that the Government, the economy is not working for them.   That you recognize that the scale is tilted heavily against them and that is not the American ideal.  Tell them that we have to stop letting Wall St and multi national corporations purchase our politicians.   Tell them everything Senator Sanders had to tell them because he reached them.   Not only did he reach them, he transcended the urban and rural areas(see point 7) and won 71/72 counties.    

I have given up hope nationally, as I see that the (poorly named) superdelegates are determined to put party over country and go down with the ship.  

However it is not to late to save our state.   The people of Wisconsin are starving for a change! 

Mike Tate - The Gift That Keeps Taking

By Jeff Simpson 

The WISDEMS are getting ready to hold their annual convention, and this year it is in Green Bay. The problem is they have to clean up Mike Tates mess first.  Seems Mr. Tate., of the $12200+/yr salary, was one that did not like paying his bills! 

When officials from the state Democratic Party show up for their convention in Green Bay in a couple of weeks, they may have to pay in cash.
 That's because they still haven't paid the full bill from their 2009 convention at the same hotel.
 Records filed earlier this month with the Federal Election Commission show the state Democratic Party still owes $5,807.34 to the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center — Green Bay.
 The total bill for the event was just over $15,000, according to federal reports. It appears that the party last made a payment for $7,350 in January 2011 but has coughed up zilch since then.

In a time when the Democratic Party should be pointing out the our Governor is delinquent in paying off his $900,000 bar bill that he owes the taxpayers of Wisconsin, instead they have to answer for more of Tate's failures.  

Mike Tate still has a spot on the administration Committee, even after taking the money and running to anti union Chris Abele.  Tate used Abele's money to smear his old friend Chris Larson to win the County Executives race.   On top of that the smear campaign orchestrated by Tate, was so dirty, it drove down turnout and helped us say welcome Justice Bradley.   

Make sure and thank Mike when you see him!!

Democrats for Nehlen

By Jeff Simpson

Janesville's own Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.), has been the elected rep from WI 1st district since 1999.  In that time Ryan's district has seen thousands of jobs disappear. In that time also, inexplicably, Paul Ryan has went virtually unchallenged by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

One year, under the DPW direction of Mike Tate,  John Heckenlively had to string together enough signatures the last weekend to get on the ballot because there was no other candidate.   It was almost as if the DPW did not care too much for the working men and women in WI(but that is another blog).

It is not just the Democratic Party that is in awe of Paul Ryan, the Republican establishment also does.   Paul Ryan as the Vice Presidential pick could not even deliver his own state and yet they still seem to look to him for leadership.

Although that is starting to fade with Ryan perpetually acting like a prima donna.  Ultra right winger Pat Buchanon has some words for Pink Slip Paulie:

Ryan is a congressman from Wisconsin. He has never won a statewide election. As No. 2 on Mitt Romney’s ticket, he got waxed by Joe Biden. He was compromise choice as speaker, only after John Boehner went into in his Brer Rabbit “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah” routine.
Who made Ryan the conscience of conservatism?  Who made Ryan keeper of the keys of true Republicanism?

Then there is the story, that we hope some reporters and politicians follow up on - that Paul Ryan sat on information that former GOP speaker of the House is a child predator.  

Accusation made by attorney and best-selling “Gorilla Mindset” author Mike Cernovich. And he doesn’t imply the accusation, he makes it flat out. One thing we do know is that Ryan seems to have never allowed himself to be photographed with Hastert. Screenshot from Cernovich’s post at “Danger and Play”:

 
As Tom Morello tells us History is not made by the politicians or the billionaires its about the people who rise up.

   This year someone decided to ignore the invincibility of Paul Ryan and the ineptitude of both parties and is stepping up to challenge Paul Ryan from within his own party.   Paul Nehlen has had enough and is stepping into the ring.

Paul Nehlen seems to think he has a legitimate chance to beat Mr. Ryan, and his race has even drawn interest from such high profile Republican celebrities as Sarah Palin.

I never thought I would be on the same side as Sarah Palin, but politics makes for strange bedfellows and the stakes have never been higher.

With a worthy, well funded  Republican challenger, followed by the November election, the Trump Phenomenon, the Dennis Hastert Hush money, the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs in his district, his high profile role as Speaker of the House and his perpetual declining popularity, this is the year to send Paul Ryan to the place he has helped to send so many of his neighbors, the unemployment line.  

I still think it is important to continue calling out Mr. Ryan's failure be it with your friends and family, via Letters to the Editor or calling radio talk shows, etc...    

However there is one more thing that could be the most important thing you do all summer.    In the August 9th Statewide Primary, Vote for Paul Nehlen. 

Seriously, in a low turnout election anyway, show up to end Paul Ryan's career.   If you are tea party, progressive, independent, Democrat, Republican, Liberal, Libertarian, Green, etc... there is nothing you could do that would be more helpful to America.

This is our one chance to rid the state, country and world of the biggest con man in politics.  You can go back to party purity in the November elections when the fight is fairer and the Republican career politician isn't sitting on millions of dollars to keep his 144k/yr job.

Wisconsin, we CAN unite and do this!!

Turncoat Tate

By Jeff Simpson

I recently gave my thoughts on what happened during the primary election where Wisconsin elected a homophobic bigot to the Supreme Court.   

Mike McCabe also gave his assessment of what happened.

I know you are frustrated by the outcome of the state Supreme Court election. I am at wit’s end too. I want to spew expletives from the rooftops, but will try to speak my piece as gently and respectfully as I can.
Another election, another round of venting and fuming about stupid, unthinking people voting against their own interests. You ask for the umpteenth time how long will it take for them to wake up and see they are being sold down the river.

The thing is, Mike McCabe is not an insider, which makes him an outsider and according to the insiders in the WISDEMS, that makes him a larger threat to their hold of their small slice of pie than the WISGOP.

Witness this from former Wisconsoin Democratic Party head Mike Tate!

That is a rant for the ages, and aimed at Mr. McCabe but too cowardly to mention him by name,  When there is someone who wants to get money out of politics, it seriously infringes on people who are bloodsuckers in politics and want a piece of that pie.

A quick background on Mike Tate, he was former head of the Wisconsin Democratic Party and when he left last summer, went to work for Milwaukee County Exec Chris Abele, where he was given $5,000,000 to smear his opponent.  

The Ironic thing is while Mr. Tate is talking about winning elections, giving to candidates and driving turnout.  Mike was turning the County Exec race very dirty and smearing his old friend Chris Larson(who supported Tate for party chair) as a Walker clone.   In this race, there was no doubt that Chris Larson was the Progressive candidate next to anti-labor Chris Abele.

 The research shows that the biggest benefit of dirty campaigning is to drive down turnout.   How many people stayed home because of the fiasco that was the county executives race?  

The absolute most ironic thing of the year is this:
"unless you gave whatever you could to the Kloppenburg campaign and not Bernie or Hillary, I just don't think you get to complain.  $5 to Kloppenburg would have gne alot further than to Bernie...."

Checking the records of Mike McCabe's old site, we see exactly how much Mike Tate gave to Kloppenburg so he could be allowed to complain:   

The answer 

Yes Mr. Tate was paid well and given a $5 Million dollar budget and decided to not send a single penny to Ms. Kloppenburg.

With friends like Mike Tate, who needs enemies?

What Went Wrong In The Wisconsin Primary?

By Jeff Simpson

Capper recently gave his take on the recent primary election in Wisconsin and I wanted to also weigh in.  

Last Tuesday, Wisconsin held their primary which was the first time a partisan Presidential Primary was on the same ballot as a non partisan local and state wide election was on the same ballot.  

The turnout was surprisingly high for a spring election and the ballot was confusing.  For some reason there was a a spot at the top of the ballot where you could fill out Democrat or Republican. Why that would be a an option on a non partisan ballot is beyond me.   That being said, lets move on to the individual races.

The Top of the ticket featured the first time there was a contested Presidential primary in ages.  I Will not focus on the clown show on the right, instead lets focus on the Democratic Primary.

By now you know that Senator Bernie Sanders won the Wisconsin Primary, but lets look a little deeper.  Much has been said about the Republicans superior turnout, which led to the State of WI electing maybe the most unqualified Supreme Court Justice in the history of the United States,

There is more, there is always more!

While the Republicans did receive more votes (around 97000) the leading vote getter in the Wisconsin Presidential Primary was Senator Sanders:

Bernie Sanders  - 567,936
Ted Cruz   -  531,129
Hillary Clinton  - 432,767
Donald Trump    -  386.370
John Kasich  -  155,200

In the days leading up to the primary, Bernie Sanders was traveling the state holding rallies while Ms. Clinton was holding private events when she was not flying back to New York for a Lehman Brothers fundraiser.

With polls starting to show Ms. Clinton not having a chance to win the state, something amazing happened.   Almost every elected official in WI announced they were backing Secretary Clinton.  Then instead of giving reasons why, they circled the wagons and acted offended when being questioned.

Previous champions of labor like Cory Mason, Chris Taylor, Debra Kolste and Janis Ringhand inexplicably decided that the person who was in favor of every free trade deal in our history and championed the horrendous TPP would be the best choice for the people of WI.  

Unfortunately Bernies strong showing showed us why the Democratic party continues to be insignificant in Wisconsin, the huge disconnect between the party and the voters!

Quick piece of advice to the WisDems - Progressive populism is not against the law! Until the state Democrats begin to make this a priority:



Over this:


We will continue to be a red state.

Things are not any better on the State party level, Martha Laning, State Party Chair, said that she would use her super delegate vote for the winner of the Wisconsin primary, and after Bernie won handily, quickly switched positions to sayings he would support whoever was winning at the end.   Thus telling 568,000 Wisconsinites who braved the weather, lines and restrictive voting laws, thanks for playing but the game is over.   Sit down and be quiet until we need you in the fall.  

The way that the establishment circled their wagons for the Wall St. Senator did not go unseen by the people of Wisconsin.    With Bernie Sanders outdrawing all candidates on a regular basis to great enthusiasm, it looked like the party establishment banded together to stop the Sanders uprising.   If only they were so united for workers rights, public education and jobs.    

The Supreme Court Race:

Wisconsin, despite already electing Mike Gableman to the Supreme Court has now elected someone even less qualified.   In doing so, there is much blame and self reflection to go around and none of it belongs to Bernie Sanders.

First, Judge Kloppenburg made it clear that she did not really want the help of the Democratic party since this is a "non partisan" race and the Democratic party gladly obliged.   Her opponent, was handpicked by the GOP, coordinated her campaign with the GOP and even let it be known that there was no need to even listen to oral arguments just rule how they tell her to rule.  

The two parties are playing different games by different rules and as long as that continues to happen the GOP will continue successfully stacking the courts.

Secondly, many people loved that at the insider dinner in Milwaukee before the election when Hillary laid into Rebecca Bradley.  While it was very much justified it hurt the cause.

No sane person would think that Ms. Kloppenburg was as hyper partisan as Ms. Bradley but when the establishment Democrat, with record negatives, lays into one candidate that confirms to people throughout the state that one candidate is an R and one is a D.

Now Ms. Kloppenburg is associated with all as the Democratic candidate and is twisting in the wind with no help from the Democratic party.

Again different games, different rules, same results.

Which brings us to the Milwaukee County Executive race.

While I live in Dane county and am not effected on a daily basis of Mr. Abele's poor policies. However as an observer from afar I found something interesting that no one seemed to talk about.  

By all accounts, Mr. Abele spent approximately $5 million dollars smearing former Democratic Senate minority leader Chris Larson.  What is important to note is that Mr. Larson was the former Democratic leader of the Senate when Mike Tate was the chair of the Democratic party.  In all of Mike Tate's elections, Chris Larson was one of his biggest supporters.  

Chris Abele hired Mike Tate to help him run his campaign.   Mike Tate then promptly went to work smearing his old friend and supporter.  Everyone knows that when Mike Tate took over the party, the Dems held both houses and the Governor's mansion and during his tenure they lost all three and have become irrelevant.   We see with Tate taking a few pieces to smear a friend, the lack of values and ethics and character, and a good part of the reason why the party is no longer relevant.  

One last observation.   In the five million dollars that Tate/Abele spent to keep his $130,000/yr job, how many times did they mention the importance of electing JoAnne Kloppenburg?  The same amount of times that anyone in the establishment has spoken up about Chris Abele working against the party.

My first recommendation for the party is to have Peter Barca resign his leadership position immediately and place Rep. Jonathon Brostoff Assembly minority leader.

The Mike Tate Lemon

By Jeff Simpson

Mike Tate, the former head of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, continues to cost the people of Wisconsin dearly!  

It was not enough that he oversaw a Wisconsin that went from the Senate, Assembly and Governor being all Democrats to all three branches being not only Republican, but the Democrats are in such a minority that they are irrelevant in our state.

Now the DPW has to pay an extra $23,000 for his past incompetence.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has paid a $23,000 fine to federal regulators for campaign finance violations during the recall campaigns of 2011 and 2012.
Those violations include failing to keep required payroll logs in 2011 and 2012 and underreporting its spending in 2011 by about $185,000, according to an agreement between the state party and the Federal Election Commission. It was first reported by the Center for Public Integrity.

What does $23000 buy in an election?  Three months of a well placed billboard in the Milwaukee area or 7 months of  one in the important Fox Valley!

Instead we have to piss this important money away to cover for a lack of institutional knowledge by the former head of the party.  

We got stuck with a lemon and paid dearly for it!!!

The Mike Tate Watch

By Jeff Simpson 

Watching the Milwaukee County Executive race between current exec Chris Abele and State Senator Chris Larson will be interesting.  

Chris Abele, hired former Wisconsin Democratic Party head Mike Tate to help run his re-election campaign.  

Mike Tate who caused controversy in the last Gubernatorial election, by dismissing Kathleen Vinehout's initial plan to run for Governor by focusing on small donations, and not going after the big donors that many political insiders feel are necessary to winning elections.  

"The reality is that while we will never have as much money as Scott Walker it is not realistic to believe you can defeat him without running a serious, professional campaign that raises enough money to get the Democratic message out,” Tate said in a statement. “The stakes are too high for our families that are struggling under Scott Walkers policies for anyone to attempt a bid for Governor that will not and cannot raise the money needed to run a grassroots campaign that can communicate with voters at their door, via television, direct mail and the Internet. Modern times require modern campaigns."

Unfortunately for the people of Wisconsin, an unfortunate auto accident helped change our history.  

Now Mike Tate has hitched his wagons to what seems would be a candidate right up his alley.  A corporate right of center "Democrat" who has unlimited funds.  

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele brags that he will pay for his own re-election campaign.
Just look for the Brink's armored truck to pull up any second.

Records show that Abele has already bought $336,495 worth of airtimeon six Milwaukee-area TV stations since Oct. 26. His ads also are all over social media, especially Facebook. And his campaign has sent out at least three slick mailers to voters in the county.

Abele's campaign released two more TV spots on Tuesday, the first on thenew Milwaukee Bucks arena and the other on local bus service, and sent out a new flier as well. Even more direct mail will be on its way soon

 Throw in a five-member campaign staff, polling and consultants — former Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tateamong them — and Abele looks like he could spend as much as $1 million by the end of the year.

The guy who feels that the best way to "fix" our public schools, is to privatize them making no one accountable to the community, is willing to spend one million dollars to bury his opponent a year before the election.

Here is some quick advice to Mr. Abele, give the million dollars to the Milwaukee Public Schools and appoint Dr. Means as a volunteer to your campaign.  Everyone wins.
 
It will be interesting to see how clean Mike Tate runs a clean race or smears and misleads in his advertisements the way big money tends to do in elections.

  Remember, Chris Larson has always endorsed Mike Tate for chair when he ran, so it will be interesting to see what kind of loyalty Mike Tate shows his old friend.    

For me personally, I see it as a race between someone who likes to work with(and donate too) the extremist Republicans to gain more power(the undemocratic takeover of the Milwaukee County Board and local schools), versus a politician who perpetually gave in to the extremist Republicans(Larson led the way in giving our public education money to the Milwaukee Bucks Billioanire owners).  

Since the last two County Execs have stolen us blind anyway, I would take a long look at Joe Klein from the Pirate Party.