Walker: If You're Gonna Lie, Lie Big!

Obviously fretting about how poorly he is doing at creating jobs, Scott Walker went out for a Hail Mary by issuing a jobs report claiming that he miraculously and unexpectedly found an extra 67,000 jobs laying around that no one had counted before, once again showing himself to be the Kathy Nickolaus of job creators.

Fortunately, we know better than to believe one word that comes out Walker's mouth.

The actual numbers reported by a source that does not have presidential aspirations riding on successfully bullshitting the people shows us that since Walker has taken office, he's cost the state 15,900 jobs.  And when compared to neighboring states or to the nation as a whole, Walker's epic failure is even clearer:

click to embiggen

There are a couple of other things missing from Walker's desperate damage control press release.

One is that despite his grossly exaggerated claims of job growth, the state's unemployment rate jumped from 6.7% up to 7%.

The other thing that Walker failed to mention, and will continue to tail to mention, is that the jobs he is "creating" are part-time, low wage jobs. Is it any wonder that the state's average income is dropping like a rock?

The only thing he'll have to run on his cutting taxes and lowering the state deficit.  That is until someone mentions that he hasn't cut taxes and he is borrowing money like mad to cover up his ballooning deficit.

Sanfelippo Gets Caught In A Lie. Again.

From the same article which reported the African-American community's opposition to Chris Abele's power grab, comes this doozy from Representative Joe Sanfelippo, the sockpuppet pushing Abele's bill:

In an interview, Sanfelippo said his bill would maintain supervisors' power to act as a check on the county executive's authority but would clarify the executive is the boss of day-to-day county operations.

"There's no major shift of power here," Sanfelippo said.

However, the Legislative Council and Supervisor Theodore Lipscomb point out the blatancy of Sanfelippo's lie:

According to the nonpartisan Legislative Council's analysis, Sanfelippo's bill would "increase certain authorities of the executive (and) decrease certain authorities of the board." For example, supervisors could ask questions of county department heads but the bill bars supervisors from giving any orders to department heads. Sanfelippo said that's aimed at ending meddling in daily operations by supervisors.

Supervisor Theo Lipscomb Sr. said the plain language of Sanfelippo's bill and legislative service agencies' analyses make it clear the measure would significantly shift power from the board to the county executive. That includes a provision that specifically bars the County Board from cutting any staff jobs in the county executive's office or reducing their pay, while also granting the executive authority to add staff.

"There's nothing in here but enhancements to the executive's power," said Lipscomb.

The fact that this is nothing but a pure power grab is no surprise to the gentle reader. What is a surprise is that even the corporate media is admitting it.

Palermo's Calls Themselves A Responsible Company, Forgets They Broke The Law

On Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board regarding Palermo's came out.

Judging by the corporate media's reports and the right wing bloggers celebrating the ruling, one would think that Palermo's was exonerated of all wrong doing.

That is until one actually looks at the ruling:

Gottschalk said he found reason to believe that the company did violate the law by telling “five or six” employees that if they left their jobs to join the strikers, “they would not have jobs to come back to.”

Gottschalk said he is recommending that the company “cease and desist” from engaging in such “retaliation” and restore those employees’ jobs.

Oh, and they are still going to have their vote to unionize, which Palermo's tried to block, which was the cause for all of this in the first place.

Next, the wingnuts will be telling us they won because of Mitt Romney's election loss.

Charlie Sykes: Torn Between Two Liars, Looking Like A Fool

Yesterday, I wrote a fairly comprehensive expose on the biggest lies told by Brian Sikma and his propagandist group, Media Trackers.

I pointed out that Sikma outdid himself when he came out with the false story of a Republican volunteer who claimed to be savagely beaten. Sikma even went so far as to repeat his libelous lies on the Charlie Sykes show. Despite it being an obvious hoax, Sikma swore up and down that he verified all the facts and stood by his report.

Brian Sikma

That is, he stood by his story until it became unraveled and he had to admit that it wasn't true. But even then, he lied again, trying to put all the blame on the fake victim and ignoring his own boasting of how he verified his supposed facts.

Because of his scurrilous attacks on an innocent man, he has put himself in line for a possible libel lawsuit that could cost him and Media Trackers a lot of money. Even James Wigderson had to admit that Sikma could be in a world of hurt because of his reckless behavior.

Charlie Sykes did not hesitate to throw Sikma under the bus in order to try to salvage his own reputation:

Then came Media Trackers which claimed it had hard evidence, in the form of a lengthy transcript of graphic and obscene threats against Woods, which they attributed to Pocan's gay partner. If true -- and if MT could verify the information -- the story was a potential game changer. But...

On yesterday's show, I expressed skepticism about the story and asked Brian Sikma how he knew this was not a hoax -- specifically noting the pattern we've seen elsewhere -- and how he had "verified" the now-discredited text messages. Sikma cited multiple sources who had "verified" the texts.

But despite his "sources," obviously the text messages had not been verified, because they were fake.

The group issued this statement last night:

Media Trackers regrets that we were repeatedly lied to and misled. We regret that our readers were subject to the dishonest claims of a dishonest individual. Despite the best efforts to verify the accuracy and integrity of certain claims, a cover-up sometimes works. Those who create and maintain such fabrications deserve to be ruthlessly exposed for they hold the power to destroy the credibility of innocent people.

**

Unfortunately, that's not really good enough.

The ultimate responsibility for the lies and deception rests with Kyle Wood; but it was unacceptably sloppy to run with the unsubstantiated story.

But if Sykes thinks that he's out of the woods by dogging out Sikma, he's sorely mistaken.

Let me explain.

My colleague, Jeff Simpson, already pointed out that Christian Schneider*, aka Atomic Pantload, had also done his own bit of trouble with this story.

Christian Schneider

When it came out that the story was a lie, Schneider first put a single line way at the bottom of the post updating people that the story had been recanted. No apologies, no explanations about his role in it, just that one line.

Then suddenly, the story went poof into cyberspace. In it's place, Schneider came out with a new post, utterly changing his story:

Earlier today, I wrote a lengthy post about this Daily Caller story that detailed an alleged attack of a gay GOP campaign staffer in Dane County.

From what I now understand, there are some questions about some details that appeared in the original story, which I quoted at length. As a result, I decided to hold off on running the post until I can verify some of the facts that have been reported.

-Management

Whoa! So Schneider is part of MJS management now?

Note how he indicates the story on the same day he wrote it? I wonder how he explains Jeff using that post this morning, days after Schneider wrote the original post.

Schneider then did a follow up post again repeating his alleged skepticism:

When I first heard the story, I wanted to write about it, but I questioned some of the details in the original Daily Caller story. So I took down my original blog post and began making attempts to talk to Wood himself to get more details.

On Saturday afternoon, Wood and I talked for around a half hour. He was very pleasant. He sounded calm and credible, adding details to already published reports of the incident. I was always aware that there was still a question as to whether the incident actually happened, which is why I titled the post in the form of a question. But to me, his story at least seemed plausible. I wanted to give him the chance to tell it it public.

As it turns out, my original skepticism was well-founded. It is still unclear as to how much of Wood's story took place, if any at all. He clung to his story until today at 3:52, when I received an e-mail from him verifying a detail in my blog post about him. At that point, he said he would no longer be speaking to the media. Presumably, he recanted his story to the police shortly thereafter.

Huh? Now he's saying that he spoke to Wood on Saturday, after he posted his original story? And now he's claiming to be a reporter? I don't know which is the bigger fallacy, the story or that claim.

Schneider obviously thinks he's safe to say what he wants since no one can know what he originally wrote, as that he had deleted it.

Oh,Schneider is such a silly man. Even before I could get online, a thoughtful friend and already sent me the link to his original post, via Google Cache. I ask you, gentle reader, does this really look like the post of a person filled with skepticism and doubt, or of a man who hadn't already interviewed the alleged victim?

Beaten for being a gay Republican? An interview with Kyle Wood

By Christian Schneider
Oct. 28, 2012

At 7:00 last Wednesday morning, Kyle Wood was just one of thousands of campaign staffers strewn throughout the country, making phone calls and knocking on doors for candidates on the ballot in November. But an hour later, Wood was lying on the floor of his apartment, covered in blood, having been the victim of a beating he believes was politically motivated.

Wood, 29, who is volunteering for Republican Chad Lee in a Madison-area congressional race, believes the attack was punishment for “betraying” his fellow gays. “My feeling, based on the statements that were made [during the attack], it probably had something to do with the fact that I support a Republican candidate running against an openly gay man,” Wood told me. “And as a gay man, I’m supposed to support that gay man. And I don’t. “ (Lee is running against openly gay Democratic State Assemblyman Mark Pocan.)"

And since Google Cache links don't last forever, another reader provided me with the pdf form of the article, which I have available for the gentle reader here.

The whole story seems to be rather self-assured and the work of a two-bit hack that was trying to score some cheap political points, even if it meant smearing and libeling an innocent man.

It makes me wonder if Schneider and MJS are also going to be liable to a libel lawsuit.

But this is where Sykes has got himself a problem.

Schneider is a "Senior Fellow" at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, yet another right wing propaganda group funded by the Bradley Foundation, as well as a member of ALEC.

Sykes is Schneider's editor there.

Charlie Sykes

If Sykes wants to be consistent, he's going to have to point out that Schneider told a lie as egregious, if not worse, than the one Sikma told. Then he's going to have to decide whether he can use Schneider's work anymore.

And if Sykes doesn't want to hold Schneider to the same level of accountability, he's going to have to explain why not. Would it be because Schneider is a higher caliber hack and liar?

I have no clue what Sykes will do.

In fact, I'm a little surprised that Sykes even called Sikma out on his garbage. Sykes doesn't have an issue with telling lies himself. Every time that PolitiFact has checked his statements, he has been caught with his pants on fire. And when he is confronted with his lies, Sykes readily admits it:

"My ‘evidence’? Absolutely none."

Sykes went on to label his remark "an off-hand wisecrack" -- "You know, humor, hyperbole, joke."

Which brings us to the same question I asked yesterday:

My question is, given how often so many of them have been proven to be dishonest - whether on their own volition or by feeding off of stories from people like Sikma - how can anyone believe what any one of the right wing propagandists, bloggers and squawkers?

*Not to be confused with the other Christian Schneider, though how the mistake could be made is pretty obvious.

Cross posted at Whallah!

Fraud Chickens

For over a month, we've had to put up with former Koch employee Senator Van Wanggaard and the Koch Media Network (MacIver, Wisconsin Reporter, Media Trackkkers, etc.) squawking like wet hens about the supposed irregularities in the recall election. They never could offer any substantiated proof, just empty innuendo and false claims of things that weren't there, but that didn't keep them from squawking.

The squawking fraud chickens reached a crescendo when the dirty birds - Robin Vos, Scott Suder and Jeff Fitzgerald among them - ruffled their feathers and squawked at the GAB, demanding that they fix a problem that didn't exist.

The GAB had enough of the noisome birds and ruffled their feathers but good:

"Speaking frankly on behalf of our agency and local election officials, absent direct evidence, I believe continued unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud tend to unnecessarily undermine the confidence that voters have in election officials and the results of the election," Kennedy said in a letter addressed to Speaker of the Assembly Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon).

Kennedy said there wasn't evidence to back allegations of "tampering" with ballot bags.

Additionally, he said the accountability board would work with clerks to reinforce training regarding poll book signing, voter registration and timely processing of voter verification postcards.

Kennedy said the accountability board's new Fall Election Cycle Strategic Planning Team is identifying statewide and specific training needs, including a "Back to Basics" campaign to "shore up fundamentals that may have been neglected in the push to training the new legislative requirements" enacted in last year's voter ID law.

And before the fraud chickens could take a breath to squawk their next squawk, they got it from the Racine County District Attorney too:

"Investigations were launched into each complaint received regarding potential fraud at polling places in the city of Racine," the district attorney's statement said. "A thorough inquiry was made into the somewhat limited information that was provided. Some of the information that was provided was anecdotal, as opposed to first-hand eyewitness accounts.

"Based on the information that was received, it was determined that said information did not rise to the level required for a criminal prosecution."

The not-so-funny thing about the squawk chickens antics are that when it comes to a Republican county clerk in Walkersha County openly admitting to changing the programming of the electric voting machines, but not how she changed it, or serious questions about the electric voting machines in the Northwoods counties, the chickens fall suddenly silent.

The sad part is that these dirty birds are so fowl, they wouldn't even make a good soup, although a lot of them keep ending up in hot water.  And I'll admit, that is kind of fun to watch.

Misleading Report Is Misleading, No Matter How Many Times It's Echoed

The Wall Street Journal, aka The Daily Republican, had a report that is titled, I kid you not, "Political Spending by Unions Far Exceeds Direct Donations."  They breathlessly say unions spent four times the money than what was reported on political activity.

What they did was count everything from lobbying to holding rallies (and protests) to cookouts and called it political activity.

The brain-dead zombie echo chamber dutifully parroted this "astonishing" report.

But what none of them did was show a comparison to anyone else and their spending, say like Big Business.

But Open Secrets does:

So while the right wing zombie nut jobs whine about $4.4 billion over years five years, they are suspiciously mum about Big Business spending more than 14 times that much money.  Of course, at least one of the zombies is a known employee of the Koch Boyz, so you can't expect anything like integrity from them.

The GOP's Greatest Fear

Three months ago, I wrote an article for the Shepherd Express which took a look at the right wing "news media sources" like MacIver Institute, Wisconsin Reporter and Media Trackers and whether these groups have violated the law. I also pointed out to a complaint that had been filed against them for violating their tax exempt status by actively advocating for politicians like Scott Walker:

These connections raise questions about potential coordination between Walker's campaign and these third party groups, which is illegal. Even the controversial Citizens United ruling does not provide coverage for this sort of activity, according to the Alliance for Justice:

"The decision does not change the electoral activities permitted by 501(c)(3)s. Regardless of the changes Citizens United made to election law, federal tax law still absolutely prohibits 501(c)(3)s from supporting or opposing candidates for public office. 501(c)(3)s cannot endorse candidates or make independent expenditures suggesting who is the 'better' candidate without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status."

In March, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC) announced that it had filed a complaint with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service against the MacIver Institute, the Heartland Institute and Americans for Prosperity (AFP), another group that has received funding from the Koch brothers and the Bradley Foundation. In its complaint, WDC accuses AFP and MacIver of violating their 501(c)(3) status by creating their "It's Working Wisconsin" project, which spent $1.2 million on advertising alone, urging people not to sign the recall petitions. In addition, WDC accused these groups of holding public meetings and other activities to try to influence the outcome of the recalls. WDC also alleged that the Chicago-based Heartland Institute's planned "Operation Angry Badger"—a public relations effort to support Walker in the recall—would violate the group's tax-exempt status.

The game continues, but now on a national level. The Koch Brothers, founders and financiers of the above-named propagandist groups, have pledged $100 million to buy the White House. Likewise, billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his wife have pledged unlimited millions of dollars to defeat President Obama. Likewise, thanks to Citizens United, there are countless businesses that are willing to put their money into the pool to help buy the White House.

But businesses don't like to do this openly, so they use front groups like Americans for Prosperity, Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity and all their subsidiary groups. And now there are also groups like Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS, that allow all these businesses and uber-wealthy donate without fear of repercussions since they can do so anonymously.

To put some balance back into the electoral system, the Disclose Act was introduced. The Disclose Act would close this loophole and require that these donations, which are used for political purposes, be made public information.

And this has the Republicans and their corporate overlords scared as hell. Like cockroaches and earwigs, they hate to have their activities exposed in the light of day and go scurrying for cover whenever anyone shines a light in their direction.

US Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has resorted to the fear and smear tactics favored by Republicans and their sponsors by penning a piece with the hyperbolic, histrionic and utterly false accusations that Obama would use this information to "punish" his critics and those who support his opponent. (News flash for McConnell, it's the Republicans like Scott Walker who does that kind of crap.)

The New York Times calls McConnell out on his selective outrage and points out that McConnell has also added to his enemies list, including bloggers of all people:

In a related speech last month, Mr. McConnell said disclosure was an enormous price. Bloggers and cable television hosts have said terrible things about the president’s critics, he said, as if revealing a crime. The Koch brothers, who have pledged $60 million to defeat President Obama, have received some obscene messages, and have even been criticized directly by the president. The obscenity was unfortunate, but did the Kochs really believe they could use their money to dominate the political system and not receive some push-back?

Mr. McConnell’s charge that the president has loosed the Internal Revenue Service on his enemies is breathtaking. After several years of indifference, the I.R.S. is finally examining whether these “social welfare” groups are abusing their tax-exempt status by spending anonymous donations on political attack ads. The senator compares them to the N.A.A.C.P., but Crossroads GPS and the like exist for no other purpose than to run political ads.

That is a clear violation of the tax code, which says political activity cannot be their primary purpose. The I.R.S. is doing its job, at long last, and that’s what has Republican leaders like Mr. McConnell so worried.

What is really remarkable to me is this: If the Republicans' agenda was so good for the country and for the people, why do they have to resort to such dishonest and secretive tactics?  You think they would want to proudly show that they support something that is supposed to be so good for the people.

I mean, just look at Scott Walker's accomplishments.  In just eighteen months, he's put their plan into place and we now have less jobs than when he took over, our taxes are going up, our public safety is going down, our environment is in danger and we have lost more rights than I care to think about right now.

So why are his corporate backers afraid to go in front of the people and accept full responsibility for the results of their buying the governorship for Walker?  Why are they afraid to openly support buying the White House for Mitt Romney?

Do you suppose they might be lying about exactly who benefits from their agenda and what those benefits will cost the rest of us?

Regardless of their reason or reasons, it's time we turn the lights on them and keep them on.

Fact Checkers Come And Go And Sometimes Are Far Gone

President Barack Obama's campaign is running this ad highlighting his opponent's track record at Bain in which he would push jobs overseas and reap the profits.



One of these truthier-than-thou fact check group, with the unoriginal name of FactCheckers, took umbrage with Obama's ads and described them as making unsubstantiated claims.

Team Obama sent them a courteous six-page letter explaining why their complaints were what truly was unsubstantiated.

Well, just like PolitiFact, FactCheckers doesn't like being second guessed or corrected, so they came out with a second article, but were now not calling Obama's claims as unsubstantiated, but outright false.

The basis for their claim to having more truthiness is their claim that Romney wasn't really in charge of Bain in 1999, before the time the events in Obama's commercial occurred. They said he was at first an absentee executive and then a silent investor. Their basis for this claim? Romney said so.

Well. that clears that up! Romney wouldn't lie about something like this would he?

Here's what the Fact Checkers are using as their "proof":

Here’s what Romney has said:

Mitt Romney Public Financial Disclosure Report, Aug. 11, 2011: Mr. Romney retired from Bain Capital on February 11, 1999 to head the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Since February 11, 1999, Mr. Romney has not had any active role with any Bain Capital entity and has not been involved in the operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way.

Romney’s signature appears on the line that states: “I certify that statements I have made on this form and all attached schedules are true, complete and correct to the best of my knowledge.”

They follow this up with a Bain spokesman iterating the claim.

But then there is this from BizJournals (note the date of the article, August 23, 2001):

W. Mitt Romney is quitting Boston-based Bain Capital, the $13 billion investment firm he started with $35 million in 1984. The son of a former governor and himself a presidential candidate is going into politics in either Massachusetts or Utah after he completes work helping organize next year's Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Romney, 54, is giving up his 100 percent control of Bain Capital to 26 managing directors. The firm has made 170 venture and buyout investments in companies like pizza delivery chain Domino's Pizza Inc., brokerage Datek Online Holdings Corp. and retailers Staples Inc. and the Sports Authority Inc.

Both of these claims cannot be true, since they directly contradict each other. So was Romney lying in 1999 or was he lying in 2001?

For Romney's sake, he'd better have been lying in 2001. For if he was lying in 1999, on official government forms, he would be in deep trouble, per the same Fact Checkers who are defending him:

Making false statements to the federal government is a serious crime (under 18 USC 1001) carrying possible fines and up to five years in federal prison....

Hmmm, maybe we won't need Scott Walker to take Romney down when he gets perpwalked later this year. It looks like Romney should be doing his own perpwalk.

For a full debunking of FactCheckers bunk, I would refer the gentle reader to karoli's article, for which I give her a tip of the crown, for my article.

Romneycare vs. Obamacare: Who's The Real Taxer?

My colleague Jeff Simpson already pointed to the fact that the Affordable Care Act was based on what Mitt Romney did as governor in Massachusetts.

Now that it's been shown to pass legal muster, the teahadists and the Republicans, but I repeat myself, are screaming like stuck pigs that ACA, or Obamacare if you must, is a TAX! The biggest one EVAH!

But then again, there's this interesting tidbit regarding the difference in tax hikes in Romneycare vs. Obamacare which should get their heads exploding all over again:

And the Obama campaign is quick to point out that while Romney and other Republicans are accusing the president of enacting a huge tax increase, the penalties under Romneycare are bigger than under Obamacare. According to a study from the Center for Health Law and Economics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, forwarded to Salon by the Obama campaign, the differences are huge. An adult over the age of 27 who makes more than 300 percent of the poverty line (about $37,000 a year) and chooses not to purchase health insurance would pay at least $695 in penalties under Obamcare. Under Romneycare, that same person would pay at least $1,530 in penalties.

Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist who helped design both Romneycare and Obamacare, said today on a conference call organized by the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund that Obama’s penalty will affect only a tiny portion of Americans. “The Congressional Budget Office estimates that about one percent of the population will end up paying this penalty. This not a broad new tax on the middle class. It is trivial. It is four, the CBO estimates it is $4 billion in revenues from this penalty. That is trivial relative to the almost $100 billion that you would get in [subsidies], once it’s phased in, in new tax credits to individuals to buy health insurance. So this is on net this an enormous tax cut for the middle class. This is not a tax increase,” he explained.

In the USA Today op-ed, Romney said his plan was affordable and reasonable. So if Obamacare’s penalties are even more modest, then the claim that it’s a huge tax increase rings a bit hollow.

Don't you just hate it when the truth gets in the way of their propaganda?

Deception And Division: Vote Walker Out

'Nuff said.

Beware The Edited But Still False Walkergate Story!

Geez, but some people never learn, do they?

Just yesterday, I told you about the right wing blogsite posing as a news source, which had published a story which was easily proven to be false.  The mock journalist, H. Nelson Goodson had written this:

On Friday, investigative information released by a reliable source indicated that Governor Scott Walker (R) and up to five others in the governor’s circle while he was Milwaukee County executive will be facing several felony charges resulting from the John Doe investigation. The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office (DA) is expected to file charges against Walker and five other suspects on allegations that they used county time to campaign to help elect Walker as governor while working and restricted other Walker employees from exposing alleged unethical acts to the DA probe.

So far, at least six former Walker staffers have been charged in the John Doe investigation, including one that is waiting sentencing, but has been postpone to prevent an influence of the June election.

The DA and Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered an underground e-mail network being operated by Walker staffers in an office adjacent to Walker’s Milwaukee County Executive office. Walker denied that he had any knowledge of the underground e-mail operation to elect him governor.

Walker has set up a defense fund and has hired attorneys. Speculation about Walker being charged in the John Doe probe has been circulating throughout political circles in both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Some GOP members doubt that Walker would be charged at all, but if the information proves to be reliable then indeed Walker and five others are facing charges that will no doubt set the GOP back on its agenda to make Wisconsin a Red state.

Now the miscreant is at it again.

Instead of retracting the post or offering an apology like a real journalist would, Goodson has chosen the route of a right wing blogger by just changing the wording without explanation.

Thus far, he's only changed the second paragraph to read as such:

So far, at least six have been charged in the John Doe investigation, including two Walker former staffers and another that is waiting sentencing for being convicted for two misdemeanor counts of political solicitation by a public employee. But the former Walker’s staffer sentencing has been postponed to a later date to prevent an influence of the June election. Three others were also charged in connection with the John Doe probe, including one conviction for funneling at least $72,800 of illegal funds to Walker’s governor campaign race in 2010.

Note how Goodson corrected his mistake on calling all the defendants as Walker staffers. He also added an incomplete reference to railroad tycoon William Gardner's illegal campaign contribution.

But he left in the false statements regarding the FBI's role and the false statement about the court date being postponed to prevent an influence on the election. There's never been a news story or a mention of that being the cause. In fact, both the DA's office and the defense attorney made it abundantly clear that Darlene Wink's trial was postponed to guarantee her continued cooperation with the investigation and resulting trials.

Goodson fails to supply any information on why he believes that the DA would wait until after the election. If anything, the arrest and subsequent charging of former Milwaukee County Supervisor Johnny Thomas, which happened in the height of his campaign to be the City of Milwaukee comptroller, would contradict that position, showing that the political events mean nothing to his pursuit of justice.

As a side note, the fact that Chisholm and Thomas are both Democrats also displaces any notion that the Walkergate investigation is partisan.  Justice has no sides.

All of this, combined with the fact the only person broadcasting this piece unquestionably is another unscrupulous right wing blogger, is further reason to doubt the veracity of the report.

Then again, how often can you trust anything coming from a right winger?

Beware The False Walkergate Story!

There is, unfortunately, a false report being spread like wildfire about Scott Walker and five of his cronies being charged in the Walkergate investigation immediately after the recall election. This story should not be believed.

The story is by H. Nelson Goodson of Hispanic News Network USA:

On Friday, investigative information released by a reliable source indicated that Governor Scott Walker (R) and up to five others in the governor’s circle while he was Milwaukee County executive will be facing several felony charges resulting from the John Doe investigation. The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office (DA) is expected to file charges against Walker and five other suspects on allegations that they used county time to campaign to help elect Walker as governor while working and restricted other Walker employees from exposing alleged unethical acts to the DA probe.

So far, at least six former Walker staffers have been charged in the John Doe investigation, including one that is waiting sentencing, but has been postpone to prevent an influence of the June election.

The DA and Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered an underground e-mail network being operated by Walker staffers in an office adjacent to Walker’s Milwaukee County Executive office. Walker denied that he had any knowledge of the underground e-mail operation to elect him governor.

Walker has set up a defense fund and has hired attorneys. Speculation about Walker being charged in the John Doe probe has been circulating throughout political circles in both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Some GOP members doubt that Walker would be charged at all, but if the information proves to be reliable then indeed Walker and five others are facing charges that will no doubt set the GOP back on its agenda to make Wisconsin a Red state.

This story is at best unverified and unverifiable and at worst, a garbage post full of lies that I believe is set as a boobytrap to interfere with the recall election and John Doe investigation known as Walkergate.

First of all, consider the source.  Goodson, and the Hispanic News Network, is the same source that was claiming that there were sufficient signatures gathered in early December.  Many saw this as a thinly-veiled attempt to short circuit the signature gathering phase of the recall be getting people to stop early.

Goodson is also a known associate of Aaron Rodriguez, another pseudo-journalist who has blogged for Scott Walker's 2010 campaign and tried to misinform people regarding the actions of Walker's inner office staff, denying that they were doing anything illegal.

And consider this: If this story was true, would it be only found on a right wing site? Methinks that the Dems, the unions and Team Barrett would be screaming it from the rooftops.

Now, let's parse the story.

Goodson doesn't identify his source, which might be fine on the face of it, except that Goodson does not have a history of breaking news, much less reporting news accurately.  But besides that, Goodson uses extremely vague allegations regarding what the alleged crimes are or who the other people are involved, which only makes the story more suspect.

Goodson's poor reporting is evident with the claim that "six Walker staffers" have been charged.  This is a false statement.  Only three of Walker's aides - Tim Russell, Kelly Rindfleisch and Darlene Wink - have been charged so far.

The other three people never worked for Walker directly.  Brian Pierick helped with Walker's campaign, but never worked for Walker per se.  Kevin Kavanaugh was a political appointee of Walker's, but again, never worked for him directly.  The third, William Gardner, is a railroad tycoon, for heaven's sake, and was convicted of making illegal campaign donations.

Goodson is also inaccurate in saying the FBI helped discover the secret router system.  They have helped get evidence in searches of people's homes, like Cindy Archer's, and have helped analyze the data coming from the confiscated computers, but did not help find the router.

I have reason to believe that this is an effort to hurt the recall election as well as the Walkergate investigation.    I believe that Goodson is trying to mislead the reader to think that A) there's no sense in voting because Walker's going to jail anyway and B) the Walkergate investigation is nothing more than a political stunt to hurt Walker and that they are leaking information like a sieve.

If we don't oust Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch, and he does get indicted, we are looking at Governor Kleefisch.  She will not only continue with the ALEC agenda of making Wisconsin a right-to-work-for-less state but she will probably pass a law that all floor lamps and end tables have to be draped in heavy cloth so people don't fall in love and want to marry them.

And despite the right's repeated attempts to smear Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, his staff and the investigation, they have yet to do more than offer vulgar innuendo which is unsubstantiated.  But, like Goodson, their job isn't to prove anything is wrong, just to give people the doubt in the proceedings.

In summary, be careful of what information you believe and share with others.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  There is enough factual evidence regarding Walker, whether it's about his criminal activity in Walkergate or the atrocities he has done to our great state, that we don't need to go chasing after falsities like these, no matter how alluring they might be.

That said, I do believe that Walker and several others will be indicted, but I have no idea as of when.  All indications point to it being after the election, but that could change if Chisholm feels his case is solid enough to proceed, or something happens that makes him feel that the case could be jeopardized otherwise.

And you know damn well that Dan Bice and/or I will be breaking that story.

Until that time, or even after, if you hear a story and aren't sure (i.e. it didn't come from me), drop me a line. I might not be able to answer right away due to being at work and whatnot, but I'll be glad to help.

But to tide you over until the day justice comes, we can also look at this picture of Walker and his new cufflinks:

A Lesson in Right Wing Punditry

If you were to listen to the right wing talk radio and read the right wing blogs, then this never happened!

There ain’t no such thing as a free breakfast. Wisconsin Democrats have canceled the unity breakfast for Wednesday morning

OOPS...and this guy won an award???   There is going to be much written and said about politics in Wisconsin these next few weeks.  Now you know where not to go to get your information!  

Next  thing you know the right wing pundits will be pretending they won a pulitizer! 

Cutter Cuts Through Koch Lies

I hope WISDEMS take note of this for Scott Walker's lies. This is the way it needs to be done:



It's time for some simple straight talk.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part XCV

Remember how those political operatives political activists bullies crybabies people at MacIver Institute and Americans for Prosperity, both subsidiaries of the Koch Brothers Enterprises, told us that Scott Walker's budget left schools the same or even better?

I know this might come as a surprise to the gentle reader, but they lied:

More than 50 teachers within the Menomonee Falls School District will receive a preliminary layoff notification in the first part of April.

The Menomonee Falls School Board voted unanimously Monday night to send out 52 layoff notifications to staff. The board originally anticipated sending between 60 to 70 notices. A preliminary notification does not mean an employee will be laid off.

As middle school and high school students begin to select their classes and enrollment numbers become more exact, the number of layoff notifications was lowered and set at 52

.
And in Shorewood, things aren't any better:

Shorewood administrators presented recommendations on the district's 2012-13 budget at a School Board meeting Tuesday. The proposed budget of more than $22,000 calls for a number of reductions and additions that add up to a surplus of $167,416 that could be designated into the fund balance for future years.

Without touching the budget, district officials project a deficit of $429,947 - a figure reflecting a combination of factors, including increasing enrollment and declining income from the state.

Administrators have proposed a series of reductions and efficiencies totaling $933,735 that offset the deficit. The list includes savings incurred from health and dental insurance through a competitive bidding process and a few staffing reductions, some enrollment driven.

The only people that could say that Walker's plan is working are the people that want to push the privatization of and profiteering from our educational system. People like Scott Jensen, not that he necessarily has anything to do with either of those propagandist groups.

Just sayin'.

Heartland Employs Rep. Weiner Defense Strategy

Yesterday, I alerted the gentle reader to the "secret" plan by the Heartland Institute to try to tame the Angry Badgers in Wisconsin.

Today, the Heartland Institute initiated the Rep. Anthony Weiner Defense Strategy of Blaming Unknown Actors.

They issued a press release blaming the document on thieves and forgeries.  The odd thing is that if this were a forgery and made up of whole cloth, why did they apologize to their donors?

Apologies: The Heartland Institute apologizes to the donors whose identities were revealed by this theft. We promise anonymity to many of our donors, and we realize that the major reason these documents were stolen and faked was to make it more difficult for donors to support our work. We also apologize to Heartland staff, directors, and our allies in the fight to bring sound science to the global warming debate, who have had their privacy violated and their integrity impugned.

The Guardian also followed up on this story only to get changing stories from the H.I. flacks, who then took a "don't you dare question us" approach:

The nature of the "theft" charges by Heartland was also not immediately clear. Lakely, in his statement, explains that a staff member, persuaded by "an unknown person", mistakenly sent the documents to an unfamiliar email address.

Heartland's statement said the "stolen documents appear to have been written by Heartland's president for a board meeting that took place on January 17."

However, in an email to the Guardian later on Wednesday, Lakely backtracked on this apparent confirmation that some of the documents were genuine.

"Considering the fact that the individual who committed fraud and identity theft in correspondence with a staffer yesterday also created a fake Heartland document out of whole cloth, we cannot authenticate any of the documents," he wrote.

"At any rate, our standing policy is to not discuss confidential documents. We are also in the process of taking legal action, so our previous statements are all we have to say about the matter at present."

As the saying goes, I believe them, even if a million other people don't.

Scott Walker's Expensive Entitlements

Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.

- Abraham Lincoln, 1861

Elizabeth DiNovella, who had been covering CPAC (Conservatives Planning Absolute Corporatism) and writing about it at Dane 101, also gutted it out by listening to Scott Walker's address to the convention. In her piece, she quoted Walker's take on collective bargaining:

“Collective bargaining is not a right. Collective bargaining in the public sector is an expensive entitlement,” he said. This line got the biggest applause of the night.

When I read that, I damn near did a spit take on my monitor.

There is so much wrong with that short blurb that it will never be right.

Collective bargaining is a right, and that right might very well be extended into the public sector, as I wrote about nearly a year ago:

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman affirms that collective bargaining rights cannot be overturned by governmental edict. Guzman told the Legislature “it had no business trying to interfere with collective bargaining” according to Marvin Gittler, an attorney representing Local 727 of the Teamsters.

Guzman held that the National Labor Relations Act preempts the Legislature from dictating terms for unions working at McCormick Place. This ruling is similar to the finding of The International Commission for Labor Rights, which has said, in part: The ICLR identified the right of "freedom of association" as a fundamental right and affirmed that the right to collective bargaining is an essential element of freedom of association. These rights, which have been recognized worldwide, provide a brake on unchecked corporate or state power.

Now, before anyone points out that the NLRA is for private sector unions, read on:

While the NLRA covered US employees in private employment, the law protecting collective bargaining in both the public and private sectors has developed since 1935 to cover all workers "without distinction."

The other problem with Walker's false statement is what he is calling an "expensive entitlement." He's saying that the people of Wisconsin no longer should be afforded things like weekends off, not having their kids working in sweat shops, eight hour work days, forty hour work weeks, holidays off, living wages, vacations, equality in the work place or safe working conditions.

In other words, he wants to weaken the unions, both private and public, to help maximize the profits of the corporate interests who have been funding his campaigns and who, he hopes, will buy him the Presidency of the United States.

But it doesn't end there, gentle reader.

Walker has also been bantering about the phrase "legacy costs," which is something he started in Milwaukee County, with the aid of the plutocrats at the Greater Milwaukee Committee, an old boys (and girls) club for Milwaukee's wealthiest people, who see Milwaukee has their toy thing.

By "legacy costs," Walker is speaking about health care insurance and pensions.

Health care costs are through the roof, especially in Southeast Wisconsin, which has one of the highest rates, if not the highest, in the nation. And workers should carry their fair share of the costs. But when CEOs of insurance companies and health care agencies are getting compensated in the millions of dollars, there is an obvious problem which needs to be addressed.

Of course, it is Walker and his ilk that are opposed to fixing the system. Guess who are big donors to their campaigns.

It should be noted that Walker, if the reader will remember, was swept in as Milwaukee County Executive on the heels of a pension scandal enacted by his predecessor, Tom Ament. The gist of the scandal is that it provided a super enhancer to the pension of people that had been with the county for a long time. It also included a generous backdrop that would allow retirees to take a large lump sum at the time of retirement and a smaller monthly pension payment. Some county employees walked away with a million dollars when they retired. Ironically, most of these big money beneficiaries were non-represented employees. That means Walker could have stopped it at any time, but chose not to.

But of course he didn't want to stop these payments. One, it was a great political hammer to wield. Every time Walker was caught with a budget problem (which he usually contrived), he'd just blame the pension scandal, regardless of how long ago it was. Secondly, he was appointing most of his cronies to these positions and wanted to make sure they were rewarded. (Here's food for thought, Darlene Wink, who was convicted of only misdemeanors, is eligible for her pension.)

Oddly, the pension fund, pre-Walker was sufficient that it could have covered the enhanced pension pay outs. However, the two recessions during the Bush/Cheney administration took a big bite out of it, like it did for most people. Unlike the people that had 401(k)s, the public sector had their pensions protected for the most part.

In spite of the need for Milwaukee County to contribute to the pension fund for the first time in years, Walker, as county executive, chose to short change what the county owed to the fund and instead use it to reward campaign donors with sweetheart contracts. By shorting the payments to the fund, Walker only exacerbated the situation. It would be much akin to not making the minimum payment on a credit card. Not only do you still owe the balance, and the next payment, they add on fees and interest to make the next payment exponentially bigger.

To deal with this self-constructed problem, Walker tried to get a pension obligation plan pushed through. The wheeler and dealer behind this plan was a man name Nick Hurtgen, a GOP operative who eventually got busted himself in a kickback scheme. Fortunately, the County Board preempted Walker's move by making it a referendum question which the voters killed.

Walker did give Hurtgen a $300,000 contract to restructure the county's debt. In return, Hurtgen gave Walker a $25,000 campaign fundraiser.

Now Walker wants to convert the state's pension system, which is a defined benefit system and is fully funded and in good shape per all reports, into a defined contribution system. (They are looking at trying to do the same thing in Milwaukee County, even though there is no proven need for it.)

This is, as you might suspect, preposterous.

First of all, as I mentioned above, the pension system is fully funded and not a problem for tax payers.

Secondly, Walker can't complain about expenses, since his forcing public sector workers to "pay more" for their pensions is nothing more than a scam, since public sector workers are already paying 100% into their pensions:

Out of every dollar that funds Wisconsin' s pension and health insurance plans for state workers, 100 cents comes from the state workers.

How can that be? Because the "contributions" consist of money that employees chose to take as deferred wages – as pensions when they retire – rather than take immediately in cash. The same is true with the health care plan. If this were not so a serious crime would be taking place, the gift of public funds rather than payment for services.

Thus, state workers are not being asked to simply "contribute more" to Wisconsin' s retirement system (or as the argument goes, "pay their fair share" of retirement costs as do employees in Wisconsin' s private sector who still have pensions and health insurance). They are being asked to accept a cut in their salaries so that the state of Wisconsin can use the money to fill the hole left by tax cuts and reduced audits of corporations in Wisconsin.

By implementing Act 10, Walker is docking the workers' paychecks, because he can, and diverting the money.

But that diversion isn't enough for him or his campaign contributors. They want more. Hence the idea of converting, or fixing, the system, even though it's not broke or broken.

But while it might be sound like a good plan to your average squawk show listener, the reality is that it would not only stick it to the workers, but also to the taxpayers:

And governments are concerned about delivering on the promises that they have made to their citizens and to their employees as tax revenues shrink amid a weakening economy. In this environment, some have proposed replacing traditional defined benefit (DB) pensions with 401(k)-type defined contribution (DC) retirement savings plans in an effort to save money.

But decision-makers would be wise to look before they leap. To deliver the same level of retirement benefits, a DB plan can do the job at almost half the cost of a DC plan. Hence, DB plans should remain an integral part of retirement income security in an increasingly uncertain world because they offer employers and employees the best bang for the buck.

So why do it if it's not good for anyone? Well, it does benefit the fat cats on Wall Street, who in turn, reward Walker for being a good employee for them.

The real kicker of this is, as I just pointed out with the above cited passage, is that if Walker gets his way, it's going to really stick it to the people of Wisconsin.  Why? Well, in Walker's own words, in sworn testimony given before a Congressional committee:

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.

The only expensive entitlements involved here are the ones that Walker wants to take with our money so that he may give it to his campaign contributors and cronies.

Name Me One Name!*

For months, we heard the likes as Media Trakkkers, MacGuyver Institute for the Criminally Insane, and the gaggle of radio squawkers, not to mention WISGOP say that there were all sorts of fraudulent activity going on in the recalls.  That somewhere in the area of 99% to 4,851,691% of the signatures being collected were of Mickey Mouse and Adolph Hitler.

So obviously when the four WISGOP senators that turned in their challenges, there would be all sorts of thse cartoon names and addresses, right?

Not so much:

Lastly, when it comes to the matter of duplicate signatures and fakes:
*The Moulton petition challenged 265 signatures as duplicates, though noted no fake names.
*Galloway challenged 403 duplicates, though noted no fake names.
*Fitzgerald challenged 205 duplicates, and one fake name that was only noted as having the last name of a well-known slang usage of "sucker."
*Wanggaard challenged 137 duplicates and no fake names.

And that one "fake name" that Fitzgerald did try to claim was found to be a real person.

Now the Wreck of Fitzgerald and the other soon to be recalled WISGOP senators are trying to ruin themselves by claiming that the gerrymandered districts should apply to the recalls, despite the fact that they were the ones that wrote and voted for the law saying that the gerrymandering doesn't kick in until November 2012.

It must be hard on the faithful echo chamber of GOP supporters to keep supporting these clowns and not mind that they end up look as foolish as the reprobates they're supporting.

If anyone should have opportunity to speak to one of the soon to be recalled senators, do me a favor.  Ask them how they feel about having to fight for their political careers because they blindly followed Scott Walker, who has repaid them for their loyalty by leaving them high and dry as he flies around the country trying to raise money to save his own worthless political hide.

*For those who are unfamiliar with the reference in the title, it is the phrase that the right wing uses to mock Tom Barrett when they think they have finally found someone who might have committed election fraud.  Their claims are usually as accurate as the claims that Adolph Hitler was signing petitions.  I thought it only fair to mock them with their own words of mockery.

Quote Of The Day

This comment, lifted from Illy-T's blog, really hit home in light of a couple of pieces from Rick Esenberg which I  had to correct:

The trend seems to be for an "expert" to make public statements about the content of the law that are inaccurate. The purpose of the statement is not accuracy, however, but rather to influence public opinion.

Most news readers tend to react to new information and arrive at an opinion about that information rather quickly. These first impressions in the minds of readers are "sticky," and readers will rarely revise their initial opinion even if later legal proceedings (or the lack thereof) demonstrate that the original source of the information was wrong. The latest political science research on the way that our minds form opinions demonstrates that it is first impressions that counts.

It is not surprising that those who wish to influence public opinion might adopt these "quick hit" tactics. What is surprising is that a major media corporation is apparently either ignorant of these tactics or else views itself as under no obligation to push back.

Perhaps one response (admittedly imperfect) might be if the State Bar were to discipline or rebuke any lawyers who make obviously reckless mistatements about what is or isn't fraud, or about what the law is generally. In paragraph 6, the preamble to Chapter SCR 20 states that all lawyers "should further the public's understanding of and confidence in the rule of law." Playing games designed to influence public opinion would seem to be inconsistent with the obligation of furthering the public's understanding of the law.

Apparently the prospect of shame or ridicule is not sufficient to deter some people.

'Nuff said.

Koch Operative Pretold Their Prosser Tactics

While researching the Koch sock puppet piece, I was referred to this article with some telling projection in it:

On an estimated more than 10,000 ballots in Dane County, Wisconsin, where the state capital Madison is, voters selected only a pick in the Supreme Court race, while leaving even the hotly contested mayoral and county executive choices blank. That raises red flags for election experts like Scott St. Clair of the Freedom Foundation, a conservative think tank.

“This is the state that wrote the book on squeaker elections,” St. Clair told The Daily Caller. “I wouldn’t put it past somebody in Wisconsin to be selectively revealing ballots or conveniently finding ballots because this is the kind of stuff we’ve seen in the past before. I think it’s also important to note that Wisconsin and Illinois are neighbors and how they vote in Chicago doesn’t necessarily stop at the state line.”

Sure enough, there was all sorts of shenanigans and during politicking, but just not the way St. Clair predicted. It was all on Prosser's side.

And should we even bother wondering who funds this Freedom Foundation?