Republicans Change the Rules

By Jeff Simpson

Courtesy of our friend Heather at the Wisconsin Public Education Network! 

Dear friends of Wisconsin public schools,

"Who is asking for this?" "This is not democracy."

We were there last night to bear witness on behalf of our children as the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) adjourned just after midnight, after hours of testimony during which only one person spoke in favor of any measure, Ironically, that one measure (changing the date of the spring 2020 election) was the only bill that did not advance last night. Not even the authors of the bills attended to speak in favor of this unprecedented power grab.

The Senate and Assembly will now take up the three bills that moved forward. THESE BILLS WILL HAVE LONG-TERM IMPACTS ON OUR STUDENTS AND SCHOOLS, and are widely opposed by members of both parties. Even the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial team is taking a strong stand: Once again, it's time for Wisconsin citizens to let politicians know who's the boss. "If you think votes matter, if you think citizens should be in charge of their government, you can stop them by raising your voice."

Capitol staffers tell us the Senate will be called into session at 10 am, and the Assembly at 1pm. IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LAWMAKERS NOW. Find contact info for your legislators here: http://legis.wisconsin.gov

"The optics problem looks bad." - Senator Luther Olsen

The bills are most vulnerable in the Senate, where several members have expressed qualms over the sweeping measures. We also urge you to take a moment to make a call to the following Senators and ask them to put people before party politics:

Senator Howard L. Marklein, Spring Green - (608) 266-0703 - Sen.Marklein@legis.wi.gov

Senator Rob Cowles, Green Bay - (608) 266-0484 - Sen.Cowles@legis.wisconsin.gov

Senator Dan Feyen, Fond du Lac - (608) 266-5300 - Sen.Feyen@legis.wi.gov

Senator Luther Olsen, Ripon - (608) 266-0751 - Sen.Olsen@legis.wisconsin.gov

Senator Jerry Petrowski, Marathon - (608) 266-2502 - Sen.Petrowski@legis.wisconsin.gov

Senator Patrick Testin, Stevens Point - (608) 266-3123 - Sen.Testin@legis.wi.gov

Our message remains the same (and you're welcome to customize it as you see fit):

Stop playing politics, and stop playing games with democracy. Voters said in November that they are ready for a new era of civility and working together for what's best for our children and our communities. Let's respect that and get to work. Vote NO on each of these bills and take time now to start working on policy that ensures the success of our students, schools and communities.

These are the bills that moved forward:

AB1069 Relating to: state and local highway projects; expenditure of transportation moneys received from the federal government; determining a reduction in individual income tax rates; and election of pass-through entities to be taxed at the entity level.

https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/.../session/2017/REG/AB1069

AB1070 Relating to: legislative powers and duties, state agency and authority composition and operations, and administrative rule-making process.

https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/.../session/2017/REG/AB1070

AB1072 Relating to: federal government waivers and other requests for federal approval; public assistance programs; waivers from work search and registration requirements for certain unemployment insurance benefit claimants; granting rule-making authority; and making an appropriation.

https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/.../session/2017/REG/AB1072

Thank you for taking action to support strong schools and good government!

- Heather

Also for some fun reading, the world is watching Wisconsin again.

On CNN, they compared the WISGOP to Walter White.

Scott Fitzgerald doesn't trust Tony Evers.  Who knew gaining BIG Ftz's Trust was the final step to getting elected?   I guess we now have the new "voice of reason" in Wisconsin.  This guy:

The New York Times is covering the attack on democracy.

We might just be getting started.   

Even one of Scott Walker's bosses, is sick of him. 

Bob Gannon - the Grand Dragon of WI Politics

By Jeff Simpson 

Bob Gannon (R- white hood) recently put out a press release explaining that thanks to conceal carry law in WI, the law abiding white people can now shoot the minority kids at will, to keep our state safe.    

After using code words  and dog whistles like "scum-bags", "punks" and "thugs", except for Representative Taylor, CogDIs and a few brief mentions in the papers, he went back to obscurity.

Bobby Gannon, knew he needed to ramp up the racism, to make sure that he gets noticed by the hard core right wing base in Wisconsin(applying to be Trump's VP perhaps?) and took to a racist press release that one would think came right from #walkerdocs, and would make David Duke proud:

“As democrats statewide compose their yearend propaganda blaming republicans for every malady known by man, they need to be honest about job creation. Milwaukee is ranked the sixth highest city nationally in per capita murders by Forbes, which makes it obvious that our largest urban center, is the anchor holding back the ship of state as far as jobs is concerned. Milwaukee finished the year with over one hundred and fifty murders and over seven hundred others injured in shootings.
 Milwaukee finished the year with an unemployment rate of approximately twenty percent for their black population. This is almost four times as high as the white unemployment rate for the city and the state. This means that Milwaukee leads in murders and mayhem per capita, with a large number of these crimes occurring in mainly black neighborhoods, the same neighborhoods with the worst unemployment rates in the state.
Could one make a connection between employment opportunities and the level of crime on those same streets? What employer will build or expand when they fear muggings, carjackings, attempted murder, or other serious criminal threats to their employees? One cannot ignore the correlation between jobs and crime, employment opportunities will only expand in these neighborhoods when the violence is stopped.
Milwaukee has a democrat mayor, whose focus is a tiny trolley that will chug along in the more affluent and safer areas of the city. Milwaukee County has a democrat district attorney focused on a personal vendetta against our governor, a vendetta that’s been laughed out of multiple courts for having no legal standing, while ignoring the crime on the streets.
 The state’s economic numbers, including job development and unemployment rates, would certainly be significantly improved if only our largest city would clean up the murder and mayhem on their streets.” #

In case you had a hard time deciphering that 2nd grade version of a press release, Bob the Dragon, is telling us that the reason we do not have jobs in this state, is because of the black males and Democrats in Milwaukee.

A quick look at Gannon's committee assignments and we see:

Current Committees

• Committee on Children and Families (Vice-Chair)
• Committee on Corrections
• Committee on Insurance
• Committee on Small Business Development
• Committee on State Affairs and Government Operations

On the committee of small business development and tells us he fails at developing small businesses in WI because there is crime in the poverty tricken inner city of Milwaukee.

However, as Capper says, There is more, there is always more!   Let's take a look at the incredible jobs bills that Gannon has authored, that he has used to fight the problem of Milwaukee having minorities in the city:

• 1/5/2016: 2015 Assembly Bill 631
  Relating to: the maximum height of pole traps.
• 12/29/2015: 2015 Assembly Bill 620
  Relating to: requirements for cataloged burial sites. (FE)
• 12/7/2015: 2015 Senate Joint Resolution 75
  Relating to: limiting the number of terms permitted for members of the state legislature and the governor and lieutenant governor (first consideration).
• 12/7/2015: 2015 Assembly Joint Resolution 87
  Relating to: limiting the number of terms permitted for members of the state legislature and the governor and lieutenant governor (first consideration).
• 10/15/2015: 2015 Assembly Bill 413
  Relating to: liability for damages caused by dogs, court orders to kill a dog, and providing a penalty. (FE)
• 8/20/2015: 2015 Assembly Bill 312
  Relating to: limitations on requiring vaccination against influenza.
• 4/22/2015: 2015 Assembly Bill 176
  Relating to: reporting of the principal place of employment of certain individuals who make political contributions.

You would think after passing such bills as not requiring vaccines and trying to dig up hundreds of years old Indian burial sites, would have been enough for our economy to be rocking.  It is unfortunate that we have to have minorities in WI to hinder the job growth work of these fine bills.





To contact Bob Gannon and tell him there is no room for such racism -

Madison Office:Room 12 West
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708Telephone:(608) 264-8486
(888) 534-0058Fax:(608) 282-3658Email:Rep.Gannon@legis.wisconsin.govVoting Address:4833 Cedar Hills Dr.
Slinger, WI 53086
Staff:William Sasse William.Sasse@legis.wisconsin.gov

Also contact Majority Speaker Robin Vos to see if Gannon speaks for the whole Republican party or just the far right backwards and racist hell hole known as West Bend!

Rep. Robin Vos

State Capitol - Room 211 West

PO Box 8953

Madison, WI  53708

Toll Free:  888-534-0063

Madison Office:  608-266-3387

Home Phone:  262-514-2597

@speakervos 

More here from UppityWI 

MY Dem Endorsement!

By Jeff Simpson

This weekend is the Wisconsin Democratic Convention and there is a race for chair.  The race is between incumbent Mike Tate and challenger Joe Kallas.  There is also a race going on for 2nd chair between Jeff Christensen and Jamie Shiner.  Apparently there are not enough chairs to go around in our state so they have to fight over the 2nd one.  (edit note: Full disclosure I know Mike Tate and Jeff C and only know Joe Kallas and Jamie Shiner via Facebook).

This endorsement is mine, and only reflects what I think, not @cog_dis as Capper is perfectly capable of giving us his own endorsement.  Also, this is the only place where my endorsement will matter, since I did not "sign up as a delegate", I would now be voiceless at the Dem Convention(were I attending).   (edit note take 2 - the fact that only "delegates" can vote is a ridiculous rule and needs to be changed. Any paid member at the Dem convention should be able to cast a ballot.  Period!   Its hard to have as a position on your platform, protecting the voting rights for all when internally we set up barriers that would make robin vos proud).

In Mike Tate's career, the democratic party(for various reasons) has lost control of all three branches of Government and then in the last election, lose them even further.   While this is not all Mike Tate's fault, he was the one in charge.  Now he has a vague but promising 72 county strategy(I need more information and guarantees) and a billboard.




Joe Kallas is someone who has been involved in the party from all angles including having run as a candidate(against Tax Avoiding Tom Petri) yet he seems sincere about focusing on the grass roots and breaking down the barriers that the party has set that discourages outsiders from getting to close to the inside(like the secrecy on Mike Tate's pay and forcing a potential candidate to travel the state  However his inexperience as party chair and the turmoil a tate loss would throw the whole party in.

Add that to the fact that the Democrats have been non existent in messaging since the Graeme Zielinski fiasco, the disgusting votes by ten members of the democratic caucus for AB 110, the lack of any comprehensive plan(long term or short term), no relevance in Government despite massive vote totals that show our state is a center left state, while we enact extremist right wing zealot policies, a subservient media to the right wing, internal strife, and as of printing this no candidate for Governor and most 2014 seats.

I also feel that this is the election cycle  to make a mark(despite the unethical redistricting), we have an extremist group of semi religious, bitter and unethical group of republicans, who have not only broken every promise, but also tragically and epically failed at them.   We have a Governor who has a very bad relationship with the truth and his economic record puts WI in the lower 40's(out of 50).

Our friends on the right have pushed an abortion agenda so extreme that it goes beyond planned parenthoods!   They have been so unethical in how they passed their dismantling of education bill, that they had to do it in the middle of the night.   The fact that they handed northern WI to Gogebic Taconite  with no strings attached and diminished DNR strength,   They also are attempting to cut out the Center for Investigative Journalism, unconstitutionally cracked down on free speech, and have borrowed and spent us into a huge structural deficit, and enacted a devastating pay cut on hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites. And much much more to list.

With the opposition being so incredibly untalented and just plain bad, how can we not win?

Well part of it is that Peter Barca, Chris larson and Mike Tate are not all on the same page and as a party we cant go forward when someone is going solo.  We cant win, when elder members of the party are telling younger members of the party, to calm down and do not be so strong willed and aggressive.  We can not win when we spend more time and research on our own candidates then we do the opposition.

I do not see anything changing regardless of whoever wins this weekend.

For that reason, my recommendation is to vote

NO CONFIDENCE!

Let them know that you are sick of the games, sick of the cowardice, sick of the letting the right wing decide our tactics, let them know that there is truly a sense of urgency and it is NOW time to embrace the grassroots and the base and give Wisconsinites what they want - a Statehouse full of sane, bipartisan, intelligent, ethical, mature men and women. 

If I were allowed a ballot(and I am not) my vote would most definitly be the write in candidate :

NO CONFIDENCE!

let them know there is still time to earn it back but make sure they hear you that the same losing techniques will no longer be tolerated!

NO CONFIDENCE! 

Then let's build our party up from the grassroots!