African American Leaders Speak Out Against Abele's Power Grab

As I had alerted the gentle reader over the weekend, Milwaukee African-American leaders stood up on Monday and spoke out against Chris Abele's power grab:

State legislation that could lead to cutting Milwaukee County supervisor pay by half and the County Board's budget by two-thirds would harm minority representation, a group of African-American community leaders said Monday.

"This legislation would effectively silence the voice of the low-income community, particularly communities of color," Supervisor Russell Stamper said at a news conference at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center.

The measure would cut the authority of the County Board and boost the power of County Executive Chris Abele, upsetting a balance of power between the two branches of county government, Stamper said. By curtailing pay and resources for supervisors, only the well-to-do could afford to serve on the board, Stamper and other local leaders said.

"We can control our own house; we don't need anybody else watching our house," said Gregory Lewis, pastor of St. Gabriel's Church of God in Christ. "The little people need a say."

Predictably, Abele blew off the concerns of the "little people," pointing out that African American candidates were running in a predominately African-American district, thereby confirming their point.

Alberta Darling: Put Up or Shut Up!

People who actually pay attention to politics, know that the whole Voter Fraud meme is Bullshit.  We have covered it right here on Cog Dis and when republicans are honest with us, they admit it also! 

If you are being really honest and have three seconds on Google, you would see that it was a well orchestrated effort to suppress minority votes.  A little more digging and you would find a plethora of stories explaining that the few cases of "voter fraud" that they do catch every years largely involves republicans!  Wisconsin is no different!

Here in Wisconsin, after President Obama and Tammy Baldwin handily won, the republicans are ringing the racist bell again.  This time it is being led by head bell ringer - Senator Alberta Darling.

  

HOST: Do you think photo ID would have made any difference in the outcome of this election?
DARLING: Absolutely, I think so. We’re looking at all different kinds of precincts and all sorts of same-day registrations and I know people will go “oh, we don’t have fraud and abuse in our elections,” but what can’t we have voter ID when the majority of the people in Wisconsin wanted it. We passed it. The governor signed it. Why should one judge in Dane County be able to hold it up?

Now One Wisconsin Now is calling out her lies!  

To speak so affirmatively about this epidemic, as you see it, of voter impropriety, I would think you could provide me in a short amount of time the number of documented cases of voter impersonation in Wisconsin in the last several elections and the citations showing such. If you could send this information along at your earliest convenience to the address below, I would be grateful. Please note that we will be asking many of your colleagues, who so forcefully aver the massive voter impropriety myth, to provide this information as well. If they do so before you have responded to me, I will happily pass it along to your staff.

Yes, if Senator Alberta Darling and her cohorts, are so adamant that Voter Fraud is a problem, now is a time to show us examples!  

Alberta, darling, its time to put up or shut up!

Here is Alberta Darling's contact information, if you want to say the same thing to her!  

 Twitter : @SenDarling

Madison Office Room 19 South State Capitol P.O. Box 7882 Madison, WI 53707-7882

Voting Address 1325 West Dean Road River Hills, WI 53217

Telephone (608) 266-5830

Fax (608) 267-0588

Email Sen.Darling@legis.wisconsin.gov

A Victory In Michigan

The people's fight for freedom and against the corporate takeover has not been just in Fitzwalkerstan, but has been happening all over the country.

One of the biggest and most under-reported battles is taking place in our neighbor across the lake, Michigan.

Michigan's corporate-controlled governor, Rick Snyder, has rammed through many oppressive laws, with the most egregious among them is to impose fiscal martial on certain communities that don't past their fiscal fitness tests. Under this law, Snyder would be able to appoint agents of the state to utterly take over a community, stripping elected leaders of their powers and imposing their rules upon the people, including the unilateral, arbitrary demolish of bargaining rights for the local unions. Snyder's official name for these agents is Emergency Financial Manager, but the people refer to them simply, and more appropriately, as "local dictators." It is unsurprising that Snyder is imposing his fiscal feudal lords on predominately black neighborhoods, like Benton Harbor.

As in Ohio, Maine, and here in old Fitzwalkerstan, the people of Michigan stood up and protested and fought back.

They started the motions to do a petition drive to repeal this hateful and oppressive law. They wanted to get enough signatures to have this law put to a referendum vote. However, the corporate-backed front groups challenged the people's petitions, claiming that the petitions themselves were illegal because they were - get ready for this - using the wrong font size!

This fight actually made it up all the way to the Michigan State Supreme Court.

And it was there that justice and common sense prevailed. The people of Michigan will get to vote whether this oppressive law falls or stands. With the supreme court's decision to uphold the people's rights, the dictatorial law is suspended. But even this has led to disagreement:

To implement the court’s ruling, the State Board of Canvassers must certify the ballot question. That’s likely to happen next week, and once it does, Public Act 4 will be suspended pending the repeal’s outcome in the November election.

Gov. Rick Snyder and his appointees say all actions taken under the law since it took effect early in 2011 will stand, and current emergency managers will revert to the powers they had under the former emergency manager law, passed in 1990. The big difference: the old law does not permit managers to unilaterally amend or scrap collective bargaining agreements.

Others disagreed. Members of the board of Detroit Public Schools were talking publicly Friday about dumping emergency manager Roy Roberts and killing a plan to transfer certain schools to a special statewide Education Achievement Authority for low-achieving schools set up under the act’s powers.

School board president LaMar Lemmons II said the suspension of Public Act 4 will mean there is no emergency manager law – therefore no emergency mangers or emergency financial managers – until voters decide in November.

Once the ballot question is certified, the school board should be in charge and that means Roberts should step down, he said.

Roberts fought back through his chief of staff, Kevin Smith, sending a message to employees.

“Mr. Roberts has directed that all staff continue with your duties without interruption in conduct of the affairs of this district unless and until directed by him otherwise,” a portion of the letter read in bold, capital letters. “The board of education has no authority to direct DPS personnel to take any actions to the contrary.”

Treasurer Andy Dillon said he doesn’t believe the board has the power cited by Lemmons and he expects the new education authority to be the subject of another court battle.

Currently, polls show that support for this oppressive law is up by as much at 10 points, but with 25% still undecided. The Unions and other pro-citizen groups are fighting to get people educated before the November vote.

I just hope that Michigan isn't being quietly having their voting machines replaced by the easily tampered ones we have in Fitzwalkerstan.