Crazy, But Thats How It Goes;

By Jeff Simpson

 Crazy, but that's how it goes
Millions of people living as foes
Maybe. it's not too late
To learn how to love, and forget how to hate  

  MacIver has had a chance to go through the emails that Wisconsinites sent to Senator John Erpenbach in support of his fight against ACT10.   Now they plan on using that information to attack and harass anyone who had the gall to contact their elected representative in our representative democracy.   

Mental wounds not healing
Life's a bitter shame
I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train
I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train

No one cares about crazy people!

 I've listened to preachers,
I've listened to fools
I've watched all the dropouts
Who make their own rules
One person conditioned to rule and control
The media sells it and you live the role

You can not make this stuff up!

Gov. Scott Walker offered his suggestion nearly two years ago for reducing the impact of campaign money on politics.
“One of the biggest things is transparency,” Walker told the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism in December 2012. “The more transparency involved, the more people could hold folks accountable, for whether it’s $5 or $500, or whatever the amount may be.”  

 Mental wounds still screaming
Driving me insane
I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train
I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train

You really can not make this stuff up:

Revisiting a piece from April, this is the next congressman from Wisconsin.

Grothman has made a name for himself championing conservative causes. He sponsored legislation that repealed the state’s Equal Pay Enforcement Act, fought for a seven-day work week, proposed a bill that would have considered single parenthood “a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect” and argued that public employees should have to work on MLK Day. 

Last year, he said Kwanzaa is a fake holiday that “almost no black people today care about”

 I know that things are going wrong for me
You gotta listen to my words, yeah, yeah

“Governors should be defined not just by what they do and say, but who they surround themselves with, making sure to have the smartest person for a particular task or to head a specific agency. They should be judged on that basis and who they take advice from.”  Scott Walker. 

Heirs of a cold war,
that's what we've become
Inheriting troubles,
I'm mentally numb
Crazy, I just cannot bear
I'm living with something that just isn't fair

 A controversial bill that would allow high-income parents to avoid paying tens of thousands of dollars a year in child support was written with the help of a wealthy donor to the bill’s author, Rep. Joel Kleefisch.


 

Mental wounds not healing
Who and what's to blame
I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train

But the first-term Republican governor has not always been so pro-mining.
In fact, he helped block a proposal to construct another major mine in northern Wisconsin years ago.
In 1998 — as a member of the Assembly — Walker voted in favor of a mining moratorium that put the brakes on a proposed copper and zinc mine near Crandon. The measure passed in the Assembly on a 91-6 vote and was signed into law by Gov. Tommy Thompson.
The mine was never built.

I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train

 Wisconsin is goin off the rails on a crazy train! 

   

Republicans Encouraged To Do Crossover Vote For Clarke

Ever since he was appointed as Milwaukee County Sheriff by then Governor Scott McCallum, David Clarke has not had an opponent that presented as a serious threat to being reelected to office.

That has changed this year with Chris Moews running a solid campaign.  For months, one could not attend an event in Milwaukee County without running into Moews being there, working the crowd like a pro.

But as hard as Moews has been working to win this election, he has not had a bigger asset to his campaign as Clarke.  Clarke has been consistently been doing more damage to himself than Moews could have ever done.  Clarke has been embarrassing himself regularly with his immature temper tantrums, outlandish comments, ineffective law enforcement, scandals, and irresponsible stunts, like telling people that they shouldn't call 911 in an emergency.

Clarke's behaviors and failures have been so egregious that even some of his fellow conservatives are pulling away from supporting him.  Fortunately for Clarke - and unfortunately for the rest of us, he still has the NRA and its deep pockets supporting him.

But even with the dark money behind him, Clarke and his supporters know that he is in serious danger of losing.  And with that knowledge, they are getting desperate.

Besides sending out whackadoodle mailers to random households, his supporters are urging Republicans to cross over in the primary to vote for him.  The most notable of these attempts is a letter that was sent out by former Governor TOMMY!!! Thompson:

As with Clarke's mailers, Thompson's letter was apparently mailed to random homes.  These images of the letter are courtesy of State Senator Chris Larson.  I am quite sure that Senator Larson was already planning to vote in the Democratic primary.  I am also quite sure that he won't be voting for Clarke.

It is stunts like this that shows the importance of voting in each and every election.  Yes, it's "only" a primary. Yes, it's in the middle of August, when most people are squeezing in vacations and enjoying the warm weather while it lasts.  But it is the lackadaisical attitude towards voting that has allowed people like Scott Walker and David Clarke to stay in office as long as they have been.

Milwaukeeans need to make sure that they get themselves to the polls on Tuesday, August 12, to vote Clarke out once and for all.

White Fright!

By Jeff Simpson

Who would have thought, that in the year 2013, the republican party would still be overcome by fear of minorities?  

Yesterday Capper told us about Charlie Sykes new major project, the website White Wisconsin.  

At least half a dozen local, black, conservative authors, including Wonder Woma - who had stood up to Glenn Grothman's attack on Kwanzaa - offered to submit contributions to the web site. Each and everyone was turned down.

 A quick check of the news and you see this is not just in Wisconsin where prominent republicans are scared of minorities,  but it is happening nationally also.  When you have someone who likes to beat the "minorities are taking over fraudulently" drum as much as their leader reince priebus does, this is to be expected.  

Let's start in Delevan where the local school talked about "white privilege" and the state/national republicans went into a tizzy!! 

The “American Diversity” class was taught to students at Delavan-Darien High School in Wisconsin, Fox News has learned.
“They’re teaching white guilt,” one parent told Fox News. “They’re dividing the students. They’re saying to non-whites, ‘You have been oppressed and you’re still being oppressed.’”
The parent, who asked not to be identified, has an 18-year-old son who was enrolled in the class and became alarmed after she looked at some of the handouts provided to the students.
“I felt it was indoctrination,” she said. “This is a radical left agenda and ideology that is now embedded in our school.”
The parent said the students were taught “if you’re white, you’re oppressing. If you’re non white, you’ve been a victim.”

 Of course Fox news is always available for stories like this.  I am proud to say that our school district has attended the White Privilege conference in the past! 

Then there was Glenn Grothman's recent racially charged rant against planned parenthood:

Not to mention, Tommy Thompson's son Jason, an attorney at Michael Best & Friedrich, who wanted to send our President "back to Kenya".   Paul Ryan(R-ayn rand) let everyone know the only reason he is not vice president today is because of those darn "urban voters". 

Things are just as ugly nationally as they are locally.   There was the incident at the republican convention where some attendees threw peanuts at an African American camerawoman saying,"this is how we feed the animals".  To Mitt's famous 47% line to paul ryan's continuous whining about "entitlements" to Jim Sensenbrenner's critique of Michelle Obama's body.    There is also the despicable attack the republicans just commenced on Ambassador Susan Rice. 

It has become such a problem that Colin Powell felt obliged to give a national interview to address it!   All of these code words and pushing the line, helps focus on the fear and gets the base riled up, unfortunately it gets the real crazy even more crazy.   Arie Perliger of  West Point just finished a study of America's violent far right:

“since 2007, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of attacks and violent plots originating from individuals and groups who self- identify with the far-right of American politics.”

Written by Arie Perliger, Director of Terrorism Studies at the Combating Terrorism Center and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Sciences at West Point, the paper asserts that three distinct ideologies exist in the “American violent far right.” Those are “a racist/white supremacy movement, an anti-federalist movement and a fundamentalist movement,” the last of which “includes mainly Christian Identity groups such as the Aryan Nations.”

“Findings indicate that…it is not only feelings of deprivation that motivate those involved in far right violence, but also the sense of empowerment that emerges when the political system is perceived to be increasingly permissive to far right ideas,” it later reads.

Some of the very same people who fund these far right extremist groups also fund Scott Walker(but thats a for another post)
 

Wisconsin State Journal's: Series of Unfortunate Events

First this happened:

 Walker is the best choice for getting Wisconsin back on track financially and competing for more good-paying jobs.

Secondly,  this happened:

Wisconsin State Journal Endorses Tommy!

But this election is about the need for jobs, cooperation and fiscal sanity. Thompson wins on those priorities.

Then this happened:

 The State Journal editorial board endorses Mitt Romney in Tuesday's presidential election.

Romney showed as the Republican governor of Democratic-leaning Massachusetts that he can find agreement across the partisan divide. And his vice presidential pick — Wisconsin's U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville — suggests Romney is serious about tackling America's fiscal mess.

Romney has an impressive record of success in the private and public sectors. He's a numbers guy who focuses more on results than ideology. That's why so many of his fellow Republicans during the GOP primary criticized him for not being conservative enough.

Romney has been a strong leader in business and civic life. This includes turning around many troubled companies and the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Romney better understands how and why entrepreneurs and employers decide to expand and add jobs. He's more likely to get the private-sector going strong again. . .

But Obama is the president. The buck stops with him. This is now Obama's economy, even though the GOP shares in the blame for partisan games

 Then this happened:

 Lee Enterprises Inc., based in Davenport, Iowa, reported Monday that it lost $7.7 million, or 15 cents per share, in its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with a net loss of $8.8 million, or 20 cents per share, a year ago.

.

Robin Vos' Favorite Vacation Spot

Dilworth, Charlotte, NC 

Small world! Paula Broadwell, Gen. David Petraeus’s “other woman,” lives just a few blocks away from Rielle Hunter, who famously had an affair with John Edwards. Diane Dimond on the tony North Carolina neighborhood caught in two national scandals.

Rumor has it that Robin Vos immediately booked a ticket!   He probably even got Rod Aycox to cover the trip!    If not maybe Vos could room with Tommy Thompson and Charlie Sykes!  

NUMB3RS & ANSWERS

Thanks to John Heckenlively for crunching some numbers in the Rob Zerban race:

Paul Ryan (R- Wall St.) lost his hometown, Janesville, by over 8 thousand votes in the VP race and by over 3000 in the Congressional Race.

.Janesville Ward 13 Presidential
Obama

930
Romney 482

Janesville Ward 13 Congressional
Zerban 806
Ryan 567

Paul even lost his own WARD in Janesville. Not even his neighbors voted for him.

H/T Rebecca Kemble from The Progressive on crunching some statewide numbers.

  “Based on the numbers reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, adding up all votes cast in the Wisconsin State Senate races shows that Democrats received 475,116 votes (50.5%), Republicans received 451,928 votes (48.1%), and others received 13,100 (1.4%), yet the Republicans gain(2) seats and take the majority in the Senate.”

Then of course there are these numbers:

President Obama - 1,613,950 - 52.8%

Mitt Rmoney - 1,408, 745  - 46.1%

         Senator Tammy Baldwin -  1,544,274 - 51.5% 

          Tommy G Thompson - 1.377,274 - 45.9%  

As David Sirota tweeted:

 David Sirota ‏@davidsirota

A proposed 2013 bumper sticker: "This Is a Center-Left Nation, Beeyatch. Deal With It."

Democrats, and especially progressive democrats won a nationwide mandate this week.  As  David Sirota also points out, America rejected Extreme Conservatism:

This truth is more than merely inconvenient to the political right - it is nothing short of life threatening, for it calls into question the long-term political viability of conservative ideology. Hence, the inevitable Republican effort to quickly turn the page and change the subject.

But try as the GOP might, the page won’t turn. For the next four years, every time Obama appears with the presidential seal, he will remind Americans of exactly what they voted against - and why they voted against it. For this reason, the exhausting 2012 election may well end up a watershed moment in political history - a moment that finally witnessed the beginning of the ebb of extreme conservatism.

Now how does Tuesday apply to Wisconsin, since democrats have no control over the assembly and lost 2 seats (and control) of the Senate.    First off you have to acknowledge that the unethical way they redistricted and their huge funding advantage have put the Wisconsin democratic party behind the eight ball.  

However, it is task that is NOT insurmountable, there are ways to overcome it.  Here are some of my recommendations: 

1.  Have and stick to a progressive message.  Progressive messages work, and they especially work in WI.  This continual running to the center without a clear message has now been proven to be a loser over and over again.   Time to get on board a clear UNIFIED progressive message  and platform.

2.  CHANGE leadership.  Senator Mark Miller has already stepped down.   Mike Tate needs to resign and Peter Barca needs to step down from his leadership position also.   I think that Miller, and Barca and tate are all very nice people and incredibly competent legislators(Barca/Miller)and we need their help, but their time in charge is over. We need fresh new blood in there.

My suggestions - Kathleen Vinehout and Chris Taylor!  

3  Start right now, and understand that EVERY county COUNTS!  Emulate Howard Dean's 50 state strategy and build the farm system and the local party!   What Howard Dean did as head of the democratic party was amazing and also underrated and overlooked.  We need a solid ground game and candidates willing to step up in every county and in every race from Waukesha to Dane to Sawyer and everywhere in between.   Strong local progressive leaders can overcome our disadvantages. (I know im not alone in this thinking).

4.   Do NOT be surprised by the republicans lack of ethics and morals and ability to do things that you would never think of doing.   When they do, and everytime they do, tell everyone who will listen.   Your strategy of dealing with things in private and behind the scenes worked so well that we now have two years of complete republican control. 

5.  Subscribe to Bernie Sanders newsletter and emulate it.  Its well written and informative and he pulls no punches.  How about a statewide newsletter, build a mailing list and inform everyone of things that are happening.   The stuff we get now is information for the next fundraiser.  Not good enough! 

6.  Figure out a way to use and win in Social Media.  It's cheap and free! 


7.   MESSAGE BETTER.  Its no surprise that the repubs have been winning elections with Frank Luntz help.   Here is an example.   Rename Scott Walker's ACT 10,  The republicans have a solid message of calling it "education reform".  No where in Wisconsin has education been reformed over the last two years. You can google all you want and you will not find a single mention on any program enacted by the republicans that was meant to enhance students learning.   Lets call it "teacher salary reform", or "education deform" or the "end of local control" or come up with a different term and everyone use it.   Call them out for what they are.  

8.  DIVERSIFY.  While we get minorities votes we need to get full participation from minorities, that includes African Americans, latinos Hmong, etc....We have a big tent but we do not have a big tent of participation.  That needs to change.  

9.  STOP RUNNING FROM COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS!!!!   150,000 people did not storm the Capitol to support the democratic party.  Busloads of Wisconites from Northern Wisconsin did not spend the time and money to come to Madison to support the dems.  They came to protest the end of their collective bargaining rights.  The next consultant who says to not run on the issue, fire on the spot! 

10.  Get in it to win it!

Ron Johnson Thinks YOU Are Stupid

Following the Historic election of openly gay woman Senator Tammy Baldwin and the end of Tommy Thompson's political career(finally),  Senator Ron Johnson is upset and thinks you are stupid! 

Johnson attributed Obama's win on the heels of those Republican gains in Wisconsin to an uninformed electorate who voted in this election but not in the [Scott] Walker recall.

"If you aren't properly informed, if you don't understand the problems facing this nation, you are that much more prone to falling prey to demagoguing solutions. And the problem with demagoguing solutions is they don't work," Johnson said. "I am concerned about people who don't fully understand the very ugly math we are facing in this country."

Not only are the electorate stupid, so is Tammy Baldwin. Only if she will sit down and shut up and let Senator Johnson educate her, will she have a chance to be a legitimate Senator! 

"Hopefully I can sit down and lay out for her my best understanding of the federal budget because they're simply the facts," he said. "Hopefully she'll agree with what the facts are and work toward common sense solutions."

Sorry Ron, we elected a long time brilliant public servant, who put out a great message, ran a great campaign and has perpetually been accessible for ALL her constituents.

It's not like we elected a ring salesman from Minnesota, who married into money and thinks he earned it.  It is not like we elected a person whose claim to fame, before running for Senate, was that he stood up for pedophile Priests and actually thought Greenland was named because it "used to be green" and that sunspots cause global climate change.    

Now THAT, would be really dumb!

25 Post Election Thoughts!

#1 First and Foremost - Mike Tate has to go, today is NOT soon enough.  In a night of a pretty successful national democratic national night, and one where we delivered two national victories, we once again took a statewide beating. 

I get that the republicans have a huge funding advantage, but we have a strong committed membership and some great candidates.   I get that the republicans were so unethical in the redistricting process(but not sure the rest of the electorate does - hint hint), but still if we can not beat such people as Andres Jacque or Robin Vos then there is a problem. 

We can not as a state afford to keep losing, and Tate's record speaks for itself.  It is time for a change in leadership.

2.  The biggest loser of the night was Public Education in Wisconsin.

3.  Democrats need better messaging, its plain and simple.  What do the republicans truly stand for?  Who knows?  It is no coincidence that the republicans started winning more elections when they hired Frank Luntz.  

4.  Can we as a democratic party please stand up for Collective Bargaining rights?   When no democrat mentioned restoring collective bargaining rights as a major issue, that put us behind the eight ball.  When having a discussion about this with a solid democrat who I respect immensely, she asked me what I would call someone who obviously supports collective bargaining rights, but does not push them as a major issue because it should be assumed.

My answer to that was (and is) I would call them the minority party.  

5.  It is time for the elected representative to become leaders. Have a plan of attack and draw a line.  Pick some issues that they all stand behind, and stand like a rock.   Sometimes, it appears, that some of the democrats in the "safe seats" are very comfortable in the minority. 

6.  I would personally like to thank Paul Ryan for helping deliver Wisconsin to President Obama.  I would also like to thank Rob Zerban for running a great campaign and putting himself out there.   He pulled a very large percentage of the votes considering that Ryan spent $4 million dollars with silly ads and redistricted to make his district much more friendly.   FYI to the democratic party, Ryan is beatable.  There is a reason Ryan ducked debates and hid from his district.    

7.  Paul Ryan 2016??  Please God! 

8. Once upon a time, Morals and Ethics mattered.  Once upon a time, the Republican party ran as the party of values.  

 The republican voters of Racine showed us that this is all a distant memory, by re-electing Robin Vos.

9.  Be prepared for the next fight - Wisconsin becoming a forced-to-work-for-less state.  Its coming.  

10.   I do respect the service that Tommy Thompson has given to Wisconsin.  However he ran such a bad campaign and has taken such a hard right turn to win the primary that he deserved to lose.  Not only did he deserve to lose, but he deserved to lose to an openly gay woman!   

11.  Anti Gay Marriage amendments lost all over the country, we were a couple years to early in putting ours to a vote(still a black mark on Wisconsin).   In the next election cycle, can we have a referendum declaring Julainne Appling illegal?  

12.  What does Mitt do, since he planned his whole life to be president, now that the country has rejected him twice?   Hint:  See Todd Marinovich.

13.  It was great to see democratic women(statewide and nationally) make a huge inroads.  

14.  Every republican who shared their crazy views on abortion, was punished for it at the ballot box.  All except 1 - Paul Ryan! That is why many republicans will not discuss their views on abortion.  

15.  Education won in many districts, in terms of passing referendums throughout the state to increase funding, yet we keep electing anti education representatives.   It should not be that hard for the democrats to make that connection and put that message out.

16.   I am very proud to have voted for President Obama twice.   Everyone on my ballot, who I voted for, won!

17.  Everyone on the left needs to accept that money makes a huge difference in politics and work from there.  It is important to work to change that, but its even more important to embrace it!

18.  We need to find a way that incumbents are not automatically elected.  People say they hat career politicians, yet continually vote for the same person over and over.

19.  Shame on the Fox valley for not re-electing Jessica King.   Jessica is a true American success story and someone who "raised herself up by the bootstraps" and is a true public servant!   She is what America is all about!   I hope she runs again!

20   My son had a "mock election" in his school.   President Obama won handily and Tommy Thompson also won.   It seems the kids did not like tammy because she said the D-word.  My son tried to make the case how that was ridiculous reason to vote against her, to no avail.   It shows that the same ads that appeal to the republican base are also making a difference in the perception of 2nd - 4th graders.     Must be on the same intellectual level. 

21.   I used to make fun of the "tea party" but now I realize how important they are to the democratic party!   They helped deliver numerous seats to the democrats!   So Thank you and please stay around! 

22. Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan, both lost every ward, state, etc.... voting area where they originate from.   Romney lost Michigan & Massachusetts, and lost.  Paul Ryan lost not only Wisconsin, but also Rock County and his home ward!

What does that say about you, when the people who know you the best, solidly reject you:???

23.  Congrats to Heidi Heitkamp, Chris Murphy, Elizabeth Warren, Jon Tester, Sherrod Brown, Bernie Sanders. Claire McCaskill and Tim Kaine on your solid wins!

24.  Let's hope the blatant racism that the national republicans and Reince Priebus ran on will never happen again! 

25.   Capper delivered the perfect line summing up last night! 

 Enjoy the victory for a few days. You've earned it. Then come back and we'll get back to work. We helped save the country, now we gotta save the state.

The work now has to come, not fighting the republican party, but in changing the party from within!

On to the next election!  

Your thoughts???

Did Tommy Thompson Illegally Delay Reporting Donation From Troubled Medical Supply Company?

Just last week, I reported how Tommy Thompson, and his son, Jason, had gained some significant lucre from a troubled medical supply company that harmed thousands of women.

For "volunteering" to be on the board of C.R. Bard company, Thompson got about $130,000 in stock options. C.R. Bard is a medical supply company that has paid out $184 million in fines and damages for faulty mesh implants. I have also learned that C.R. Bard and its subsidiaries have outsourced nearly 1,300 jobs since 1994.

Now, after receiving all this money and despite the harm they have caused to innocent victims and outsourcing all those jobs, Thompson has been pushing for massive tax breaks for C.R. Bard.

Pretty bad stuff, right? But as readers of Cog Dis already know, when it comes to the Republicans, there's more. There's always more.

On, September 21, 2012, C.R. Bard made a generous donation of $5,000 to Thompson's campaign, as shown by their report to the Federal Election Commission, which I've also taken a screen shot of for the gentle reader's convenience:

Gee, thanks a lot Citizens United for drowning out the people's voice.

Thompson's campaign recorded and reported the donation on October 30, 2012, per their financial report:

Thompson 48 Hr Report - CR Bard


And therein lies Thompson's problem. You see, by federal election laws, Thompson was required to record and report this donation within ten days of receipt:

Deposit of receipts and disbursements (2 U.S.C. 432(h)(1)).

(a) All receipts by a political committee shall be deposited in account(s) established pursuant to 11 CFR 103.2, except that any contribution may be, within 10 days of the treasurer's receipt, returned to the contributor without being deposited. The treasurer of the committee shall be responsible for making such deposits. All deposits shall be made within 10 days of the treasurer's receipt. A committee shall make all disbursements by check or similar drafts drawn on an account at its designated campaign depository, except for expenditures of $100 or less made from a petty cash fund maintained pursuant to 11 CFR 102.11. Funds may be transferred from the depository for investment purposes, but shall be returned to the depository before such funds are used to make expenditures.

In summary, Thompson tried to skirt the law by illegally delaying the reporting of the campaign donation he received from a company which has made obscene profits by pushing faulty products on thousands of innocent and unsuspecting victims, and which has outsourced so many American jobs. He probably did not want to draw further attention to the way he also profited from their maleficent actions or how he is advocating for this company to get even bigger tax breaks than they already have.

Another thing that Thompson doesn't want Wisconsin voters to know is how cozy he is with so many lobbyists, as Steve Hanson reports.

The choice is clear. You can vote for Baldwin, who will stand up for Wisconsin and against special corporate interests, or you can vote for Thompson who will sell out Wisconsin to the special corporate interests.

Three's a Crowd!

Tommy Thompson was given a simple question in a recent debate, one that he knew he could not answer.









After this answer, the Wisconsin State Journal gave Tommy their endorsement because of his ability to "tackle partisan gridlock" and work across the aisle.   Yes once you overlook the joke, you have to realize WHY Tommy could never work with Tammy Baldwin or the democrats anymore - because three is a crowd!   

It is impossible for Tommy to work with Tammy because he already has his lab partner - ALEC!

Since ALEC is telling Tommy privately exactly what to do and how to do it, it is hard to bring a third party into the equation.   Unfortunately for the great State of Wisconssss, Tommy has already Committed to ALEC and left the rest of us out in the cold! 









VOTE TAMMY BALDWIN NEXT TUESDAY!

Thompsons Cash In With Company That Harmed Thousands Of Women

In my last post, I pointed how Tommy Thompson is suffering a self-inflicted political wound when his attack on Tammy Baldwin backfired badly. In said post, I pointed out how Thompson profiteered at the expense of volunteers who went to New York City after the 9-11 attacks.

Today, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin has come out with a ton of evidence that Thompson also profiteered via a company that has caused irreparable damage to thousands of women across the country.

Long story short, Thompson joined the board of C.R. Bard in 2005 as a "volunteer" status. That volunteer status ended quickly when the company gave Thompson 1,200 shares of its stock, a value of about $120,000. In fact, Thompson was given almost $1,500 this month alone in dividends from the company.

If you watch a lot of TV, you might recognize the company's name. They've been involved in numerous law suits across the country for faulty medical products, transvaginal mesh implants and hernia mesh implants, and are paying out $184 million in damages and fines. While that would be a helluva lot of money for you or me, it's not even a drop in the bucket for this company, There's been commercials from law firms involved with these cased trying to cash in on these lawsuits.

In return for their largesse, Thompson's been touting that companies, like C.R. Bard, should be allowed to bring their billions of dollars of profits back from the Cayman Islands (Hello, Mitt Romney!) tax free.

On the "bright side," Thompson does believe in sharing the wealth - with his racist son. He made sure that his son, Jason "Kenya dig it?" Thompson also cashed in by getting in on some stock options for work he allegedly did, per Thompson the elder, for an unnamed third party.

Yeah, right.

So, in a nutshell, both Tommy Thompson, and his son, Jason, got lucrative stock deals from a company that made faulty devices that have caused serious harm to thousands of people. In return, Thompson the elder has advocated that the company be allowed to keep their ill-gotten blood money tax-free.

And what of the people that were so harmed for life?

Well, I'm sure if Thompson had a brief moment of honesty and morality, he would agree with analyst Debbie Wang, who called the pittance of a pay out "a cost of doing business."

It's past the time to put Thompson out to pasture on his farm in Elroy.

Thompson's Desperate, Deceptive, Dishonest and Incompetent

While I was up north, I had the opportunity, or perhaps I should say, misfortune, to do something I almost never do - watch TV.

If you thought that the political ads in the urban areas were bad, they are almost wall to wall in the more rural areas. The Green Bay and Wausau television markets have a lot more area to cover, so the ads during the silly season are almost nothing but political ads, the same ones over and over and over.

One of the ads that I sadly saw over and over again was the one by Tommy Thompson in which he politicizes the horror of the terrorist attack of 9-11 to score a few cheap political points. Thompson claimed that Tammy Baldwin had voted against a memorial honoring the victims.

Not only was the commercial base and insulting for trying to politicize something as somber and painful as the memory of those 3,000 souls lost, but he was lying through his booze-soaked dentures.

Showing her moxie, Baldwin did not take this insult passively. Instead, she came back and struck a mighty blow of her own by presenting the facts regarding not only her own record on respecting the victims and survivors of that horrid day, but also Thompson's record:



Unlike Thompson's smear attack, which was utterly false and omitted key facts, Baldwin's rebuttal is based on documented facts.

On November 16, 2008, an article appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal and covered Thompson's ethical problems with the provision of health care coverage for 9-11 volunteers. The article was written by Dee J. Hall and was titled "THOMPSON AND A 9/11 CONTRACT - DEAL INVOLVES LA CROSSE FIRM, AND TREATMENT OF SOME PATIENTS IS CRITICIZED." (Sorry, no link.) Here is the article in its entirety, just to show how corrupt Thompson was and is:

Like thousands of other Americans, Judy Wolff, a nurse's aide at Holmen High School near La Crosse, dropped everything and rushed to New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to see how she could help.

A volunteer with the American Red Cross, Wolff went to the World Trade Center site to help victims and their families get food vouchers and pay bills as they coped with the stunning loss of life, injuries and joblessness caused by the attacks.

After three weeks of breathing in a toxic cloud of crushed concrete, asbestos, lead and fumes from burned jet fuel, Wolff herself now is fully disabled - one of thousands struggling with a constellation of ailments common to those who helped victims and pulled bodies from the wreckage seven years ago.

Adding to her troubles: The 51-year-old Wolff has had to fight to get insurance coverage for her prescriptions, medical appointments and upcoming surgeries, even though Congress has set aside money specifically to care for her and the estimated 4,000 other responders living outside of the New York area. (Responders living near Ground Zero are cared for at a network of New York area hospitals.) The problem began in June, Wolff and others say, when Logistics Health Inc., of La Crosse, headed by former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson , won an $11 million federal contract to provide medical care and health monitoring from the agency Thompson once led - a decision that continues to raise eyebrows on Capitol Hill.

Prior to June 1, responders living outside New York were served by a small nonprofit funded by the Red Cross with donations it got to help the victims of 9/11. Five months into Logistics Health's one-year federal contract, just a fraction of those patients have gotten the required medical monitoring, according to figures from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

And while NIOSH officials say all of the patients, such as Wolff, are now getting needed treatment, the claim is difficult to verify. Responders come in and out of the program at different times, depending on their health, said Fred Blosser, spokesman for the federal agency. As of last week, 187 patients were actively being treated for medical problems, Blosser said. In addition, he said 274 patients - out of 4,000 responders - have received testing and medical monitoring services.

Dr. Jim Melius, chairman of the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Steering Committee, which coordinates care for 9/11 responders, said some patients may have simply dropped out of the program during the rocky transition to LHI. He said HHS should cancel the contract.

"I just don't have any confidence that they (LHI) have the capacity or the understanding to do this," Melius said. "They are doing a disservice to these people. There are hundreds more in the medical treatment program and thousands more that need medical monitoring, and they're not getting it."

Logistics Health spokeswoman Tracey Armstrong referred all questions to NIOSH, saying its federal contract prohibits the company from answering any questions from the media. But Blosser said the contract only requires that the company submit to NIOSH for review any statistics it plans to disseminate to the press.

Blosser said the agency was "pleased" that "progress is being made and additional responders are being brought into the program." But he said he's aware of the criticism that LHI is moving too slowly.

"We will be monitoring that information as time goes on to make sure that progress is being made and that responders who want to receive treatment ... are being served," he said.

'Just like that'

Anne Marie Baumann, senior vice president of the FealGood Foundation, which helps injured and ailing 9/11 responders, said she's heard from about three dozen responders around the country, including Wolff, about problems getting reimbursement for prescriptions and treatment from LHI.

"All of them were receiving services, and then all the services stopped, just like that," Baumann said. "I lose enough responders with cancer and leukemia and suicide. I don't need to lose them because they couldn't get their medications."

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the Democratic congresswoman representing Queens and Manhattan who has spearheaded the effort to care for 9/11 responders, said it's not clear where the blame for the delay lies, "but even administration officials admit that the start of this program was anything but smooth."

After Logistics Health Inc. took over this summer, Wolff said, her claims for reimbursement for expensive cough medicine and an inhaler came back as denied. And it wasn't until mid-October - more than four months into the one-year contract - that the company agreed to pay for her treatment for a respiratory ailment that afflicts many 9/11 responders.

Wolff, who lives just 15 minutes' drive from the Logistics Health office in downtown La Crosse, said she doesn't want to single out anyone for blame. But John Feal, founder of the FealGood Foundation, isn't so circumspect. Feal points the finger directly at Wisconsin's former governor, who is also president of Logistics Health.

"I know Judy Wolff really well, and she's suffering. And I know Tommy Thompson and his group, and they're neglecting these people," Feal said.

Thompson spokesman Jason Denby referred questions about the contract to Logistics Health. But he said that Thompson - who is on boards and in management and consulting positions at 22 companies - "has been working closely with the team (at LHI) to ensure that the contract is carried out properly."

Partner at law firm

Thompson , 66, came to Logistics Health shortly after being President George W. Bush's secretary of Health and Human Services, which includes NIOSH, during Bush's first term. Upon leaving his federal post in December 2004, Thompson quickly assembled a large portfolio of private sector positions, including partner in one of Washington, D.C.'s most influential law firms, board directorships on medical device and pharmaceutical companies he once regulated, and as an executive with Deloitte & Touche, a major federal contractor that provides health-care consulting services.

In March 2005, Thompson was named president of LHI, which provides "customized health care solutions" for private companies and the federal government using a network of medical and dental providers. Armstrong declined to say how much the privately held company pays Thompson .

Since the former HHS secretary joined Logistics Health three and a half years ago, the company has seen its federal contracting business skyrocket. According to OMB Watch, a nonprofit group that tracks government contracting, the company of 400 employees has gone from $19.9 million in federal contracts in 2003 to $104.8 million in 2007, including part of the first year of a five-year contract to provide health and dental services to military reservists worth an estimated $790 million.

In at least two published interviews, LHI founder and chairman Don Weber has credited the company's recent growth to Thompson 's connections in federal government.

"If I were to go in a try to get a meeting with some of the decision makers in these organizations, it would take me a lifetime," Weber told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in February 2006. " Tommy is able to make a phone call - and then we get in front of people who make decisions. And when we can show them what we're all about, it expedites decisions."

Weber made a similar statement to the La Crosse Tribune in September 2006.

"He ( Thompson ) has definitely had an impact" on the company's growth, Weber told the newspaper. " Tommy really is able to get us in to see the right people, the decisionmakers."

Denby insisted that Thompson has never contacted anyone at his former agency to discuss business. "He doesn't talk to HHS about contracts. It's simple," Denby said. Armstrong also didn't respond to messages seeking an interview with Weber.

Request was conceled

How Thompson 's company won the contract to provide 9/11 responder care has come under scrutiny. Last fall, the administration solicited bids to provide medical and pharmacy care for ailing responders living outside of New York City. In December, a few days before the bids were due, HHS canceled the request for proposals. Knut Ringen, a Seattle consultant, said his client, Zenith Administrators and QTC of Diamond Bar., Calif., was ready to submit its bid when the solicitation was canceled.

Suspicious about the change, one New York City congressman held a hearing in January to try to force HHS to explain why the request for proposals had been scuttled. The agency declined to send a representative to the hearing of the House Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization and Procurement.

Blosser said the process was halted because it wasn't clear how much the government would pay for patients with health insurance, although Congress had appropriated $108 million for that purpose. He said the solicitation also was "structured in a way that inadvertently limited interest from bidders that may have been equipped to address the complexity of the program on both the local and national scale."

U.S. Rep. Ed Towns, chairman of the subcommittee, didn't buy the explanations offered by the health agency.

"It is really a baffling decision, and they can't even get their stories straight for why it happened," the Democrat from Brooklyn said at the hearing. "First they said that the bidders were confused. Well, we talked to bidders, who had invested a lot of time and money in their proposals, and they said they were ready to go. Then the administration said there wasn't enough funding. Well, how could they know that before the bids came in?"

In March, the HHS' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which includes NIOSH, issued a new request for proposals. LHI was among four bidders. Ringen prepared a second proposal, this time just from Zenith. He said LHI's $11 million proposal was several million dollars less than those of the other three bidders. Blosser declined to say how much the other proposals would have cost, adding that such information can't be released to the public under federal contracting rules.

"We could not do the project on the budget LHI proposed - at least and do it responsibly," Ringen said. "We couldn't even come close to what they were proposing."

In the transition

Before LHI got the contract, the nonprofit Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics provided heath-care services for 9/11 responders, many of whom had sought for years to get help from the federal government for respiratory, gastrointestinal and mental health problems. After the contract was awarded in May, Katherine Kirkland, the association's executive director, said her group tried to ease the transition for patients.

"We offered to talk with them (LHI) and work with them, and they said they had everything under control and they'd get back to us," she said.

Kirkland said she tried unsuccessfully to contact LHI as dozens of patients began calling her with complaints about lack of service. Finally, she said, the association and the Red Cross agreed to continue paying medical claims for the patients beyond the scheduled end of their program on June 30.

"In spite of everyone saying whoever got the contract, that they'd be ready on Day 1, they weren't," said Kirkland, whose association continued to pay claims through July under its agreement with the Red Cross.

Kirkland said Logistics Health isn't solely to blame. She said the federal government "just didn't allow enough time for the transition" for a program that serves patients scattered across nearly every state. "I just don't think they (LHI) understood and I don't think the federal government understood what was involved in providing treatment for these people," she said.

Wolff said she continues to struggle with the effects of her three weeks at Ground Zero: Depression, looming surgeries and permanent disability that makes her unable to work. She said she's had to cancel doctor appointments because she can't afford the gas to get there.

Towns, the New York City congressman, said the care provided to Wolff and others is "one of the worst-managed programs I've seen. The lack of action for these heroes, and the bureaucracy they've had to go through, is simply unacceptable. It is shameful."

The question the gentle reader should be asking themselves is this: If Thompson would be willing to sell out these heroes for a "few shekels," do you really think he would even blink an eye at selling out you or me?

A bonus question would be: Where the hell was Thompson's campaign manager?  He should have known that Thompson had this history and steered clear of the whole issue.

Wisconsin State Journal Endorses Tommy!

But this election is about the need for jobs, cooperation and fiscal sanity. Thompson wins on those priorities.

I wonder why they are losing money...

A little Irony in your Tea?

The racine version of the Koch brothers funded "tea party" held a rally this weekend and it was dripping and housed in irony!


Yes it was ironic that the group that desperately supported intellectual lightweight Eric Hovde & adamantly opposed Tommy Thompson would then have him as their main speaker.  

It was also ironic that the big spending, deficit creating, former bush administration big government offiicial Tommy Thompson was the main speaker for the "taxed enough already' party. 

It was very ironic that 71 year old Tommy Thompson, who was first elected to the Wisconsin Assembly 32 years ago, call for "new leaders".

It was ironic to see Pam Stevens talk about fiscal responsibility.

It was ironic to see a Navy Seal tout Mitt Romney of all people.  

It was very ironic to see someone at the "tea party" talk about personal responsibility.

However, the most ironic part of the day was the location:

 held in the warehouse at 6200 Regency West Drive that previously housed Sam’s Club.

 No place is better to house a "tea party" rally than a closed down warehouse that carries a bunch of cheap sh*t from China that no one really wants or needs! 

ICYMI:  Wiggy is still lying  and Fred is just ridiculous.

 One thing they did accomplish though, is to hire a spooksmodel!

Tommy's Hail Mary!

Tommy Thompson sunk his campaign yesterday by coming out with this ad.  

No one alive on 9/11 will ever forget that day(well most of us wont anyway), it fundamentally changed our country.  We came together, albeit for a short time, as a country and supported each other in this time of need.    Unfortunately, the Bush Administration squandered this important time and used it to gain political advantage.   One of the main members of the Bush administration was of course Tommy Thompson.  

Very few people, outside of Rudy Guiliani, have tried to politicize this event.  Even when the republican party blocked a bill that would have given the HEROES who were first responders and who helped with search and rescue and clean up, actual health care(yes Paul Ryan opposed that).  

Now Tommy Thompson sees his political career coming to an end and has turned into a rabid animal attacking anything and everything he can, trying so very desperately(and unbecoming) to not go down in flames! 

So Tommy checked his moral at the door and hired a member of Veterans for Scott Walker to make an ad and turned over the reigns to his race baiting unethical adviser Darrin Schmitz   The final product(see above), was so disgusting that Fact Check rated it "false and vicious", and actual first responders (rightly) came to Tammy's Defense!  

 

"I don't think he's right and he never should have brought something like that up, because it's not true," said Judy Wolff, a Red Cross volunteer from Holmen, Wis., who got ill after spending three weeks at Ground Zero.

"She didn't disagree because of that 9/11 part, she only disagreed to the other stuff that was added in later," Wolff said.

Responders who have since become advocates for others damaged in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks also noted that Thompson's record in the wake of the tragedy was not seen as a good one.

"When we went to Tommy Thompson in the Bush administration, to get health care funding ... they kept fighting us," said John Feal, a 9/11 advocate who lost half of one foot at Ground Zero and runs the group the FealGood Foundation. "Tommy Thompson is the product of the Bush administration, who wanted nothing to do with 9/11."

Feal said he talked with Thompson after the former Wisconsin governor left the administration and secured the contract to treat 9/11 responders outside of the New York area for his company, Logistics Health. Thompson got wealthy running Logistics, according to his financial disclosures.

When Logistics began work on the contract, it started poorly, and Thompson reached out to Feal after Feal and New York officials blasted his efforts. Most of those involved said Logistics eventually worked out the problems, but Feal was incensed Thompson now was using 9/11 in a misleading ad.

"He's making money off of 9/11, and he's politicizing 9/11 for a campaign now, and to me he's gone down a few notches on the scale of human beings," Feal said, noting just one of Logistics 9/11 contracts was worth $11 million.

The advocate argued that it was especially galling that Thompson was hitting Baldwin -- someone Feal said was an early and strong supporter of passing the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act that Republicans had blocked for years.

He praised Baldwin for opposing the symbolic legislation Thompson's ad mentioned. "I don't fault her for that. I would have voted against it myself," he said.

"Here's the truth," added Feal, who said he has met with Baldwin recently because he regards her as a friend of his cause. "Tammy Baldwin, outside the New York area, was one of the first to sponsor our bill. Her office was one of the ones helping us set up meetings when we couldn't."

He noted that she voted for the Zadroga Act repeatedly on two committees on which she serves.

Cory @ Eye on Wisconsin has more detail here! 

Its too bad that Tommy has let his legacy sink so bad all in a desperate attempt to appease the tea party.   How ashamed of his senate run, will Tommy Thompson be, when he has time to reflect on it?  

In the end Tommy's Hail Mary will come up unsuccessful!

Was Thompson At A Debate Or At The End Of A Bar?

This is the best the Republicans can come up with? No wonder Karl Rove had to drop a million dollar ad buy for him. But even then, there is no way to make him look good:



H/T Jud Lounsbury

Tommy Doesn't Know!

Tommy wants to crack down on Iran! His stock in the company selling uranium to Iran must have taken a hit!

According to Thompson's personal financial disclosure, he owns up $50,000 worth of stock in such firms. Some of the smaller investments include up to $1,000 in the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation, which were all cited in a recent Government Accountability Office study as having done business with Iran.

Thompson owns up to $17,000 worth of stock in Royal Dutch Shell, which the GAO also named, and between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of stock in oil services firm Schlumberger, which has been probed by the Justice Department over its Iran work.

Perhaps most significantly, Thompson owns between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of stock in the mining operation Rio Tinto, which is partners with Iran in mining uranium. Iran owns 15 percent of a uranium mining operation in Namibia with Rio Tinto.

Now we know why Tommy needed to make a shekels when he left the Governor's office, he had to invest in Iran going nuclear.




What is laughable is that Tommy says "He did not know about his stock" and when he did he sold them. HuffPO found out about his ownership in these stocks, by going through his personal financial disclosure(which can be seen here),   The problem with Tommy's story is the personal financial disclosure was released on 1/27/12 - yesterdays date was 10/19/12.

Tommy had 10 months to look at his own PFD along with the time it took to compile this form.  Which brings to mind 2 questions. 

1.  Is Tommy that rich that he has no idea where over $100,000 worth of stock is?

2.  If Tommy can not read his own PFD, how can we expect him to be a good steward of our money??? 

Thompson Can't Fight For Us If He's Fighting For Them

Hard hitting ad from the SEIU:

Thompson On Thompson: Kenya Dig It?

The gentle reader already knows that Jason Thompson, son of senatorial candidate and former governor Tommy Thompson and lawyer at the official law firm of Fitzwalkerstan, Michael Best & Friedrich, played the birther card while representing his father at a Republican brunch on Sunday.

On Monday, Jason Thompson issued an apology...to his colleagues at the law firm, but not to President Barack Obama or to the voters of Wisconsin:

Jason Thompson , the son of former Gov. Tommy Thompson, has apologized to colleagues at his law firm for saying at a Republican event over the weekend that voters have the chance to send President Barack Obama back to Kenya.

Michael Best & Friedrich, the firm where Jason Thompson works, issued a statement Monday distancing it from his widely publicized remarks.

"Over the weekend, one of our attorneys and the son of Senatorial candidate Tommy Thompson made a regrettable comment at a campaign event for his father," said the statement from the Milwaukee-based firm. "We want to make it clear that the comment made at the campaign event in no way reflects the views, beliefs or values of Michael Best & Friedrich."

As if that wasn't bad enough, Tommy Thompson has been mum on the matter. Not one word:



Besides the video, the Democrats have a long laundry list of some of the various places where this comment has been discussed. Tommy isn't one of them.

Well, Tommy Thompson's silence didn't last much longer after the Democrats released that video and press release.

He came out of whatever undisclosed location he's been hiding in to make a statement on his son's racist comment. And in making his statement, he shows us who taught his son about inserting his foot into his mouth:

Thompson addressed the issue on the shop floor of Grover Corp., on Milwaukee’s south side, where he received the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“My son feels miserable about it," Thompson said. "If you looked at the video, you would have seen that somebody, he said, ‘go back to Illinois,’ and somebody in the audience, if you looked at it, somebody said the other country (Kenya) and my son responded.

“Talked to my son he feels terrible about it and nobody is suffering more than he is about this, and he has apologized. That is all I am going to say about it.”

Reporter: “Do you think that he needs to apologize publicly and to the president?”

“No,” Thompson said. “He has already apologized and that’s enough.”

Reporter: Do you think he wasn’t that serious about those remarks, or what?

“It was an off-handed remark that somebody mentioned it in the audience," Thompson said. "If you look at the movie, he didn’t say it, somebody in the audience said it and he repeated it and I have talked to him about it and he’s apologized about it and that’s it.”

Oh, really?

Well, here's the video again. Turn up the volume.



The gentle reader can easily tell that no one said anything until after Jason Thompson made the Kenya statement.

So, Thompson the Elder first lies about the comment, trying to blame it on some mystery problem that no one else can hear. Or maybe Tommy is just suffering from auditory hallucinations. Either way, it's not good.

But Tommy goes on to dig that hole a little deeper by calling the comment an "off hand comment." That would infer that this is something his son said without thinking about it, which would mean that this is what he really thinks.

And do I really need to point out who was one of the greatest factors in forming Jason's attitudes and beliefs.

Tommy's third strike comes when he said that his son didn't need to apologize publicly. This might seem crazy, but I don't think telling the voters that they don't deserve an apology is not the best way to win friends or influence people.

Given the fact that Tommy appears to be just as bigoted as his son, if not more so, I hope he will be able to cope with the mere thought that he will have lost this race to a homosexual woman. If Tammy Baldwin were black also, he'd never make it.

Jason Thompson - American Idiot

Jason Thompson, should be proud, he made national news!  

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Thank you to Lawrence O Donnell for pointing out the affirmative action that has guided Jason Thompson's whole career!