Myers' Scandal Is Simply Stunning

For the past fifteen months, Cathy Myers and her staff have spent the majority of their time attacking Randy "IronStache" Bryce.  They have falsely accused Randy of misogyny, have poor-shamed him and dredged up 20 year old traffic tickets in an order to paint him as the new Antichrist or something.

At first, I thought she might have gone so far negative because she couldn't get any traction on her own.  While that probably did play a large part of it, the real reason turns out to be that she was trying to keep everyone's attention diverted from her own major scandal.  This scandal sounds like something that is the cross between a Jerry Springer show and Judge Judy.

Even though it's been going on for several months, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Mary Spicuzza and Dan Bice finally got around to covering a lawsuit filed against Dennis Hughes, Myers' live in campaign manager.  The lawsuit was filed by Myers' then boyfriend and Hughes' former lawyer, Roger Merry.

The gist of the lawsuit is that Hughes did not pay Merry for legal fees from Merry representing him in a lawsuit against the Janesville School Board, which Myers sits on.  But as I am prone to point out, there's more.  There's always more (emphasis mine):

Starting in 2015, the messy legal battle involved Myers' now-campaign manager, Dennis Hughes, and her then-boyfriend, Roger Merry.

Critics say the case presented a clear conflict for Myers. They suggest Myers was improperly forwarding school board information to Merry and siding with Hughes in his open records dispute.

"This is a disgrace to the school board and is deeply concerning to me as a former elected official in the First Congressional District," said former Kenosha County Supervisor Leah Blough, a Bryce supporter.

In 2015, Hughes was a union representative for AFSCME who sued the district over its refusal to release records. Merry, an attorney, agreed to represent Hughes in the lawsuit. And Myers was living with Merry in his Janesville home.

Hughes was also a friend of both Merry and Myers, and had lived with them in their large Janesville home.

Before he went to court, the school district took the unusual step of getting a temporary restraining order against Hughes. It was later dismissed.

Hughes eventually won the records lawsuit and got a $15,000 settlement agreement from the district.

But the money still sits in a trust account overseen by Merry, who has declined to turn over the cash to Hughes. Merry has sued Hughes, saying the money is owed to him for legal fees, even though there was no written contract. He and Myers are no longer together.

So we have Myers who sent emails from the board, including closed meeting items, to her live in boyfriend. Said boyfriend became the lawyer for Hughes, who was living with both Myers and Merry at the time. Eventually, Merry was able to use the information in these emails to get Hughes a $15,000 settlement.

As for the restraining order, Hughes said that it was completely unjustified. This is not true. Hughes has already a record of being convicted for disorderly conduct.

And Myers does not deny sending the emails, despite the glaring conflict of interest:

Myers agreed, saying she felt that the former Janesville administration was hiding things from the public. She offered a succinct explanation as to why she forwarded a note about the order to Merry from her public account. Merry was not representing Hughes at the time.

"I thought it was bullshit," Myers said. "I felt an injustice was happening.

"There was an injustice going on, and there were attempts that were being made by the administration to cover it up and conceal things that shouldn't be concealed," she said. "They were using a harassment restraining order in order to do that, and I thought it was wrong."

Myers tried to further justify her unjustifiable behavior by saying she wouldn't personally benefit from the $15,000 settlement pay out:

A Janesville constituent first raised concerns about Myers' conduct in the case several years ago.

"I want to know why it would not be a conflict of interest for you to have inside information on all school board matters, including closed-door meetings. And then be in a position to tell your live-in boyfriend, Roger Merry, all of that information," Barbara Cullen wrote in a September 2015 email. "This seems wrong. Can you inform me as to why this is OK with your ethics?"

At the time, Myers defended herself by insisting she would have to "have substantial financial benefit in order for it to be a conflict of interest," citing the district's attorney and the Wisconsin Association of School Boards. Myers forwarded the email exchange to Merry.

"I will not profit by this at all. Roger and I are not married," she wrote back to Cullen. "We do not have a shared bank account."

Cullen responded by calling her a woman "lacking integrity."

While she might not have benefited directly from helping to push the settlement through by sharing the confidential information, it would benefit her campaign manager. This is still against every ethics code ever written. Why she has not been brought up on charges yet is beyond me.

It also should give one pause to wonder what she would do if she were elected to Congress. If they passed a bill or policy that she disagreed with, or if she wanted to benefit herself or someone close to her, would she again think she is above the law and do whatever she felt like, despite however unethical or illegal it might be? That strong possibility alone should make any rationally thinking person reconsider any support for her, either in this race or any future races.

Clearly, Myers is not fit for any office, including the one she holds now.

Republican State Representative Michael Schraa Hit With Ethics Complaint

I'm sure that this will come as a shock, but yet another Wisconsin Republican legislator has been caught in unethical behaviors. This time, it's using his office for political gain:

The complaint, filed Thursday, accuses Schraa, R-Town of Algoma, of using his position as a legislator to put resources belonging to the state of Wisconsin up for sale to benefit a political party committee.

Jacob Hajdu, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin's executive director, based his complaint on a March 11 Facebook post in which Schraa offered a "VIP Capitol Tour package" as an auction prize for the the Winnebago County Republican Party's annual Lincoln Day Dinner on March 20.

The package includes a limo ride to Madison, a "VIP Tour of the Governor's Office and several other 'off limits' areas of the Capitol." Schraa, who owns Leon's Frozen Custard, said the tour would include lunch for up to eight people at a Madison restaurant and finish up with frozen custard from Leon's.

"This is being promoted as something that's exclusive, VIP and not available to the public," Democratic Party spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said. "He's using the resources that belong to the state of Wisconsin to benefit his party and that, I think, is very clearly against the law. From our perspective, it's something that deserves the board's attention. We feel they should review it and act appropriately."

Schraa defended himself by pulling the old "both sides do it" argument.

Schraa also said that this offer was nothing special and he would do it for any constituent who requests it.

Given that, I would encourage any and all of his constituents to contact Schraa at Rep.Schraa@legis.wi.gov or toll-free at (888) 534-0053 and ask for him to personally pay for a limo to pick them up and drive them to Madison where he will give them the "VIP tour" and feed them.

Let's see if he is telling the truth. Just don't hold your breath for that to happen.

Departure Of Boss Abele's Mental Health Honcho Raises Ethics Concerns

As I have been reporting, Boss Abele has his cold heart set upon abandoning Milwaukee County's most vulnerable citizens to the corporate vultures. Despite repeated warnings by mental health professionals, Boss Abele has put profits before people and austerity before accountability in his push to close the county's mental health center so he can sell the land it sits on to his wealthy friends for a song.

Taking advantage of this, Rogers Memorial Hospital started a $12 million project to open up a 56 bed inpatient facility, which is scheduled to open in January - just in time to pick up the people that Boss Abele abandons.

On Monday, in what I'm sure is just a coincidence, the following email was sent out to all employees in the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division:

Sent: Monday, December 1, 2014 3:43 PM

To: DL BHD ALL

Subject: Transitions

From the Desk of Pat Schroeder:

Dear Team BHD,

It is bittersweet for me to announce that Jim Kubicek, Deputy Administrator for Crisis, Acute, and Long Term Care Services, will be leaving BHD to take on the role of Vice President-Operations of the Rogers Memorial Hospital opening in Brown Deer, Wisconsin.

Jim graduated from UWM as a social worker and has been a part of the BHD family since 1996, joining as a clinician on the Mobile Crisis Team. He has since served in the roles of Director of Acute Services, Director of Crisis Services, Deputy Administrator, and Interim Administrator. He has made significant contributions at BHD during his more than 20 years here.

We look forward to his continued collaboration and partnerships in the future at Rogers, which begin mid January, 2015.

Please join me in thanking Jim for his years of service, and congratulating him on his new leadership adventure.

Pat​

Not a bad gig, eh?

Kubicek helps overseeing the closing of the county's hospital and then just happens to take a job at one of the private agencies prepared to take advantage of the closing.

But there is one problem - it's against the law.

We saw this in 2011, when another former director of BHD had resigned and then tried to drum up business for the private agency he worked at (emphasis mine):

One month after resigning in disgrace, John Chianelli pitched his old Milwaukee County boss with a proposal to privatize more mental health services so his new firm could oversee them.

Records show Chianelli and Peg DuBord of Transitional Living Services urged a top county official to let their private agency - which already has several county contracts - provide services to patients with developmental disabilities or mental health problems if the 72-bed Hilltop unit at the Mental Health Complex is downsized. The firm also wants to begin caring for children with serious emotional issues.

The pair met with Geri Lyday, interim administrator of the county's Department of Health and Human Services, on March 10. Chianelli had submitted his resignation to Lyday on Feb. 11.

County ethics rules say former staffers must wait at least a year before contacting anyone in their former agency on behalf of a private business or individual.

"That's very disconcerting," said County Supervisor Lynne De Bruin. "He's not allowed to lobby her on any contract, period."

If it was wrong then, it's still wrong now.

Although I suppose one could argue that Kubicek didn't technically break the law if he did the lobbying before he left the county. Right?  After all, what's a little profiteering at the expense of the vulnerable and the taxpayers?

The corporate media keeps claiming that Boss Abele's scheme is a wonderful thing.  They just forget to mention for whom it's so wonderful.  

It sure isn't the patients.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

As the gentle reader is aware, the first half of 2013 was a tumultuous time in Milwaukee County.  Because the County Board had been one of the few entities that ever told Chris Abele "no," he threw one of the biggest temper tantrums in recorded history, pushing and paying state legislators to pass Act 14, naming him Milwaukee County Emperor.

Before that happened, the County Board did something Abele has yet to do.  Through a series of hearings they called "OUR Milwaukee," they went to the people and listened to what they wanted.  The result was a resolution to redefine the roles of the County Emperor and the County Board.

The Board passed the resolution in April.  And as everyone expected, Abele vetoed it, saying it didn't punish the board enough for opposing him.

On Monday, May 6, the County Board convened to take up that veto as well as other items.  To the casual observer, it looks like Abele's veto of the OUR Milwaukee resolution was overridden by a 14-4 vote.

And indeed it was overridden by that margin.  But as we all know, when it comes to these sorts of things, there's more.  There's always more.

If one looks at the actual minutes of that meeting. one would find that Supervisor Deanna "Purple Unicorns" Alexander was late to the meeting.  She was so tardy that she had missed the first two votes, including the vote regarding the Board's reform resolution.

The minutes of that meeting reveal that Alexander went through the pain of calling for a suspension of the rules so that she could have her vote recorded on the votes she missed, even though it made no difference whatsoever in the final outcomes:

Supervisor Alexander asked unanimous consent to SUSPEND THE RULES to be recorded as voting Aye on Item No. 1 and No on Item No. 2.

Supervisor Romo West OBJECTED.

A motion was made by Supervisor Alexander that THE RULES BE SUSPENDED to be recorded as voting Aye on Item No. 1 and No on Item No. 2. The motion PREVAILED by the following vote:

Aye: 14 - Alexander, Borkowski, Broderick, Cullen, Dimitrijevic, Haas, Johnson Jr., Jursik, Mayo Sr., Rainey, Schmitt, Stamper II, Staskunas and Taylor

No: 4 - Bowen, Lipscomb Sr., Romo West and Weishan

This in itself, while unusual, is perfectly legal.

The rub in this story is the fact that for weeks before the vote, during the vote and two days after the vote, there were advertisements on Facebook and elsewhere for a fundraiser for Alexanders.  Said fundraiser was being hosted by Chris Abele and two front men for the Greater Milwaukee Committee - Jason Fields and Joe Rice.  Not only was the fundraiser being hosted by the people who were lobbying her, but it was scheduled for Wednesday, May 8 - just two days after she went through the pains to make sure her vote was recorded in the way that Abele and the Greater Milwaukee Committee wanted her to vote:

The campaign finance report for Alexander's campaign - which is ironically named "Citizens for Servant Leadership" - shows she did make a tidy little haul that night.  She brought in $1952 that day.  However, the report also shows that the great majority of the money came from people she doesn't even represent.  Some of the bigger donors include:

• Chris Abele - $522 
• Michael Grebe (head of the Bradley Foundation) - $125
• Orville Seymour (one of the two guys running the misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government) - $50
• Karl Rajani (keep an eye for that name with the ongoing dismantling of the mental health complex) - $250

It should be noted that CRG - PAC also gave Alexander another $250.  

By far, Alexander's largest donor was herself, giving her own campaign a loan of $877.63.

It should be noted that even though Alexander is a former accountant and a self-proclaimed fiscal conservative - and even though she had a fund raiser held by the richest people in Milwaukee County and surrounding areas - her campaign is still in the red, owing herself more than $2,800, which is double of what is her current balance.

Milwaukee County's Code of Ordinance's Chapter 9 clearly states that a county official should not receive or give anything of worth in exchange for their vote or other official action.  Yet Abele held Alexander's fundraiser - donating the maximum himself - just two days after she had to take extraordinary steps to have her vote recorded.  

Sadly, it doesn't surprise me that Alexander and Abele have done something that appears to be rather unethical, since we already know that Abele had his spokesperson writing Alexander's press releases.  

What I find so particularly disheartening is that those who would sell their votes and their office to diminish democracy in Milwaukee County would sell themselves - and the rest of us - so cheaply.

Taxpayer Dollars Used To Support Sheriff Clarke's Pro-Gun Goons

On Wednesday, I reported about a gang of gun nuts called the U.S. Concealed Carry Association who was getting people from all around the country to call a few members of the Milwaukee County Board. The group made some false claims that the Board was going to attack people's Second Amendment rights and that they were trying to silence the voice of Sheriff David Clarke.  

The thought of anyone silencing Clarke since he goes crying to talk radio every other day because some meanie pointed out his ridiculousness.  Heck, WISN-AM has even given him his own air time to rant and rave about how people keep accusing him of ranting and raving.

The resolution in question simply would keep Clarke and all other elected Milwaukee County officials from using taxpayer dollars to put up campaign ads. If Clarke wanted to do his campaign ads, he'd have to pay for them.  If he wanted to do a serious public service announcement, he could do that, as long as he wasn't in it.

Besides getting the issue wrong, these Goons for Guns also missed the hearing date by at least two months and also had problems just figuring out which governmental body they were supposed to be haranguing.

With a tip from a regular reader, we can see why the gun nut group was so trigger happy about the possibility of Clarke losing taxpayer money for his politicking. The reason is because they are receiving taxpayer-funded subsidizing for their politicking (emphasis mine)

More recently, the West Bend Common Council offered the U.S. Concealed Carry Association a low-interest loan and five years of property tax rebates to relocate in a former art museum building downtown.

“I wish we had deals like this lined up around the corner right now,” says West Bend Mayor Kraig Sadownikow.

In exchange for the incentives, he says the concealed carry group will bring around 30 jobs to West Bend and invest $1 million in its new location.

“We’ve been looking for ways to inject some adrenaline into the downtown as many communities are. It keeps a building fully occupied, puts it back on the tax roll,” Sadownikow says.

Sadownikow says he’s aware that some residents are upset the government is subsidizing the divisive group, but contends the deal is not about politics. And the mayor defends his refusal to allow public comment on the incentive package.

“It’s a very slippery slope for local officials such as myself to get caught up in the politics of the day. This was about bringing jobs to West Bend. It was about investment in our community,” Sadownikow says.

It sure didn't take Walker's corrupt leadership to spread to the local Teapublicans, did it?

There is this corrupt Teapublican mayor who is basically giving a no bid sweetheart deal to a radical right wing group so that they can do lobbying and politicking.  The the mayor says that the giveaway of taxpayer money - nudge, nudge, wink, wink - has nothing to do with politics.  Yeah, seems legit.

Ironically, last week Charlie Sykes and the propagandists were having a massive hissy fit about a person - fully funded by private organizations - working with Mayor Tom Barrett's office to get reasonable gun control laws in place.  Now we have taxpayer supported special interests trying to help Clarke's campaign and they have nothing to say.

One would think that with next year being an election year, if Clarke wants to continue to be the county's top law enforcement officer, he might want to stop hanging around people of questionable ethics.  Then again, one might think he'd want to be a little more ethical himself.

Vos Gives "Cheater's Proof" A Whole New Meaning

Robin Vos continues to show that the only time he had a good head on his shoulders was when he had a beer dumped on him.

A few days ago, Vos wrote an editorial about the results of November's election, which the corporate media giant, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, gladly reproduced unquestioningly.  Why should they?  After all, if they're willing to stand by Christian Schneider even when he gets caught in bold faced fabrications, surely there is nothing that is beyond their lack of integrity.

Vos is trying to convince he readers that the election results somehow had nothing to do with the gerrymandering that they did behind closed doors and with political operatives involved in the process.

Vos writes:

Unfortunately, rather than do any soul-searching and examine why their message was rejected by voters, Democrats have tried to shift the narrative. We're now told that Assembly Democrats really "won" the November elections by virtue of having collected more total votes in all 99 races. Democrats then argue that Assembly Republicans only achieved their majority through redistricting. Despite losing fair elections that aren't in dispute, and despite facing a 60-39 GOP majority in January, Assembly Democrats say they have the "real" election mandate.

Simply put, their argument is absurd. This is like arguing that if the Green Bay Packers ended the season with a losing record but scored more points than their opponents cumulatively, it would equate to a successful year. If a coach tried to make this argument, he probably would be fired.

The only ways the Packers would be able to score more cumulative points is if they had all their points in one or two games and lost the rest 3-0 - which is as unlikely as Vos having a healthy relationship with someone - or that someone was monkeying with the system.

But Vos wasn't done:

One of many examples of the ticket-splitting phenomenon is the 51st Assembly District in southwestern Wisconsin. Romney captured less than 40% of the vote in this district represented by Rep. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green). Despite being a top target of the Democrats in this past election, Marklein won with 51.9% of the vote, a 12-point swing from the presidential race.

Campaign messaging was important in this race as well. Like our candidates throughout the state, Marklein touted a forward-looking agenda committed to job creation and cutting waste, fraud and abuse in government. Conversely, his opponent ran a campaign mired in the past, focusing on divisive issues and failing to articulate a vision for Wisconsin.

Voters spoke clearly in November. They want the Legislature to work to create jobs and rein in wasteful spending, and they cast their votes decisively with Assembly Republicans to get that done. Assembly Democrats can either continue with their sour grapes or work with Assembly Republicans to strengthen Wisconsin.

Well, that's a bigger load of poppycock than the first section.

Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Tommy Thompson were all echoing the party lines that the state Republicans were chanting, but they got their arses handed to them. So the messaging had very little to do with it. In fact, one could say that the message was soundly rejected because they lost.

Further proof of this is the fact that when one breaks down the numbers, the only reason Ryan was even able to hang on to his congressional seat was because of the gerrymandering. Even his hometown rejected Ryan and his message. The only thing that saved him was the fact that the Republicans, through their unethical and illegal gerrymandering, had given him a large chunk of Walkersha County.

The clincher that Vos is deranged is his comment regarding creating jobs and reining in wasteful spending. Given the crappy job numbers, the stagnant state economy and the laundry list of scandalous waste of taxpayer dollars - such as WEDC - their plan is most definitely not working.

It would be morally and ethically wrong, not to mention a sign of mental instability, for anyone who had the best interests of Wisconsin in mind to even come close to endorsing the Republican agenda of fascist tyranny.

What Vos is trying to do is justify the giant crap sammich that they have in store for the state and its people during the next legislative session.  But if Vos thinks that we will passively allow them to just shove their garbage down our throats, he is even sicker than I thought.

State Republicans Veer For The Low Road - Again

It sure didn't take long for the Republicans in the state senate to show their hand on what they are planning for their next term:

Republicans in the state Senate have chosen Scott Fitzgerald as their leader again.

Fitzgerald, a Juneau Republican, served as Senate majority leader during most of the last two-year session. He lost the post after Democrats seized control of the chamber in June’s recall elections.

Republicans re-captured the majority in Tuesday’s elections, however. They caucused on Thursday to pick their leaders and unanimously elected Fitzgerald to his old position. They also unanimously elected Mike Ellis, a Neenah Republican, as Senate president, a spot he held until the recalls.

Well, isn't that special?!

Let's look at the history of the majority leader that they unanimously voted for:

• Scott Fitzgerald rammed through a bill that gave him massive tax credits because he owns a horse.
• Scott Fitzgerald had all the Republicans sign secrecy oaths regarding their gerrymandering, then allows his office aides and his political fund raiser, Judith Rhodes-Engels*, discuss the matter with other aides via private email accounts.  
• Scott Fitzgerald has his fund raiser share his list of donors with Scott Walker's fund raiser, Kelly Rindfleish, while Rindfleisch was supposed to be working for Milwaukee County taxpayers.
• Scott Fitzgerald lied so much and so badly that even Faux News couldn't believe him.
• And most egregious, Scott Fitzgerald tried to sic the state police on his political opponents.

We already know that the Republicans' agenda includes ramming through the mining bill they did not write, ramming through right-to-exploitation work rules and even more tax breaks for the wealthy and big companies.

Now we know one thing that won't be showing up on their list is ethical conduct.

*It's been said that Rhodes-Engels has assumed her usual position in Fitzgerald's Capitol office.

Did Annette Ziegler Pad Her Hours As An Attorney?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an article about a lawyer who is in hot water for allegedly padding his hours in order to collect a bonus from a law firm he used to work for.

The bonus came into play when an attorney billed for 1,800 hours in one year. Considering that the work year is 2,080, including vacation time, that would be almost 100% productivity, which is hard to believe.

The argument in itself isn't so interesting, but one of the observations at the end is:

During oral argument Justice Annette Ziegler said that when she was in private practice, she billed a lot more than 1,800 hours a year.

Apparently she has always been without scruples.

Not The Kind Of Headline You'd Want When You're Behind In The Polls

From an astute reader:

US election: Mitt Romney may have breached ethics laws through company linked to Paul Ryan's brother

Mitt Romney may have breached state ethics laws as Governor of Massachusetts by holding a stake in a company that did lucrative work for his administration and was linked to the family of Paul Ryan, a Daily Telegraph investigation has found.

David Clarke's Dereliction of Duty

Milwaukee County David Clarke can't provide deputies to help protect President Obama but is able to not only provide deputies to Mitt Romney, but sent them out of Milwaukee to do so.

The Ethics Board really needs to take a look at this one.

Walkergate: The College Years

Before there was Walkergate, back in Scott Walker's days at Marquette University, there was Walkergate: The College Years.

Back then, when the Marquette Tribune printed a negative story about him, Walker and his cronies would scoop up the freshly printed papers and destroy them.  But they did not always get all of them.

And now we have photographic proof of the original Walkergate:

Further proof that Walker never had any ethics, or if he did, he killed them off at a very young age.

Walker's Long History Of Pay For Play

Ever since the Koch Brothers bought the governor's office, we have seen Scott Walker paring off hunks of Wisconsin and giving them to his campaign donors in return.

We've seen everything from his trying to give the north woods to Gogebic Taconite to giving cushy jobs to lobbyist's sons to rewarding the generous road builders to giving big tax breaks to his corporate cronies.  And he paid for his generosity on the backs of the workers and the poor.

But these horrific and unethical pay for play schemes are nothing new to Walker.

In what is being reported as something John Doe is looking at in the ongoing Walkergate saga, there was pay for play with his campaign staff and/or county staff (who can really tell the difference anymore?) and the commercial real estate brokers (who again blur in with the county/campaign blend).  This edition involved giving  county taxpayer money to seal a deal, thereby making a nice profit for his people, in order to rent a high-priced office building while county-owned building sat underused or even vacant.

There is also Walker's questionable relationship with Air Tran, who decided to sponsor his campaign Harley Davidson ride around the state at about the same time Walker just gave them a big expansion at Mitchell International Airport to serve as their base.

And thanks to a savvy and observant commenter who pointed out this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article by Dan Bice and Cary Spivac which showed Walker was double talking and double dealing during his first campaign run for governor:

When Scott Walker was a Republican gubernatorial candidate, his position on accepting donations during the state budget season was clear: Don't do it.

"That way, you remove any appearance that fund raising during the budget time has anything to do with the budget process," Walker said in January, two months before he dropped out of the governor's race.

Good advice - too bad Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker didn't get the message.

If he had, Walker would not have sent out a letter begging folks to send his campaign a few bucks right now - while the county budget was being debated.

Not only did the solicitation go out a week after he introduced the $1.26 billion budget, but Walker's plea uses the budget fight as the sales pitch for contributions.

"We have bold and creative ideas to balance the county budget," Walker wrote to some 8,000 supporters this month. "On the other hand, they (County Board members) continue to resurrect the same tired and old tax and spend ideas."

Then Walker - who is up for re-election this spring - passed the collection plate.

"To combat the attacks we will get from the liberal county board members and the special interest groups, I need your help," he wrote. "We have a powerful message of hope for the future, but we cannot depend on the media to get it out.

"That's why I hope you'll take a moment and renew your support of my campaign through a generous gift of $500, $250, $100, $50 or $25 today."

John Hiller, Walker's campaign chairman, defended the letter, arguing there was no contradiction between Walker's words and actions.

"He, in spirit, complied with what he was proposing," Hiller said.

Oh! John Hiller! We've heard that name recently. He was Walker's campaign treasurer for 18 years before Walker suddenly decided he wasn't up for the job. The fact that they started looking at the shady Reuss Building deal mentioned above had nothing to do with it, I'm sure.

But there's more (emphasis mine):

Curious as to what Walker thinks, we called him at the courthouse. His flack Rod McWilliams wasn't very helpful.

First McWilliams was aghast that we even asked him - a county worker - for a statement about a campaign matter.

We explained to McWilliams that we didn't want his opinion. Rather we wanted to talk to Walker - you know, the guy who mixed county business with politics in the first place. So, we again asked McWilliams to ask Walker to call us.

McWilliams refused to take the message.

"That's not how we do things," he lectured, explaining there is a wall between campaign and county business.

Hmm, that's one tall wall. Sounds like McWilliams has been listening to the Walker who ran for governor, not the one who is using the county budget fight to raise campaign cash.

And even before any of these examples, there are my good friends at the misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government. Before they started with filing false and falsified charges against me or attempting to recall popular politicians, they were the front group that led the charge in recalling Walker's predecessor and getting Walker elected. In exchange for their favor, Walker tried to give them some office space in the Milwaukee County Courthouse (which is illegal. Furthermore, Walker worked at getting the county to buy into Six Sigma, which CRG's ring leader, Chris Kleismet, was involved with.

As you can see, Walker has a long history of corrupt and unethical behavior.  So the reprehensible stunts he's pulling now or when he was running for governor doesn't surprise me on bit.

What does surprise me is that after more than ten years of it, he hasn't gotten any better at concealing it.  Then again, I shouldn't be surprised at that.  I also know that Walker's always been a slow learner.

Prosser Charged With Judicial Ethics Violations

David Prosser demonstrating
his one-handed choke hold.

About a year ago, during the elections season (the first one), news came out that the intemperate David Prosser  had acted most unprofessionally, calling Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson "a bitch" and threatening to "destroy her."

Later in the year, anxious to get busy rubber stamping illegally passed laws, Prosser again lost his temper and physically assaulted Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, by putting a choke hold on her.

In the Republican's War on Women, he must be a general or something.

After the news of Prosser's boorish behavior broke, right wing propagandists got busy and tried to do whatever they could to cast doubt on the course of events.  They went from claiming that the Dane County Sheriff, who was investigating the case, was a lackey to the Democrats and to Abrahamson to actually accusing Bradley of assaulting to the disreputable Michael Gableman, a charge that was later shown to be a complete fabrication.  They even tried to weave a whole new tale out of whole cloth stating that Walsh Bradley was the aggressor.

After it was decided that no criminal charges would be issued, the right wing crowed that this vindicated Prosser and that it was all that much garbage.

Except it wasn't.

On Friday, the Wisconsin Judicial Commission leveled three charges against the Madison Strangler:

Prosser is accused of violating three provisions of the ethics code. One says judges must be "patient, dignified and courteous" to those involved in the court system; another says judges must cooperate with one another; and the third says judges should maintain high standards of conduct to ensure the integrity of the judiciary.

Before anyone gets too excited, it should be noted that it will be the Supreme Court who will ultimately decide Prosser's fate, based on the findings of either a three-judge panel or a jury.  That means the Annette Ziegler, who was already found unethical by the Commission, and the lying Gableman would be involved in the decision making.  And both of them have a history of not recusing themselves when they should.

Until we do a complete housecleaning, the state will continue to have these embarrassing and outrageous scenarios play out.

Milwaukee County's Furlough Debts Doubles, As Does Sanfelippo's Hypocrisy

In 2009 and 2010, Scott Walker illegally ordered Milwaukee County employees, such as yours truly, to take an excessive amount of furlough days.  He issued this order on a falsely assumed fiscal emergency, claiming that  there was a $15 million deficit when the truth was there was no deficit. In fact, that year ended up with a surplus.

Due to his lying and his illegal actions and bad faith bargaining with the unions, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) ordered Milwaukee County to make the county employees whole for the excessive amount of furlough time they were forced to take.  Not only did the county get ordered to pay all the money back, but were also ordered to pay 12% interest, compounded daily.

JSOnline is reporting that Milwaukee County, who has been appealing and appealing the decision for the last year, has lost yet another appeal.  The sickening part is that the county could have negotiated down this bill by sitting down and working out a contract with the unions.

Instead, the teahadist and corrupt Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo refused to meet with the unions.

Now he is quoted in the article, squawking that the county can't afford to pay the bill he racked up.  Funny, but he doesn't seem to think the county is in such dire straits that they can't pay his full salary even though he spends most of his time at his taxi cab company, even to the point of delaying county business so he can county his money.  Nor does he believe that the county is such dire straits that he couldn't vote for giving his cab company a fare hike from the money he collects from the county:

In the most recent issue of Milwaukee Magazine, there is an investigative report by Marie Rohde that shows that Sanfelippo’s taxi cab company, along with all sorts of unethical treatment of his drivers,  made $1.2 million from a contract with the county.  It should be noted that it was only in the 2012 budget adoption hearing that Sanfelippo abstained from voting on these contracts, and for a while was even the chair of the committee that made these policy decisions.

But to answer the hypocritical Sanfelippo, I've already gave the solution to this dilemma: Sue Walker and his campaign, since it was obviously and provably a campaign stunt.

Walker's Disregard For The Law Costs Taxpayers Even More

There is a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that shows the election laws that all but one politician in the state has to follow actually work (emphasis mine):

The GAB staff upheld the city Election Commission's decision to disqualify Jason Hargis, one of three would-be Wade opponents in the 7th Aldermanic District race. City election officials had previously disqualified nominating petitions filed by Wade's other two opponents, Michael (Big Mike) Hagler and Roosevelt Sanders, neither of whom appealed to the state agency.

Initially, the election commission staff had found that Hargis had submitted 200 valid signatures on his nominating petitions, the minimum needed to win a spot on the ballot. But Wade's attorney, Michael Maistelman, obtained an affidavit from one of those 200 people denying she signed Hargis' petition, and that led to the rulings against Hargis at both the city and state levels.

Wade had to hire his own attorney, the esteemed Michael Maistelman, to check the signatures and to challenge them. That's the way the law is written and it worked the way it was intended to.

Contrast that to Scott Walker, the one politician that thinks he is above the law, who is making the taxpayers foot the bill to do what his campaign should be doing.

And now the taxpayers will have to pay more and more as the GAB needs more time to do their jobs as well as Team Walker's and has the Koch-funded GOP operatives plan on pulling another stalling stunt.

Don't Mark Your Recall Calendars Just Yet...

Monday was the day that Scott Walker had to turn in his challenges to the recall petitions against him.

But early in the day, he made it clear that he wasn't going to challenge any names.

And the people rejoiced.

Woot. Woot.

Walker claimed that the reason he wasn't challenging any of the signatures was because he didn't have enough time.

That is, of course, a load of rubbish.

First of all, he had three times the amount of time allowed by the law to do what he needed to do.  Secondly, Walker has raised more than $12 million for his recall campaign thanks to the law that waives any limits on donations.  The reason for that waiver is so that he could use it to defend himself by checking and challenging the signatures.  He could have hired 15,000 people - one for every ten sheets turned in - and paid them $100 for the day to check the signatures and still had enough to overdose everyone in the state with his insipid, fact-free commercials.

Or he could have just bought a program to check it and have enough to buy every man, woman and child in Wisconsin a bottle of soda.  And still have change left over.

Oh, and his new campaign mouthpiece, Ciara Matthews, showed that she is a perfect fit for his campaign by proving she is also suffering from truth-deficiency when she said: "It obviously takes more time to verify signatures than it does to collect them."

Again, the people rejoiced.

Woot. Woot.

Some of the celebrants went even so far as to foolishly try to forecast the recall election would be held in late May.

Silly kids! Don't they know tricks are for weasels?

There was two small, but crucial facts that they had missed.

One, Matthews refused to answer whether Team Walker would consider filing challenges at a later date.  The other was that they were setting things up for a lawsuit by Team Walker and/or the Koch-funded front groups who were holding their own "Verify the Recall" gimmick:

Walker attorney Steven Biskupic of Michael Best & Friedrich said that Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty and We the People of the Republic, two tea party groups, had organized a effort called Verify the Recall to review signatures, but campaign finance laws prevented them from coordinating with Walker. The campaign asked the GAB to consider challenges proposed by the groups. 

Verify the Recall and True the Vote, another petition review group, on Monday released their own analysis of more than 800,000 of the signatures. The groups said their more than 14,000 volunteers from around the country had found some 55,608 ineligible signatures, 228,940 signatures in need of further investigation and 534,685 eligible signatures. 

Mark Antill of True the Vote said his group found “tremendous inconsistencies with the circulators” but acknowledged the recall would likely go forward based on its findings.
The GAB said it had received nothing from tea party groups. 

“There is no legal basis for us to accept third-party challenges,” Magney said.

On a side note, it appears that a lot of this "verifying" came from a shady teahadist group located in Texas.  This bears more investigation.

On another side note, if the Verify mob simply posted their findings, waiving fair use standards, and Team Walker could have used them since the findings would then be publicly available.  But they've already admitted that they couldn't find nearly enough names, under their stricter standards, to stop the recall.

There is a strong likelihood, even though they know the recall will happen, that they will file a lawsuit to contest this and drag things out.  You see, Walker still gets to have his unlimited fund raising until the GAB sets a date, if I'm understanding things correctly.

And even then, after Team Walker and his supporting cast of teahadists run out of legal tricks and stunts and other forms of chicanery, and the GAB is finally allowed to set a date, don't be so sure that things will happen as you might expect them to happen.

Over at blue cheddar, the specter of Walker resigning from office is raised and what the ramifications of such an act would be:

If Walker resigned within 10 days of the recall petitions being certified by the GAB, he would not be on the ballot and other Republicans would be able to vie for the nomination in a primary.  

Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch would become acting governor and could appoint a new lieutenant governor. Nothing, however, would stop the recall election from going forward.
The winner of the gubernatorial election would assume the office, replacing Kleefisch. Facing her own recall election, Kleefisch would return to the lieutenant governor’s post if she wins. 

However, if Walker were to resign more than 10 days after the recall petitions are certified, his name would still appear on the ballot. Assuming voters would not favor an indicted, resigned governor, Republicans would likely be forced to mount some type of write-in campaign to try to prevent the Democratic nominee from being elected.

What's that? Walker is too power hungry to ever consider stepping down?  He wouldn't jeopardize his ultimate aspiration of becoming President of the United States?

Yeah?  If that's what you're thinking, I've got two words for you: Sarah Palin.

These two equally incompetent, equally corrupt, equally megalomaniacal.  Walker would easily think that if she could become such a household name that people still would like to see her run for POTUS, well, surely God will speak to him again and tell him that this is the way he should go.


No one can know for certain what is going to happen, when the recall election might finally happen, or even who we would be recalling.

But what I can tell you, based on my ten years of dealing with Walker and his team of malefactors, is that if you come up with a scenario that is so absurd, so unethical and even illegal that even the most die hard skeptic and/or cynic can't imagine it happening, there is a good chance you'll find Scott Walker right there, in the middle of all of it.

An Undeniable Pattern

Last evening, I had been interviewed by an out-of-state reporter who was trying to get a grasp of the timeline and the expanse of Walkergate.

As we were discussing the course of events, a larger picture of things occurred to me and a pattern of poor behavior from Scott Walker became undeniable.

It started some 25 years ago, when Scott Walker ran for President of the Student Government at Marquette University.  Even then, he violated election laws, campaigning where he wasn't allowed to.  He then tried to smear his opponent.  On top of that, when the school paper, the Marquette Tribune, retracted their endorsement of Walker and called him "unfit", he and his buddies grabbed all the issues of the paper that they could and destroyed them.

In 2004, when Walker was running for his first re-election as Milwaukee County Executive, the question came up whether he kept a campaign promise of having his at-will staff sign waivers regarding the enhanced pensions.  He hadn't.  But to cover it up, once an Open Records Request had been filed, scrambled to get the promised signatures.  He then submitted a form in response to the ORR, written in such a way to disguise the fact that they hadn't signed it until then.

For this unethical act, he received a severe dressing down by the Department of Justice.  As Bill Christofferson, who worked for Walker's opponent in that race, put it:

The indisputable point is that Walker himself ordered his staff to engage in cover up and deception to keep the public -- the voters, since this was in the midst of an election campaign -- from learning the truth. [Dave Umhoefer, a Journal Sentinel reporter, uncovered the truth after the election.] 

The dishonesty was deliberate. It was calculated. It was wrong. And it was ordered by the guy at the top of the chain of command, Walker himself.

Over the years of being a career politician, Walker has also demonstrated a continuing problem of being unable to file a legal campaign finance report.

And who could ever forget the way he acted as the sycophant to a caller whom Walker believed to be David Koch.

Most recently, in the unfolding Walkergate saga, it is becoming increasingly evident that Walker did not win the Governor's office by honest means, having surrounded himself with ne'er-do-wells who have been charged, and some already convicted, of illegal politicking.  And it has gotten to the point that the only time a Walker staffer hasn't been charged, convicted or granted immunity  is because they're still being investigated.

And now, as governor, it appears that Walker still hasn't earned his Eagle Scout badge for integrity yet.

Case in point is Jocelyn Webster (emphasis mine):

Late last year, the governor's office announced it had hired 28-year-old Jocelyn Webster to serve as communications director for the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA). The department manages the state buildings where most of the anti-Walker protests have been held, and its duties include setting rules for protests. Webster started her career with Rove's notorious Office of Political Affairs in the George W. Bush administration 

A congressional investigation of the activities of that office yielded allegations -- including specific allegations against Webster – that Rove's team was involved in partisan campaigning on the public dime, a claim also leveled at aides of her newest boss during his tenure as Milwaukee County Executive.

Well, as least she should fit in real well with the rest of this boogle of weasels.

Over the span of decades, Walker has shown an undeniable pattern, not of leadership, but of deceit, dishonor, bullying, manipulation and an utter and complete disregard of the law.

In other words, Walker has shown that he is completely devoid of any ability to be a leader worthy of respect, much less any position of authority.

The Supreme Court Race To The Bottom

It wasn't enough that Annette Ziegler embarrassed the Supreme Court by coming in under a cloud of ethics problems.

It wasn't enough that Michael Gableman broke judicial ethics by running a blatantly false and racist commercial against sitting Justice Louis Butler.

It wasn't enough that David Prosser, winner of the mystery votes game of Waukesha County, then proceeded to fantasize that he was in the game of Clue. (It was Prosser with the choke hold in the chamber.)

Gableman has to again bring disgrace to the Supreme Court.  This time he violated ethics rules by accepting thousands of dollars worth of free legal advise during his first ethics violation hearing.  On top of that, Gableman never bothered to recuse himself from cases involving the donating law firm (which should be charged too).

Of course, the Republicans are completely silent about the matter, and it is a Democrat that has to lead the call for this matter to be investigated.

If there is a bright side to this most latest stain the Republicans have brought upon our state, it's that alleged legal expert and admitted Bradley Foundation beneficiary  Rick Esenberg is getting a healthy helping of crow to eat.

Media Trackers or Miserable Hacks?

Media Trackers is one of the myriad of pseudo-news agencies serving as nothing more than front groups to spread and try to legitimize the propaganda of their sponsors, folks like the Koch Brothers and the Bradley Foundation.  They are, for all practical purposes, identical with McIver Institute, Wisconsin Reporter or WPRI.

Or in other words, they are nothing more than glorified right wing blogs, with all the vitriol, irresponsibility, racism and inaccuracies one could expect from Real Debate Wisconsin, Wigderson's Library & Pub or Boots and Sabers.  Which explains why so many of them end up hiring bloggers to do their dirty work.

The point that these are not legitimate news agencies was brought home in a very strong way on Monday.

Media Trackers ran with a video that showed some young people signing the petitions to recall Scott Walker and Becky Kleefisch. They then insinuated that the young ladies were not of age and were being offered cigarettes to sign the petitions.

However, they never checked the IDs of the young ladies, so they didn't really know how old they were.  Nor did they show any causal relationship of their signing of the petition and one of the young ladies getting a cigarette from some unidentified person.  Maybe they just presumed that fraud was being committed because the young ladies in question were African-American. (See what I did there? I used their own methodology against them!) They sure had nothing substantial to go on.

As one could have easily guessed, they were utterly wrong.

The impeccable Emily Mills, who is a true reporter, and knows enough not to publish based on pure speculation and without verifying her facts, looked into the allegations.  She actually did look at the IDs of the two women and verified that they were adults and thus could sign the petitions.  She also stated that there was no evidence to suggest that the signatures were cajoled from the young ladies with a bribe of a cigarette.

Once busted out in their lies and libels, Media Trackers couldn't even bring themselves to admit that they were in the wrong, but petulantly stated that they were going to keep pushing to try to prove that bribery was going to happen.

So why did they do this?  Why did they risk their already tarnished reputation on something as lame as making a false report and then refusing to admit they were wrong?

They answered that question in an email to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Brian Sikma of Media Trackers said the group brought the issue to light because of concerns of unethical behavior.

Well, in that sense, they were successful.

They sure did expose some seriously unethical behavior...their own. What really needs is for the authorities to investigate these groups for their violations of the tax laws and their misrepresentation of themselves as credible news agencies. They are neither credible nor a news agency.

Sadly, even after all that, they still haven't learned their lesson and are at it again. But instead of attacking two young women, they are now after the homeless.

These people are becoming really sick degenerates in their desperation to support Scott Walker from the recall he so richly deserves. I wonder if they think they're even helping anymore.