Where's Wisconsin?

 From the latest drop of the heavily redacted Epstein files comes this tidbit showing just how incompetent the first Trump administration was:

They couldn't even find Wisconsin on a map. Yet they still had Ron Johnson soiling his trousers because even these bumbling fools knew he was a Russian spy.

Til FAFO Do Us Part

It could have been a Hallmark movie. 

A man in a small Wisconsin town meets a beautiful Peruvian woman, they fall in love and get married. 

Except for Bradley Bartell and Camila Muñoz, it turned into a horror flick real quick, thanks to the Orange Felon and a face-eating leopard. On the way back from honeymooning in Puerto Rico, ICE stormtroopers pulled Muñoz out of line and detained her. 

She was shipped off to a privately run prison in Louisiana and is being held in a dorm room with 80 other women. Bartell said that the money they were saving to buy a house is gone in legal bills and that they haven't seen each other in weeks. But it's hard to feel sorry for Bartell, since he voted for this shit:

Both of them have been thinking a lot about Bartell's vote for Trump. 

"I knew they were cracking down," he said. "I guess I didn’t know how it was going down." 

He imagined the administration would target people who snuck over the border and weren't vetted. But his wife, "they know who she is and where she came from," he said. "They need to get the vetting done and not keep these people locked up. It doesn’t make any sense."

Unfortunately, the article never asked Bartell why he voted for the Orange Felon. Did he sell out his wife for the false promises of cheaper eggs, less expensive gas, and tax cuts, none of which he will ever see? Or did he not listen to MAGA Moron Cult that they were going to go after everyone with brown skin or a Spanish sounding name? I wouldn't blame Muñoz for having second thoughts about their marriage either. 

I know that I would have trust issues with a person who offered my face to the leopards for such a low price.

Wisconsin's Very Special And Meaningful Independence Day

As the gentle reader already knows, Thursday was the Fourth of July, Independence Day.  It's the day the country sets aside to celebrate the birth of our country with the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

However, in Wisconsin, the party started a little earlier.  

On Wednesday, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Jacob Frost ordered that Wisconsin workers are once again free and independent, when he found that Act 10, Scott Walker's attack on public sector workers and their unions, was unconstitutional, which is something that we had been saying all along:

The lawsuit argues the 2011 law violates equal protection guarantees in the Wisconsin Constitution by dividing public employees into two classes: "general" and "public safety" employees. Public safety employees are exempt from the collective bargaining limitations imposed on "general" public employees.

"Rational basis review provides a simple premise. Can you explain a law’s differing treatment of different groups in a way that makes sense and supports a public policy? If not, the different treatment is irrational and violates the right to equal protection of the laws. Because nobody could provide this Court an explanation that reasonably showed why municipal police and fire and State Troopers are considered public safety employees, but Capitol Police, UW Police and conservation wardens, who have the same authority and do the same work, are not," Frost wrote in his ruling.

"Thus, Capitol Police, UW Police, and conservation wardens are treated unequally with no rational basis for that difference. Act 10 therefore violates their rights to equal protection under the law and I declare those provisions of the Act relating to collective bargaining modifications unconstitutional and void."

The Republicans were besides themselves, accusing Frost of being an "activist judge," and complaining how it was held up by the Supreme Court through several challenges.  What they forget to mention is that those supreme court justices who went along with it were beneficiaries of the same dark money groups that the other Republicans were and were just as corrupt. 

Exactly what parts of Act 10 are going to be struck down is yet to be seen yet.  Judge Frost has ordered both parties to submit letters to address this:

Frost concluded his order with this: "As my decision appears to resolve all issues, I order the parties to file a letter or memorandum to the Court as to whether the Court should issue judgment on the pleadings in light of this Decision or take some other action to bring this action to a final judgment. As part of that discussion, Plaintiffs should address what sections of Act 10 must be severed and struck under my ruling and Defendants shall respond on this issue as well."

No matter what the end result, the biggest thing is that it opens the door to better things, including people being able to go to work and knowing that they will be going home again, unlike the way they are now.

To make things even sweeter, it means the end of Walker's legacy and probably the end of any further political aspirations he might have had.

Trump's Legal Strategy: Winning By Losing

 A couple of days ago, I had reported that even before the partial recount was completed, the frivolous lawsuits were flying in fast and furious.

In the short time since then, Trump has managed to add to his losses.  On Thursday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court chose not to accept Trump's case on a 4-3 basis, because state law requires for his legal team to have filed the lawsuit in circuit court first.  Even before ink was dry, Trump had filed appeals in both Milwaukee and Dane Counties.

What was disconcerting about the decision was not just that three of the four conservative judges had chosen to disregard the law and the constitution, but their irrational reasoning behind their decision.  In her dissent, Justice Rebecca Bradley, a Federalist disguised as a Supreme Court Justice, wrote this:

In a separate, scorching dissent, Justice Rebecca Bradley maintained that leaving legal questions to the Elections Commission "deals a death blow to democracy."

"The majority's failure to act leaves an indelible stain on our most recent election," she wrote in a dissent that Roggensack and Ziegler joined.

Later on Thursday, the Supreme Court also declined to hear the lawsuit filed by Wisconsin Voters Alliance, citing the ridiculousness of trying to have the entire election declared null and void.  

On Friday, the Court also declined to hear the case filed by Dean Mueller because he did not like the absentee ballot drop boxes, was declined without explanation.

The latter two were decided by the same split of 4-3.

Also on Friday, it was learned that Trump's lawsuit filed in federal court faces a dubious future.  Federal Judge Brett Ludwig, who was appointed by Trump, expressed skepticism and questioned why this lawsuit had even been filed since they wanted the legislature to be given control of the 10 electors.  When Trump's attorney explained that they needed to find the election results to be flawed to that they could take it to the legislature, Ludwig turned up the heat on Trump's team:

Trump attorney William Bock said the president needed the court to determine the election that Biden won by about 21,000 votes was flawed so that the issue could be handed off to lawmakers. 

Ludwig remained dubious that such a question was one a federal court could decide. 

"I get the argument but I have a very, very hard time seeing how this is justiciable in the federal court," Ludwig said. 

He added that Trump's lawsuit was "really bizarre" because it asks to "remand" the case to the Legislature, noting that remanding a case typically means returning it to a lower court for reconsideration. 

"I think the term 'remand' might be inartful," Bock responded. 

Ludwig put Trump in a bigger bind by scheduling the next hearing on December 19th, only four days before the electoral college meets to finalize their count.

As stated before, even if Trump would manage to turn the vote over, it wouldn't matter. Biden would still have enough to be the official winner.

But before you laugh and call Trump a loser, you should be aware that he is actually winning.  In my last article about this, I pointed out that these lawsuits were just a vehicle for him to put the squeeze on his supporters because he's gonna need as much cash as possible to pay off all his campaign debts and to fund a legal defense against all the civil and criminal lawsuits he will be facing on January 21at.

And it is working out for him:

.President Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee have raised more than $207.5 million in the weeks since Election Day, his campaign said Thursday, as their claims of voting fraud have generated a financial windfall that could be deployed in future political ventures.

Whoever said that crime doesn't pay hadn't met Trump.

This Is Why You Need To Vote!

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found it newsworthy to post an advisory article for people not to transport their snowmobiles on top of cars:

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation would like to remind everyone to not transport a snowmobile on the roof of a small car, like say, a Toyota Corolla. Sure, that might be a no-brainer, but someone in Polk County was caught trying it. The Wisconsin DOT shared the image on social media and warned, "Do not try this at home." "Our friends at the Wisconsin State Patrol stopped this vehicle Sunday on US 63 in Polk County because this isn’t a safe way to transport a snowmobile," the Facebook post said. The Wisconsin DOT recommended safely hauling winter equipment in a trailer or in the bed of a truck.

My first question would be how the hell did they get the snowmobile up there? 

My next question would be who the hell does that sort of thing? But the answer occurred to me as soon as the question did. They would be same people who think wearing a mask is an infringement of their rights; that the rich getting richer is more important than saving lives; that the pandemic is all just fake news and that COVID-19 is no worse than the flu; etc, etc, etc. 

Evem worse, this wasn't the only time something like this has happened. 

 And these people vote?! Make sure that you vote too, or we will have these idiots ruling the country again!

Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenberg Attacked By Anti-Semites. But She's Not Jewish.

Meet Katie Rosenberg, the newly elected mayor to Wausau, Wisconsin. Rosenberg, a lifelong Democrat, beat the Republican incumbent, Robert Mielke by a solid 5%. She became an instant internet sensation with her simple two word tweet when the results were finalized:

HOLY BALLS

— Katie Rosenberg (@katierosenberg) April 13, 2020

But her friends and the people of Wausau know her better for her iconic peace sign she flashes as readily as she flashes her contagious smile. She also ran one of the cleanest, most positive campaigns that I have seen in Wisconsin in a long time, which is not surprising for someone like her.

I've been cyber friends with Rosenberg for a many years, even before she entered politics and became a Marathon County Supervisor, and always found her to be direct, honest and thoughtful. I have always enjoyed our chats and gained insights from her that I hadn't thought of before.

Unfortunately, not even the charming community of Wausau is immune to the hate and bigotry that has become all too prevalent in our society. Rosenberg has been the victim of uncounted misogynistic attacks. She has also been repeatedly been the target for anti-Semitic attacks as well:

Rosenberg had plenty of examples.

“The majority of it is online via Twitter or Facebook. It’s usually name-calling (I am sure you know all the anti-Semitic names) and I block or delete them,” she said in a Twitter direct message exchange. “Last summer I had some guy (obviously drunk) come up to me and tell me that I was trying to ‘Jew’ him.”

The experience was not new to her family.

“Growing up my dad was on our local city council and we received tons of mail addressed to ‘Jimmy RosenJew.’ I only received one letter like that,” she said, attaching a photo of a pile of hate and hoax mail her father got.

But there's a catch. Rosenberg isn't Jewish:

Despite her last name, Rosenberg isn’t Jewish — we asked her about it.

“Any Jewish heritage I might have was lost a looooong time ago, before my family left Europe,” she said in a private exchange with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Twitter. “I don’t know the story, unfortunately.”

But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t had some quintessentially Jewish experiences, which she explained in a manner that was consistent with the in-your-face attitude in her victory tweet.

“A lot of people assume I am Jewish and I don’t see any reason to correct them because a lot of it comes in the form of anti-Semitism,” she said.

Given that Rosenberg is only 36 years old, Wausau has a long, bright future ahead of it. And with the election of William Harris, the first African American to serve on the Marathon County Board, that entire region is a breath of fresh air in the general miasma of Wisconsin politics today.

Makes A Dog's Day in Wisconsin Or Wisconsin Hates My Dogs

October is National Adopt-A-Dog Month, aimed to promote adoption over buying a puppy mill dog. Along those same lines, Tuesday was National Make A Dog's Day, which is celebrated by:

Visit a shelter, find a loyal canine companion and make a dog’s day through adoption! If the timing isn’t quite right, all are welcome to stop by a shelter and volunteer. Just by taking a shelter dog for a walk or bringing them a new chew toy, you’ll make their day. New blankets or treats are always welcome, too. Check your local shelter’s website for a list of needs. Each shelter takes donations, and their requirements vary depending on the time of year.

And if you already have a dog, you can do things that are extra special for them - things like taking a long walk or car ride, getting them a special treat or toy or just spending extra time with them.

For us, we have Beau (the brown and white on the right) and Lou. Both are rescues from the Wisconsin Humane Society. Beau is an American English Coonhound Mix. He had been through two homes and numerous shelters in nine short months of life until he found his way to us. Lou is a Tennessee Walker Coonhound. He came in as a stray, thus we have no history on him. But judging from his initial behaviors and his fear of so many things, he obviously had a rough life before finding his way to us. As it is, it took him a long time to understand that this was his furever home and to trust us completely.

For our boys, we make sure that every day is National Makes A Dog's Day. We are always trying to make up all the bad they experienced before we rescued each other. Sadly, not all the coonhounds in Wisconsin are treating as well.

In Spring Green, Wisconsin, a couple of people have started a puppy mill, in which they will breed coonhounds with the sole purpose of selling them for research testing. This has caused an outrage on an international scale, with people around the world calling and emailing to express their anger and stating they will boycott the entire region as long as they are allowed them to operate this cruel business.

Fortunately, there are several dog advocacy groups and rescues taking actions as well, led by the wonderful group, Dane 4 Dogs. They have already successfully petitioned the government to have a referendum on whether this type of facility should be operating in their community.

I personally have been in contact with some state lawmakers about this as well. They were already working on a bill that would outlaw puppy mill dogs from being sold commercially and are now working on adding an amendment to include banning the selling the dogs for research.

If that wasn't bad enough, the State of Wisconsin also has a law on the books that sanctions the use of hounds in bear hunting. To train the hounds, the hunters allow the dogs to run freely through the countryside, to find the bait laid by the hunters. Unfortunately, bear country is also wolf country. The hounds often run into the wolves, leading to a fight in which the wolves and the hounds are both losers. In the past five years, scores of hounds, just like Beau and Lou, are literally thrown to the wolves.

James Rowen, one of the state's leading environmental bloggers, has been tracking this for the past five years. He continuously points out that the only ones who make out are the hunters, who get reimbursed $2,500 for every dog that is killed or maimed in these wolf-hound encounters. In the past five years, scores of these noble hounds have been killed. The hunters collect their checks and then just pick up more hounds, often from shelters down south, where they are both plentiful and very inexpensive.

These stories make me eternally grateful for Beau and Lou and that we saved them from this sort of fate. I am also eternally grateful for other hound lovers, like @Tegan_G, who shared the remarkable story of how she found an abandoned hound puppy on the side of a country road and rescued him. The puppy, who is cute as hell, became an instant internet celebrity known as Larry the Puppy.

I am also grateful for Tegan and Larry because they led us to Larry's baby brother, Bandit, whom my wife and I will be adopting in a few weeks, once he is old enough and has been cleared by the vet up there.  He is a Black and Tan Coonhound.

Sure, it will make our small house a little "cozier" and make our budget a little tighter, but our hearts have more than enough room for him already. And it sure beats what might have been in store for him otherwise.

Hopefully, as the Blue Wave continues to sweep the state and the nation, lawmakers will see the wisdom and compassion to fix these laws. After all, dogs are people

Sensenbrenner Finally Announces Long Overdue Departure From Congress

To many people's surprise, U.S. Representative F. James Sensenbrenner finally announced on Wednesday that he would not seek reelection in 2020. He had fed at the public trough for more than half a century - 10 years as a state legislator and 40 years in Congress. Many people, including myself, had long thought that the only way Sensenbrenner would leave was when they carried him out in a box.

Sensenbrenner denied that his announcement had anything to do with fear of losing or for health reasons but that he wanted to go before redistricting occurred in 2022:

Sensenbrenner said he is not retiring for health reasons or because he is worried about a re-election challenge. He is at least the 15th GOP member of the U.S. House to announce retirement this year, a group that includes Duffy.

Sensenbrenner said his decision was also unrelated to serving in the minority, where he has spent virtually half his congressional career, and unrelated to the turbulence of Donald Trump’s presidency.

[...]

“I’ve said all along I’d know when the right time came and I’ve come to the conclusion it has,” he said. “There is nobody running against me. Nobody can say they’ve pushed me out. I am doing this on my terms.”

Said Sensenbrenner:

“You can see the end of the line sometime. Being able to do this on my timetable rather than after a redistricting in 2022 will allow me to go out on a high note … This is just me feeling the time would be coming in the next few years, and I think this is the best time for me personally, and for both the Republican Party and for me politically.”

I don't know but it sure sounds to me like he's scared of what could be coming down the road.

Some of the "highlights" of Sensenbrenner's career include:

• Creating the oppressive Patriot's Act
• Being a "House Manager" during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton
• Referring to First Lady Michelle Obama's "large posterior" and "big butt"

The gentle reader shouldn't lose a moment's sleep worrying about Sensenbrenner's future. He's got millions of dollars stashed away from not only being overpaid as a politician but from being an heir and former stockholder of Kimberly Clark.

The gentle reader also shouldn't hold their breath in hopes that the district will turn blue in 2020. His district is so badly gerrymandered by the Republicans, that it is strongly red (R +13). It also lies mostly in the WOW counties, which produce the highest Republican turnout in the state and the country. I just hope that whoever the Republicans decide to run isn't as big as a goof and idiot as Glenn Grothman.

Walker Exits As He Came In - With Lies, Chaos And Corruption

When Scott Walker became governor of Wisconsin, one of the first things he and his fellow Republicans did was work into the wee hours of the night to pass laws that would end up devastating the state's economy, environment and the rights of most people. These include things like Act 10, the attack on public workers such as teachers, even though Walker not once mentioned this during his campaign.

Eight years later, when the voters of Wisconsin finally had enough of Walker and his lies and corruption, they ousted him from office. Sadly, Walker has chosen to leave office the same way he came in - with lies, chaos and corruption.

After the elections, Republicans called for an extraordinary session of the legislature to pass a last minute corporate welfare bill for Kimberly Clark, a paper manufacturer.

Last week, the Republican legislature worked into the wee hours of the night to pass an unprecedented power grab. They stripped the incoming Democratic governor-elect, Tony Evers, and the incoming Democratic attorney general-elect, Josh Kaul, of much of their powers. They even found time to give the wealthiest of the state yet another tax break, put work requirements on healthcare and to greatly curtail early voting.

The one thing they never even discussed was the bailout for Kimberly Clark, which was supposed to be the whole purpose of the session.

Now that these power grab bills are with Walker, he is trying to simultaneously rationalize and minimize these bills with a lengthy Facebook post:

Let’s set the record straight – the new governor will still have some of the strongest powers of any governor in the nation if these bills become law. He will have the power to veto legislation and he will have some of the broadest line-item veto authority of any governor in the nation.

The new governor will be able to appoint members of his cabinet and of various other state government posts - as well as judges, district attorneys, sheriffs and other officials.

The new governor will be able to sign off on administrative rules. He will be able to present a biennial state budget. He will be able to pardon convicted felons.

None of these things will change regardless of what I do with the bills passed in the state Legislature last week.

:He goes on to outline the supposed criteria he is using to evaluate the bills. In truth, he only uses only two criteria:

• Will it help forward my future political aspirations?
• Will it please my corporate special interest masters?

Walker has given every indication that he's going to sign these bills, despite the fact that he had vetoed some of them before and had advocated against others:

Walker's openness to providing more say to the Legislature over state agencies comes after rejecting similar measures in his last state budget that would require state agencies to report to the Legislature.

In vetoing the measures, Walker said the language would put an unfunded mandate into state law and would "encroach" on his office's "responsibility to manage state agency programs within the statutes and funding levels set by the Legislature."

Walker also advocated against reshaping state government in the final weeks of an outgoing governor's term in 2010 when he asked then-Gov. Jim Doyle not to act on a number of measures, including making permanent appointments, and asked the Legislature not to approve public employee union contracts.

Now, Walker has appointed Department of Administration Secretary Ellen Nowak to the Public Service Commission and Attorney General Brad Schimel as a Waukesha County judge.

It should also be noted that they had already tried to limit early voting on the major urban areas like Madison and Milwaukee, both Democratic strongholds, but these laws were struck down in court.

So, why would Walker sign these now when he was against them before. Let's look at his personal criteria. Walker's political career is dead for all practical purposes, so that's not it.

But it will appease his masters, like the Koch Boyz and the Bradley Foundation. He's probably hoping to gain their favor so that they give him a do nothing job where he can collect a paycheck for doing an occasional dog and pony routine when they want him to.

Walker's legacy will be able to summarized in one short phrase - Once a weasel, always a weasel.

State Office Open Thread

By Jeff Simpson

I started today with a quick introduction to Dan Schierl, and want to continue promoting people seeking state office.  However, I am in Dane County, and do not travel the state like I used to, so I need some help. 

Please let me know what candidates running for State Office that really impress you and why, what district they are in and who they are running against! 

Then I will try and do a more in depth look and call to action for them.   It is not about the party and time to stop worrying about them doing anything to tip the scales.  We need to take charge and win in spite of them!   

I look forward to your responses! 

Onward! 

Trump Still Suffering From Electile Dysfuntion

Trump came to Wisconsin last week to hold a fundraiser for the Republicans and pose for holy pictures with Scott Walker and Paul Ryan at the groundbreaking for Foxconn, one of the largest acts of corporate welfare in this country's history.

After posing with their gold-plated shovels, the politicians scurried in to an air-conditioned building where they performed a circle jerk, praising each other for again ripping off the taxpayers.

In the midst of it, Trump, succumbed to his fierce insecurity and started spewing alternative facts regarding his election. Nearly two years later, and he can't get over himself and asterisk that follows his name regarding the election. It wasn't until well after the fact that the media got around to doing the easy fact checking to see what a huge liar Trump really is.

From Politifact Wisconsin, which gave him a pants on fire rating:

In the midst of it all, Trump took a moment to hail his own 2016 victory in Wisconsin, a win that was vital to securing the presidency.

Wisconsin, Trump said on June 28, 2018, "hadn’t been won by a Republican since Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1952."

He went on:

"And I won Wisconsin. And I like Wisconsin a lot, but we won Wisconsin. And Ronald Reagan, remember, Wisconsin was the state that Ronald Reagan did not win."

(He made a nearly identical claim the night before, at a rally in Fargo, N.D.)

Say what, Mr. President?

A look at the numbers

According to the American Presidency Project, the following Republicans have won Wisconsin’s presidential vote since 1952:

1956: Dwight D. Eisenhower

1960: Richard M. Nixon

1968: Richard M. Nixon

1972: Richard M. Nixon

1980: Ronald Reagan

1984: Ronald Reagan

2016: Donald Trump

The Republican presidential dry spell stretched from the 1988 election, when Democrat Michael Dukakis won Wisconsin, through 2012 when Democrat Barack Obama won Wisconsin.

But it did not stretch back to Eisenhower.

And, for the record, the one state Reagan lost in 1984 was neighboring Minnesota, not Wisconsin.

Interestingly, neither Walker or Ryan said a word about it. Maybe they just didn't know the truth themselves.

WISGOP Sends Mixed Messages About Trump

The Republican Party of Wisconsin (RPW) held their statewide convention this weekend - yeah, because nothing says like respecting the women in your life like leaving them at home while you go off to plot how to attack women's rights next.

They tried to present an upbeat message and show defiance to the Blue Wave that is sweeping the nation but lost the message by pissing themselves every time a new story or poll about their hand-picked president comes out.

The convention started with RPW chair Brad Courtney advising the loyal establishment voters to vote for the candidate, like Scott Walker, and their abysmal records and not based on Trump and his even more abysmal record:

Dems also see the Trump’s poll numbers as one reason to believe a blue wave is headed to Wisconsin this fall.

Courtney, though, argued Walker’s record, not Trump’s, will be on the ballot in November for Republicans to run on.

Still, he said the president needs to do a better job of selling the benefits of the GOP tax overhaul. Courtney, the president of Courtney Industrial Battery, said he signs 31 individual paychecks and with the overtime many hourly employees make, they aren’t necessarily noticing the impact of the tax cut.

“There is obviously frustration in Washington,” Courtney said. “But we’ve done a lot of good things in Wisconsin over the last eight years, and we’ve delivered on really everything that Gov. Walker has ran on.”

Not all Republican leaders must have got that memo, since many of the electeds spent their time singing Trump's praises. Most notable was when Lyin' Paul Ryan broke out his kneepads:

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called President Trump an asset in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections, saying he has resonated with voters in key states.

"The president is strong in these states," Ryan said on Saturday at the Wisconsin Republican convention, according to The Associated Press.

"He's an asset...Whether I'm running around southern Wisconsin or America, nobody is talking about Stormy Daniels. Nobody is talking about Russia. They're talking about their lives and their problems. They're talking about their communities, they're talking about jobs, they're talking about the economy, they're talking about national security," he continued.

In other words, who cares about Trump's womanizing, adultery, overt racism, ties to Russia or scandal plagued administration - as long as the rich get their massive tax breaks and we get to kick millions off of Medicare, life is good!

What I really don't understand is that they've seen for the past year dozens of Trump-loving Republicans get swept away, yet they're still clinging to him. It's like tying yourself to the railing on the Titanic as its going under. It just makes no damn sense.

The Gales Of November Are Coming

By Jeff Simpson

Milwaukee County Sheriff:
*  Earnell Lucas (Democrat) 

Wisconsin State Assembly:
* Marisabel Cabrera (D) Assembly District 9 (Josh Zepnick Incumbent) @votemarisabel
* Representative David Bowen (D) - Assembly District 10 @davidfbowen
* Chris Rockwood (D) -Assembly District 14 (open seat) @RockwoodforWI
*  Robyn Vining (D) - Assembly District 14 (open seat) @RobynforWI
* Lillian Cheeseman (D) - Assembly District 15 (Joe Sanfelippo - Incumbent) @WIlikescheese
* Representative David Crowley - Incumbent - 17th Assembly District.  @RepDavidCrowley
* Representative Evan Goyke - Incumbent - 18th. 
* Representative Jonathon Brostoff - Assembly District 19 @RepBrostoff

* Emily Siegrist (D) - Assembly District 24 (Dan Knodl- Incumbent) @Siegrist4WI
* Brittany Keyes (D) - Assembly District 31 (Amy Loudenbeck - incumbent) 
* Dr. Katherine Gaulke (D) -Assembly District 32 (Tyler August - Incumbent) @Gaulke4assembly
* Brandon White (D) - Assembly District 33 (Cody Horlacher - Incumbent)
*  Charisse Daniels (D) - Assembly District 37 (John Jagler - Incumbent)   @voteforcharisse
*  Elisha Barudin (D) - Assembly District 39 (Mark Born - Incumbent)  @ElishaforWi 
* Tyler Raley (D) - Assembly District 42 (open seat) @raley4WIAssembly
* Representative Mark Spreitzer - Assembly District 45  @markforassembly
* Gary Hebl - Incumbent - 46th Assembly District
* Representative Jimmy Anderson - 47th Assembly District @jimmyforassembly
* Melissa Sargent - Incumbent - Assembly District 48 @Repsargent
* Mike Mooney (D) - 49th Assembly District (Travis Tranel - Incumbent) 
* Jeffrey Wright (D) -51st Assembly District (Todd Novak - Incumbent) @wrightforassembly
* Representative Gordon Hintz - 54th Assembly District @GordonHintz
* Representative Amanda Stuck - 57th Assembly District @RepStuckWI
* Dennis Degenhardt (D) - 58th Assembly District (Rick Gundrum - incumbent) @Degenhardtforassembly
* Chris Rahlf (D) - Assembly District 60 (Rob Brooks - Incumbent) @ChrisforWI
* Gina Walkington (D) - Assembly District 61 (Samantha Kerkman - Incumbent) @ginawalkington
* Representative Chris Taylor (D) Assembly District 76 @Christaylorwi
* Sheila Stubbs (D) - Assembly District 77 (Open seat) @sheilastubbsforassembly
* Representative Dianne Hesselbein - Assembly District 79 @rephesselbein
*Representative Dave Considine - Assembly District 81
* Erica Case (D) -Assembly District 84 (Mike Kuglitsch - incumbent) @Flynn4WI
*  Alyson Leahy (D) - Assembly District 85 (Patrick Snyder - Incumbent) @alysonforwisco
*  Elizabeth Riley (D) - Assembly District 87 (Jimmy Boy Edming - Incumbent) @Hellingaround

Wisconsin State Senate:  
* Kyle Whelton (D) Senate District 9 (Devin LaMahieu -incumbent) @Kylewhelton *  Kriss Marion (D) - Senate District 17 (Howard Marklein - Incumbent) @Krissforwisconsinstatesenate
*  Lee Snodgrass (D) Senate District 19 ( Roger Roth - Incumbent) 
* Lori Hawkins (D) Senate District 21 (Van Wannggard - incumbent) @hawkinsforwi
* Jeff Smith (D) Senate District 31(open seat) 

Wisconsin Gubernatorial Primary: 

*  Michael Crute @Cruteforwi
*  Tony Evers   @tony4wi
*  Matt Flynn @ForwardWFlynn
* Mahlon Mitchell @MahlonMitchell 
*  Jeff Rumbaugh  @JeffRumbaugh 
* Kathleen Vinehout  @VinehoutK
*  Mike McCabe @BlueJensGov
* Andy Gronik @AndyGronik

US Senate:

*  Tammy Baldwin @TammyBaldwin

The primary in Wisconsin is August 14th, and election day is November 6th.   

Here is a partial list of people running to save the great State of WI.  If you are not on here and are an incumbent or running against someone from the Fitzwalkerstan party, it means I was unable to find your name and information in a quick search (hint hint), so please either email me your info(jeff_simpson7@yahoo.com) or leave it in the comments, and I will continue to update this post. 

For everyone else, I have tried to include links to the candidates facebook page, website and their twitter handle.  Please add them/like them on social media, tell all your friends in their districts about them and possibly, pick one or two and send them a couple bucks. 

We need a heavy dose of change in WI! 

Forward!

Meet Lyin' Bryan, Lyin' Ryan's Heir Apparent

With the retirement announcement of Lyin' Paul Ryan, who would rather slink away than face defeat by Randy "IronStache" Bryce, the Wisconsin GOP was thrown in disarray. All of a sudden, their front runner was Paul Nehlen, a white supremacist who was too far out for most of the alt-right, including Steve Bannon.

They had to scramble to get someone in there that won't embarrass them as has happened so often in other states.

Thus they came out with Bryan Steil. Steil is a well-connected Republican from a long line of well-connected Republicans. To make it better for them, he's an unquestioning establishment Republican that will mindlessly promote the same agenda that Ryan was pushing.

Unfortunately for Steil, despite his carefully laid plans, he has not had a stellar start. Just like Ryan, he keeps getting caught up in his own lies while doing the Trump Two-Step.

In fact, he's so much like Ryan, he even looks strikingly familiar to Ryan, leading people to quip that no one has ever seen Ryan and Steil in the same room at the same time:

But the similarities doesn't end there. Steil is a natural born liar as well.

Steil prefers to call himself a former legislative aide to Ryan, but in reality, he was Ryan's personal driver.

Steil had been bragging about raising $250,000 in just the first few days after announcing but in reality, he's been courting the big time Republican donors for a while. One check from the Bradley Foundation, the Koch Brothers or any of the other ultrawealthy could easily explain that amount of money.

Perhaps his biggest blunder has been his boast of having "worked in manufacturing" for the past nine years:

Bryan Steil has spent the last nine years working in manufacturing in southeastern Wisconsin and has seen firsthand how Washington limits economic growth.

In reality, Steil has been a corporate attorney and not actually a manufacturer:

Asked to respond to that comment, Steil pointed to his manufacturing experience. Gousha pointed out that he’s a corporate attorney, and not a “manufacturer per se.”

“But my employer is a manufacturing company,” Steil said. “So every day I come into the office and it’s focused on how do you bring in raw material, manufacture it and get it out of the door.”

His focus is on business development, he said, where he asks the questions, “How do you grow the company and how do you grow jobs for those companies?”

That's when reality raises its ugly head again.

One of the companies that Steil worked so hard with to create jobs was Regal Beloit Corporation, who moved good paying jobs out of the Midwest and into Mexico.

But there's more. There's always more.

Steil still has to answer for being a regent for the University of Wisconsin which has seen a massive decline in their budget and subsequently the quality of the school system and his support for Trump's agenda, among other things.

Perhaps Bryce should make the same offer to Steil that he did to Ryan - send Steil to work the iron and learn what it's really like for a blue collar worker while Bryce goes to Washington to do the really hard work of fixing all the damage done by Ryan.

Meanwhile, don't forget to give something, anything, to help Bryce keep up his momentum in fighting the big special interest money that Steil is already raking in.

Schimel: Voter ID Gave Trump Win In State

Wisconsin Attorney General was on the air with a right wing squawker, bragging about the damaging effects of the state's draconian Voter ID law:

Election officials and Democrats in Wisconsin have repeatedly argued that the state’s strict voter ID law allowed Donald Trump to win the state in 2016 by keeping thousands of voters—predominantly in Democratic-leaning areas—from the polls. Now a top Republican official in the state is saying the same thing.

“We battled to get voter ID on the ballot for the November ’16 election,” Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, who defended the law in court, told conservative radio host Vicki McKenna on April 12. “How many of your listeners really honestly are sure that Sen. [Ron] Johnson was going to win reelection or President Trump was going to win Wisconsin if we didn’t have voter ID to keep Wisconsin’s elections clean and honest and have integrity?”

Of course, when sued, Schimel couldn't identify one case of voter fraud where voter ID would have stopped it.. Not one.

But it has been proven time and time again that the law did keep tens of thousands of Wisconsinites from the polls:

I don't know that this is the best thing for Schimel to brag about, especially when he's up for reelection this fall. Then again, he's been too busy being the top attorney for the Republicans and buying scads of swag to actually do his job, much less do it well. Otherwise, the state wouldn't be facing a backlog of thousands of untested rape kits.

Fortunately, he does have a very qualified opponent this year - Josh Kaul. Kaul is the son of the late former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager and the lead attorneywho's been taking it to Schimel regarding the Voter ID laws:

Kaul's lawsuit challenged a broad swath of voting rules. In July 2016, a federal judge kept in place the requirement to show ID at the polls, but struck down a number of other laws, including restrictions on when and where early voting could occur.

Judge James Peterson found Wisconsin's voting laws discriminated against minorities and labeled the voter ID law "a cure worse than the disease" that tried to address "mostly phantom voter fraud." His ruling forced the state to make changes to the system it uses to issue IDs to those who have the most difficulty obtaining them, such as people who don't have birth certificates or Social Security numbers.

It's as they say, when people vote, Republicans lose. Schimel just verified that.

The Most Controversial Non-Controversial Political Ad You'll See This Year

Meet Kelda Roys:



Kelda is the most recent of 17 Democrats to announce their campaign to unseat Scott Walker, the wholly owned subsidiary of the Koch Brothers, and just released her introductory video.

Kelda is a former stat e representative. She became a small business owner when she was gerrymandered out of office.

The ad is pretty good. It keeps a positive note and shows that Kelda is the type of politician that listens and works with the people instead of dictating to and then hiding from them, like Walker is prone to do. It also shows that she was effective while in office and:

OMG! SHE'S BREASTFEEDING HER BABY!!

During the shoot, Kelda's four month old baby was starting to fuss off camera. Kelda's husband gave the baby to Kelda who started to feed her. She didn't make a big deal of it and she didn't miss a beat while she was talking.

That's because it wasn't a big deal.

But you wouldn't have known that from the right wing propagandists or the corporate media (but I repeat myself) which were shocked! - shocked, I tell you! - by this and/or started launching attacks against her.  I'm sure they think she should have stopped filming and run off to feed her baby in a bathroom stall.

Kelda explained it best herself by simply stating that she was a mother:

While filming, Roys says her four-month-old daughter Avalon started to get a little fussy.

"I just kept nursing the baby and thought maybe they can use the audio or something," she said.

But when she saw the video, she says she decided not to hide her motherly act.

"This is real life," she said. "I think so often women who run for office feel like they can only present a certain side of themselves to be taken seriously. But it's 2018 and I feel like the fact that I'm a mother just shows that I have an even greater motivation to make the state better."

Kelda got a relatively late start with her campaign, presumably because of the baby, and hasn't registered on many people's radar yet.. But this ad and her common sense and practical attitude is sure to change this quickly.

You can learn more about Kelda at her website.

Addendum: There has been no confirmation at this time that Walker is considering calling a special session of the legislature to repeal the ban on BPAs or to start a ban on breastfeeding.

Kochs Give Lyin' Ryan His Good Boy Treat For Tax Bill

Image courtesy of Shane Bakken

Last week, Randy "Ironstache" Bryce announced their 4th quarter fundraising was a huge success again:

Randy Bryce, one of the Democrats hoping to take on House Speaker Paul Ryan, raised $1.2 million at the end of last year, his campaign said.

Team Stache also reports that the donations came from over 80,000 donors and averaged about $25-30 each. How did Bryce raise so much? Well, as he said:

Bryce, a union ironworker and military veteran, was asked by Katy Tur on MSNBC in an interview Monday why he's raised so much money.

"People are seeing this wave. This resistance is very real," Bryce said. "People have had enough with where the president is taking us, and we're tired of not having a Congress that's acting as a check and balance to stand up to him."

A few days later, Ryan came out with his numbers. He reportedly raised $1.4 million during the same time frame, putting Ryan and Bryce at about an even pace.

But when you look at where the money comes from, there's a different story:

In the fourth quarter, Team Ryan raised nearly $5 million.

The Janesville Republican hasn't formally announced whether he'll run for another term representing the 1st Congressional district.

Ryan's re-election campaign announced it had nearly $10 million on hand at the end of 2017.

Of the $1.4 million raised by the campaign in the fourth quarter, more than $270,000 was raised directly in Ryan for Congress. The rest came from transfers from the speaker's joint fundraising committee.

In other words, he's using his position as Speaker of the House as a fundraising tool.

Ah, but there's more, friends. There's always more.

Mary Papenfuss at HuffPo points out that a great deal of the money came from Charles Koch and his wife and few other multibillionaires:

Just 13 days after the tax law was passed, Charles Koch and his wife, Elizabeth, donated nearly $500,000 to Ryan’s joint fundraising committee, according to a campaign finance report filed Thursday.

Five other donors, including billionaire businessmen Jeffery Hildebrand and William Parfet, each contributed $100,000 in the last quarter of 2017, according to the records.

“It looks like House Speaker Ryan is quickly being rewarded for passing this legislation that overwhelmingly benefits the Kochs and billionaires like them,” Adam Smith, spokesman for campaign finance reform nonprofit Every Voice, told the International Business Times, which first reported the Koch contributions.

The Koch donations were paid into Team Ryan, which raises money for the speaker, the National Republican Congressional Committee and a PAC run by Ryan. On the same day, Charles and Elizabeth Koch also each donated $237,000 to the NRCC.

Without the dark money, Bryce is keeping pace with Ryan, and could actually be doing better.

And Bryce made sure people take notice of Ryan's dirty money:

And Ryan’s Democratic challenger, ironworker and military veteran Randy Bryce, made sure that these massive gifts and the context around them did not go unnoticed.

Paul Ryan passed a 1.5 trillion dollar tax bill that takes from working people to give to the super rich.

Days later, he got $500,000 in Koch contributions.https://t.co/mctzh9RYu8

— Randy Bryce (@IronStache) January 21, 2018

Ryan would be hard-pressed to claim that these donations had nothing at all to do with the passage of the bill, considering the Koch brothers spent millions on the effort to sell the scam to the American people.

It needs to be also pointed out that the Kochs and Ryan's other benefactors are using our own money against us, seeing how they will gain exponentially more money from Ryan's tax plan. Thanks, Citizens United!

If you can, please help Randy keep getting his message out so that he can kick Ryan out. Give whatever you can to help the cause of regaining our country from the plutocrats and oligarchs that are pulling Ryan's strings. Don't let Ryan and his dark money overlords buy another election.

WI Republican Gets Firm Finger Wagging For Ethics Violation

Last October, Wisconsin State Representative Bob Kulp (R - Stratford) was caught promoting his roofing company on his official state social media sites:

Bob Kulp is clearly proud of his Ford F-150. He tweeted a picture of the truck when it got new labels for his roofing company. He leaned against it for a Facebook snapshot. And this month, he tweeted a selfie with its logo-covered door.

Nothing unusual for a business owner in the digital age — except Kulp is an elected member of the state Assembly and the pictures of his truck were shared on social media via his legislative office's accounts.

State ethics laws forbid legislators from using government resources or their official positions for personal advantage, and violations could result in heavy fines. Yet over the past two years, the central Wisconsin lawmaker has often posted material referencing his roofing work on social media feeds that appear on his legislative website.

Beyond featuring his truck in social media posts, Kulp has shared pictures of a past project completed by his roofing business, the interior of his Stratford office and coworkers visiting the state Capitol. Two pictures of his truck have shown the company's phone number.

Image courtesy of jsonline.com

The Republican-created ethics panel jumped to action and really gave it to Kulp - a severe finger wagging he won't soon forget:

State authorities found "reasonable suspicion" last month that a central Wisconsin legislator violated state ethics laws, but he won't be referred to prosecutors or face other penalties, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin has learned.

[...]

State laws forbid legislators from using government resources or their official positions for personal advantage. Violations can result in heavy fines or prosecution. Or, as in Kulp's case, authorities may issue a warning rather than seek prosecution.

I hope that the ethics panel wasn't too harsh on Kulp. We wouldn't want him to have his fee fees hurt just because he violated the law. After all, he was just being a good Republican and trying to profit off of his office a little.

Randy Bryce: It Takes A Lot To Do A Little

Six months ago, Randy Bryce took the State of Wisconsin and the nation by storm when he announced his candidacy to run against Lyin' Paul Ryan and launched one of the most amazing videos in this cycle. It struck a chord with almost everybody because it accurately portrayed Randy as an every day guy - a guy who is struggling to meet the needs of his families but finding it harder and harder to do so.

If the gentle reader thought Randy's first video was powerful, grab a tissue as you watch the second one. This time, Randy points out that his campaign is not about him - it's about all of us. In just a few short days, during the holidays even, the thing has gone viral.

When Randy introduced his video, this is the message he sent with it:

We used to have something waiting for us. Footsteps to follow. A trade. The promise of better times for our families if we paid our dues.

But now, that promise has been broken.

CEO's close factories to avoid paying pensions to workers who have been loyal for twenty-plus years, just so their stock price goes up and they can make more money.

Drug companies that used to sell decades-old drugs for a few dollars a bottle sell-out to private hedge funds and wealthy investors who jack up the price of that same medicine hundreds and thousands of times over.

Politicians cut pay for teachers, close public schools, and increase our kids' class sizes so they can give billionaires and corporations another tax break.

So we break a sweat and we break our backs, single moms, and line workers, and teachers, moving mountains, working our fingers to the bone, pouring every ounce of blood and sweat, making sure the foundation of the work today makes tomorrow better for our families, for our brothers and sisters, and for our communities.

Because it's about survival.

From the beginning, this campaign has been about whether ordinary people can come together to build each other up like we do in our neighborhoods and shake the foundations of Washington.

Paul Ryan and his allies have made it perfectly clear they don't care about us anymore. After giving the top 1% another massive tax cut at our expense, Ryan now wants to decimate Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. And that's not even a surprise.

When we defeat Paul Ryan, and swing the massive arm of change back towards working people, all of this hard work will have been worth it. This is why we're going to win. It's what separates us from the other side: We care about everybody -- and they don't.

When Randy is saying that this campaign isn't about him, it's about all of us, he's not just offering up empty rhetoric. He's no Paul Ryan. Ryan will say what he thinks the people want to hear and then go about doing the dirty work that his dark money masters tell him to do - giving them massive tax breaks, even if it means breaking our backs to do so.

Randy is a good union man and not only knows, but lives, the meaning of solidarity. He knows that no one person can do this alone but it will take all of us, pulling together, to overcome Ryan's masters and make ourselves a seat at the table. The rich aren't going to give us anything just because we ask for it. We have to wrest it away and make it ours.

Let me remind you that it took all of us to show Randy that we had his back and we were going to be with him every step of the way.

Now, we still have 10 long months to go. The fight to win this won't be easy. But nothing worthwhile ever is. Randy needs us to support him and help carry him just as much as we need him to take on Lyin' Ryan and put him out of office. Please help out Randy - help out us - see this all the way through. You can give Randy your support by sharing his video and by chipping in whatever you can afford to get this done.

But what ever you do to help, don't think of it as just giving another politician a bit of your money. Think of as investing in your future, just like paying union dues.

Is Lyin' Ryan Planning On Retiring?

Could it possibly be true?! Is Lyin' Paul Ryan actually planning on retire?! This post from Politico says that it is:

Tinkering with the social safety net is a bold undertaking, particularly in an election year. But Ryan has good reason for throwing caution to the wind: His time in Congress is running short.

Despite several landmark legislative wins this year, and a better-than-expected relationship with President Donald Trump, Ryan has made it known to some of his closest confidants that this will be his final term as speaker. He consults a small crew of family, friends and staff for career advice, and is always cautious not to telegraph his political maneuvers. But the expectation of his impending departure has escaped the hushed confines of Ryan’s inner circle and permeated the upper-most echelons of the GOP. In recent interviews with three dozen people who know the speaker—fellow lawmakers, congressional and administration aides, conservative intellectuals and Republican lobbyists—not a single person believed Ryan will stay in Congress past 2018.

Ryan was tiring of D.C. even before reluctantly accepting the speakership. He told his predecessor, John Boehner, that it would be his last job in politics—and that it wasn’t a long-term proposition. In the months following Trump’s victory, he began contemplating the scenarios of his departure. More recently, over closely held conversations with his kitchen cabinet, Ryan’s preference has become clear: He would like to serve through Election Day 2018 and retire ahead of the next Congress. This would give Ryan a final legislative year to chase his second white whale, entitlement reform, while using his unrivaled fundraising prowess to help protect the House majority—all with the benefit of averting an ugly internecine power struggle during election season. Ryan has never loved the job; he oozes aggravation when discussing intraparty debates over “micro-tactics," and friends say he feels like he’s running a daycare center. On a personal level, going home at the end of next year would allow Ryan, who turns 48 next month, to keep promises to family; his three children are in or entering their teenage years, and Ryan, whose father died at 55, wants desperately to live at home with them full time before they begin flying the nest. The best part of this scenario, people close to the speaker emphasize: He wouldn’t have to share the ballot with Trump again in 2020.

Of course, Ryan is denying that there's any merit to the report:

When asked during a Thursday morning news conference if he was leaving soon, Ryan chuckled and said, “I’m not. No." His comment came before the two stories had been posted.

So, what to believe?

Well, remember, the moniker of "Lyin' Ryan" is one of the few things that Ryan truly earned in his life.

However, the thought of it was plausible enough to get Trump's toupee flapping, concerned that he would lose Ryan before his term was up.

Yes, getting paid $175,000 a year for taking graft and drinking $350 bottles of wine with wealthy lobbyists doesn't seem to be real grueling work, it's chump change for someone like Ryan.

Ryan could easily make at least ten times that much working at some K Street organization or going to work directly for his pay masters, the Koch Boyz. Even better, he wouldn't have to deal with that pesky public that is always demanding the truth and accountability and all that other tiresome stuff.

Ryan has "worked" hard to screw over the American people every chance he got. And even though he's failed more times than he succeeded, thank goodness, he probably feels it's getting time to cash in on that and get his real reward.

Furthermore, Ryan has got to be feeling more than a wee bit nervous. The blue wave that is already crashing across the country is pretty easily seen, even by the most ardent and/or ignorant Republican. And this year, for the first time in his career, Ryan is facing a serious contender in Randy Bryce who has been out fundraising him and is moving up in the polls while Ryan continues to sink in them.

So why shouldn't he be looking at retirement?

But why should we even take the risk that he changes his mind in the next year?

The Blue Wave is growing so strong and Democrats are once again starting to believe, that in the two days following Doug Jones win in Alabama, Bryce has gotten nearly $75,000 in new donations. I say we make sure that Lyin' Ryan gets the clear and undeniable fact that people want to see him go that he starts packing his stuff over the weekend. You can do that by continuing to help the Iron-stached man out in whatever way you can.

Hell, I'm also willing to come and help Ryan pack up his crap for him! And I promise not to slam the door (too hard) on his ass on his way out.