Michael Grebe Jumps The Shark!

By Jeff Simpson  - Cross Posted from Purple WI! 


Michael Grebe has had a few different positions in his career.  One of those positions, was running the Scott Walker campaigns in 2010 and again in 2012(yes, the 2012 election campaign that is at the center of the John Doe 2 investigation).
Michael Grebe, is currently President and CEO of the Bradley Foundation.  The Bradley Foundation, and Mr. Grebe fund some of the farthest right wing organizations and "news"(term used loosely) organizations there are in Wisconsin. Some examples of the long list:
-  The MacIver Foundation;
-  The Franklin Center which runs the poorly named Wisconsin Reporter;
-  Wisconsin Policy Research Institute(WPRI) - which actually employs Charley Sykes as an editor(seriously)!
-The inexplicably named,  WILL  - Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty run by fellow "purple blogger" Rick Esenberg. 
WILL and Mr. Esenberg have been busy lately.   While it is important to note, that Mr. Esenberg is NOT an employee of the Bradley Foundation, he ONLY receives the vast majority of his funding from them.   If there is anything that we have learned recently from our friends on the right, it is that hundreds of thousands of dollars of contributions do not even phase them.   They just want Liberty!! 
Of course, it is just coincidence that the organization, that is funded by someone who spends millions of dollars working towards the privatization of public schools,  keeps suing public schools.
Milwaukee organization WILL, has already shown their disdain for local control and democratically elected school boards by suing the Kenosha School District.  While racking up legal bills for the district, the original lawsuit was at a standstill until some new school board members were elected.  It took a tie breaking vote, by the step father of the plaintiff,  to settle this lawsuit that was going nowhere and handing tens of thousands of dollars to Mr. Esenberg. 
I do find it interesting, that the person suing to "protect" the local taxpayer from the democratically elected school board negotiating with their employees,  charged the local taxpayers more money per hour than a teacher could ever dream of making.  
Back to the story, because now The Professor is at it again.   This time he has bitten off more than he can chew.  
Milwaukee organization, WILL and Mr. Esenberg have decided to find a local stooge and sue the Madison School District for negotiating with their employees, while ACT 10 was stayed.  
There is a special twist here though, Mary Burke, the person leading Scott Walker in the polls, happens to be a current member of the Madison School Board.  Even though Rick Esenberg is funded by former Walker campaign chairman, no political games at all here, Mr. Esenberg is just worried about the taxpayers of Dane County.   Well not everyone agrees with that:
WILL is not likely to prevail in court, Marquette University Law School professor Paul Secunda told the Wisconsin State Journal. “They negotiated their current contract when the fate of Act 10 was still up in the air,” said Secunda, who also accused Esenberg of “trying to make political points.”
Heck even the plaintiff gets giddy when he talks about suing Mary Burke:
“This wasn’t aimed at Mary Burke, but it’s a happy coincidence,” said Blaska.

“The Madison School Board is operating as if Act 10 were not in effect,” Blaska said. “They had the opportunity to reduce the tax load on the people – but the teachers are always first in line.”

While going up against a school board that actually stands for educating the children and not ideological warriors(and no direct relatives of Mr. Blaska's on the board), Mr. Esenberg will find that they do not roll over so easily. 

 

In the meantime, the lawyer from Milwaukee will do all he can to keep running up legal bills for the Dane County taxpayers! 

 

Mr. Grebe's and his "non" employee, have truly jumped the shark here!   It is time to let them know  to stop playing political games with our chidlren's money!  

 

One last piece of housecleaning, yes the Madison School Board did recently sit down and negotiate a new agreement with their teachers.   What are Mr. Blaska and Mr. Esenberg pretending to protect the taxpayers of Dane County from?  The teachers and the district negotiated a .25% raise.   For those of you scoring at home that is an average of approximately $125.00 for the year.  

 

Does the person you trust your children's future with, deserve a raise worth $125.00 for the year? 

 

Maybe Mr. Esenberg needs to rethink whtat he word "protect" means!  

 

It is also time to rethink voting for someone who would so disgracefully continue to attack public schools!    

 

Paul Ryan Cares

 

By Jeff Simpson

Paul Ryan has opened up a dialogue on poverty in America.   

He even gave a speech about it:

I look forward to hearing from everybody. But let’s start with a principle we can all agree on: Hardworking taxpayers deserve a break in this country. Too many families are working harder and harder to get ahead, and yet they’re falling further and further behind. The costs of food, housing, and gas keep going up, but paychecks haven’t budged. So whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, I think we can all agree: America deserves better.

Paul Ryan is so interested in tackling the issue of poverty, and "hearing from everybody" that for the small price of $10,000 you can have that discussion with him.  

Lunch and Conversation with Congressman Ryan

12pm until 1:30pm | Check-in begins at 11:30am.

Intercontinental Hotel Milwaukee | 139 East Kilbourn Avenue | Milwaukee

Questions? Please email us at info@maciverinstitute.com or call 608-237-7290.

HURRY! Seating is limited. Please RSVP no later than Wednesday, August 13th. 

Photo ID will be required for entry.

Your donation to The MacIver Institute at the following levels is TAX DEDUCTIBLE and will reserve your seat:

❏ $10,000 Event Sponsorship includes Table for Eight, special recognition throughout the event, picture with Congressman Ryan, preferential seating, 8 autographed books and lunch admissions.

Word to the wise--- agree with him, or else!

 

You Have Been Warned

By Jeff Simpson

To all of our friends, neighbors, family, acquaintances, and other public workers who decided to take part in our democracy and emailed your elected representative during the Scott Walker caused protests.


LOCK YOUR DOORS

DO NOT ANSWER YOUR TELEPHONE

MONITOR YOUR CHILDREN

CHANGE YOUR EMAIL 

GET YOUR RESUME READY

Your life is going to be very complicated very soon.

 MacIver spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars, to make sure they could get your personal information.  MacIver Institute now has access to your email, and all personal information.  MacIver will soon be releasing this information to their rabid followers.  While I am sure that MacIver will tell people NOT to attack/intimidate people on the list, but they will be doing so in a  "wink wink" nudge nudge kind of way. 

For all of you affected by these intimidation tactics, here is the place to contact:

The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy

Brett Healy, President

44 East Mifflin Street, Suite 201

Madison, WI 53703

Phone: 1.608.237.7290

Email: info@maciverinstitute.com

If you fear for your life, do not hesitate to contact the police!  

(picture from Urban Milwaukees public website). 
PS:  There is a reason they only wanted public worker's contact info:

Is It Working?

By Jeff Simpson

On the same day that Scott Walker was able to get his bosses to pony up $1,000,000, to tell everyone in WI that "it's working", in a silly, poorly produced ad. 



Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction came out with updated numbers on childhood poverty in Wisconsin. 

For the 2013-14 school year, Wisconsin has 359,400 public school district students who are eligible for free and reduced-price school meals out of enrollment of 829,394 in the 413 school districts that participate in the National School Lunch Program. There are now 117 school districts that have 50 percent or more of their students eligible for free and reduced-price school meals, including the state’s five largest districts: Milwaukee Public Schools (82%), Madison Metropolitan (54%), Kenosha
Unified (55%), Green Bay Area Public (58%), and Racine Unified (63%).

I guess, AFP-WI feels that the increase of childhood poverty and hungry children in WI was an endgame, then it is working perfectly.  

I personally think "Its working!" would mean that those numbers decreased, not increased.  But that's the crazy progressive in me.  

Why I Love Twitter!

By Jeff Simpson

The comedic value of course! 

@TamraTellsIt I'm not going to be a propagandist, and I'm not going to apologize for telling the truth. Go watch Sean Hannity.

— james wigderson (@jwigderson) July 11, 2013

Hey Hey, We're The Knotsies....

While there is much competition for silliest most ignorant group of right wing trolls in Wisconsin, between Citizens for a responsible government , Americans for Prosperity , Maciver , US Senator Ron Johnson and various tea parties, there is one group of republicans that stands out(even amongst that crowd) - knot my Wisconsin!

They fit the typical right hate group profile,  limited, local membership, maturity of a third grader, intelligence of a second grader, cowardly, likes to viciously attack people anonymously, takers on the system, mad at the world, well you get the drift.

Luckily for us and unluckily for the anonymous cowards, someone took the time to research them and expose who they are!

trolling is different though, in the last national election cycle we saw trolling taken to a new level as right wing groups had taken to paying individuals to sit on the computer day and night and harass people online and present false claims and information.  Some individuals have taken it upon themselves to up the stakes though and have developed tactics that take trolling even further, to something that borders on terrorism.  Here in the badger state a loose collection of such people formed under the banner of "knot my Wisconsin."  During the process that led to the recall election of Scott Walker, they began organizing themselves to impede the democratic process of recall.

They colluded together to harass people involved in the recall process online and launched attacks against elected officials as well.  Threatening violence against those people and in some cases carrying out those threats.  They killed family pets and threatened people's children. Employers and supervisors were repeatedly called in an effort to lead to termination of employment.  They organized and carried out efforts to trespass on people's property and destroy political signage.  Later they publicly posted online that they intended to beat or kill people on election day at the polls.  They likewise threatened to take carloads of people and perform drive-by shootings in largely minority neighborhoods to feloniously obstruct the election process which is key to maintaining a democracy.  Not everyone on this list of course was involved in every and all aspects of the activities listed, but they are all part of the same group.

If you want to know more about them check here, but my advice when you see them, just realize that they are little people, with little minds and ignore them.

Remember from here on out, they will known as the GNAT my Wisconsin, named after the annoying little bug! They are just an unnecessary distraction, which is truly all the potential for making a difference they ever will have.  

Swat them off your sleeve!

Now let's get back to WORK!!!

Never Mind The Facts, Bring on the Bollocks!

By Jeff Simpson

We brought you recently the story of how republican front group The MacIver Institute knowingly lied in a recent story about the amount of jobs that Scott Walker has "created".  They were flat out told that their story was completely and utterly wrong and they ran with it anyway!  Of course their loyal servants then ran out and repeated the lie.   In the end, they were awarded with a very well deserved Pants on Fire rating.  

Well they are at it again!   This time its not by a group labeled MacIver but instead by one that calls themselves EAGnews.  All of these shadow righty groups have the same MO

* funded by a billionaire who doesn't want to get their hands dirty
* Find a bunch of unethical brown noser's who will do whatever they are told to do for a few crumbs.
* Pick an issue that they need to push
* Lie, Lie, Lie!

More on these groups here! and here!

So here is the latest from this group of news nuts!While I do not recommend reading the whole thing here is an example. 

Petty cash spending district-wide came to $49,520. The district paid PMI Entertainment Group $10,533.50 for building rental for graduation. Nine payments to the National Staff Development Council came to $29,781.57. Six payments to Seroogy’s Chocolates came to $4,005.20. A single payment to the Wisconsin Association for Equity in Funding (a political organization of Wisconsin school districts) came to $7,500.
Seats for Milwaukee Brewers baseball came to $1,090. The combined cost for taxis, rental cars and limousines came to $6,716.36. The total cost of golf course and country club use was $8,721.06.

 the nerve of the district.  A Brewer Game?  GOLFING? who do they think they are...John Boehner?  However a quick review and we see these expenses are NOT quite what they seem(and EAG knew that)!  But run it anyway! 

   For example, EAG implied the district has been irresponsible by spending on a box seat at a Brewer’s game and a trip to Sea World, when in truth, these expenditures were a student DECA trip, paid for by students who reimbursed the district.  EAG asked for an explanation of this expenditure and was provided this explanation prior to the release of their report.

·         EAG curiously reports that the district spent $8,000 on golf courses and country clubs, when in fact they were informed that these expenses were for our student golf teams at our four high schools.
·         EAG fails to note that some of their “questionable expenditures” were in fact directly related to kids – state and national competitions for DECA, Mock Trail, cheerleading, FBLA, and more, as well as our graduation ceremonies to ensure ALL family members can attend.
·       ...Apparently, EAG is not interested in providing an accurate report to the community.

Wow they asked, were answered and then knowingly lied!  Are  Steve Gunn and Ashleigh Costello that dishonest of people? Apparently! 

Unfortunately, it takes the work of a whole website to correct the many lies of EAG people like Gunn and Costello! 

That website can be viewed here! 

Thanks to bloodsuckers like Eag"news" and their cub reporters from above, the Green Bay school district is forced to have someone like Amanda Brooker, Manager of School and Community Relations in the Green Bay School District.   She had to take time away from her busy day, to address the flat out lies, mistruths and slander in the Gunn and Costello hit piece!   Shame on them!

Here is Ms. Brooker's response in full:

EAG clouds the truth with misleading information about district

This school year, the Green Bay Area Public School District was asked to provide volumes of information as part of an open records request made by the Education Action Group (EAG), a pro-voucher, anti-public education group based in Muskegon, Michigan. The request asked for cell phone and credit card statements as well as copies of our check registry, which we fulfilled in January. This month they asked for explanations of a number of the expenditures.  We fulfilled this request, in detail.

As a public institution, we fully support the public’s right to seek information and ask questions about all aspects of our operation.  The report says “A complete copy of the district’s check register and credit card expenditure is attached to this story.”  Irresponsibly, the copy is not complete.  Rather, the district put in hundreds of man hours to meet and document their request and subsequent follow up in detail, only to have EAG irresponsibly put out a report that purposely omits the explanations they requested in both their “report” as well as their copy of expenditures.  Rather, their report misrepresents expenditures that were given to them with detailed explanation. Apparently the explanations did not fit their pre-judged narrative that the district was irresponsibly spending taxpayer dollars.  Instead, they chose to ignore the truth, thereby supporting their political agenda.

·         For example, EAG implied the district has been irresponsible by spending on a box seat at a Brewer’s game and a trip to Sea World, when in truth, these expenditures were a student DECA trip, paid for by students who reimbursed the district.  EAG asked for an explanation of this expenditure and was provided this explanation prior to the release of their report.
·         EAG curiously reports that the district spent $8,000 on golf courses and country clubs, when in fact they were informed that these expenses were for our student golf teams at our four high schools.
·         EAG fails to note that some of their “questionable expenditures” were in fact directly related to kids – state and national competitions for DECA, Mock Trail, cheerleading, FBLA, and more, as well as our graduation ceremonies to ensure ALL family members can attend.
·         EAG targets dollars spent through our food service program for pizza for Domino’s and beverages from Pepsi-Cola Co.  The fact that EAG fails to note is that Domino’s provides district pizza through our food service because the particular version we order meets the federal nutrition guidelines required in public schools. Additionally, the district orders food product from companies such as Dominos and Alpha Baking Company because such products are more cost effective for these companies to make than by our food service staff. Pepsi supplies our water and juice.
·         EAG failed to note that the district purchases from local vendors such as Cellcom and Camera Corner because it is more cost effective and keeps taxpayer dollars in the community.
·         EAG also failed to note that taxis, paid for by a grant, are used to transport homeless students to keep them at their same school.

Apparently, EAG is not interested in providing an accurate report to the community.

The district questions the criticism of the pro-voucher advocates stating that students have no “choices” for their education in this district, when in fact, many of the travel expenses questioned by EAG relate to our cutting edge, customized curriculum such as International Baccalaureate, AVID, gifted and talented, professional learning to close the achievement gap, and more. While these groups contend that the district is failing underrepresented students and failing to provide choice to our students, these same critics want to deny us the tools to accomplish this goal.   

Taken from their report: “The purpose of this project is to shine the sunlight on frequently ignored spending patterns in public schools, to keep citizens informed and school officials honest.”  Unfortunately, even EAG cannot abide by their own agenda.  Their report cannot keep citizens informed as the information is intentionally misleading. 

This is not honest reporting.  Moreover, in order to highlight spending patterns, the information regarding the spending – information that Green Bay School District provided – must be included to “illuminate” the pattern.  Simply reporting that the district spent $8,000 on golf courses and country clubs shows the taxpayer no information for that “spending pattern.”  Rather, the information the district provided illuminated the pattern – the expenditures were for greens fees for student golf teams. 

Running a district with 21,000 students and almost 3,000 staff requires expenditures. With all the documentation provided by the district, EAG’s focus was on .5% of the district budget. To that extent, while EAG would have taxpayers review half of the story, we have attached the documents that were originally sent to EAG with full explanation. 

In addition, it must be noted that the district is audited by an independent organization every year.  As we have consistently stated, we invite all taxpayers to sit down and review our records. The Green Bay Area Public School District has nothing to hide. Is it any coincidence that EAG will also be shedding “sunlight” on other districts identified for voucher expansion? We ask the media and taxpayers to do research on what extremist groups are affiliated with the school voucher movement and that tactics they use to put forth their political agenda.


Amanda E. Brooker
Manager of School & Community Relations
Green Bay Area Public School District

Feel free to Contact them and tell them to keep their lies OUT of our state!

 Education Action Group Foundation, Inc.
801 W. Norton, Ste. 1
Muskegon, MI 49441
(231) 733-4202 
 @EAGnews

@kyleolson4 


 

MacIver Lied!

By Jeff Simpson

Who Knew? 

That’s why an item posted April 9, 2013 by the MacIver Institute caught our attention.

The Madison-based group, which publishes items supportive of conservative causes -- items that are often then cited by other conservatives -- included this headline: "Gov. Scott Walker more than halfway to 250,000 jobs goal."

That’s a much larger number of jobs created under Walker than we’ve ever heard -- even from the governor himself.

In December 2012, Walker said the state had created "just under 100,000 jobs" since he took office. We rated that statement Pants on Fire.

Why?

Walker had combined full and partial year data sets from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages compiled by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. His staff explained that he was using a "raw number."

But state experts and the governor’s own staff have long said that while the quarterly census is more accurate than monthly measures, the census data should only be viewed in one-year blocks. That is, January to January, or July to July. In other words, you can’t combine partial years of census data with full years to create a running total, due to major seasonal fluctuations in the workforce.

Here is what Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie told us when we asked about job numbers in the summer of 2012: "Please don’t, as John Koskinen, an economist at DOR would say, compare February temperatures to July."

When we asked MacIver  to show us their math, spokesman Nick Novak responded:

"We used Bureau of Labor Statistics QCEW figures for each month from January 2011 to September 2012 (the most recent month available).  To get to the number of 137,372, we simply subtracted the January 2011 jobs number from the September 2012 jobs number."

Novak provided a link to a BLS report that showed the two numbers.

But, this isn’t just a simple math problem. MacIver made two critical errors in their calculations.

Starting point

Walker took office at the beginning of January 2011. MacIver used the number for the end of January 2011. To properly measure the governor’s promise, you need to start with the number of jobs that existed at the start of his term. That is a difference of 65,401 jobs.  

Here’s how it plays out the way the MacIver Institute calculated the numbers.

January 2011 census number: 2,205,584

September 2012 census number: 2,342,956

Increase: 137,372.

Here’s how it plays out with the December 2010 number.

December 2010 census number: 2,270,985

September 2012 census number: 2,342,956

Increase: 71,971

In summary: MacIver’s math nearly doubles Walker job count because it started counting one month later. In effect, they used a lower starting point, which makes the growth seem larger -- by 65,401 -- than it really is.

And even that is a bad number.

Apples to oranges

There’s a second, more important -- and more familiar -- problem. Like Walker in December,  MacIver failed to line up a year-to-year comparison. It measured February temperatures against July.

What’s more, the item itself notes that Koskinen, the state economist, told them they should not combine the data sets in this manner:

While Koskinen called the numbers "literally true" the article goes on to note: "Koskinen said economists typically use the same month from different years to avoid seasonal variations in employment."

Their rating of course is

The MacIver Institute posted an item that says Wisconsin has 137,372 more private sector jobs than when Gov. Scott Walker first took office, meaning that Walker is more than halfway to his goal of 250,000 jobs.

The jobs promise will be the No. 1 yardstick used to measure Walker’s performance as governor.

But the conservative group’s number is wrong, two times over.

MacIver started with the wrong month of data. That alone nearly doubled the number of jobs they claim were created under Walker.

They compounded their error by combining full and partial years of data -- even though they (like the governor himself) were told not to do so.

Pants on Fire.

Someone Call 911!

By Jeff Simpson

I think I hear.....singing!

The Walker Administration has let it be known that they will no longer put up with singing and comradery in the Capitol!!

 The DOA has been working with the Republican Attorney General's office since December, 2012 to alter the code. They plan to publish "Emergency" changes to that code on March 19th.

First Amendment to the Constitution:

 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

And years of precedence be dammed, the republicans set the rules now!

Usually, changes to Wisconsin's Administrative Code require public notice, hearings, and publication before they take effect. Exemptions are provided in cases where "preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare necessitates putting the rule into effect prior to the time it would take effect if the agency complied with the procedures."

It's hard to imagine how the DOA will justify that, after two years, the singing citizens suddenly pose an immediate threat to public safety, but the truth is they don't have to justify it. Their motives have nothing to do with public safety or the rule of law. They're simply embarrassed that people are in the building spotlighting their corruption every day. It makes the lobbyists uncomfortable and less likely to open their wallets.

It works much better if people only see Convicted Felon Scott Jensen and paid propagandist Bill Osmulski in the Capitol.  After all there is no place for dissent in America!

How bad are things in Wisconsin these days?  Even the Grinch had a more open mind than our gerrymandered elected republicans. 

Moral Bankruptcy!

Political Hack:    A political hack is a negative term ascribed to a person who is part of the political party apparatus, but whose intentions are more aligned with victory than personal conviction. The term "hired gun" is often used in tandem to further describe the moral bankruptcy of the "hack". Charles Krauthammer is a quintessential example of a political hack.

Our favorite political hack and Magyver lackey, Jimmy Wiggy is incensed that newly elected Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson replaced Senator Lena Taylor on the Joint Finance Committee with Senator John Lehman.  By rewarding someone that supported him, over one who did not, is a political tactic that we have been able to track back at least 5000 years.  

By the way, why does Larson hate African Americans? State Senator Lena Taylor is not happy. - Wiggy

See the thing is while Mr inclusive James W. ran to Lena Taylor's defense,  he hasn't always been so kind to her.

@jwigderson on Lena Taylor 3/24/08:"It takes an impressive effort 2 be that dumb and still be able to dress yourself in the morning"

OOPS, I guess Mister W is not so accepting of African Americans after all.

But as we like to say here....but wait there's more:

The Joint Finance Committee, is a committee that has 16 members, and (for some silly reason) the majority party(Republicans) get to pick 12/16 members.   

How many republican members of the JFC are African American?  - 0

How many republican members of the JFC are minorities?  - 0

How many posts has Jimbo written about the lack of minority representation on the republican side of the JFC?   -   0  

Not only that, I counted up the times that  the staunch extreme republican from Walkersha, who has a man crush on Jim Sensenbrenner,  pushed for African American(or any minority) representation in Congressional Committee's  -   0  

How many minorities or women did the republican House of Representatives  appoint to leadership roles?  - 0

How many times did Wigs complain about that?   0 

Hypocrite or Liar?

I report - You Decide!!