Scott Walker - Jack of No Trades

By Jeff Simpson

Scott Walker. in one of his patented invite only chat sessions, where coincidentally, he hears over and over again how great he is, said something so ridiculous recently that once again left everyone scratching their heads!

When asked whether he would encourage a relative with a teaching degree to seek employment in Wisconsin or Minnesota, Walker said Wisconsin.
“They don’t have to wait 20 years to be able to succeed,” Walker said. “If they’re a great teacher and they’ve got great incentive to perform they can get a high-quality teaching job anywhere in the state of Wisconsin and they can get rewarded for that and not have to wait to build years of seniority.”
Walker said school districts can set pay based on performance and hire based on merit.
“It’s about putting the best and the brightest in the classroom,” Walker said. “If someone is an exceptional talent and wants to go into education, they can be rewarded for that.”
When asked whether he thought such incentive-driven salary programs would be a hindrance to allowing school districts to keep quality teachers, Walker compared teaching to being a player in the NFL.
“If the Green Bay Packers pay people to perform and if they perform well on their team, (the Packers) pay them to do that,” Walker said. “They don’t pay them for how many years they’ve been on the football team. They pay them whether or not they help (the Packers) win football games.”

Actually NFL Players, under a strong union and collective bargaining agreement, had to sue to get the right to free agency, which has evolved over the years.     The National Football League Players Association also has negotiated a minimum salary, yearly raises and a salary table based on (wait for it) experience.

Each year the NFL minimum salaries increase by $15,000, up to $450,000 for a rookie in 2016. A player’s minimum salary is determined by his years of experience (YOE), ranging from 0 to 10 or more.

D'OH

Like the lap dog he is, Kevin Binversie, used his wing nut welfare position to try and cover for Scotty Walker, and like Walker miserably failed

The funny thing is Binversie, used two sources to try and block for Walker but was less effective than Tony Mandarich!  

The first source he used was a WILL report that said post ACT10 things are great in WI and teacher salaries are down an average of $2000 but can not figure out why for the life of them.   .   I guess when you have people with zero education experience writing a report on education, you will get zero use out of it.  

Secondly. and this is the best, KB used an article from Madison.com to tell us about a teacher's marketplace thanks to Scott Walker and ACT10.  The problem with that, is the people quoted are from the Board of Education I reside on, and no one in the article has said that ACT10 or Scott Walker has been good for public education or teachers.  

With so many veteran teachers leaving the profession and so few collage students entering teaching there is a huge teacher shortage.  This means that it is a teacher shortage for hard to fill positions, like advanced physics and teach ed.   Those teachers are coming in at a premium.  

This article was also written two years ago and the facts on the ground are, we had to ask for and be granted (overwhelmingly) for an additional  $2.6 Million dollars a year from the taxpayers to pay our teachers and keep the doors open and the lights on.

It would help if Kevin Binversie would read the links before using them as a source,

I always like to look for the silver lining though and there is definitely one here.   With Scott Walker showing how clueless he is about the NFL(for a small price of $90 Paul Chryst will help tutor him), I bet he and Trumps Servant (Chris Christie) have quite the stimulating conversations, in the luxury suite at the Packers game!

Jesse Williams Humanitarian Award Speech

A speech ALL Americans should see! 

Myron Bucholz For Peace and Congress

By Jeff Simpson 

Many times when our politicians are talking "boots on the ground" we know they mean our kids NOT theirs(see Bush, Clinton, Walker, etc...).   That is why they can talk tough, laugh off "peaceniks" and bow to their military contractor donors.  
Myron Bucholz however is the exact opposite.   His daughter,  Amanda Buchholz,  a West Point Military Academy graduate and two tour of duty veteran of the Iraq War was recently honorably discharged from the US Army after 11 years!   

Ms. Bucholz explains the importance of having family members at home who have your back and having people at home working to end the war!

" Soldiers deserve someone like my father in Washington DC, " said former Captain Buchholz. " My mom mastered the art of the deployment care package during my 27 months in Baghdad, and my dad wrote me a letter once a week, every week of my 11 years of service. When you're in a war zone 7,000 miles from home, you need to know that back home, someone's got your back. 

Myron Bucholz, is challenging incumbent Ron Kind (D-Free trade deals) in the August 9th primary.   Mr. Kind not only has voted, and adamantly supports every job killing "free trade" deal we have entered into, butr he was also a solid vote for the unnecessary Iraq War.  

As Mr. Bucholz points out:

 " It's generally acknowledged across the world that the war in Iraq was the worst foreign policy mistake America has ever made, ' said Myron Buchholz. " My late wife Janet and I both worked hard for years to bring Amanda, and all of our troops, home. Janet and I demanded many times that Ron Kind renounce his vote for that war and to date he hasn't. 
I'm proud of my daughter Amanda, and I'm proud to have her endorsement. And if I'm elected to congress I'll never vote to send anyone's son or daughter to war unless it's absolutely the last resort. "

This is the perfect election, and the perfect time tp work to change our do nothing Congress.  Let's update our Representative to someone who is NOT a career politician and who will actually represent the people of Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District, in the halls of Congress!  

If you have a couple bucks, or a couple hours to help elect Myron Bucholz, go here!  

From My Cold Dead Hands

By Jeff Simpson 

The old Charlton Heston Quote, that everyone who is a tool of the NRA loves to quote:

Now the new saying should read " From my cold dead hands, as I stand over the dead bodies of my two daughters I just murdered."

Police say a Houston-area woman fatally shot her two adult daughters before officers shot and killed her.
The incident happened about 5 p.m. Friday in front of a home on the fringe of the Houston suburb of Fulshear. Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls says a motive was still under investigation, but it appeared the shooting was the climax to a family argument.
Nehls says the daughters had already been shot when a Fulshear police officer arrived and saw the mother with a gun in her hand, apparently preparing to shoot one of her daughters again. The officer shot and killed the woman.
Officials identified the mother as Christy Sheats, 42, and her daughters as Taylor Sheats, 22, and Madison Sheats, 17, CBS affiliate KHOU reported.

What makes this different, than your average daily shooting?  The answer is not much but there is a disturbing trend of crazy shooters.

As Christy let it be known, the damm liberals are out to take her guns and keep her from "protecting" her family.

 

Her daughter Taylor, on April 28, wrote this post:

Casual reminder that I do support the Second Amendment but this is just some food for thought 💭



Perhaps some foreshadowing of knowing her mother did not need to have so many guns?

New details of the story come out that Ms. Sheats has had some history of mental illness, so maybe some liberal should have come and taken her guns!

The Texas woman who killed her two daughters on Friday, before being shot and killed by police herself, allegedly had a history of mental illness, officials say. And she had posted multiple times on social media about her support of firearms. 
The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office had been to Christy Sheats' home "for previous altercations" involving Sheats' "mental crisis," sheriff's spokeswoman Caitilin Espinosa tells PEOPLE. 

Since the NRA likes to take advantage of such tragedies to sell more guns, I am curious which kind they are going to be selling now?  the gun that Ms Sheats used to murder her daughters, or the one the police officer used to make her stop shooting her dead daughters?

At least when Ms. Sheats says "Out of my cold dead hands" she means it!

Next time you hear a pundit, politician,three letter terrorist organization, or random person telling you that "Obama is coming for your guns", I highly recommend walkings lowly away and taking cover - FAST!

That Time Scott Walker Politically Retaliated Against Me

For over a hundred years, Wisconsin had a civil service code which was the yardstick to which other states and governments measured themselves by. It was created in response to the heavy cronyism, nepotism and corporate corruption in the state at the time. It was meant to ensure good government and that "Only the best shall serve."

Last year, Scott Walker and his Republican cohorts gutted these civil service protections. However, it wasn't until this week that state workers got a clearer picture of what they were going to face.

To say that the new system is rife with problems would be a gross understatement.

Instead of a civil service exam and objective evaluation, hiring will be subjective, meaning it's not what you know but who you know (or what your know about who you know). This will open the door to cronyism, nepotism and corruption to a degree not seen in decades.

This gutting of civil service protection also greatly accelerates the disciplinary process. Not only is discipline more subjective - a worker could get in trouble just if the manager doesn't like how they look - but it makes it easier to quickly terminate the worker without just cause.

What caught my eye was a point made by Rick Badger, Executive Director of AFSCME District Council 32:

Badger objected to that characterization, saying the new rules will “ironically” make it harder to retain current employees.

“Existing employees will now find it harder to do their jobs without fear of political retribution, and it now will be harder for state employees who leave their jobs to ever return,” Badger said.

That really struck a nerve with me.

It struck a nerve because Walker did that very thing to me when he was Milwaukee County Executive and I worked for the county.

In 2010, when Walker was running to be governor, his campaign revealed the corruption that he would become so well known for. Two of his top aides were caught doing illegal politicking.

Darlene Wink was caught making political comments at various websites, including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, during the times she was at work. Likewise, Tim Russell was caught doing campaign work on county time. Wink and Russell were two of the six people arrested and convicted during the first John Doe investigation.

About a month after Russell got caught, a right wing front group closely allied with Walker, the misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG), filed a bogus criminal complaint against me, accusing me of doing the same things Walker's people were doing. They said that I was blogging while on county time. The problem with their complaint was that they accused me of blogging on major holidays, vacation days and on furlough days.

How dare I practice that Free Speech thingy on my own time!

What I was doing was looking at some blogs and the local news sites. But as my attorney, Michael Maistelman (the best damn political attorney in the state), had said:

If looking at websites that have political content, such as WisPolitics, Milwaukee Magazine, JSONLINE.COM, etc was a criminal act, most public employees would be in a heap of trouble. Chris was exonerated as expected.

Long story shorter, when the criminal charges failed, Walker tried to get me fired. Over ten months, they repeatedly brought charges against me. Finally, in April 2011, they found me guilty of wasting time and using the county computer for personal use and gave me a fifteen day suspension.

Fortunately, the union had my back. They were able to negotiate it down to a ten day suspension which got me out of the PRB's grasp. It was still unfair, but it was better than it might have been in that corrupt system.

Now, everyone knew that this was all about political retaliation by Walker, but there was no proof, no smoking gun.

That was until the emails from the John Doe investigation were released. Buried in those emails was this little beauty:

The sender was Cindy Archer, Walker's right hand woman and then head of Walker's Department of Administration. While she got some of her facts wrong, it was clear that she was referring to yours truly and saying that I needed to be fired because of what happened to Wink and Russell.

And the rest, as they say, his history.

But Wisconsin state workers should pay close heed to this story, because they could find themselves in similar situations if they are not very careful. Even worse, after Walker's attempts to bust the public sector union's, they might not have the same level of defense and recourse that I had back then.

The state workers - well, all of us really - need to be very mindful that fascism has indeed returned to Wisconsin with a vengeance.

The Lapdogs Of The NRA

After the horror of Sandy Hook, where twenty people, mostly children, were gunned down in cold blood, the Republicans refused to do the right thing by banning assault rifles.

After the massacre in Orlando, the worst mass shooting in this country's history, the Republicans again ignored the will of the people and refused to ban terrorists from having free access to guns.

Congressional Democrats from both houses decided to draw the line and stand up for our rights and our lives by conducting a sit in on the floor of the House of Representatives until there was a vote on passing even the most reasonable of gun laws.

Republicans, led by Lyin' Paul Ryan, toed the line for their masters at the NRA by trying to shut down the sit in.  First, the fascist Ryan tried to shut down the live feeds to the House so that the American people would be left in the dark about what was happening.

Then, again led by Ryan, these lapdogs and bootlickers of the NRA tried to stop the sit in by holding a vote to override a veto by President Barack Obama on a bill that would have made it even easier for capital vultures to exploit people.  The Democrats held firm and the override failed.  Ryan then scurried off with his tail between his legs in shame.

Wisconsin Republicans are no more respectable than their national counterparts.

Republican Representative Bob Gannon, (R-(Gun)Slinger, wants to introduce a bill that would make a private business that banned guns from their premises if a lawbreaker brings in a gun and shoots someone in their store.  His rationale for this bill is even more unbelievable:

A state lawmaker wants businesses that ban guns to be held strictly liable for any gun-related injury that might occur in their premises, and to pay triple damages.

The "Disarmed Citizen Compensation Act" is the brainchild of Rep. Bob Gannon (R-Slinger).

"This bill will give the citizens of Wisconsin a better chance of defending themselves and their loved ones against this scourge of terrorist activity," Gannon said in a news release.

Yeah, because terrorists typically target the local grocery store or convenience store.

Gawd, these people are so enthralled with their checks from the NRA and their phallic symbols that they have thrown all common sense out the window to be able to live with themselves.

The Political Negative Zone

By Jeff Simpson

In the Marvel Comic's world, the Negative Zone is a place where all matter is negatively charged, compared to positively charged here on earth.  This area of sub space was discovered by Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four.

Little did we know that it is not just a fictional place, used to expand the Marvel Universe, but also describes the upcoming Presidential election we are heading for.

The 2016 election, which culminates in November, is shaping up to be one of the worst in our history.

The two presumptive nominees , Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, are heading into an election year  where they could hardly be more unliked.

But both candidates face striking divisions inside their parties and both are widely disliked by independents.
About two-thirds of Wisconsin independents (68%) say they’re uncomfortable with Clinton as president. About three-fourths (74%) say they’re uncomfortable with Trump as president.
That helps explain why 25% of independents in the survey answered “neither” and 10% said “don’t know” when asked which of the two candidates they planned to vote for in November. Those two groups combined (35%) are large/r than the number of independents who picked Clinton (33%) or Trump (32%).    

The numbers are even worse in WI for both candidates.

He is viewed unfavorably by 71% of women, 73% of college grads, 65% of suburban voters and 66% of moderates in the poll of 800 registered voters, taken last Thursday through Sunday.
Seven in 10 voters overall say they are uncomfortable with him as president.
It is hard to imagine a nominee with these kinds of numbers being remotely competitive, but the new poll isn’t that much kinder to Clinton, who is viewed unfavorably by 66% of men, 65% of independents and 62% of rural voters.

Her public standing is not as negative as Trump’s, but it has been stuck in negative territory all year, with no positive movement. The share of Wisconsin voters who view her unfavorably was 55% in January, 55% in February, 59% in March and 58% in the new poll.

Clinton gets higher ratings than Trump for being able to handle a crisis, for caring about people and for her qualifications to be president.
But she gets slightly lower ratings for trustworthiness: 32% of voters called Trump honest, while 28% called Clinton honest.

How can the most powerful position in the free world come down to a contest between two people who no one likes?   Is our political system that broken?   They have both been fighting for their own party's nomination, in fairly safe and semi-positive campaigns.

Soon the two candidates will start focusing on each other, in what could be the biggest slime/smear fest we have ever seen( and that would be saying something), which will successfully drive all of these negative numbers up.  

I believe we will soon have groups of people coming up with creative ways to spend Election Day which does NOT include people voting.   This lack of enthusiasm on both sides, spells trouble for the down ticket races.

In WI  where this is the best chance the Deemocratic Party has to turn their fortunes around from the Mike Tate bleak years(Presidential election years typically favor Democratic candidates and turn out),  the WISDEMS have decided that they must support Ms. Clinton no matter the cost.

Her opponent, Bernie Sanders, won easily the WI primary and still holds huge nationwide poll advantages over Ms. Clinton and the Donald.

Clinton lost Wisconsin by double digits to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the April primary, and Sanders continues to enjoy far better ratings here. His positive rating with registered voters is 16 points higher than Clinton’s.            

 The enthusiasm factor of bringing independents to vote on your ticket would in a normal election year be one that a party in the minority would seem to embrace.   In the negative zone election though, the Democratic Party seems content to go down with the ship and instead of at least embracing the fact that there is a large swath of voters in Wisconsin who feel politically homeless and un represented, the WISDEMS have felt the best way to reach them is to mock them and dismiss their feelings and opinions.

Even the Chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party promised her (poorly named) super delegate vote for the winner of the WI primary to represent the Democrats of Wisconsin's choice.   Then after Senator Sanders won, Martha Laning quickly reversed her position and now has pledged her vote to the candidate with record negatives who was roundly rejected by WIsconsin voters.  

Even if the Democratic Party wants to cling to the Titanic that is Hillary Clinton, Ms. Laning keeping her vow to vote for who the people of WI overwhelmingly prefer, it would not affect the outcome but would show that she listens to the people she needs out knocking doors, sending money and registering voters in November.

Unfortunately listening to the people of WI is not on her list of priorities.  I am not sure how many times we have to let the same party insiders and highly paid consultants lead us to election losses in WI but it appears to be limitless.

I guess it's back to boots on the ground, working to get local progressives elected, and passing referendums to keep the doors open in our schools and communities.  

At least the fine folks of inside the political parties, consultants and lobbyists that are setting our losing agenda now, will be able to vacation together on the beach in January and discuss what went wrong over Pina Coladas.

Let's hope that for those of us stuck here, feeling the devastating effects of their incompetence, that our local communities will have enough money to clear the roads of snow and ice so we can make it to our two part time jobs safely!    

Quote Of The Day - RoJo Edition

If you hadn't heard yet, the Republicans are desperate to try to salvage this election season after having had Hell Toupee.  They are so desperate that they have not only stopped running away from George W. Bush, they are pulling him out of the brush to help their vulnerable senators, including RoJo.

Which leads us to the quote of the day:

“All the Bushes are people of integrity,” Johnson told the newspaper.

Yeah, the same Bush that lied to us to start an unjust war, not paying for either of the wars he started and leading the country into the Great Recession.

Now you know why we call him Our Dumb Senator.

US Rep Gwen Moore: Drug Test The 1%

Lyin' Paul Ryan used a drug treatment facility as a backdrop when he rolled out part of his "Better Way" gimmick, which included shaming the poor by making anyone receiving government benefits take a drug test.

Fellow Wisconsin US Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI) took him up on that and said that we should drug test the real takers - the 1% who claim more than $150,000 in tax deductions:

Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) has had enough of the growing movement to drug test poor people who need government assistance. So on Tuesday, she’s introducing a bill that she says will make things fairer.

Her “Top 1% Accountability Act” would require anyone claiming itemized tax deductions of over $150,000 in a given year to submit a clean drug test. If a filer doesn’t submit a clean test within three months of filing, he won’t be able to take advantage of tax deductions like the mortgage interest deduction or health insurance tax breaks. Instead he would have to make use of the standard deduction.

Her office has calculated that the people impacted will be those who make at least $500,000 a year. “By drug testing those with itemized deductions over $150,000, this bill will level the playing field for drug testing people who are the recipients of social programs,” a memo on her bill notes.

Moore has a personal stake in the fight. “I am a former welfare recipient,” she explained. “I’ve used food stamps, I’ve received Aid for Families with Dependent Children, Medicaid, Head Start for my kids, Title XX daycare [subsidies]. I’m truly grateful for the social safety net.”

It would be fantastic to see the real takers and abusers be held accountable for a change.

Republican Operatives Push To Dump Trump, Walker Wants In

Last week, I pointed out that Scott Walker was starting to waffle on his support for Donald T. Rump, the presumptive Republican nominee. I also pointed out that it seemed that Walker was trying to position himself to be the new nominee if all hell broke loose at the Republican convention.

During the past week, Walker continued to act like he was trying to position himself as a presidential candidate again.

During a vacation, er, trade mission in Mexico, smeared all the remaining candidates, saying that Mexican authorities were equally worried about each of them:

Gov. Scott Walker said Mexican officials have raised concerns with him in recent days about the trade policies Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders would adopt as president, but didn't consider any one of them a bigger threat than the others.

"In general, they're concerned about trade, and interestingly they're concerned not just about the presumptive Republican nominee, they were concerned about statements made by both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton about trade as well and what impact it might have," the GOP governor said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters.

Yeah, right, sure.

Like the Mexican authorities were just as worried about the Democrats as the guy who called them rapists and drug dealers and wanted to build a wall along the Mexican border and have the Mexicans pay for it.

At the same time, Walker channeled his inner Sarah Palin by blaming the media for his low poll numbers and for the fact that he just sucks:

Gov. Scott Walker says it's the media's fault that people feel bad about the state.

Walker reacted Wednesday to a Marquette University Law School poll showing 50 percent of respondents believe Wisconsin is headed in the wrong direction.

Walker said on a conference call that when he does listening sessions across Wisconsin he hears "good things."

But he says, "headlines are always about negative and bad things so it's no wonder people would feel that way in the polls."

The same poll shows 37 percent think the state budget is in worse shape than a few years ago, while only 31 percent thought it was in better shape. And 29 percent say they think the economy got worse in the past year compared with 25 percent who thought it improved.

To confirm my speculations, a local squawk radio "news" show reported that Walker was now "open" to being named the nominee at the Republican convention if the delegates decide to reject T. Rump, who has been continuously making an ass out of himself, as been sinking in the polls and has been costing the Republican party major corporate sponsors.

On Thursday, CNN reported that there are is a group of Republican sponsors, strategists and operatives looking at the long shot options in trying to dump Trump. What caught my eye is the name of one of the people spearheading this effort:

There is a group of people -- including Eric O'Keefe, a former top fundraiser for Cruz -- that recently formed a group they're calling "Delegates Unbound." They are working on a robust effort to convince delegates that they have the authority and the ability to vote for whomever they want.

A source working with the group told CNN that they are going to try to not only directly communicate with the delegates but also try to raise money to buy TV ads. This source insists the anti-Trump energy is out there among delegates but they just have to coordinate and harness it -- which is no easy task.

Not only is Eric O'Keefe a former top fundraiser for Ted Cruz, but he is the current head of the Koch-funded Wisconsin Club for Growth. O'Keefe is also one of the main subjects in the John Doe investigation between the illegal collaboration between O'Keefe and his group and Scott Walker and his campaign. They already have the emails showing Walker wanting his major donors to send their money to the Wisconsin Club for Growth since there were no limits and they would remain anonymous. WCfG then used that money to help Walker and other Republicans win the recall election.

As CNN reported, it would be extremely unlikely that these operatives would actually be able to oust T. Rump, especially this late in the game. But even if they did, they would be twice-damned fools to replace him with Walker. Walker is such a failure that he barely lasted ten weeks when he was officially running for president. If they tried to pick the popular candidate with this flop, they are just asking for an open rebellion.

Then again, the Republicans have never been known to give a damn about what the voters want.

And if Walker really thinks that he has a chance to win the nomination, much less the presidency, he either crazier and/or dumber than anyone had thought.

On the bright side, we will all be able to laugh at him once again when he fails.

Christine Welcher For Wisconsin (32nd District)

By Jeff Simpson

Now that the spring elections are over and the Presidential Primary is winding down, time to focus on the races that truly matter to our everyday lives!   The local ones - Wisconsin Senate and Assembly!

We will try and bring you information on as many of these as we can and the 32nd is just as good a place as any to start!

Christine Welcher is running against Tyler August!  

Christine was inspired to join the revolution and take back our state by listening to Mike McCabe and his Blue Jeans Nation speech about getting the money out of politics!  

That would go a long way to solving many of our problems, but the ONLY way that can possibly happen is with your help.  If we elect people like Christine who runs on this platform, then hold her accountable when she is in...that's how change happens.   If we you think unlimited dark money is ok, then stick with your normal guy(who you probably would not know his name had I not said so) who likes to fear monger about guns.  

Here is a bit more on Christine!

Local Farmer Wants to Bring True Representation Back to Walworth County 

Walworth County resident, Christine Welcher, said she will seek the 32nd District Assembly seat in the November election. Her goals are to strengthen rural communities, revitalize local economies and return true representation to the people of the 32nd District.

"As a farmer, and former small business owner, I understand the issues and struggles of my neighbors. We are tired of career politicians spending time, and taxpayer money, developing and passing legislation that no one has asked for and that doesn’t benefit the people of this state. It’s time for us to shed our political labels and come together, as the hard working men and women we are, in order to take back our democracy. We need a return to a government for the People, by the People and of the People,” said Christine Welcher about her desire to run for Assembly.

Welcher has already begun visiting with people across the 32nd District, listening to their issues and concerns.

“The hard working people of our district are feeling politically homeless and forgotten,” said Welcher. “It would be my honor to give them a voice again. I want to remind them that their voices, and their votes, do matter. Once elected I will listen to my constituents, not out-of-state, private interests and dark money.”

Prior to farming Christine Welcher was in international travel, specializing in customized tours to Scandinavia, for over 10 years and a supervisor for a national retailer. She is currently the Student Program and Gardens Manager at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in East Troy, WI, where each summer she teaches students from around the world the benefits of small scale agriculture and the importance of financial sustainability.

Please check out her website (www.WelcherforAssembly.com) and follow her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/christinewelcherforassembly).

Contact: Christine Welcher Welcher for Assembly 608-279-2733 Christine@WelcherforAssembly.com
www.WelcherforAssembly.com

Birth, Life and Death of a Bad Idea

“No one had any inkling this was happening,” Michael Blumenfeld told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We are just scratching our heads. Why would you do this?” Mr. Blumenfeld spoke for the Wisconsin Family Care Association in early spring of 2015.

The frail elderly, disabled, and their families learned the governor sought to privatize the successful Family Care and IRIS programs, handing them over to a few large insurance companies.

The birth of this idea happened in secret.

The Department of Health Services (DHS) Secretary – charged with shepherding the plan through the legislative process – acknowledged to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that “she learned of the proposal only when the governor’s budget was released.” Evidently her staff also knew nothing of the plan.

“None of them knew anything about this,” said Barbara Beckert of Disability Rights Wisconsin. “They are in a state of shock.”

In December 2014, the governor’s office invited advocacy groups to a meeting to discuss what they would like to see happen with the programs. Jason Endres and his spouse Julie of Eau Claire attended that meeting.

“We were never listened to,” Jason said. “The governor did a complete 180 when the budget came out.”

Later an email circulated around the Capitol revealing that the governor’s office directed the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau to write budget language dismantling Family Care and IRIS programs. Governor Walker sidestepped the public agency budget process entirely. He ignored the advocacy/agency councils set up to design changes to long-term care programs.

His proposal would upend a critical safety net for almost 60,000 of our state’s most vulnerable citizens without their consultation.

According to an analysis done by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, “The administration did not solicit the recommendations of the Long-Term Care Advisory Council before or during the development of the Family Care/IRIS 2.0 proposal.”

The Council had requested meetings, but was not granted input.

Days after the budget came out, Jason, Julie along with other IRIS recipients and their families started the Save IRIS citizen advocacy effort to inform people about the proposed changes to their critical programs. Thousands of people from around the state participated in two disability awareness days and a SAVE IRIS rally at the Capitol.

During the spring of 2015, hundreds came to testify during the public budget process. More than 200 statewide and local organizations jointly passed a resolution against the governor’s plan.

Then the Joint Finance Committee met to vote. Jason related what he saw: “During the Executive Session they all talked about it. Talk [for the governor’s proposal] didn’t go all that great as far as getting rid of it. All of a sudden [Assembly Speaker] Robin Vos walked in the room. And the mood changed. The Republicans went into a little meeting room within the Joint Finance Committee room. Then they all came back out and everything had changed. Now they were going to get rid of IRIS. Not five minutes later they voted to get rid of IRIS…I was infuriated.”

For Jason, Julie, and thousands like them, IRIS means a sense of pride about determining for themselves how and whom assists them with daily care most of us can do ourselves. The programs help people stay and function in the community like everybody else.

After the final budget vote, the DHS Secretary scheduled meetings essentially to tell advocates to get on-board. Jason told me about an IRIS recipient who was “ousted from the table” and “read the riot act” because she refused to support the administration’s plan.

Jason then learned of a mysterious meeting in the governor’s office between representatives of big insurance companies expected to benefit from the governor’s plan, DHS officials, and Republican budget committee members. Thursday night DHS Secretary Rhodes withdrew the plan.

“This gave us a huge uplift,” said Jason. Julie added, “This is a major victory!”

For over a year our disabled and elderly struggled with the stress of uncertainty. Home care workers were also affected. Many left for other jobs, which created a huge shortage of workers for the disabled who need help for basic functions.

The unconscionable actions by the governor and his legislative allies caused chaos in so many lives. However, a fighting spirit brought about the death of their very ill-conceived idea.

Kathleen Vinehout 

Madison Senate Office Senator Kathleen Vinehout Room 108 South State Capitol Madison, WI 53707-7882 Telephone: 608-266-8546 877-763-6636 Fax:608-267-2871 Email: Sen.Vinehout@legis.wisconsin.gov

Kremer Owes Barnes - And Wisconsin - A Big Apology

Like everywhere else in the country, the horrible tragedy in Orlando this past weekend has created a lot of passion in Wisconsin. This has led to a shameless display of racism and bigotry by one of Wisconsin's worst lawmakers.

On Sunday, State Representative Mandela Barnes (D-Milwaukee) issued a couple of tweets regarding the shooting:

"How many people have been driven to hate and act violently towards the lgbt community by 'conservative Christian' ideology?" Barnes tweeted Sunday.

"So many terroristic enablers in churches, in Congress, and state houses. Whether by discriminatory policy or the love affair with guns," read another Barnes tweet.

State Representative Jesse Kremer (R-Deep South), who is already infamous for his war on transgender kids and on the poor, wasn't going to let this uppity black man get away with it. So Kremer threw out this rabid press release:

“I am fed up with the disgusting and divisive nature of some of the leaders in our state and nation. The politicization begins with our President, but has reared its ugly head here in our own state.“I am calling out someone who should be a leader, but has instead become a laughing stock. Rep.Mandela Barnes, who is hoping to become a Senator by ousting one of his own for not being radical enough, is blaming Christians for the evil act of war on U.S. soil by an ISIS allegiant this past weekend. This guy, a sitting Wisconsin representative, is an absolute loon of a ‘leader’ doing everything he can to divide and conquer, politicizing a horrific event – the modus operandi of our own President. The Orlando rampage was derived from pure evil and hate – something that Christians and Muslims both denounce.

“Our country has been torn apart by President Obama's divisive racism, hatred of Christianity and lambasting of the military and law enforcement. This terrible belief system has obviously crept into our own statehouse. The division must come to an end, and it should start with leaders like Rep. Barnes.

“The representative resides in a community that is crumbling around him, but doesn't even have the courage and fortitude to address the real problems in his own backyard – an explosion of crime, the breakdown of the family and inner city youth who are thirsting for a strong, honest, father-figure leader with integrity. Rep. Barnes could be that strong, black leader – but that would take hard work and perhaps some criticism by his own colleagues.

“I, for one, have had enough.”

Gee, how nice of this racist, suburban asshole to whitesplain to an African American colleague all that is wrong with his community.

Barnes apparently didn't get the memo that he is supposed to be submissive to his white superior and leveled Kremer with his own press release:

“Jesse Kremer is accusing President Obama of ‘divisive racism,’ ‘hatred of Christianity,’ and is lecturing African Americans on black existence in Milwaukee – this is all you need to know about where his head and his heart are. Rep. Kremer has repeatedly used his position of power as a state legislator to attack poor people, LGBTQ+ people, and people of color. These most recent remarks by the Representative are just the latest in a long line of bizarre ploys, reprehensible comments, and divisive ideology coming from him and his GOP colleagues.

“Insinuating that I have blamed the massacre in Orlando on Christianity is a willful attempt to distract from the real issue at hand by mischaracterizing my sentiments. I have served as the Director for the Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH), a coalition of faith-based groups advocating for peace and safety in the greater Milwaukee community, and to assert that I cast blame on the religion I practice for the terrible tragedy in Orlando is maliciously false.

“Last summer, it was a black church in Charleston; last fall, it was a Planned Parenthood in Colorado; and last weekend, it was a gay nightclub in Orlando during Pride month. The fact of the matter is that it is far too easy for dangerous people driven by dangerous ideology to get their hands on guns in this country. As we have witnessed time and again, minority groups are significantly more vulnerable to the deadly violence associated with this epidemic. While Rep. Kremer would rather dole out inappropriate, misguided advice in order to distract from what we need to be doing as elected leaders to protect our communities, I will continue to fight to end the scourge of senseless gun violence.”

The thing is, even if Barnes meant his tweets in the sense that Kremer was accusing him of, Barnes would still be correct.

Kremer apparently forgot - or simply ignored - the fact that Ted Cruz, whom Kremer endorsed for president, had been on stage with Pastor Kevin Swanson, right after Swanson called for all gays to be killed.

If the gentle reader feels so compelled, they could reach Kremer at 608-266-9175 or toll free at 888-534-0059 to advise him that he really needs to offer an apology to Representative Barnes, to Milwaukee and to the entire African American community.. He can also be reached via email at Rep.Kremer@legis.wi.gov.

Scott Walker's Flag Day Faux Pas

Scott Walker, who likes to pride himself on having been an Eagle Scout, must not have had gotten his merit badge on the American Flag. On Tuesday, Flag Day, Walker put up this tweet to honor Old Glory:

The problem is the flag has only 48 stars:

All Gov. Scott Walker wanted to do was celebrate Flag Day.

But his first attempt to mark the occasion Tuesday fell flat because the image the Republican posted on Twitter was of an American flag with just 48 stars.

Walker deleted the post within minutes, but screen shots of it circulated across social media.

Maybe Walker has something against Hawaii and Alaska. I could see Hawaii, since that is President Obama's home state, but Alaska? Maybe it reminds him on how Sarah Palin dogged him out and threw her support behind Donald T. Rump.

Sadly, this isn't the Eagle Scout's first flag faux pas either.

Last year, while unofficially campaigning for president, he bragged on how he could fold a flag, just like he learned in the scouts. Except that he was doing it wrong then too.

And this guy wanted to be president? Really?

City Flag Or Beer Label

Some group calling themselves "Greater Together" decided that they were tired of the City of Milwaukee's flag. So they held a contest to design and select a new flag for the city.  On Tuesday, they revealed the winner:

According to Robert Lenz, the person who created this thing:

The design, titled "Sunrise over the Lake," is meant to symbolize a unified future, Lenz said in a May interview.

The three light blue stripes in the sun's reflection represent the city's three rivers and founding towns. The gold background is a nod to the city's wheat growing and brewing history, and the rising sun above the lake represents a city united.

Fortunately, the flag isn't an official replacement of the old one - at least not yet.

But before the city would consider it, they better run it past their corp counsel first.

Something tells me that the Corona beer company might have something to say about it, considering what their logo looks like:

My other question if, God forbid, the city would adapt this thing as the official city flag, would they change the name of the city to the City of Corona, Wisconsin?