Scott Walker - A Weasel To The Bitter End

On Tuesday, Karma came to Wisconsin riding atop of a Blue Wave.

As the gentle reader is assuredly aware of Walker losing his seat - and any future aspirations of being president. It was poetic justice done in slow motion.

It was a long, tense night as the counts came trickling in. Walker and his opponent, Tony Evers, never were more than a few percentage points away from each other. Finally, in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the race was called and Evers was declared the winner.

But then Walker's inner weasel manifested itself in full force. He refused to concede the race. In fact, he sent out his Lieutenant Governor, Rebecca Kleefisch, to beg for money as they were preparing for a recount.

On Wednesday afternoon, Walker finally conceded the race.

But he wasn't done. With all things Walker, there's more, there's always more.

Walker is now goading on the Republicans in the state legislature, to pass some lame duck session bills to hamstring Evers by cutting his powers before he takes office:

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said Wednesday he would discuss whether to look at limiting Evers' power with Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau). FItzgerald is open to the idea, according to an aide.

"If there are areas where we could look and say, 'Geez — have we made mistakes where we granted too much power to the executive,' I'd be open to taking a look to say what can we do to change that to try to re-balance it," Vos told reporters.

"Maybe we made some mistakes giving too much power to Gov. (Scott) Walker and I'd be open to looking at that to see if there are areas we should change that, but it's far too early to do that before I talk to Scott Fitzgerald."

Talk about sore losers.

But Walker is probably feeling extra salty about this loss because Karma kicked his ass all over the state.

Walker has spent the last eight years vilifying teachers, especially the Superintendent of Public Education, Tony Evers. He and his Republican comrades have constantly tried to limit Evers power as Superintendent. Now Evers has returned the favor by ousting Walker from power altogether.

For the past 16 years, Walker has spent attacking and sabotaging Milwaukee County, which has the state's largest population of African Americans and other minorities. It was Milwaukee County that delivered the death blow to Walker's career with tens of thousands of ballots that weren't counted until the very end.

In 2011, an opened bag of 17,000 questionable ballots was "found" in the very red Waukesha County, which gave Walker's judicial rubber stamp, 30,000, an insurmountable lead. This allowed Walker to immediately pass some of his most nefarious laws, including Act 10, his initial volley against unions. in 2018, Walker was mewling about 47,000 uncounted ballots, which he claimed were "questionable." These late counted ballots were what secured Evers victory.

But the most sweetly ironic part of it all was that just last year, Walker and the Republicans changed the recount rules, making it much more difficult for a candidate to ask for a recount. Under the new rules, a race has to be within 1% point for a candidate to call for the recount.

Because of Milwaukee's late surge of votes for Ever, Walker lost by 30,000 votes, or 1.1%. Walker's change in the law came back to bite him in the ass by preventing him from asking for a recount.

The whole election - well, Walker's entire career actually - was summed up perfectly by Richard Trumpka, President of the AFL-CIO:

Scott Walker was a national disgrace.

All of this leads me to ask one question - Is it wrong that I'm still smiling?

Welcome To The Main Attraction! Now Go Forth And Vote Dammit!

The moment of reckoning is at hand.  Will the fabled Blue Wave of 2018 sweep the state and the nation or will the special interests again be allowed to buy another election and make the people pay - even with their lives?

My wife and I will be voting early today before going out for breakfast.  Then take the Hellhounds for a quick walkies before hunkering down to monitor the news and social media sites for any signs of interference such as Russian hackers or Walker declaring martial law for no damn good reason.

In honor of my friends who passed away this past weekend - Phil Neuenfeldt and Vegas_Jessie - I will be voting to carry their torches forward and fight for the working class, for women, for minorities, for our health and all other rights.  Eight years of the failed Koch experiment in Wisconsin and two years of Trump's Fourth Reich is more than enough to know that they are utter and complete failures and need to be moved to the bad memories file as soon as humanly possible.

I hope you will join me in this effort.

Polls are open from 7 am to 8 pm.  Don't forget your picture ID to satisfy the Republicans' Jim Crow laws.

The following are the people that I am voting for or would be if I lived in their districts.  Please, let us join our voices to take our state and country back.  We need to vote in numbers too great for them to tamper with.

Federal

Senate - Tammy Baldwin

First Congressional - Randy Bryce, aka IronStache

Fourth Congressional - Gwen Moore

Sixth Congressional - Dan Kohl

Seventh Congressional - Margaret Engebretson

Eighth Congressional - Beau Liegeois

Statewide

Governor/Lieutenant Governor - Tony Evers/Mandela Barnes

Attorney General - Josh Kaul

State Treasurer - Sarah Godlewski

State Senate

Senate District 1 - Caleb Frostman

Senate District 5 - Julie Henszey

Senate District 7 - Chris Larson

Senate District 19 - Lee Snodgrass

Senate District 21 - Lori Hawkins

Senate Assembly

Assembly District 7 - Daniel Reimer

Assembly District 15 - Lillian Cheesman

Assembly District 84 - Erica Flynn

Milwaukee County

Sheriff - Earnell Lucas

City of Milwaukee

Fifth Aldermanic District - Nikiya Dodd

Wisconsin Loses Labor Giant

I am sad to report the passing of Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Emeritus Phil Neuenfeldt, who succumbed to cancer after a long battle.  He was 67 years old.

From Stephanie Bloomingdale, President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO:

The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO announced today that former President Phil Neuenfeldt, a stalwart of Wisconsin’s labor movement, died yesterday in his home. He retired as president in September at the organization’s biennial convention.

“Phil Neuenfeldt embodied the vision and values of organized labor, and he will be tremendously missed,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. “It was a tremendous honor for me to serve with and to call him a friend."

“Phil was one of the great leaders of the labor movement, and I know he would want us to carry on the fight to which he dedicated his life,” said Bloomingdale. “We will wipe away the tears and soldier on, and tomorrow elect leaders who we can partner with to deliver economic justice for Wisconsin’s working families.”

“Phil would no doubt agree with Mother Jones, who advised, 'Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living,” said Bloomingdale.

Details about memorial services and a celebration of Neuenfeldt’s life will be announced at a later date.

Phil Neuenfeldt was a member of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) Local 1916. He began his career on the shop floor in the manufacturing sector at GE and held various positions of leadership in his local union, including chair of the bargaining committee. He started at the Wisconsin AFL-CIO in 1986 and served as Legislative Director, Secretary-Treasurer, and President. He is a Navy veteran and proud Father and Grandfather.

Phil was well-known and widely-admired by friends of Labor for his unwavering support for working families and his tireless fight against the likes of Scott Walker and the other special interest meat puppets.

Phil's death has hit me hard on a personal level as well.  Not only did I respect and admire Phil for his unflagging leadership, but he was a good friend - perhaps a better one than I had realized.

Whenever I saw Phil at some event or heard him speak, he always talked me and this blog up.  He would joke around that if he saw me in the crowd, he'd have to check his social media that night to see what I had to say.  He always kept encouraging me to keep up the fight in the way that I do best and to never let the bastards get me down.

I could never express how much his votes of confidence for a minor loud-mouthed union thug meant to me.

Phil was a giant in Labor, just as he was a giant in life, towering over everyone.  But he was a gentle giant to his friends.

Just last week, while my wife and I were vacationing up north and were off the grid, Phil sent me a direct message on Facebook, trying to pick up my spirits during these ending days of the election cycle:

Think about it.  Just days before his death, he sent me one more message to help keep me carry on the fight. That is the kind of man Phil was.

So, I ask not for your condolences or sympathies.  I ask you to help me and my brothers and sisters carry Phil's torch forward.  Please vote on Tuesday.  Not only vote, but make Phil's goal come true and vote out Walker and the other Republicans that have waged an eight year long war on working families.

On behalf of Phil and myself, thank you.

Scott's Pre-Existing Lies!

By Jeff Simpson

I am one to criticize the Dem party when they deserve it, so I want to praise them when they also deserve it. 

The Dem party, statewide has done a great job standing together, being consistent on their messaging that the Democratic Party is the party that will protect pre-existing condtitions clause of the ACA (Obamacare). 

That message has resonated (imagine the effect a consistent message has) and it has caused Scott Walker and the GOP fits.

Scott Walker and his gopher Brad Schimel have been suing in federal court to get rid of Obamacare for years, which would end the pre-existing protections safeguards and put millions of Americans at risk. 

The WISGOP even had a vote earlier this year where all Republicans voted to remove Pre-existing protections in Wisconsin.   The proof is in the pudding!

Walker, if he has one strength, it is that he is politically savvy.   The fact that he realized the voters were on to him, so he decided to jump on the ACA bandwagon(while he is still suing to end it).

Which at this point, people saw it as the desperation move it is and were not buying it.  Like the boy who cried wolf, the Governor who has attacked anything Obama for 8 years now wants us to believe he supports it.   Like any product "As Seen On TV", no one is really buying it.

Hence even more desperation:






Our friends at OneWisconsinNow checked into and had a new Note to Media and Scott Walker:   There is something very very new about you talking about pre-existing conditions protections. 

In the immortal words of Homer Simpson

Please, whatever you do, whoever you vote for on the rest of the ticket ...we need to get this Governor on the unemployment line and quick! 

Please vote Evers/Barnes on Tuesday Nov. 6th.  

The West Bend Wave

By Jeff Simpson

Once again, West Bend made national news, challenging "Florida man" for biggest the Darwin Awards. 

Let's rewind a bit first.  The Guardian decided to follow The Donald around the country to his "I Love Me" rallies and assigned a different emotion to each rally they attended.  The emotion they assigned to the WI rally (where Scott Walker, Leah Vukmir, Paul Ryan, et al spoke), was HATE.

On the morning of the fourth rally, the outside world blasts its way into Trumpland. Shortly after 10am, as CNN anchors are telling their viewers about a series of pipe bombs mailed to the Clintons, the Obamas and to George Soros, they have to rush off air because the network has received its own explosive device.
At the same time, Jacob Spaeth and three of his buddies are lining up in a field in Mosinee, Wisconsin. They are all wearing the same distinctive red T-shirt. It bears a cartoon sketch of a smiling Trump urinating profusely over the CNN logo.
Today, after the CNN pipe bomb became headline news, a merchant says he’s sold about 15 of them in quick succession at $20 each.
Spaeth, a 19-year-old college student, doesn’t want to comment on the bombs. But he’s happy to discuss CNN.
“It’s not just CNN, it’s the whole media. They are very unfair to Trump. They’re manipulating kids, telling them that Trump is a horrible guy and that he wants bad things.”
Spaeth never watches CNN – he occasionally sees clips of it on Facebook. He gets his information from Infowars, the website of Alex Jones. Jones, a conspiracy theorist, is on the record as saying 9/11 was a government set-up and that the 2012 Newtown school shooting in which 20 children were killed was fabricated. Within hours he will be broadcasting that this week’s pipe bombs are also a hoax.
Spaeth embodies one of the most puzzling aspects of my week in Trumpland. Throughout the five rallies, I talk to scores of people, all of whom, without exception, are welcoming and pleasant. Yet hours later, in the pressure-cooker of the rally, they will turn on me and my mainstream media colleagues and hurl insults at us.
Spaeth admits that when he went to a Trump rally in Minnesota last month he took part in the finger-jabbing and the chanting of “CNN sucks”. It made him feel happy to be able to express his feelings so openly among like-minded folk. “I don’t see it as bullying,” he says.
There’s only one explanation for this pattern of behavior: that Trump enables good, civil Americans to metamorphose into media baiters. “Those people, fake news,” the president says sneeringly at almost every rally, pointing to the caged pen where reporters are cooped up during his speeches.
It’s a trigger mechanism: as soon as he says it, the chants begin. “CNN sucks! CNN sucks!” Many of the people chanting are also laughing – it’s that humor thing again. But CNN is taking no chances: they bring private security guards to every rally.
Tonight, he talks about the need to “bring our nation together”. It’s an extraordinarily cordial message coming from him. But listen closer. His call to unity is in fact a veiled attack on his political enemies.
In the name of “peace and harmony”, he tells politicians to stop treating their opponents – for which read Trump – as “morally defective”, and he references the “mob” – for which read Democrats. Remarkably, he is actually mocking the very concept of national unity while calling for it.

But wait there is more, there is always more.  Also attending the rally in Mosinee, was  Steve Spaeth from West Bend.  The hometown of Owen Robinson( who thanks to guys like Spaeth, the moral he pushes for is improving).  

Spaeth was more than happy to give an interview!   

Tonight in Wisconsin, the crowd are focused on only one thing – hearing their leader. It includes Steve Spaeth (no relation), 40, who runs a home exteriors company in West Bend. I ask him who he regards as his political enemies, and whether “hate” is too strong a word.
“Not at all,” he says. “I have a deep and absolute disgust for these human beings.”
Which ones?
He rattles off CNN, Soros, Clinton, Waters, Booker, “Pocahontas” AKA Elizabeth Warren, and others.
Why do you hate them?
“They want to turn America into a socialistic country. It’s disgusting.”
I ask Spaeth how far he is prepared to take his hatred. In reply, he tells a story. The other day he talked to his sister, who is liberal and votes Democratic. He said to her: “If there is a civil war in this country and you were on the wrong side, I would have no problem shooting you in the face.”
You must be joking, I say.
“No I am not. I love my sister, we get on great. But she has to know how passionate I am about our president.”

Yes Mr. West Bend (does that statement qualify him for Mayor now) will shoot his sister in the face if this guy tells him too:

I highly recommend anyone that is mesmerized with the Donald and the current GOP spend an hour and watch this old 70's movie The Wave.  

Dr, Phillip Zombardo,  the Stanford professor best known for his famous 1971 prison experiment, feels the answer lies in what people are willing to do to go from a feeling of powerlessness to one of being empowered.   “For most people it’s an awful lot,” remarks Dr. Zimbardo.  “People will transgress a lot of personal values to step across the line.”

Please do not stay home this election, we need to stop this dangerous crap before it gets out of control and lunatics like Spaeth actually start shooting people. 

Vote on Tuesday!   Vote blue and if you can not bring yourself to do that, vote libertarian or write in ...we need to change out those in power badly. 

Elect Tony Evers/Mandela Barnes For Integrity and Honesty

By Jeff Simpson 

The election is one week away and time to make my endorsement of  the Tony Evers/Mandela Barnes! 

Any reader of CogDis knows that we have never been fans of Scott Walker.  We have written about his failings as a Governor, failed Presidential candidate and human being numerous times.  We have covered him from his bromance with Tim Russell, to his infamous fundraising email asking you to give him all of your kids Christmas money, to his wanting to "wall off Canada" to his public drunkenness, to his son stealing a state van and his being a keynote speaker at a White Power conference. 

After all of that, and plenty more, an endorsement from me is far from a surprise.   However, this endorsement is different.  It is not I endorsing Tony Evers, as much as it is some of the people who know him the best.   

We pointed out recently, that four of his highest ranking officials within his administration, recently co-wrote a letter endorsing Tony Evers, and pointing out that Scott Walkers main priority is Scott Walker. 

Then Peter Bildstein, former Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, decided to expand a bit more on this: 

Even early on, however, I noticed that not everything was as it should be. At more than one Cabinet meeting, the secretary of the Department of Administration, Mike Huebsch, told us never to send him or the governor any electronic documents of consequence, and to avoid the use of our state-issued cellphones. “If you send me an important report electronically, I won’t open it,” I remember him saying, “and if you call me on your state phone, I won’t answer it.” If we had any important documents, they were to be “walked over” and hand-delivered to the governor’s office. As a result, open-record requests by the media or political opponents would be almost futile. This lack of transparency would be a hallmark of the Walker administration.

Things have gotten so bad, even the Scott Walker friendly Wisconsin State Journal endorsed Tony Evers! 

Evers may lack polish and seem boring at times. But electing a lifelong educator instead of a professional politician should appeal to many voters tired of the bickering and partisan games at the state Capitol.
Change is needed at the top after eight years of Gov. Walker sowing division, undermining good-government protections, and skimping on basic services such as roads while running up debt.
The State Journal endorses Evers for governor in the Nov. 6 election. 

Even though, some of the most qualified people in his administration endorsing his opponent should be enough, however, as we know there is always more. 

WSAW7 recently committed a blatant act of journalism.   Ed Wall, Walkers former Corrections Secretary, recently came out with a "tell-all" book regarding his time in Walker's administration and how incompetent and lacking anything but blind ambition that defines Scott Walker.

Thats were a blatant and rare act of journalism happened.  WSAW7  did an open Record Request and found that, while Walker took every opportunity to smear Mr. Wall, was actually lying and Wall was telling the truth. 

As 7 investigates has previously reported documents show one of the governor’s main aides in 2012, Alex Ignatowski, received a letter from Racine County Judge Richard Kruel expressed shock over the treatment of a Racine County juvenile housed at Lincoln Hills, and held onto that document for more than one month.

Judge Kruel’s letter to Gov. Walker was written one year after the governor’s 2011 budget closed most of the state’s youth prisons, causing all of the state’s juvenile offenders to be moved to the Lincoln Hills/Copper Lake Schools in Irma. Opponents of the move have argued this decision led to years of problems inside the youth prisons, including inmate and staff injuries, under Walker’s leadership.
Full statement from Gov. Scott Walker to 7 Investigates
7 INVESTIGATES : You have personally said you did not order a cancellation of the independent review into Lincoln Hills?
GOV. WALKER: I did not.
7 INVESTIGATES: You did not? And no one on your staff did, as well?
GOV. WALKER: To my knowledge, no.
7 INVESTIGATES: Have you Investigated that at all.
GOV WALKER: No.
 

It is hard to get your Wisconsin calendar correct if you are never in the state.   When the Governor says he has no interest at all in visiting the prisons in your state, or pardoning anyone, you see how he feels about actually doing his job. 

After eight years, we see that Scott Walker has an interest in, and does one thing very very well -  Fundraise! 

Wisconsin, we deserve more! 

Please join me in voting for Tony Evers and Mandela Barnes on Tuesday November 6th. 

Time to restore, honesty, character, decency, morality and virtue back to the Governors Mansion! 


PS:  One last observation.  When was the last time you saw Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch working together?  Could it be that he does not respect her and she does not fit into his Republican climbing ambitions?   

The Dr. Can Cure The Delevan/Darien Dilemma

By Jeff Simpson

As this election season is coming to a frantic close, public education is still a top issue and we keep hearing that the current occupant of the Governors mansion is the "Education Governor". 

Sometimes the evidence is so strong that it is hard to see.  There is an exhibit 1, on how much of an education Governor that Scott Walker truly is along with the WISGOP,  right in the small town of Darien, WI - population 1,580.   While they still celebrate Cornfest(and who doesn't) one thing they no longer can celebrate is their local elementary school. 

The only public school in Darien was recently closed. 

The Delavan-Darien school board voted to close Darien Elementary School—the only public school in Darien—after the 2017-18 school year and approved 16 teacher non-renewals, bringing the total number of non-renewals to 39. This is after a $3.5 million referendum on the April 3 ballot, failed by more than 500 votes.

While schools are closing all over, what makes this school closing so unique, is it is the district that our "education Governor" attended.

Now as he travels the state and, falsely claims that he spent record amounts of our money on public schools, he refuses to acknowledge this his own home district is in trouble.     The record cuts to public education, along with record amounts funneled to his donors and friends in the private school voucher for profit industry, led by American Federation For Children - and formerly convicted felon Scott Jensen. 

The buck has never once stopped at the Governors office and this time it truly does not stop there alone.   Assembly District 31 Rep Amy Loudenbeck (R - Herding Goats). also likes to advertise her attempts at fighting for public education. 

Rep. Amy Loudenbeck: “Madison politics can be a bit like herding goats. It’s hard to get everyone moving in the same direction, when everyone is talking at the same time and no one is really listening. I’m Amy Loudenbeck. Whether it’s fighting for quality health care options, increased funding for education, or more workers in our district; I’ll listen to your concerns and be your voice in Madison. It doesn’t matter what your breed of politics is, Wisconsin is better when we all work together.”

I know it is silly season but we need to start holding politicians accountable for their actions and their votes.   There are some major problems

1.  fighting for quality health care options - By fighting for, she means turning down a billion dollars in medicaid money to help insure fellow Americans. 

2.  Increased funding for education -   By fighting for here, she means voting for the budgets that cut public education more than any state in the country and more than any time in Wisconsin history. 

3.  More workers in our district -  By fighting for here, she means overseeing 8 years of multiple business closings, almost 500 dairy farms closing and dead last in small business start ups. 

With friends like this.....

But wait there is more, there is always more. 

What else is in Ms. "fighting for funding for education" Loudenbeck's district? The shuttered Darien elementary school and 40 laid off teachers.  Luckily for the children of our state, while most other school districts in her district have had to go to referendum to survive(because Amy appears to be losing that fight) and many of these districts soundly support their local public schools. 

Why is Ms. Loudenbeck losing the battle for more education funding? Maybe it is by design, since a major funder of her campaign is the aforementioned American Federation for Children.   If you are going to be in the WISGOP, you do NOT cross Scott Jensen. 

That is why it is IMPERATIVE that we change the culture and the leadership in Madison. 

If you care at all about public education and do not want to see your local school next, please join me in voting for Tony Evers/Mandela Barnes.

However it can not stop there.  We need to send him a legislature that actually wants to govern.   We need to start voting out the false friends of education and vote in real public servants! 

That is why I also implore you to vote for Dr. Brittany Keyes from Beloit. 

Keyes, 31, has worked as a physical therapist for Beloit Health System since 2015.  Her practice has an emphasis on sports injury rehabilitation. She provides medical coverage at area high school sporting events and is in her third season as a volunteer assistant coach for the junior varsity football team at Beloit Memorial High School. She serves as strength and fitness coach for the team.
She was captain of the rowing team at the University of Iowa and was first team All-Big Ten in 2008.  She won a variety of sportsmanship and academic awards from the Big Ten.  She was a bronze medalist in the USA Weightlifting National Collegiate Championships in 2009.
Keyes is a founding board member of a Stateline area food cooperative and has an extensive record as a volunteer for various organizations during the last decade.
She is married to a teacher and the couple has a young daughter.
“Wisconsin needs people in the Assembly who will work for us, not the political donors,’’ Keyes said.  “I have a young family and I want to make Wisconsin the best place possible for all families.’’

It is time the 31st Assembly district was actually represented by someone who wants to do what is best for the people in her district and not whatever Robin Vos tells her to do.  Imagine if the 31st had a representative in Madison, who actually wanted you to have heath care and fully funds our local schools. 

You can make it happen on Tuesday,  November 6th, with a vote for Dr. Brittany Keyes! 

Please like her Facebook page and check out her endorsement in the right leaning Beloit Daily News. 

If you have a couple hours, or a couple bucks in the next week, please give Dr. Keyes some help. 

Also do not forget to call family and friends in the 31st district and encourage them to vote the Doctoral Ticket - Dr. Evers and Dr. Keyes.   

Vukmir Blames Left, Baldwin for Domestic Terrorism, Then Leads Crowd In 'Lock Her Up!' Chant

On Wednesday evening, instead of overseeing security measures or the investigation of the multiple bombs found earlier in the day, Trump came to central Wisconsin to rally for two Republicans that are losing in the polls.

Scott Walker is trailing his opponent, Tony Evers, by anywhere from three to seven points, depending on which poll you look at. Tammy Baldwin's opponent, Wisconsin State Senator Leah Vukmir, aka Nurse Ratched, is down by 15 points.

Apparently, Vukmir felt that this wasn't enough and wanted to be down by even more, judging by her antics on Wednesday.

Before the rally, she gave an interview on Faux Newz, during which she blamed the day's bombs on "the extreme Left, which Tammy Baldwin is happy to be part of."

This isn't the first time that Vukmir tried to tie Baldwin into terrorism. She also accused Baldwin of teaming up with the mastermind behind the attack on the Twin Towers:

But wait! There's more! There's always more.

After the interview, Vukmir went to warm up the crowd. And what better way then to get them to start chanting, "Lock her up!" I mean, it's not like Hillary Clinton was one of the targets of the Trumpkin bomber...



I think she might have just reached her objective. After word of this stunt gets out, she should be down by at least 20 points by election day.

Cross posted from Crooks and Liars

The Janesville Gazettes Going Away Present To Paul Ryan

By Jeff Simpson 

We have pointed out before that the Janesville Gazette is having trouble letting Paul Ryan go.  After Paul Ryan announced he would no longer be running, the editorial department at the Gazette wore black for days.   I would guess that anytime The Donald makes major news, that you can find the editorial staff at the Looking Glass, drowning their sorrows in what might have been!   

After much thought, different ideas, and cake the Gazette had to figure out what parting gift could they give their dearly beloved.   With the dwindling state of the newspaper industry, coupled with Paul Ryan's extravagant tastes, made a nice dinner out of the question. 

The Gazette did the next best thing. and decided to give Paul Ryan one last parting gift, endorsing his clone.   They felt that if they can not have Paul in office, his driver would be the next best thing.    

What really freed up their time though to do this, was they let Paul Ryan's SuperPac - Congressional Leadership Fund write the endorsement for them.    

The 1st Congressional District race is a story about Randy Bryce’s shortcomings as much as Bryan Steil’s qualifications.
With a lengthy arrest record and a history of falling behind on child-support payments, Bryce is in no way congressional material. How Bryce managed to defeat Cathy Myers, a school teacher and Janesville resident, in the Democratic primary would be a mystery except that Bryce benefited from a much larger campaign war chest.

The paper that loves Paul Ryan complaining about a candidate having too big of a war chest.  Thats rich(pun intended).  

  A candidate’s character matters less today than it once did, but Bryce’s personal failings are extraordinary, even by today’s crumbling standards for our nation’s leaders. The problem is not so much Bryce’s past mistakes but that he showed an inability to learn from them. He didn’t rack up merely one OWI in 1998 (plenty of voters can identify with this). He was then picked up three times for driving with a suspended license and was arrested on a warrant for failure to appear. 

Really?   The Gazette, who refused to endorse in the last Presidential Race, has decided that Randy Bryce's history is outrageous but The Donald's is not. 

 And lest there be any doubt as to whether Bryce is a “changed man,” the state of Wisconsin placed a lien on Bryce’s property in 2015 for delinquent child-support payments to his ex-wife. Bryce paid off the debt only after announcing his candidacy last year.

The "money shot" from the paper that perennially posts about the great family man that Paul Ryan is, now judges how Randy Bryce raises his child.   Apparently they know more than Randy's ex-wife who says:

Boudreaux says she is very grateful to Bryce for the "supportive and respectful co-parenting relationship we have" for their 12-year-old son

Now I do not know who to believe, the Janesville Gazette editorial board or the mother of Bryce's child.   Diane Hendricks would be so proud! 

His background more closely resembles the kind routinely encountered by probation officers, not 1st Congressional District voters. To attempt to twist his arrest record into a symbol of the everyday working man, as Bryce’s campaign has done, is perhaps one of the most cynical and offensive ploys we’ve ever witnessed.

Because no normal person has ever committed the crime of driving to work without a license. 

 While we’re not fans of negative campaigning and believe every candidate must make a case for himself, Bryce’s personal failings are too egregious to ignore. The stakes are too high for someone of Bryce’s caliber to slip into office.

There is no place for negative campaigning only negative editorials and endorsements. 

 As for Steil, he is sometimes derisively described as a clone of House Speaker Paul Ryan, though Steil is no Paul Ryan (and we mean that as a compliment to Ryan). Indeed, it’s an impossible comparison for Steil to live up to, as it took Ryan years to develop into the powerful statesman he’s become.

Some people compare Steil to Ryan as a criticism, but we think he is dreamy.   

Steil has a lot to learn, including fleshing out his policy positions. One of our criticisms of his campaign has been its underwhelming message and lack of policy specifics. For all the criticism we’ve leveled against Bryce, his platform (as radical as much of it is) leaves no question on where he stands. We can’t say the same for Steil’s.

While Steil, has no substance at least he isn't the radical socialist leftist that Randy Bryce is.   Did you know he actually thinks all people should have health care and a living wage? 

But we’re not too concerned about Steil’s future, and we suspect he’ll take a path similar to Sen. Ron Johnson’s. As a businessman without any previous political experience when elected in 2010, Johnson had a large learning curve to overcome. He’s matured as a politician and today exhibits a strong handle on many issues affecting Wisconsin.

We like Steil’s eagerness to tackle the nation’s spending problem and hope he can make progress on one of Ryan’s major goals, entitlement reform. Securing the financial future of both Social Security and Medicare should be a top priority for the next Congress, and Steil has an opportunity to shine on this front.

“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group of course that believes you can do these things. Among them are a few other Texas oil millionaires and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”― Dwight D. Eisenhower

As Steil learns the job, he’ll likely close the knowledge gap with Ryan. He’ll have to put up with comparisons to Ryan for a while, but we’re confident he’ll leave his own mark on Congress.

Now I feel bad, I would not want anyone compared to the real Paul Ryan!  

The Gazette, in fawning over Paul Ryan and anyone in his entourage(life Steil) has really done a disservice to the great city of Janesville and our state of Wisconsin.   
They still need to change their name to the Paul Ryan Messenger!

Please vote for Randy Bryce in the 1st CD, instead of Paul Ryan's chauffeur!   

We need someone who actually cares enough to stop things like this from happening in the future(Janesville GM plant)! 

When You're Too Much Of A Loser For Even Trump...

I've got a confession to make.

I'm more than a little surprised that Scott Walker, who is normally pretty politically savvy, has hitched his campaign wagon so strongly with Trump. I was sure that has Trump became more politically toxic and kept sinking in the polls, Walker would quietly but quickly distance himself from the Orange Shitgibbon.

But the opposite has happened and Walker is clinging more and more tightly to Trump. To the point that even though Walker is trailing his Democratic opponent, Tony Evers, by 10 points in the polls, Walker is welcoming Trump to come and campaign for him in central Wisconsin next week.

Even more surprising is the fact that Trumps political advisers are telling him not to go to Wisconsin because Walker is a lost cause:

:Some advisers have urged him, without success, not to travel to Texas or Wisconsin, two states where the president has announced campaign rallies next week. The advisers had argued he would be wasting his time, because they believe Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is going to win his race, while Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) is likely to lose his.

The whole country could see how bad Walker was in the 2016 election season when his presidential bid lasted a scant seven weeks before collapsing in on itself. But to be so bad as to having Trump's people wanting Trump to distance himself from Walker - instead of the other way around - well, that's gotta hurt.

And as a side note to Walker - I and about six million of my closest friends are more than willing to help you pack on November 7th, after your get your eviction notice.

Micromanagement, Manipulation and Mischief.

By Jeff Simpson 

Add one more name to the list of old Scott Walker friends who have come out saying they won't vote for him ever again and neither should you!    This time it is Paul Jadin, who resigned a job where he was making $208,000/yr, so he could satisfy his conscience and speak his truth.  Jadin, along with former colleagues Ed Wall and Peter Bildstein sent out an open letter today explaining why they are endorsing Tony Evers!

The letter writers say they will not be voting for Walker because of his handling of transportation, education and safety issues as well as "pervasive questionable practices within the administration."
"Governor Walker has consistently eschewed sound management practices in favor of schemes or coverup and has routinely put his future ahead of the state." the letter states. "The result is micromanagement, manipulation and mischief. We have all been witness to more than our share of this."
The letter doesn't list specific examples of "mischief" or "coverup" but said when Walker was traveling the country in 2012 to raise money for his recall election he stopped attending cabinet meetings and delegated responsibilities to his chief of staff.
"When he decided to run for President in 2015 he subordinated Wisconsin interests to those in Iowa and New Hampshire and his policy/budget proposals started to clash with members of his own party who still would have to stand for election in Wisconsin," they wrote.
Jadin, Bildsten and Wall described themselves as having "served our state and local governments in many capacities over our careers and have voted for and supported Republicans." They said the decision to endorse Evers comes with "a great deal of reflection and discernment."

We have seen two different kinds of people emerge in the Republican party.  The conservative Republicans (like these letter writers) who have a set of values and want to make society and our state a better place (even if we disagree at times).   The second kind of people are the ones who have no room for values because they are loaded with personal ambition and do not care what it takes to get more money and power. 

Enough time with group 2 and group 1 was completely fed up and could not stay quiet any longer. 

While Scott Walker will go into pure smear mode on anyone who speaks up, let's take a quick look at the realities behind that.

The people speaking truth to power about Walker, like Jadin, a former Mayor of Green Bay, are people who have held major non partisan jobs and will again.  While Walker criticizes the job that Jardin has done, remember that Walker himself hired Ryan Murray to run WEDC, despite the fact that he was incredibly incompetent, because he was a donors son. 

These brave people are doing Wisconsinites a service, and yelling from the rooftops that Scott Walker is not worthy of running the Great state of Wisconsin.

The question is, will we listen?

Children are collateral damage in battle against illegal immigration

“Unconstitutional.” This is what a federal district court judge said last week of efforts by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to penalize “sanctuary cities” in the United States for failure to fully cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Still, states like Tennessee are rolling out their own laws that require local authorities to cooperate with ICE in detaining and removing undocumented immigrants.

In the ongoing wrangling across different levels of government over control of immigration policy, we typically hear very little about the collateral damage experienced by children. Regardless of how you feel about the unauthorized parents, you should care about the children living with them, 80 percent of whom are American citizens.

Let me make the devastating consequences vivid with the example of an immigrant mother in Tennessee who has been detained in another southern state for months since being turned over to ICE. Left behind are her four citizen children and one older child, a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). They have not seen their mother since she was moved nearly a 1,000 miles away.

If you knew him, you would be proud of her oldest son. He came to the United States with his parents at about age two from Central America. He graduated as the valedictorian of his high school class in Tennessee and dreams of becoming a doctor. But it has not been easy. He received a scholarship to college in recognition of his academic excellence, but soon learned that DACA students must pay out of state tuition in Tennessee. He thought he could reduce his course load to afford the tuition but was forced to forfeit his scholarship as a result. Still, he is working hard to balance two jobs with his studies and stay on track toward his goals.

Moreover, he has new responsibilities trying to help his family navigate the legal and financial morass of the pending deportation of his mother. His teenage brother and father alternate working to continue supporting the family and caring for the younger children. One elementary age sibling has a disability that usually requires full time care from the mother. Another sibling is preschool age. Most distressing, the youngest was just eight months old and nursing when the mother was ripped away. As a mother who nursed all three of my children past age one, I cannot fathom the pain this has inflicted. It is keeping me awake at night.

In fact, neuroscientists and child psychologists have provided clear evidence that separation like this leads to major trauma for both mother and infant. It could even mean lasting damage to child development. Then there are the extreme financial burdens. The family must try to provide the legal support required to help their mother stay here. Most of their income has gone to hiring an attorney and meeting the demands of the grinding legal process. The loss of the primary care provider for the children also means other adults in the family are not able to work as much. All of this derails the education and career plans of the teenage son.

These children are either citizens or are here legally. They are as deserving of opportunities to pursue their dreams and contribute to society as any of us. Their success is our success. But we are stomping on their dreams and impeding their potential. We will ultimately be responsible for the consequences. Just take a look at what the eldest son of this family has accomplished, despite the obstacles thrown down on his path. This is just one measure of the costs of harsh treatment of immigrants in our country. There is no number that could adequately capture the human costs to this family. I hope this also keeps you up tonight after reading this.

Carolyn J. Heinrich, Ph.D., is the Patricia and Rodes Hart professor at Vanderbilt University and a member of the Scholars Strategy Network.

 *  Carolyn is a friend of mine from college and I wanted to share this important article.  - JS

The Clearest Cut Race in WI - AD14

By Jeff Simpson 

I pointed out yesterday, that career politician Scott Walker, for the first time in his life, has criticized a fellow Republican and actually asked him to step down.   Of course Brooks ignored Walker's plea because after 8 years Walker has completely lost any effectiveness he even had in his own party.

As surprising as that was, there is another race that is even more surprising.   The race for the Assembly District 14.  Dale Kooyenga, apparently his drinking problems on the Assembly floor, and his kleptomania not being under control, has decided he has earned a promotion.  While that is a story for another day(Vote for Julie Henszy), lets look at the race to replace him. 

 The Democrat in the race, and ONLY one competent and qualified to be making decisions in OUR government is Robyn Vining! 

Vining is a founding board member of Exploit No More, which works to end child sex trafficking. According to Vining, the Greater Milwaukee region has become known nationally as a hub for sex trafficking, and it’s a problem that occurs in every county in Wisconsin.
She is also the founding member of Help Portrait Milwaukee and The Milwaukee Portrait Project, initiatives that serve some of the city’s most vulnerable residents. Help-portrait is a global movement of photographers using their time, gear and expertise to give back to those in need.
Vining and her family moved to the 14th District a decade ago. She has bachelor’s degrees in psychology and fine/studio arts from James Madison University and a master’s degree in religion from Trinity International University.
Vining is a former pastor turned entrepreneur who has spent the past nine years building a successful photography business. She recently launched Folio MKE, a collaborative workspace/community for women entrepreneurs.
She was awarded the United Way’s Philanthropic 5 award in 2013 and was named American Mothers’ Wisconsin Mother of the Year in 2017 in recognition of her commitment to the community.
Her children are 12 and 14. Vining lives in Wauwatosa with her husband of 17 years (a professor), their children and rescue boxer. 

 Mom of the Year, Pastor, Masters Degree, photographer, business woman who found a need and stepped up and started a much needed organization to help address sex trafficking in Milwaukee.

Seems like one of the easiest choices on the ballot, especially when compared to her opponent. 

Republican Matt Adamcyzk,

Matt is currently the State treasurer where he ran on a promise to end the position,  When he was rejected soundly by the voters of WI, he moved on to try and win an Assembly seat.   He found out that while he is anti Government, he really means he is anti Government for everyone but himself.

Adamczyk likes being on the public dole, with taxpayer funded health insurance, a set salary, no one to answer to for being an anti social ass and bully and lots of perks.   

Unfortunately for Adamczyk, he has a record.  The State Treasurer is one of three people on the Board of Commissioners of Public Land, which operates a trust that provides funding for school libraries and makes loans to municipalities and school districts. 

Matt, being a Bully, probably had very bad experiences in his school libraries when he was actually forced to read a book, so he came in from the far right and wanted to prove his "conservative" credentials. 

Instead, he fit right in with the new Trumpian era and came up with such ideas as:

Wisconsin's new state treasurer is making waves on an obscure state board — trying to get it to cancel its subscription to The New York Times, change its letterhead so the top administrator (Tia Nelson)doesn't appear on it anymore and make sure any references to global warming are dropped from its website.

Nice way to start, coming in with his best Augustus Gloop impersonation. 

Now here is Matt Adamcyzk interview with WI eye Its not even

This is where the political surprise of the century comes in. As the OOmpa Loompas say "Matt Adamcyzk is so big and vile, so greedy, foul and infantile", that the ultimate Republican Hack Brad Schimel has criticized him.  Schimel overlooked the crimes/sins of Ken Kratz and Scott Jensen but was pushed to the brink by Augustus Adamcyzk,

"Matt, I gotta tell you, I’m counting the days till you’re not on this board. I’ve had enough. Doug is absolutely right. The string of demands you've made on the people who work hard on this agency has been unreasonable and abusive and I’ve said this before on the record and I'm going to say it again on the record: Your personality and approach to these people is abusive and unreasonable so we’re done with this. You made your unsubstantiated allegations for the whole world by claiming these guys are unqualified ... they have performed very well in the functions they are doing," Schimel said.
Schimel went on to say that he's anxious for Adamczyk to be done with the board and said he's scared they would otherwise have to hire new staff because current employees would quit over how they're being treated.

For once we can work across the aisle and make sure that Matt "Agustus Gloop" Adamcyzk is done sucking taxpayer funds to bully people  and done very soon. 

Let's Help Robyn win the 14th for all of WI:

Go to her website and give her a couple bucks or more importantly a couple hours of your time.   

Like Robyns Facebook page.  

Follow her on Twitter @robynvining  

Especially call anyone you know(family, friends) in her district and tell them to make sure for all of our sake to show up on November 6th and Vote for Robyn! 

Republican Debate Distress

By Jeff Simpson 

There is a trend happening around the country, the Republicans are ducking debates.   It has even reached Texas where Ted Cruz has pulled out of a debate with his opponent Beto O'Rourke. 

Brownsville, TX - CNN reports Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz has backed out of a debate between Democrat challenger Beto O'Rourke. The debate has changed to a town hall set for thursday, October 18, at the McAllen Performing Arts Center. According to CNN, "Sen. Ted Cruz's campaign initially accepted CNN's invitation to participate" but has since declined. CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash will moderate the one-hour town hall live at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT.

So now Beto gets an hour of TV, all by himself,  talking directly to the people of Texas,   The guy who cowered to The Donald, also runs from Beto.   Let's hope the good people of Texas, see his cowardice, and send Terrible Ted packing.

While the cowardice bug afflicted Ted Cruz, it is widespread in Wisconsin.   We will try and address the widespread problem soon, but there is one specific instance I wanted to address, 

The 60th Assembly district.   

Republican Rob Brooks, who is currently was the Assistant Assembly Majority Leader,  is the current Representative of the district.   He is also the only Republican in my memory that Scott Walker has asked to resign.   The blatant racism of Bob Gannon, the fact that Robin Vos was sleeping with someone who reported to him, His right hand man trolling teens online, Wild Bill Kramer a known sexual predator, etc... and Walker was always quiet as a church mouse when asked about them. 

This time it is different.  In the home stretch of this election season, Scott Walker is obviously worried about how he polls with women and decided that for the first time in his political life, he was offended by something a fellow Republican did or said. 

"Representative Brooks' comments are offensive and disrespectful," Walker said in a tweet. "They have no place in our society and are inconsistent with the high standards that must be held by those in public office. He should resign from office, period."

What did Brooks do that upset this guy? 

Brooks attended a GOP function in the Wisconsin Dells (probably paid for by all of us) and decided to get drunk as Dale Kooyenga on budget voting day.   The problem with Brooks getting drunk, the real Rob Brooks apparently came out:

Rep. Rob Brooks (R-Saukville) directed a racial remark at fellow GOP Rep. Jessie Rodriguez of Oak Creek — the only Hispanic Republican in the Assembly — at a restaurant after an Assembly GOP caucus event in Wisconsin Dells, according to sources familiar with the incident.
An obviously inebriated Brooks said he was buying drinks for everyone "except Jessie because she's Hispanic," said one source.
Some at the gathering thought it was a really bad joke by an intoxicated individual because it was not delivered in a hateful way. But sources said Brooks proceeded to purchase alcohol for several Republicans. Rodriguez was not among them.
Brooks also made sexual comments to Republican Reps. Cindi Duchow of Delafield and Amy Loudenbeck of Clinton at the restaurant, but it is not known what exactly he said to them.

We will not know what is said because the Republicans, in the heat of the #metoo movement made a rule that they will not disclose any information about any harassment to the public.  They decided the best way to handle, for the long term health of their gerrymandered majority, is to take care of it internally with a slap on the wrist and a vow to never speak of it again. 

This was tried in this case but somehow word of his misogynistic sexism and blatant racism leaked out.  All of the women who were victimized by Brooks, all "want to put this behind them".  It will be interesting to see as we move forward, what exactly Robin Vos offered them to "put it behind them".

Which leads us to the reason of this post.   While Brooks had a few drinks and was not scared to say anything, now he is ducking debates with his opponent Chris Rahlf.   

The people of the 60th district deserve better than a rep who will only talk when he is drunk and then say things that no one should be saying. 

They deserve to be able to see both candidates, together discussing the issues and then decide. 

If  Rob Brooks is refusing to give his constituents that, then he has the same disgust for them that he has for women. 

Tell Rob Brooks to Debate Chris Rahlf. 

Campaign
204 East Dekora Street
Saukville, WI 53080

Capitol
State Capitol, Room 309 North
Post Office Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708-8952
Phone: 608-267-2369
Fax: 608-282-3660
Toll Free: 888-534-0060

@RepRobBrooks

If he still refuses, then let us help Chris Rahlf actually represent everyone in the 60th.  

Go to her website, like her Facebook page, follow her on twitter, give her a few bucks, or a few hours and for sure, call everyone you know in the area and tell them to get out and vote on November 6th for Chris Rahlf.  

Chris grew up in a military family.  Her father, a retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant who served in Vietnam, taught her that leadership means putting the needs of others before yourself.   That is a lesson she took to heart during her service in the Navy and subsequent civilian  business career.
Unfortunately, it seems that state government has forgotten for whom they serve.  They put the interests of out of state donors and corporations before the people of Wisconsin.  They play partisan politics with important issues that affect every Wisconsinite's well-being like healthcare, education, and the environment.  
We need leaders like Chris who will stand up to the dysfunction and divisiveness rampant in our state capitol and work with all sides to solve the problems facing our state.   She will put people before politics.