"She Got Her Job Done..." - But For Whom?

Last week, Darlene Wink pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors. At the time, I wrote about it at the time and brought up some questions regarding the events surrounding her. Here's another one:



Don't underestimate the level of skulduggery that will surface as Walkergate continues to unfold. We're talking the kind of stuff that would make Karl Rove proud.

Kathleen Falk: I Heard You

Kathleen Falk, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, has put out a new video titled "I Heard You":



Here is some of the text that came with the email that came with the video:

I am committed to making our campaign about listening to people, to running a campaign that is open, accountable and transparent. Which is why I keep sitting down with people from across Wisconsin.

Hearing the stories of the great men and women who took time out of their week to sit down and talk to me about their vision for a better Wisconsin is inspiring.

Over and over, throughout our statewide tour and as I traveled around Wisconsin throughout the past year, I listened and heard similar concerns from people about Gov. Walker’s failed leadership. I heard the story of a middle-age woman who lost her job at a job center because of Gov. Walker’s budget cuts. The story of a grandmother who had never been very political but was outraged because Gov. Walker’s cuts to education were impacting her grandchildren's future. Many people across Wisconsin can tell the same story. The story of a Governor who surprised us all by taking an ax to public education, collective bargaining and health care while passing billions of dollars in new tax breaks for the few. The story of a Governor who, while I was busy listening to citizens here in the cold, was busy raising money in Naples, Florida at an event sponsored by the Koch brothers and other wealthy benefactors.

What inspires me about this movement, about the great men and women who came to sit and talk to me, is that even though Governor Walker has broken their wallets, he hasn’t broken their spirit. What inspires me about this movement are the over one million people who stood up to say, “Not in my Wisconsin” when Governor Walker rammed his anti-middle class, anti-working family legislation through the state house.

It's pretty clever, in my opinion, to already be hitting Walker on his secrecy, his refusal to listen to the people of Wisconsin and his refusal to take any responsibility or accept the consequences for his stunts and chicanery.

Unless he's planning on cheating with the touch screen voting machines being moved into the rural counties of northern Wiscsonsin, I don't see how all the money in the world will save his political hide in the upcoming recall election.

BTW, this should not be considered an endorsement of Falk. I am waiting to see who all the candidates are before making that decision. I just found Falk's approach interesting.

Thank You, Gentle Readers

I just need to take a moment from my usual programming to say Thank You to all my readers.  Because of you,  my post about the gerrymandering scandal was the most clicked post in the entire nation, according to LeftyBlogs.com:

I truly do appreciate your support and trust in me.

And at the risk of sounding like an political ad, I would just like to point out that the tip jar (located in the sidebar) is always open.

The fewer other jobs I have to do, the more I can do for #wiunion and to help win our state back.

Again, thank you for reading Cog Dis.

The Gerrymandering Scandal Exposed

In the past week, some of the sordid details behind the reprehensible gerrymandering stunt foisted upon Wisconsin voters by the Republicans were uncovered. Even back when the gerrymandering was finally made public, local Republican officials called the stunt unethical.

Earlier this week, it was learned that money-loving voter-hating Republicans again violated open meeting laws and had signed a pact to keep the truth behind the gerrymandering a secret while they had a whole different set of talking point to feed the public.

Just days later, it was learned that the two GOP operatives legislative aides, Tad Ottman and Adam Foltz, who had worked with the Republicans private law firm, Michael Best and Friedrich, while drawing up the maps and the secret talking points, were still working out of those offices, more than six months after the maps were approved by the Republicans,even though they're collecting their paychecks from the taxpayers.

To help put things into perspective of just how they were lying through their teeth and sticking to their secret pact, watch this video:



I am starting to come to the mind that simply removing these cretins from office is no longer a sufficient solution. These actions are going beyond dirty politics to crimes against the state and against the people. These people need to see justice and be truly held accountable for their crimes.

The One Year Anniversary Of The Oppression Of Wisconsin

One year ago today, Scott Walker "dropped his bomb" on Wisconsin workers and started the decline of our once great state. Representative Peter Barca noted the date with the following press release:

“One year ago, Gov. Walker set Wisconsin on a course that has left our state more polarized than ever before. Beginning with his unprecedented attack on workers’ rights, the governor has continued to divide us while ramming his agenda through before people have had time to object.

“After Gov. Walker dropped the collective bargaining ‘bomb’ – as he put it – last February 11, he demanded a rushed vote in less than a week, without debate or scrutiny, and refused to even sit down and talk with his employees about it. Republican leaders followed that approach with abuses of power such as putting the Capitol on lock down, holding illegal meetings and ending public hearings while citizens waited to speak.

“Gov. Walker has pursued two main courses of action in the past year – dividing Wisconsin and undermining democracy. He has divided our state by taking $1.6 billion away from public schools while giving another $40 million to voucher schools. He approved $2.36 billion in giveaways to large corporations and special interests while raising taxes on senior citizens and people working for modest wages. And he has undermined democracy by consolidating rule-making power at the top, replacing public employees with political cronies and restricting citizens from exercising their First Amendment rights to gather at the Capitol and other state buildings.

“In the past year, Gov. Walker has continued to push his extreme agenda that clearly is not working for middle-class families. That is why people across the state are upset and fighting back. They are tired of the division, the governor’s assault on clean and open government and the disrespectful way their wishes have been ignored. They deserve leaders who will bring us together and work for and with them.”

Another Honor For The Honorable Maryann Sumi

At the end of last year, the Honorable Maryann Sumi, of the Dane County Circuit Court, who had ruled correctly that the Republicans had violated open meeting laws when they rammed through Act 10, was named one of the 2012 Leaders in the Law.

That was just the precursor for her gaining the honor of being named Judge of the Year by the Wisconsin State Bar Association.  Per the State Bar:

State Bar information states The Judge of the Year award recognizes an outstanding circuit court judge who has improved the judicial system during the past year by her leadership. Sumi’s award will be presented in June at the state bar’s annual meeting.

There is no confirmation at this time that Prosser tried to chokehold take defensive action against one of the judges when he learned that he again didn't win an honor.

Name Me One Name!*

For months, we heard the likes as Media Trakkkers, MacGuyver Institute for the Criminally Insane, and the gaggle of radio squawkers, not to mention WISGOP say that there were all sorts of fraudulent activity going on in the recalls.  That somewhere in the area of 99% to 4,851,691% of the signatures being collected were of Mickey Mouse and Adolph Hitler.

So obviously when the four WISGOP senators that turned in their challenges, there would be all sorts of thse cartoon names and addresses, right?

Not so much:

Lastly, when it comes to the matter of duplicate signatures and fakes:
*The Moulton petition challenged 265 signatures as duplicates, though noted no fake names.
*Galloway challenged 403 duplicates, though noted no fake names.
*Fitzgerald challenged 205 duplicates, and one fake name that was only noted as having the last name of a well-known slang usage of "sucker."
*Wanggaard challenged 137 duplicates and no fake names.

And that one "fake name" that Fitzgerald did try to claim was found to be a real person.

Now the Wreck of Fitzgerald and the other soon to be recalled WISGOP senators are trying to ruin themselves by claiming that the gerrymandered districts should apply to the recalls, despite the fact that they were the ones that wrote and voted for the law saying that the gerrymandering doesn't kick in until November 2012.

It must be hard on the faithful echo chamber of GOP supporters to keep supporting these clowns and not mind that they end up look as foolish as the reprobates they're supporting.

If anyone should have opportunity to speak to one of the soon to be recalled senators, do me a favor.  Ask them how they feel about having to fight for their political careers because they blindly followed Scott Walker, who has repaid them for their loyalty by leaving them high and dry as he flies around the country trying to raise money to save his own worthless political hide.

*For those who are unfamiliar with the reference in the title, it is the phrase that the right wing uses to mock Tom Barrett when they think they have finally found someone who might have committed election fraud.  Their claims are usually as accurate as the claims that Adolph Hitler was signing petitions.  I thought it only fair to mock them with their own words of mockery.

A Risk Worth Taking

The other day, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Falk made an amazingly bold statement.  She said that she would veto any budget that did not restore collective bargaining.

As news of this statement spread, you could hear Republicans' heads exploding across the state.

Jeff Wagner, afternoon squawker on WTMJ radio, was damn near in hysterics as he was predicting that such an act would do everything  short of causing the universe of imploding.  With panic in his voice, he was stating that this was so "reckless," "irresponsible" and that it would "endanger every person in the state."  He followed that up with a fear-filled blog post:

Let's break this down.  Falk has apparently promised to veto a $60 billion document unless it restores collective bargaining rights.  In other words, Falk is willing to potentially destroy the credit rating of the State, devastate municipal budgets, jeopardize public safety and bankrupt programs - all to appease her Union masters.

John Mercure, the late afternoon squawker on the same station was having the same level of histrionics.

In a frenzy, the right wing echo chamber started flailing about this.  One blogger called it "really stupid."  Another twit said that Falk would be "holding the state hostage."

Ernst-Ulrich Franzen, another pro-Walker blogger, disguised as a member of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board, tried to use it to prove that the recall is about just one issue, and in doing so insults every child, every parent, every senior citizen, every vulnerable citizen, every woman, every taxpayer, and every working man and woman in the state.  That's a whole lot of apologies he needs to do, and he still hasn't apologized to John Weishan yet.

And as you can imagine, the Koch Brothers, via one of their front groups, was practically apoplectic.

By the way they were acting, one would think that Falk had proposed making cannibalism an official state function, or even worse, saying that women shouldn't be treated as breeding stock.

As I watched this happen, amused and bemused, I started thinking about the absurdity of their statements.

First of all, as any intellectually honest person knows, the recall is about much, much more than just collective bargaining.  The abolishing of workers' rights is a big part of the movement, but not even the most of it, much less all of it.  There is so much more to it.

But when we recall Walker, what are we really risking?

Higher taxes? We already have higher taxes thanks to Walker.

Job losses?  Under the Walker plan, the state has seen six straight months of job losses, leading the nation for two of them, while the rest of the county has seen job growth.  In fact, Walker's record at losing jobs is nearly twice the rate of Governor Jim Doyle's rate, and Doyle had the full brunt of the recession to contend with.

Destruction of the economy?  Under the Walker plan, Wisconsin is ranked 50th in economic activity.  Dead last.  How could anyone destroy it more?

But there are things - besides job losses, higher taxes and a stagnant economy - that Wisconsin would risk by recalling Walker.  They include, but are not limited to:

• Women being treated as breeding stock;
• Senior citizens and disabled citizens not receiving services that would keep them out of nursing homes and other institutions;
• Our children crammed into overcrowded classrooms and receiving a poor education;
• Workers not receiving the necessary training for the few jobs remaining;
• People not being allowed to vote just because they're poor or a student;
• Having fresh air to breathe or clean water to drink;
• Everyone receiving medical attention;
• A government that is representative and responsive to the people;
• An increase in transparency in government; and
• A government that doesn't operate through a secret wireless router in a closet.

You know, come to think of it, it's a risk I'm willing to take.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part LXXII

Gee, who didn't see this one coming?

First, Scott Walker takes gives every public sector worker in the state a massive pay cut, thereby reducing their income and hence the amount they pay in income tax.  

On top of that, the public sector workers have their personal budgets cut to the breaking point, meaning they have a lot less buying power and thus are not spending as much.  This leads to a predictable cut in sales tax revenue for the state.

This then leads to ripple effects, where local businesses that depend on people's discretionary spending start feeling the pinch and end up laying off people or closing up shop, leaving everyone out of work.

And if that wasn't enough, Walker's "pro-business climate" is turning out to be anything but that, and the state loses nearly 50,000 jobs in the first six months that Walker's budget has been in effect.  What is obvious to everyone but Walker and his apologists is that all of these laid off people also aren't going to be paying as much in income tax or sales tax, thereby keeping the downward spiral continuing.

Eventually all of that money that's no longer being spent, since he gave it all to big corporations that only use it to enhance their profit margin, will come back to have a very bad effect on the state budget.

That day of reckoning came today.

The State Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported that this loss of revenue is causing the state to lose $216 million dollars when compared to previous projections.  That means that Walker's "balanced budget" is facing a deficit of $143 million.

And amazingly, Walker continues on with the same worn out cliche that "Wisconsin is headed in the right direction."  

When I heard that line, the first thought that I had, and still have, is that of when John McCain, running for the President of the United States, said that the "economy is fundamentally sound" as the Lehman Brothers went belly up, the stock market started to crash and the full impact of the Great Recession was being felt.

I hope Walker has the same success with his gaffe as McCain did with his.

Then once Walker is ousted, maybe the real healing could begin.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part LXXI

I'm so glad that Scott Walker keeps telling us that he made things so much better for companies, because otherwise, we'd have no way of knowing.  Especially not with stories of even more people losing their jobs:

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is cutting nearly half of its workforce in Milwaukee, the company said Thursday, weeks after it announced the end of its manufacturing in Two Rivers. 

The company is eliminating about 43 of 100 jobs at its Milwaukee location, which makes laboratory reagents and performs product development. The work is being transferred to other Thermo Fisher locations, including a plant in Lithuania, company spokesman Ron O'Brien said.

When Walker said that he was going to create 250,000 jobs, he forgot to mention that they would be everywhere but Wisconsin.

RIP Pewter Gryphon

It is with heavy heart that I must report the passing of Diane Echelberger, more commonly known by her Twitter name, @pewtergryphon.

Diane was one of the strongest champions in the fight to reclaim Wisconsin.  Even though she knew she was terminally ill, she spent much of her remaining time fighting for Wisconsin, participating in rallies, live tweeting hearings and government hearings so that those who could not attend could follow what was happening, doing data entry and phone banking.

During her working life, she was a defender of Wisconsin as well, as noted in this moving tribute to Diane, written when Senator Jon Erpenbach presented her with a plaque and a Certificate of the Senate to honor her lifelong compassion and dedication to Wisconsin.

The words that I wrote when I first introduced the gentle reader to Diane holds as true today, maybe even more so, than when I wrote them:

When I realized that I was seeing Diane in the video, I immediately tweeted it, making sure that I pointed out that she was in it. Literally within seconds, it was favorited and/or retweeted a dozen times. But that is just the way we roll. We pick each other up when we're down and celebrate with each other when the news is good. 

And that is why Walker, even with all of his out-of-state big money, will still be removed from office. He's not fighting special interests, he's fighting for them. He's fighting against the good people of Wisconsin, people like Diane and her friends. And trust me, we stick together like only family can. 

Every day, our resolve grows even stronger while Walker and his allies grow even more desperate. 

We will do this! 

We'll do it for Diane.  

We'll do it for ourselves.  

We'll do it for all of Wisconsin.

Sail on, Gryphon!  We will carry on in your memory and win the state back for you.

Wisconsinites Going To Where The Jobs Are

Oh, look! There are jobs coming that could be filled by the unemployed workers in the Janesville area!

Of course, those jobs are in Illinois:

Janesville native Dave McKee expects to see more traffic later this year on his daily commute to Chrysler's assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill.

That's because Chrysler plans to add about 1,800 jobs at the plant 40 miles south of Janesville, and some of those jobs could be filled by dislocated Rock County residents.

Aout 9 percent of the plant's workforce of 2,700 comes from Rock and Walworth counties in southern Wisconsin.

The expected increase in workers to a high-water mark of 4,500 later this year presents another opportunity for local job seekers willing to work for about $15.78 per hour, which is about half the rate paid to longtime auto workers.

"If someone is willing to commute from Wisconsin, they are more than welcome to apply," said Jodi Tinson, a Chrysler Group spokeswoman.

And it wouldn't be at all surprising that those lucky enough to land those jobs eventually move to Illinois to cut down on the money and time they spend on the commute to work, cutting Wisconsin's revenue even that much more.

Meanwhile, Scott Walker is still traveling the country raising money for his defense fund so that he can continue to drive jobs and citizens out of the state.

It is really beyond me how any honest person could still support Walker.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part LXX

While the rest of the nation is gaining jobs, we in Wisconsin still get to see the "benefits" of Scott Walker's budget. This time 120 people get to see the impact first hand:

C&D Technologies Inc. announced Wednesday that it will retain its factory in Milwaukee while moving some of its product lines to a plant in Reynosa, Mexico.

The move will result in the loss of about 120 jobs at the Milwaukee plant, 900 E. Keefe Ave., in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood.

The decision came after a comprehensive business evaluation, according to the company.

The workers in the state don't like Walker's budget. Businesses in the state don't like it.

The only ones that like it are the big-moneyed out-of-state special interests that Walker's been flying to, crying for help. Walker needs to go and we need to get someone that listens to the people. All of the people.

An Undeniable Pattern

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Case in point is Jocelyn Webster (emphasis mine):

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

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

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

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

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

How Appropos!

Collective nouns for a group weasels include boogle, gang, pack and confusion.

Instead of calling it the Walker administration or the Walker campaign, I just might have to start referencing them as Walker's confusion and Walker's boogle, respectively.