Walkergate: Russell Goes For Broke

On August 16, Tim Russell last appeared in front of the Honorable David Hansher.

At that hearing, we learned that Parker c. Mathers, Russell's fifth attorney, was appointed to him through the Public Defender's office. I opined at the time that this meant that Russell was broke. I further pointed out that not only was Russell facing some serious time if convicted on the current embezzlement charges, but that he was also under investigation for other aspects of Walkergate, including misconduct in public office, à la Kelly Rindfleisch.

It appears that I was wrong, after all, and that Russell is going for broke on fighting the charges.

If the gentle reader will recall, Russell's previous attorney, Dennis Krueger, was playing a lot of games and trying the patience of both Judge Hansher and of the prosecutor, Bruce Landgraf. Krueger pushed things so far that Landgraf had taken the possibility of a plea bargain off the table.

At the hearing three weeks ago, Judge Hansher made it perfectly clear that he was tired of all of Russell's game-playing and stall tactics:

This fact is even recognized by the Honorable David Hansher, the judge presiding over the case, who allowed for this window as well as gave Attorney Mathers some hard advise:

Hansher said Thursday Mathers would have until Aug. 31 to seek to file any new motions in the case. Hansher warned Mathers that there had already been “tons of motions filed, some by (Russell’s) previous counsel that I considered frivolous.”

Hansher told lawyers in Russell’s case they should present any potential plea deal by Nov. 2. Russell’s trial is scheduled to start Dec. 3.

With Judge Hansher getting tired of all the delays in this case, and rightfully so, and a public defender who is a good but pragmatic lawyer, there is a good shot that Russell will be settling for a plea bargain much like Darlene Wink did.

If Russell has any sense of self-preservation and self-respect left, that is exactly what he will do.

Russell and Mathers apparently chose to ignore the Court's directives on both the frivolous motions and the deadlines.

Per court records, Mathers finally filed his motions on Tuesday, September 4, well after the deadline imposed by the Court.

And boy, his motions sure are doozies.

Mathers filed a motion to file a motion to have the district attorney disqualified, to have the charges dismissed and for an "information instanter," which is just an order for the requested information to be produced in a timely fashion.

Unless Mathers has a very compelling reason for asking the DA to be disqualified and all charges to be dropped, I don't believe that Judge Hansher is going to look to kindly on this stunt.

Most likely, Mathers is taking a page from the right wing's attempts to discredit the DA's office and the investigation. The utterly misnamed Citizens for a Responsible Government, who has yet to say a peep about any of Scott Walker's misdeeds, had teamed up with the ambulance chaser, Paul Bucher, to teach people how to undermine justice. The Koch News Network has been conflating every little thing they can to make the investigation to look bad. They've even have gone so far as to stalk staff members of the DA's office. Yet they've never have been able to offer any solid proof, but still throw about their innuendo and false inferences.

Their most recent focus has been on the John Doe case of former Milwaukee County Supervisor Johnny Thomas, who was found not guilty of taking bribes. Even the "serious reporter" John Mercure of WTMJ squawk radio interviewed Thomas and asked all sorts of leading questions, trying to get Thomas to lambaste the DA's office. By the way, Thomas had more class than that and wouldn't give them the soundbite they were hoping for.

Yet they have never once even tried to argue that Russell, Rindfleisch, or even Walker himself is innocent.

The three amigos: Tim Russell, Scott Walker
and Brian Pierick

In sum, the Walkerites are running scared and apparently have reason to believe that indictments are coming soon. In order to get a jump start on this, they have gone on the offensive, injecting smear, innuendo and outright lies to give themselves talking points when Walker is eventually charged. Fortunately, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm runs a tight ship and has given nothing, not one damn thing, for the squawkers and the propagandists to harp on.

And as noted above, despite their squawking, their propaganda and their shouts into the echo chamber, there has not been one claim of innocence. This is because like you, gentle reader, they know full well that when it comes to Walker and his crew of thugs, there's more. There's always more.

But given that Russell apparently doesn't know when to hold them and when to fold them, we know what we must do:

DNC Night 1

Last week we had the Republican National Convention in Tampa FL. The first night had to be postponed due to inclement weather(that had absolutely nothing to do with global climate change).

They had to push their key not speaker, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, back a day. Then he gave what was a very good speech at throwing red meat to the animals,but after further review you realized he gave a speech full of untruths and spent ALOT of time talking about his favorite subject:  Chris Christie! 

At least he was not distracted during this speech!



This week we have th Democratic National Convention from NC, and it started out with a bang!  While many of the speeches were great, the one that stood out to me was San Antonio, Texas Mayor Julian Castro.   This was the best speech, I have heard since a Senator from Illinois gave the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention!  





There is a definite difference between the two parties!!!  

Lyin' Ryan

Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.)  has been subject to the national spotlight and it is not going well for him!

Last week Ryan gave his VP Acceptance speech and he was immediately awarded , the "most dishonest convention speech ever".   It was so dishonest that even Fox news had to choice to but to call it out as pure BS!   Ryan filled his speech so full of BULLSH*T because he was betting on his true believers and the ignorance of the American people.  

Then we learned that Paul Ryan would lie about such things as his marathon time so there are no limits to what he will embellish. 

This lie left Ryan open to comparisons between himself and Rosie Ruiz, and Paul Krugman took full advantage!

 So what is this election about? To be sure, it’s about different visions of society — about Medicare versus Vouchercare, about preserving the safety net versus destroying it. But it’s also a test of how far politicians can bend the truth. This is surely the first time one of our major parties has run a campaign so completely fraudulent, making claims so at odds with the reality of its policy proposals. But if the Romney/Ryan ticket wins, it won’t be the last.

 You can leave your favorite Paul Ryan accomplishment here!

Now we know why Paul Rayn (R- Ayn Rand), was NOT the first choice of the people on the Romney campaign who want to win.   It seems that his reputation of lying has preceded him, amongst those in the know in DC. 

Campaign insiders say Romney was so determined to capture support of the tea party that reveres Ryan that he was “more than willing” to overlook the Congressman’s casual relationship with the truth.

“Paul Ryan is a loose cannon.  He’s Mitt Romney’s Sarah Palin and his involvement with the campaign will sink the Republican Party in this election,” said another GOP pro, who also asked to remain anonymous.

“When I heard Ryan was on the short list, my first reaction was ‘oh, Christ, here we go again,’ ” the longtime GOP operative said Sunday.  ”The man tells so many whoppers so often that I’m not sure he even knows when he’s lying.”

 Its gotten so bad that he can not even walk back lies without lying, and while walking them back he is compounding them! 

Hey though, have you heard Paul rAYN has a black ex-girlfriend(of course she supports President Obama)? It turns out the republican party is the big tent party. 

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What an embarrassment to our state the republicans have become!

Emerge Wisconsin's Statement of Solidarity on Labor Day

From the inbox:

Today, we celebrate and honor the workers who have fought for and continue to fight for the rights that, until now, have been taken for granted:

• the right to bargain a fair contract;

• the right to provide a comfortable living for our families;

• the right to join a union and speak out about our rights without fear and intimidation; and

• the right to be part of the middle class.

Emerge Wisconsin proudly supports a worker's right to organize. 
On Labor Day and every day, Emerge Wisconsin continues to stand with our friends and partners in organized labor.  We are proud that our training includes the history and appreciation of organized labor and all that we have because of the fights unions have taken on.
We are proud that Emerge continues to recruit and train women from labor to run for elected office - several of whom are seeking elective office this year.
Emerge Wisconsin believes that the pathway to winning back the stolen rights of workers includes the recruiting and training of more Democratic women to run for office.
Emerge Wisconsin proudly stands in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in labor and wish you a very happy and peaceful Labor Day.

For the purpose of full disclosure, I do some volunteer work for Emerge Wisconsin.

Ann Hates Dogs Too!

We have covered the story of how Mitt abused the family dog Seamus already, but Ann Romney can not leave well enough alone and doubled down on the story! 

I guess the dog loved being strapped to the top of the roof while he luggage was in the car.   So much so he ran away never to be heard from again!   Why does Ann Romney remind me of Leona Helmsly?  

In Ann's defense, when you live in a house like this(actual Rmoney compoun), no wonder the dog wanted on the roof, no where for him to run!   

The Wisconsin Humane society begs to differ!!!!

It's The Inequality Stupid!

Robert Reich at truth out gives us an important lesson regarding unions, elections and Republicans:

Republicans claim the rich are job creators. Nothing could be further from the truth. In order to create jobs, businesses need customers. But the rich spend only a small fraction of what they earn. They park most of it wherever around the world they can get the highest return.

The real job creators are the vast middle class, whose spending drives the economy and creates jobs.

But as the middle class's share of total income continues to drop, it cannot spend as much as before. Nor can most Americans borrow as they did before the crash of 2008 — borrowing that temporarily masked their declining purchasing power.
As a result, businesses are reluctant to hire. This is the main reason why the recovery has been so anemic.

As wealth and income rise to the top, moreover, so does political power. The rich are able to entrench themselves by lowering their taxes, gaining special tax breaks (such as the "carried interest" loophole allowing private equity and hedge fund managers to treat their incomes as capital gains), and ensuring a steady flow of corporate welfare to their businesses (special breaks for oil and gas, big agriculture, big insurance, Big Pharma, and, of course, Wall Street).

All of this squeezes public budgets, corrupts government, and undermines our democracy. The issue isn't the size of our government; it's who our government is for. It has become less responsive to the needs of most citizens and more to the demands of a comparative few.

The Republican response – as we saw dramatically articulated this past week in Tampa – is to further reduce taxes on the rich, defund programs for the poor, fight unions, allow the median wage to continue to fall, and oppose any limits on campaign contributions or spending.

It does not take a great deal of brainpower to understand this strategy will lead to an even more lopsided economy, more entrenched wealth, and more corrupt democracy.

And Now For The Rest Of The Furlough Story

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that the illegal furloughs Scott Walker unilaterally imposed on Milwaukee County employees has a tab of $4.5 million. But there are some serious omissions and inaccuracies in their report.

You can find the full story, including the much higher price tag as well as the name of the culprits, at Milwaukee County First.

The fact that the newspaper chose to write the story as they have, as well as the story itself, raises a number of immediate questions in my mind:

1. Why did the newspaper omit the fact that Walker's original claim of a budget crisis in 2009 was found to be a lie?
2. Why did the newspaper omit the fact that the second budget crisis in 2010 was self-imposed?
3. Why did the newspaper omit the fact that the ruling by WERC was based on bad faith bargaining?
4. What if Abele hadn't stalled on the payout until after the recall election? 
5. Would that have affected the outcome of the election?
6. Why did the newspaper omit the name of Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo, who cost the taxpayers nearly $20 million in lost savings when the unions offered to forgive more than half of the payout as well as give concessions on health care and pension costs?  Related: Does the omission of Sanfelippo's name have to do with the fact that Sanfelippo, a teahadist, is running for the state assembly?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Give Paul Ryan Some Credit!

Capper wrote recently about Paul Ryan (R - Wall St), and his slight exaggeration of his marathon time. Andy Borowitz has been writing non stop about Paul Ryan's accomplishments! 

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—In a dramatic narrative that could upstage this week’s Democratic National Convention, Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wisc.) gave reporters today a detailed account of the fateful day he killed Osama bin Laden.

So I think, since we all know and love Paul Ryan and his accomplishments, tell us your favorite!   

My personal favorite is when he won the iditarod back in the 90's and the 7 Gold Medals in the 1972 Olympics.....

Rumor has it Disney has bought the rights to his life, to star in the World's Greatest Athlete Sequel!

Labor Day In Fitzwalkerstan 2012

So today was Labor Day.

Not that you'd know it from the local paper. The only way one could tell it was Labor Day from the paper would be the Labor Day sales ads and one small blurb at the bottom of the entertainment section saying that Laborfest was today.

You wouldn't know it from the Republicans either, unless you count Paul Ryan using the holiday for shilling for his campaign swag. Like Romney's and the Koch's and Adelson's hundreds of millions of dollars weren't enough.

Well, you do have Lance Burri, Glenn Grothman's chief of staff, cracking jokes about Labor Day and women as well. (Grothman is a much better fit for the lying, misogynistic Burri than his previous boss, Mary Lazich, who is just stupid.)*

I'm not surprised that we have heard anything from Walker or the rest, since they've declared open war on the working men and women of Wisconsin and are poised to enact Right To Work But Not Get Paid For It legislation at the beginning of the new year. They also don't want to attract attention to the fact that Walker has lost more jobs than he has created since he's taken office and imposed his anti-Wisconsin agenda.

My colleague, Meg, did a very nice write up about the true meaning and importance of labor day. She listed just some of the many things that organized labor has brought into being:

Weekends.
Health insurance.
Breaks.
Paid vacations and sick leave.
Time off.
Workers Compensation.
Unionization of the workplace.
8 hour work days.
End of exploitative child labor.
Women's workplace rights.
End of workplace discrimination

I would add a few things to that.

One would be that unions also help prevent retaliation by the employers. The end result of losing this right will be one of two things.

One, the good workers will move on to other jobs, and other states, where they can be treated with respect and be allowed personal freedom to do what they want on their own time. You will be then left with the incompetent suck-ups, like most of Walker's cronies.

The other possibility is that these issues, will be resolved in the courts, costing the employers a lot more money than if they had a grievance procedure in place.

I would also point out that unions benefit everyone, whether they work in the public or the private sector and whether or not they are even union members. Unions, by negotiating with the employers, are able to set a prevailing wage. Non-union shops then will have to match those salaries and benefits or risk losing their best workers to the union shops.

This is why the so-called "right to work" states tend to have, on average, salaries that are $5,000 to $6,000 less than unionized states. I would also point out that with the higher salaries, people are able to buy more things and help stimulate and support the economy. That is exemplified here in Fitzwalkerstan. As Walker has taken money away from the workers, the economy has tanked and there are less businesses and jobs than when he took over as governor. In other words, it ain't working!

Jake at his Playhouse demonstrates how the unions have kept the middle class strong and that there is a direct correlation between the weakening of the unions and the lowering of wages and the diminishing of the middle class.

I would also point out, as I did last year, the US Department of Labor's explanation of the history of Labor Day (emphasis mine):

he form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

It is not shocking at all that as the country has moved more to a corporate nation status, thanks to the Republicans and corporate Democrats, that the economy has gone in the toilet and we are still mired in a recession, the second one in the past decade.

If Romney, Ryan, Walker, Chris Abele and the rest of them really wanted to go back to the good old days when jobs were much more plentiful and people were able to achieve the American dream, they'd be working with the unions and not against them.

*BTW, someone with more time and money than I might want to do an Open Record's request on Burri's state computer.

Irony of the Day

Screencapped from Paul Ryan's own Facebook timeline

Compare/Contrast: President Obama v Scott Walker

I have always liked to compare/contrast the two parties and here is another great example! President Obama has been roundly criticized for not garnering relationships with many lawmakers and major donors, etc...

Top Obama donors began grumbling on the first day of the Administration. “The swearing-in was the beginning of pissing off the donors,” a longtime Washington fund-raiser says. “During the inaugural weekend, they didn’t have the capacity to handle all the people who had participated at the highest levels, because there were so many.” One middle-aged widow, from whom the fund-raiser had secured fifty thousand dollars, got four tickets to the swearing-in, but none of them were together. “She was so offended!” the fund-raiser says. “And I got no credit, by the way, for bringing her in. Important donors need to be cultivated so that they’re there four years later.”

Yet President Obama has a different reason for not kissing his top donors and Congress's ass...

"Sometimes Michelle and I not doing the circuit and going out to dinners with folks is perceived as us being cool," Obama said in a interview with CNN slated to air Monday evening. "It actually really has more to do with us being parents. When we're in town here in Washington in the evenings, 6:30 we want to be at the dinner table with our kids. And I want to be helping with their homework."

Obama has taken heat from major Democratic donors who have felt snubbed by the president's apparent aversion to schmoozing. However, Obama insists that's not the case.

"I think that's sometimes interpreted as me not wanting to be out there slapping backs and wheeling and dealing," Obama said. "It really has more to do with the stage we are in our lives."

 As a father I truly respect that!   Now let's check in to Wisconsin and compare that with our current Governor!

Scott Walker who also has two children(unlike MacIver Institute we will not use their names and faces for political points), yet the one thing the Scott Walker cares about is out of state fundraisers and Billionaire republicans! 

OKLAHOMA CITY — The preacher's son laughed and joked as he took a seat among the biggest players in Oklahoma politics, some of whom paid $10,000 to break bread with their conservative hero and get a photo snapped.

It was just another day on the road for Scott Walker. A year after his showdown with labor protesters, the Wisconsin governor has become one of the most sought-after figures in the Republican Party, keeping a jet-setting travel schedule more akin to a presidential candidate than a governor trying to survive a recall challenge.

Walker now regularly huddles with the wealthy and the famous. He attended a Christmas party thrown by Grover Norquist, the conservative power broker, and raised money with Hank Greenberg, founder and former CEO of American International Group, at his Manhattan office.

Last week, he mingled with Oklahoma's corporate elite and top Republicans at a fundraiser co-sponsored by Koch Industries, the oil company led by billionaire brothers who are top backers of conservative causes nationwide. Also in attendance were executives from Devon Energy Corp., which is building a 50-story tower that is changing the Oklahoma City skyline.
........

Walker is getting similar reactions all across the country. He's been to California, New York, Texas, Arizona, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida just to name a few. On Friday, he was in St. Louis to receive the National Rifle Association's Harlon B. Carter Legislative Achievement Award, the highest honor conferred by the gun-rights group.

Whats Funnier Than A Mass Shooting?

To the NRA and Governor Walker not to much! 

CAMERON GRAY, NRA NEWS PRODUCER: Governor, after you signed concealed carry in Wisconsin -- I was your first interview, it's good to talk to you again -- since then how has the Wild West been? How have the crazy shootouts been? How out of control are the shootings in Wisconsin? [laughter]

GOV. SCOTT WALKER: Well as you can imagine all the hysteria went just the opposite way. Actually, you know one of the most interesting things is when I go to deployments -- deployments of members of the National Guard from Wisconsin -- I get members of the National Guard that come up and thank me for that. And more often than not it's female members of the Guard who come up and thank me. And actually many times they pull out their concealed carrier card and ask me to sign it in person for them. But none of the hysteria, none of the bad things we heard talked about. Instead what we saw was law-abiding citizens having the ability to exercise the right to protect not only themselves but their family and property.

Of course except for the Sikh Temple Mass Shooting where 7 people died and others injured, but whats a mass shooting with National Attention amongst friends???

 We could also ask Bo Morrison if any of the bad things happened, but he is dead!

Go Team! Do It For The Fibber!

This is hilarious!

Over the weekend, Paul Ryan paid a visit to his alma mater, Miami of Ohio. It was nothing more than a typical campaign stop, but Ryan thought he'd outdo Knute Rockne by stopping in the locker room and getting the team pumped up for a win.

Hilarity ensued:



I don't know which is funnier - the obvious fact that Ryan had no idea what he was doing or the confused look on the players' faces when he was done with his gibberish.

Indeed, Yahoo News reports:

In fact, the 45-second rah-rah was wildly disjointed as Ryan got his facts about Ohio State's record against teams in the state of Ohio backward. He tells the Redhawks that he's proud of them and then he asks them to go out and make him proud. Then he awkwardly finished with, "And make it… count."

It was good of Ryan to take the time to stop in and chat with the team, but I bet several of the players had no idea who he was (they are college students and probably not all registered voters).

Ryan then went up to a luxury box to watch some of the game with Ohio Representative Pat Tiberi and then left early.

Per ABC news, Ryan had the same effect for the team as he does for budget plans, and takes about as much responsibility for it:

When he left his team was winning 3-0. But, that didn’t last long.

By the time the vice presidential candidate was in the air on his way to a joint rally with the top of the ticket his alma mater was losing to Ohio State 35-10.

Reporters wanted to see what he thought of his university’s change in fortune, so they rolled an orange down the aisle on the flight from Columbus to Jacksonville.

The candidate rolled it back with a message: “We were winning when I was there. Paul.”
Miami of Ohio eventually did lose by an even bigger margin: 56-10.

I'd expect that by Thursday, he'll be telling people he suited up when the quarterback took ill and led the team to win the Rose Bowl and the Superbowl.

H/T Daily Kos

The Kick The Can Champion Of Fitzwalkerstan

As Milwaukee County Executive, Scott Walker was a master of kicking the can down the road at budget time. He'd do things like let repairs slide; not pay the bills; lay off workers until programs stopped working, knowing that any lawsuits would be months or even years down the line; dip into reserved funding; and even just draw up illegal budgets knowing that the repercussions wouldn't be felt until he was safely out of that office. Then he would declare a surplus when there was nearly a billion dollars in debt taxpayers were facing.

As governor, we see that Walker is still the Kick the Can Down the Road champion of Fitzwalkerstan. Again we see him extending the state's debt, raiding the transportation fund (not to mention preparing to raid the pension fund), and cutting services which are leading to greater expenses.

But Walker has learned a new twist. Not only is he kicking the can down the road, but he is kicking it to trip up the local governments and school districts.

To exemplify this, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently had an article about the future budgets of a "Fairly Normal" school district:

A year ago, Borch's analysis showed that things were going to be OK in Fairly Normal in the first year of the new financial realities. State aid went down, but employees paid a bigger share of health and retirement costs. The bottom line actually improved from what it would have been under the old system of increasing state aid and generous employee benefits.

In the second year, things weren't so good, and Fairly Normal had to dip into its "fund balance," which is pretty much like its long-term savings account. Years Three and Four get worse. By Year Five, which would be 2015-'16, Fairly Normal is running a big deficit, has used up all its savings and can't pay all its bills. I'm not exactly sure what we would call that when it happens to a unit of government in Wisconsin, but in other circumstances, I believe it's called bankruptcy.

Why did this happen? This is how I'd put it: Let's say your boss cut your pay. But he also helped you cover some of your expenses. For a year, it worked out to be pretty much a wash, and things were generally OK.

The next year, the boss gave you a little bit more pay, but your expenses started going up again. Things were not quite so OK. Same thing in the third year and fourth year. By the fifth year, it was ugly. You'd used up all your savings and you still couldn't pay your bills.

That's what is developing for Fairly Normal. As things stand, revenue stays pretty flat. But even without teachers unions having a say, expenses start climbing again. There are some modest raises, increases in health costs, costs for retirees and so on. Borch factors into his model that a lot of senior teachers retire due to changes in benefits and are replaced by younger teachers with lower salaries. (This is happening, in general.)

It's now a year since Borch first showed what he forecast for Fairly Normal. Things are developing pretty much as he envisioned, except a little less cheery on the bottom line. His forecasts now extend out an additional year and are looking like big financial problems loom for Fairly Normal.

The article goes on to cite a number of different possibilities to avoid the inevitable bankruptcy, including cutting even more teachers, cutting benefits even more (which would also reduce the number of good teachers), raising taxes and major program cuts.

I'd bet my bottom dollar that Walker is thinking that he will be out of the governor's chair by the time his bill is due, either in someone's cabinet or even as president himself.

But while Walker gets to celebrate being champion can kicker and parties hearty, we get stuck with the tab and the hangover.

The Difference Between Fitzwalkerstan And Michigan

Meet Paul Smith, a city councilman from Sterling Heights, Michigan. Please pay attention to the signs that Mr. Smith is holding in this taped interview, courtesy of Crooks & Liars, and keep in mind that he is an elected official:

 For more background, here is an excerpt of a story which appeared in The Detroit News:

In the video posted on YouTube, Smith, a tea party member, displayed signs showing illustrations of the impaled head of the president, then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm with a noose around her neck and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with bullet holes in her face. The signs also included slurs against undocumented immigrants and gay people. [...] Reached Wednesday, Smith said he sees nothing offensive about the images, which he said were "good old First Amendment speech." "Yeah, it's harsh, but it's a harsh world, it's a harsh game," Smith said. "As long as you don't use a real weapon, it's fair game."

Now, we've had our own fair share of these nut job Teapublicans in Fitzwalkerstan, serving in the state legislature, the governor's office and even the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. Hell, we've even sent some of these damned fools to Washington. So, while I find that Mr. Smith's behaviors are of course offensive and regrettable, they aren't shocking. What did amaze me is their reaction to Smith's outrageous behaviors:

The City Council called for Councilman Paul Smith to resign over a video that shows him holding inflammatory signs depicting violence against President Barack Obama and others during a tea party rally in 2009. The council on Wednesday passed a resolution, 6 to 1, with Smith the "no" vote, urging Smith to resign. He is in his first term on the council. Mayor Pro Tem Michael Taylor said he began drafting the resolution after he saw the video. He described the images in the video, which runs 3minutes and 15 seconds, as "incredibly disturbing." "It's beyond unreasonable for anyone to do, and it's obvious we're dealing with someone who is completely irrational," he said.

Mind. Blown.

They're actually holding this goof accountable for his behaviors and taking him to task for them.

If Mr. Smith was in Fitzwalkerstan, he'd be defended by squawk radio and right wing bloggers. Then Media Trackkkers, MacGuyver Institute and Fitzwalkerstan Distorter and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel would suck up to him and call him a state hero. He'd end up getting a cushy spot, with a hefty raise, in Scott Walker's administration.

And if anyone were to criticize him or boo him, well, it'd be that person that would be harassed and pilloried for it.

If you don't believe me, look at what happens every time Robin Vos, Glenn Grothman, either Fitzgerald, either Kleefisch or Scott Walker opens their mouth.