Caucus Scandal 2011: Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Last month, I reported on the latest version of the caucus scandals.

In that story, I showed that the aides de camp for Paul Ryan, Jeff Fitzgerald and Scott Fitzgerald, as well as Scott Fitzgerald's chief fundraiser and "special friend" were conducting state business, well, gerrymandering, using private emails to avoid discovery by an Open Record Requests.

That story came to light after the Democrats regained control of the state senate, and by this, gained control of the emails and other documents related to the Republicans' gerrymandering.

But that was not the only story those treasures contained.

There is also the tale of the hits being ordered by Republican leaders on particular people that they wanted out of the way. Politically speaking, that is.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

The first hit was ordered by State Senator Leah Vukmir.

The Wisconsin State Journal skimmed the surface of the story when the documents and emails were first released:

In one email, state Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, offered these thoughts about redrawing her district: "Western Wauwatosa — yes (more GOP)," "West Milwaukee — No (forgot to mention this part of current district — VERY Dem" and "Milwaukee — cop wards if needed."

She also wrote in the May 4, 2011, message to Tad Ottman, an aide to then-Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, "This is such a big task. So glad we are in control!"

Ottman worked on the redistricting plan out of the office of law firm Michael Best & Friedrich, which helped write the plan.

Vukmir could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

But like I said, they only skimmed the surface, not wanting to dig too deep and expose the vile syndicate-style of management the Republicans thrive in.

To get the whole story, you have to go to the email itself. The gentle reader will note right off the bat the addresses being used were, just like in the Ryan/Fitzgerald story, private emails. Again, this was to keep things on the sly and away from the purview of anyone filing an ORR.

The first part of the email is what was highlighted in the paper. But the key part is that bottom, which the paper failed to report:

If you need a way to take the Staskunas seat, put a little bit of my Senate seat into New Berlin(2-3 wards could make that a GOP Assembly seat). Western West Allis/Eastern Bkfd and New Berlin are areas of like interest. (The previous Duff seat had parts of New Berlin, Elm Grove, Bkfd and West Allis)

Hope that helps!

Leah

As you can see, she was ordering the hit on Tony Staskunas, a moderate Democrat that had represented that area for a long, long time. But he was a Democrat and so he had to go!

Staskunas decided to retire after he saw how the district was rigged to strongly favor a Republican. The corrupt and greedy Joe Sanfelippo, Milwaukee County's only-part time supervisor, and one of the main players in the county having to pay out $4.5 million for the illegal furloughs, is aiming to buy that newly gerrymandered seat.

That one was pretty straightforward.

The next one is a little more complicated, but still easy enough to see.

In this story, the hitwoman is State Representative Michelle Litjens.

Here's the email:

Adam Foltz
To: Michelle Litjens

Michelle,
As per our conversation, here are the maps in question. Please delete these when you are done and don’t share with anyone outside of Robin, Fitz and I.

Thanks,

Adam

Again, the personal emails to avoid records requests. Also not the blatant reminder that they they are all part of the super-secret money-loving voter-hating club.

The maps referred to in the email are the old and new maps for the 55th Assembly District, represented for the psst 20 years by Republican Dean Kaufert.

Yes, you read that correctly. Litjens was ordering a hit on a fellow Republican.

Why? Well, Kaufert was not always the good, goose-stepping soldier they want in their ranks. He was a co-owner of a bar with Steve Foti, who gained his claim to fame in the first caucus scandal before becoming a lobbyist. Kaufert also ran against Mike Huebsch (yes, Scott Walker's Mike Huebsch) to be Speaker of the Assembly.

But the most likely reason is because Kaufert is one of the four Republican representatives who had the spine to stand up for the people of his district and voted against Act 10.

There's been a rumor that Walker and his crew were threatening Republican lawmakers with a primary against a teahadist candidate if they dared defy Dear Leader and his agenda of destruction.

As if to enforce that rumor, Kaufert did pick up a teahadist challenger named Jay Schroeder, who dubbed himself the "true conservative."

It should be noted that Schroeder lives in Menasha, which only got added to the 55th with the gerrymandering. Also noteworthy is that Litjens had more than a passing familiarity with Schroeder since he had once ran against her for the district he used to live in - before said gerrymandering, of course.

Scott Wittkopf recently pointed out that there was solid proof that Scott Walker and the Republicans were controlling the message by telling squawk radio hosts like Charlie Sykes, Vicki McKenna and Jerry Bader on what to say and what talking points they should use.

Of course, for my long time followers already knew this from the days I was writing more at Whallah! which did nothing but expose squawk radio for what it is - free advertisement and a campaigning outlet for Republicans.

To further strengthen, look at this obvious bit of collusion as the would be "media" go to work for Litjens agenda of getting Kaufert bounced in the primary:

• Media Trackers: Kaufert is a liberal
• Media Trackers: Kaufert a friend of WEAC
• Media Trackers: Kaufert's business partner is a cokehead (as opposed to being a Koch-head which is perfectly acceptable, and expected, in their circles)
• Media Trackers: Kaufert leads whisper campaign
• Mark Belling: Kaufert is a RINO and should run as a Democrat
• Jerry Bader: Kaufert is no good because he voted against Act 10

Yeah, nothing to see here, kids.

The funny thing is that despite the gerrymandering, despite the handpicked teahadist candidate and despite the coordinated attack by the Republican propaganda machine, Kaufert still won the primary by a full 30 points.

Maybe the Republicans aren't as infallible as they would like to think they are.

But keep in mind that this is but just two examples. And in both of these examples, they used private emails, secrecy pacts and purity tests to gain and maintain control of the legislature.

Not only is that extremist, that is also rather fascist.

The Backbone of Our Country

Is the Auto Industry and it has been getting much attention during this race(as it should) and it really shows the stark contrast between the two parties. 

We know that President Obama saved the American Auto Industry with a much needed loan.

We also know that while Paul Ryan did nothing to save the auto industry(he lost every single auto industry job in his district during his time in office. Not only did he do nothing to help, he is also trying to score political points on the back of his friends and neighbors!

Lyin' Ryan's new boss Mitt Romney would have been perfectly happy letting Detroit and the American Auto Industry go bankrupt!  

In the midst of our Bush recession, saving GM was a huge priority of helping us keep away from a depression.   Anyone who tells you we did not need to bail out the American car companies is not a serious player in the realm of ideas.    Without it our current system might have collapsed.  Besides, it is only fair since their competition get more government help than anyone! 

Thanks to President Obama for keeping our current auto industry open and for keeping this great country out of a depression!!!

Oops! He Did It Again!

A couple of weeks ago, Jeff pointed out Paul Ryan's hypocrisy regarding stimulus funding. Ryan has been railing about how the stimulus funds were so eeeeeeeeeevvvvvuuuuullll! Except, of course, when he wants some of the money for his earmark causes.

Damn those meddling kids!

Now we learn that the second verse is the same as the first. Just substitute Affordable Heathcare Act for stimulus funds.*

Yup, while Ryan has been preaching of the sins of Obamacare, he's been asking for some of that funding he just hates:

Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan is barnstorming the country, promising to repeal every provision of the Affordable Care Act if the Romney-Ryan ticket is elected. But a letter he wrote to the Obama administration may undermine this message.

On December 10, 2010, Ryan penned a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services to recommend a grant application for the Kenosha Community Health Center, Inc to develop a new facility in Racine, Wisconsin, an area within Ryan’s district. “The proposed new facility, the Belle City Neighborhood Health Center, will serve both the preventative and comprehensive primary healthcare needs of thousands of new patients of all ages who are currently without healthcare.

You can see the actual letter at the link.

And when confronted with this new discovery of another example of Ryan's hypocrisy, the Romney campaign came to his defense with a bald faced lie:

Brendan Buck, a spokesperson for the Mitt Romney campaign, responded to this story by claiming that this "grant program was created by President Bush, not Obamacare. This... type of misinformation is what you get from gotcha reporting on liberal blogs." Ryan's letter directly requests money from the HRSA-11-017 New Access Points program announced in August of 2010. This New Access Points grant program that Ryan requested money from is funded fully by the Affordable Care Act, a fact made clear on multiple government websites

.
Now be honest, when you read Team Romney's response, your first thought was the old Scooby Doo cartoons with the bad guys shaking their fists and saying "I'd've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids!", wasn't it?

Rob Zerban, who is challenging Ryan in his other race, the one for his congressional seat, had this to say about the new revelation:

"In his own words, Paul Ryan acknowledges that there are people of this district in desperate need of quality, preventative health care and treatment. Yet he continues to promote policies that would deny life-saving care - placing partisan politics over the needs of Wisconsin's middle class families. That's wrong. From his radical budget that ends traditional Medicare, to his support for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and Big Oil, Paul Ryan has failed to provide the middle class with opportunity, health care, and a fair tax system."

Speaking of that race, has Ryan even bothered to make any appearances in his home district since getting the nod to be Romney's running mate? Will he be willing to debate Zerban or does he think that the people in his district are happy with the status quo of having no jobs and no health insurance?

Seems rather elitist, doesn't it?

* Someone remind me to write a comparison between Ryan and Scott Walker. I'm starting to wonder who is the bigger weasel.

Little Too Little, Little Too Late

Far right wing blogger, tea party regular speaker, blogger and comedian Dr. Tim Nerentz has suspended his blog. He is taking an unspecified leave of absence!

For the moment, I have said everything I wish to say about economics, politics, business, government, candidates, parties, socialism, capitalism, and the virtue of living free.

   My reasons for taking a break are personal – there are a lot of other things that must get done, and I have no desire to risk either redundancy or irrelevance.      

Unfortunately for Dr. Tim, it appears its too late!   A couple years ago when I was at Blogging Blue, Dr. Tim and I had a long email exchange over one of his posts.  He seems like a very nice guy and our exchange was civil.   I finally offered him a deal, he could write a post and I would post it on BB and I would write one and he would post it on his site.  A little point/counter point of civil discussion reaching different readers.

Dr. Tim though had no interest in that, he only wanted to post on BB with no response from us.  the good doctor had no interest in discussion or compromise.  He had come to realize that there is pretty good money in throwing meat to the animals, and that is where his interest lay. As long as we have people like Dr. Tim it will make it that much harder to come together as a nation and solve our problems logically and sensibly!   Dr. Tim will not be missed.

Whole Lotta Dumb!

Tea Party Hate group leader, and Mark Neumann supporter Amy Kremer was on CNN recently and asked about her "tweet" that President Obama does not love our country they way Mitt Romney does!

Now we see why she gets along so well with Rebecca Kleefisch.  






There is not much there there!

Feel free to let Amy Kremer know your thoughts on Twitter - @amykremer

Call To Action! Tell The County Board To Override MTA Veto!

In June, the Milwaukee County Board passed a resolution to put the Move to Amend referendum on the November ballot with a 14-4 margin.

Last week, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele vetoed the referendum which would allow the people to tell Congress that corporations are not people, snidely comparing the people's voice to a "Facebook poll."

This coming Thursday, September 6, the County Board will be taking up the veto and will vote on whether to override Abele's veto.

It is imperative that you contact your county supervisor and tell them that the people must be heard and that you want them to override Abele's act of oligarchy.

You can reach them by calling 414-278-4222.  If you would rather call or email your supervisor directly, you can find their contact information here.

After you make your call and/or send your email, make sure that your family, your friends and your neighbors do so too.

Cross posted from Milwaukee County First.

Michelle Obama

Team Obama has put together a very moving tribute to Michelle Obama:



For some reason, I can't see the Republicans doing the same for Ann Romney. Not that she's not a good mother, but because, well, they're Republicans and don't respect women the way they should.

Paul Ryan Sells Out Janesville

Again!!

We know recently that Paul Ryan(with help from Scott Walker) tried to blame President Obama for the Janesville GM Plant closing.  We also know that Paul Ryan is an habitual liar. 

Despite being proven incredibly wrong on this issue, it did not stop the RMoney/rAyn campaign from putting out this disgusting video! 

Well we know that this attack not only is not true, it really shows that ryan is willing to use his friends and neighbors as political pawns.  Shame on him.  

One last thing about the video, Then candidate Obama had this to say.  

"If our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to retool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another 100 years.".  

Well it turns out then candidate Obama was correct,   had they gotten support from their government (like the way Toyota and Honda do), they might still be open today.

 However, that was the Bush era and no help was coming to anyone(who was not a defense contractor anyway) from the Government. 

Let's also not forget, that while the 1st congressional district of Wisconsin was once a thriving manufacturing district, it has lost every single auto job while it has been (poorly) represented by Janesville's own Paul Ryan.  

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!