Call To Action - Defend Public Education

From WEAC:

Defend Public Education - Email Your State Legislators  It is no secret that the powers that be in the state legislature and the governor's office seek to radically alter public education as we have known it in Wisconsin. The first volley in the new legislative session comes in the form of Assembly Bill 549 - a bill to expand privately run charter schools across Wisconsin with resources meant for public schools. AB549 is scheduled for a public hearing before the Committee on Urban Education on Thursday, Jan. 9. Even if you can't be there, you can register your opposition and disgust to your legislators and the committee by visiting WEAC's Action Alert Website. The clear intent of AB549 is to rapidly expand privately run charter schools at the expense of public schools. These schools are not accountable to communities and their locally elected school boards. They are not staffed by school district employees. Ample research on privately run charter schools shows that they do not perform as well as public schools that serve the same students. The basic facts about privately run charter schools are: 1) They can set the number of slots for students. Unlike our public schools, they are not required to serve all children. They have no obligation to take students on in the middle of a school year. 2) They can set behavioral and academic standards that promote the exclusion of certain students. Gaming the system by "cherry picking" and "shedding" students is how many "high performing" charter operators boost their test scores and claim success. 3) They deprive families and communities of important rights like due process for expulsions, services for special needs students, local election of school governance and open records/meetings requirements. Please take a minute to email your state legislators urging them to oppose AB 549 and further expansion of unaccountable, privately run charter schools. More Background from the Institute for Wisconsin's Future Wisconsin's public schools are the heart of every community in our state and the best way possible to give all children a shot at a world-class education. AB549 chokes off the flow of blood to that heart by taking power out of the hands of locally elected school boards, spreading for-profit schools across the state, and doing it with resources meant for our public school children. AB549 is bad for our children, bad for our public schools, and bad for the way of life we call Wisconsin. Tell the members of the Committee that public education works, we need to reinvest in our world-class public schools, and they should protect the local control that has worked in our communities for well over a century. AB549 expands charter schools not controlled by local school districts. The expansion of independent charters and other so-called education reforms have been made a priority by Assembly speaker Robin Vos, who said bills will be included in the session that begins soon .... a session Vos said he wants to end by March. That could explain why the bill was referred to the Assembly Committee on Urban Education instead of the "regular" education committee where it would probably receive more consideration and thoughtful discussion. It is also, oddly, the only bill assigned to the committee (a group that has only came into existence recently). The main sponsors, a pair of legislators who have authored more than their share of anti-public education bills, are Senator Alberta Darling and Representative Dale Kooyenga. According to the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB), AB549 makes possible a statewide expansion of independent charter schools and makes it possible for students in any district to attend an independent charter school located anywhere in the state. If adopted, this legislation would allow the University of Wisconsin System schools (two-year and four-year campuses) and technical colleges to authorize independent charter schools in the county in which they are located or an adjacent county. It allows cooperative educational service agencies (CESA's) to authorize independent charters within their boundaries. Perhaps most importantly in the short-run, AB549 has profound and negative school-funding implications. Under the bill, per-pupil payments for all of these new "schools" would come from a reduction in general aid paid to every public school district in the state. Currently, that would be about $64 million statewide that will only grow if this bill is passed. Our public schools are part of every community in the state. Their job is to make sure every child has the opportunity for a world-class education. Our job, through our elected officials, is to make sure that those communities have the resources to deliver those opportunities. Instead, with bills like AB549 state government is trying to defund and destroy what has worked so well for all of us. You need to tell your legislators you expect their vote to uphold public education as a value we all hold dear ...  and that you will hold them accountable for doing just that.

Clarke Needs To Return Award

Last year, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke was named "Sheriff of the Year" by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), an extreme right-wing collection of nut jobs.  Among some of the questionable things that have come from the CSPOA was their stands that the federal government was a bigger threat than terrorists and that they wanted to nullify any federal laws with which they didn't agree.

When confronted by Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on their level of nuttiness, Clarke said he was proud of the award:

"I am extremely proud and humbled at the same time for this recognition by an association of my peers," Clarke said in a statement.

Then he added: "Have you ever been recognized by an association of writers as Journalist of the Year? If you ever are, and I read about it, I will congratulate you, not try to poop on your recognition."

The CSPOA are again in the news for taking their nuttiness to a new level, wanting to take Utah back from the homosexuals:

On Saturday, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) organized what it called an “uprising” in Utah to protest a federal court’s decision that struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby struck down the ban, then upheld his ruling three days later, leading Utah conservatives to take extreme measures to oppose it.

The CSPOA’s “uprising” consisted of a meeting in which a standing-room only crowd of same-sex marriage opponents watched PowerPoint presentations about the federal government overstepping its authority. Organizers and speakers claim that Governor Gary Herbert has failed the people of Utah, and that it is up to the sheriff’s to “take back” the state from “the homosexuals.”

Former Graham County, Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack said that “[t]he people of Utah have rights, too, not just the homosexuals. The homosexuals are shoving their agenda down our throats.”

Now that the CSPOA has crossed the line and is espousing blatant bigotry, it's time for Clarke to denounce the group and return the award that these crackpots gave him.  Unless, that is, he feels that he is somehow being honored by having his name tied to a group of homophobic goofs.  If Clarke doesn't return his award, we can only presume that he agrees with the homophobic stance of this group, making him unfit for office.

Now, I really don't expect Clarke to suddenly change course and do the right thing by returning the award and distancing himself from these reprobates.  After all, we are talking about a guy that is willing to bend the law enough to keep Fran McLaughlin, one of Scott Walker's former staffers who did politicking on county time, as his mouthpiece.

What I do expect is for people to get fed up with Clarke and his crazy antics and his bigoted friends and ousting him by voting for Chris Moews.  It's time for Milwaukee County to stand up for itself and get rid of this sideshow clown that we have for a sheriff now.

The Battle For Milwaukee

Via a Huffington Post article written by  Michael B. Sauter and Thomas C. Frohlich, we are referred to a report from 24/7 Wall Street which ranked the largest 100 cities in the country based on how well the cities are being run.

Image courtesy of
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Milwaukee did not do very well at all, coming in as the tenth worst ran city in the nation:

10. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
> Population: 599,000 (28th largest)
> Credit rating: Aa2, stable
> Violent crime per 100,000: 1,294 (10th highest)
>; 2012 Unemployment rate: 10.1% (27th highest)

Milwaukee struggles with poverty and high crime rates. Last year, a typical household made just over $34,000, and nearly 30% of people lived beneath the poverty line, considerably worse than the country’s figures. There were nearly 1,300 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2012, more than three times the national rate of 387 violent crimes per 100,000 people. The city’s socioeconomic problems were among the reasons Moody’s assigned Milwaukee a Aa2 rating. The agency also expressed management-related concerns, specifically highlighting the city’s debt burden and the complexity of its debt financing.

Unsurprisingly, people like the race baiters at White Wisconsin used this to take jabs at Mayor Tom Barrett.  Lefties are turning around and trying to put the blame on Scott Walker and the Teapublican legislature.

But to lay this at the feet of any one individual is terribly naive and ignorant.  This has been happening for generations and has a root that is deeper on the right than on the left, although it is very pervasive on both sides.

The problems listed in the report has a lot to do with the ongoing racism in this city and this state.

In April 2013, Milwaukee was found to be the most segregated area of the nation.  I pointed out at that time that the segregation was happening on more than just a geographical level.

For decades, Milwaukee school children have been getting set apart by having a large portion of their education funding diverted to support the education privatizers and profiteers, even though these private schools have been repeatedly been shown to be worse than public education.  Not only has the problem never been corrected, in recent years, the siphoning of funds has been greater, making it even more difficult for children to get a good education.

Milwaukee is also segregated electorally.  First there is Scot Walker and the Teapublican legislature reinstating Jim Crow laws and poll taxes, making it harder for many minorities to vote.  Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele furthered the problem by diminishing the representative government the county once enjoyed.  At least locally, it's now harder to vote and you have less of a voice even when you do vote.

Speaking of losing one's voice, let us not forget the bias in the media.  Radio station aimed at a black audience can't stay on the air while WTMJ teams up with the Koch-funded Club for Growth to keep spewing their race baiting.

Along the same line, a gas station in Washington County can make the news in Milwaukee, but the escalated wave of crime in the city itself barely gets mentioned.  It's as if the corporate media wants people to believe that the money from a exurban gas station is more important than the life of a young black man in the inner city.  Oh, wait, that's exactly what they are doing.

Milwaukee's segregation is also economical.  Abele fights any and all efforts to have a minimum wage come to Milwaukee.  Mayor Tom Barrett went against the will of the people and squashed the law requiring paid sick time for workers in the city.  On top of that, there are the Teapublicans that are looking for any chance they get to cut people off of unemployment, food stamps and Badger Care.

And when one considers the other constant issues of segregation, like how a black man has a one in three chance of being incarcerated, it's not surprising that things are going to hell in a handbasket.

All of this ingrained racism, segregation and oppression is really brought home in a blog post written by a former Milwaukeean who eloquently speaks of her experiences here:

I am fully aware that what plagues my family and so many people in Milwaukee is a combination of poor public policy, mass segregation, over incarceration and an even poorer education system. I chose to move away from Milwaukee not the work. I choose to focus my energy and adult working life on public policies where zip code doesn’t dictate destiny, where parental income doesn’t so easily transfer, where schoolhouses can be an oasis of hope.

I left my burden somewhere on the sidewalk cracks of Hadley Street on the north side of Milwaukee just as I would in the torn up rubble of the Cabrini Green housing projects in Chicago. I’ll never get Milwaukee tattooed on my chest. I probably will never be able to vacation with my family members in some incredible safari resort in Kenya and many of them will likely never board a plane to see what life is like for their cousin, sister, friend in Brooklyn. And while I continue to mourn that Huxatble dream of going back ‘home’ to a place that is safe, supportive, and where people understand me, I’ve learned that the best I could do is be safe, supportive, and understanding to them.

I learned from Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie that: stories matter. I learned that stories empower, humanize and can also repair broken dignity. But, as Ms. Adichie often says, this is just one story. It is just one story of Milwaukee and the memories I bury at the airport each and every time I board my plane back to my home where my friends, job and family await me on the East Coast. I will reminiscence about Milwaukee as my grandparents once did of Mississippi, as a place with much history but with no future for me.

Things can get better, but only when we start raising all of our boats and not those of a select few.  The majority of citizens in the City of Milwaukee are African American. It is utter foolishness to think that you can hold down the majority of the population and have any kind of success.

We need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. We need to allow people to take off for sick children without fear of losing their jobs or their homes.  We need to allow all people to have an equal voice and has an equal chance.  Most of all, we need to call out and condemn the racism that permeates almost every aspect and region of not only Milwaukee but all of Wisconsin.

And if our elected officials - regardless of what party they are in- refuse to make these things happen, we need new leaders who will.  The corporatization of our country has gone too far.  We need to start taking our city, our county, our state and our country back.

But as long as we keep electing politicians that are more worried about the corporate special interests and their money than the people they're supposed to be representing, don't expect things to get better.  They would rather play the same game of finger pointing every time one of these reports comes out instead of actually leading.

Preventing Progress

By Jeff Simpson

As a cancer survivor, I found this article in th NY Times very interesting!

The newest cancer report, which came out in mid-December, put the best possible face on things. If one accounts for the advancing age of the population — with the graying of the baby boomers, death itself is on the rise — cancer mortality has actually been decreasing bit by bit in recent decades. But the decline has been modest compared with other threats. 

A graph from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells the story. There are two lines representing the age-adjusted mortality rate from heart disease and from cancer. In 1958 when the diagram begins, the line for heart disease is decisively on top. But it plunges by 68 percent while cancer declines so slowly — by only about 10 percent — that the slope appears far less significant.

The political observer in me found this part of the article the most interesting:

OVER all, the most encouraging gains are coming from prevention. Worldwide, some 15 to 20 percent of cancers are believed to be caused by infectious agents. With improvements in refrigeration and public sanitation, stomach cancer, which is linked to Helicobacter pylori bacteria, has been significantly reduced, especially in more developed parts of the world. Vaccines against human papilloma virus have the potential of nearly eliminating cervical cancer. 

Where antismoking campaigns are successful, lung cancer, which has accounted for almost 30 percent of cancer deaths in the United States, is steadily diminishing. More progress can be made with improvements in screening and by reducing the incidence of obesity, a metabolic imbalance that, along with diabetes, gives cancer an edge.

Let's see improvements in prevention have significantly lowered cancer, yet our friends on the right(especially the tea party) have seriously and recently, fought every single one of these preventions!  From

*   People having refrigeration;

*  The human papilloma virus vaccine;

*  The public Smoking ban;

*  The efforts to curb obesity in America, especially childhood obesity. 

So technically it is true that the republicans would oppose President Obama if he came up with a cure for cancer!  

Tell me why people vote republican again?

Endorsement: Kelly Westlund For Congress

About a month ago, Kelly Westlund announced her candidacy for the 7th Congressional District. taking on incumbent Sean Duffy, best known for his gig as a reality TV star.

Kelly Westlund

Westlund was gracious enough to give me a considerable amount of her time for an interview regarding her campaign.

The first question I asked is why she chose to enter the race.  She replied that she was "frustrated that I had a representative that votes in favor of campaign donors over constituents."  She said that working people in the district were not being represented and did not have a voice in Congress.

She also stated that she did felt it was wrong that Duffy would avoid his constituents and talk down to people who would question or disagree with him.  She said that this was not the way elected officials on any level of government should treat their constituents.

Westlund is correct on this, as it has been evidenced on video repeatedly.

As an example of how out of touch Duffy is with the district, she pointed out that he voted to cut food stamps even though 1 in 4 children in the district rely on them.

She is correct on this as well.  Duffy himself expressed surprise at how many people in the district are struggling, even as he did nothing to help them with unemployment compensation.

I asked Westlund what issues were going to be primary for her campaign.

She said that she wanted to:

• Raise the minimum wage;
• Expand the Affordable Care Act to include things like a public option and the ability to negotiate on drug prices;
• Securing and expanding Social Security and Medicare; and 
• Addressing student load rates.

Regarding the student loan rates, Westlund pointed out that it was just crazy that the banks who crashed the economy get better rates than students.  

Westlund said that she is also in strong opposition to the Penokee iron mine.  She said that the districts GOP have already labeled her as being against jobs because of this, but she pointed out that the mine proponents are the ones that are willing to sacrifice jobs for the interests of an out of state company.  She said that many of the jobs up there deal with tourism, fishing and other outdoor activities.  She said that the mine presents too great of a risk to the environment and all of the jobs that rely on the pristine water, land and air which attracts so many people and businesses.

Westlund added one thing that stood out to me and would have won me over if I wasn't already leaning in her support.  

She said that the corporatization of our government - by either party - is just wrong.  She added that people need to take responsibility for government, but they can't do that when they are working two or three jobs just to make ends meet, keep a roof over their head and food on their table.

I asked Westlund what kind of reception she was getting from the people.  She told me that she was overwhelmed by the amount of support she is receiving.  She said that she is getting support from unexpected areas.  

On a humorous note, she pointed out that her parents, who are Republican, will be voting for a Democrat for the very first time.

She told me that she has already received the endorsement from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, the same group who helped Elizabeth Warren into office.

I should also point out that Jim Miller, the head of the GOP for that district, knows that Duffy is so vulnerable that at the first hint that Westlund was running, bought up all the domain names he could think of and set up a fake website.  From what I've heard, it has not been received very well.  I tried to Google the domains, but did not find any active.

Westlund has been married for four and a half years and has no children, but is very close to her niece and nephew.  

She currently holds the office of City Councilor in Ashland.  She also is experienced as a small business women, helping a local food cooperative to promote local markets and sustainability.

She has a degree in conflict resolution from Northland College, which should prove to be invaluable in Washington, D.C.  Westlund is also an alumna of Emerge Wisconsin and Leadership Wisconsin, both programs that train future leaders and will be useful in getting herself to Washington.  

In summary, I think that Westlund is a wonderful candidate and is taking all the right steps in these early stages of her campaign.  She is showing a strong connection to the people in the 7th CD.  She is taking the very important step of reaching out and wanting to hear what the people think and feel instead of telling them what they should think and feel.  She has her priorities straight and is genuine in her approach.

In light of her considerable knowledge of the issues that are most important to her constituents, her willingness to reach out and find viable solutions and her emphasis on people over corporate special interests, I am proud to endorse Kelly Westlund for Congress and hope that you will join me in doing so.

To learn more about Westlund, please visit her website and her Facebook page.  You can show your support for Westlund by making a donation and by signing up as an endorser on the PCCC page.

ADDENDUM:  Just to be careful, I confirmed with Westlund that there is nothing on the Intertubes that she might be embarrassed by.   That is something  that Duffy cannot say.

Ghost of Wisconsin Yet To Come

By Jeff Simpson



I have said numberous times that when someone tells you who they are, you should listen!   Recently Rebecca Kleefisch had a secret "tax round table" discussion at Beloit College with local business 'leaders".  

Rebecca, who basically let us know what to expect if she receives a second term, let us have the quote of the year:

"We want to know how we can love you more," Rebecca Kleefisch told the group of about 30 executives, managers, accountants and others during the 1-hour, 40-minute session.

 As the inimitable Charles Pierce points out:  Now Becky is not the brightest bulb in an admittedly dim chandelier, but she has to know better than to sound like someone at her first Bieber show in front of a bunch of CEO's. Nonetheless, she certainly will try to love them back.

The group of republican donors, were not shy.  They let Becky know how she can be a good mistress to them---- Give them free money!!!

 They said the state should do more to attract new businesses and help existing companies, loosen restrictions on tax credits, simplify the tax code, cut commercial property taxes, consider lowering income and property taxes while increasing the sales tax, and issue more business loans that don't need to be paid back in some circumstances.

What speaks more to free market capitalism than big donors getting massive government loans that do not need to be paid back?  

Particularly brazen was Scott "Blinky Mcblinkerson" Bianchini who wants more than just some love from Rebecca:

 

 ABC's tax director, Scott Bianchini, said the state should stop disclosing how much residents pay in taxes, saying the information is used for "sabotage." Contacted Thursday, he wouldn't say if he was referring to 2012 newspaper reports indicating Hendricks paid no taxes in 2010 because of a change in her company's structure.

 

When you pay no taxes, its best not to let the plebes know!   Besides if they had to pay taxes, it might curtail their political donations!  With no political donations, then you can not get in on the ground floor of the Governor's strategy: 

 

 

The sad thing though, like so many dysfunctional relationships, as much as Rebecca and her friend Scotty LOVE their donors, their donors are not returning the love.     

Then, even more headshaking, was Kory Stoehr, of the McGladrey accounting and consulting company.  He said the problem is we aren't giving helicopter rides to CEO's.  That will make everything better!

 

 

Kory Stoehr, of the McGladrey accounting and consulting company, said his clients complain that state auditors disallow research tax credits, and they tell him what other states are doing to recruit new investment.
“(Company executives) are being flown around in helicopters, just luxurious stuff, and they were given millions in tax incentives,” Stoehr said.

Apparently no one told Kory about the unlimited supply of I-tunes gift cards and Wisconsin Badger tickets!  

Now back to the original, here is a picture of Becky and Mr. Bianchini hving an exchange.   He is asking for free money and Mrs. Lieutenant Governor has absolutely NO idea what he is talking about so she spouts some garbledy gook about the problems of WEDC.

   

 

 

Re-elect the Walker/Kleefisch ticket in November and this will be your tax policy.  A greedy corporate exec telling rebecca how much more taxpayer money he wants and a Lieutenant Governor smiling and waving!  

 

The Ghost Of Wisconsin Yet To Come has visited us in our sleep.....Now it is time to wake up and change the ending! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEDC Continues Their Incompetence

By Jeff Simpson

For some reason, maybe its ego, the Walker Administration loves to blow our tax money on television ads.  We saw the incredible waste of money that the WI Department of Tourism had with their desire to pump up right wing Hollywood types and play out 30 year old fantasies.  

Now , what might be Governor Walker's biggest failure, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, has decided to also jump in the - let's waste more taxpayer money on TV ads game.

 The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. will use close to 10 percent of its $5.75 million annual marketing budget — itself more than triple last year’s $1.5 million budget — for the two ads, which feature brief testimonials from business executives touting the state’s “pro-business climate” and “strong workforce.”

Ignoring the fact that these are just Walker campaign commercials that we the taxpayers are funding(Walker is an expert at using our $$ to get elected), these commercials on their face value are utterly ridiculous. 

Does anyone with an economic clue in their head really think that watching a 30 second silly commercial is all it will take for a company to relocate into Wisconsin?   Of course not, but that is why WEDC has been such a failure.   Had Reed Hall been smart enough to just spend ten seconds on Google, and realized what a waste of taxpayer dollars this is.

 Businesses commonly cite five main reasons for moving, according to Sharon K. Ward, an economic development consultant in Allentown, Pennsylvania. These are labor and work force issues, the desire to reach new markets, the need to upgrade facilities or equipment, the desire to lower costs or increase cash flow, and considerations about quality of life. For different businesses and at different times, certain concerns are more important than others, Ward notes. But just about all moves can be attributed to some combination of these issues.

Because they watched a television commercial did not make the top five.  Who knew?

However tragically sad this whole story is, the Walker administration is always good for a laugh.   WEDC deputy director Ryan Murray does not disappoint.

The ads don't mention Minnesota, Illinois or any other state. Kelly Lietz, WEDC's vice president of marketing, said agency officials aren't looking for a border war or to insult anyone. Still, WEDC Deputy Secretary Ryan Murray acknowledged Wisconsin is competing with neighboring states.
"I'm sure my counterpart in Illinois won't be happy to see these ads running in his state," Murray said. "But it's a competitive environment."

 Apparently Ryan Murray said that with a straight face.  See Ryan Murray is Deputy Secretary of WEDC and has a combined amount of real life business experience of - take it away Dean Wormer:

 See Ryan Murray's resume is loaded with stints working the Randy Hopper, Terrance Wall and Scott Walker campaigns. As Marc Eisen in the Isthmus wrote ;

That would be Ryan Murray, 30, who in July was named by Gov. Scott Walker to be the chief operating officer of the quasi-public Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., the state's principal jobs promoter. (Paul Jadin is its CEO.) Murray's resume (PDF) shows him to be conspicuously devoid of any private-sector experience, but well schooled in the political arts.

Murray studied political science at UW-Superior and Macalester College (no degree is noted), and then blazed like a meteorite from the 2004 Bush-Cheney presidential campaign through multiple Republican legislative offices to a series of senior positions for Walker, culminating as director of policy and legislative affairs.

Ryan Murray defines crony capitalism and the failure of WEDC to be anything more than a very costly arm of the Friends of Scott Walker campaign.

That is the problem that Ryan Murray does not understand.    His counterparts in Illinois and Minnesota are working on campaigns where they belong, not handing out I-tunes gift cards to their friends.  

Game Day!

The video skips during the first verse, which is unfortunate, but it's the chorus that really matters today:



We got sixteen games.

We're the Green and the Gold.

And we don't really care if it's twenty below.

The other teams come and crumble and fall to their knees.

Welcome back to the Land of Cheese.

The Scott Jensen Employee Caucus

By Jeff Simpson

The story that has met with great glee by our friends on the right was one of recently elected republican rep Jessie Rodriguez.   She has said that as the second Latina in the legislature and the first republican minority(as far as I can remember), she will NOT be joining the Black and Latino Caucus:

“As an immigrant, I’m proud of my Salvadorian heritage. I’m also proud of the work I’ve done with low-income Hispanic parents across the state helping them invest in the future of their children.

“And so with due deference to Representative Mandela Barnes and his group, I don’t need to be a part of a minority caucus to understand communities of color or find ways to empower them.

Rodriguez is very proud of her Heritage but it is best not to highlight it if you want to advance within the republican party.   Besides as she acknowledges, she owes other people her allegiance.  

“The voters of the 21^st Assembly District sent me to Madison, not to be bogged down by identity politics, but to work with my colleagues and Governor walker to continue making Wisconsin a great place for everyone.”

 Meaning Rodriguez owes the people who sent her there too much to spend any time on minority issues or working to make Wisconsin equal for all.   As we reported here at Cogdis, Scott Jensen bought this seat and he demands a return on his hefty investment.     When Scott Jensen spends over $100,000 to win a seat there will be no room for helping minorities in Wisconsin anywhere in your job description.   Ms. Rodriguez has to run again in November(her seat was a special election) and there is no way she wants to turn the Walton family/Bradley Foundation spigot of free cash off.    

While I do not blame her for that if she wants to continue being elected(who doesn't really, I hear the ALEC conventions are great), let's  not pretend that it is a move of independence, when in reality it is a gesture of pure dependence.   

 

 

Here is Ms. Rodriguez with formerly convicted felon Scott Jensen who is banned from running for elected office in WI but unfortunately not banned from buying politicians who can.   

 

Maybe she can start the Scott Jensen employee Caucus!    

 

 

   

Kudos To Roundy's

I applaud Roundy's for making the call to close up their stores early on Monday due to the harsh weather that is expected:

Milwaukee-based grocer Roundy's said Friday that it will close its stores in Wisconsin early on Monday because of the cold weather that is forecast.

"For the safety of our staff and customers, all Pick 'n Save, Copps and Metro Market stores will close at 8 p.m. on Monday, due to the extreme cold temperatures expected in the area," the company said in a statement. Stores will reopen at 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Roundy's has 121 stores and 13,500 employees in Wisconsin.

"Even for the state of Wisconsin, this is really cold weather," said James Hyland, vice president of investor relations for Roundy's.

It's not surprising that governmental entities like the schools to close for the day when it is dangerously cold. It's also not uncommon for smaller companies to close early or just stay closed for the day when it gets this nasty. But it's not often you hear of a major chain to make a decision like that.

I don't see Walmart doing anything like that.

Again, kudos to Roundy's.  It's nice to see a bigger company act decently. Then again, they are a union shop, so they've already shown themselves to be decent.

The Walker Agenda Is Still Working! Part CCVIII

Ah yes, more good news for Scott Walker's agenda - the Kmart in Portage is closing its doors in April, impacting 78 full and part time employees.  Although Kmart officials wouldn't come out and say why they were closing, the article makes it fairly obvious that they were struggling since Walmart came into town and opened one of their Supercenters.

But the reporters who wrote this article, Jen McCoy and Shannon Green, also shone a light on a different perspective that I don't recall seeing anywhere else before.

When stories like this appear, the focus is always on the poor workers who are losing their jobs. Often, there is a quote from a city leader about the impact the closing and layoffs will have on the local economy.

But McCoy and Green included a third facet to the story - how it affects the customers:

The announcement of the closing also disappoints Scott Tomczak of rural Poynette, who said he shops at Kmart three times per month.

“I’d much rather come here (to Kmart) than Walmart,” Tomczak said outside of Kmart on Friday afternoon.

JoAnn Wingers of Randolph said she drives to Portage to shop at the Kmart store.

“I’m very disappointed, because I’d rather shop here than at Walmart,” Wingers said.

Once the store is closed in Portage, she will still not shop at Walmart, she said.

The closest Kmarts to Portage will be in Mauston and Ripon after the closure.

Rumors of Kmart closing swirled for years after Walmart Supercenter opened at 2950 New Pinery Road. However, shoppers said Kmart had a dedicated customer base.

“I personally think the community did not want to see Kmart leave and there’s a lot of people who are very loyal customers. I would deliberately go there … I’m still shopping there at this moment,” Malone said. “I just wish everyone the best, finding a job and I hope things go well for them, but I can tell them that in person.”

This has been the modus operandi for Walmart for decades.

They move into a smaller community, using up taxpayer money on TIFs and other giveaways - because they're creating jobs, donchano? - and drive out all the competition, whether it be a bigger chain like Kmart or Sears or the local mom and pop type of stores. They feed off the community until it's no longer profitable enough and pull out leaving a lot of people out of work and a big empty box where the store used to be.

Fortunately, it appears from this story that at least some people are starting to wake up and are no longer tolerating it. Hopefully that will carry through and continue to grow through the fall when we can make a strong stand against the corporate special interests and the puppets that serve them, like Scott Walker.

Of Private Practices And Public Servants

There is very little doubt left that Scott Walker, Rebecca Kleefisch and the Teapublicans and Republicrats in the state legislature serve the will of the corporate special interests despite their empty rhetoric about being concerned about the taxpayers and working families.

To confirm this fact, Becky Kleefisch has been going around the state meeting with business leaders in order to get their marching orders:

In a closed meeting with Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, business operators argued — sometimes forcefully — for lower taxes and more financial incentives for commercial interests.

A recently released video of the Dec. 9 session at Beloit College shows Kleefisch and state Revenue Department Secretary Rick Chandler extolling state efforts to reduce taxes since Republicans took over state government in 2011, and saying they wanted private-sector ideas for another round of cuts.

“We want to know how we can love you more,” Kleefisch told the group of about 30 executives, managers, accountants and others during the 1-hour, 40-minute session.

The Beloit meeting was planned as an invitation-only affair so participants could speak freely without worries about divulging private financial information, Kleefisch said in an interview Thursday.

Gov. Scott Walker directed Kleefisch and Chandler to stage a series of “Tax Reform Roundtables” with state residents to find out how taxes affected “their businesses and their families,” and he said the Beloit session was a great start.

I find it ironic that the woman who compared same sex marriage to bestiality is willing to get some good loving going on with non-human corporations. I guess big campaign donations are an aphrodisiac.

The article goes on to report that Kleefisch was not only amorous to the corporate special interests, but a little bit voyeuristic, taking a video of the meeting.  The video was undoubtedly to make sure they got their orders correct, since accuracy is not a strong suit for this administration.

However, once Kleefisch learned that the video was subject to open records requests, she stopped videotaping her escapades.  Apparently, allowing the public to know what their public servants are doing is worse than the risk of getting the corporate demands wrong.

Side note: It's rather hypocritical that whenever a Democrat or a liberal (no, they are not always the same thing) says or does something the Teapublicans don't like, the first thing they do is run to see if the person signed a recall petition, but they don't want anyone to know what they are doing themselves.

Finally, as if there was any doubt about who the takers really are, the article includes this excerpt of some of the demands from the oligarchs:

They said the state should do more to attract new businesses and help existing companies, loosen restrictions on tax credits, simplify the tax code, cut commercial property taxes, consider lowering income and property taxes while increasing the sales tax, and issue more business loans that don’t need to be paid back in some circumstances.

Four of the 29 at the meeting are employed by Hendricks Holding Co. and its subsidiaries, including ABC Supply Inc. HHC’s owner is billionaire Diane Hendricks, who has been among Walker’s top campaign donors.

ABC’s tax director, Scott Bianchini, said the state should stop disclosing how much residents pay in taxes, saying the information is used for “sabotage.” Contacted Thursday, he wouldn’t say if he was referring to 2012 newspaper reports indicating Hendricks paid no taxes in 2010 because of a change in her company’s structure.

But my personal favorite was this one, also by Bianchini:

At the Beloit meeting, Bianchini told Kleefisch that tax credits for businesses are too stingy because some can only be applied to taxes owed to the state.

The state should pay the credits in cash to companies that didn’t earn enough to have tax bills, Bianchini said.

“That company needs that money that year,” Bianchini said. “This is going to require Wisconsin to take a chance on the people they are asking to come into the state.”

The gentle reader should keep in mind that Walker and the Teapublicans have already cut taxes for businesses so much that most of them, like Hendrick's companies, don't pay taxes at all. Now they are arguing that if they can't cut taxes anymore because they're already paying nothing, then these businesses should just be given taxpayers' money for no reason other than to make them even richer.

Because making sure that veterans have health coverage, kids receiving a good education or other needed public services are being provided are out of the question when there are CEOs that can't buy their third yacht or seventh limo out there.

NFL Blackout Rule Is Not So Dark

 

By Jeff Simpson

The NFL Blackout policy states that you have to sell out your stadium 72 hours before the game or the game will not be shown locally on TV.

 In the NFL, any broadcaster that has a signal that hits any area within a 75 miles (121 km) radius of an NFL stadium may only broadcast a game if that game is a road game (also known as an away game), or if the game sells out 72 hours or more before the start time for the game.^[12][13] If sold out in less than 72 hours, or is close to being sold out by the deadline, the team can sometimes request a time extension. Furthermore, broadcasters with NFL contracts are required to show their markets' road games, even if the secondary markets have substantial fanbases for other teams (like in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, officially a Baltimore Ravens secondary market, but home to many Pittsburgh Steelers fans). Sometimes if a game is within a few hundred tickets of selling out, a broadcaster with rights to show the nearly sold out game will buy the remaining tickets (and give them to local charities) so it can broadcast the game. Other teams elect to close off sections of their stadium, but cannot sell these tickets for any game that season if they choose to do so.^[14] As a result, if the home team's game is a Sunday day game, both networks can air only one game each in that market (until 2001, this rule applied whether or not the game was blacked out, however, this was changed because some markets virtually never aired doubleheaders as a result). Usually, but not always, when each network can show only one game each in a market, the two stations work out between themselves which will show an early game and which will show a late game. This only affects the primary market, and not markets in a 75-mile (121 km) radius, which always get a doubleheader each Sunday.

Unless of course you do not sell out then there will be exceptions to the rule:

With significant progress made in selling the initial 40,000 tickets available, the Packers have received an extension from the NFL on the TV blackout deadline. The current deadline to sell all non-premium tickets and lift the blackout is now Friday, Jan. 3, at 4 p.m. CST.
Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster, either online or in person at Ticketmaster outlets. No phone orders will be transacted. No limit exists on the number of tickets that can be purchased. Those purchasing tickets online will be required to use Ticketmaster’s “print at home” feature to obtain their tickets.
Prices, set by the NFL, range from $102 to $125, depending on location.

 So NO exceptions to the rule, unless of course your not putting money directly in the owners pockets.

 Browner’s suspension is a more complicated story than is typical. When he first came into the league in 2005, he failed a drug test while in the Denver Broncos’ employ. The Broncos released him in 2006. After that, according to a source familiar with the situation, Browner ran low on money and was sleeping on friends’ couches to stay solvent while he waited for another shot at pro football. He was automatically placed in Stage 3 of the program because he missed multiple notifications for drug tests when his cell phone service apparently lapsed.

There will not even be any leeway if  you are a player and want to wear a pair of shoes that commemorates a charity that is near and dear to you.

 LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall says he has been fined $10,500 by the NFL for wearing green football shoes in the Oct. 10 game against the New York Giants.
Marshall had said before last Thursday's game he was wearing the shoes to attract attention to Mental Health Awareness Week. Marshall has been treated for a personality disorder in the past.
Marshall posted the league letter informing him of the fine on Twitter and wrote: "Football is my platform not my purpose. This fine is nothing compared to the conversation started & awareness raised."
Marshall said he had planned to match any fine with a donation to his foundation, which supports mental health awareness. He said he also plans to auction off the shoes and donate the proceeds to charity.
 

Scott Walker's Mind-Boggling Hypocrisy

I've been writing about Scott Walker for years, pointing out his lies, his corruption and just how bad he was for Milwaukee County and for the State of Wisconsin.  I've written about both Walkergate and the Son of Doe.  I've written about how he wanted people to send him money instead of buying toys for their children on Christmas.

After all these years, although I have feelings of continuous revulsion at what he has done and is doing, there is not much that surprises me about him.

One exception to that might be just how big of a hypocrite he is.  Just when I thought he couldn't top his last example of hypocrisy, he goes and makes it look like nothing.

And he's done it once again.

Bill Lueders, of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, wrote a column which was cross posted at Urban Milwaukee, in which he writes about an interview he did with Walker regarding campaign contributions and corruption.  Even the title of it is mind-boggling:

Walker Says Campaign Cash Corrupts

Yes, it does kind of make your head feel like it's about to pop, doesn't it?

Ah, but as the gentle reader could guess, there's more.  There's always more.

Lueders has this in his article:

“Whether it’s a Democrat or Republican, in so many of these cases, folks have a freedom to associate, they have a freedom to choose,” Walker told the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism in a recent interview. “What I fought about with public employee unions is they didn’t have that freedom.”

Before the changes he pushed through, state and local public workers had no choice but to contribute to their unions. “You have money that was forcibly taken from people without them having any say about that,” Walker said. “That’s where I thought the corruption was.”

The book, “Unintimated: A Governor’s Story and a Nation’s Challenge,” is fervent in its denunciation of money as the unions’ master.

Union leaders, charged Walker, “would rather have seen us take the money from the poor, lay off middle class workers, undermine education, and decimate government services — just so long as we did not close the automatic spigot of cash that was filling their union coffers.”

Yikes.

Yet on the cusp of what may be a hugely expensive 2014 governor’s race, Walker sidestepped the question of whether politicians who need to raise large sums might also be led astray.

Despite Walker's accusations and attempts at diversion, it was Walker himself who raised taxes on the poorest of the poor by cutting the homestead and earned income tax credits. It was Walker, through Act 10, that led to the layoffs of tens of thousands of workers in both the public and private sector. It was Walker that cut nearly a billion dollars from education with the predictable cuts in the quality of education the schools could provide due to staff shortages and bigger classes.  And it was Walker who cut such vital services such as Badger Care and unemployment compensation.

Why doesn't his head explode from all that hypocrisy?

Lueders goes on to say that Walker wasn't willing to talk about all the money he got from the Kochs or from the Widow Hendricks.  Lueders also reported on how Walker was caught in lies in his book which have not yet been corrected even though it's going in for its third printing.

But if Lueders thinks he has had a gotcha moment on Walker, he really dropped the ball on two major points.

One is that while he is discussing the influence of money on elections and it's corrupting effect on elections and politics, he made no mention whatsoever about the ongoing John Doe investigations into the dark money of the Kochs, the Bradley Foundation and their various front groups.  How one could not even bring this up in such a discussion is beyond me.

The other issue, which really rankles me, is that he allows Walker to get away with another bold-faced lie.  In the above cited passage, Walker and Lueders falsely claims that "workers had no choice but to contribute to their unions."

That is utter rubbish.

There are federal laws that prohibit closed shops and give workers the ability to opt out of being a member, even in a union shop.

By perpetuating this lie, Lueders is feeding into Walker's false representations and supports the lies he used to attack workers rights.  It had nothing to do with workers rights.  State Senator Scott Fitzgerald went on TV and admitted that the whole thing was to undercut the Democrats, especially President Obama's bid for reelection.

It's bad enough that we have to try to overcome the gerrymandering, the voter suppression and the worker suppression in order to take our state back, but when we have to also take on the supposed watchdogs in the media who aren't doing their jobs, well, it's frustrating.  It's like trying to play a sporting event and the refs are in cahoots with the other team.