Good Golly, Miss Molly, Sure Has A Lot Of Gall

With the primary election day a scant five weeks away, most candidates are out practicing shoe leather politics, meaning that they are going door to door to meet with voters, hear what is important to them and to ask for their support.  Even if the candidate doesn't have a primary to worry about, they are usually still out there doing doors.

One notable exception to this rule of thumb is Molly McGartland, one of the Republican candidates running in a primary for the chance to lose to the Democratic incumbent, Christine Sinicki.  Instead of going to do doors, McGartland is holding "office hours" at The Country Club Tavern, a dive bar in Cudahy:

In other words, she is inviting her would be constituents to come spend their money at her bar and she will listen to their concerns.  While this is probably legal, it sure is sketchy as hell and more than a bit tacky.

If this is how she has chosen to run her campaign, it's not surprising that she is a perpetual candidate, having run several times for the same seat before with the same results.

As I was checking out just who McGartland was, I ran across a few other interesting things.

On her website, McGartland claims that she wants to be the "competent representative" for AD 20 and that she is fiscally conservative.  Despite these claims, I haven't seen any explanation for the money troubles she has had.

A couple of things from her campaign website should make one question her competency, such as her grammatically and spelling challenged maybe not:

When asked how I would vote on various issues, I explain to voters that I see the world through a conservative lens.  America and our consititution [sic] is a wonderful experiment in freedom; protecting our life, our liberty, and the right to pursue our best, and reap the rewards of our hard work.  I will defend the individual's freedom to do for themselves, with out [sic] the interference of government. There is a clear difference in how my opponent and I see the roll of government.  I believe in a free market society governed by a small limited government and my opponent believes in a large centralized government that chooses winners and loosers [sic].

Please use the following form to contact me with any specific issue and I'll be happy to respond.

I'm sure that will be a winning slogan for McGartland: Vote for me becuz I am da conserfativish one!

I don't know much about the other Republican candidate but I sure hope that McGartland makes it through the primary so that she can enjoy another routing by Representative Christine Sinicki.

"Scott Walker In Need Of Makeover" Christian Schneider

By Jeff Simpson

Its gotten so bad in the republican party, that even perpetual righty shrill Christian Schneider sees the writing on the wall:

Now nearing five years old, the tea party is desperately in need of a makeover. But it's going to need more than power-clashing ties and skinny jeans to turn the public's opinion around. In the most recent Marquette University Law School poll, only 23% of Wisconsinites said they had a favorable view of the tea party, with 47% saying they viewed the tea party unfavorably.

Ouch!  That does not bode well for Scott Walker!



"When people ask me, 'How do you appeal to Tea Party folks?' I say: I was the original Tea Party in Wisconsin," Scott Walker said. "Eight years ago we held recalls. We got rid of a county executive who had been in office almost since the time I was born."

Cynthia Archer - Part Deux

By Jeff Simpson


If there was ever any doubt that the missing link to all of the information to the John Doe/Scott Walker corruption scandal is inside Cynthia Archers dark mind, it was erased this week!  

MADISON – Cindy Archer, the longtime aide to Gov. Scott Walker who landed a new state job and a hefty raise, wasn’t a finalist for the job. In fact, she never even applied.

Even so, Archer was named the State Public Defender Board’s new chief information officer in September. She makes $113,459 per year, 31 percent more than her predecessor.
 
Archer was one of Walker’s top aides when he served as Milwaukee County executive. She was part of an inner circle of county and gubernatorial campaign staff that regularly traded messages using private emails through a secret router set up in Walker’s office to evade Wisconsin’s open-records laws.
 
Seven candidates interviewed for the CIO job, but Archer wasn’t one of them. Nor was she one of the two finalists whose names were forwarded to State Public Defender Kelli Thompson and her deputy Michael Tobin, department spokesman Randy Kraft said.

Thompson and Tobin “were impressed with the qualifications of both (finalists),” Kraft said, but “the final decision recognized the importance of Cindy’s hands-on knowledge and experience with the agency’s aging technology.”

Who knows computers and IT better than a 55 year old career politician.   Apparently being one of the architects of ACT10 makes you an expert in all fields.   She also could have studied computers during her long sick leaves times on state pay.  

That, or she has some information on Scott Walker that no one on the right wants her to share so they must continue to take care of her and obviously she was none to happy with the $25,000/yr pay cut at her previous position.    So nice of Kelli Thompson and Michael Tobin, to put their career and reputation on the line to protect Scott Walker.     

WEDC - the Walker Way

By Jeff Simpson

We recently brought you yet another story of the corruption, failure and massive waste of taxpayer dollars that is Scott Walker's crowning accomplishment - WEDC. 

As expected though, "but wait there's more", lots and lots more.     

We have chronicled SOME of the wasted Wisconsin taxpayer millions, now we find out that they have spent hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin taxpayer dollars sending their staff on vacations.  

 Those documents show the WEDC spent $39,386.49 on the trip to the Middle East in January and $16,284.49 on the trip to India in April.

Maley pointed out the outing to India will end up costing closer to $29,000. Those additional expenses were not included in the open records request because some invoices have not been submitted, he said.

“The (India) trip just occurred in April and we allow 90 days before we close the books on a trip,” Maley told Wisconsin Reporter. “So there’s still some significant outstanding invoices that are out there that we’re waiting for, for us to pay.”

Of the nearly $40,000 Middle East tab, almost $30,000 was documented by the three WEDC employees who took part in the trip: Ryan Murray, deputy secretary and COO; Stanley Pfrang, market development director; and Rachel Best, senior event manager.

Private business representatives who attended that trip were Khemissa Bejaoui, a human molecular geneticist with PreventionGenetics in Marshfield; Todd Muderlak, president of Xela Innovations in Glendale; and Tanya M. Salman, an attorney with Michael Best & Friedrich LLP.

Reports for the India trip list a $13,600 generic expense, $1,080 in driver fees and $1,592 for flights.

That is a lot of our money to be spending to get no results.  Thank Goodness they are such fiscal conservatives that three people from the office ONLY spent over $10,000 a piece.   Where the heck did they eat?  Jiro's place?    I wonder how much they would have spent if they were not such fiscal hawks?  I also wonder how much they would have spent if they were actually able to help create jobs in WI.   

(Edit note: also not sure why an attorney from Michael Best would need to go to China on our tax dollars except for payback).  

 

But wait there is more, and this will come as a huge surprise I am sure.

 MADISON (WKOW) -- Nearly half of Governor Scott Walker's campaign fundraisers since April 1st have been hosted by people whose companies received financial awards from his administration.
 
Jack Link, the owner of Jack Link Snacks of Minong, joins Chris Shult, the proprietor of Bevco Engineering of Waukesha County, and Jon Hammes, the developer of the Edgewater Hotel project, in hosting fundraisers for Gov. Walker within the past three months.

Each has also directly or indirectly benefited from financial awards doled out by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), which Gov. Walker chairs.

 It makes it so much easier to raise funds when you can promise even bigger taxpayer rewards in return.


 

The Walker Agenda Is Still Working! Part CCXXVI

Scott Walker likes to boast that he created such a business friendly environment in Wisconsin.  It's so business friendly that businesses aren't making it and are consolidating their job sites and closing facilities and cutting jobs:

ArcRon LLC, a metal fabrication shop in Menomonee Falls, will shut down its facility there and move the work to its Kenosha location, according to a letter the company sent to the state.

Engendren Corp. owns ArcRon, which employs 42 people at the facility. All of those positions will be eliminated, which is expected to begin Aug. 31 until the facility closes on Dec. 31.

The article goes on to say that many of the employees will have a choice of either making an hour long commute of moving their families scores of miles. The other issue that would concern me is if the company is on such poor footing thanks to Walkernomics, what are its chances of surviving in this bleak economy?

John Lehman Runs

By Jeff Simpson

John Lehman runs from a fight in his current seat because the republicans made it harder for a Democrat to win the seat.  Thank God Randy Bryce stepped up to represent the 21st Senate district because the two people running in the republican primary have been nothing short of a clown car(much more about these two on these pages in the near future).

John Lehman runs from doing the hard work.   Google him and see what he has been up to.   The silence is deafening.   Being handed the nomination by the insiders in the party, against party by-laws,  is not an impressive achievement.  

Now John Lehman runs from a debate.

 Mary Jo Walters, who is also running as a Democrat in the Lieutenant Governor Democratic primary, has asked for a debate.  John Lehman has no interest.  

Apparently John Lehman thinks so little of the Democratic process, and the Democratic voters that he has no interest in attempting to win the seat.  It was given to him by a select group of loyalists and it now belongs to him.  No questions asked.

The thing is we know that Scott Walker will not allow Rebecca Kleefisch to debate whoever wins the primary because he does not have any respect for her or her abilities to speak unscripted. 

How can we ask or expect her to debate when the person who has the track to be on the ballot refuses to do so?   Why is Lehman scared of debating Walters?  Is it just laziness?  

This is a state taken over by far right extremists and we need people who are willing to stand up for the rights of Wisconsinites who do not have a voice or any hope right now.

Mr. Lehman, by ducking debate, your actions show that you are absolutely NOT the person to work and fight for us.  

Mr. Lehman, thank you for your service in the past but if you do not respect the voters and the Democratic party of Wisconsin enough to schedule a debate(just one would be fine) with Ms. Walters, I promise to never ever vote for you.

Please do the right thing and agree to a debate.

Contact Mr. Lehman and tell him to agree to a debate!

(262) 632-3330

PS:  you can not tweet him as he has not even taken the time to set up a twitter account.   

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth everyone, enjoy the day!  

      

And tell us what is on your mind! 

Matthew Kent Larson

By Jeff Simpson

Matty Larson thought he would have some fun one day when he saw a crane, ran and borrowed his neighbors shot gun and took that crane down!

A two-year-old female was shot on July 21, 2013, in central Wisconsin. Federal forensics specialists confirmed that the crane had been shot and killed with a .22-caliber bullet.

Matthew Kent Larsen, 28, of New London, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty to the crime in a federal court in Green Bay and was sentenced to pay $2,000 in fines: $1,500 in restitution to the International Crane Foundation and a $500 Migratory Bird Treaty Act fine. His hunting and fishing rights were also revoked for two years.

In a statement to law enforcement officers, Larsen said he was on his family property in rural Waupaca County when he saw what he believed to be an albino Sandhill Crane standing in a wheat field on the neighboring property. Larsen said he left the property, borrowed a .22-250-caliber scoped rifle from a friend, and returned a short time later and shot the crane.

 Mr. Larson was so thrilled he had to text his friends of his accomplishments!

 After the shooting, Larsen said he texted a friend to tell him he had just shot an albino Sandhill Crane.

 His friend told him that the Crane was a protected species, so the big tough guy with the gun did what you would expect him to do.  He turned tail and ran!

  When the friend told Larsen that he had killed an endangered Whooping Crane, Larson left the area. Larsen said he would not have shot the bird had he known it was a Whooping Crane.

Of course that is all well and good except:

 “Regardless of whether Larsen thought he was shooting a Sandhill Crane or a Whooping Crane, they are both federally protected and neither can be legally hunted in Wisconsin,” said Pat Lund, an FWS law enforcement agent and supervisor for Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri. “Incidents like this undermine the work of a huge network of conservationists who have worked for decades to bring Whooping Cranes back from the brink of extinction.”

While the endangered crane is lost forever, Mr. Larson recieved a small slap on the wrist:

 Matthew Kent Larsen, 28, of New London, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty to the crime in a federal court in Green Bay and was sentenced to pay $2,000 in fines: $1,500 in restitution to the International Crane Foundation and a $500 Migratory Bird Treaty Act fine. His hunting and fishing rights were also revoked for two years.

 

Beware Plutocrats Bearing Gifts

Last month, AFSCME District Council 48, which represents public sector workers inside Milwaukee County, sent out the following advisory letter to any politician running as a Democrat:

Dear >>>>>>>>>>>

In politics, it can be hard to tell the difference between a true friend and a pretender.  A true
friend is always willing to listen and will consider your point of view -- even if you end up disagreeing now and then.  A pretender will nod along and then go out and actively undermine you.

We once thought we had a friend in Chris Abele.  We endorsed him in his first run for County Executive.  We didn’t expect that he would always agree with us or even agree with us most of the time.  But AFSCME members believed that he would at least be decent enough to listen to us.  We thought he would respect the real life experience that front line employees bring to the table.

Instead, we found that once he began consolidating power in his office, Abele had absolutely no interest in listening to front-line workers.  Worse, he has made a point of actively undermining our workplace rights and undercutting the already modest paychecks we bring home to our families.

• Abele opposed our efforts to work with the county to extend our contracts, as we have done in other communities where leaders truly respect and value collective bargaining. 
• He has twice attempted to strip away rights guaranteed to us by the county Status Quo ordinance, which preserves longstanding work rules and contractual rights not explicitly prohibited by Gov. Scott Walker’s union-busting Act 10. 
• He eagerly jumped on board a Republican initiative to neuter the County Board and concentrate even more power in his own office. 
• He vetoed a county Living Wage Ordinance and then, when his veto was overridden, he ran to Madison to push unsuccessfully for legislation pre-empting Living Wage Ordinances. 

Abele happily touts his close working relationship with a Governor who lusts for the destruction of public employee unions and whose policies blatantly favor those who, like Chris Abele, are already rich and powerful.

In short, though he has styled himself as a Democrat and spreads a token bit of his wealth around by writing checks to Democrats – his actions as County Executive are more closely aligned with the policies of his Tea Party predecessor in that office.

We write today because we want to make sure you are aware of this record.  We believe his record speaks louder than his words, and it should speak louder than his political checkbook.  If he can burn “friends” like us to fuel his own political ambitions, extreme caution is warranted by any who might find themselves getting drawn in by him and his blinding quest for unchecked power.

If you would like to hear more of the story or have any questions, feel free to give us a call.

Sincerely,

Brian Stafford, President                                                         Boyd McCamish, Executive                                                                                                     Director

AFSCME District Council 48                                                 AFSCME District Council 48  

Indeed, the point that Chris Abele can't be trusted, regardless of who you are, is one that I have repeatedly made.

When Chris Abele was buying the first election for county executive, he was endorsed by at least two county supervisors, Marina Dimitrijevic and John Weishan.  During the campaign, he said that he looked forward to working with them and the board of supervisors.  But when Abele was told "no" on some budgetary items, he immediately set about to do his power grab and make himself emperor.

And to prove he knows how to hold a grudge, he is trying to buy any elections that a supervisor might be running in - supporting the likes of Dan Adams, Tia Torhorst and Joe Sanfelippo to do so - all the while claiming it's nothing personal.  Apparently, Abele found it to be more efficient to just buy elections than to try to frame people for crimes they didn't commit.

Abele has said that he is in support of Mary Burke in her gubernatorial campaign and has even given her some cash.  However, Abele has also been dragging his feet on releasing the documents and emails for the original John Doe investigation.  The release of those documents would be invaluable to the Burke campaign but Abele has instead willfully chosen to give cover to his friend and mentor, Scott Walker.

Likewise, Abele has stated that he supports Chris Moews' run for Milwaukee County Sheriff.  Again, he has thrown in some money endorsed Moews.  But with just six weeks to go before the primary, Abele decides to join the incumbent Sheriff David Clarke in their mutually favorite pastime, going after employees.  Which do you think will have more impact on this race - Abele giving Moews some chump change or Abele standing with Clarke saying how they are protecting taxpayers' money just weeks before the election?  (And don't get me going on the whole irony of Abele or Clarke saying that they are protecting taxpayers - that's another whole post in itself!)

As the gentle reader might have surmised, these are just a few of the examples that could be cited showing the duplicitous nature of Abele.

The thing that one can take away from these stories is that Abele does not stand with Labor, the Democrats or anyone else.

The only people that Abele stands with his himself and his fellow plutocrats.  And he doesn't really care who he has to buy or step on in order to advance their agenda for the 1%.

If Abele comes out in favor of any particular candidate, be careful, especially if he is carrying a load of money.  Because in that pile of cash, Abele is holding the knife with which he will stab you in the back.

Happy Belated Blogbirthversary To Us!

I didn't choose the blog life, the blog life chose me.

I didn't realize it until today, but yesterday was the sixth birthday for old Cog Dis and my seventh year of
shining the light on the evil doers and standing up for the rights of the people.

What I wrote last year at this time still holds as true today as it did then - maybe even more so:

Since then I have, along with Jeff, Meg, Keith and the rest of the gang - and of course the gentle reader - fought the good fight, day after day, week after week.  We have held politicians of all stripes on all levels responsible for their decisions, their votes and their behaviors.

We are proud of the work we have done, the integrity we have shown and the progress we have made.  We are proud of being one of the true progressive blogs coming out of Southeast Wisconsin.

We are eager to continue to fight until we take our county, our state and our country back from the sheeples and Teapublicans

But most of all, we are thankful and proud to have you, gentle reader, among our friends.

And without further ado, it is time to get back to work.

PS: Jeff is supposed to be bringing the cake!

PPS: Jeff, we're still waiting on that cake, brother!

Ernie Wittwer for State Senate District 17

 

By Jeff Simpson


With the unfortunate retirement of the Dale Schultz,  that left a wide open seat in the 17th Senate District.   On the republican side, far right extremist (he who voted on the side of cancer and against cancer victims) Howard Marklein declared the first time Senator schultz showed any independence.  Immediately the far right donors started throwing money at him.

Then local resident and farmer and retired Department of Transportation administrator Ernie Wittwer decided to throw his hat into the ring on the Democratic side.  Ernie has a strong grassroots following and an excellent resume.  

However, as we have pointed out on this blog on numerous occasions, if you are not inside you are outside and there is no room in Madison for outsiders.  Once again, the elected democrats circled their wagons and attacked.   Two time loser and former Jim Doyle aide, Pat Bomhack. took time off to go to college and now desperately wants back in!

Bomhack wants back in so badly, that he and the fellow members of the old boys club are more than willing to lose control of the Senate to make it happen.   Bomhack was running against Dick Cates in the primary for the Assembly seat, but was doing poorly and thought he would have a better chance of beating Ernie Wittwer.

Of course after saying he wouldn't.

 “A lot of local people have been encouraging me to go for the Senate but I’m totally focused on my Assembly race right now,” he said.

 Typical of people who chose politics as a career, he was not that focused because shortly thereafter, he switched to running for Senate.

The party leaders in Madison talked him into switching, then endorsed him.


Although Ernie Wittwer, a retired Department of Transportation administrator, declared his candidacy for the seat last year, his bid was evidently not taken seriously by party leaders in Madison. They began urging Pat Bomhack, a recent UW Law School grad and aide to former Gov. Jim Doyle, to drop his bid for the 51st Assembly District, in which he was considered an underdog, and run against Wittwer for Senate. Bomhack had run for the same Assembly seat in 2012, losing in a primary.
In April, Bomhack announced he was making the switch, and a week later Larson announced his support for the young candidate. Soon afterwards, Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona and a former minority leader, also endorsed Bomhack.

  The local party leaders and grassroots support were none too happy.

Maureen Grimm, a school board member in Mineral Point who beat Bomhack in the Assembly primary in 2012, said she is puzzled by the support Capitol leaders are extending to Bomhack, who only moved to the area three years ago.
“The vast majority of involved Democrats in the 17th favor Ernie,” she said. “Perhaps there’s a little bit of a disconnect on what this district values. A difference between urban and rural.”
In what some local activists saw as a direct snub, Larson, delivering a speech about Senate races at the state Democratic convention last month, highlighted Bomhack’s candidacy and didn’t even mention Wittwer.
“I was disappointed at the convention that Chris said that,” said Phil Fransen, chair of the Green County Democratic Party, who said he is “leaning towards” supporting Wittwer but believes he should remain neutral in his capacity as a party official.
Mike Gallagher, chair of the Democratic Party of Lafayette Party, is actively supporting Wittwer and he said he gave Larson a piece of his mind after hearing the speech.
“I told him that that was very wrong,” he recalled saying. “You can support who you want but you don’t ignore that there’s a primary in the 17th Senate District.”

 Local grassroots overwhelmingly support Mr. Wittwer, but because the DPW does not think he will tow the line 100% they would rather lose the seat, than let the local people decide by pushing a cookie cutter carpet bagging insider.  

Do you really have to ask why the dems have had such a hard time finding candidates to run for office?  

For the sake of Wisconsin, our public schools, jobs and all
 other issues, it is imperative that we send a message to the right and the left and elect Ernie Wittwer!    

I fully endorse Ernie Wittwer in the 17th Senate district of Wisconsin this morning! 

Help Ernie Win!!!!

Ernie Wittwer's website is here!

Ernie Wittwer's facebook page is here!

Ernie Wittwer's twitter account is@wittwer4senate

Ernie Wittwer's email is here!

 DONATE to Ernie Wittwer here! 

Wait! What? You Expect Me To Govern

By Jeff Simpson

Excellent piece from James Causey in today's JSonline:

Mr. Causey feels that the violence epidemic in Milwaukee is one that Scott Walker needs to address.

More than 200 people have been shot int he city of Milwaukee so far this year, and Gov. Scott Walker has been ​too quiet on the issue.

Some may say that the Milwaukee shooting epidemic is not an issue for Walker

​;​

 instead

​,​

 it should be something that local leaders need to figure out. I disagree.

When more than 33 children have been shot in the biggest city in your state, and hundreds of adults have suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds, the governor should be in Milwaukee working with local officials to come up with solutions.

Mary Burke has also brought this up:

In May, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke said that legislators have shown more interest in voter suppression than in addressing gun violence in Milwaukee. Walker called Burke's statement "hogwash," but I ask, have you seen anything from Madison proving that Burke's claim is false?

Walker showing he is a brilliant campaigner and once you scratch the surface, there is no there there.   Scott Walker even told us that he would love to help MIlwaukee out but then other cities would want his help and attention also.  






Then like all excellent columns, Mr. Causey offers up some solutions. 

We need more leadership at the table and I'm not talking about another press conference or a community meeting. We need bold ideas that go beyond gun buybacks. We need to seriously think about enforcing the curfew laws for young people; expand programs ​such as the Boys & Girls Clubs, focus on jobs and early childhood education and more investment in people and not prisons.

While I would argue that there is zero leadership at the table now, we do need more.  It appears as though we can not wait for Scott Walker to take the lead, unless of course, the areas of violence in Milwaukee would like to start a community fundraising effort to collect donations for Friends of Scott Walker.  

I would also add to Mr. Causey's list, we need to start holding private/voucher schools accountable.   How much of a difference could the $2,000,000 of public money that Lifeskills Academy stole from the taxpayers of Wisconsin have made in the inner city?  How about if the kids in the inner cities were actually going to schools where the teacher student ratio was manageable and the walls were not crumbling down and outdated?   

Like all problems, this is fixable, unless there is no interest by the "leaders" of our state to do so.   That would mean the Governor of our state would have to do what he was elected for - actually governing.   

Unfortunately for the people of Wisconsin, he never had any intentions of doing that! 

 

 

 

QOTD: AD 19

Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express has written an overview of the primary races coming up in August.  Her recap of the primary for Assembly District 19 is just about perfect:

Assembly District 19 runs along the East Side from UW-Milwaukee to Bay View and has been represented by Jon Richards for the past 16 years. He is now running for attorney general, so this seat is wide open. Four Democratic candidates are on the ballot: Dan Adams, Jonathan Brostoff, Milwaukee County Board Chair Marina Dimitrijevic and Sara Geenen. Adams is backed by Abele, while the others are viewed as the progressives in this campaign. Look for tons of money to flood this race from labor, voucher supporters, business, the 1% and women’s groups. No Republican is on this ballot; the winner will face Joseph T. Klein of the Wisconsin Pirate Party in November.

No matter how much Abele and his supporters stomp their feet and come up with little labels for themselves like "pragmatic progressive," the fact is that they are anything but pragmatic or progressive.  Candidates like Adams or Tia Torhorst in the AD 10 race are nothing more than sockpuppets for the 1%.

The Walker Agenda Is Still Working! Part CCXXV

Forget explaining to me how well Scott Walker's agenda is working, explain it to these 200 people:

STEVENS POINT (WAOW) - A grocery company has announced the closing of a food distribution center in central Wisconsin.

On Tuesday, Roundy's, a midwest supermarket company, announced it is closing the Copp's distribution center in Stevens Point. Roundy's operates grocery stores, such as Pick N' Save and Copp's.

Workers say nearly 200 people are employed there.

For nearly 26 years, Tim Zoromski has been employed as a warehouse worker at the Copp's distribution center.

But now that's all changing.

"It's rough," Zoromski said. "It's going to be rough."

Tuesday afternoon, employees at the center received a letter saying the site will be closing.

"Where are we going to be going, what are we going to do next?" said Zoromski. "We really have no idea."

So, stealing money from people and giving it to Big Business who, in turn, uses it to pay off lobbyists and law makers isn't a good economic plan? Whodathunkit?

Tia Torhorst - The Abele Party Candidate for AD 10

Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele has been heard to say that he is seeking to increase his "sphere of influence."  By increasing his "sphere of influence," he, of course, means buying off politicians.  And his if off to a good start in that area.

He has already given money to rabid Teapublican state legislators Joe Sanfelippo and Dale Kooyenga.  He has also given money and held a fundraiser for the Teapublican county supervisor Deanna Alexander, who has been such a useful tool for him.

Wishing to buy even more politicians increase his influence further, he had convinced Dan Adams to run against his nemesis, Marina Dimitrijevic, in the AD 19 race.  At last count, Abele has held four fundraisers for Adams and lent him some of his campaign staff to help run his feeble campaign.

Now he has a hand-picked candidate for the AD 10 race to replace the retiring Sandy Pasch.  The candidate from the Abele Party (Motto: Bribing towards a more perfect plutocracy) is Tia Torhorst.  Torhorst was one of Abele's legislative aides at the county before becoming the political director for Abele's campaign - a job she lists as still holding even as she is running her own campaign.

Indeed, Abele just had lent his campaign a third of a million dollars, of which, $14,000 went to Torhorst at the end of 2013.  That would make a nice beginning war chest for someone looking to run for office.

Another sure sign that Torhorst is part of the Abele Party is her misleading campaign literature and website.  Torhorst labels herself as a "Proven Progressive" and a "Progressive for Responsible Leadership," but a minimal look at her claims versus her record shows her to be anything but progressive or responsible.

Her campaign website's "Issues" page has only two issues, which not only shows just how out of touch she is with the community Abele wants her to represent, but is also, shall we say nicely, very misleading.

The first issue she has listed is education. This blurb sure makes it look like she is progressive:

As the only candidate who lives in the district and the only candidate with a child in a public school in the district, I fully understand the concern about our schools. Scott Walker has spent four years cutting funding for public education while at the same time he’s decimated the morale of teachers with Act 10. As a result, we face a serious problem with maintaining the most important economic tool in our state’s toolbox – a high quality education system. I will work to restore collective bargaining rights for teachers and increase funding for our public education system.

Boy, there's more than a few issues in just that one paragraph.

As far as living in the district, I do know that David Bowen has bought a house in the district and is having it renovated, showing that he is committed to the entire district.  She is also giving a backhanded slap at the retiring Sandy Pasch who did not live in the district when she was running for the seat two years ago.

It should also be noted that how Torhorst is targeting teachers with her comments about Act 10 and restoring collective bargaining, even though that maleficent law affects all public sector workers.  This is a classic example of divide and conquer, like Scott Walker did with the police and public safety versus the rest of the public sector workers.

Torhorst isn't really all that pro-union.  She refused to even acknowledge the invitation to interview with PEOPLE, the political arm of AFSCME much less try for an endorsement. Then again, given Abele's vehemence and loathing against AFSCME, Torhorst probably isn't allowed to go near them.

As troubling as this first blurb is, the one in the section regarding job training is quite egregious.  Talking about "Economic Health," Torhorst makes this claim:

I’m proud that when I was Legislative Director for Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele we funded a job-training program that took 500 people who were making $8/hour and taught them new skills for jobs that pay more than $15/hour. This is a model we should expand across the 10th District and all of Wisconsin.

She couldn't even get the facts straight.  The program, which was developed by Supervisors Eyon Biddle and Theodore Lipscomb, actually worked with unemployed people, not making any money, and gave them the skills to work in jobs that averaged $15 per hour.

It is understandable that Torhorst would get these facts wrong, considering that she actually worked to try to get the program killed before it was approved and then worked feverishly to get supervisors to support Abele's veto of the program.  Like he does now, Abele felt that was a waste of money to help workers get living wage jobs. It should be noted that once Abele's veto was overridden, it took another ten months and action by Supervisor Lipscomb and the county board to get Abele to actually implement the program.

Understandably, these false claims of credit for a program that Torhorst actually fought against has really angered the actual authors of the resolution.

On his Facebook page, which I reproduce here with his permission, Eyon Biddle tore into Torhorst for her false representation:

Normally, I would let this go. Tia is running for Assembly in the 10th District. She used to work for Chris Abele, the so called progressive wolf in sheep's clothing. He's only progressive on LGBTQ issues and because he throws generous checks at organizations. Don't be fooled here. But what pissed me off is her trying to take credit for the Biddle-Lipscomb Ready To Work Plan. Not only has this job plan been widely successful but it has taken shots from the Chris Abele and Tia who tried to sabotage it. They vetoed it, tried to ruin my credibility on the County Board and undermine the success of the program.

This piece is dishonest. This is the type of leadership that we don't need at the State Assembly.

I reached out to Lipscomb as well, who told me:

"She is knowingly revising history and it bears no resemblance to the truth. The very thing she says that she supports and that we should replicate is what she worked hard against and what her boss energetically vetoed."

Apparently, one thing that Torhorst shares with her boss is the disturbingly ease with which they can tell barefaced lies.

As Biddle also stated in his post, a vote for Torhorst is a vote for Abele.

If the good voters of AD 10 wish to support and vote for a true, undeniable progressive, that person is David Bowen, who championed the living wage ordinance and who has been an actual supporter of the Ready to Work program.

I hope to have the chance to interview Bowen before the primary, but in the meantime the gentle reader can learn about Bowen at his website and his Facebook page.  And if you can donate to help him and keep a real progressive in the seat, please help support him.  He'll need as much help as he can going up against Abele's dark money support of Torhorst.