Mitch McConnell's Channels His Inner Mitt Romney

Mitch McConnell, who is facing a very serious threat to overly long term in the US Senate from the fabulous Alison Lundergan Grimes, channeled his inner Mitt Romney and showed the world just how out of touch he is with the people of Kentucky with his own 47% moment:

What is Outrageous?

 By Jeff Simpson

out·ra·geous

adjective \(ˌ)au̇t-ˈrā-jəs\

: very bad or wrong in a way that causes anger : too bad to be accepted or allowed

: very strange or unusual : surprising or shocking

By now everyone who is paying attention has heard of the ridiculous analogy that Debbie Wasserman Schultz has used to describe Scott Walker's policies toward women.   

Scott Walker is not one to comment but he had thoughts on what Ms. Wasserman Schultz had to say:

"Governor, what's your reaction to Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz's comments Wednesday in Milwaukee?" Wainscott asked.
"I think it's outrageous, and it's unfortunate," Walker said.
While many Wisconsin Republicans were quick to blast Wasserman Schultz, calling her language insensitive to victims of domestic violence, this was WISN 12 News' first chance to hear what the governor had to say about the comments aimed at him and his policies.
"To use that language, (is) just completely inappropriate. And I would hope that my opponent and others, as loudly as possible, would denounce that. It shouldn't matter where it comes from, regardless of party, people shouldn't be using that language," Walker said.
Walker said that if Mary Burke believes the comments from the Democratic Party leaders were, in his words, outrageous, she should take a strong stand against them.

Now we finally have a base line to what the Governor feels is "outrageous" and what he feels should be done when someone uses "language that is just completely inappropriate".   You should take a strong stand against them.   

What is incredibly interesting about that belief from Governor Walker is the fact that he has had NOTHING whatsoever to say or even acknowledged the following(that were all part of #walkerdocs and emailed to him and made public):

Emails from one of his top aides refer to county mental health facilities as “the loony bin” and that same top deputy claims “no one cares about crazy people.”  -- greeted with silence by Scott Walker.  

  
When a rape happened at a county facility, was part of an email chain that pointed out that his staff should STOP thinking like a lawyer and think about how this effects us politically!  ----greeted with silence by Scott Walker


 Scott Walker's chief of staff, the recently deceased Tom Nardelli, sent an incredibly disgusting racist email that started a little email chain of comments(no complaints) -  also greeted by silence from Scott Walker.

A woman who starved to death at the county mental facility family, was planning on suing the county and Scott Walker showed so much sympathy that this is all he had to say about the matter "keep it buried until after the election."   -   --- No explanation from Scott Walker here either.  


Yet another racist email by Nardelli now smearing Muslims. --- Silence from Scott Walker. 

14 year old boy dies horrible death in front of his parents and the one concern that Scott Walker and his staff have is that it not hurt him politically.    --- no explanation from Scott Walker.  


Now to recap from our short incomplete list.  To Scott Walker it is not "outrageous" nor is it "unfortunate" to send racist emails, make racist comments, cover up deaths and rape and make fun of the mentally ill.  It is however unfortunate  and outrageous to criticize his policies. 

Seems to me Mike Ellis got it right!  

"Walker is for Walker"

Wisconsin Is In Good Hands

By Jeff Simpson


Scott Walker is not one who has hired particularly well in his career. 

 
However, Mr. Walker finally has a success under his belt.  He has hired Tom Engels, husband of Judi Rhodes Engels , to be his Assistant Deputy Secretary in charge of Department of Safety and Professional Services.

 Tom has had an interesting right wing career:

 Prior to coming to the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, Tom served as the Vice President of Public Affairs for the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin.  From 1997 to 2000, Tom served as the Government Affairs Director for the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association.  Tom has previously held public service positions as then-Governor Tommy Thompson’s Deputy Press Secretary and as the Communications Director for the Senate Republican Caucus.  He also held various staff positions in the State Senate and Assembly.  Tom was also the District Field Representative for former United States Congressman Scott Klug.    

While Tom might not always have had the best influences around him,  but he seems to have handled it very well.  We know that Mr. Engels has been able to keep his head, because he has used it to donate to Mary Burke for Wisconsin.   

While his wife is being named in questionable fundraising schemes to help get republicans elected,

Tom was writing checks to Mary Burke to help take down the criminal schemer! 

Kudo's Tom Engels....this Bud's for you!

Jamey Francis Fits Right In

By Jeff Simpson

Our friends at Mal contends seem surprised that local politician Jamey Francis who is running as a republican for the local state assembly seat has absolutely nothing to say about Scott Walker selling off Francis' district for $700,000. 

Meet Jamey Francis, the GOP nominee for the 74th assembly district in northern Wisconsin and alderman for the City of Hurley in Iron County, who thinks obliterating the pristine region of incredible natural beauty is a "game changer" to be pursued in the name of "economic development."

Now-a-days, Francis is silent about the proposed GTac mine, omitting mention of the GTac mine on his campaign site, and listing vague platitudes instead as his "priorities."

Jamey Francis is silent about alot of things, like his resume for instance.   Seems Francis forgot to add something important to it! 

Jamey Francis -- a legislative candidate from northern Wisconsin -- says he wishes he could just forget his 2006 theft conviction.
"It's nothing I'm proud about," said Francis, a Hurley Republican who is running against Democratic candidate Beth Meyers to represent the 74th District in the state Assembly. Rep. Janet Bewley, an Ashland Democrat who currently holds the seat, is running for an open Senate seat.
But Francis -- the Iron County Republican Party chairman -- acknowledges the facts of the case.
In 2005, he was charged with a felony count of using a woman's Visa check card to make a handful of purchases, including to pay a $385 electric bill in June 2005 and to buy a $60  Boston Store gift card a month earlier.

 Who did Jamey Francis steal from?

He said he was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at the time, struggling to make ends meet when he became a network marketing salesman hawking long-distance and voicemail services for larger providers.
A co-worker turned up a phone service application from an elementary school teacher that included a Visa account number on it. Along with paying the electric bill and buying the Boston Store gift card, Francis used the card to purchase two voicemail accounts so it would look like he was making sales.

 What is Francis doing now?  

 Francis, who now works with his father in a wholesale clothing business, said he believes the voters will forgive him for making this mistake nearly a decade ago.

Lets recap.  

Republican candidate, has no qualms with Scott Walker selling off his backyard, steals from a teacher and now to make ends meet needs to lean on daddy.  

Francis will fit right in on the right side of the Assembly! 


However if the people of the 74th district want to have a real ethical honest representative in Madison then vote Beth Meyers! 

Becky is Shocked(Sometimes)!!!

By Jeff Simpson

While I am no huge fan of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, she made an appearance at the Milwaukee Athletic Club to promote the female lineup of Democratic candidates we have in WI.   She then made a very strong statement:

Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz ripped into Republican Gov. Scott Walker's record Wednesday during a round-table discussion on women's issues at the Milwaukee Athletic Club.
The Florida congresswoman said: "Scott Walker has given women the back of his hand. I know that is stark. I know that is direct. But that is reality."
Wasserman Schultz added: "What Republican tea party extremists like Scott Walker are doing is they are grabbing us by the hair and pulling us back. It is not going to happen on our watch."

Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch came out of hiding to tell us she was shocked by the language!!

Republican Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch said she was "shocked" that Wasserman Schultz used domestic violence language to discuss political disagreements.
"I think the remarks were absolutely hideous and the motive behind them was despicable," Kleefisch said.
Kleefisch called on Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke to "denounce these outrageous statements" made by the DNC leader.

 Yes domestic violence is no joke, raping young girls is something we can joke about in Wisconsin but Domestic violence is off limits! 

Number of Walker/Kleefisch "denouncements" of Roger Rivard -  zero.


Domestic abuse is absolutely 100% no joke and no way I would ever support someone who had been accused and arrested for it before!* 

*Unless of course said person is running on the republican ticket for Wisconsin State Senate and has given lots of money to the "friends of Scott Walker campaign".  Then he can't be all bad can he? 

Number of Walker/Kleefisch "denouncements' of Bill Feehan - Zero 

As a matter of fact :

 Nevertheless, his early fundraising was strong enough to put him in second place among state legislative candidates through the first half of the year, and he said recent fundraisers — including one last weekend with Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch — pushed his campaign past $100,000, giving him a rare lead over the incumbent.

Again, Domestic Abuse is something that is so serious and hideous it should never ever be talked about.   Sexual Abuse on the other should be covered up and rewarded.  Hey at least the republican leader from Waukesha never hit a woman!*

* I know the republicans eventually removed him from leadership, but yet allowed it to happen over and over until he got caught by an outside source.  They were also so upset and disgusted with his actions they allowed him to keep his job and benefits.  Bill Kramer is still being paid full salary and benefits by the taxpayers of Wisconsin thanks to republican inaction.  

Number of Walker/Kleefisch "denouncements" of Bill Kramer - 0 

I guess Ms. Kleefisch gets selectively "shocked".   

 

Scott Walker Gives Up On Creating Jobs!

By Jeff Simpson

This is Scott Walker running for Governor in 2010. 

This is also Scott Walker running for Governor in 2012:

Walker talked about the jobs promise during the 2010 campaign, after he won election and even during the 2012 recall.
"I want my Cabinet secretaries to have branded across their heads, '250,000 jobs,'" Walker said at a December 2010 meeting of the Dairy Business Association. "I want them to know their job is on the line because my job is on the line to create 250,000 jobs in the private sector."

This is the actual result of Scott Walker's jobs promise - a very generous 102,813.   For those of you scoring at home, that leaves Mr. Walker 147,187 jobs short of his major campaign promise/pledge.  

For those of you also scoring at home, the amount of Cabinet Secretaries who have been fired because they have failed at creating jobs - 0.

Now Scott Walker is up for re election again and his jobs pledge is - nonexistent. 

Gov. Scott Walker said Tuesday he won't make another job creation promise like he did four years ago, a pledge he's all but certain not to fulfill by the end of his term in December.
Walker said his economic development plan to be unveiled in coming weeks will be a detailed proposal about how to grow quality jobs, but it won't include a specific promise of how many jobs would be created.

Apparently being Governor for four years with the full legislature in complete control by republicans was not enough time to implement an economic development plan that works on creating jobs.   

Whats the most telling about Scott Walker's jobs failure is how little he actually knows about job creation, and he tells us! 

"We aimed to have a Super Bowl-performance economy. We think we're headed in the right direction, but we've still got more work to do, which is why we're asking for four more years to do it," he said.

Scott Walker obviously doesnt understand what Super Bowl Performance means, especially when he has put up a Tampa Bay Buccaneers expansion years worthy performance.   When we are sitting at 37th place in jobs, reaching his goal would have been nice, but hardly Super Bowl performance adjective worthy.   That would have moved us to a Detroit Lions analogous jobs creating performance.

I will give Scott Walker credit though, he has realized he is not competent enough to create jobs in Wisconsin and his republican cohorts have no interest in doing it, so now he can avoid those questions the next four years!   

Are You Ready For Right To Work?

Regardless of the outcome of November's election for governor, Wisconsin Teapublicans are prepared to introduce so-called "Right to Work" legislation.  If Scott Walker wins, the Teapublicans will intrduce this legislation at their leisure.  If Mary Burke wins, look for Walker to call for a special lame duck session of the state legislature, as they did in Michigan.

Walker has denied that there are any plans to for Right to Work to be introduced, but he's also denied that he was a target in the Walkergate investigations or that his agenda is failing.

Coming off of a very successful Laborfest celebration, the Milwaukee Area Labor Council is holding a townhall meeting to discuss the issue of Right to Work laws.

AFSCME District Council 48's executive director, Boyd McCamish, will be speaking about the origins of this piece of offal and its dark history in southern states.  The discussion will also include a review of some of the tactics and ideas the national RTW committee use to distort and lie to workers and how to respond to them.

This meeting is open to the public.  It will be held on Wednesday, September 3rd, at 6:30 pm at the Juneau Complex (formerly Juneau High School), located at 6415 W. Mt. Vernon Avenue.

Please help spread the word about this meeting.

See you there!

A Warning For Illinois

The people of Illinois are in peril.

Bruce Rauner, a billionaire that spends more money on wine each year than the average Illinois household spends on everything, is running for governor.  His platform is that he wants to be the next Scott Walker and take away workers' rights.

As a word of warning, some Wisconsin AFSCME members put together this video to inform the voters in Illinois just how dangerous this lunatic is:



Unless the people of Illinois wants to vie with Wisconsin for last place in the Midwest, they will take heed and keep this rabid Teapublican out of the governor's office.

Wingnut Welfare

By Jeff Simpson



As Andy Borowitz wrote today:

Andy Borowitz

2 hours ago

Used Tool Purchased for $1.8 Million

Unfortunately for the rest of us in America, truth is stranger than fiction:

Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is joining the Wall Street firm Moelis & Co., the firm announced on Tuesday.
“Eric has proven himself to be a pro-business advocate and one who will enhance our boardroom discussions with CEOs and senior management as we help them navigate their most important strategic decisions,” the firm’s founder, Ken Moelis, said in a statement.

Cantor is signing on with the boutique investment bank as a vice chairman and managing director, the company said. He will also be elected to its board of directors.

Cantor is expected to receive a pay package of $3.4 million in his new role, Business Insider reported, citing a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

$3.4 MILLION Dollars a year to have discussion with CEO's.  Despite the fact that Eric Cantor's career was more that of a circus clown than business executive.

 Lets take a quick look:

Via Politifact in October 2010:

"What you've seen (in Washington) is a crowd that has taken advantage of a crisis back in late '08, early '09 and spent more money than this country has spent in the last 200 years combined, in the two years since."

OUCH that would be pants on fire Mr. Cantor.

The issue for us is rebuilding a governing majority that is comfortable with differences that can transcend the divisiveness and unify behind the principles that we know our party has succeeded on.

Eric Cantor

 Ummmm, arent you suing the President of the United States?

 At least he had the courage to trample a little girl!  O yeah when he lost he turned tail and quit, thus taking his ball and going home with his tail between his legs. 

I am not sure exactly what kind of advice he will be giving to CEO's, just know if he talks to your CEO, I would update the resume!  

Finally, and maybe most important, lets send Paul Ryan to be with his friend Eric Cantor. 

Vote for Rob Zerban!   

Laborfest 2014 - Not Your Average Labor Day Celebration

Milwaukee's Laborfest 2014 is in the books.

And by no means was it your average, everyday celebration of labor.

Oh sure, there was the usual parades.  There was the usual politicians walking around glad-handing the people and showing their support for organized labor.  There was the usual good food, good beer and good music.

But this year was unique for a few reasons, both in general and personally.

After getting bumped off of the Summerfest grounds last year due to the Harley reunion, we came back to the Summerfest grounds.  Not only did we come back, we came back in force.

We also had a very special guest speaker in President Barack Obama.

You can see the entirety of Obama's speech, as well as the opening remarks by Milwaukee Area Labor Council Secretary/Treasurer Sheila Cochran here, via Wisconsin Eye.

It was also a special day for me personally.  I had the distinct privilege of joining several of my brothers and sisters on the stage with the president.  It gave me a chance to have a once in a lifetime experience and a new vantage point that I would not normally have.

A view of the crowd and the podium
from which Obama was to speak.

Courtesy of a friend, the view from the crowd.

Other pictures of the day's activities can be seen through the coverage by the Milwaukee Business Journal.

There were two other things of note about the day.

Besides the presence of President Obama, there were several local leaders, including Congresswoman Gwen Moore, Mayor Tom Barrett, State Senator Chris Larson, State Representatives Chris Sinicki and Mandela Barnes and Milwaukee County Supervisors Jason Haas and Khalif Rainey.  There were also several candidates, including Mary Burke, Susan Happ, David Bowen and Chris Rockwood.

Notably absent from the day's events was Boss Chris Abele.  It wasn't that he didn't want to be there, but because AFSCME and the Milwaukee Area Labor Council made it explicitly clear that he was not welcome because of his attacks on workers and workers' rights.

Also notable for their absence were Milwaukee County deputy sheriffs.  Again, it wasn't that they didn't want to be there helping to provide security for the President of the United States, but because Sheriff David Clarke was again politicizing his office by refusing to do his job in providing security for the the Democratic president.

You Can't Stop Us Now

The following is a song done by the Eddie Japan band out of Boston, dedicated to #wiunion:



The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO blog has the details behind the video and song.

Many thanks to the good people of the Eddie Japan band for this tribute.

News Flash: Road Construction Causes Traffic Delays

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has some breaking news from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation:

The Department of Transportation recently released its first "Travel Time Reliability and Delay Report," which analyzes two seasons of travel and delay data for major freeways around Milwaukee and Madison.

The conclusion: Riders on almost half of Milwaukee-area freeways are doing double time on most drives.

The study shows that this past spring, eight of the city's 20 freeway segments were so congested that an average trip at peak travel hours took twice as long as it would on clear roads.

Gosh! What a shocker!

Just because Scott Walker is paying back the road builders for all their donations by having them doing work on almost every stretch of highway in Milwaukee County and people can't use side streets because they are in such a state of disrepair and full of potholes, who'd have thunk that there'd be traffic jams on the freeways?

I don't know which is worse - that the DOT had to squander taxpayers money to tell us the obvious or that the paper thought that this was newsworthy.  At least one can not subscribe to the paper immediately.  We can't get rid of Walker until November.

Labor Day - AFSCME Style

It wouldn't be Labor Day without seeing this AFSCME parody (Warning: NSFW - language):

President Obama's Labor Day Message

President Barack Obama is coming to Milwaukee today to say some words at Laborfest, but here is a message from him that probably gives a hint at what he will be saying while he's here:

Labor Day In Corporate America

'Nuff said!

Click image to embiggen