Same As It Ever Was

By Jeff Simpson

On the heels of declared Democratic candidates, Mark Struble and Kirk Bangstad, suspendng their campaigns, I heard privately from another declared candidate for the State Assembly, that he was also thinking of suspending his campaign.

It seems that he has been beating his head against the wall trying to get some help from the State Party and even the elected Dems.  It is a daunting task with help and practically impossible without it.  

Having complained before about lack of action or competence within the party, I have been told to make sure and email them and ask questions and bring concerns and they will respond.

I did that to no response from the party.

Apparently they were busy doing something close to nothing, but different than the day before.

Since I have no response from the party and this is an opinion piece, let me offer my opinion.

With the very real threat of a political "consultant" from a firm with Republican ties and who has a track record of losing, taking over the job of Chair of the Democratic Party, many activists(as they have been known to do(see Barrett, Tom - recall election), paniced and felt that Martha Laning was the perfect mix of new Democrat and centrist needed to win.   

Martha Laning is in way over her head(quick tell me the last time you saw her in the news).   

Ms. Laning kept most of the same staff that helped turn Wisconsin from solid blue to dark red for a long time, thus stymying  her ability to get anything new done.  Then when many of them left to the Chris Abele(D -in disguise) campaign, she had the ability to hire her own people.  

She failed at that, as if you look at her staff, you see retread after retread.  It appears if you work on one campaign, you have a job in politics for life, regardless of the outcomes.   If you look at the staff, you will see the resumes loaded with failed races upon anonymous wins.   

We are now a year away from what will probably be the biggest election in our lifetime.  While the Republicans have gerrymandered the state, they have also governed it in an extreme far right way, passing bad policy upon horrible policy for WI.  

 It is also a Presidential year where Democrats typically bring voters to the booth and perform well up and down the ticket(watch the debates and you see no reason why that can not be true again in 2016).  

If we are ever to capture the State Senate, some seats in the Assembly, and possibly a seat or two in the House(I am already counting on a Feingold win), this is THE YEAR.  

Unfortunately it looks like everyone in a position of power in the Democratic party (from the State party, to the local electeds) are perfectly comfortable being safely in the minority, and have no interest in changing that or bringing new ideas into the fold or new people into the legislature.   

It is sad really for people who need insurance, for our children who need a quality education, for our formerly world class educational institutions and many many others in WI.  

At least the Bucks will have a new arena at some point.  

Back to the reality of extremists rule with no opposition party in WI.  At this point I do not now that it is fixable anymore.     

Fighting Bob would be rolling over in his grave!   

Real Change

Bernie Sanders First Ad

When DINOs Fight, No One Wins

Woe is to Milwaukee County.

Milwaukee County is in ground zero for a three way power struggle.

In one corner is Milwaukee County Executive Emperor Chris Abele. Abele is a plutocrat's plutocrat who feels that because he got hundreds of millions of dollars from his daddy, he is everyone's superior. He wants things done his way, right or wrong, and he will go after anyone who dares to tell him "no." A prime example is when the Milwaukee County Board changed one of his budgets, he stomped his silk-stockinged feet and paid off some Republican state legislatures to change the law allowing him to consolidate an unprecedented amount of power into his hands.

In another corner is Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, the darling of Faux Newz who has yet to find anything too bizarre for him to utter. His latest and greatest egregious statement was saying that the Black Lives Matter movement would join forces with ISIS in order to destroy the United States. No, really, he said that.

It should be noted that Abele and Clarke are more alike than either would care to admit. Both are right wing nut jobs that pretend to be Democrats. And like the right wingers that they are, they both are austerity enthusiasts, unless it pertains to themselves, of course.

Despite their similarities, or maybe because of them, Abele and Clarke have been feuding for years. For years now, Abele would endanger public safety by cutting Clarke's budget, forcing Clarke to lay off deputies. Clarke would endanger public safety by, well, by being himself and shooting off his mouth.

In the third corner is the Milwaukee County Board, who are simply trying to do their best with their weakened positions to keep the county moving forward and maintaining as much as good government policies as they can.

Which all leads up to the current situation.

The county board was forced to file a lawsuit against Abele because he refused to attend meetings to discuss his proposed 2016 budget, as is required by law. They are also suing Abele to clarify who has the authority to set limits on how much Abele can pay his aides. This stems from Abele giving one of his hatchet men a $50,000 a year raise.

And that is where the inanity really sets in.

Clarke decided he wanted to be as petty as ever and personally serve Abele with the papers.

When the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's political gossip columnist, Dan Bice, probed into the incident, Clarke responded like the pompous ass that he is:

Process servers or law enforcement officers provide defendants with all the relevant papers letting them know that they have been sued.

Since when did the sheriff add this to his list of duties? And, more important, who asked him to do this with Abele?

Not Lipscomb.

"The chairman did not ask the sheriff to serve the county executive," said Bill Zaferos, spokesman for the County Board.

Zaferos said Lipscomb's staffers let the sheriff's office know that the board chairman was filing a lawsuit and that it needed to be officially served to Abele. Clarke's No. 2, Inspector Richard Schmidt, then came and picked up a copy.

Clarke then confirmed — in his distinctive style — that he decided on his own to play process server to Abele.

"Danny boy," Clarke wrote in an email, "you are mistaken. NOBODY directs Sheriff Clarke to do ANYTHING. I think you know that."

The sheriff didn't stop there.

"Sheriff alone decides what he does or doesn't do," Clarke wrote. "By state constitution, he doesn't take direction from other county officials and that includes Abele. He is accountable to the voters, the people of Milwaukee Co and they spoke last November by a 79-21 margin.

"Hope this answers your question."

Abele's spokeswoman's response was even more bizarre. In an effort to deflect attention away from Abele's misdeeds, she instead brings up Clarke's bizarre statement about BLM and ISIS:

Asked to respond, Abele spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff confirmed that Clarke made a visit to the county exec's office, though she was intentionally fuzzy on the details.

"I'm not sure whether the sheriff attempted to serve papers on the county executive before or after he called Black Lives Matter activists 'subhuman creeps' on Fox News, or how often he personally serves people," Baldauff said via email.

"But it's probably just a coincidence that he attempted service the very same day the County Board gave him $4 million to spend however he wants with no accountability."

By the way, that $4 million that she was whining about was restoring half of the cuts Abele gave the Sheriff's Office's budget, showing that he puts his own pettiness before public safety.

And does Abele really want to bring up anti-Black comments when he recently said he is "helping" the African American community by improving the jail, boosting child welfare and adding more mental health services?

While all of these theatrics might make a great soap opera, trust me when I say it's not much fun to live through.

Sadly, the next election for Clarke isn't for two more years. We can always hope that he quits to become a full time Faux Newz puppet, er, pundit, but why would he give up a six-figure job that he doesn't even have to show up for?

The good news is that Milwaukeeans can do something about Abele next year when we elect State Senator Chris Larson as the next county executive, a true progressive rather than a plutocratic putz.

The Hypocrisy of Paul Ryan

By Jeff Simpson 

We all know that Paul Ryan (R- Wall St.) was recently voted in as the new Speaker of the House.   After John Boehner was forced out by the radical wing, that they recruited, it was determined that anyone who wanted the job was too crazy to be put on public display so by default the position went to Ryan, who has done a great job conning America.  

Ryan however made a point of letting America know, he would only accept the position on one condition - He be able to spend time with his family.  

How noble.   Unfortunately it did not take long for everyone to see that while he demanded family time, he does not think you deserve the same.

 When asked on "Fox News Sunday" whether he would make paid family leave legislation a priority, Ryan stressed he was referring to spending weekends with his family and constituents in Janesville."I don't think people asked me to be speaker so I can take more money from hardworking taxpayers to create some new federal entitlement. But I think people want to have members of Congress that represent them, that are like them," Ryan said. "Don't you want your member of Congress to be a citizen legislator who lives with you, among you, who has your own kinds of concerns, who wants to spend time with his children on Saturdays and Sundays?
"That I think is what most people want in their life, is a balance. So if you're asking me because I want to continue being the best dad and husband and speaker I can be — getting that work-life balance correct — means I should sign up for some new unfunded entitlement, that doesn't make any sense to me."
Ryan made a similar comment to CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union," saying, "I don't think that sticking up for being a person with balance in your life, for wanting to spend your weekends in your home with your family ...I don't think that means signing up for some new unfunded mandate."
Some Democrats have called it hypocritical that Ryan refused to give up his family time for the speaker job while blocking legislation that would require employers to offer paid family leave.
Eligible workers currently are able to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off for illnesses or a new baby while still having their jobs protected under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Some companies choose to offer paid leave, while others do not.
The United States is one of just a few countries that do not guarantee paid family leave. Obama has been pushing to change that, and in his 2015 State of the Union address he called on Congress to send him a bill that would give every worker in the country the opportunity to earn seven days of paid leave.

What is interesting is this line(emphasis mine):

"I don't think people asked me to be speaker so I can take more money from hardworking taxpayers to create some new federal entitlement. But I think people want to have members of Congress that represent them, that are like them," Ryan said. "Don't you want your member of Congress to be a citizen legislator who lives with you, among you, who has your own kinds of concerns, who wants to spend time with his children on Saturdays and Sundays?

Yes, we do and what is a concern is when someone in our family gets sick and we are living paycheck to paycheck and trying to figure out a way to take care of them and not lose our house.  

Do you really think, if a member of Paul Ryans family was sick, he would come home and help take care of them BUT forfeit his pay while he was doing so?  

Then there is also this gem,

"I live in Janesville, Wisconsin. I commute back and forth every week. I just work here. I don’t live here," he said, per Politico. "I get up very early in the morning. I work out. I work until about 11:30 at night. I go to bed, and I do the same thing the next day. It actually makes me more efficient. I can actually get more work done by sleeping on a cot in my office, and I’m going to keep doing it." 

We were able to get a picture of Paul Ryan hard at work until 11:30 before he turned in on his cot.



For those scoring at home, that is Paul Ryan with two lobbyists at a Steakhouse in DC and the bottle of Pinot Noir centerpiece on the table costs $350/bottle.  

Yep just like his neighbors in Janesville.  

A Picture Is Worth Hundreds Of Ironies

Scott Walker recently attended the 3rd Annual Cybersecurity Seminar, a matter that he was rather proud of:

Governor Scott Walker joined cyber security experts today at Marquette University to discuss new cyber security challenges for the state of Wisconsin.  The theme for the 2015 Cyber Security Summit is Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover.  Governor Walker also proclaimed October as Cyber Security Awareness Month in Wisconsin.

“We live in an increasingly mobile world where people are constantly connected to the internet through their mobile devices,” Governor Walker said.  “Last year, thousands of Wisconsin citizens were victims of cyber crimes, and law enforcement officials estimate this threat will only continue to grow.  Today’s summit is an important opportunity for us to focus on preparing and protecting all Wisconsinites from cyber attacks.”

The annual Cyber Security Summit brings together business, industry, government, and academic leaders to discuss how Wisconsin’s private and public sectors can work to combat ongoing cyber threats, especially as it relates to the state’s infrastructure.

It's rather ironic since just the very next day that we learned that Walker doesn't know squat about cybersecurity and had released the Social Security numbers and other confidential information of hundreds of Wisconsin veterans:

The Social Security numbers of Wisconsin veterans are being sent via email without encryption despite numerous federal laws and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs regulations requiring personally identifiable information be password-protected.

It partly explains how a random Wisconsin veteran received an unsolicited email on April 1 with the Social Security numbers and disability claim information of hundreds of Wisconsin veterans. Since the Vietnam War, veterans' file numbers or disability claim numbers have been their Social Security numbers.

"I got up, was working at the computer and had an email from the Department of Veterans Affairs in Wisconsin. Not knowing what it was, I opened up the attachment and I panicked," the veteran said. "It was nine-digit numbers. There were no hyphens. It wasn't like 111-11-111. It was nine numbers straight."

Maybe it was that Walker was at this conference to discuss the pros and cons and convicts surrounding secret routers.

Abele's Campaign Strategy Relies On Buy-Partisanship

Chris Abele has a lifelong pattern of using his daddy's checkbook to buy influence, gain the illusion of being a leader and cope with his daddy issues.

This behavior continued in his five years as Milwaukee County Emperor.  He used his daddy's money to buy off Republicans in the state legislature to pass bills he wanted whenever he didn't get his way.  Such bills include the power usurping bill, the creation of the non-elected taxing authority puppet Mental Health Board and the attempt to eliminate living wage laws across the state.

Likewise, he used his vast wealth as leverage with the Democrats, getting them to go along or, at the very least, keep quiet about his maleficent actions against Milwaukee and against other Democrats.

When Chris Larson announced his candidacy against Abele, I pointed out that Abele was very vulnerable because he had alienated large groups of people in the community.

Abele is already working hard to overcome his unpopularity by - you guessed it - buying people off.

For example, Abele angered a lot of people at MATC (Milwaukee Area Technical College) when he bypassed appointing a Milwaukeean to their board in favor for a conservative manufacturer from Mequon.  Abele has now cut a huge check to the MATC Promise program in an effort to help people forget how he screwed them over.

Abele is well known for his attacks on Labor, not just the public sector unions but also the private sector ones.  To overcome this, Abele has decided to try to buy off the trades unions by cutting them a quarter million dollar check for their training program.  Abele's goal is obviously to split the unions that have expressed support for Larson.  Apparently Abele has forgotten the strength of solidarity.

One of Abele's most egregious acts was his deal with the Republicans to take over Milwaukee Public Schools.  Despite his protestations to the contrary, Abele has been a longtime advocate for privatizing schools.  He even stood with Sheldon Lubar when they announced that MPS was their next target.

Now Abele is trying to calm the teachers union and the angry parents by exceeding his authority even further by proposing a "high-quality early childhood program."  In English, he wants to take over the preschools as well.  What better way to brainwash the kiddies early on?

There is little doubt that more of these stories will surface in the coming months as Abele becomes more desperate to buy his reelection.  After all, if he loses this election, it would make it much more difficult for him to run for governor in 2018.

The Republican Corruption Agenda

This week culminated in yet another Republican bill being passed that consolidates political power, opens the door to corruption, and ensures cronyism will run rampant. In the past 7 days, we’ve seen Republicans exempt themselves from corruption investigations, take us back to the Elections and Ethics Commissions that ignore political corruption, open the flood gates to more secret corporate money in elections, and allow individuals to conceal carry knives. And now, Assembly Republicans voted to gut Wisconsin’s civil service system in order to game the formerly objective public employee hiring system.

 

Wisconsin was a leader when it created its civil service laws in 1905. AB 373 overhauls the state’s civil service system for Wisconsin’s 30,000 public employees. It eliminates objective civil service exams and replaces them with a subjective system for hiring. It increases the probationary period, allowing employees to be fired for any reason for up to 2 years. Included in the definition of “just cause” is “personal conduct” that is “unsuitable,” which leaves too much discretion in the hands of state agencies to discipline employees for manufactured reasons.

 

If the Walker Administration wants, as Governor Bob La Follette’s slogan says, for “the best to serve the state,” there are proactive steps that must be taken, and gutting civil service protections isn’t one of them. If the Republicans really want to attract the best and the brightest, they shouldn’t have cut take-home pay and eliminated collective bargaining rights. Governor Walker and legislative Republicans should be working to repair the damage they inflicted on Wisconsin’s workers, not destroying civil service protections.

 

Additionally, we’ve already seen the corruption that can occur in state employment when civil service standards are removed. This is what happened when the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) was created. Without the civil service process, WEDC has seen unprecedented levels of corruption and unethical behavior. One analysis of the $975 million WEDC doled out from 2011-2014 found that 60% of the funds went to those that contributed directly to Governor Walker or the Republican Governor’s Association. Taxpayer money has been irresponsibly loaned to Walker donors who need to make their Maserati payments.

 

Even before the civil service system was ransacked, we’d already begun to see cronyism seeping into our government:

 

If you signed the recall petition, you’re weren’t appointed to a board you were otherwise extremely qualified to be on. If you conducted research based on science, not politics, you were fired, just like the 18 scientists at the Department of Natural Resources. If you were a long time civil servant and you disagreed with one of the agencies, your job was turned into an unclassified position, causing you to lose all job protections.

 

In the face of reduced public employee protections, I am introducing an anti-retaliation bill to ensure that public employees will not be targeted for simply doing their jobs or exercising their basic, protected 1^st Amendment rights. This is a small step towards treating state employees with the respect they deserve.

Representative Chris Taylor 

Paul Ryan's Big Day

By Jeff Simpson

Today, Janesville's Paul Ryan was voted in as the new Speaker of the House. 

Today in Paul Ryan's backyard, Janesville's GM plant was officially designated as closing. 

These are NOT mutually exclusive events.  

Chris Abele Runs Away From His Own Budget

Like many other governmental entities, Milwaukee County is in the midst of their budget process.  Unlike most other governmental entities, Milwaukee County doesn't have an executive leader that presents, explains and defends his budget.

This morning, I received an extremely rare official email from Abele's office, stating how proud he is of his budget:

We’re officially in the midst of budget season at Milwaukee County. I’m proud of what my team and I put into this year’s budget – from unprecedented investments in transit, to an ambitious initiative to end chronic homelessness, and multiple investments in our employees – all while maintaining the financial stability and sustainability that I’ve fought so hard to create over the last several years.

He then boasts about the false praise offered by the Public Policy Forum.  This praise is basically meaningless since PPF is funded by Abele and his friends at the Greater Milwaukee Committee.  It's the equivalent of Scott Walker bragging about the praise he gets from the MacIver Institute.

But just how proud is Abele over his budget?

To the date of this writing, Abele has willfully failed five times to appear publicly to discuss his budget.  Five times, the Milwaukee County Board's Finance, Personnel and Audit Committee has invited Abele to come to speak to his budget proposal and five times Abele has refused.

UPDATE: Make that six times now!

Now, one would think that if Abele was so proud of his budget proposal, he would want to talk about it every chance he gets.  Even Walker, when he was county executive, would talk up his budget all the time.  Of course, Walker was always lying through his weasel teeth, but at least he would appear and defend his decisions.

Chairman Theodore Lipscomb raised some good questions after the third time Abele failed to appear:

“We have offered the County Executive three scheduled opportunities to answer direct questions about his budget since it was released, and he continues to refuse,” Lipscomb said. “This sets an unsettling precedent and stands in stark contrast to both Walker and Barrett.

“What is Abele hiding, and why is he hiding? Doesn’t the public have a right to know what’s going on?

Abele has offered to meet with each of the supervisors individually and privately, but added that he would still be deferring questions to his aides. That would indicate he doesn't really know what's in there or if he does, he's not so proud of it after all.

What is also alarming is the great lengths he is going to to prevent the public from knowing what is in his budget. Proposing to meet with supervisors privately is meant to keep the public out of the loop. But even worse, under Act 14 - Abele's power usurping law - the County Board and its committees have the authority to require the presence of any county employee or officer. Not only is Abele disrespecting the board and the taxpayers, he is willing to break the law in order to keep the taxpayers from knowing how he is spending their money.

To be fair, it might not be just that Abele is ashamed of his budget and doesn't want the public to know exactly what is in it, such as tapping into the reserves to pay his $80 million obligation to help build the Bucks arena.  Or that he has endangered public safety with draconian cuts to the Sheriff's Office.

It might be that he is afraid that he will commit another gaffe like he did when he first presented the budget (a week late and tens of millions of dollars short) to the County Board.  The gentle reader will remember that this was when he said that he was "helping" the African American community by improving the House of Correction, boosting child support enforcement or giving more money to privatizing the mental health system.

The ironic thing is that if any other county employee would refuse to obey the law five times like Abele is doing, it would be grounds for termination.  Fortunately, the voters will have a chance to do just that in a few months, when we elect Chris Larson to replace the elitist Abele.

In the meantime, if you happen to stumble across Abele wherever he is hiding, please return him to the Milwaukee County Courthouse so that he can actually do his job.

Republican Fantasy Land

By Jeff Simpson

While Rachel Campos Duffy feels that "political correctness" is a major problem in this country today, I believe that what might be our biggest problem in America today is how divorced from reality Republicans are.  

We all know that Ms. Duffy's husband and fellow "MTV Real World" contestant Sean, is worried because he only makes $174,000/yr. while the average salary in WI is $50,809/yr (less than a third of Duffy's).

Nationally,  Presidential would be contender and Junior Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio has come right out and said that he likes campaigning and wants to be paid his Senator's salary, but has no interest in doing any work to earn his salary.     What soured Rubio on public service?   He wanted to push a bill that made it easier to fire government workers who did not do their job, but it was blocked in the Senate.   

You can not make this stuff up. 

 Closer to home, we have our very own Governor who likes to make up stories on why we are in desperate need of civil service "reform".   Mr. Walker also made up stories about death threats to his family and himself, along  with a myriad of other half truths, false statements and pants on fire lies.  

Maybe the most egregious though, is the fact that the self proclaimed  "fiscal conservative" just finished a failed presidential run, where he spent $90,000 a day! 

In almost the same time that we found out that poverty has  increased in WI:

Five years into the nation’s recovery from recession, Wisconsin’s working families remain considerably worse off than they were before. Nearly three-quarters of a million Wisconsinites lived in poverty in 2014, according to a recent release of new Census data, which is 150,000 more than in 2007.  Poverty is more prevalent among children than adults, with about 1 in 6 Wisconsin kids in poverty last year.
The typical Wisconsin household earned significantly less in 2014 than a typical household in 2007 – about 9% less when the figures are adjusted for inflation. That drop in income makes it harder for families to put food on the table, pay car repair bills, save for their children’s educations, and make other investments that help them climb the economic ladder.

 Then JSonline PurpleWI Contributor Jay Miller tells us who cares that Scott Walker, took a full salary and benefits to campaign full time for President and blow through $7 million dollars in campaign funds in about 90 days. 

Enough already. In the last several days, the Journal Sentinel has run not one, but two, feature articles detailing how Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential campaign ended up $1 million in debt.

 

Although it is not unusual for a candidate withdrawing from a failed race to have debts, the newspaper decided to trumpet this non-story. And, then, its watchdog columnist, Daniel Bice, provided the coup de grace with his Sunday column, “Walker mum on campaign spending”.

It is hard when people find no problem with a politician shirking his duties to campaign for a job he promised us he did not want and would not pursue, while spending $90,000/day. 

For context, that would bring two full time teachers to a public school in WI.  

Maybe the biggest problem facing Wisconsin is that the party in charge is either tone deaf or completely divorced from reality. 


Here Scott Walker partakes in an activity that 15.3 million children in the US a day do not get to. 
 

GOP Pass Their Corruption Agenda

Allowing unlimited corporate dollars in elections while dismantling nonpartisan GAB watchdog shows GOP agenda

 

MADISON – After hours of debate yesterday on AB 387, a bill that will allow unlimited corporations and billionaires to collude with candidates and spend unlimited amounts in state and local elections, Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) released the following statement:

 

“At a time when Wisconsin citizens want the state legislature to focus on creating family supporting jobs and revitalizing our lagging economy,  Governor Walker and his legislative allies decided to use their power to line their campaign accounts, exclude themselves from corruption investigations and dismantle our ethics and elections watchdog, the GAB.   

 

“Unless special interest groups, corporations and billionaires say specific words including “vote for” or “vote against” and make this type of communication their major purpose, they can keep their donors secret and not make any disclosures to the public.  And for the first time in Wisconsin history, candidates can form, coordinate with and run entities that take secret corporate and billionaire money.  Wisconsin candidates now have a legal tool, with which they can effectively circumvent any limits on candidate campaign contributions, a previously unlawful tactic Governor Walker allegedly employed during his recall campaign.

    

“AB 387 creates a conflict of interest for every legislator in the Capitol, and Republicans had no business bringing it forward and voting on it.  How can we pass bills that allow policymakers to collude with corporations and billionaires to basically money launder and evade candidate campaign limits?  Last night, after Republicans rejected our attempts to eliminate these conflict of interest provisions, I was proud to stand with my 34 Democratic colleagues in recusing ourselves from voting on this bill.  The people of our state deserve legislators who are looking out for the people’s interests, not their own political futures.”  

 Representative Chris Taylor

Vos Bill Opens the Door on “Dark Money” in Campaigns

“This bill strengthens democracy because it allows more citizens to participate,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told the Wisconsin State Journal. Vos is the lead author of a bill to overhaul the state’s campaign finance law.

Wisconsin was an early leader in campaign finance reforms of 1911 that limited money in campaigns and provided “rigorous penalties” including disqualifying candidates and sending them to prison. Ironically, the effort over 100 years ago was led by legislative Republicans.

Today’s Assembly leader may advocate for more democracy, but the bill he authored favors the rich and those well-connected candidates. I fear the bill’s effect will be more negative ads, less voter knowledge, more out-of-state contributions, more centralized control by legislative leaders, and an increasingly dispirited electorate.

The bill opens the door to so-called “dark money” or contributions not reported by who wrote the check. Loopholes created in the bill make it unclear which political action committees (PAC) or independent expenditure groups must report donors and campaign spending.

Unlimited campaign contributions are allowed in a host of new areas. Unlimited donations can be made to a PAC or to two new political committee types for a recall or a referendum. This makes me concerned more money and outside groups will try to affect local elections and referenda.

Corporations cannot contribute to candidate campaigns but corporations, labor unions and Native American Tribes can make unlimited contributions to independent expenditure groups, a referendum committee or a special fund for non-candidate contribution purposes run by a political party or a legislative committee (run by legislative leaders).

In addition, unlimited dollars can be moved from a political party or legislative campaign committee to a candidate. The latter increases the hold leaders have over legislative members. The former increases the power of the political party to pick candidates.

Donation limits to candidates’ campaigns are doubled. For example, the current limit for a single individual over a four-year Senate term is $1,000. This limit becomes $2,000 under Vos’ bill.

Who benefits from adding more money to campaigns? An analysis by Nick Heynen of the Wisconsin State Journal, shows that since 2008, $17.8 million in donations that reach the maximum limit were contributed to candidates for statewide office. Almost 60% of this money came from outside Wisconsin.

Donors would not be required to report their employer. This makes it difficult to track the relationship between a company that receives grants or tax credits from the state and donations of their employees to candidates.

Removed from the statute is the purpose of campaign finance laws: The legislature finds and declares that our democratic system of government can be maintained only if the electorate is informed. It further finds that excessive spending on campaigns for public office jeopardizes the integrity of elections….When the true source of support or extent of support is not fully disclosed, or when a candidate becomes overly dependent upon large private contributors, the democratic process is subject to a potential corrupting influence.

Perhaps Speaker Vos found his bill a bit in conflict with the real purpose of campaign finance laws. If he truly wants to improve democracy by increasing citizens’ participation in campaigns, I wonder if he’d join me in supporting an amendment to his bill suggested in the testimony of Matt Rothschild, the executive director of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

In a March hearing, Mr. Rothschild cited one way to amplify the voice of small campaign donors was to use public financing to match – by five times – the donation of anyone who gave $175 or less to a candidate. This sounds like a great way to strengthen democracy.

I haven’t met a single voter who thinks we need more out of state or dark money in Wisconsin elections. Without regard to political affiliation, people think there is already too much influence on elections from outside Wisconsin.

Every donation to influence an election needs to be reported in a way citizens can see who is behind the nasty ads. Not only should groups disclose their donors, they should register every patriotic or feel good name used to influence elections.

We don’t need more dark money. We need more democracy and the best way to get that is to let the light shine in.

Senator Kathleen Vinehout

REPUBLICANS MAKE A RIGHT MOVE

Voting to allow switchblade knives, swords and other cutlery to be worn in public was a completely Right thing to do. Now we need to go further and legalize Nunchuks, Shurikens, thumbnail eye gougers and other fighting implements. Not everyone wants to use a gun with 30 round ammunition to kill 30 kids in 30 seconds. Some people prefer a more adventurous approach with machetes. Yes, they're legal now too and can be worn concealed or not. Then the old fashioned type just wants to deliver a good smacking with a piece of wood. I know that may not be NRA approved though but you are headed in the Right direction. Still, think of it. UW students will be able to play dungeons and dragons in real dungeons. They can wear that Brave Heart Highlander broad sword to medieval studies; hopefully it won’t accidentally decapitate anyone. What a great gift coming right before Halloween. It almost seems supernatural. So my complements to the Republicans for once again going in the Right direction. Now perhaps we can take another goose step to the right and lower the age for children to buy guns. I know they can have a rifle when they are ten but there is a problem that no one is addressing and that is toddlers killing each other. Now we all know that the only thing that stops a bad toddler with a gun is a good toddler with a gun. Keep going Right, Republicans. Bright future, DEXTER

I'll Just Leave This Here

Fun with screencaps, from my Feedly reader:

WI Lawmakers To Propose Office Of African American Affairs

Wisconsin - and especially in MIlwaukee - is a very bad place to be African American. Wisconsin has the highest incarceration rate for African American men. Milwaukee is the most racially and economically segregated communities in the nation. Unemployment rates for African Americans in Milwaukee is nearly 20% and some neighborhoods the unemployment rate is over 50%.

To address these issues, Milwaukee County Supervisor Khalif Rainey is proposing that the county create an Office of African American Affairs. The objectives of this agency, per Rainey, would be:

“The creation of a Milwaukee County Office on African American Affairs includes as its objectives: the examination and definition of issues central to the rights and needs of African Americans; recommendations for changes in programs and laws that disproportionately impact African Americans; development and implementation of policies, plans, and programs related to the special needs of African Americans; and promotion of equal opportunities for African Americans.”

Milwaukee Alderman Willie Wade and Representative Leon Young will introduce similar proposals for the City of Milwaukee and the State of Wisconsin, respectively.

These proposals will probably pass in both the city and the county, especially given that most of the elected officials in both entities are up for reelection in the spring of 2016. Sadly, it probably won't get much traction at the state level, where Scott Walker and his fellow corporate puppets are in overdrive to ram through their plantation economic agenda.

Interesting, Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele - who said that he was "helping" the black community by putting more programming in the House of Corrections, increasing aid to child support enforcement and expanding mental health services - is all for this proposal.

After trying to claim credit for programs created by others, Abele even admitted that what he was doing "clearly they are not enough." That is a remarkable admission from such an arrogant, pompous ass that holds only disdain for anyone not wealthy.

But like I said, he faces reelection in a few months and has a strong challenger in State Senator Chris Larson, a very popular progressive.