Walker Expounds On De Same Deschane Shame

Yesterday, we learned that Scott Walker was continuing his long time practice of rewarding cronies and/or campaign donors (or their relatives).  In this most recent incident, Walker had promoted a highly unqualified young man to a lofty position in his administration worth more than $81,000 a year.  The young man's only redeeming factor, it appears, is that his daddy is a wealthy lobbyist that gave more than $100,000 to Walker's gubernatorial campaign.

This morning, Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel again brings us news of the Deschane shame.  This time, Walker ripped this unearned promotion from the young man, demoting him to his previous position.  Which still pays him more than $62,000 a year and still without any proof that, other than his daddy's money, he has any qualifications for this job either.

In fact, Bice points out the two people that were passed over to give the lobbyist's son the position, both of which were much more qualified:

But check out the two candidates Deschane beat out to get the position as head of environmental and regulatory affairs in the state Department of Commerce:

The first,Oscar Herrera, is a former state cabinet secretary under Republican Gov. Scott McCallumwith a doctoral degree and eight years' experience overseeing the cleanup of petroleum-contaminated sites.

The second,Bernice Mattsson, is a professional engineer who served since 2003 in the post to which Deschane was appointed.

By contrast, Deschane has no college degree, little management experience and a couple of drunken-driving convictions. His father represents a trade group that gave more than $121,000 to Walker and his running mate.

Herrera and Mattsson didn't get far in the process.

"Neither candidate was interviewed," said agency spokesmanTony Hozeny.

And if you're not sick to your stomach yet, remember that this is only the latest in a long string of similar behaviors from Walker.

And for an added kick of irony to start your day, commenter Jim Spice reminds us of this doozy, an op ed piece from the paper in which Big Daddy Deschane, the guy who bankrolled his son's job, pointing out how "tough decisions" need to be made and how state workers need to feel their fair share of the pain that his family is not not.  The most sickening part is Daddy Deschane's last line:

While benefit reductions are something no one cheers about, these private-sector workers understand the pain that public-sector workers feel but also recognize that these painful decisions are necessary.

Is it November yet? I am so ready to start collecting those signatures...if Walker is still in office by then.

Walker Clone Dropped Like A Rock

In case you somehow missed it, Milwaukee County voters rejected Scott Walker a second time by kicking his clone, Jeff Stone, out the door and elected Chris Abele in a 61-39 margin, very close to the 62-38 margin Tom Barrett had won Milwaukee by in the November gubernatorial race this past November.

Obviously, Milwaukeeans are more than ready and able to start the healing caused under eight years of Walker's negligence and abuse.

But adding the cherry to the top of this local race was the typical display of cluelessness that his campaign had shown throughout the race when his campaign manager had called current county executive Marvin Pratt and asked if she could come in and measure the office windows for new curtains before the voting polls were close to shutting down.

Congratulations are also due to the two newest supervisors, Eyon Biddle and my personal friend, Jason Haas. Both men won their races handedly and will make fine additions to the County Board.

If You're Shocked By The Deschane Affair, You Shouldn't Be

Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel covered a story of one of Scott Walker's most glaring abuses of his newly-grabbed power.  This latest saga is about the appointment of Brian Deschane, a twenty-something college dropout who is the proud possessor of an arrest record of not just one, but two, drunk driving arrests. Walker appointed Deschane to the position of turning a blind eye to environmental and regulatory violations and making sure dozens of state employees do the same.  For this, Deschane is receiving $81,500 per year, which is 26% higher than he was making when he started as a state employee two months ago.

What made Deschane qualified for this if he was a dropout and had very little real world experience? His daddy is a very rich lobbyist that dropped quite a bundle into Walker's campaign fund.

Many people, including my own uber-conservative father, were outraged and shocked by this revelation.  Outraged I can understand and agree with full-heartedly.  But when my father told me that this is the first time he's actually seen it in print, my jaw hit the floor.

It makes me wonder where he and everyone else has been for the last decade.

Just two weeks ago, Bice had reported about how Senator Randy Randy "Bed" Hopper's girlfriend, Valerie Cass, had gotten a nice $20.35 per hour job from the Walker administration.

And before Cass, there were the appointments of Cindy Archer, Walker's former head of the Milwaukee County Department of Administration; Jeff Judas Plale, former state representative who sold his vote for a job; Steve Fitzgerald, father of the Twins of Tantrums; and Tom "Executhug" Nardelli, Walker's former chief of staff.

And the above noted examples are just from the last three months, since Walker became governor.

As Milwaukee County Executive, Walker amassed a lengthy list of crony appointees, as Cory Liebmann has already listed.

Two of those on Cory's list also show that Walker didn't have a high regard for being qualified as he was handing out these appointments.  Walker had appointed Bob Dennik to the economic development office where they proved themselves to be utter flops (emphasis mine from then):

Walker’s last two choices to lead the county economic development office, Bob Dennik and Tim Russell, came from his campaign and lacked depth in the development business, Clark said. Dennik left the post this week to become an executive with a Pewaukee construction company. Russell is now Walker’s community relations director.

“Walker chooses folks who don’t have (the necessary) experience,” she said. Dennik came under repeated fire from the board the last two years over disappointing land sales results that put the county budget in a jam. He didn’t return several phone calls seeking comment. 

Only about $226,000 of the $7.2 million in budgeted land sales revenue for this year has materialized, contributing to a projected multimillion-dollar, year-end deficit. The land-sales budgets have been off $1 million or more in four of the last seven years, county figures show.

Obviously, Walker's abuse of office by appointing unqualified cronies or family and/or friends of donors is nothing new at all, but rather is an ongoing thing.

For anyone shocked by the latest rendition of Walker's long standing behavioral pattern should save some of their outrage for themselves for not paying attention all this time.

Breaking News: Grothman Expects To Be Recalled!

He's already making plans for his post-political career.

The Ways and Whys I'll Be Voting on Tuesday

Tuesday is Election Day, as the gentle reader is surely aware.  I don't like doing predictions or endorsements much, mostly because they have a great ability to turn around and bite you, usually at the least opportune moment.  But I can tell you how I'm going to vote on Tuesday, and why I am voting that way.

Supreme Court

I will be voting for JoAnne Kloppenburg to be the new Supreme Court Justice.  She has proven herself to be a dedicated servant to the people and to the law.  She follows the law and the most her detractors can come up with against her is that they don't like the laws that she was hired to enforce as a prosecutor.

Her opponent, on the other hand, has proven himself to be unworthy of a law license, much less a seat on the highest bench in the state.  David Prosser is a career politician who isn't afraid to lean on the big, bad Koch Brothers for their help, even if it means selling out the entire state for it.  Furthermore, he has more than amply shown his lack of temperance and good judgment when he acted completely and utterly unprofessionally to his colleagues, most noticeably the Chief Justice herself.  As egregious of the other things mentioned, Prosser has made it clear he would be a rubber stamp for anything Walker or his cronies would send to the Supreme Court, which is alarming considering that even the current hot topic of the budget repair bill is against federal law.

Milwaukee County Executive

To be honest, I'm not thrilled to death with either of the candidates for this job, Chris Abele or Jeff Stone. I would have preferred someone who was more eager to being proactive in restoring the county after eight years of Scott Walker's abuse and neglect.  That said, the choice for this race is also very clear.

Stone is Walker's heir apparent, and the two of them can't get enough of singing each other's praises.  Stone thinks that Walker was just a grand county executive and is an even greater governor.  He has also said that the would continue where Walker left off.  What that tells me is to expect more sexual assaults at the mental health complex, more buildings falling on people and an ever increasing debt even while furthering the deferred maintenance and lack of repairs that have been plaguing the county.  Stone has also shown questionable judgment by regularly working with ex- and future-cons.  And he has the Walker hypocrisy displayed by calling Abele an amateur while failing to file a campaign finance report which was both accurate and on time.

While I have some concerns about Abele's plans, such as for the transit system, the parks and other important assets, I don't believe that he would willingly cause the chaos or the harm that Stone would if elected.  Abele said that he is willing to listen to all sides and work with anyone if they have a good idea.  I certainly hope he keeps that promise.

County Supervisor District 10

I don't live in this district and thus can't vote for it, but as I pointed out during the primary, Eyon Biddle is the guy to go with.

County Supervisor District 14

As with District 10, I don't live in District 14, so won't be voting in this race.  But I can tell you hands down that I would be voting for my good friend, Jason Haas.  Not only is Jason well-versed in county issues, he has some outside of the box ideas on how to get things moving in a positive direction.

His opponent, Steve Kraeger, leaves a lot to be desired.  For starters, Kraeger knows nothing about what is a county issue versus any other level of government.  But to make things even worse, there is some considerable hanky-panky going on with his campaign finances.  We already have a supervisor, Paul Cesarz, with those kind of issues. We don't need a second one.

Milwaukee Circuit Court Branch 18

This is a race between Pedro Colon and Christopher Lipscomb. Both men are currently sitting as judges, with Lipscomb presiding as a municipal judge challenging Colon.  As in the primary, I am going with Lipscomb.  Lipscomb is a straight forward judge who would show a strong dedication to the law.

Colon is first and foremost a politician.  As evidenced by a growing ado about the fact that Colon and Prosser have endorsed each other in their respective races, Colon is going to do whatever he thinks is going to be the most politically expedient, even if it means doing a mutual love with what most people consider to be an unfit judge.

 I don't want a judge that wants what is helpful to his or her career. I want a judge who will follow the law. In this race, the person is Lipscomb.

Is The Battle Over The Budget Disrepair Bill Moot?

Could it be true? Is all the grandstanding and the overreaching and the power-grabbing my Scott Walker and his GOP cronies be all for naught? I certainly hope so:

In a ruling that has far-reaching implications for Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Maine, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri, a federal judge threw out labor law reforms at Chicago’s McCormick Place that the Illinois state legislature enacted in 2010 following supplication from the convention industry.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman affirms that collective bargaining rights cannot be overturned by governmental edict. Guzman told the Legislature “it had no business trying to interfere with collective bargaining” according to Marvin Gittler, an attorney representing Local 727 of the Teamsters.

Guzman held that the National Labor Relations Act preempts the Legislature from dictating terms for unions working at McCormick Place. This ruling is similar to the finding of The International Commission for Labor Rights, which has said, in part: The ICLR identified the right of "freedom of association" as a fundamental right and affirmed that the right to collective bargaining is an essential element of freedom of association. These rights, which have been recognized worldwide, provide a brake on unchecked corporate or state power.

Now, before anyone points out that the NLRA is for private sector unions, read on:

While the NLRA covered US employees in private employment, the law protecting collective bargaining in both the public and private sectors has developed since 1935 to cover all workers "without distinction."

If this ruling stands, it would be so very typical of Walker to be wasting all our time and tax payer money on something that is moot to begin with. Perhaps we can report Walker and the entire GOP caucus in each house to the state's waste and fraud task squad.

Koch Brothers' Heavy Hand Behind Anti-Kloppenburg Ad, Everything Else In Wisconsin

A shadowy group called Citizens for a Strong America (CSA) has run an TV ad against JoAnne Kloppenburg, a candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  Said ad was recently evaluated by PolitiFact Wisconsin and was found to be "ridiculously false" and was thus given the dubious "Pants on Fire" rating.

The article, besides evaluating the ads factual correctness, also pointed out an issue of question regarding CSA:

We wanted to ask Citizens for a Strong America-- one of five conservative groups that reportedly have spent $2 million in TV advertising against Kloppenburg -- for evidence to back its claim. That proved to be difficult.

According to its website, the group is based in Beaver Dam, Wis., and "promotes public policies that reduce tax burdens on families, increase public safety and protect the rights of parents to make decisions about their children’s medical, psychological and educational well-being."

No names, phone numbers or e-mail addresses were provided on the website. And there are no Beaver Dam phone numbers listed for Citizens for a Strong America or for Veronica Johnson, a person identified as having placed the TV ad.

This was picked up in other places and they made some further progress.

PRWatch also wrote on the subject and found that CSA is operating out of a drop box in West Bend, even though they are apparently able to channel money by the truckload, but there they became stymied.

Buckeyville was able to trace CSA's website to a John Connors, who has a Milwaukee address which happens to be the same as that for Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a well-known front group for the Koch Brothers (remember them?).

Jessica Arp, a reporter for Channel 3000, also filed a video report regarding this story, which includes a focus on how inaccurate the advertisement really is.  She also noted the drop box, that their phone number is a Middleton number, and that John Connors tie in.

But all of these astute reporters haven't gone all the way looking into the convoluted and intricately interwoven mess that is behind CSA.

Independent of the above cited research, a friend of mine, and a cognitive dissident in his own right, had his curiosity piqued by the Politifact article, and did his own look see behind the scenes.  He was kind enough to share what he found with me.  (Please note that he did give me this information last night, and it is my own fault that this is only getting posted now.)  Some of this will be redundant of what I wrote above, but I will take that risk for the sake of keeping it consistent in both my mind and the mind of the gentle reader.

As noted above, the website for CSA is registered to John Connors.  As also noted above, Connors' address is listed as 1126 S. 70th St., Suite S420, West Allis, WI 53214. This is also the same address for AFP.

But that's not all. Not by a long shot.

Also sharing the same address as CSA and AFP is an organization called Campaign Now.  Guess what. Campaign Now's website is also registered to John Connors. Digging a little deeper into Campaign Now's site, one can find their contact phone number.  This number happens to be the same phone number that was used by AFP to register riders on the buses to the AFP (read Koch Brothers) sponsored pilgrimage to Madison on February 15, in order to represent the Koch Industries in front of the Joint Financial Committee.
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Besides sharing phone numbers and addresses, these groups also share Connors, who is listed as a On-Site Production Coordinator at the AFP/Koch Brothers sponsored Tea Party held in Wisconsin Dells in 2009

Further research shows that Connors is indeed a very busy and very well-connected young man.

On top of being affiliated with AFP, CSA and Campaign Now, Connors was also an intern for then County Executive Scott Walker and for the gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker, all while balancing his school career and being a senator at Marquette University.

Connors is also listed as the registrant for yet another website, this time WatchDog.org, which is ironically described as a "non-profit, non-partisan" project of the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity.  And here's a really shocker - Franklin Center is affiliated with - guess who- the Koch Brothers!

It should be noted that the Franklin Center is one of these so-called news organizations, a la MacIver Institute. Here is a real good summary of how messed up this stuff is getting:

The decline of the statehouse beat is bad enough. What I find even worse is the influx of agenda-driven state “news” organizations, some with a leftist orientation but most of the newer entries tilted far to the right. They claim their sole reason for being is to inform the people and hold public officials accountable, filling a vacuum caused by the downsizing of the news industry. Their mission statements actually say they’re rushing to fill the gap.

Don’t believe it for a moment. Do what reporters should do: Check them out, as I have done. For the most part, the people in charge of these would-be watchdog operations are political hacks out to subvert journalism in their quest to grab and keep power using whatever means they have to do so. Good luck on finding out where they get their money; the IRS disclosure forms required of organizations that claim nonprofit status are singularly uninformative.

At the forefront of an effort to blur the distinction between statehouse reporting and political advocacy is the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, which finances a network of websites that focus on state government. This center has ties to a number of conservative organizations, including the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, whose founder is billionaire David Koch. He is a longtime financier of right-wing causes whose shadowy political dealings were highlighted this past summer in a New Yorker article by Jane Mayer headlined “Covert Operations.”

As a side note to all of this, it should also be noted that Connors is not the only one who has their fingers in all of these pies.  Claire Milbrandt, who was listed as Stage Coordinator at the AFP event, is also listed as Account Executive at Campaign Now, Account Manager at Connors and Co., and a consultant for AFP.

I sure hope that the Koch Brothers are paying them well for all of their hard work.

But it is very frightening to see just how many things the Koch Brothers have their dirty little hands into in Wisconsin, and none of it to the benefit of the state or its people.

It also shows just how very important that we take to the polls on Tuesday, April 5, and vote to keep Wisconsin in the hands of Wisconsinites, not the Koch Brothers.

April Tools: Another Libelous Attack From The Right

On Thursday evening, I noticed that Peter DiGaudio, owner and author of the blogsite "The Underground Conservative", had written an attack post on me.  The gist of the post is that I had allegedly left two profane and inappropriate comments on another post of his, and that these two posts were left during what is normally considered business hours.

To be honest, I didn't first think too much about it.  You see, I've been harangued by an imposter or group of imposters for over a year and a half now.  Said imposter(s) have a long history of impersonating me, Zach Wisniewski, Jim Arndt and others in all corners of the Cheddarsphere.  Some of the bloggers and blogs that have encountered this fool include Zach, Jim and myself as well as Cindy Kilkenny, Badger Blogger, folkbum, Jason Haas, Owen Robinson at Boots and Sabers, Real Debate Wisconsin, Charlie Sykes and who knows where else. The comments range from those experienced by Peter to threats of violence and other horrendous things.

In fact, as you can see at Peter's post, commenters including Cindy Kilkenny, Jim Arndt and Jim Spice, point out to this ongoing issue. Furthermore, there are some other minor points that would indicate that it's not me, including the fact that I have a different sign in for WordPress sites.

The sock puppets' mission is obviously to try to discredit me by making me appear as some sort of asocial lunatic.  Fortunately for me, I've been blogging for long enough that most people, even those that don't agree with my political views (like Cindy and Owen, for example), recognize that this isn't my style of writing and/or that it's not my IP.  (In fact, said troll most often uses some proxy server to help disguise their true identity.)  Said troll was even becoming so bold as threatening me at my sites, hence the need for comment moderation. But don't worry, I still have all those comments in storage.

Another reason that I was not overly concerned about it was the fact that Peter himself has a history of questionable writings (which caused him to blow up at least one or two previous sites he had operated). I also know that there are some people that will believe the worst of me no matter what, so they will automatically presume my guilt in anything.  Others just don't know me and don't bother doing their homework*.  Either way, I realize that there is nothing that I can do about that, and thus tend not to worry about it.

That feeling on laissez-faire changed earlier today when I was tipped off that some Republican operatives were taking Peter's allegations of me leaving those comments on county time and trying to run with them.   My thoughts immediately went to the attempted smear job that Citizens for Responsible Government pulled last year, much akin to the Republican attempt to discredit Professor Cronon.

This suspicion was reinforced when Aaron Rodriguez, a known Walker blogger, who doesn't follow me on Twitter, still responded to an off-hand comment I made about wanting a drink after a week of seeing so many of my friends retiring from work this week:

Rodriguez, when I challenged him on this, made some odd comment about seeing me posting on Fox6Milwaukee, which would be really new, since I've almost never gone to that site, much less posted a comment there.  I'm not even registered to that site, presuming they have that requirement to comment on their site in the first place.

But I am still not too worried about this whole thing since I know that I didn't leave those comments on Peter's site or anywhere else.  I know that whatever they throw at me will eventually prove to be nothing. Odds are that they know this as well.

However, I can see them trying to roil the waters sometime between now and Tuesday to try to influence the elections.  The scenario I could foresee would be that CRG or some such group of groupies come out with these fresh allegations and use that to attempt to discredit me and to try to distract the people's attention from the fact that Scott Walker and the Republicans have overreached themselves (again).  So far, one Republican Senator is going to have to fight to keep his seat and there may be as many as five more before long.  Furthermore, from everything I hear, neither Stone nor Prosser are looking to well in the polls and they need to do something if they are going to have a chance.

So if you see "me" posting some obnoxious garbage around the blogosphere, know it's not me.  And if you see someone or some group making these false allegations against me, share the truth so that they cannot keep hijacking this great state of ours.

*Peter, if you really do read this blog, please note that it is Cognitive Dissidence, not Cognitive Dissonance.  I do cognitive dissidence, while your post shows cognitive dissonance.

Yeah, Tuesday's Elections Are Important

Very important:



You can vote for freedom and democracy, or you can vote for tyranny and oligarchy. The choice is yours.

Because A Reality TV Star Is Such A Terrible Thing To Waste

Poor Sean Duffy.

This poor star of reality TV and former district attorney turned freshman congressman is just trying to relate to the people, and he has to catch hell for it:

Outrage on the left this week was sparked by reports Duffy had complained at a town hall meeting that he has to "drive a used minivan," pays too much for health care, has "more debt than all of you" and struggles to pay his bills--all on $174,000 a year.

A constituent pointed out that $174,000 is three times his own salary.

Duffy said he resigned as Ashland County District Attorney before campaigning for seven months during which time he collected no paycheck. But the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says that's not so. "He took a taxpayer funded salary as District Attorney for the majority of [his] campaign for Congress," the committee said in a release Tuesday. Additionally, "Duffy reimbursed himself over ten thousand dollars for everything from mileage to miscellaneous expense" while on the campaign trail, the DCCC claims.

Now, despite what the Charlie Sykes of the world might tell you, the Democrats aren't all bad.  In fact, they want to help poor Sean Duffy out.  And you can help them help him:

I also hear he could use some donations for that tan-in-a-can stuff, so please help!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, from The Political Carnival, we learn that his secretary is as clueless and tactless as Duffy is.

I Always Thought It Was Rabies That Caused Foaming At The Mouth...

But apparently it's distemper:

"I have followed with increasing dismay and now alarm the campaign of Justice David Prosser, whom I endorsed at the outset of his campaign and in whose campaign I serve as the honorary co-chairman," Lucey said in the statement. "I can no longer in good conscience lend my name and support to Justice Prosser's candidacy. Too much has come to light that Justice Prosser has lost that most crucial of characteristics for a Supreme Court Justice -- as for any judge -- even-handed impartiality. Along with that failing has come a disturbing distemper and lack of civility that does not bode well for the High Court in the face of demands that are sure to be placed on it in these times of great political and legal volatility."

At the same time, Lucey said he has continued to be impressed by Kloppenburg, saying she has shown the proper judicial temperament.

"(Kloppenburg) has adhered throughout the campaign to even-handedness and non-partisanship and has exhibited both promising judicial temperament and good grace, even in the heat of a fierce campaign," Lucey said.

Lucey said he has resigned as the honorary co-chairman of Prosser's campaign, and he is endorsing Kloppenburg for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

I wonder what the odds are that Prosser, upon hearing the news, forgot that Lucey is the former governor's last name, and called him a b*tch.

And They Shall Be Known By The Company They Keep

I don't know if it is born from their arrogance, thinking they are invulnerable, or if it is from their desperation, realizing for the first time in months that they aren't invulnerable, but the major Republican contenders in next weeks elections are making some really poor choices about whom they associate with.

David Prosser, who I heard described as the "gift that keeps on giving to Kloppenberg," is either filled with unbelievable hubris or desperation or just doesn't understand what the people of Wisconsin are thinking.

After he proves himself to be a belligerent old cuss, who likes to use the classic wife-beater defense of "she made me do it," Prosser decides to double down on the dumb.  Now he is campaigning with his good friend and colleague, Mike "Loophole" Gableman, the lying, racist justice, who is still tied up in his ethics violations case.

An interesting factoid is that the Prosser/Gableman tour appears to be only hitting Republican strongholds.  I will leave it to the gentle reader to figure out if this means that their base is the only ones that will accept them or if it means that they are in so much trouble that they need to shore up their base voters.

In the Milwaukee area, Jeff Stone isn't doing himself any big favors with whom he chooses to partner up with either.

First we learned that Stone has benefited from the muckraking of Republican operative Tim Russell, who is himself in the midst of an ongoing John Doe investigation into whether he was illegally campaigning for Scott Walker.

As if that wasn't a big enough blunder, we also learn that Stone has also hired on LaMonte Harris, and ex-con who has the stigma of having worked for the likes of Michael McGee and Gary George. The kicker of that story is Mr. Harris told them that they should check out his background, being straight up about his checkered past, and Team Stone never did even the basics regarding that.  It does put Stone's judgment into deep question.

Even though these examples show that these candidates have some questionable tastes in associates, they are probably not even the most damning.  What will ultimately prove to be the load stone around their necks that drags them down is that both of these men, Prosser and Stone alike, have chosen to sidle up to Scott Walker, whose popularity is in free fall as he continues to arbitrarily deny people their rights.

I am starting to think that we should be holding the First (and Only) Scott Walker Appreciation Dinner as a way of saying thanks for bringing the people together as never before and for giving us the inspiration for all the recall efforts and all the protests, and most of all, for giving us the motivation to go out and take our state back from him and his special interest buddies..

Blogrolling

Just a quick note regarding two additions to the Royal Wedge of the Cheddarsphere.

One is blue cheddar, a real spitfire from the other side of the state.

The other one is an old friend to me, and I hope a new friend to you: [redacted] at Perfect Impertinence.

Go give them a look see, won't you?

Republican Recall Irony Abounds

Thanks to their bullying tactics and their great overreach, the Republicans have gotten themselves in one heck of a political jam.  They woke the sleeping giant and have set off a chain of events that they have no control over, no matter how hard they try.

Instead of doing what they had promised, which was creating jobs, they have spent the last three months launching one offensive against the people of Wisconsin after another.  They are trying to take away the rights of workers.  They are trying to take away the right to vote from the poor, minorities and college kids.  They are trying to sell off all of our assets to their equally greedy campaign contributors and special interest buddies.  They are trying to take away the help that our most vulnerable citizens need just to survive.

In response, the people became quite understandably angry, and showed up in the hundreds of thousands at the Capitol Building, day in and day out, for over six weeks and counting, to let the political leaders know that they were going down the wrong path.  Instead of listening to the people, much less reaching out and working with them, the Republicans decided to try to take away our constitutional rights of free speech and the right to assemble.

The people decided that if the elected officials weren't going to listen to them, it was time to find politicians that would. And thus, the eight eligible Republican senators found themselves suddenly facing recall attempts.  The Republicans tried to play tit for tat, and started on their own, but by all reports, don't seem to be doing so well.

The spill over is going all over the state's politics as well.  Representative Jeff Stone, who had thought he'd just stroll into the position of Milwaukee County Executive on Scott Walker's coat tails, made the politically fatal decision of supporting Walker.  Now he is doing so bad that even Charlie Sykes gave up on him.  Likewise, Supreme Court Justice David Prosser is facing the very real possibility of being unseated next week.

Facing this sudden groundswell of grass roots opposition, the Republicans have resorted to their favorite maneuver.  They've circled the wagons and have launched an all out campaign of fear and smear, with a liberal dose of hypocrisy.

Case in point is an email from WISGOP, in which they announce a new website. This one is ironically called the "The Recall Integrity Center," and is to serve people "unfairly targeted by the far left."  As you can plainly see, they're setting the stage to scare the bejeebus out of their own people, and get them seeing problems where none exist.

But the letter itself is just as ridiculous.  Here is the letter, with my interjections added:

Dear Fellow Conservative,

Our Republican Senators have had to endure harassment at their homes, vandalism to their property and even death threats. The union bosses want to see them punished for standing up for us – Wisconsin taxpayers.

Wait! They try to take our away our rights and feedoms, but they're the victims? How does that work?

Democrat aggression has now turned on private Republican citizens. Liberal special interests from around the country are pouring money and manpower into our state. Their operatives will do anythingto see Republicans recalled, and to protect the Democrats from recall who ran away from their jobs.

Yeah, this is coming from the group that used money from the Koch brothers to brink in a group of professional recallers from Utah.

These operatives are out in our communities right now, working to intimidate us and get us to back down from supporting Governor Walker.  The bullying has to stop. It’s time to hold these people accountable.

I wonder if they are referring to the guy in River Falls who grabbed a clipboard full of petitions from a person working on the Sheila Harsdorf campaign and then threw them into a puddle of water.  To top it off, this fool then resisted arrest and screamed police brutality until his wife told him to knock it off.

We’ve created The Recall Integrity Center to do just that. The online center,www.RecallIntegrityCenter.com, will serve as a clearinghouse for citizen complaints, documenting abuse and holding abusers responsible.  The site allows citizens to submit written testimonies and video of abuse directed at them because of their conservative values or because they participate in recall efforts against Democrat Senators. Incident reports will be posted on the site, so that we can expose the corrupt behavior coming from the left.

The Recall Integrity Center is your resource to report threats to the integrity of our recall efforts and expose those responsible. We can protect our fellow conservatives, our communities, and the Democratic process. Visit the Recall Integrity Center today.

I just happen to have someone I could report to this center. It's a person who is as corrupt as they come and has personally suggested in tampering with our right to recall maleficent and abusive politicians.  It's Senator Scott Fitzgerald who has suggested tampering with the recall laws to make it more difficult.  As an added dose of irony, it was also Fitzgerald who said this:

"Yeah, I mean, I've always been a believer that recall probably would be more appropriate if a legislator was involved in some type of, you know, either criminal activity, or something that could be deemed, you know, unethical," said Fitzgerald. "Not related to simply taking a stance on a tough vote. And you know, I think there's other legislators that feel that way as well."

Oh, really?

Just remember this stuff when you're out campaigning.  The vast majority people will be OK and some will be nice to you, but you will occasionally run into one of these crackpots.

Walker's Popularity In Free Fall

As Scott Walker continues to trample on the Constitution, as well as people's rights, and ignores court orders, it is not surprising at all that his approval rating is falling fast:

The gentle reader will note that Walker is also losing the important independent group, which he and his Republican allies were so very dependent on.

And that's not even the most telling.  James Rowen finds another poll which highlights an even more telling story:

"An astonishing 95% of the survey respondents described themselves as paying close attention to the issue, 71% saying “very” closely. Respondents strongly identified with one or the other side of the budget conflict, and this identification fell along ideological lines. Independents now largely lock arms with the union and protestors. 

"As a result, Gov. Walker is now viewed unfavorably by a 53% majority, and with vehemence: only 3% say “somewhat” unfavorable while 50% say “very.” In contrast, the “Gang of 14,” the 14 Democratic state senators who fled to Illinois, were viewed favorably by a majority of respondents, 51% to 47%, even though a majority thought it was wrong of them to run away. The real winner? Government employee unions in Wisconsin, scoring 55% favorable and only 40% unfavorable."

In other words, not only do people not like Walker, they reeeeealllllllly don't like Walker.

The saddest part of it all is that Walker is such an ideologue and is so beholden to the Koch brother and other special interest groups that it won't even occur to him that he is on the wrong path and will proceed on, no matter what the people have to say.

Is it April 5 yet? And is it November yet?