Wisconsin's Newest Favorite Game!

After the smash success of Wisconsin's favorite game: "Do you know where your governor is?", we are proud to bring you the next sure hit game, "Do you know where your Republican legislators are?"

Here's a really big clue, courtesy of Walkergate's newest player, Judith Rhodes Engels:

Wisconsin Night in Washington DC

You are cordially invited to attend a reception in support of the 

Republican Party of Wisconsin 

With Hosts:

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald 

and

Joint Finance Co-Chair Rep. Robin Vos

along with

Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald; Assistant Leaders Rep. Scott Suder and Senator Glenn Grothman; and 

Joint Finance Co-Chair Senator Alberta Darling

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m

Barbour Griffith & Rogers, LLC 

The Homer Building

Eleventh Floor South

601 Thirteenth Street NW

Washington, DC 20005

Invited Guests: 

Senator Ron Johnson

Congressman Sean Duffy

Congressman Tom Petri

Congressman Reid Ribble

Congressman Paul Ryan

Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner

$5,000 to Host

$2,500 to Sponsor

$1,000 per person to attend

All PAC and Individual Donations are appreciated

Please make checks payable to: 

Republican Party of Wisconsin-Federal Account

148 East Johnson Street

Madison, WI 53703

Please RSVP to Judi Rhodes (608-257-8035) or Melanie Hubbard (608-279-1275) at the Republican Party of Wisconsin or e-mail: jrhodes@wisgop.org or mhubbard@wisgop.org

Contributions to the Republican Party of Wisconsin are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Funds received in response to this solicitation will be subject to federal contribution limits. Under federal election law, individuals may contribute up to $10,000 per calendar year and multicandidate political action committees may contribute up to $5,000 per calendar year to the Republican Party of Wisconsin. 

Paid for by the Republican Party of Wisconsin. 148 E. Johnson St, Madison, Wisconsin 53703 Authorized by Ryan for Congress, Ribble for Congress, Ron Johnson for Senate, Inc, Duffy for Congress, Citizens for Tom Petri & The Sensenbrenner Committee

Contributions from foreign nationals, corporations and individuals under 18 years of age are prohibited.

Corruption must be an expensive habit to keep up.

Walker, WISGOP Under-Mining Their Own Chances Of Political Survival

A new poll from Public Policy Polling is a pretty clear snapshot of why so many Republicans are in political jeopardy (even those not tied up in Walkergate), since they continuously go against the will of the people.

This poll in specific show how Wisconsinites feel about Scott Walker and Republican legislators selling out our most valuable assets so that out of state mining companies can increase their profit margin:

Key finding from the poll include:

-69% of voters oppose weakening Wisconsin’s wetlands law, while only 22% think doing
so is necessary to attract open-pit mining companies and jobs to the state. Majorities of Democrats (81/14), independents (70/21), and Republicans alike (53/35) stand against any legislation that would hurt the state’s wetlands. The negative environmental fallout far outweighs any other factors for voters when it comes to this bill.

-Only 22% of voters support a provision that would reduce public participation in the
mining application process, while 72% are opposed to it. This is another proposal where we find strong agreement across the party spectrum- Democrats (87/10), independents (74/21), and Republicans (52/37) all think there should be no weakening in the right of citizens to speak out against mining permits.

-Just 34% of voters support any streamlining of environmental regulations to help bring mining jobs to northern Wisconsin, while 49% oppose any weakening of water
protections. Always critical independent voters are even more against proposed
streamlining of environmental regulations than the population as a whole, opposing it
51/33. Wisconsin voters are sending a clear message: legislators should vote against this bill. They think its negative environmental impacts far outweigh any jobs it may create. And they strongly oppose any changes to the process that would quiet citizens’ voices.

The actual survey results are here.

The Scott Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part LXXV

Do you remember the promise that Scott Walker made? The one about how he was going to create 250,000 jobs? Well, he wishes you wouldn't:

Gov. Scott Walker has made little progress fulfilling a campaign promise to create 250,000 jobs over four years, making the pledge that was a key to getting him elected last year a potentially significant hurdle as he fights off recall efforts.

Walker hasn't been shy about the promise, even saying shortly before taking office that he wanted it branded on the foreheads of his top Cabinet officials. But the Republican has distanced himself in recent months, talking more about building a better environment to create jobs and how Wisconsin's future is tied to a national economy beyond his control.

The new governor wasn't expected to have to defend his jobs promise so soon. But after successfully pushing through a law that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers and made Wisconsin the epicenter of a nationwide fight over union rights, Walker was targeted for recall.

But here is the real telling factor:

Still, Walker has a long way to go. His own Department of Revenue predicted in October that based on the latest forecasts, about 136,000 jobs would be added by 2015. But at the current pace, only 71,000 jobs would be created in four years.

Walker tried to blame his failure on the national economy, but the article goes on to point out how the rest of the country has been adding jobs while Wisconsin, fully under Walker's budget, leads the nation in job losses. Even worse, a professor in applied economics is predicting even more job losses under the Walker plan.

We can't be rid of him soon enough.

The Scott Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part LXXIV

Scott Walker decided that the only green he liked it the lucre he gets from the Koch brothers and not in jobs, so he made it harder for companies that deal with green jobs to stay viable. The results were predictable:

Cardinal Solar Technologies, Mazomanie, laid off 57 employees on Wednesday after the plant's primary customer, a solar photovoltaic panel manufacturer, saw its orders suddenly shrivel.

Most of the hourly production workers are off the job; 20 employees remain, mainly salaried and maintenance workers, plant manager Jeff Valek said.

The factory, which tempers glass used in solar photovoltaic panels, is still open and operating on a "much smaller scale," said Bob Bond, president of Cardinal ST, based in Spring Green. "We believe (the layoff) to be temporary. We believe our customer will come back when the imbalance is, hopefully, corrected," Bond said.

Yes, Mr. Bond, one million people have recently successfully completed the first step to restoring balance to this state. The next step is when we actually vote Walker out of office. Unless John Doe takes him out first.

Walkergate: The Caucus Scandal Rides A Harley

In what seems like a lifetime ago in some ways, but was really only five months ago, I wrote "An Introduction to Walkergate." In that piece, I mentioned the suspicious motorcycle ride that Scott Walker took on the pretense that he was promoting tourism in Milwaukee County, even though everyone could see that it was a campaign stunt:

Also in May of last year, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin followed Walker on his annual bike ride to promote his candidacy Milwaukee County.  This bike ride has long been a source of contention, with many, including myself, who kept pointing out that it was a thinly veiled publicly-funded campaign exploit.  Sure enough, they got lots of evidence, including footage, of long-time aide, campaign worker and close friend, Tim Russell, doing non-county work, even though he was traveling as a county employee. In August 2010, the Sheriff's Office did a search of Russell's office, confiscating his computer, his Blackberry and boxes of papers.

Little did I realize at the time what a big deal that motorcycle ride was going to be after all.

But since then, we've discussed the questionable way that the bike ride was funded by a private company that had just gotten a big deal from Milwaukee County a few weeks before. And don't forget the gaffe of "Say Republican!"  And don't forget that Walker had moved the bike ride up by several weeks because the end of June was just "too hot" to ride a motorcycle - never mind that the ride conveniently ended as the Republican state convention was kicking off in Milwaukee.

Another thing that we had discussed much more recently is the turn that Walkergate was taking to make it closely resemble the caucus scandals from ten years ago. Sure enough, five days after I wrote that, Kelly Rindfleisch, who had been part of the original caucus scandals, was arrested for campaigning and fund raising on county time and from her county office.

Well, now there is a tie between these two aspects of the Walkergate investigation.

That tie is named Judith "Judi" Rhodes Engels.

Ms. Rhodes Engels was part of the caucus scandal from a decade ago, at least according to the criminal complaint against Scott Jensen (scroll down to page 16):

[DCI Special Agent] Strauss reports that she has participated in interviews with Judith Rhodes Engels (“Engels"), who has stated in part the following. Engels was state-employed in the Ladwig Capitol office November 1996 - March 2001. Sherry Schultz was in charge of fundraising for individual Republican members of the Assembly, including completing their campaign finance reports and assisting in fundraisers. After the 1998 elections, Engels and Ladwig discussed the fact that Schultz was “creating a monster” in that legislators were becoming too dependent on Schultz and her campaign finance related services. Engels worked with Schultz on fundraising issues. Schultz did not appear to have any duties other than fundraising. Engel's job was to keep track of contributions from legislators to RACC, which are referred to as "assessments." Schultz's duties included keeping track of where this money went for the individual campaigns. On occasion Engels received checks for individual campaigns and provided them to Schultz. Schultz created various documents regarding fundraising at RACC meetings held in Jensen's Capitol office. In a RACC meeting after the 2000 election in Jensen’s Capitol office, Jensen thanked Schultz for all she did for members of the “team” in connection with the money that had been raised.

Sometime after the caucus scandal, Rhodes Engels ended up working in the legislative office of Senator Scott "Snit Fit" Fitzgerald.

By 2007, she was working for WISGOP, but still helping out Fitzgerald and his brother:

Monday, December 10, 2007

Senator Scott Fitzgerald and Representative Jeff Fitzgerald Christmas Reception
5:00-7:00 PM
Erin’s Snug Irish Pub
4601 American Parkway
Madison, WI
Host options: Shamrock host level: $250/ couple (includes lapel pin), Pot o’ Gold host level: $100/ couple. Sorry, no PAC or corporate contributions. Please make checks payable to: Scott Fitzgerald for Senate and/ or Jeff Fitzgerald for Assembly, PO Box 2741, Madison, WI 53701. For questions or to RSVP, please contact Judi Rhodes at (608) 345-3780 or jrhodes@wisgop.org.

(If anyone could tell me what WASS stands for, that would be great.)

Ms. Rhodes Engels turned up again in 2010, but not as a fund raiser for the Fitzgeralds. Instead, she was one of the many GOP operatives that went along with Walker for that infamous motorcycle tour of the state to promote Walker's campaign tourism:

Two people not talking about any controversy are Judy Rhodes-Engels and her daughter. They are just two of the 140 riders joining Walker on his ride through much of Wisconsin, plus parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan.

Rhodes-Engels said she is a fan of the attention their group gets as they roll into town on their choppers.

"When you're in a big massive group like this," said Rhodes-Engles, "everyone looks at you everywhere you go."

[...]

Most of the participants in the Executive's Ride aren't concerning themselves with any political bickering. They said they're just happy to be along for the trip.

"It's a great experience to share everything about Milwaukee with the rest of the state and even some of the other states that may not have been there," said Rhodes-Engles.

Well, isn't that just special?

As with all things Walker, there are a few special problems with this.

In 2010, Ms. Rhodes Engels was living in Cottage Grove, WI, which is in Dane County, some 70 miles to the west of Milwaukee. Another problem is that, when she was not donating $700 to Walker's campaign, she was still working for WISGOP:

(click to embiggen)

On a side note, her 2011 donations total nearly $2,000, with a really odd one for $8.50. I bet there's a strange story behind that one.

In sum, we have a WISGOP operative, who lives in Cottage Grove, WI and specializes in fund raising for Senator Scott Fitzgerald, going on the Harley Davidson tour and we're really supposed to believe that this was to promote tourism in Milwaukee County and had absolutely nothing to do with Walker's campaign? Really? Really?

I think it would be very interesting to know what Scott Fitzgerald has to say about this.  Not to mention Reince Priebus, who was the head of WISGOP at the time.

I'm also wondering if Ms. Rhodes Engels had something more to do with the bike ride than just being a tag along.

I'm also wondering if Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisolm is aware of all of this.

And isn't this picture of Ms. Rhodes Engels just so symbolic of the Walker/Fitzgerald regime?

What Has Wisconsin Lost In Just One Year

The Wisconsin AFL-CIO has compiled a list of things that the people of Wisconsin has lost in just one year under Scott Walker's rule, and it's fully supported with research and documentation.

Now, please excuse me while I go weep for this once great state and its people.

The "Restoring Integrity" Ethics Package

The Assembly Democrats have announced a package of new legislation to restore integrity into the State Capitol:

Today, Assembly Democrats announced “Restoring Integrity,” a package of ethics legislation designed to reverse the worst power abuses of Gov. Walker and legislative Republicans and restore integrity to all branches of Wisconsin government.

The Democratic ethics package consists of four parts. The first part addresses the cronyism that has run rampant under the Walker Administration and the scandals and corruption that continue to unfold.

“The secrecy of Gov. Walker and Republican leaders and the scandal surrounding them have left Wisconsin’s reputation for open government in tatters,” Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said. “Our proposal would ensure public employees are serving the taxpayers of Wisconsin, not simply the politician who appointed them.”

The second part of the Democratic package is aimed at reducing the influence of corporate and special-interest money in state government.

“The dark cloud of secrecy and scandal hanging over our state under Gov. Walker is polarizing our state and damaging Wisconsin’s proud tradition of clean and open government,” Assistant Democratic Leader Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) said. “While Gov. Walker and legislative Republicans continually choose to reward special interests and big corporate donors, we are serious about working to restore the public’s trust and faith in government through common-sense reforms that put Wisconsin families before special-interest money.”

The third part of the Democratic package includes comprehensive reforms that will restore fairness, impartiality and public trust in Wisconsin’s courts.

“Out-of-control campaign spending along with several prominent recusal and discipline cases in recent years have demonstrated the need for reforming Wisconsin’s judicial discipline and recusal standards,” Rep. Gary Hebl (D-Sun Prairie) said. “Reforms that promote transparency and accountability are necessary to regain the public’s trust in the impartiality and fairness of our state’s justice system, which has been greatly undermined in recent years."

The fourth part of the Democratic package is designed to re-establish Wisconsin’s reputation for open government, including requiring the legislature to follow the Open Meetings Law.

“Now more than ever citizens have serious questions about what’s going on at the State Capitol. The response by Gov. Walker and legislative Republicans has been to close government down to the public,” Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee) said. “From voting on divisive bills with little public notice to signing secrecy oaths and drawing partisan election maps in private law firms, Republicans have tarnished Wisconsin’s proud history of open government in just one year. Today we are offering serious reforms to re-open the doors of government to the people of Wisconsin.”

A summary sheet of the bills can be found by clicking here.

Representative Sandy Pasch also spoke of this in the Democratic Weekly Radio Address. The text of her comments can be found by clicking here.

Retaliation Claims Against Employers Soar - But Why?

Last week, there was an interesting piece in the Milwaukee Biz Blog regarding a spike in anti-retaliation claims in the United States.  It was reported that there was a record-breaking number of 99,9942 claims filed with the EEOC in 2011 for a total cost of $455.6 million in relief for individuals filing claims, another record-breaking number.

So why is this happening?  The author, Christine Liu McLaughlin of the Godfrey & Kahn law firm, wrote this:

There has been much speculation as to the cause of the increase in the number of charges generally and retaliation charges in particular. Some blame the lagging economy in 2011, while others point to the EEOC’s re-focused enforcement agenda.

That just might be.  But I can't help but wonder how much might be due to the markedly anti-worker approach being taken, not only in Wisconsin, but in other states where ALEC's influence is evident.

I'd also guess things would be a lot cheaper if things were handled through an grievance process as offered with collective bargaining rights.  Maybe the Walker plan isn't working just for workers, eh?

Become A Card-Carrying Member Of Wisconsin Local 1848 Today!

Last week, Politico, a national right wing blog, misidentified the Wisconsin state flag for a union local's flag.

AFSCME has jumped on that and is inviting everyone to become charter members of Wisconsin Local 1848 today!

My Conversation With Kathleen Falk

The other night, I had the opportunity to have a chat with Kathleen Falk, the front runner to be the Democratic candidate to take on the corrupt Scott Walker.

Fully aware that many people on the left side of the aisle have concerns about what would happen if Falk became the nominee for this race, I chose to take the approach of asking Falk how she would respond to these concerns as well as discuss some more general issues, if time allowed.  To figure out just what I would ask, I went to others to get their sense of Falk and what questions they might have for her.  The people I informally poled came from all walks of life, liberal and conservative, unionized and non-union, young and old.

When the conversation started, I have to admit that Falk threw me for a loop immediately by taking the initiative and asking me for what advice I had for her on how to succeed.  I've dealt with enough politicians on both sides of the aisle to know to have a certain level of skepticism and wariness, with a few notable exceptions.  Too often, a politician will look at me wondering how they might use me or wondering how much a threat I might be, depending on how our political positions align.

Falk didn't take either of those approaches, which was quite refreshing.

Falk also expressed her enthusiasm and excitement for the shift in political awareness and action that our state has seen in the last year.  She said, "The most amazing thing is people are doing something constructive," rather than just sitting back and taking it.  She also expressed her appreciation for the drive and enthusiasm that people all across the state are showing in their desire to restore Wisconsin back to its traditional values.

Still caught a bit off guard, I returned my focus on the questions that I had for her.

The first question was to find out how realistic it is to expect to restore the damage done by Walker and the Republicans.  We agreed to start with collective bargaining to begin with and expand from there.

Falk said that by making the pledge that she did, to veto any budget that doesn't restore collective bargaining was the only way to ensure getting it done.  She pointed out that it would be very difficult to turn over the Assembly, which is especially true given the unethical gerrymandering the Republicans have done.  She said that a bill to restore collective bargaining could be introduced in the Senate, but that did not mean the Assembly had to take it up.  The only bill that both houses have to take up is the budget.

Falk also stated that it was "not enough not to be willing to veto the budget."

Falk has already written about this and you can find her rationale for her pledge here.

I then brought up the fact that Walker has alienated many of the independent voters as well as some Republican voters by going to far with his power grab and his abuses of office.  I asked her if she was concerned with losing the middle by going too far to the other extreme.

Falk replied that she was only promising to restore the order of balance that we had before Walker started tearing the state apart.  She also said that "people have to know where I am coming from. I don't want to be like Walker and get ousted in a year for fooling people."  She said that her campaign was about being truthful and honest with the people, something that Walker has not been.

The third and fourth questions were similar, asking how she would overcome the bias and the label of being a "liberal from Dane County" and being a "puppet for the unions."

Falk pointed out that only Dane County liberals thought that they couldn't carry the state.  She pointed out that in her last election, which she had lost by less than one half of one percent, she did very well in the counties in Northern Wisconsin.  She also said that when she has gone to those counties in recent days, she is still receiving the same warm welcomes and support she did before.

Falk said that her history and experience shows that she knows how to work with the unions to the benefit of everyone and not just special interests and big corporations.  She said that she was extremely grateful for the endorsements and support from the various unions, she is also equally proud of her endorsement from Emily's List and the support she has received from the LGBT community.  She also pointed out that she has experience in being an environmental lawyer.  She stated that she is not only passionate about restoring workers rights but about correcting many of the other wrongs that the current administration has done.

I will admit that when Falk first announced her candidacy, I was then less than enthused.  I was concerned about the issues above as well as the fact that she had ran twice in a statewide race and lost both times. But as I started looking into her record and got to know more about her, I found that many of my concerns were being addressed.  

She has the ability to win a statewide race as evidenced by the closeness of her race against JB Van Hollen. I seriously think she only lost because too many people who were faithful to the reputation-damaged Peg Lautenschlager chose to sit that one out.  She's more than a single issue candidate.  She has more experience than Walker does as an executive and a better track record to boot.

You can find her campaign website here.

Cory Liebmann also had the opportunity to interview Falk and you can click here to see his report.

Fallout For Wisconsin Reporter

A couple of days ago, I exposed the quasi-campaign Scott Walker campaign site Wisconsin Reporter for what it really was - a group funded by the Koch Brothers and steered by Walker campaigners and fund raisers.

In just one day, there's already been some fallout because of this.

First, many friends and readers of Cog Dis sent me emails with tips and additional information. Things like, while I mentioned that Phil Prange and Nick Hurtgen are brother-in-laws to each other, it's Prange's sister that's married to Hurtgen. Or things like Prange also provided seed money for WisPolitics and played a major role in it until it was sold to the Capitol Times a couple of years ago.

But by far the largest ramification is that it apparently helped spur the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to send out a letter to all of stations and newspapers around the state, warning them of the inherit bias and questionable reliability of anything coming from the Wisconsin Reporter:

Wisconsin Reporter Letter

I hope this will inspire people to play the watchdog on their local stations and newspapers and to call them out when they use the propaganda spewed by the Wisconsin Reporter and other groups of its ilk. Taking back the state from the corporate interests that are trying to make it into an oligarchy includes making sure that we keep the corporate media in check as well.

Now THAT'S A Shirt!

And I really, really want one.

Indictable Boy

Warning: This may get stuck in your head for days, as it did mine:



An indictable boy, they all said.

My favorite part comes about the 2:19 mark with first Sgt. Schultz and then the Walkergate picture that I've been using.

A Man Of The People Corporations

When a politician runs for office, a lot of times they try to present themselves as "a man of the people."  That means they try to give the voters a sense that they are just like them.  In other words, they're going for the populist vote.

And both sides do it.  Democrats talk about growing up in a union household, working a blue collar job, helping people.  Republicans try to do the same, but don't always pull it off as well.

Scott Walker has given up even trying to hold on to the pretense of giving a damn about the people.

After recovering from his 2.4 hour flu, Walker went mooching up to the WMC and made a push for the mining bill.  But who he was kissing up to speaks volumes (emphasis mine):

Gov. Scott Walker urged the state's business leaders on Thursday to help him pressure the Legislature to pass a bill streamlining the process for opening an iron mine in northern Wisconsin.

Walker made the plea at the annual Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce business day gathering, which attracted about 1,000 business executives, lobbyists and others. After the speech, many in the audience — wearing orange hats in support of the mining bill — walked four blocks to the Capitol to lobby lawmakers.

He's playing sycophant to the people that would profit off of such a reckless bill, but won't even spare a second for the people who have to live with its consequences of the law, should it be allowed to pass.

It's pretty obvious that Walker's only motivation regarding this is the return favors he has already gotten and/or expects to get by handing over taxpayer money and the state's natural resources to this out of state, very well moneyed group. Meanwhile, as is his wont, the people would still be without jobs and without money. And now, without clean air or water.

Scott Walker Tells A Joke

Apparently, when you email the governor's office, you get automatically added to a spam program and get nailed with Scott Walker's spam, er, I mean e-Updates.

The one he's been sending out lately is a real hoot!

First, given his long and sordid history of cronyism, I think he is using state equipment and computers to solicit campaign donations:

Apply to Serve in State Government

We have a substantial number of open positions available on various state boards, commissions and in other areas of state government. Please visit walker.wi.gov/Serve-Wisconsin to find information on these positions.

Positions frequently become available, so if you are interested in serving please apply and our office will keep your application on file. If you’ve been looking to get involved in state government this is a great way to use your skills to serve the residents of Wisconsin!

I love that "positions frequently become available" line. Of course they frequently become available. Walkergate keeps chasing people away.

But Walker also tells a funny at the end of the spam e-Update:

Each e-update I will answer a question submitted by a recipient of the previous e-update or from someone who contacts my office directly.

Question: Why did you choose to greet President Obama?

Answer: This week President Obama visited Wisconsin for the first time in about a year. The White House reached out to my office earlier this week and invited me to welcome the President to Wisconsin.

I have the utmost respect for the Office of the President of the United States.

Now that's funny! Looking at Walkergate, it's obvious that he never respected the position of Milwaukee County Executive. And given all the abuses of power and other acts of corruption over the past year, it's obvious he doesn't respect the office of governor. Why in the world would anyone think he respects the President of the United States?  In fact, he didn't show much respect for the presidency when he was kissing people's butts at CPAC last week.