Mary Burke Goes Rogue

By Jeff Simpson

Democratic President Barack Obama, fresh off of his Rousing State of the Union speech, is doing what every president does.  Heading out to the people to sell his agenda.   Luckily for the people of Wisconsin, we are part of his tour stop(Milwaukee and Waukesha).

The Speech, as always, was great.  Let's let Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Mike Tate explain:

 “In tonight’s State of the Union address President Obama laid out the Democratic vision for opportunity and action.

“The President’s vision stands in stark contrast to Scott Walker’s so-called ‘Blueprint for Prosperity’ -- a tired retread of the same Paul Ryan plan that voters overwhelmingly rejected in the last election. Instead of moving forward, the Walker/Ryan plan would take us back to the failed policies of the past and continue a rigid social agenda instead of putting Americans back to work.

The President gave a brilliant speech that goes against everything that Scott Walker stands for.  President Obama wants to get America working again, strengthen our economy, raise the minimum wage and generally help the middle class(I know some exceptions may apply...Cough TPP . cough).

However with that message, and being the President of the United States and the leader of the Democratic party, you would think that the current frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Wisconsin would embrace this opportunity for party unity.

You would also be wrong! 

Madison -- Democratic candidate for governor Mary Burke won't be present for President Barack Obama's visit to the state Thursday.
"Mary Burke has a full day scheduled in western Wisconsin Thursday and will not be able to join the president during his visit to Wisconsin," spokesman Joe Zepecki said.

Apparently Mary Burke is too self rightous to support her President and her party.  I know someone could point to President Obama's sinking poll numbers, but let's get real -  President Obama is still THE most popular politician in the world  and if you run from sinking poll numbers, would we expect the down ticket races to not want to be seen with Ms. Burke?

As Ben Franklin has stated:

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

   

Finally, the great team that Mary Burke continues to tout, has Tanya Bjork as her top campaign strategist.  Tanya Bjork, recently came from working the Obama campaign in WI and is now poorly advising to stay away from her former boss.  Proving as I said all along , Tanya Bjork is out for Tanya Bjork(and Capital Navigators) and no one else! 


When Mary Burke is ready to run a real campaign that proves she wants to actually win, I will be the first on board!  Until then we need to find someone who can actually end the reign of the worst most extreme Governor in our history!   

Contact Mary Burke and tell her to stop disrespecting our President and the people of WI.    Do not expect party unity if you are not willing to show it!  

Burke for Wisconsin
P.O. Box 2479
Madison, WI 53701

@burke4wi  

(608) 807-0602

info@burkeforwisconsin.com

 

 

The Unhinged Right!

By Jeff Simpson

The republicans are losing their minds! 

Nationally:

It's a bit hard to make out what the distinguished gentleman from Staten Island is saying to Scotto, but here are the key bits, courtesy of NY1:

Grimm: "Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I'll throw you off this f-----g balcony."
Scotto: "Why? I just wanted to ask you..."
[[cross talk]]
Grimm: "If you ever do that to me again..."
Scotto: "Why? Why? It’s a valid question." [[cross talk]]
Grimm: "No, no, you're not man enough, you're not man enough. I'll break you in half. Like a boy."

Later, Grimm released a statement in which he failed to apologize, generally blamed the whole thing on the pesky unprofessional reporter, and sort of hinted towards more physical threats to come:

"I was extremely annoyed because I was doing NY1 a favor by rushing to do their interview in lieu of several other requests...I verbally took the reporter to task and told him off, because I expect a certain level of professionalism and respect especially when I go out of my way to do that reporter a favor. I doubt that I am the first Member of Congress to tell off a reporter, and I am certain I won't be the last."

and locally Rep. Sinicki shared this letter with us(from an anonymous coward) with us:

They are unhinged all over this country!

It leaves me trying to figure out what their 2014 campaign slogan will be:

*  Do what we say or else! 

*  It wasn't me! 

*  When a Republican does it ....it's not against the law!  

*  LOOK ---- Over there! 

*  Benghazi! 

*  1814 all over again!   

* We didn't gerrymander because you love us! 

* The GOP path to desparity! 


Let's help these guys out, what is your suggestion for the republicans 2014 campaign slogan?   They need all the help they can get! 

The Curious Campaign Of Dan Adams

As I have reported before, the race for Assembly District 19 is one of the more interesting races to watch.

AD 19 is currently represented by Representative Jon Richards, but Richards is stepping down from that seat in order to run for Attorney General.  This leaves this as an open seat in a strongly Democratic district.  As a result, no less than five people - four Democrats and one member of the Pirate Party - have put their names in the ring.

The two top contenders in the race are Milwaukee Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic and Jonathan Brostoff, former legislative aide to Senator Chris Larson.

This made Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele very upset.

Chris Abele

Despite all of his claims to the contrary, his feud with Dimitrijevic is indeed very personal.  There was no way he would support her.  Abele feels that Dimitrijevic should be punished for daring to oppose him on anything and to tell him no.

Likewise, he doesn't like Larson who refused to support his power grab and also had taken Abele's personal state senator, Lena "Sellout" Taylor, off of the powerful Joint Finance Committee. Being the petty little man that he is, Abele was not about to support Brostoff either because of his connection to Larson.

So Abele did what comes naturally to a plutocrat such as he and went out and got his own hand-picked

candidate - Dan Adams.  No, nothing personal about that at all.

And then things got really weird.

Last week, Abele sent out this email blast via his campaign:

Happy New Year! There are many things happening in Milwaukee County and I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss a few important issues facing Milwaukee County.
In 2012, Milwaukee County sought ideas for the redevelopment of the Milwaukee County Transit Center. After reviewing several proposals, I recommended Rick Barrett’s development, the Couture, as what I believe is the best use for this valuable space. This $180 million investment in Milwaukee will add over $10 million to the local tax base and create 2,600 direct construction jobs as well as hundreds non-construction jobs.

This is an exciting time for all of us who enjoy Milwaukee’s lakefront. The State Legislature is currently considering a bill that provides clarity on the boundary that development is permitted based on the shoreline that was created by a 1913 agreement between the City of Milwaukee and the Chicago Northwestern Railroad. This boundary definition is critical for this project to proceed. Please call or email your Representatives or Senators and urge them to support the bill (co-authored by Representative Sanfelippo and Senator Vukmir) and help this project move forward. 

I also wanted to make sure you were aware of a potential threat to necessary services for our most vulnerable citizens.

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors recently considered mandating a raise in the minimum wage for county employees and employees of companies with contracts with the County. While the proposal may sound good in theory, in practice it will have a devastating effect on Milwaukee County. I appreciate the Board’s motives, but research shows proposals such as this create an island in which it is more difficult to provide the necessary services.

I am committed to a different approach — one that will improve the lives of the working poor throughout our state and country. I have been working diligently on this issue on the federal level with advisors to the President, Senators and Representatives to address income inequality by supporting a raise in the federal minimum wage. I introduced a resolution for consideration by the County Board to support state and federal legislation to raise the minimum wage to $10.10. Please contact your County Supervisor and encouraging the passage of this broader initiative. 

Over the last three years I have realized the importance of working with partners who share a vision of enhancing our community. Two such people who have committed to serving the public are Dan Adams, who is running for the State Assembly, and Chris Moews, who is running for Milwaukee County Sheriff.

I’ll be sharing more information on both of them in the future but if you are free tonight, January 22, at 5:00pm I’d love to see you at Dan Adams campaign kick-off at Belmont Tavern, 784 North Jefferson Street.

As always, please share your thoughts with me on these issues or anything else on your mind.

Sincerely,

Chris

What basically Abele is saying is that it's wonderful that he is teaming up with rabid Teapublicans and ALEC leaders to change state law in order to benefit his fellow plutocrats; it's horrible that the County Board wants people to get paid a living wage; and, hey, by the way, come out and support my hand-picked candidate to show that uppity Dimitrijevic and Larson who's emperor around here!

Not exactly a great way to support your candidate, in my humble opinion. Brag about helping the wealthy, screwing the poor and then adding the fundraiser as an afterthought.

Yes, apparently Abele's ego is that damn big.

Anyway, Michael Horne of Urban Milwaukee covered that fundraiser. Judging from Horne's report, it was not much more than a mutual admiration session between Abele and Adams:

Dan Adams

Abele praised what he called the “real world experience” of the former assistant District Attorney who is now in private practice at Adams, Urfer, LLC. “It’s not about who sucks up to him,” Abele added.

Abele stresses that he doesn’t “care what letter is behind your name,” when it comes to “D” or “R” politicians, but whether the officials can work across the aisle. “Dan’s the right guy and I will do everything I can to help him win.”

Adams returned the favor by calling Abele “the epitome of a public servant.” He thanked the attendees for braving the chilly weather to show up at the Belmont for his event, which featured a cash bar and a bunch of bags of chips that remained largely untouched. “Its so cold even downtown lawyers have their hands in their own pockets. Now I have my hands in the lawyers pockets,” he joked as he made an appeal for funds.

Also of interest was that Abele's personal county supervisor, Deanna Alexander - another rabid Teapublican who doesn't even live in that district - was present. (She did not donate any money to Adams however. She must have been there hoping to see a purple unicorn and eat Chick Fil A sammiches.)

But there is more.  There is always more.

Political wonks know that campaign finance reports are due this Friday, January 31.  But Adams is apparently a Johnny-on-the-spot guy and has already filed his report.  In the short time since he announced - or to be more accurate, since Abele announced Adams' candidacy, he has raised a fairly impressive $14,000.

But what is interesting is where that money came from.

Of course, Abele put in his $500 and Adams put in another $500.

But out of the 76 donations listed, only 19 of them came from with Milwaukee County.  And a handful of those came from outside of his district.  Twenty-one donations came from other parts of the state and a whopping 36 donations - nearly half - came from outside of Wisconsin.

Just who is Adams planning on representing?  It sure doesn't seem to be the people of AD 19.

Fortunately, the people in AD 19 can and will do better than go along with the candidate of the special interests.

Real Life Voter Fraud Found Right Here In Wisconsin

Holy smokes!

Ed Trevelen of the Wisconsin State Journal is reporting that there is real life voter fraud right here in Wisconsin!

But don't expect Charlie Sykes, MacIver Institute or Media Trackers to report on this.  As one might have guessed, the perpetrator is a Teapublican operative/legislative aide:

Marcie R. Malszycki, 33, an aide to state Rep. Warren Petryk, R-Eleva, was charged with two counts of election fraud for allegedly voting in Onalaska in 2008 and 2010, when her home address was in Madison, where she owns a home.

The charge is a felony that carries up to 3½ years of combined prison and extended supervision.

According to a criminal complaint, Malszycki was living temporarily in Onalaska in late 2008 and 2010 while on unpaid leaves from her legislative job, working on political campaigns.

This story reminded me of another case of voter fraud in 2008 in which a couple voted twice - once by absentee ballot and once in person. The reason they gave for their fraud is very telling:

Owing to the steady chatter on talk radio about voter fraud that day, he said, they assumed the worst.

"We were convinced we had been disenfranchised," he said. "There was supposed to be a check-off" for their absentee ballots.

But didn't he know they had mailed their absentee ballots about a week earlier?

"At that moment I was convinced I had not been counted, that my vote was gone."

And so when the poll worker handed them each regular ballots, they cast them.

The lesson here, kids, is that if you follow the Teapublicans or squawk radio, you're going to end up having a lot of problems.

Rand Paul Loves Women Like No One Else

By Jeff Simpson

Extreme right winger Rand Paul is the leading candidate for some to be the Republican nominee for president in 2016!  Yesterday he took his presidential ambitions to Meet The Press and used his time to tell us how much he loves women:

“We have a lot of debates in Washington that get dumbed down and are used for political purposes,” Paul told NBC’s David Gregory. “This whole sort of war on women thing, I’m scratching my head because, if there was a war on women, I think they won.”
As evidence, the Kentucky senator pointed out that none of the women in his family were complaining about inequality or having their health care rights curtailed by Republicans.
“You know, I don’t see so much that women are downtrodden, I see women rising up and doing great things,” he remarked. “In fact, I worry about our young men sometimes because I think the women really are out-competing the men in our world.”
Paul added that he tried to never talk about the female anatomy and that Republicans did not start the war on women “debate.”
“The facts show that women are doing very well, have come a long way,” he explained. “And I have a lot of successful women in my family. And I don’t here them saying, ‘Oh, woe is me, this terrible misogynist world.’ They look out and they’re conquering the world.”

Apparently if the women in the Rand Paul world are ok then the war on women is over - they won!  I guess Uncle Sugar really knew what side to pick!  However, as is so often the case with our friends on the right, reality does not match up to their rhetoric!

Women make up less than half of enrollees at law schools, according to the American Bar Association, and are way underrepresented on the federal bench. The percentage of women in medical school is also less than 50%. 

Then Rand, added selective memory to his blatant disregard of facts!

Paul later suggested that for President Bill Clinton was responsible for the “war on women” because he had an affair with an intern while he was in office during the 1990s.
“The media seems to have given President Clinton a pass on this,” Paul insisted. “There is no excuse for that, that is predatory behavior and it shouldn’t be something — we should’t want to associate with people who would take advantage of a young girl in his office.”
The potential Republican 2016 presidential candidate said that it was difficult to unlink Bill Clinton’s behavior from potential Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“I think in my state, people tend to frown upon that,” he declared. “If there were someone in my community who did that in my community, they would be socially — we would disassociate from somebody who would take advantage of a young woman in a workplace.”

The problem with Mr. Paul is that when he was running for office, he never let anything like a woman get in his way.,n the way of his ambitions in the way.

More on the war on women and how wrong Rand Paul is here!

Senator Dale Schultz Announces Retirement

The bully boys of the Teapublican machine have finally succeeded in pushing out the last respectable Republican - Dale Schultz.

Channel 3000 is reporting that he has told them that he is not going to seek reelection.

Looking at his statement, it's not hard to discern why he chose to step down:

His stock in the capitol has risen and fallen, winning a close race for majority leader of the Senate against Scott Fitzgerald in 2004, losing that seat when Democrats took control in 2006, then becoming a swing vote in that House in the last three years of contentious bills.  Schultz says his no vote on Act 10, the collective bargaining bill, was the hardest he made in 30 years.

"I would say that because it was a point in my life where I had to make a decision on what was most important: what the people of my district wanted as opposed to what would allow me to continue to be a member of the caucus in good standing," said Schultz.

It's not really a surprise. I've been hearing for years, since the WISGOP machine decided that Walker would be the chosen one, that the Teapublicans have been operating like a syndicate in coercing their more moderate members into compliance.

Schultz must be feeling relieved not having to walk on eggshells anymore.  And he goes out saying it like it is:

He laments the state of the Republican party and even says he still feels "uncomfortable" with his deciding vote last session on voter ID.

"While I certainly believe we need to safeguard the integrity of the ballot box I think we have crossed the line on a couple of occasions," said Schultz. "It's been a very uncomfortable situation for me having to vote along with the caucus because I've tried to be a good Republican."

Schultz already had a named primary opponent if he did run.  Republican Rep. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green has said he will run for the 17th Senate district.  Schultz says he won't endorse Marklein in the upcoming election because Marklein said he was challenging the incumbent on the issues of votes on Act 10 and the mining bill.

"I have always felt it was best to be candid and a straight-shooter with people and not having a prompter going in the back of your mind about what might be said," said Schultz.

While I can't say that I've agreed with Schultz all that often, I thank him for his years of service and for trying to keep his integrity intact as his party sunk into the mire of its own creation.

Walker's Campaign Gimmick Gets A Thumbs Down From Public

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a poll up regarding Scott Walker's campaign gimmick to take $500 million of our tax money and give it to his supporters while trying to tell people that it's actually going to them.

Walker's goons apparently haven't gotten to it yet, since it's showing common sense prevailing:

I'm sure Walker will be releasing the flying monkeys soon to skew the numbers.  He doesn't want to admit to what people already know - that he's nothing but a con artist.

And there is a reason why people are rejecting his scheme.

It's already been revealed that the tax break is mostly for the rich, the working class and the poor need not apply:

Scott Walker - Union Organizer

In 2008, Sarah Palin unintentionally motivated community organizers across the nation when she belittled their job:

And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.

In an instance, she became a community extraordinaire.

Now, our own version of Palin, Scott Walker has proven himself to be quite the union organizer himself.

As everyone in Wisconsin knows, in 2011, just after taking office, Walker and his fellow corporate-controlled Teapublicans dropped "the bomb" of Act 10 on public sector workers   Walker and his echo chamber tried to sell this as a win for workers and taxpayers alike.  They claimed that this would give public sector workers a choice to belong to the union or not - ignoring the fact that the workers had this choice all along.

In reality, what Act 10 did was take thousands of dollars out of each workers' check each year so that Walker could give that money to his corporate sponsors.  The only choice public sector workers had was whether they could afford to pay their union dues and still keep a roof over their head and food on the table.  Sadly, the pay cuts were so big that many could not.

It didn't have its intended effect of completely busting the unions, but there is no denying it did hurt them a lot.
But Act 10 did have other effects, such as taking so much money out of the economy that it severely hurt the private sector.  If people don't have the money to spend, they aren't going to spend it.  This cost the state tens of thousands of good-paying, family-supporting jobs.  People that were able to keep their jobs saw their wages severely cut.  Those that were able to find new jobs in the poor state economy Walker created also saw their pay severely cut.

But now, after three years of Walker's maleficence, people are realizing that he indeed was selling them a false bill of goods. They realized that the unions were actually good for them and that they were still very much needed.

As I've been saying for months to anyone who would listen, the union membership is back on the rise.

In 2012, Wisconsin had the third largest decrease in union membership.  In 2013, Wisconsin baffled many of the "experts" by having the seventh largest increase in membership:

There was a surprise in the Bureau of Labor Statistics report Friday on union membership: Trade unions appear to have gained ground in Wisconsin last year.

Wisconsin’s union membership rate -- the percentage of wage and salary workers who belong to unions -- rose from 11.25 percent to 12.34 percent, the seventh biggest gain in the nation. This after 2012, when Wisconsin had the third largest decrease in the nation.

But as the gentle reader knows, when it comes to all things Walker, there is more. There is always more:

The report shows Wisconsin had an increase of about 24,000 union members in 2013, while the overall number of wage and salaried workers dipped by about 36,000.

So while Walker's agenda was costing the state tens of thousands of jobs, those managing to hang on to their jobs or get new ones were even more eager to join or rejoin the unions.

This was also exemplified when most unions were able to recertify at the end of last year despite they way Walker tried to manipulate the voting by putting insane obstacles in the way.

I've got to hand it to Walker.  That is some mighty impressive union organizing.

But as for the reason for this upsurge in union membership - and the same reason the corporate special interests are spending billions of dollars each year to try to bust the unions - really isn't that surprising.

In fact, it was highlighted in a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that just came out last Friday, unions help their members get fairer compensation and benefits, not to mention better work conditions:

Workers who have a voice through collective bargaining earn more and have better access to health insurance, retirement security and other benefits, according to a report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among full-time wage and salary workers, median weekly earnings were $950 among union members. That’s $250 more than for nonunion workers.

“When workers have a seat at the table, they are better able to bargain for their fair share of the value they helped create; and that leads to greater economic security and economic mobility for everyone,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez said Friday. “As our economy continues to recover and we work to create good jobs, we need to ensure workers can lift their voices to raise wages, reduce inequality and help more people climb ladders of opportunity.”

Other data shows that union members had greater access to employment-based benefits such as health insurance, a retirement savings plan, and sick and vacation leave, Perez noted.

Approximately 16 million workers in both the public and private sector were represented by a union last year. That figure includes those whose jobs are covered by a collective bargaining agreement but who are not dues-paying members. Those union contracts helped build America’s middle class by providing workers with wages to support their families, and a voice on the job to protect their rights.

“Workers’ ability to form unions and engage in collective bargaining has been a cornerstone of a strong middle class,” Perez said. “The decline in union membership over the last few decades has contributed to more working families struggling to get by.”

While Act 10 has greatly limited the unions' ability to do any real negotiating, they are in no way powerless, as demonstrated by their ability to fight the cronyism and nepotism that came along with Act 10 and to preserve workers' rights right here in Milwaukee.

Walker's intention might have been to bust the unions, but as with everything else he does, he's shown himself to be an utter failure.  At least for this one occasion, that worked out in our favor for a change.

Plutocrat Compares "War On The Rich" To The Holocaust

Just when you thought you heard it all, venture capitalist Tom Perkins fires off a letter to the Wall Street Journal in which he puts himself and the other one percenters as martyrs and compares their "persecution" to that of Kristallnacht:

Regarding your editorial "Censors on Campus" (Jan. 18): Writing from the epicenter of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its "one percent," namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the "rich."

From the Occupy movement to the demonization of the rich embedded in virtually every word of our local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, I perceive a rising tide of hatred of the successful one percent. There is outraged public reaction to the Google buses carrying technology workers from the city to the peninsula high-tech companies which employ them. We have outrage over the rising real-estate prices which these "techno geeks" can pay. We have, for example, libelous and cruel attacks in the Chronicle on our number-one celebrity, the author Danielle Steel, alleging that she is a "snob" despite the millions she has spent on our city's homeless and mentally ill over the past decades.

This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent "progressive" radicalism unthinkable now?

As the article notes, Kristallnacht was the riots that spread through Nazi Germany and surrounding countries which targeted the Jews and led to the Holocaust.

Perkins' comments are offensive enough when one considers how many poor people have suffered and died due to the measures of austerity that people like Perkins embrace.

But it's even more offensive due to the fact that he made such selfish comments barely days before the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is Monday, January 27.

It's not bad enough he insults 99% of the people today, he also has to insult the memory of all the people that suffered and died during the Holocaust.  And then he wonders why people are indeed so angry.

Polar Vortex Walker

Brace yourself, Wisconsin! Things are getting really bad really fast.

Unless you've been living in a cave or under a rock for the past week, the gentle reader is aware that we are going to have another go around with a polar vortex which will be just as bad if not worse than the one we had three weeks ago.  Air temperatures could hit as low as 20 below in Milwaukee and much, much colder in the north.  Add to that this blustering arctic winds and the state could see wind chill temperatures down to 70 below.

Frostbite can occur on exposed skin in ten minutes. Hypothermia can also occur in a very short time if one is not dressed for it.  In other words, this is the type of weather that can prove lethal in short order.

Sadly, the state is finding itself to be poorly prepared for what is coming.

On the west side of the state, people are being told to keep their thermostats at 60 and not to use their gas-powered appliances because their was a pipeline rupture in Canada.  There is no word on whether they power company even had a back up plan on just how they were going to serve their customers in case of such an emergency.

As if that wasn't bad enough, there is a "sudden" propane shortage in the state.  This shortage has cost the price to to shoot up for those lucky enough to even find a dealer with propane in stock and willing to deliver it to them.

When I had heard of this news on Friday, I called one of the dealers that I've worked with in the past to heat my trailer in central Wisconsin.  When we had our big tank filled at the end of summer, it had cost us about $1.80 per gallon.  On Friday, it was $4.99 per gallon.  It jumped three times in price.

Fortunately, as that we don't live there full time, the one time supply should be enough (I hope!) to get us through the winter.  For people living there full time, their needs are much higher and this could end up creating financial ruin for many people. Sadly, there is a strong chance that some people won't even have that choice of food, medicine or heat since they can't get a delivery.

The article says that the causes for the shortage is due to the colder winter, farmers using more propane last fall to dry their crops, a pipeline shutting down for a month for maintenance (why would they do that during the busy season?!) and exporting more propane than before.

What is not mentioned anywhere is that they are starting to use propane for fracking mines to work around environmental regulations. Since its start in 2008 through the spring of 2013, propane has already been used in 1,863 fractures in 657 locations.  Despite its use to work around environmental protections, this method doesn't appear to be all that safe either.

There is no reports of propane being used for fracking in Wisconsin.  But then again, the DNR is in such a shambles, they don't really know what's going on anyway.  On top of that, even if they did find something wrong, they just work with the companies to cover it up.

What I also find curious and makes me think that there might be more to the story is the fact that, Brandon Scholz, the managing director for Wisconsin Propane Gas Association is also the head of the Wisconsin Grocers Association as well as a leading partner in the lobbyist group called The Capitol Group.  Scholz also has a very long history  of being a WISGOP operative, working on many campaign and as an aide to people such as a former congressman.

(Hmmm...the same person in charge of lobbying groups and working on political campaigns...paging Son of Doe!)

On the bright side is that Walker has finally gotten around to declaring a state of emergency.  So far, it just seems that this will allow propane dealers to carry more and drive around longer delivering what they don't have.  Well, that's certainly useful.

Maybe he thinks people will just burn the money that they won't be saving with his so-called tax breaks.  After all, if his friends and masters can light their cigars with hundred dollar bills, surely money must be growing on trees.  And he's just smart enough to know that there are a lot of trees in rural Wisconsin.  Surely some of them gotta be money trees, right?

What really gets me is that the weather service has been telling us about the impending cold snap for at least a week.  And presuming that Walker was in any way competent in his job, he would have been aware of the propane shortage.  So why did Walker wait until it was really too late to take any sort of action on the issue, even as ineffective as this is?  Could it be that he was too busy campaigning to actually give a damn about the people he was supposed to be representing?  Was he too busy polishing the turd which is jobs record and pushing his phony tax break scheme to actually govern the state?

Seeing how they give names to hurricanes and to major snowstorms, perhaps we can call this polar vortex Storm Walker.  At least then the corporate media would be able to accurately report that Walker killed people.

The Walker Agenda Is Still Working! Part CCIX

On Wednesday, Scott Walker gave his shit-filled State of The Campaign address.

As he was listing off all of the purported successes of his agenda, there was one he missed, that QuadGraphics was laying off untold numbers of workers (emphasis mine):

Quad/Graphics Inc. has laid off an unspecified number of workers and announced that it would close two plants, according to a representative with the company.

Claire Ho, manager of media relations with Sussex-based Quad/Graphics, said the company will close plants in Marengo, Iowa, and Pomona, Calif. The two closures will result in about 200 employees losing their jobs.

Ho confirmed that there are an unspecified number of job cuts in Wisconsin, but said the number of layoffs in the state are "minimal." She declined further comment.

Pretty convenient that on the day that Walker is to give his campaign, er, State of the Campaign State address, QuadGraphics is playing games on the number of the people they were laying off.

After all, it's not like they were cozy with Walker or anything.  They only let him use their plant for a campaign stunt just days before the recall election in 2012, in which he talked about how QuadGraphics would be so successful because of his policies.  And it's not like there's an 17-minute video of him doing it:



The only thing that surprises me is that it took Quad so long to start failing under Walker's agenda.

H/T Jud Lounsbury for the video

Move to Amend

Special Guest Post By Bradley Geyer:

When the Sons of Liberty dumped the tea into Boston Harbor in 1773; it was not just in protest of taxation, but also a protest of the monopoly power and corruption between the government and a huge corporation: the East Indies Company.

People should be represented, not just the big money. The big money drowns out the voices of almost all Americans. Most of us now have taxation without representation, government where we are not represented. Local control will continue to disappear, and small business put more and more at a competitive disadvantage. In our constitutional republic, the elected official’s duty is to work for and represent the people: all the people, not just the highest bidders.

If money is free speech and political contributions cannot be limited, how can we regulate bribery, undue influence or conflicts of interest? We the People and the states have lost the power and the ability to regulate the corruption by the money in our government through a Supreme Court exceeding its authority. On January 21^st, 2010; the US Supreme Court decided the Citizen’s United v. Federal Election Commission bringing together over 100 years of legal decisions and inventing new powers for artificial entities such as corporations and unions.

People came together to form government. Government, with our powers creates corporate charters, incorporated unions, and other artificial entities. The powers and privileges of artificial entities need to be spelled out legislatively they are not unalienable rights as listed in the Constitution.
Money is given in expectation of action by elected officials. If an elected official does not deliver, they will see the money change direction and support a challenger that will replace them. We each have a voice, and that voice should not be made more powerful with each additional dollar we spend. 99.9% of us contribute $200 or less to candidates, political action committees (PACs), and parties. No one should own our elected officials. They need to serve all of in mind, not just the interests of a few powerful and connected individuals.

The“Money Out, Voters In” Wisconsin Coalition and Move To Amend is pushing for ballot question for all of the people of Wisconsin:

Do you agree that... “Only human beings—not corporations, unions, nonprofit organizations, or similar associations—are endowed with constitutional rights, and Money is not speech, and therefore limiting political contributions and spending is not equivalent to restricting political speech?"

Support a statewide vote by the people, sign here:
http://wimta.org/please-help/let-the-people-decide/

Join the fight against corruption by the money:http://wimta.org/contact-us/

Wisconsin Move To Amend – Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wisconsin-Move-To-Amend/569078933112051

O Shit!

By Jeff Simpson (NSFW)

Rep. Christine Sinicki had enough of the BS and let her constituents know how she really felt with a facebook post(it is 2014):

On Wednesday, Sinicki posted, "OMG...this speech is so full of sh**. Wish I could get up and walk out” and then “Bottom line..the rich get richer and the poor and middle class continue to get kicked in the butt.

Not the Speech full of lies, but the one word facebook page set off a shitstorm of fake outrage.   The storm was so bad and so brown that Mary Burke decided to jump on the criticize Sinicki bandwagon!  

Walker’s Democratic opponent, former Trek Bicycle Corp. executive Mary Burke, said that Sinicki’s post wasn’t appropriate.
Asked if she though Sinicki should apologize, Burke said, “I think people should make their own decisions. It’s certainly something that I would have apologized for.”

Ahhhh yes, the lady who has nothing bad to say about her opponent, has decided she can't throw her friends under the bus quick enough!

Christine, I do not think you needed to apologize to anyone.  Keep up the great work!  

For those of you who were offended by her use of the word Shit....take 2 aspirin and see me in the morning!

Abele's Courthouse Fire Becoming An Eternal Flame

Last July, due to Abele's deferred maintenance and austerity measures, the Milwaukee County Courthouse suffered a lot of damage when some outdated and poorly maintained electrical equipment caught on fire.

Since then, the costs of the clean up and repairs have run well over $10 million dollars and is expected to top $15 million before it's all said and done.

Even more worrisome, it appears that the insurance companies might have stopped paying for Abele's fire altogether and Abele is expecting the taxpayers to cover the cost of his ineptitude:

But the bills have been piling up since Nov. 1, the last time the fund made a payment on the courthouse fire claims.

"Now they've taken a pause," Tyler said. The state fund halted payments for the fire recovery work about three months ago, pending the outcome of an investigation into the cause of the electrical fire.

Tyler is seeking County Board approval to pull $4 million from a county contingency fund to cover work completed in 2013 but not yet paid for, he said.

He also wants board authority for spending another $3 million on repairs made this year through March. Tyler didn't specify what county account that money would come from.

Local contractors shouldn't have to wait any longer to get paid, Tyler told members of the County Board's Transportation, Public Works and Transit Committee.

He called his county funding request "a belt-and-suspenders strategy," in which the county money would be available to pay fire-related bills until the insurance money arrives.

Tyler said he was assured by the state insurance commissioner at a meeting last week that the county's fire costs would be covered.

But, he added, "I can't put a guarantee on it."

Gee, now I can see why Abele is so desperate to make sure his political appointees get paid so lavishly! That is some high-grade lying and question-dodging right there!

The fact that the insurance companies are putting their checkbooks away shouldn't surprise anyone.

As noted above, the fire was the result of not replacing or even properly maintaining outdated electrical equipment. On top of that, Abele had important evidence "accidentally" destroyed to try to cover up his failure.

Supervisor Michael Mayo put it quite succinctly on what's going on and what needs to be done to protect the taxpayers from Abele's incompetence and maleficence:

Mayo also questioned whether the County’s insurance companies have stopped paying for repairs because the cause of the fire has yet to be determined. He said media reports indicated key components of the electrical system disappeared after the fire, making it difficult to determine the cause.

“Are they trying to cover for the fact that these components are missing and the insurance companies turned off the money spigot?” he said. “They say they want to pay small vendors who have worked to repair fire damage, but what they are really doing is making sure the big boys get paid. In the past they’ve never shown concern for small business. But when they owe big contractors, they want to make sure they pay them.

“I question the need to make these fund transfers, and I hope the Board will demand more transparency from this administration before we approve them. I want to make sure taxpayers are not on the hook for the costs of this fire.”

Indeed, it's time for Abele to live up to his thus far empty boasts of being accountable by, y'know, actually being accountable.  Telling us what is really going on and taking responsibility for the consequences of his actions and inactions would be a good place to start.

Antonin Scalia: Union Hero?!

I would never have expected this in a million years:

Illinois grants public-sector unions the right to exclusive representation—meaning that if they receive a majority vote, they automatically represent all employees—and lets them charge a “fair share” fee to employees who don’t join the union but are covered by the collective bargaining agreement. The broader question raised in the case is whether or not any public-sector union should enjoy these rights. This issue would affect every local, state and federal union in the country.

The challenge was brought by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NRTW), an anti-union group whose mission “is to eliminate coercive union power and compulsory unionism abuses through strategic litigation, public information and education programs.” In a typical NRTW case this November, attorney William Messenger argued unsuccessfully before the Supreme Court that unions should not have the right to negotiate card check and neutrality agreements. Yesterday, Messenger tried to convince the Court that exclusive representation and fair share fees by public sector unions violate workers’ First Amendment rights. He claimed that, because public employee unions bargain over matters of public concern, the fees force workers to contribute to speech with which they may not agree.

But Justice Scalia was having none of it. Though Scalia is often cast as an ideological enemy of all labor—Salon stories by Josh Eidelson on this case and the neutrality agreement case, respectively, were titled, “Scalia’s Golden Chance to Kill Unions” and “Scalia’s Chance to Smash Unions”—here Scalia did not join with Justices Alito, Roberts and Kennedy in advancing the NRTW argument. Rather, Scalia was quick to question the very premise of the NRTW’s case, in a manner that set the tone for the remainder of the proceedings.

Scalia turned the NRTW argument on its head by raising the hypothetical of a policeman who, after asking a dozen times for a raise, was denied access to the police commissioner. Did he have his First Amendment rights violated? The answer was no. With this device, Justice Scalia highlighted how the Supreme Court has recognized that the government has wider latitude in dealing with its employees than in dealing with its citizenry. The police commissioner telling his secretary that he didn’t want to speak with his subordinate no more violated the policeman’s First Amendment rights than charging healthcare workers a fair share fee for union representation does theirs.

At one point in the arguments, when Justice Kagan suggested that Scalia believed that the NRTW position was valid, Scalia interrupted to clarify, stating, “I want to hear the answer, too, because, contrary to what Justice Kagan suggests, I didn’t say your First Amendment argument was valid ... I said at least it was a comprehensible argument.”

When the NRTW attorney suggested that the way homecare workers negotiate for higher wages was not internal workplace speech, but rather more highly protected political speech, Scalia objected, saying, “Why isn’t it? I mean, it is for private employers.” Scalia went on to suggest that employers may stand to gain by having their workforce represented by a single union. “There are some private employers who think they’re better off with a closed shop and they just want to deal with one union. ... They do this as private employers because they think it is in their interest as an employer. Why can’t the government have the same interest?” Coming from Scalia, these arguments have far more force than they would from one of the more liberal justices.

The article also says that Scalia is against allowing people to have a free ride, meaning that freeloaders should have to pay for the representation they enjoy.

This kind of confirms the adage that truth is stranger than fiction. It also shows that this isn't such a bad thing.

It should be interesting to see how this might affect Act 10.