Let's HOPE School Choice Starts Doing Better Protecting the Kids!

By Jeff Simpson


Jim Bender is head of the poorly named "School Choice" Wisconsin.

Readers of CogDis may remember Mr. Bender as the guy who did an open records request on numerous school districts throughout the state where he asked for all of the kids, names, addresses, phone numbers, pictures, activities, height, weight, etc.....  

Luckily we were able to stop that, even if it did get Charlie Sykes knickers in a knot and he was successful in getting me kicked off of Purple WI.  We were successful in stopping some of Mr. Benders invasion of privacy of our children.

If you remember, I pointed out that now that Mr. Bender let it be known that this information was available to the world, thanks to some silly open records laws, anyone now has access to this information.  When I say anyone I mean anyone, people recruiting kids, cults and sexual predators.   I had no idea at the time that one was right under Mr. Benders nose.

 The dean of a Milwaukee choice school was charged Monday with sexually assaulting a girl over the past several years, the fifth area educator to face sexual assault charges since December.Jermaine A. Evans, 32, dean of students and coach of the girls basketball team at HOPE Christian High, was being held in the Milwaukee County Jail.

The complaint charges two counts of sexual assault of a child, once in 2013 and once in 2014. Each offense is punishable by up to 25 years in prison and 10 years of extended supervision.

 

HOPE Christian Schools is a network of six schools that participate in the Milwaukee and Racine voucher programs. Its high school, where Evans has been girls basketball coach the past four years, is at 3215 N. King Drive.

Evans is currently on PAID leave.  Your taxpayer dollars at work!

While as is typical, when horrible things like this happen, Jim Bender is no where to be found.

Yet he is quick to heap praise.

“It is really difficult to not have an appreciation for what’s happening on the north side at Hope Christian School,” said Jim Bender, president of Wisconsin School Choice, which advocates for Wisconsin’s growing parental choice program.

 Our Friends over at the also poorly named "Watchdog" even compared Hope Christian Schools to the John Wooden UCLA  championship winning college basketball teams.  

“The near north side of Milwaukee has probably one of the biggest racial learning gaps of anywhere in the country. (Hope) put their school in the heart of that area to specifically address that problem,” Bender added. “And they have this unbelievable group of staff that is so committed, and that’s obvious with 100 percent of the students accepted to college four years in a row.”

The staff was very committed thats for sure and now the Dean of Students will be committed(for about 50 years).  

Edit note:  Before I get the inevitable righty talking point of the success rate at HOPE Christian, understand that they are graduating about 30 kids a year.   Its much easier when you can pick and choose your kids and work with them more individually.  Unfortunately with the education cuts in WI and the bleeding of public education dollars by the for profit educationers like Mr. Bender that makes it impossible for public schools to give this intense personal education.       


Here is Mr. Bender(center) celebrating the ten year anniversary of Hope "Christian"schools taking unaccuntable taxpayer money to fund his salary and school.   That is school choice lobbyist Jeff Fitzgerald sitting next to him(Robin Vos missed the picture).  A list of School Choice VIP's are here.  

Lyin' Ryan: I'm Better Than Boehner

Lyin' Paul Ryan did an interview with CNN and compared himself to his predecessor, John Boehner:

Paul Ryan wants everyone to know he's no John Boehner.

"I think I do it better," the House speaker told CNN during an interview this week, adding that his leadership style is different than his predecessor, whose resignation last year shocked Washington. "Not to knock John, but I spend more time with all of our members on a continual basis."
Ryan, the GOP's vice presidential nominee in 2012, has won over conservatives by trying to showcase a more inclusive leadership style than Boehner. But he's still beset by the same internal divisions that led to Boehner's ouster -- as his party struggles to push through a number of bills on pressing matters, ranging from the Puerto Rico debt crisis to the budget.

Well, yeah, he might be talking to all of these people but he is hardly winning them over.

Ryan's honeymoon as the speaker lasted for only about a month before he got Boehnered by his fellow Republicans started making demands of Ryan in order to get an emergency budget bill passed.

To further exemplify how much of a failure Ryan is at being the great unifier that he promised to be, he failed to get enough votes to pass a budget by April 15, as required by law. Ryan's problem was again the extremists that felt that he didn't do enough to harm poor people, the elderly and the disabled.

In fact, the Teapublicans are so incensed with Ryan that he is going to be primaried this year:

Wisconsin businessman Paul Nehlen announced Tuesday that he is the tea party-allied candidate who is challenging House Speaker Paul D. Ryan in the Republican primary, saying he’s “had it” with the speaker betraying conservatives.

[...]

“Paul Ryan’s embrace of big government spending, his continued support of illegal immigration and imported workers, and his championing of the job-killing trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership betrays me, this district, and this nation,” he said.

“He’s failed to put America’s security and American jobs first. I’ve had it. We’ve all had it,” said Mr. Nehlen, a successful executive, entrepreneur and inventor who previously donated to Mr. Ryan’s campaigns.

Now one has just got to wonder how in the world is Ryan supposed to find the time to draft his list of demands to agree to become the Republican presidential nominee when he is to busy trying to herd cats.

A more honest comparison between Ryan and Boehner would give Ryan the edge in only the fact that Ryan doesn't have orange skin...yet.

Cheap Trick Stands Tall

By Jeff Simpson 

Here at CogDis we have brought you numerous stories of the paid ASSassins in the political world.who go to the higest bidder, the most recent being former head of the party Mike Tate who for a few pieces of silver jumped on board with an anti worker "Democrat" campaign and had no problem smearing old friend Chris Larson on a daily basis.  

I hear the same old excuses, its a job.   They are political operatives who need to work etc....

Well not everyone compromises their values for money.

That is why Cheap Trick recently stepped up and showed us what true character and a moral compass is:

“The Republican National Committee called our office and offered us $100,000 to play at their convention in Cleveland [this summer],” Zander says. “We turned it down. Then we had second thoughts. Maybe we should have accepted it – but we would all have got swastika guitars made.”
“We thought better of it,” Petersson adds, smiling a little.

They turned down $100,000 to play at the Republican Convention, because their beliefs and values meant more to them.  

Bravo!  

Now would be a good time to dwnload their latest CD  

Bang, Zoom, Crazy … Hello is out now on Big Machine.

Taylor, Stakeholders Call on GOP to Fund Voter ID Information Campaign

Taylor, Stakeholders Call on GOP to Fund Voter ID Information Campaign

Campaign required as state prepares for 1 million additional voters in November

MADISON – Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison), joined by the League of Women Voters, local election officials and community members, called on Republican leadership to release funding to the Government Accountability Board (GAB) for a comprehensive Voter ID informational campaign.  Under 2011 Wisconsin Act 23, the Voter ID law, the state was required to fund a comprehensive public information campaign so voters understood the new law and what would be required for them to vote.  Because of a variety of injunctions that delayed the implementation of this law designed to suppress voting, this required campaign never occurred. 

On April 5^th, there were many instances of voters being turned away from the polls because they did not have the correct identification, of confusion as to the required documents and of delays in being able to vote.  In the City of Madison, there were 123 provisional ballots cast, with only 41 ultimately being counted.  As reported in numerous media accounts, students were particularly impacted, with hours-long lines on several campuses.

“While we know suppressing our ability to vote is the true intention behind this Voter ID legislation, the state hasn’t fulfilled their obligation to educate voters about this convoluted, nonsensical new law,” said Rep. Taylor.  “The spring elections revealed that many Wisconsinites lacked the necessary documentation to vote.  As I tell my kids at home, if you’re going to change the rules, you need to let everyone else know.  The solution here is simple – the GOP just needs to follow the law that they wrote.”

Under the Voter ID law, the public informational campaign was supposed to take place in advance of the first regularly schedule primary and election to which the identification requirements applied.  Due to litigation, including a March 2012 injunction that prevented the law from going into effect and various other implementation delays, the voter education campaign the GAB originally planned was only briefly implemented.

“This fall, we are expecting at least one million more voters than we did in the Spring Election earlier this month.  Given the problems Wisconsinites experienced at the polls on April 5, it is clear that we have much more work to do when it comes to educating the electorate on this newly-implemented law.  We need the GAB to request the needed funds and the Legislature to release these funds to the GAB now,” said Andrea Kaminski, Executive Director for the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin.

In addition to the press conference, Rep. Taylor started an online petition at Change.org that the public can sign.  She has also written to the GAB encouraging them to again formally request this funding.  Rep. Taylor also was the lead author of Assembly Bill 987 which appropriated $500,000 for a Voter ID informational campaign.  The bill died at the end of this legislative session. 

Office of Representative Chris Taylor

306 West – (608) 266-5342

PO Box 8953

Madison, WI  53708

The Immoral Sheriff Clarke

By Jeff Simpson

I think I want to run for office in Wisconsin.  It seems like the perfect way to get numerous taxpayer funded  vacations to see the world.  The latest is Milwaukee's own Sheriff David Clarke.  Sheriff Clarke was inexplicably in New York and found his way once again onto the Fox and Friends show.

The good people of Milwaukee had to fly the "Democratic" Sheriff out to New York for some very urgent pressing business.  To call Hillary Clinton a racist because she likes hot sauce.

You absolutely can not make this stuff up.  

 And although many news outlets have noted that Clinton has had a long-documented obsession with hot sauce, conservative media seized on the comments as evidence that she was pandering.On Thursday, the hosts of Fox & Friends asked Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who is black, to weigh in.
“I’m surprised she didn’t say watermelon,” Clarke opined, referring to a racist stereotype. “Just go all the way.”
“You know, this stuff is dehumanizing,” he argued. “It’s embarrassing, it’s disgusting.

The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department Code of Conduct is very clear. 

Personal-Professional Capabilities

Police officers will be responsible for their own standard of professional performance and will take every reasonable opportunity to enhance and improve their level of knowledge and competence.  Through study and experience, a police officer can acquire the high level of knowledge and competence that is essential for the efficient and effective performance of duty. The acquisition of knowledge is a never ending process of personal and professional development that should be pursued constantly.

Private Life

Police officers will behave in a manner that does not bring discredit to their agencies or themselves. A police officer's character and conduct while off duty must always be exemplary, thus maintaining a position of respect in the community in which he or she lives and serves. The officer's personal behavior must be beyond reproach.

It is kind of hard to enforce the Code of Conduct when the Boss breaks it on a daily basis.

But wait....There is more!  

Speaking of Dehumanizing, embarrassing and disgusting.... SHEriff Clarke is about to cost the taxpayers of Milwaukee a whole lot of money....

See under Sheriff Clarke's rule, the Standard Operating Procedure for women giving birth in jail(there have been 36 of them) has been to make the women give birth while their hands and feet were shackled.   Sheriff Clarke treated his female inmates so poorly that right wing extremist Federal Judge Randa, allowed a class action(with up to 300 women) proceed.  

There is a chance that Sheriff Clarke had no idea what was going on in the prison he runs, because he is constantly on right wing radio or TV.  He could have been too busy talking to Charlie Sykes to actually do his job.  

However know or not, the responsibility lies with him.   

A federal judge is allowing a former Milwaukee County jail inmate who is alleging in a lawsuit she was shackled during childbirth to make class action allegations on behalf of pregnant women or new mothers who also were shackled by county jailers.
The county acknowledged in a court filing that the woman was restrained by handcuffs and a leg restraint while she was in labor and by a handcuff while she was delivering.
There could be as many as 300 women in the class -- which the suit defines as women hospitalized for labor, delivery, or post-partum medical care since February 2010 --  if the lawsuit is allowed to proceed as a class action, the woman's lawyers said in a court filing. Thirty-six jail inmates gave birth between Jan. 1, 2010, and Feb. 19, 2016, according to federal court documents.
The jail is under the jurisdiction of Sheriff David Clarke.
Shackling women in the weeks surrounding giving birth is opposed by the American Correctional Association, the American Bar Association, the American Public Health Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Nurse Midwives, and the World Health Organization, the suit said. The US Marshals Services and the Federal Bureau of Prisons has sharply restricted the use of restraints on pregnant women, the suit said.

It takes a real strong man to shackle a woman who is giving birth.  No wonder he wears such a big fake cowboy hat.  He is all hat and no cattle as the saying goes.   I guess if they can push the woman choking David Prosser to the Supreme Court, the WOW counties truly have no standards when it comes to their elected officials.  

It is time for Sheriff Clarke to resign/  

 

The Republicans Are In The Can

By Jeff Simpson 

On 4/20 it is fitting to bring back an old comedy bit from Cheech & Chong.  It is also fitting that the character in the bit's last name is elephant.

The Transgender bathroom debate has been ramped up lately.   North Carolina has recently passed an Anti-LGBQT law and it has cost the state Millions of dollars of commerce.

 Everyone from PayPal, to Ringo Starr to Lionsgate films to Bruce Springsteen, to numerous municipalities banning non essential travel to NC.  

North Carolina’s anti-LGBT law is already costing the state’s tourism industry millions of dollars.The bill, signed by Gov. Pat McCrory (R) last month, prevents local municipalities from passing anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. The bill also requires transgender people to use public restrooms that correspond to the gender on their birth certificate.

Why would they pass a law that specifically targets a group of people who need our help and this could never happen in Wisconsin right?  

The answers are simple, the GOP is the part of big government and want to make sure that everyone in America behaves the way they tell you to.  

Not the way they act of course, as more GOP politicians have been arrested in bathrooms for sexual misconduct than trans people.  They did not even include "Bathroom" Bob Donovan who had his own run ins in public bathrooms of Milwaukee.     Many supporters of these anti- LGBQT laws rushed to the polls to vote for Bathroom Bob for Mayor of Milwaukee.  Luckily for all involved he lost.

As for could this happen here?  If the Republicans keep control of all three branches of Government after the November elections(they have adjourned for the year weeks ago) count on it.  See they have already proposed such a bill(except a little more extreme) that is currently sitting in committee.  Not only will they bully all transgender people in Wisconsin but they also will force the Justice Department to spend countless dollars defending all lawsuits will inevitably come.    

Transgender students would be barred from using school bathrooms or locker rooms assigned to the gender with which they identify, under a bill being proposed by two Republican lawmakers.Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, and Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, are proposing to require school boards to designate bathrooms and locker rooms as being for one gender exclusively, and to require the state Department of Justice to defend  school districts in lawsuits alleging the policy is discriminatory.

Hard to be open for business when you pass bills that cost your state hundreds of millions of dollars of commerce.   Even Chris Abele gets it.

Abele says protecting transgender rights goes beyond moral responsibility.
"If people care about economic development, the largest demographic in the United States in U.S. history is millennials," he says. "And this issue is settled for millennials. What do we talk about all the time? How do we attract the best and brightest, young, creative talent? Well, you know how you don't do it? You show that you're a closed-minded, intolerant state."

Of course his support of Anti-LGBQT politicians says a different story but thats another blog.    

Now that we see Republican policies in action and working to destroy North Carolina, when asked for comments on if they still plan on pushing their anti commerce, anti business bully law, the authors Rep Kremer and Sen. nASS did exactly what you would think they would do.

Hide.

 We reached out to the Wisconsin lawmakers who introduced the bill regulating the use of school bathrooms, and other state leaders who said they'd support it. All were unable to do an interview.

Maybe next session we could introduce a bill that says GOP lawmakers are not allowed to be in a public restroom and we would all be a little safer!  

In the end, all our LGBQT friends want to so is "go to the can, man" so they will no longer be so afraid to use the bathroom.  

Until then, we need the electorate this November to

WWWWAAAAKKKKKKKEEEEEE UUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPP


 Editor Note;  If all of the hate preached by the GOP these days is getting to to you, check out this article and you can restore your faith in humanity.  

4) If said straight men could be trusted not to do bad things to women, we wouldn’t be having any of these conversations. As a Christian I’m disappointed that we aren’t talking about that in our churches and on campaign trails, or making bold public statements about that. I’m profoundly saddened that high-profile evangelists and pastors aren’t facing this real monster with the same sustained ferocity they attack an imagined one with.

Women are in exponentially higher danger of being sexually assaulted by a boyfriend or a classmate than a stranger in a bathroom and it isn’t even close.

Some Presidential Primary Tidbits

By Jeff Simpson 

After coming back from vacation, time to close out some tabs that have been open regarding the presidential primary.

1.  Hillary is on record saying she will compromise with the GOP on abortion.  That makes me fear for my daughter as she grows up in this crazy world of rich white men trying to legislate a woman's life.  I do not believe that any other Democratic politician could politically survive saying this,

Again, I am where I have been, which is that if there's a way to structure some kind of constitutional restriction that take into account the life of the mother and her health, then I'm open to that. But I have yet to see the Republicans willing to actually do that, and that would be an area, where if they included health, you could see constitutional action.

2.  For all of Hillary's tough on gun stances, she helped give Remington Corp a hundred million dollar contract while Secretary of State.  

Hillary Clinton presents herself as a tough advocate for gun control. But the State Department she led for four years helped approve more than $100 million in weapons sales for a handful of companies — including the manufacturer of the AR-15 semi-automatic that Adam Lanza used to kill 20 children in Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
The sales to foreign nations, noted in Defense Department documents, include $4.2 million in receipts from the Remington Arms Co., which was sued by families of the Sandy Hook victims. They argued that the company was culpable because it marketed military-grade weapons to civilians.
During the 2016 campaign, Clinton has accepted contributions from financial firms that own sizable stakes in the gun industry while criticizing rival Sen. Bernie Sanders as soft on gun safety. She has cited his opposition to laws that could hold gun manufacturers liable for mass shootings, explicitly invoking the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, to make her case. 

3.  By the way, Ms. Clinton has not always been tough on guns, just 8 years ago ---

4.   Its not just Hillary, lets look at Wisconsin Primary winner Ted Cruz: 

Ted Cruz seriously sent out a fundraising email telling his supporters about the massive sacrifice he is making to run for President.

Yesterday @TedCruz sent a campaign email whining about the “significant sacrifice” he’s made to run for President. pic.twitter.com/yKtLpWG0Ou

— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 19, 2016

Senator Warren went off, on this and made Ted Cruz look like the fool he truly is.  

Elizabeth Warren 

✔‎@elizabethforma

Are you kidding me, @TedCruz? We’re supposed to pity you because trying to be the leader of the free world is hard?! 2 words: Boo hoo.

It gets better, check out the link! 

5.  Quick observation - with Ted Cruz winning WI, thanks to the talk radio and elected official collaboration and watching Scott Walker spend $7 million dollars in 71 days to end up with 0.0% support.   That shows our own brand of Wisconsinite right wingers are not mainstream throughout the rest of the country.  They are amateurs who run our state but have no ability to carry their extremist views to the rest of the country.   

Nation Consulting Public Relations Experts?

By Jeff Simpson 

Much has been written about Nation Consulting's stranglehold on the Democratic Party.   While the Democratic Party insiders hold them up as some kind of experts, we found out that their owner, Thad Nation, not only helped push the horrendous Enrbidge pipeline through our backyards(not his but ours).   Mr. Nation, also has ties to right wing extremist groups Americans for Prosperity and Freedomworks.    

We all know that Americans for Prosperity has nothing but the Democrats best interest at heart!  

But as loyal readers know, there is more.  There is always more! 

One of the partners at Nation Consulting is Jeff Blumb.   Mr Blumb(pictured below) is not only a partner at Nation but is their resident public relations expert.   This is his Bio:

Jeff Blumb brings a quarter century of high-level public relations and strategic communications experience to Nation Consulting, joining our team after more than two decades in the public relations efforts for the Green Bay Packers and prior to that, serving on the Miami Dolphins public relations team.
As director of public relations for the Green Bay Packers, he was responsible for media relations, team services and the team publications and web sites, as well as providing PR counsel to the team’s coaches, players and top executives. He was also responsible for the cohesiveness of the Packers’ organizational messages and PR strategies.  He was also chosen six times by the NFL to work the Super Bowl as a select group of invited club PR staffers.
His tenure with the team has honed Blumb’s skills in working with the media, in crisis and event management, messaging and brand enhancement. Blumb has an extensive network of media contacts with print, electronic and broadcast media, and understands how to leverage those relationships in working with a variety of clients.

Now lets take a look at Mr. Blumbs messaging prowess in action.  

Jeff Blumb‏@jeffblumb

I suppose the upside to the Eddie Vanderdoes injury is that he will have more time to spend with his sick grandmother.

For the non sports fans among us, Eddie Vanderdoes is a college football player who plays for UCLA Bruins. He blew his knee and missed the year last season and Mr. Blumb tweeted this out approximately the time he was injured.

Mr. Blumb made a good impression on twitter, especially with someone who appears to be related to Mr. Vanderdoes.

1. 
   
   Baylee Vanderdoes ‏@Vanderdoes  6 Sep 2015
   @jeffblumb aw jeffy.. Love how you feel the need to talk about a 20 year old kid injuring himself you dusty old man
   0 retweets6 likes
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   0R0H0E ‏@0r0h0e  6 Sep 2015
   @Vanderdoes @jeffblumb I'm glad you've been kept up at night waiting for "the one that got away" to get hurt. #Jocksniffer
   1 retweet1 like
   
   
   
   
   
   


Bruin Life! ‏@LifeOfABruin  6 Sep 2015
@jeffblumb I hope you feel good about yourself.
0 retweets3 likes








Krakka ‏@halobruin  7 Sep 2015
@jeffblumb something wrong with u man! u need help and I hope u find it!
0 retweets3 likes








Thomas F.X. Sullivan ‏@IrishHoodlum  6 Sep 2015
@jeffblumb grown man celebrating a kid tearing his ACL. Speaks volumes about you
0 retweets1 like








Bricks&Bullets ‏@BricksnBullets  7 Sep 2015
@jeffblumb So bitter about a kid not picking your school you mock his injury & insult him? Karma is a mother fucker.
0 retweets0 likes








hollywood ‏@uclafootball1  12 Sep 2015
@jeffblumb you're an ugly looking dude. Did anyone ever tell you that?
0 retweets0 likes








Jason BRUWINS! ‏@uclabruinfan1  7 Sep 2015
@jeffblumb Poor taste to post something like that. Uncool
0 retweets0 likes








Ben Esfandi ‏@BiGbAdBeNyO  7 Sep 2015West Hollywood, CA
@jeffblumb what a classy professional old man..
0 retweets0 likes

Mr. Blumb took a beating and did what you would expect a good PR person to do, hide and not own up to your mistake. While this gets a little bit in the weeds, the larger point here is, if this is your PR expert and this is how he handles messaging, is there any surprise why the Dems went from being in control to being irrelevat in a matter of three elections? Is this the kind of messaging that helps win elections? I would highly recommend asking if a candidate has hired anyone from Nation Consulting to work on their campaign, before you think of handing them any money! Why throw good money after bad?