-- Don Wright, Palm Beach Post, via Cagle.

Bush's New Year's resolutions

There are lots of resolution lists for the Pres floating around the Internet, but this one from author Seth Greenland is my favorite. I think it's the PS that put it over the top:

The following was obtained by perfectly legal surveillance of President Bush's personal e-mail account.

Dear Vice,

Thought you'd get a kick outta this. My New Year Year's Resolutions for 2006. Why don't I just declare 'em law! (Al Gonzales said I could!). Please note – these R just 4 U.

10. Suspend habeas corpus and claim it is yet one more way I am just like Abraham Lincoln.

9. Stop mincing words. Call Democrats traitors (they are!).

8. Get someone at CIA to come up with cute Can-you-hear-me-now?-style slogan so people won't be in such a lather about wire taps.

7. Ask Bono to talk to Chinese about canceling our debt.

6. Encourage John McCain to take up shark wrestling (Meeting with him? That was torture!).

5. Get Halliburton to rebuild New Orleans – in Baghdad. Riverboats on the Euphrates! Indian Casinos on the Tigris! Mayor Ray Nagin in a combat zone! What's not to like?

4. Find someone to execute (Boy, I miss Texas! Can I be governor again when I'm done up here? The Democrats there liked me, although they're probably traitors, too).

3. Pardon Karl Rove (I'm just anticipatin' here, heh-heh).

2. Get Dad to tell Mom to shut the fuck up.

1. Pray extra hard for the Rapture so I don't have to worry about #s 10-2.

Let me know what yours are, ok? Maybe I can have 'em declared law, too.

Your buddy, George W.

P.S. This doesn't have anything to do with New Years but have you noticed that if you turn off the sound on Saddam's trial and play "Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd, it's kinda cool? When he talks, it's sorta like he's dancin', only slow, and funny-like.

Investigating everything but the real crime

So now the Justice Department is investigating who leaked the information that President Bush was breaking the law with unauthorized wiretaps of American citizens.

What next?

Based on today's NY Times story, it seems like the next logical step would be an investigation of who leaked the news of the investigation of the leak. The bold-faced language suggests someone else has leaked a secret. Meanwhile, no one appears to be investigating the real crime -- Bush's illegal wiretaps.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 - The Justice Department said on Friday that it had opened a criminal investigation into the disclosure of classified information about a secret National Security Agency program under which President Bush authorized eavesdropping on people in the United States without court warrants.

The investigation began in recent days after a formal referral from the security agency regarding the leak, federal officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the investigation.

Paul Soglin thinks the Bushies may come to regret the latest investigation, which has the potential to blow up in their faces. Soglin says:

It does come as a surprise that this NSA-requested investigation by the Justice Department is going forward in light of the fact that this could reveal the true nature of the criminal activities of the Bush Gangsters. This may take on all of the characteristics of the Nixon administration's handling of Daniel Ellsberg's leak of the Pentagon Papers. It certainly smells like it.

--Rex Babin, Sacramento Bee, via Cagle

2005 was good year for Russ Feingold

Wisconsin's Sen. Russ Feingold had a very good 2005, as he emerged as a player on the national stage, according to a couple of pieces of year-end punditry.

Ron Brownstein's column in the LA Times says Hillary's obviously still the one to beat for the '08 nomination, but adds:

The most significant development in the Democratic presidential race this year was that one potential candidate to Clinton's left and one to her right each took a step past the others in their bracket.

On the left, the potential candidate who improved his situation the most was Wisconsin Sen. Russell D. Feingold. By all conventional measures, Feingold is a very dark horse. He's little-known nationally, he's Jewish and he's a senator, a combination that doesn't scream electoral viability. (The number of sitting senators elected president, two, doesn't much exceed the number of Jews, zero.)

Yet over the last year, Feingold has not only raised his visibility but done so by attaching himself to a specific agenda with a clear Democratic constituency. After voting against the war in Iraq in 2002, Feingold this year became the first Democratic senator to endorse a timeline for withdrawing all U.S. troops. And after casting the lone Senate vote against the Patriot Act in 2001, he helped lead the recent Senate filibuster that blocked the law's permanent renewal.

These high-profile positions are raising Feingold's stature in the same grass-roots and online liberal communities that propelled Howard Dean to the forefront of the 2004 Democratic race. Feingold is fanning the embers with an extensive Internet operation that has included stints blogging on popular liberal websites like Daily Kos. Considering where the potential candidates started, "Feingold has definitely come the farthest," said Joe Trippi, Dean's 2004 campaign manager.

The candidate on Clinton's right who made headway is Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia, Brownstein writes. Chris Cillizza of the WashPost says that Warner had the best year, but Feingold is not far behind:

* Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold (D): When Feingold was the lone senator to oppose the Patriot Act in 2001, he was seen as a laughing stock by many political observers. No one was laughing earlier this month when Feingold led the opposition to reauthorizing the controversial law amid revelations that President Bush had authorized the wiretapping of U.S. citizens without court approval. Feingold's willingness to put himself out on a limb also paid dividends earlier this year when he became the first prominent Democratic politician to propose a timetable for American troops to withdraw from Iraq. Both of those positions endeared Feingold to the party's liberal left, which is looking for an heir to the grassroots movement built by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean in 2004.

Happy New Year from the Bushes.
You can read Laura's holiday letter here.

Bush asks review of Liar's Club contest; White House says he should have won

The White House called Friday for a review of the 2005 Burlington, Wis. Liars Club competition, which overlooked some whoppers from President Bush and awarded its top prize to a local man.

"We hope it is just an oversight, but clearly President Bush is the Liar of the Year," White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said. "And if he's not, I am, or maybe Condi. Giving the award to some guy with a funny story is a travesty."

"There are many to choose from," McClennan said. But the Bush lies he suggested as worthy of the top prize could be either:

"We abide by the law of the United States and we do not torture,"

or
"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think PATRIOT Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution."

Liars Club officials said that the wiretap lie, while compelling, was disqualified because Bush said it in 2004. Only 2005 lies were eligible.

"The 'we-don't-torture' lie is another matter, since it is a fresh, December 2005 lie." McClellan said. "We are asking the club to correct the results, before we are forced to take it to our Supreme Court -- I mean the US Supreme Court -- and have the results overturned."

"There is another reason the Bush lies were not considered for the top honors," a Lions Club spokesman said. "The Burlington Liars Club competition has always been a contest for amateurs. That means no politicians, who are professional liars."

Before the Bush appeal, the club had named Bill Meinel of Burlington the winner with this story:

"My son's high school grades went from all A's to all D's. This happened right after he had his wisdom teeth extracted."

The Racine Journal Times reports:

John Soeth, president of the Burlington Liars Club, is one of the annual contest's two judges; Vice-president Mitzi Robers is the other. They had just under 400 entries from throughout the United States come in for the 2005 contest.

Meinel's lie, he said, was "exactly the kind we're looking for that sounds very logical, and at the end, they aren't very logical. They're obviously a lie."

He and Robers are the only two active members of the club, though thousands have become honorary members over the years.

"It's the perfect organization to belong to," Soeth said. "Two members, no meetings, no bylaws, no dues. There's nothing. The club is a lie, too."

According to the Burlington Historical Society Web site, the club started in 1929 when an enterprising freelance reporter made up a story about handing out a medal for the year's best lie and sent it out for publication. Like Meinel's winning lies, there was a kernel of truth to the story: The reporter and several other Burlington residents would get together and tell tall tales. But the club was not official until after the fabricated story got picked up by papers throughout the country.

The club's notoriety has spread, and each year hundreds of people send their best lies in for review.

The Burlington Liars Club will be accepting entries for next year's contest through mid-December 2006. To enter, send the lie and $1 to Burlington Liars Club, Box 156, Burlington, WI 53105

Quote, unquote

"Politicians — and American citizens — have to decide what their real goals are in this debate. We can enact policies that pander to a growing public resentment of illegal immigrants, but do little or nothing to actually stem the flow of such people across the border. If that's our goal, the Sensenbrenner bill is a fine start.

"But if we seek comprehensive legislation that enforces immigration law logically and rationally and without major disruption to the economy — and without further marginalizing people already condemned to be legal, economic and social outcasts — we can do far better."

-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial, House immigration bill crosses line.

Molly Ivins: Here we go again

AUSTIN, Texas -- The first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. Thirty-five years ago, Richard Milhous Nixon, who was crazy as a bullbat, and J. Edgar Hoover, who wore women's underwear, decided some Americans had unacceptable political opinions. So they set our government to spying on its own citizens, basically those who were deemed insufficiently like Crazy Richard Milhous.

Molly Ivins tells it like it is in her latest column, and concludes:

Either the president of the United States is going to have to understand and admit he has done something very wrong, or he will have to be impeached. The first time this happened, the institutional response was magnificent. The courts, the press, the Congress all functioned superbly. Anyone think we're up to that again?

MVP! MVP! (Most Valuable Progressives)

John Nichols, who writes for the Capital Times and The Nation, lists his MVPs -- Most Valuable Progressives -- for 2005. Hint: One is a Senator from Wisconsin. Nichols' MVPs.

"He lied to the American people and broke the law'

We'll leave the comment on this ad, which ran full-page in the New York Times on Thursday, to Badger Blues.

A great way to help hurricane victims

Two CDs that found their way into Christmas stockings at our house offer both some great music and a way to help Hurricane Katrina victims.

One, Our New Orleans, features Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Irma Thomas and many more New Orleans-connected musicians -- even Randy Newman with a philharmonic orchestra doing his classic "Louisiana 1927." Proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity. All of the cuts were recorded for this album. It's my favorite find of the season.

The other, Hurricane Relief: Come Together Now, is a double CD that touches a range of musical bases and popular artists -- Louis Armstrong, Dr. John, Coldplay, Norah Jones, Wyclef Jean, John Mayer, James Brown, Aaron Neville, Bonnie Raitt, R. Kelly, Barbra Streisand and Elton John and more. Proceeds to the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, and MusicCares.

Do yourself and Katrina victims a favor and get one or both.

Leibham's Wal-Mart links questioned

Did State Sen. Joe Leibham, R-Sheboygan, get $1,000 in contributions from the family that owns Wal-Mart because he supports school choice -- or because he used his influence to get Wal-Mart a meeting with the state DOT?

Sadie Says, a Sheboygan-based blog, raised that question recently. Now the Sheboygan Press is asking. Sadie has the story.

Brief history of conservative movement

Badger Blues offers this Brief History of the Conservative Movement:


SHORTER CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT 1994:

“I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you.”

HAW HAW HAW! AW HAW HAW HAW HAW! Thassa good one! Yee-haaa!



SHORTER CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT 2005:

“I’m from the government, and I’m here to spy on you and perhaps indefinitely detain you without charges.”

That sounds reasonable.

Plale to get primary challenge from the left

State Sen. Jeff Plale, D-South Milwaukee, seems likely to get a primary challenge from the left, Eye on Wisconsin reports. Plale, elected in a special election in 2003, just squeaked through a primary then against the more liberal Joel Brennan.

It's a district that runs from Milwaukee's liberal East Side, through Bay View to the more conservative suburbs like South Milwaukee and Cudahy. So, whatever you do, someone's unhappy. Plale's votes on abortion, concaled carry, and stem cell research have made him a target for a challenge from the left.

Jim McGuigan of Watchdog Milwaukee had written about the challenge earlier, and, somewhat surprisingly, comes to Plale's defense.

A truly thoughtful conservative

Dean Mundy, who writes a blog called the Thoughtful Conservative, is also one of the new community columnists who writes op ed pieces for the Journal Sentinel.

Munday, who says he is a self-employed missionary and a Christian fundamentalist, says on his blog that, "I like to think of myself as open-minded about most things. I have bed-rock beliefs but would probably be pragmatic if ever actually elected to office."

He writes today of the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages -- and why he doesn't support it.

Between today's column and what he writes on his blog, Mundy truly has earned the Thoughtful Conservative title. I hope a positive review from me doesn't ruin his standing on the right.

Sensenbrenner plays Patriot Act roulette

An editorial from the Times-Union, Albany NY:

For one brief moment, it appeared that a bipartisan handful of courageous senators had won a major victory in the often heated debate on renewing the USA Patriot Act. Then, in what seemed a flash, that victory was rendered to little more than a holding action, largely because of one man, House Judiciary Committee Chairman R. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis.

As a result there will now be only five weeks for Congress to resolve differences over the Patriot Act and vote on its renewal -- not the six-month extension the Senate agreed upon after the bipartisan group refused to allow the Patriot Act to be extended without adding necessary checks and balances.

Five weeks is far too short a period. The last thing Congress, or the nation, needs right now is another game of "chicken" over who will blink first on renewing the most controversial provisions of the Patriot Act. A thorough and thoughtful debate is needed, but Rep. Sensenbrenner would have none of it.

So the chicken game will continue. President Bush played it to the hilt earlier this month, as the Dec. 31 renewal deadline loomed. He blamed Senate Democrats for placing the Patriot Act's future in peril by questioning some of the powers the White House sought to make permanent under renewal legislation. But the bipartisan group of senators refused to be intimidated. They served the nation well.

These senators aren't soft on terrorism. They want the White House to have the powers it needs to combat al-Qaida and other extremists who seek to destroy the American way of life. But they also want to protect a vital part of that way of life -- specifically, the cherished individual liberties guaranteed under the Constitution.

Some of the provisions in the Patriot Act would sacrifice basic freedoms in the name of national security. One example: Government could seize business, gun, library and other records without having to first show that they are connected to a terrorism investigation. The very concept of the balance of powers would be turned on its head.

The new deadline for congressional action, Feb. 3, is inappropriate for another reason: It's the same date the Senate will begin hearings on the newly disclosed secret government spying operations authorized by President Bush in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. For four years, the government has often monitored Americans' phone calls, e-mails and other communications without first securing a warrant, as required by law. The White House claims it has the power, as well as the responsibility, to do so. That's pretty much the same argument that the administration has used in urging Congress to permanently extend the Patriot Act.

Both issues are far too important to be settled in haste. This is the time for careful deliberations. It's time Republicans in the House and Senate joined Democrats in driving home that message to Rep. Sensenbrenner.

Feeling threatened? Fire away;Shoot First law next on NRA agenda

Wondering what's next on the NRA agenda if they ever get concealed carry on the books in Wisconsin?

Wonder no longer. Sure as night follows day, it will be a Shoot First law.

Florida's had one since Oct. 1. It basically makes it legal to shoot anyone, anywhere in the state of Florida, anytime you feel threatened.

While useful for criminals who need an easy defense, the law (surprise!) is actually fairly dangerous for Florida residents and visitors. The Brady Campaign has been at the airports, handing out leaflets warning tourists to be careful around Florida's armed residents, in case they take a raised voice or a hand gesture the wrong way.

The Gun Guys say:

The gun lobby's arguments seem to get more and more ludicrous as we go along. They say that this law, which lets home and carowners legally shoot first without requiring them to consider retreating as a possibility, is merely a safeguard for their supposed "right" to keep and bear arms. When did the second amendment include a right to kill? Does the Constitution have an amendment we don't know about that makes it legal to kill other human beings for acting in any way that may be percieved as "threatening"?

This bill probably will lower the crime rate, because a certain amount of killings that would have been declared illegal will now be seen as completely legal, but one thing it won't lower is violence... {W]henever a trigger is pulled, for any reason, consequences are faced on both sides of the barrel. Killing in self defense? Guess what, America. It's still killing. Legal or not, it causes all kinds of pain either way.

Colorado has the law, too. Here's what happened last week, the Gun Guys say:

Last year, Gary Lee Hill was attacked in his home by four people, including a 19-year-old named John David Knott. Afterwards, Knott and his fellow criminals headed for the car, and drove away from Hill's house down the street. Hill, meanwhile, grabbed a gun, and, while Knott and the passengers were driving away from him, Hill shot them in the back and killed Knott.

By any reasonable set of deduction, this is murder. Knott had exited Hill's house and was clearly presenting no viable threat any more to Hill. Yes, Hill had been attacked, but he had all the legal recourse in the world. Since time immemorial, humanity has held that if you kill another human being, and it's not in self defense, you have committed murder.

Until the NRA came along.

Because under the "shoot first" law they passed in Colorado (and Florida, and soon, the rest of the United States), what Hill did isn't murder. It isn't even illegal. He was threatened by Hill at some point in the past, and so the NRA's law granted him the "right" to shoot Knott in the back. Taken to extremes, Hill could have shot and killed Knott years later, and it would have all been completely legal, as long as Knott had threatened him at some point in the past. Because of Colorado's "shoot first" law, Hill was, this past weekend, acquitted of the murder of John David Knott.

This is lunacy, as we've said all along about the "shoot first" bill. The NRA's law effectively legalizes killing. Even the sponsor of the Colorado bill called the Hill case a "miscarriage of justice."

But it's not a miscarriage of the law. What does it mean when the NRA passes a law like this, one that allows killers to run free in the streets? What does it mean when, at the cost of citizens' safety, they make it a priority to get this law passed in all 50 of our states? It doesn't mean they have the best interests of American citizens in mind, we'll tell you that.

Because they don't. This law is dangerous. It's violent, and unnecessary. "Shoot first" is a travesty of the American justice system, and passing it, in any state, is a license to murder.

What's that? You say it hasn't been proposed in Wisconsin? Of course not. It doesn't make sense to have a Shoot First law until you have a law that lets you tote concealed weapons. Shoot First is the next step. There is still a good chance that Gov. Doyle's veto of concealed carry will be upheld, which will keep the NRA occupied for awhile. One can only hope.

Judge slows Jefferson Wal-Mart railroad

Plans to rush through an annexation in Jefferson to pave the way for a Wal-Mart superstore were halted Wednesday by a Jefferson County circuit judge. The court order will prevent any annexation action for 45 days while another case, involving the Jefferson City Council's refusal to consider a direct legislation petition, is decided.

Michael Horne has details on today's court action on his Milwaukee World blog.

And here is an earlier post with background, Wal-Mart railroad coming down the track

-- Daryl Cagle, MSNBC

Questions for Tom Reynolds

Conservatives are praising State Sen. Tom Reynolds, R-West Allis, for his sponsorship of the bill ending Wisconsin's automatic annual increase in the gas tax. They're suggesting he's rehabilitated, after some bad press that made him look like the wackjob he is, just in time for a reelection campaign in 2006.

There are, however, a few lingering questions for Reynolds, including his association with an anti-Catholic organization that spews bigotry in its publications -- which Reynolds prints.

Paul Soglin gives the background and asks why the news media don't ask Reynolds to explain himself.

Good questions.

Vrakas-Finley dispute painful to watch; ongoing furor is politician's nightmare

This is a very slow news week, especially for politics, so reporters and bloggers in Wisconsin owe a real debt to Waukesha County Exec Dan Vrakas and his short-term, now departed chief of staff, Jenifer Finley.

By firing a volley every few days, they have managed to keep the story of Finley's departure/resignation/firing in the news for two weeks now. And there are enough unanswered questions that it's guaranteed to stay around awhile longer.

Vrakas, who has been pretty tight-lipped, even when Finley fired off a Christmas Eve greeting that basically accused him of being a sellout who didn't keep his promises, fired back today.

"Things weren't working" with her as his chief of staff, Vrakas told the newspaper.

In other words, it was her job performance, not her unhappiness over budget policy, that precipitated her departure, according to Vrakas.

"I asked Jenifer what she wanted to do about it. And I accepted her resignation," Vrakas said. In other words, he gave her the opportunity to resign rather than be fired.

Vrakas even threw in a letter of recommendation as part of the deal. But Finley's public statements since she left the office will make any public official think twice about hiring her.

Even now, Vrakas refuses to get into the messy details or publicly criticize Finley, although she has not hesitated to rip him. The JS reports:

Asked specifically what difficulties led Finley to resign six weeks into the administration, Vrakas declined to elaborate, saying he does not believe in criticizing other people publicly.

"It just wasn't working out," he said. "I don't know that it's necessary to assign blame."

Vrakas is taking the high road.

Finley, who is married to the only other county executive Waukesha has ever had, should know that political staffers come and go all the time. They serve "at the pleasure" of the elected official. When it's not working, for whatever reason, the official is free to make a change.

I hate to keep using John Norquist's time as mayor of Milwaukee as an example, but it illustrates the point. In almost 16 years in office, he had something like eight chiefs of staff. None had as short a tenure as Jenifer Finley, but they came and went with some regularity. Sometimes it was their idea, sometimes it was Norquist's, and sometimes it was mutual. But you never read more than a short story about anyone's departure, and it usually was in the context of who was coming into the job next.

Tommy Thompson, too, had a series of chiefs of staff during his years as governor, with never a murmur about why people came and went. They just did.

It all has to do with something called loyalty. A friend of mine who has served a number of prominent elected officials calls it honor.

Whatever that quality is, Jenifer Finley doesn't have it.

The Finley-Vrakas situation is a politician's nightmare. It's not even fun to watch.

Now the county board says one of its committee's may hold a hearing on the matter, guaranteeing more news coverage and more controversy.

Vrakas has handled this whole episode badly, starting with the first, terse news release that raised more questions than it answered. But, given the way it has played out, and Finley's decision to pour gasoline on the Yule log, it is hard to know what Vrakas could have done to prevent this public conflagration. It will eventually burn itself out, but the damage to his new administration will smolder for some time. And that's unfortunate.

---

UPDATE: Dennis York offers another take. Jenifer Finley falls off her high horse.

Deb Jordahl, a self-described GOP activist, says: Don't go away mad, Jenifer -- Just go away.

Cory Liebmann at Eye on Wisconsin calls it Days of Our Lives (Waukesha Edition.)

GOP investigated Clinton's cat but only plans'oversight hearing' on spying

From Pensito Review:

Compare and contrast:

1995: Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), then chair of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, investigated whether taxpayers were footing the cost of stationery and postage for the fan club dedicated to President Clinton’s cat, Socks. (They were not - and it turns out Barbara Bush’s dog Millie had a fan club too.)

2005: Two weeks ago, President Bush admitted he willfully flouted a law that requires him to get warrants before wiretapping U.S. citizens. His justification for ignoring the law appears to be nobless oblige. In reaction, Republicans in charge of the Senate Judiciary Committee announced on Friday that they are planning “oversight” hearings into the matter.

The president has admitted he broke the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) hundreds of times. Isn’t it a bit late for “oversight?”

Most outrageous statements of 2005

Most outrageous statements of 2005, courtesy of Media Matters:

Former Reagan administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett: "[Y]ou could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." [Salem Radio Network's Bill Bennett's Morning in America, 9/28/05]

Pat Robertson: "If [Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez] thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it." [Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club, 8/22/05]

Bill O'Reilly to San Francisco: "[I]f Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. ... You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead." [Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly, 12/8/05]

Bill O'Reilly, agreeing with caller that illegal immigrants are "biological weapon[s]": "I think you could probably make an absolutely airtight case that more than 3,000 Americans have been either killed or injured, based upon the 11 million illegals who are here." [Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly, 4/15/05]

Rush Limbaugh: "Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society." [The Rush Limbaugh Show, 8/12/05]

Rush Limbaugh on the kidnapping of peace activists in Iraq: "I'm telling you, folks, there's a part of me that likes this." [The Rush Limbaugh Show, 11/29/05]

Ann Coulter: Bill Clinton "was a very good rapist"; "I'm getting a little fed up with hearing about, oh, civilian casualties"; "I think we ought to nuke North Korea right now just to give the rest of the world a warning." [New York Observer, 1/10/05]

Ann Coulter: "Isn't it great to see Muslims celebrating something other than the slaughter of Americans?" [Syndicated column, 2/3/05]

Radio host Glenn Beck: "[Y]ou know it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims' families? Took me about a year." [Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program, 9/9/05]

Tucker Carlson: "Canada is a sweet country. It is like your retarded cousin you see at Thanksgiving and sort of pat him on the head. You know, he's nice, but you don't take him seriously. That's Canada." [MSNBC's The Situation with Tucker Carlson, 12/15/05]

American Family Association president Tim Wildmon: Liberals "don't have the kind of family responsibilities most people have, and certainly not church responsibilities." [American Family Radio's Today's Issues, 5/11/05]

David Horowitz on Cindy Sheehan: "It's very hard to have respect for a woman who exploits the death of her own son and doesn't respect her own son's life. ... She portrays him as an idiot." [MSNBC's Connected: Coast to Coast, 8/16/05]

Radio host Neal Boortz on the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams: "[T]here will be riots in South Central Los Angeles and elsewhere. ... The rioting, of course, will lead to wide scale looting. There are a lot of aspiring rappers and NBA superstars who could really use a nice flat-screen television right now." [Boortz.com, 12/12/05]

Pat Buchanan: "Our guys" in Iraq "have got every right to have good news put into the media and get to the people of Iraq, even if it's got to be planted or bought." [MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, 12/1/05]

National Review editor Rich Lowry: Given EPA-mandated "small-flush" toilets, "[h]ow is it possible to flush a Quran down the toilet?" [Young America's Foundation speech, 8/5/05]

Neal Boortz, suggesting that a victim of Hurricane Katrina housed in an Atlanta hotel consider prostitution: "I dare say she could walk out of that hotel and walk 100 yards in either direction on Fulton Industrial Boulevard here in Atlanta and have a job. What's that? Well, no, no, no. ... Well, you know what? [laughing] Now that you mention it ... [i]f that's the only way she can take care of herself, it sure beats the hell out of sucking off the taxpayers." [Cox Radio Syndication's The Neal Boortz Show, 10/24/05]

Focus on the Family founder and chairman James C. Dobson: Same-sex marriage would lead to "marriage between daddies and little girls ... between a man and his donkey." [Focus on the Family radio program, 10/6/05]

Accuracy in Media editor Cliff Kincaid: "Have you noticed that many news organizations, in honor of former ABC News anchorman Peter Jennings, have embarked on a quit smoking campaign? So why don't our media launch a campaign advising people to quit engaging in the dangerous and addictive homosexual lifestyle? ... It appears that the homosexual lifestyle is as addictive as smoking." [Accuracy in Media column, 12/14/05]

Maybe we'll try for a Wisconsin list next year.

Ridgeway a casualty in Christmas war

Christmas came to the small town of Ridgeway, Wis. this year complete with a police escort and tight security for an elementary school holiday concert, Susan Lampert Smith reports in her Wisconsin State Journal column.

Ridgeway was one of the communities singled out by the Liberty Council as being a combatant in the war on Christmas, and soon was denounced by Jerry Falwell, Bill O'Reilly and an unheavenly host.

It was, of course, much ado about nothing. But it certainly ruined a small town's Christmas.

-- Working for Change. (Click on cartoons to enlarge)

E. Michael, we hardly knew ye

"Who is Mike McCann?" seems like an unlikely headline about a guy who has been Milwaukee County district attorney since 1969.

But Joel McNally, in a Shepherd Express column, both asks and tries to answer the question.

McCann earns high marks from McNally for political courage, whether standing up against the death penalty or trying earnestly to solve the problem of where to house sexual offenders when they are released from prison.

In 37 years in the job, with one more to go before his announced retirement, McCann has drawn fire at times from both the right and the left. McNally offers some insights, and suggests that McCann is someone who will retire with a clear conscience.

'This is not a scientific poll' O'Reilly? I mean, "Oh, really?'

Fox News Poll Analysis

Matt Stoller on MyDD asks: Can anyone find the methodological problem with this online poll from Fox News?

(via Newshounds)

Redefining the GOP gov primary: Walker the longshot, Green the favorite?

A rather remarkable story in today's Journal Sentinel redefines the Republican primary campaign for governor.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker is cast as the longshot underdog -- the one some party leaders are quietly trying to get to quit the race -- and Rep. Mark Green as the establishment-backed frontrunner.

What's really remarkable is that Green and Walker accept and seem to welcome that description of their race, as it is laid out by reporter Dave Umhoefer.

Walker sees himself in the mold of Lee Sherman Dreyfus, the unknown chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, who knocked off establishment favorite Rep. Robert Kasten in the 1978 Republican primary and went on to beat Gov. Martin Schreiber to become governor.

But Walker is no Dreyfus, even if he does have Dreyfus' daughter-in-law, Susan, in his corner.

Dreyfus was a charismatic candidate, a crackerjack speaker, who ran as a populist outsider against the Republican establishment, which endorsed Kasten. "Let the people decide!" was the Dreyfus cry as he traveled the state in a broken-down school bus with some young musicians he called the Rag Tag Band. His trademark red vest also made him a conversation piece.

Candidates and campaigns have dreamed and schemed for 25 years plus about how to reproduce that Dreyfus phenomenon, but no one has come close. Some of the Dreyfus tacticians, like Bill Kraus and Bob Williams, are still trading on the 1978 experience, which they have never been able to replicate either.

If Walker is in for keeps, as he insists he is, he's going to have to find another shtick. Walker's an attractive candidate and decent speaker, but he's no Lee Dreyfus.

Both candidates dismiss their negatives. Walker insists that being from Milwaukee won't hurt him outstate, despite 150 years of evidence to the contrary. Green doesn't see that being a member of Congress has any downside, despite the fact that voters' have given Congress a job approval rating in the 30s for most of the last several months. The growing scandals among Republican members of Congress will cast a shadow over Green, as will his financial contributions from the indicted Tom DeLay and his unyielding support for the war in Iraq.

Both candidates say they will play nicely and not be negative, but if they are in a close race next summer don't bet the farm on that promise.

Green claims to be ignoring Walker and focusing on Gov. Jim Doyle, but when Umhoefer told him Walker said Green might be hurt by his Congressional ties, Green shot back:

"I've resided in Wisconsin longer than Scott's been alive. That smacks a little of desperation."

So, it appears it wouldn't take much of a spark to set off the fireworks.

For Wisconsin Democrats, this is going to be fun to watch.

AFTERTHOUGHT: Do you suppose Walker could be adopting the underdog role in anticipation of the year-end campaign finance reports, which become public in January, knowing that he will show up badly in the cash on hand comparison with Green?

County reveals contract evaluators' names

Score one for the public's right to know.

Milwaukee County has reversed itself and released the names of those who evaluated proposals that led to the awarding of millions of dollars in social service contracts.

The county had earlier refused to provide the names to the Story Hill neighborhood website, but Gretchen Schuldt, who edits the site, reports:

County releases evaluator names

Dec. 27 -- Milwaukee County released the names of evaluators of proposals for millions of dollars in behavioral health contracts after storyhill.net raised concerns about the policy that kept the names secret.

County Behavioral Health Division Administrator Jim Hill said he had misgivings about releasing the names, but decided to do so in deference to "my strong, career-long support for the public's right to know the public's business."

The issue arose when storyhill.net sought records related to the award of a $1.2 million community service program contract to a division of Phoenix Care Systems Inc.. Phoenix officials are donors to County Executive Scott Walkers' campaign fund.

The names of evaluators are on the Story Hill website.. There appears to be no good reason they were not released in the first place.

Infidel Doyle celebrates pagan holiday

More than one person has been heard to say, in discussing our governor,that they don't really have much an idea about who Jim Doyle the person is.

His public image is pretty serious, not warm and fuzzy. "Does the guy have a sense of humor?" they ask.

I'm not sure whether this helps or hurts. Will it make him seem more like a normal person, someone you would like to watch Seinfeld with, or some kind of goofball? (This is not an online poll. That is, however, the Festivus pole at right.)

In any case, the gov has just celebrated Festivus. It's not really a pagan holiday; it's a Seinfeld holiday. And I can just imagine Doyle's list of grievances; he's probably still airing them.

The Capital Times has the story.

And Tom Sheehan of the LaCrosse Tribune has the Festivus interview yada yada yada.

-- Internet Weekly Report. Hat tip: Yellow Dog Blog.

Jenifer Finley didn't fit into staff role; Will she run for county exec next time?

The mysterious Dan Vrakas-Jenifer Finley saga is finally beginning to make some sense.

Questions and speculation have swirled since Vrakas, the newly elected Waukesha County exec, announced that Finley, spouse of the former county exec, was leaving her job as Vrakas' chief of staff.

Neither of the principals has been willing to talk about it, Finley hasn't been in the office for weeks, and has reportedly been working at home on some final reports Vrakas asked her to finish before her departure.

From today's story:

"I resigned because Mr. Vrakas did not present a conservative budget," Finley says in her statement. She says she had presented several suggested cuts, including eliminating the Waukesha County Board lobbyist job and ending the vacant project/program analyst position, but Vrakas rejected both ideas.

"Ultimately, he whittled down the (2006) budget cuts to what I consider an unacceptably low amount," Finley wrote.

WisOpinion has her entire statement posted. Here's part:

I can no longer stay silent about my resignation.

My original preference was not to discuss the reasons for my departure on a public platform, because I had hoped to keep things publicly positive. However, I can no longer remain silent about my resignation because Mr. Vrakas has mishandled the management of my resignation � and he needs to be accountable as a public servant for it.

I resigned because I felt that Mr. Vrakas did not present a conservative budget. As Mr. Vrakas' former campaign chairperson, I feel that Mr. Vrakas promised but then did not deliver a conservative enough budget to the taxpayers. Mr. Vrakas ran as the fiscal conservative in this race and I believed in him. He argued to the taxpayers that he was more fiscally conservative than County Board Chairman Jim Dwyer. As his Chief of Staff, I presented to Mr. Vrakas a series of cuts and other actions that would have delivered significant relief to the taxpayers in the budget, among them eliminating the County Board lobbyist position and a vacant project/program analyst position.

Mr. Vrakas rejected my recommendations and many others that would have provided far more significant relief to the taxpayers. Ultimately, he whittled down the budget cuts to what I consider an unacceptably low amount. I do not believe the taxpayers of Waukesha County expected Mr. Vrakas would cut a few dollars off their property tax bills when they elected him. I will concede that we had a short amount of time to deal with the budget vetoes, but Mr. Vrakas could have, and should have, done more. I believe in fiscal conservatism that is supported by actions, not words or hopeful promises. Thus, I can not be part of an administration that is all rhetoric and no meaningful action. I also can not be part of an administration that does not live up to the campaign promises that I helped to espouse.

I hope that Mr. Vrakas takes this message to heart and next year delivers to the taxpayers the budget they expect.

It's not unusual for a staffer to have different opinions from the elected official for whom he/she works. Internal debates, discussions and disagreements about policy are common. But in the end, the elected official -- the one who's name was on the ballot and the one people voted to entrust with the authority -- makes the decision. And the staff supports it.

That's the difference between being the county exec and the chief of staff.

It's also the difference between being the campaign manager and the chief of staff. I served, at different times, in both roles for Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist, and when people asked how the jobs were different, that was my standard answer. In the campaign, I could do what I thought was in his best interests, even though he sometimes disagreed. In City Hall, I could offer my opinion, but he got to decide.

Sometimes, over time, a staffer may decide that there is a fundamental difference in philosophy that can't be reconciled. That's when it's time to leave.

But to quit the first time the boss doesn't do exactly what you suggest -- and then to publicly criticize his decisions -- is a sign there's something else wrong. (It is still not entirely clear whether she resigned or was asked to resign.)

Maybe Jenifer Finley thought she was the co-county executive. Vrakas obviously didn't think so.

Back to today's story:

Finley said that she had hoped to finish out her service working at the County Administration Building but that Vrakas ordered her to work from home and barred her from returning. Although her resignation was to be effective on Dec. 31, Finley had not appeared in the courthouse office since Dec. 8.

While remaining on the payroll, she was to prepare reports and recommendations for Vrakas, who has provided her with a letter of recommendation. But Finley's statement says that since resigning, Vrakas has failed to give her the necessary information to do the reports he requested.

"Since Mr. Vrakas and I have not spoken directly since my resignation regarding my job assignment and his expectations, I have come to the conclusion that my work serves no real purpose and that the taxpayers should not have to shoulder this unnecessary expense," Finley wrote.

Finley, who has turned in time cards to the county payroll office, says in her statement that she will not accept any money or benefits after Dec. 13.

So Vrakas and Finley aren't even speaking, and she has gone in six weeks' time from his chief booster to his chief critic. Now, she's referring to him as "Mr. Vrakas," not even as "the county executive," which would be customary for the chief of staff.

Vrakas was elected to fill Dan Finley's unexpired term, which ends in April 2007.

Jenifer Finley is probably wishing she had followed her first instinct and run for the post. She could well be on the ballot as Vrakas' challenger in 2007.

UPDATE: Conservative Brian Fraley puts JF on his do-not-hire list.

James Widgerson, who runs a suburban library and pub, wonders -- when he's not thinking about other people's sex lives -- if this was about the budget, why it took Finley so long to resign.

'Sensenbrenner immigration bill' creates more problems than it solves

An op ed column from the Sacramento, Calif. Bee says Rep. F. Jim Sensenbrenner's immigration bill makes a lot of sense if you are a career politician from suburban Wisconsin, but very little in a border state that actually has to deal with the illegal immigration issue:

Immigration fights undermine support for social services

By PETER SCHRAG

There's not much chance that HR 4437, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Act that the House passed last Friday, will ever become law in its present form.

The bill is as unworkable as it's punitive, faces too much resistance from an almost unprecedented coalition of labor, business, church and civil rights groups and hasn't a prayer of solving the problem it pretends to address.

As wedge politics at a time of increasing concern over illegal immigration, it makes perfect sense. It carries more than a faint echo of California Gov. Pete Wilson's support for Proposition 187 and his "they keep coming" re-election refrain in 1994. For a career pol like its sponsor, Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, who's held public office almost from the day he finished law school in 1968, and a scandal-plagued Congress, it may be perfect.

But in failing to deal with the country's appetite for cheap immigrant labor, or of addressing the complex problem presented by the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants -- many of them in families with millions of legal residents, many of them citizens -- the Sensenbrenner bill would create far more problems than it solves.

For two decades, the country has been toughening border enforcement, building more fences, adding thousands of Border Patrol agents and making it more costly and dangerous to cross. The result: Many more illegals, who were once part of the seasonal circuit _ north in spring, south in the late fall _ stay here permanently, sending for families and driving up an explosive growth in the illegal population, from roughly 4 million 15 years ago to today's 11 million.

Given the spike in Latino naturalization and voter registration in California-- almost all Democratic -- after the 1994 election, maybe a lot of the 239 House members who voted for Sensenbrenner's bill are expecting that the bill will be radically modified -- indeed, counting on it -- when the Senate takes it up next year.

For the past decade Republicans, led by George W. Bush, have been trying to repair the damage generated by Wilson and Proposition 187, the initiative that sought to deny schooling and virtually all public services to illegal immigrants. It's hardly news to say that Latinos represent a rapidly growing proportion of the electorate. California is no longer the dominant destination of Latino immigrants. They may now be settling even in Sensenbrenner's suburban Milwaukee district.

But Sensenbrenner's bill and the message it sends also ought to be a wake-up call for the left --not because the national backlash against immigration will result in mass deportations or in driving illegal immigrants still further underground and to the economic and social margins of American society, but because both the numbers and the backlash will make it ever more difficult to generate support for progressive public policy.

In the long run, the country benefits economically and culturally from immigration and always has. But given the nation's tax and public service structure, in the short run at least low wage immigrants put burdens on local and state social services -- schools particularly -- that their taxes don't pay for.

The taxes they pay -- Social Security in particular -- goes largely to the federal government, which is augmenting its budget with billions from illegal workers. The costs of emergency health and schools -- and the special challenges that immigrant kids represent -- goes largely to the states and local districts.

The left properly complains about the failure of retailers such as Wal-Mart to provide decent benefits, even encouraging employees to seek health care from Medi-Cal. But that's little different from -- and often identical with -- the larger cost shifting to taxpayers by virtually all employers of low wage workers. A sizable proportion of the lowest paid are illegal immigrants.

But the economic data -- always controversial -- aren't as important as the politics. Illegal immigrants are already denied most social services, including welfare and all but emergency health care, but the widespread belief that they suck up taxpayer dollars has enough evidence in the costs of schooling to support it.

The point, a point reinforced by a number of studies in other contexts, is that the more that the beneficiaries of social programs are perceived to be undeserving groups, the less likely those programs will get generous support. And illegal aliens, whether as code for Latinos or simply because they are people who are seen as having no legal right to be in this country, are prime candidates.

The more the recipients are perceived as "others," the less likely public services are to get strong public support. That perception overwhelms virtually all arguments that the nation's future, and California's particularly, will largely depend on the skills of those others.

The only solution to the immigration problem is a combination of a reliable identification system, tougher enforcement of employer sanctions and labor laws, a guest worker program and measures to allow the illegals who are already here to come out of the shadows. The Sensenbrenner bill is a measure of the fever; it is not a remedy.

WMC whitewashes lead paint industry

The lead paint industry is trying hard to rid itself of any responsibility for the serious damage it has done to the health of thousands of young Wisconsin children and their families. A lapdog Republican legislature has passed a bill that would make it impossible for victims to sue the manufacturers, as we reported in a previous post, Lead paint issue isn't about lawyers; it's about victims poisoned for life.

Lisa Kaiser looks at the issue in a Shepherd-Express article, "Who is Responsible for Lead Paint Poisoning?"

The most amazing answer to that question comes from James Buchen of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Assn. (WMC):

“I think the folks who are responsible for the improper maintenance are responsible [for exposing children to lead],” said WMC’s Buchen, pointing the finger at landlords and homeowners.

And the companies that produced the lead paint?

“We don’t think they have any responsibility,” Buchen said.

--Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Daily News, via Cagle.

In memoriam: Some giants left us in 2005

Political Junkie Ken Rudin of National Public Radio recalls the political figures who left us in 2005, including Wisconsin's two Senators, Bill Proxmire, left, and Gaylord Nelson,below. Rudin's "In Memoriam" column

Wanted: A Dem party with some guts

Jim Hightower, who's fond of saying the only things you find in the middle of the road are yellow stripes and dead armadillos, says the only thing he wants for Christmas is a Democratic Party with some guts. Read it on AlterNet.

I'm note sure Santa's the one to ask. But we've got to start somewhere.

-- Brian Fairrington, Cagle.

In good old GOP days, tax burden was bigger

Does the new study by the Wisconsin Taxpayer's Alliance show that Wisconsinites are being taxed to death, as Republican mouthpieces were quick to claim?

Not at all, says the Beloit Daily News in an editorial explaining what's really going on, and pointing out that in the boom times when Tommy Thompson was king,

the tax burden in relation to incomes --again, according to the WTA -- is 32 percent, substantially below the peak of 36.7 percent in 2000, when [Republican Chair Rick]Graber's party controlled the governor's mansion.

Conservatives sharply split over spying, but you won't hear about it on talk radio

All is not well in Republicanville this holiday season.

The Wall Street Journal reports deep divisions among conservatives over the Bush administration's domestic surveillance and unauthorized wiretapping of telephone conversations.

For example:

David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, described the spy program as a case of "presidential overreaching" that he said most Americans would reject. Columnist George Will wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece that "conservatives' wholesome wariness of presidential power has been a casualty of conservative presidents winning seven of the past 10 elections."

Bob Barr, a Georgia conservative who was one of the Republican Party's loudest opponents of government snooping until he left Congress in 2003, says the furor should stand as a test of Republicans' willingness to call their president to task. "This is just such an egregious violation of the electronic surveillance laws," Mr. Barr says.

Sen. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has called the program "inappropriate" and promised to hold hearings early next year. Republicans joining him include centrist Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and John Sununu of New Hampshire, along with limited-government types like Larry Craig of Idaho.

You wouldn't know, if you listen to Republican talk radio in Milwaukee, that there is any debate about this issue among conservatives. The Wall Street Journal's article explains why:

Some conservative critics contend that the fault lines within the party are easy to trace. As with so much else, they say, the trail leads to Iraq.

"From the beginning, the folks who thought it was a good idea to go into Iraq have found good reason to think that all other Bush policies, from torture to domestic surveillance, are justified," said Robert Levy, a conservative legal scholar at the libertarian Cato Institute. "This is just one in a litany of ongoing events that have separated the noninterventionist wing of the Republican Party from the neocon wing."

And the neocon wing, of course, has the microphones and radio programs.

On the Iraq war, you'll find some strong dissent from Republicans on Bush policies, too. Check this Reconsidering Iraq site for starters, which says:

Prominent among the myths regarding the war in Iraq is the proposition that the pro-war interventionist position is universally supported by pro-American conservatives, and that opposition to the war is a left-wing position.

Overlooked is that some of the most principled opposition to current Iraq war policy comes from traditional, patriotic, pro-national defense, small-government conservatives, who object to current interventionist policy as over-reaching, counterproductive to our relationships with our allies, a factor aggravating creation of more terrorists, and resulting in an on-going heavy price in American lives and collateral damage.

Should public employees be executioners?

Does Wisconsin need to institutionalize killing and have public servants put people to death as part of their jobs? Milwaukee District Attorney E. Michael McCann says no. Jim Rowen explains why in a Milwaukuee Insight column about State Sen. Tom Reynolds' death penalty bill.

Crackdown on Capitol bloggers?

Is there a crackdown on anonymous blogs being written by Capitol staffers?

I Am The Force (whoever that is), thinks so.

One of the casualties, The Force says, is Capitol Curmudgeon, who had just started to write for a promising new blog. The perspective was conservative, but legislative Republicans were often the target.

The Curmudgeon's last post was Dec. 15. Another contributor has posted since then, but not the same kind of biting content.

The lesson? If you're going to be anonymous, don't tell anyone -- especially your boss in the Capitol.

NOTE: I know I have said that if I ever start blogging about blogging someone should shoot me, but this post does not qualify.

UPDATE: I'm told that this post, "Assembly Late Night," on Playground Politics, which is also written by an anonymous Capitol insider/staffer, had the GOP Assembly caucus going bonkers, with calls for the staffer's head. The blog still seems to be in business, though.

Dan Finley's ex-staffer to replace his wife -- in Waukesha County government, that is

This from yesterday's WisPolitics' weekly "Milwaukee Notes" report:

It appears that Allison Bussler, former chief of staff for former Waukesha County Exec Daniel Finley will be returning to that position at the end of the month.

That is the official date Finley's wife, Jenifer, put in her unexpected letter of resignation as chief of staff for newly elected Waukesha County Exec Dan Vrakas.

There was talk of Bussler, who had been on maternity leave, taking the place of Jim Malueg, the county's emergency government director, who is retiring next month.

But Bussler was seen at the county's Administration Center recently while Finley will be working for the rest of the month, based on comments made by Vrakas.

And this from The Xoff Files on Dec. 15:

Nature abhors a vacuum, so I'll just toss in a piece of rumor. Since I have zero sources in Waukesha County, it's probably highly suspect. But I hear that Dan Finley's former chief of staff, Allison Bussler, is coming back. And that it wasn't Jenifer Finley's idea to leave.

Even a lind pig finds an acorn once in awhile.

Meanwhile, Jessica McBride, who used to report Jenifer Finley's every move and innermost thought a few months ago, continues to be McGagged.

---

UPDATE: In a cheap shot, some Waukesha supervisors are questioning whether Jenifer Finley should be paid for the Christmas holidays, because she's only worked for the county since Nov. 1. Standard practice, everywhere I'm familiar with, is that everyone gets the paid holidays, regardless of seniority, but have to earn vacation time according to length of service. Story.

--Rick McKee, Augusta GA Chronicle, via Cagle.

New poll, with a twist -- spin attached

A new poll from Atlanta-based Strategic Vision tells you what every other poll has: It is going to be a tight race for governor in 2006.

The latest poll shows Doyle with a slim 46-44 edge in favorable-unfavorable ratings, not much different from another poll released this week.

But this one comes with some spin attached.

Strategic Vision, a Republican firm, issued a news release saying Doyle is "highly vulnerable."

If that means this is going to be a real horse race, they're right. But that's not particularly new.

Doyle and Mark Green are in a near dead heat in a In head-to-head matchup, while Doyle beats Scott Walker 46-39.

So, yes, Doyle is vulnerable. The only candidates even more vulnerable are Scott Walker and Mark Green, who do worse than he does in every poll.

I don't know who pays Strategic Vision to keep polling in Wisconsin, but I know they are not doing it out of curiosity or as a charitable contribution. So when you read their "analysis," read it with the same skepticism you would read one from the Republican Party.

---

Brian Christianson at Free Will characterizes it as Garbage in, garbage out.

Bush as Nixon

-- Mike Keefe, Denver Post, via Cagle.
Is Bush really Nixon reincarnated?

Ruth Conniff of The Progressive:

President Bush is looking more and more like Richard Nixon every day--between his secret plan to win the war and his domestic spying operation. Certainly Sunday night's "mistakes were made" Oval Office speech smacked of a Nixonian combination of self-pity and stubborn pugnaciousness.

All Bush needs now is an official enemies list. And who knows, maybe he has one. There's no telling who is a target of the White House/NSA eavesdropping program.

Read the rest.

Sheboygan, we have a problem

Scott Milfred of the Wisconsin State Journal wonders whether a bill by State Sen. Joe Leibham, R-Sheboygan, is the first step toward sending a bratwurst into space.

I believe I have found the prototype of the spacecraft.

A bill Scrooge would love

Eye on Wisconsin's Cory Liebmann says Republicans have given us class war for Christmas, thanks to Darth Cheney's tie-breaking vote. It would put coal in the stockings of the poor this Christmas -- if they only had stockings.

It robs the poor to give tax breaks to the rich -- the usual Republican formula.

God bless us, every one!

This just in: Cheney saves Christmas from the poor. The Happy Circumstance reports.

Leibham helps Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart family rewards him

Bill Stephen of Sheboygan, who blogs as Sadie Says, raises some interesting questions about the connection between State Sen. Joe Leibham's help for Wal-Mart and $1,000 in contributions from the Walton family. Don't hold your breath while waiting for the news stories:

Sadie Makes The Sheboygan Press

Letters: Did Leibham's 'help' net campaign contributions?

I am truly amazed at the mainstream media's coverage of the Adelman Travel contract. They rarely mention that this contract saved taxpayer dollars and was the best price when the contract was approved.

They never mention that the head of the Omega firm from Virginia (which didn't get the contract) stated that he thought the process was fair. Instead they choose to focus on the fact that leaders from Adelman Travel in Glendale, Wis., donated to the Doyle campaign.

They also suggest the timing of the donations makes the governor unethical.

Well, perhaps we need to look a little closer to home for a comparison.

I'm sure you remember the ongoing effort to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter in the Town of Sheboygan.

On Feb 16, 2005, state Sen. Joe Leibham wrote a letter to the editor explaining that he had merely helped set up a meeting between town officials and Wisconsin Department of Transportation of the issue of access to the store from county Highway J.

He spends most of the letter trying to make the point that this was the type of everyday help he provides to his constituents, that it was nothing out of the ordinary.

He also mentions that he was asked on Dec 10, 2004 to provide this "help."

Is it purely a coincidence that on Dec. 30, 2004, he got a $500 campaign contribution from Jim Walton of Bentonville, Ark.?

Is it another strange coincidence that on Dec. 30, 2004, he also received a $500 contribution from Lynne Walton of Bentonville, Ark.?

Is it a coincidence that the Waltons are the same Walton family that owns Wal-Mart? Is it a coincidence that two weeks after providing this "help," Sen. Leibham received $1,000 from Wal-Mart heirs?

I would hope the media would provide equal coverage of this issue.

BILL STEPHEN
Sheboygan

Lawmakers return Abramoff money;DeLay money should get same treatment

The Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal has members of Congress "scrambling" to return contributions from the powerful lobbyist, who, it appears, is about to start talking as part of a plea bargain.

The AP reports:

Lawmakers Hasten to Return Abramoff Gifts

WASHINGTON (AP) - Not since the 1992 House banking scandal that led to the retirement or ouster of 77 lawmakers has a corruption probe like the one involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff struck fear in so many hearts on Capitol Hill.

Some lawmakers - Republican Sen. Sam Brownback became the latest - are scrambling to return or give away campaign donations, while others are the target of ethics complaints back in their home states by their political foes.

Those who took money from Abramoff are saying, "Gee, it's already spent" or "That money is long gone, so I can't return it" -- the Mark Green defense about why he won't give back about $30,000 in tainted money he's received from Tom DeLay's political action committee. Paul Ryan's made a lot of excuses about his $25,000 from DeLay, too.

Once again, the return of Abamoff money, even if it was given in past campaigns, demonstrates that "the money is spent" excuse is bogus.

Green and Ryan ought to do the right thing now and give DeLay back his $55,000, not wait until he makes his deal and starts to sing.

Campaign launched to censure Bush; impeachment investigation proposed

Given Republican control of both houses of Congress, this is unlikely to happpen. But a few more revelations could push even some members of the President's party to act. We have seen in recent days that several Republican Senators will sometimes buck the White House and vote their consciences. The House, which would have to agree to censure or bring impeachment charges, is another matter, with Dennis Hastert, Dick Armey and Tom DeLay keeping members in line. But even in the House Bush has lost on some issues. Again, it would take more outrages or scandals. But who's the say they aren't coming? Meanwhile ...

The AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, an alliance of over 100 grassroots organizations, has launched a new campaign called CensureBush.org in order to support new legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers that would censure President Bush and Vice President Cheney and create a select committee to investigate the Administration's possible crimes and make recommendations regarding grounds for impeachment.

H.Res.635 would create a select committee - modeled after Sam Ervin's Watergate committee - to investigate the Administration's intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, and retaliating against critics, and to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment.

H.Res.636 and H.Res.637 would censure, respectively, Bush and Cheney for failing to respond to requests for information concerning allegations that they and others in the Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq, misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for the war, countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of persons in Iraq, and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of the Administration, for failing to adequately account for certain misstatements they made regarding the war, and – in the case of President Bush – for failing to comply with Executive Order 12958.

These two efforts are complementary - H.Res.635 seeks accountability for the Bush administration's monumental crimes, while H.Res.636 and H.Res.637 seek accountability for their coverups.

Ask your Congress Member to support these efforts!

Are there grounds for impeachment? You be the judge

US Constitution, Article II, Section 4. The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Here is the FISA law.

TITLE 50, CHAPTER 36, SUBCHAPTER I, § 1809. Criminal sanctions
Release date: 2005-03-17

(a) Prohibited activities
A person is guilty of an offense if he intentionally—
(1) engages in electronic surveillance under color of law except as authorized by statute; or
(2) discloses or uses information obtained under color of law by electronic surveillance, knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained through electronic surveillance not authorized by statute.
(b) Defense
It is a defense to a prosecution under subsection (a) of this section that the defendant was a law enforcement or investigative officer engaged in the course of his official duties and the electronic surveillance was authorized by and conducted pursuant to a search warrant or court order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
(c) Penalties
An offense described in this section is punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.
(d) Federal jurisdiction
There is Federal jurisdiction over an offense under this section if the person committing the offense was an officer or employee of the United States at the time the offense was committed.

---

TITLE 50, CHAPTER 36, SUBCHAPTER I, § 1811. Authorization during time of war
Release date: 2005-03-17

Notwithstanding any other law, the President, through the Attorney General, may authorize electronic surveillance without a court order under this subchapter to acquire foreign intelligence information for a period not to exceed fifteen calendar days following a declaration of war by the Congress.

---

UPDATE: Renee Crawford finds an interesting quote from F. Jim Sensenbrenner during the Clinton impeachment proceedings, and asks if it still applies.

The phony war on Christmas; Have a holly, jolly whatever

Another one for the "Suspicions Confirmed" file.

As you may have suspected, Bill O'Reilly and Frank Lasee notwithstanding, the stories you have heard of the war on Christmas are nothing but a bunch of wingnut holiday hype.

There is some commercialization of Christmas taking place, however, such as the O'Reilly Christmas store.

But back to the phony war on Xmas. Take the example of Ridgeway, Wis., which gained notoriety over claims that it had rewritten and secularized the lyrics to "Silent Night" for a school production.

The Washington Post tells the story:

By Neely Tucker
Washington Post Staff Writer

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, in considering the ongoing war on Christmas, let us begin with the evidence that Mathew Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel, calls "Exhibit A."

Said prosecutorial evidence is tiny Ridgeway Elementary School in Ridgeway, Wis. Youngsters are set to perform a play (pictured below) in which the lyrics to "Silent Night," which celebrates the Christ child's birth, have been changed to "Cold in the Night," which do not. The charge, leveled by both Staver's group and the American Family Association, is that this school rewrote a sacred song to erase Christ from Christmas.

Earlier this month, both groups fired off outraged press releases. TV networks reacted with segments. Conservative bloggers howled. The school principal got 1,500 e-mails. One unhappy Christian called Pat Reilly, the school board treasurer, a "spineless liberal [expletive]."

Here's Tucker Carlson of MSNBC, interviewing Staver:

"It is kind of heartening, I think, for Christians to see this, all this outrage, all this fear at Christmastime, you know, Christmas tree, Christmas carol, 'Silent Night'-- oh, that's a, you know, that's a subversive song -- because it means that Christianity isn't dead. It still has the capacity to scare people. It still gives people the creeps."

Giving people "the creeps" at Christmas is a serious thing, so we decided some actual reporting might be in order.

The first thing we found out, contrary to both news releases, is that nobody at the school rewrote anything. The song is part of a copyrighted play. Really in-depth reporting -- making two phone calls -- revealed the offending playwright and composer to be one Dwight Elrich. No one had talked to him until we called.

Here is what we found out:

(a) Elrich was a music director for a choir at Bel Air Presbyterian, former president Ronald and Nancy Reagan's church in California, for decades.

(b) "Cold in the Night" is part of a children's play called "The Little Christmas Tree" (note title). The little tree sings the little song. The little tree is looking for a family to take it home, sort of like Charlie Brown's little tree. The play comes with a "Christian" page, which may be performed or not. In Ridgeway, where the play has been performed for years, it is sung with Christian Christmas songs, including "Angels We Have Heard on High."

(c) Elrich's other musicals: "What in the World Is Christmas?" (Answer: "Kids from around the world celebrating Jesus's birth.") "Christmas in Hawaii," "365 Days of Christmas Each Year!"

(d) "The Little Christmas Tree" has been performed in more than 500 schools and churches across the country for nearly two decades. Mostly churches.

Statement by the defendant:

"I'm just flabbergasted. I'm a choir director in a church! I do Christmas carols in retirement homes! I perform 'Silent Night' 40 or 50 times each year! I thought the play was a really charming, wonderful, positive story about love and acceptance . . . removing it from the Christian tradition was something I never thought anyone could ever come up with. We were telling a story about a little tree, so we used a familiar tune to help the kids get it."

Read the rest here.

The program went off as planned Tuesday night, as WISC-TV reported. Those are the Ridgeway kids pictured in the WISC story.

-- Daryl Cagle, MSNBC

Senate on Arctic drilling: No means no

Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska thought he had opponents of Arctic drilling over the proverbial barrel when he snuck approval of drilling into a defense appropriations bill. Senators wouldn't dare vote against the bill just because of the drilling provision, he thought, because they could be attacked for being "weak on defense."

Guess again. Drilling opponents sucked it up and blocked an attempt to cut off debate. The vote was 56-44, four votes short of what was needed to end a filibuster. The Senate Democrats are beginning to find their backbones.

The Washington Post has details.

More good news from Iraq

I've been trying my best not to be a Gloomy Gus about Iraq, and tell the bright side of the story like the Bushniks always want us to do. I mentioned this one recently, and I'm happy to report there is even more good news:

Iraq war might spark technology

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

WASHINGTON (AP) - Bend your elbow for a drink and your hand squeezes instead, crushing the cup: It's a frustration common with artificial arms. Charles Wayne Briggs got tired of forgetting if he'd left his arm in the elbow or hand position, and asked its inventors for a fix. Within an hour, they'd begun wiring a feedback mechanism that today lets amputees move the prosthesis a little more like a real arm.

It's a harsh reality: Artificial hands and arms aren't as advanced as replacements for lower limbs that have enabled amputees to take to the ski slopes and run marathons.

Upper limbs are harder to duplicate; think how many motions a human hand makes. But it's also an issue of demand. There are fewer upper-limb amputees - one for every four lower-limb amputations - half of whom forgo prostheses altogether.

The war in Iraq may spur change. With dozens of troops losing upper limbs, the Defense Department is funding research to develop a better functioning arm within two years, and a brain-controlled robotic arm that looks and acts like a real one within four years.

That's a huge scientific challenge.

But prosthetics specialists say the industry is poised for steady improvements like the one initiated by Briggs, a 62-year-old Texas amputee recruited to pilot-test new limbs - and soldiers will push those changes faster.

"Sadly enough, this war will contribute to the quantum leap," says Dan Conyers, a prosthetist with Advanced Arm Dynamics, the company hired to custom-fit upper-extremity prostheses for troops treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Conyers sits surrounded by piles of artificial hands, elbows and full-length arms.

Most are electronic, with computer chips that move them in different ways when certain muscles flex. Some look remarkably lifelike, with cosmetic "skins" painted, freckles and all, to match a patient's remaining arm. Others are electronic pincers - still the most functional replacements for the hand, nature's most complex tool.

Conyers calls these parts his toolbox. His job is to custom-design, by mixing and matching body parts from different manufacturers, the most usable limb for each patient's specific needs.

It's a painstaking process that begins with making a cast of the patient's socket, precise measurements for the sleeve that holds the prosthesis in place. Maps of patients' nerve signals determine where to place electrodes inside the electronic limb. Only then comes the trial-and-error of learning which hands, elbows and arms offer best function.

There are some impressive new models: An arm with two microprocessors to operate both the elbow and hand simultaneously. A hand that opens and closes far faster than older models. Briggs' new arm, with an elbow strong enough to lift without first locking it in place plus the biofeedback - connections to his nerve endings that beep or vibrate to signal which joint is poised to move next.

"It's much more natural," said Briggs, of Abilene, Texas, who says that simple change significantly sped his movement, especially useful when flying his airplane. "Just think up or down, and once you've been trained, that's what happens."

Topping the wish list of Walter Reed amputee-care director Joseph Miller: multidexterity hands; ways to know the arm's position without looking at it; silicone sleeves to prevent perspiration and chafing; more rugged models.

Research is under way. For now, prosthetists like Conyers get creative. One soldier wants to again defuse bombs; a rubber coating from the hardware store coats his specialized hook so it won't slip. A machine shop built an adjustable rod for another's artificial hand when no prosthesis proved strong enough for his hobby, archery.

Military amputees receive multiple prosthetics for different activities, but "the majority of patients have to make do with one," notes Advanced Arm Dynamics prosthetist Chris Lake in Dallas. With electronic models starting around $40,000, Medicare pays for those deemed medically necessary.

Racist group takes up Racine issue, says Stepp victim of 'Mestizo' violence

Much has been written -- but not here -- about an incident Friday night at State Sen. Cathy Stepp's home in Racine County.

A group called Voces de la Frontera, upset at Stepp's position on a bill to deny driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, staged a protest at her home.

Stepp says she and her family were terrorized. The protestors say they were peaceful. You can read some of the exchanges and the latest newspaper story below.

Now, an openly racist national organization has taken up the issue.

The organization, National Vanguard, describes itself:

National Vanguard is what you've been looking for: an intelligent and responsible organization that stands up for the interests of White people.

Here's just a small taste of what they believe.

Although National Vanguard sees multiracial societies as untenable in the long term, we do not advocate the overthrow of the United States government, and we eschew violence or illegality of any kind in the strongest possible terms. We are simply recognizing facts when we point out that no civilization has ever survived racial mixing, let alone on the scale which has engulfed the U.S. since the 1960s.

Considering economic factors, the chaos being created by Zionist-inspired U.S. meddling in the affairs of other nations, and the certainty that multiracialism is a death sentence for any society that attempts it, it is inevitable that at some point the distribution of power and authority in America -- and the rest of the White world -- will change dramatically. We want to lay the groundwork for a healthy White nation to emerge from the chaos ahead. We need an organized effort to prepare as many White men and women as possible for that future. National Vanguard seeks to be that organized effort.

With that as background, here's the group's report on the Stepp controversy. A mestizo is someone of mixed blood. It's not clear to me why they use the term, except that it is undoubtedly meant to be disparaging. The rest speaks for itself:

Mestizos Mob Home of Immigration Critic
Aggressive tactics similar to Latin America

Mestizo activists of the Voces de la Frontera (Border Voices) raised fears of a possible home invasion recently when they mobbed the residence of a Wisconsin politician opposed to giving drivers' licenses to illegal aliens.

The "demonstration" erupted after dark on December 16 (2005), with hysterical Mestizos shrieking into the windows of State Senator Cathy Stepp's home in connection with her support for Assembly Bill 69, which would require proof of residence status before a Wisconsin license is issued. Four out-of-district Mestizo "activists" reportedly even came up to the door of her house, which is 500 feet off a road in a rural area. Stepp and her children were terrified as her husband went outside to confront the "protestors" and warn them that Sheriff's Department personnel were coming. Stepp has vowed to press charges.

Mestizo violence is increasing relative to immigration issues. A Chicago-area Minutemen meeting was shut down by baying Mestizos recently, while in Southern California numerous violent incidents haveoccurredd, some even targeting elderly Whites. A conservative activist was shocked speechless after a similar event in Texas.

The Wisconsin event reflects Latin American political culture, in which violence and intimidation of opponents is common-place. There is also a deep-seated "macho" hatred of women in Mestizo culture, which may have played a role in their anger towards Stepp, as an "uppity" White woman. Wisconsin, like Minnesota, was settled by Scandinavians, who have historically given women high status. In Denmark recently a patriotic female politician was subjected to an arson attack that could have burned her and her children alive, for daring to question Danish immigration policy.

The sheriff's department is investigating.

Voces de la Frontera statement

Stepp response

Feingold's one-liners score points, make him a target for Bush loyalists

What do you suppose it is about Russ Feingold that has Journal Sentinel columnist Patrick McIlheran so riled up?

McIlheran, the local conservative columnist the paper discovered working on its design desk awhile back, savages Feingold on today's op ed page.

It could just be that Feingold has become the leading critic of President George W. Bush on civil liberties issues, including the Patriot Act and the recent disclosure of domestic spying by the Bush administration.

But it must be something more than that to make McIlheran froth at the mouth when he mentions Feingold. He calls Feingold, a Rhodes Scholar, "sophomoric," but you know what Pee Wee Herman would say about that -- "I know you are, but what am I?" [I have never known Feingold to use the Pee Wee defense, but I thought I would do it for him.]

A careful read suggests that what really makes McIlheran's water hot is that Feingold has not only challenged Bush's authority, but has done it with some sound bites that make his points easy to understand.

Feingold has had a couple of good one-liners in the last several days.

The Journal Star of Lincoln, Neb., not exactly a hotbed of liberalism, led its editorial with:

The best line in the controversy over the Bush Administration’s spying on U.S. citizens came from Russ Feingold, D-Wis.: “He’s President George Bush, not King George Bush,” Feingold said. Exactly.

The editorial is entitled, "The founders did not want kingly powers." You can just feel McIlheran's blood pressure shoot up. That's what they're saying in Lincoln, Nebraska??

The Hill, which covers Congress,reported on another widely-quoted exchange:

None of your civil liberties matter much after you’re dead,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a former judge and close ally of the president who sits on the Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who has led a bipartisan filibuster against a reauthorization of the Patriot Act, quoted Patrick Henry, an icon of the American Revolution, in response: “Give me liberty or give me death.”

He called Cornyn’s comments “a retreat from who we are and who we should be.”

Aside from the sound bites, Feingold has raised some serious legal and constitutional issues about how the Bush administration has conducted itself in the war on terror.

McIlheran dismisses those concerns as grandstanding, and assures readers there's nothing to worry about just because the government is tapping into private telephone calls, in the U.S., by American citizens, without court authority. Hey, he says, if you want Bush to follow the law, change the law. That, of course, is exactly the kind of imperious attitude that leads to comments about "King George."

McIlheran and other conservatives want to tear Feingold down now because he has become a threat to the Bush administration's high-handed disregard for the law -- and to its pursuit of the dead-ended war in Iraq. And what better place to start the attack than in the biggest newspaper in his home state?

They resent his one-liners and easily understandable sound bites because they present such a sharp contrast to George W. Bush.

Bush's most famous one-liners are things like, "Wanna buy some wood?" or "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job," or: "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."

If it's Feingold vs. Bush in a battle of wits, Bush enters the contest unarmed.

---

Jay Bullock at Folkbum has a more detailed analysis of McIlheran's column.

'Tired lawmakers, tired ideas'

Pat Kreitlow, former TV news anchor turned candidate for State Senate in the Eau Claire area, can hold his own in a war of words or a battle of wits.

He squares off against Dennis York, who defended the Republican-run state legislature from charges it is focused on the wrong, wingnut agenda at the expense of other, more important issues that actually would have a positive impact on people's lives.

York listed 329 bills the legislature has passed this session, as though quantity could substitute for quality.

Kreitlow rebuts him quite effectively in his blog item, titled, "Tired lawmakers, tired ideas."

Jensen & Co. argue for change of venue

--By Gary Fisher:

Attorneys for a Republican lawmaker, two former legislators and a staffer charged with felony misconduct more than three years ago filed a supplemental brief in court Monday supporting their request for a trial venue outside of Dane County.

The brief contains hundreds of examples combed from newspaper articles, news stories, editorial opinions from radio and TV broadcasts and the Internet linking them with convicted felons Chuck Chvala and Brian Burke.

A news spread of the accused pictured with Burke and Chvala under the heading "Can we trust our lawmakers?" along with live broadcasts on the topic in front of the state Capitol would, the defense says, taint any jury.

"The accused in this case have been treated by the media as the 'functional equivalent' of co-defendants of Burke and Chvala," said Jensen's lawyer, Stephen Meyer. . . . "It's a prejudicial problem . . . (a) legally recognized danger of having the jury pool conclude that because Chvala and Burke were guilty so are the accused in this case."

Dane County Circuit Judge Steven Ebert set a Feb. 22 trial date for Rep. Scott Jensen, R-Town of Brookfield, charged in 2002 with three felonies; former Assembly Majority Leader Steve Foti, R-Oconomowoc, charged with one felony; former Foti aide Sherry Schultz, charged with one felony; and former Rep. Bonnie Ladwig, R-Racine, charged with a misdemeanor.

The current and former lawmakers are accused of having legislative staffers campaign for candidates on state time.

Schultz is accused of working on campaigns as a full-time fundraiser while on state time.

Meyer says campaigning and legislating go together and that you can't have one without the other.

Foti's attorney, Franklyn Gimbel; Ladwig's attorney, Mark Nielsen; and Schultz's lawyer Stephen Morgan represent the GOP defendants.

No bids asked on $5.2-million contract to demolish county courthouse annex

This remarkable story is from the Daily Reporter, the newspaper which covers the construction industry.

Reporter Sean Ryan's story says a $5.2-million contract to demolish the Milwaukee County courthouse annex was awarded without any bids.

Milwaukee County and the State Dept. of Transportation share the blame -- they would say responsibility -- for the no-bid contract.

They argue that this is an emergency situation, because the building needs to come down quickly because of Marquette Interchange work being done at the same time.

But the county, DOT, and the contractor, Walsh Construction Co., have been meeting since July. That makes it difficult to argue that there was not time for a bidding process.

Ryan's report:

Milwaukee County gave the $5.2 million courthouse annex demolition project to Illinois-based Walsh Construction Co. without soliciting bids.

The county spoke in private for months with the state Department of Transportation and Walsh, a lead contractor on WisDOT’s Marquette Interchange reconstruction, to make the deal. The county’s Office of Corporation Counsel has said that the deal is legal based on state and county laws waiving the competitive bidding rule under emergency situations, said George Torres, county director of transit and public works.

“We sat down with the DOT staff and my staff and Walsh and its subcontractor, I think it was Omega (Demolition Corp.), and tried to negotiate something that was livable for both of us,” he said. “We fall within all of the criteria.”

The courthouse annex hangs over Interstate 43 northbound, which Walsh is set to begin reconstructing next month as part of its Marquette Interchange contract. The county wants to trim demolition costs by ripping the annex down at the same time Walsh rebuilds I-43, Torres said. According to an Oct. 18 county legal opinion, the county was negotiating with WisDOT in the summer and fall to secure state funds for the job. By the time negotiations between the two concluded in October, WisDOT said it would only provide the funds if Walsh was the contractor.

WisDOT deal

According to the legal opinion, Torres began the funding negotiation with WisDOT at the end of July. Negotiations reached an impasse in early September. County delegates broke the stalemate by calling Walsh in for a meeting on Sept. 28.

“A WisDOT prerequisite for the meeting was having Walsh provide a proposed cost of demolishing the annex,” the opinion said. “A tentative deal was struck with the WisDOT engineers and Walsh whereby Walsh and their demolition contractor, Omega, proposed to demolish the building and abate the hazardous materials for $4.7 million, with a $500,000 contingency add-on.”

The contract supposed that the county would proceed with County Executive Scott Walker’s preferred plan to build a surface parking lot on the site after the demolition, Torres said. The County Board approved a different and more expensive plan on Dec. 16 and is scheduled to meet on Dec. 23 to discuss Walker’s promised veto. Walker’s office has said the county must reach an agreement by Friday to keep Walsh on schedule.

Walsh’s work on the Marquette is one reason the schedule is so tight. When negotiations began in the summer, WisDOT said the demolition would have to be done between July and September 2006, and wanted to charge the county $60,000 for every day the demolition delayed the interchange work. However, after losing the Marquette Interchange core contract to the Marquette Constructors LLC in September, Walsh began to fast-track its north leg work.

“Since it was not the successful bidder for the interchange core project, it is prepared to accelerate its work and complete the north leg of the interchange project early, as early as July 15, 2006,” the opinion said.

Walsh opposed bidding

The deadline shift threw off the county plan to bid a separate contract for the $2.2 million in annex asbestos-abatement work. The plan to begin the three-month abatement job in November was no longer good enough since demolition work would have to begin in January. Walsh offered to have Omega, based in Elgin, Ill., do demolition and abatement at the same time so the county could meet the interchange project’s schedule.

After announcing its advanced schedule and providing bid estimates at WisDOT’s demand, Walsh opposed any competitive bidding of the work.

“Walsh feels it would be at a competitive disadvantage if annex demolition and/or abatement went out for competitive bid, Walsh having already taken the time and expense to lay its cards on the table for all to see,” the opinion said. “Walsh, therefore, has stated it would refuse to participate in any competitive bid process.”

The opinion said WisDOT said it would not provide funds to the project unless Walsh was the contractor. The agency offered to waive the $60,000 a day delay penalty and forgive $250,000 in change-order charges it otherwise would’ve charged Milwaukee County.

Backed into corner

It said that, if Walsh didn’t get the demolition and abatement contracts, it would complete its Marquette Interchange work even earlier, “effectively removing any window for Milwaukee County demolishing and abating with its own contractors.”

“WisDOT for its part is only willing to enter into the referenced (Memorandum of Understanding) if Walsh is the general contractor,” the opinion said.

County law allows it to award a contract without publicly bidding it when there is an “immediate need for action to preserve property or protect life, health or welfare,” according to the county’s Oct. 18 legal opinion about the contract. On this project, it argues that the emergency is a matter of project scheduling for the demolition.

“The situation essentially comes down to Milwaukee County awarding the abatement and demolition contracts to Walsh or retaining the all the (sic) obligations associated with maintaining and repairing a deteriorating annex structure indefinitely,” the opinion said. “WisDOT and Walsh simply will not accommodate Milwaukee County in pursuing a competitive bid process at this late date.

“Failure to declare an emergency exception to public competitive bidding process would forfeit Milwaukee County $5.2 million in (Federal Highway Administration) funding.”

WisDOT was unavailable to comment before deadline; calls placed to Walsh’s construction trailer went unanswered.

National news media discover Feingold

The national mainstream media have discovered Russ Feingold, and have learned that his first name is Russ, not McCain.

Chris Cizzilli, in his Washington Post blog, asks: Feingold: Liberals' Ideal 2008 Candidate? and says:

As President George W. Bush seeks to tamp down the furor caused by revelations of a secret domestic spying program, his primary adversary is not a high-profile senator like Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) or Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Instead, it's Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, who entered his third term in the Senate this year.

Feingold has emerged as the most outspoken critic of the Bush administration's decision to do an end-run around the courts and order the National Security Agency to monitor overseas calls and e-mails made by U.S. citizens with suspected terrorist ties. "The President does not get to pick and choose which laws he wants to follow," said Feingold in a statement. "He is a president, not a king."

Feingold's comments on the spying program came just one day after he led a successful effort to block the renewal of major provisions in the Patriot Act before they sunset at the end of the year. "Nobody wants these parts of the Patriot Act to expire -- we want to fix them before making them permanent by including important protections for the rights and freedoms of innocent American citizens," said Feingold.

In a press conference Monday, Bush repeatedly called the filibuster threat "inexcusable," adding: "I want senators from New York or Los Angeles or Las Vegas to go home and explain why these cities are safer."

Feingold's history as the lone "no" vote against the Patriot Act in 2001 has become a regular talking point as he begins to lay the groundwork for a presidential bid in 2008. In October, Feingold received a standing ovation from a New Hampshire audience when he was introduced as the only senator to oppose the controversial law.

In addition to his outspokenness on privacy issues, Feingold also voted against the resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq -- the only one of the five Senate Democrats considering a presidential bid to do so. He was also first Democratic senator to propose a specific timetable to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. Altogether, these stands provide Feingold with a campaign pitch likely to have real appeal to the party's liberal wing.

The key to Feingold's viability as a presidential candidate is whether he can raise the millions necessary to stay within financial shouting distance of people like Hillary Clinton, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh. If Feingold can tap into the Internet fundraising effort that powered Howard Dean's 2004 campaign, he could be well on his way to becoming a serious factor in the Democratic nominating process.

For further reading on Feingold, read this George F. Will column and Michael Crowley's New Republic profile.

New governor survey; little change

Another Survey USA poll of governors' popularity in all 50 states finds Jim Doyle at 48-44 positive-negative. Although that is slightly better than it has been in recent months, it means very little. I say that when he's down, and I'll say it when he's up. See for yourself.

All 50 states.

Investigation, censure, impeachment all considered in Judiciary report

To the voices being raised in response to the Bush administration's disregard for the laws and the Constitution add the minority members of the House Judiciary Committee.

It has issued a report, The Constitution in Crisis, but the executive summary itself speaks volumes.

It calls for an investigation of possible impeachable offenses, and recommends censure of President Bush and Vice President Cheney:

Executive Summary

This Minority Report has been produced at the request of Representative John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee. He made this request in the wake of the President's failure to respond to a letter submitted by 122 Members of Congress and more than 500,000 Americans in July of this year asking him whether the assertions set forth in the Downing Street Minutes were accurate. Mr. Conyers asked staff, by year end 2005, to review the available information concerning possible misconduct by the Bush Administration in the run up to the Iraq War and post-invasion statements and actions, and to develop legal conclusions and make legislative and other recommendations to him.

In brief, we have found that there is substantial evidence the President, the Vice President and other high ranking members of the Bush Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war with Iraq; misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for such war; countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and other legal violations in Iraq; and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of their Administration.

There is a prima facie case that these actions by the President, Vice-President and other members of the Bush Administration violated a number of federal laws, including (1) Committing a Fraud against the United States; (2) Making False Statements to Congress; (3) The War Powers Resolution; (4) Misuse of Government Funds; (5) federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; (6) federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses and other individuals; and (7) federal laws and regulations concerning leaking and other misuse of intelligence.

While these charges clearly rise to the level of impeachable misconduct, because the Bush Administration and the Republican-controlled Congress have blocked the ability of Members to obtain information directly from the Administration concerning these matters, more investigatory authority is needed before recommendations can be made regarding specific Articles of Impeachment. As a result, we recommend that Congress establish a select committee with subpoena authority to investigate the misconduct of the Bush Administration with regard to the Iraq war detailed in this Report and report to the Committee on the Judiciary on possible impeachable offenses.

In addition, we believe the failure of the President, Vice President and others in the Bush Administration to respond to myriad requests for information concerning these charges, or to otherwise account for explain a number of specific misstatements they have made in the run up to War and other actions warrants, at minimum, the introduction and Congress' approval of Resolutions of Censure against Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. Further, we recommend that Ranking Member Conyers and others consider referring the potential violations of federal criminal law detailed in this Report to the Department of Justice for investigation; Congress should pass legislation to limit government secrecy, enhance oversight of the Executive Branch, request notification and justification of presidential pardons of Administration officials, ban abusive treatment of detainees, ban the use of chemical weapons, and ban the practice of paying foreign media outlets to publish news stories prepared by or for the Pentagon; and the House should amend its Rules to permit Ranking Members of Committees to schedule official Committee hearings and call witnesses to investigate Executive Branch misconduct.

The Report rejects the frequent contention by the Bush Administration that there pre-war conduct has been reviewed and they have been exonerated. No entity has ever considered whether the Administration misled Americans about the decision to go to war. The Senate Intelligence Committee has not yet conducted a review of pre-war intelligence distortion and manipulation, while the Silberman-Robb report specifically cautioned that intelligence manipulation "was not part of our inquiry." There has also not been any independent inquiry concerning torture and other legal violations in Iraq; nor has there been an independent review of the pattern of coverups and political retribution by the Bush Administration against its critics, other than the very narrow and still ongoing inquiry of Special Counsel Fitzgerald.

While the scope of this Report is largely limited to Iraq, it also holds lessons for our Nation at a time of entrenched one-party rule and abuse of power in Washington. If the present Administration is willing to misstate the facts in order to achieve its political objectives in Iraq, and Congress is unwilling to confront or challenge their hegemony, many of our cherished democratic principles are in jeopardy.

This is true not only with respect to the Iraq War, but also in regard to other areas of foreign policy, privacy and civil liberties, and matters of economic and social justice. Indeed as this Report is being finalized, we have just learned of another potential significant abuse of executive power by the President, ordering the National Security Agency to engage in domestic spying and wiretapping without obtaining court approval in possible violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

It is tragic that our Nation has invaded another sovereign nation because "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy," as stated in the Downing Street Minutes. It is equally tragic that the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress have been unwilling to examine these facts or take action to prevent this scenario from occurring again. Since they appear unwilling to act, it is incumbent on individual Members of Congress as well as the American public to act to protect our constitutional form of government. -- From Truthout

UPDATE: Rep. John Conyers, who requested the report, discusses it in a diary on DailyKos.

Shades of Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover

The revelations continue.

The President authorizes the National Security Agency to snoop on American citizens and monitor their telephone conversations without getting the required legal authority from a court, either before or after the wiretaps.

The FBI is discovered to be monitoring and even using informants in organizations like Greenpeace, PETA, Catholic Workers, Quakers, and others in a frenzy of domestic spying that this nation has not experienced since the Nixon years. Even a Madison antiwar protest made the FBI list of activities to watch.

It is reminiscent of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the government spied on antiwar groups, using warrantless wiretaps, preventive detention of suspects without trial, no-knock entry into private property, mass arrests, use of illegally obtained evidence against accused parties, and widespread surveillance of people not engaged in illegal activities. The late J. Edgar Hoover, at the direction of the Nixon White House, even spied on Earth Day rallies.

Now, our government is again up to its neck in domestic surveillance -- and worse.

Our government is abducting terrorism suspects and spiriting them off to secret prisons in other countries, where they are interrogated and, in all likelihood, tortured.

Bush apologists say we are at war since 9/11, which apparently gives the President the authority to do anything he wants to in the name of national security, no matter what the law says.

Does anyone really believe that?

Some voices of sanity are beginning to speak out.

Conservative columnist George Will says Nixon, I mean Bush, clearly broke the law by eavesdropping and wonders why he didn't ask Congress to give him the authority he needed to do what he did.

Bush knew it was wrong. He was so desperate to stop a New York Times story, Newsweek reports, that he invited the newspaper's editor and publisher to the Oval Office to try to persuade them to spike the story.

And Sen. Harry Byrd, the West Virginia Democrat who is known as the conscience of the Senate, had this to say:

These astounding revelations about the bending and contorting of the Constitution to justify a grasping, irresponsible Administration under the banner of "national security" are an outrage. Congress can no longer sit on the sidelines. It is time to ask hard questions of the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of the CIA. The White House should not be allowed to exempt itself from answering the same questions simply because it might assert some kind of "executive privilege" in order to avoid further embarrassment.

The practice of domestic spying on citizens should halt immediately. Oversight hearings need to be conducted. Judicial action may be in order. We need to finally be given answers to our questions: where is the constitutional and statutory authority for spying on American citizens, what is the content of these classified legal opinions asserting there is a legality in this criminal usurpation of rights, who is responsible for this dangerous and unconstitutional policy, and how many American citizens' lives have been unknowingly affected?

Byrd asks some excellent questions. They should be answered now.

Quote, unquote

"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution. "

-- George W. Bush, April 20, 2004.

Dan Cody of Left on the Lake has the link, and a question.

Dems having some fun with tax numbers;Republican sniping seems off-target

Wisconsin Democrats are on a roll with media coverage of property taxes in the past week or so.

The Dems and Gov. Jim Doyle find themselves in the unusual position of getting some positive ink on the tax issue, while Republicans try without much success to snipe at Doyle's budget vetoes and the property tax freeze it produced.

The fact is that most people in Wisconsin will find that their property taxes either went down or increased a lot loss than they have in recent years. There are exceptions, of course. Everybody won't be happy. No state law will ever impact every local taxing body identically. But for Wisconsinites who have become used to seeing their property taxes climb at a pretty good clip every year, the current bills are a pleasant surprise.

Rep. Mark Green looked a little silly criticizing Doyle's approach after the Dems revealed that Green's own taxes had gone down $300.

Speaker John Gard's property taxes in Peshtigo went up $3, from $2,068 to $2,071. That certainly gives some of his rhetoric a hollow ring.

The Wisconsin Alliance of Cities offered this summary:

Even Arithmetic Becomes Partisan in Madison

When Gov. Jim Doyle issued a study concluding that property taxes in Wisconsin are increasing just eight-tenths of one percent thanks to his budget bill, one of his Republican oipponents, Scott Walker of Wauwatosa, accused him of perpetrating an "outright lie." Another opponent, U.S. Rep. Mark Green, said he was waiting for an independent agency to review the numbers.

Assembly Speaker John Gard said under a GOP plan, property taxes would have gone up even less than the $23 statewide average calculated by Doyle's budget office. State Budget Director Dave Schmiedicke said that wasn't true.

Republicans can be expected to believe the GOP math, and Democrats the governor's math. Republicans can be expected to point to local levy increases in high-growth areas, where new construction allowed levy limit leeway. Democrats can be expected to tout the bottom-line impact on individual property tax payers, because Doyle increased school aids $404 million more than Republicans had sought, driving down the bottom line. And they can be expected to pick individual property owners that embarrass Republicans the most.

For example, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin told Walker to look across the aisle in his campaign office, where campaign manager Bruce Pfaff's property taxes went down $145. And Green should be boasting of a property tax reduction that exceeded $300, party chair Joe Wineke said. Among the media, Milwaukee talk show host Mark Belling's property taxes went down $448, the Democrats reported.

Other property tax reductions being quietly enjoyed — but not exactly touted — by Republican luminaries are available in a Democratic Party news release here.

The moral of the story that there is no "average home" — certainly not owned by the likes of Green or Walker — anywhere in the state. And if there is one, the circumstances of the community in which it is located have as much to do with its property tax levels as anything else. Is it located in a rich community or a poor one? Is it located in a rich school district or a poor one? Have voters approved a referendum to build a big new school or two? Is new growth lowering property taxes or raising them?

Wisconsin State Journal columnist Melanie Conklin had a little fun with the issue, too:

Taking issue with taxes

Last month Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, a Republican candidate for governor, challenged Gov. Jim Doyle to show him an “average property tax bill anywhere in the state that is not going up for next year.”

Almost a month later, on Thursday, Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Joe Wineke sent Walker a reply.

“I’m happy to report to you that an analysis released this week by the State Budget Office shows that Wisconsin residents across the state will see dramatic property tax relief under Gov. Doyle’s property tax freeze,” writes Wineke. “If you refuse to believe the facts of this report, I suggest you look across your campaign office at your campaign manager Bruce Pfaff, whose property taxes went down $145.27 this year.”

In fact, Democrats this week released a flurry of examples – all of them Republicans who have complained about Doyle’s budget and his version of a tax freeze. Walker’s GOP opponent, U.S. Rep. Mark Green, saw his bill drop $309. Joint Finance co-chair Dean Kaufert’s tax bill went down $173. Senate President Alan Lasse’s bill is down $160. You get the drift.

Shockingly, the Republicans are not sending Doyle fruit baskets to express their gratitude.

“If you look at Joe Wineke’s tax bill it has gone up over the past three years,” replies Rick Wiley, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. (It went up $139 for 2005, according to the Dane County Web site.) “I think because of the loopholes in Doyle’s freeze, others have bills that are going up – way up. Of course, it’s a good thing we’re seeing some bills come down.”

Was that an inadvertent kudos to the governor? “It was a compliment to the Republican legislature,” laughs Wiley.

Nor is Pfaff popping champagne to celebrate his savings. “It’s easy to cherry-pick,” says Pfaff. “We’re not talking about me or Jim Doyle, we’re talking about the average taxpayer.” He adds that his boss’ bill wasn’t mentioned by the Democratic Party. “Scott’s bill went up $165. Somehow that wasn’t in the letter.”

Madison's WISC-TV, Channel 3, also has checked in with a story, Politicians Pony Up Their Property Tax Bills

Since anyone who comments on this is at risk of having his/her property taxes checked, I'll save the Republicans the trouble. Our Milwaukee property tax bill increased 1% on our home, while property taxes on our cottage in Waupaca County, one of the most conservative areas in the state, went up 2.4%. We are quite satisfied with that.

Rs continue to duck real debate on war

This somehow got by me, but there was another vote on Iraq Friday in the House as Republicans pulled yet another political stunt to avoid having a real debate on the war.

For some reason, the only story I can find on this was from the Associated Press. It got little attention.

Maybe it's because it was such an obvious farce and the outcome was a foregone conclusion. The voted was 279-109 to say the House is committed "to achieving victory in Iraq" and that setting an "artificial timetable" would be "fundamentally inconsistent with achieving victory."

Democrats voted against the resolution by 108-59, while 32 of them voted "present," a rarely used option that signals neither support nor opposition. Among Republicans, 220 supported the proposal, none were opposed and two voted "present," while the House's lone independent voted "no."

I've been asking when Wisconsin Democrats will stand up and speak up on the issue. For the most part, they have been quiet on the subject, although opposing the war.

In this instance, three of them -- Tammy Baldwin, Gwen Moore, and Dave Obey -- all voted against the resolution, while Ron Kind voted for it. Kind was also the only Dem in Wisconsin's House delegation to vote for the war in the first place.

Maybe one of these days we will see a real, full debate on the issue -- but not if the Republicans who run Congress can avoid it.

Bucher gets less than brilliant review

No one's paying me to watch Repub AG hopefuls Paul Bucher and J.B. Van Hollen debate, and I am not such a masochist that I would do it for free. So I will have to take Dennis York at his word when he says that Bucher came off as a snarling meanie in their recent WisPolitics debate. York calls him the Prince of Darkness. I thought that might be a term of endearment among conservatives, but I am told it is not a compliment.

You can watch the webcast yourself, but I would be inclined to take York's word for it. Bucher's wife, Jessica McBride, publicly said on her blog recently that York is brilliant.

Another McBride-Bucher note: McBride writes about how her media celebrity, such as it is, seems not to extend beyond the limits of the Milwaukee media market. When she travels beyond that with Bucher on the campaign trail, people haven't heard of her. What she doesn't say -- but what is equally true -- is that once you get away from the Milwaukee market they haven't heard of Bucher, either. That's a bigger problem for him, because he is running for statewide office, while she's just looking for attention.

Going, but not gone

From Al Kamen's WashPost column:

Wishful holiday thinking? At the House Judiciary Committee Christmas party last week, ranking Democrat John Conyers Jr. (Mich.) rose to toast Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), and lamented how it was Sensenbrenner's last year as chairman. All very nice and in keeping with the holiday spirit except: Sensenbrenner has another year left as chairman.

Been down so long it looks like up to me

Yes, it's the title of a Richard Farina novel, but it also is descriptive of the way the media are reacting to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll. The President is surging, they say. His favorable ratings have "surged" all the way to 47%, the WashPost reports. His negatives are still at 52%.

Five more speeches and he could hit 50% positive -- or go back to 40%.

Rs mistake opportunism for leadership

Scott Walker and Mark Green, the Rs who would be governor, are elbowing each other this week to see who can get more of the attention on the gas tax issue.

Walker crows that Jim Doyle, who actually is the governor, is just taking his idea if he signs the bill ending automatic gas tax indexing (read increases) every year. He's probably disappointed Doyle won't veto it, so he and the other Repubs could demagogue on it for a year.

Green, meanwhile, says Doyle should go farther and cut the gas tax by 2 cents a gallon.

Both conveniently forget their own records in the legislature -- when Walker and Green both voted to keep the annual increase in place, and to raise the gas tax on top of it.

What's different now? They're running for governor.

They call that leadership. Others call it opportunism.

Today the Patriot Act, tomorrow the war

How sweet it must be for Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, after standing alone against the Patriot Act, to see this front page headline in the New York Times:

Once-Lone Foe of Patriot Act Has Company

Let's hope that one of these days we will see the same kind of story about his proposal to set a target date for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, where he also was the first to speak out.

From Working for Change. (Click on cartoon to enlarge.)

The Infidel Doyle has sent out a card with the message:

"From all of us to all of you, have a joyous holiday season.”

Thirty-six of the 50 govs are sending out generic holiday wishes, while 10 say Christmas, Stateline.org reports. Three say humbug and send none, and Louisiana's governor still has other things on her mind.

For that matter, so do I. Why am I even telling you this?

Some party

What did you do this weekend? Oh, just went to a boring frat party.

Walker donors' firm got biggest contract; County won't reveal who ranks proposals

We've been reading -- everywhere except in the Journal Sentinel, which continues its blackout -- about Phoenix Care Systems' relationship with Milwaukee County and Phoenix's executives financial relationship with the campaigns of County Exec Scott Walker.

Eye On Wisconsin has led the charge, reporting first on a no-bid $250,000 contract to the firm and another $1.2-million contract awarded to Bell Therapy, a Phoenix subsidiary, even though Bell ranked sixth in a field of eight firms. Walker has since returned $325 in contributions, about 10% of what he has received from Phoenix executives.

Gretchen Schuldt, a recovered JS reporter who runs the Story Hill Neighborhood website, has investigated further.

She found that all of the firms ranked higher than Bell also got contracts in that process although Bell, which came in sixth, got the biggest contract. The other firms which scored higher were awarded contracts one-fourth to one-half the size of the $1.2-million Bell contract.

When she asked who did the evaluations and rankings, Schuldt was told that the county does not release those names. Those who do it are citizens and volunteers, the county told her, and keeping the names private makes it easier to recruit people.

Schuldt says:

The practice also, however, prevents the public from being able to identify potential conflicts-of-interest among the evaluators.

The records released by the county do not definitively answer whether Walker's camp exerted any political influence in the contract awards to Bell, and the blackout imposed on the evaluators' identities by the Walker administration makes that even more difficult to determine.

Free the Milwaukee 7

Remember the Milwaukee 14? In 1968, in the midst of anti-Vietnam war protests and resistance to the draft, 14 men -- including five priests and a minister -- broke in and burned the draft records and files at the Milwaukee draft board.

Or the Chicago 7? They began as the Chicago 8, charged with planning the demonstrations that disrupted the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. They became the Chicago 7 when Black Panther Bobby Seale was separated from the rest after the spectacle of seeing him shackled and gagged in the courtroom became too much for the system.

To that list we add the Milwaukee 7, which even has a logo. The Milwaukee 7 have nothing in common with either the Chicago 7 or the Milwaukee 14, but so what? I always like to sneak in a little People's History when I can.

Milwaukee 7, you see, is the lipstick the region plans to apply, in an attempt to pretty up what Milwaukee County Exec Scott Walker called a pig. That brand and logo ought to do it, don't you think? I can see the industries lining up now. "Milwaukee 7, here we come."

Ya think?

Monday musings: Business as usual,Hiding the truth, starving the poor

Musings on a Monday morning:

Does this answer your questions? Well, no actually. Waukesha Exec Dan Vrakas tries again on the Jenifer Finley story, to no avail.

Scooter, pack your toothbrush. Amidst speculation that one of the defendants may turn state's witness, a judge refuses to dismiss corruption charges against State Rep. Scott Jensen (R-Not Convicted) and three other Republicans. Democrats Brian Burke and Chuck Chvala both have gotten jail terms on felony convictions for misconduct in office. Is Scooter next?

All in favor bend over. Newsroom employes of the Journal Sentinel, represented by the Newspaper Guild, have approved a new contract that represents a net loss over the next three years. The preliminary vote was 110-23 with 16 absentee ballots still to be counted.

Working at home. State Sen. Dave Zien, notorious for riding his Harley all over the district, has decided to let his constituents come to him, announcing office hours at his home. Apparently, in the holiday spirit, he will forego either mileage reimbursement or per diem for one day. If you have any guns to sell or swap, bring them along, too.

Starving and freezing the poor. The Bush administration has refused to consider the high costs of home heating this winter and factor that into food stamp allowances for poor families, although the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says that's the way it is supposed to work. Would you rather have your kids freeze or go hungry? Why should anyone have to make that choice?

Courage has a nice ring to it. Russ Feingold has announced which Congressional candidate will get the first $5,000 contribution from his Progressive Patriots Fund, and the name is Courage.

Scary thought. Jim Brooks of The Happy Circumstance passes on this pearl of wisdom from comedian Chad Daniels: "Packer fans are like Al-Qaeda, there are two or three in every city in America."

Let the crusade begin. Fox declares war on American heathens -- and that means Unitarians, too -- just in time for the "holiday" season.Paul Soglin has the exclusive. (Who else would Fox tell?)

The Sensenbrenner Wall of Shame. New York Daily News columnist Albor Ruiz says the 700-mile wall the US will build, under the leadership of Rep. F. Jim Sensenbrenner, is not exactly a symbol of freedom.

Would you buy a used war from this man?

"Not only can we win the war in Iraq —
we are winning the war in Iraq."

Obviously, way too much time in the bubble.

DeLay redistricting ripe for decision

-- Ben Sargent via Cagle.

When I was in Austin last summer, I was talking with a woman who said she lived downtown, within view of the State Capitol.

"But my State Senator and my Congressman both are from San Antonio," she said, with a disgusted sigh. San Antonio's about 75 miles away, and Austin is more than big enough to have its own representatives in those legislative bodies, without having to stretch the lines 75 miles.

It's like if you were John Gard and lived in Sun Prairie, but were represented in Congress by Gwen Moore and in the State Senate by Spencer Coggs.

The Austin woman's State Senator and Congressman are both Republicans, which is the more relevant fact.

It's a product of the redistricting done at the direction of Rep. Tom DeLay, to increase Republican control both in the statehouse and in the US Capitol.

Now the Supreme Court has decided to take the case and will review the redistricting.

Partisan redistricting is nothing new, of course. But this is extreme. Whether a Supreme Court with a Republican-appointed majority will think so is another question, of course. We shall see.

Riding' on the 'City of New Orleans'

What I wouldn't give to be at Tipitina's tonight after Arlo Guthrie and the "City of New Orleans" roll into town.

I'm doing the next best thing: Hearing Dr. John and Marcia Ball at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater. Marcia, like Arlo, has been raising money to help New Orleans musicians after Hurricana Katrina. If you want to help, send a check to; NOLA Relief Fund, 1200 Garner, Austin TX 78704.

And one more way to give to hurricane relief. Buy a Blame Game.

Hurricane victims still need our help

From John Stocks:

The holiday season is upon us. Pageants, parties and gift giving.

Regardless of our religious beliefs or practice, the end of the year provides all of us with a short respite from the chaotic pace many of us maintain throughout the year.

October was the last time I reported on the victims of Hurricane Katrina in my family. Recent conversations have revealed that this time of year is particularly hard on them.

My father and his wife returned to New Orleans to start over. Neither of them has returned to full-time work. My father underwent surgery and is recovering slowly. He has not had time to focus on rebuilding his practice. He is 76 and this experience has accelerated his aging. Tiina, his wife, is shouldering the burden of taking care of him during his recovery and their recovery from Katrina.

Henrietta, Debbie Ann, Doris, Steve, Paula, Gerrard, Broderick and Samantha have relocated to the Atlanta area. I visited them recently accompanied by a dear friend and colleague. It was a joyous reunion.

They are all living in a nice home trying to find employment in the Cobb County area. Samantha and Broderick have enrolled in the local high school. They have shelter, some basic furnishings and themselves. Surprisingly they feel blessed despite their circumstances.

My brother Adam, his wife Becky and their two children (Jessica and Courtney) are still living with Adam's mother. They have been working feverishly to repair their flood damaged home. It appears that they won't be able to move back in until after the holidays.

Stacey and her children, Eboni, Brea and Kasey have recently moved back to the New Orleans area. The children are living with their father who has returned to work near the city. Stacey is sharing a small apartment with a colleague until she can find an affordable place that is near her mother, Elouise, and large enough for her and the children.

Courtney and little Vauchan are still in Jackson, Mississippi. They have moved into a small apartment, enrolled Vauchan in school and Courtney is looking for work. They hope to visit Lois (Courtney's mom) over the holidays. They will probably have to take a bus to Thibodeaux. Courtney does not have a car.

Elouise and Lois have moved from Belle Rose, where they were sharing a bedroom in a cousins home, to Thibodeaux, Louisiana where they have rented a small apartment. Like their sisters in Atlanta, the future is uncertain in a new community. Lois is still without work despite being a highly qualified teacher and education administrator in the Orleans Parish School District. Her biggest worry is that her health insurance is going to be terminated in January. She is 59 and very frightened about that prospect.

Some of you have asked me about my connection to the Ewell family. Lucinda (mother of Henrietta, Elouise, Lois and Debbie Ann) was a housekeeper who came to work for our family in 1956, six months before I was born and walked me out the door the day I left home for college. She was my mother, my guardian, my rock of stability. She taught me my manners, my values, my yearning for justice. She taught me about race and class in the Old South. She never let me stray from the path of education. Ignorance was unacceptable.

REQUEST FOR MORE ASSISTANCE

I have hesitated to ask you for more assistance but the enormity of the challenges these families face are beyond what any one person can handle.

Your substantial donations ($40,000) to this relief effort to date have helped to repair, secure and furnish places to live for these families displaced from their homes in New Orleans. We thank you for what you have done already to stabilize their lives. Some have lost everything.

These families still need our help and I want us to brighten their lives during the holidays. So I am asking my friends, colleagues and family, to email me a pledge (and put a check in the mail to 5608 Chestnut Ln, McFarland, Wi 53558) of financial assistance. Thank you.

---

Xoff adds:
Want to know more about what's happening in New Orleans? Try People Get Ready blog or NOLA.com, website of the Times-Picayune.

Quote, unquote

...[T}here is no proof the electoral system has been undermined, just some evidence that a handful of people may have voted twice and indications that the city’s system has paperwork problems that need improvement. How in the world did this mildly interesting issue justify so many front-page articles by the Journal Sentinel? Last week’s story online listed an archive of 46 related articles."

--Bruce Murphy of Milwaukee Magazine on voter fraud, or lack thereof.

Cloture vote on Patriot Act fails

With 60 votes needed to cut off debate, the Senate vote was 52-47.

A major victory for Russ Feingold & Co.

AP reports:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate on Friday rejected attempts to reauthorize several provisions of the USA Patriot Act as infringing too much on Americans' privacy, dealing a major defeat to President Bush and Republican leaders.

In a crucial vote Friday morning as Congress raced toward adjournment, the bill's Senate supporters were not able to garner the 60 votes necessary to overcome a threatened filibuster by Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and their allies. The final vote was 52-47

Earlier story: Feingold now has numbers on his side.

Take nothing for granted any more

Just thinking:

While the Senate and the country debate and agonize over provisions in the Patriot Act that might violate our civil liberties and right to privacy, we learn that George W. Bush is going to do what he wants no matter what the law is.

The NY Times reports:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.

Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications.

And does it susprise you at all to find out that we live in a country where it is big news when the President agrees to a ban on torturing prisoners?

What is going on?

Is McCann rant really about gambling?

E. Michael McCann, having announced he is leaving office when his term ends in a year, made some more headlines Thursday when he criticized Gov. Jim Doyle on campaign finance issues.

In particular, McCann singled out contributions from Native American tribes to the Democratic Party, which used the money to help Doyle, their nominee for governor, in 2002. All perfectly legal, by the way.

Eye On Wisconsin wonders (1) why McCann didn't mention any Republican candidates for governor, who have campaign finance skeletons that are not even in the closet, and (2) whether this has more to do with McCann's opposition to gambling than campaign finance reform. Good questions.

The mysterious disappearing consultant

In celebrating Scott Newcomer's primary victory in a special Assembly election Tuesday, Jessica McBride outed Republican consultant R. J. Johnson as someone who was "pretty heavily involved" in Newcomer's race.

I noted that Johnson, who doesn't come cheaply, wasn't listed on any Newcomer campaign finance reports, and speculated about whether RJ was a volunteer.

Now that reference has disappeared from the McBride blog. The "Newcomer wins" entry is still there, but that sentence has been edited out. Just for the record, this is what it said on election night:

Paul's campaign strategist RJ Johnson was pretty heavily involved in Newcomer's race, so this is a good night for RJ too.

Turns out he's not only working for free, but is modest about it, too.

Jenifer Finley story keeps getting worse

Vrakas backer and Republican radio's Charlie Sykes asked yesterday of the ongoing Jenifer Finley saga in the Waukesha County exec's office:

"But, honestly, could Dan Vrakas being handling this any worse?"

Well, yes, actually, he could. And today it got worse, with questions about whether Finley, who's still on the payroll as Vrakas chief of staff, is being paid for days she didn't work. Vrakas says she is working "off-site: in her $300-a-day job, doing important county business. But reporters can's get her to answer her phone. Do you think she is in a secure location with Dick Cheney?

Proxmire was more than a maverick;He was a unique Wisconsin character

The stories about Bill Proxmire, who died this week at age 90, all say he was a maverick, and he was.

But more than that, he was a character. He was quirky. He was eccentric.

On some things, he was a fanatic. At times, there was even a touch of the crackpot.

But the people of Wisconsin liked his style.

He was known nationally for his Golden Fleece Awards to spotlight and ridicule what he saw as wasteful spending, but he was almost as well-known for his hair transplant and his fanatic exercise and diet regimens.

In Wisconsin, people might have thought he was a little unusual. But they knew he worked hard, never missed a vote, and raised some hell in Washington on their behalf. And they saw a lot of him.

If you lived in Wisconsin between 1955 and 1985 and you didn't shake Bill Proxmire's hand at least once, you must have been homebound.

He was everywhere there was a crowd -- sporting events, fairs, festivals, parades, dinners, shopping malls -- shaking hands at a breakneck clip. As soon as he had shaken most hands or the crowd thinned, he was off to the next stop.

It wasn't quality time with your Senator. He was pumping hands as fast as he could, and there was no time for chitchat.

One day when he was shaking hands outside of Camp Randall stadium before a Badger football game, I tried an experiment. "I'm Bill Proxmire, your hired hand in Washington," he said, giving my hand a quick shake.

I hung on, got eye contact, and said, "Senator, I'd like to talk to you about the nuclear weapons freeze."

"Call me at the office," he said, looking over my shoulder, loosening my grip and reaching out for the next person. And that was that.

I didn't know Prox, but I don't think he'd mind if I call him that. I guess I covered him a couple of times in the 1970s as a reporter, but never spent any time with him. By the time I started serious interviewing for my biography of Gaylord Nelson, Proxmire was already slipping. It was one of the obvious interviews -- he and Nelson served together for 18 years -- but it did not happen and it's one I regret missing out on.

That doesn't mean I didn't accumulate any Proxmire stories, of course. They are legion, and you can't talk about Wisconsin politics in the 50s, 60s, 70s, or 80s without hearing about Prox -- and most had something to do with his hand-shaking.

While he was shaking hands, sometimes with his fingers bandaged to cover or prevent blisters, he was also clicking a counter in his pocket to keep the day's tally.

There are tales of Prox eating a can of sardines for dinner alone in his motel room after a day of pressing the flesh; shaking hands so energetically at State Fair that he failed to recognize Nelson until the second time he came through the line; walking through the state Democratic convention, waving to everyone on the floor, and heading out the back door for another event to shake more hands; walking down a line of cars stuck in a snowstorm to shake hands with the drivers. If they're not all true, they're all plausible.

Former staffers tell of Proxmire batting out his own press releases on a typewriter in the Senate office. And they recall his insistence on prompt attention to constituent letters, and how Prox might stop at a staffer's desk and ask to see the oldest unanswered letter on the desk.

When Proxmire was elected to the Senate after Joe McCarthy's death in 1957, it was electrifying for the Democrats. When he was reelected the next year and Nelson was elected governor, Wisconsin was a two-party state for the first time in decades.

A couple of excerpts from the Nelson bio:

Three-time Loser Wins

Walter Kohler, his opponent, had beaten Proxmire for governor in 1952 and 1954,[and Vernon Thomson had beaten him in 1956] but this time the Democrats were energized and unified while Republicans were divided and dispirited. When the GOP tagged him “a three-time loser,” Proxmire responded on radio that he would take the votes of everyone who had ever lost or failed “in business, love, sports, or politics” and give the Republicans the votes of everyone who had always succeeded and won everything. Proxmire won a fifty-six per cent of the vote to become the first Democratic Senator from Wisconsin in nearly twenty years, and only the third in the Twentieth Century. Proxmire promptly announced he would seek a full term in 1958...

Although electrifying, the Proxmire victory was not a clear signal that Democrats were now competitive in statewide races. Proxmire, in four frenetic campaigns in six years, had raised face-to-face campaigning to a new level – one that has yet to be matched in Wisconsin politics. Seemingly inexhaustible, Proxmire would travel the state alone, often shaking thousands of hands in a day. Anywhere there was a crowd – a convention, sporting event, fish fry, parade, plant gate, rally or fair – Proxmire was there, pumping hands, exiting as soon as he had met everyone and heading for the next stop. During his four campaigns, most voters had probably seen Proxmire or had shaken his hand. While Democrats celebrated his victory, they wondered whether it was a personal victory or a sign their party had come of age. The 1958 campaign would be the next test.

---

Gaylord and Prox

Except for their politics, and the fact that both of their fathers were physicians, Nelson and Proxmire were very different people. Proxmire, who grew up in the wealthy suburb of Lake Forest, Illinois, earned degrees from Yale and Harvard, married a Rockefeller, and decided he wanted a political career – as a Democrat. He moved to Madison in 1949 for a short-lived stint as a Capital Times reporter, won an Assembly seat in 1950, and started running statewide two years later. He had chosen Wisconsin as a state that might be open to an outsider, and the fledgling Democratic Organizing Committee was open to all comers. There were few places where one could be the party’s nominee for governor three years after moving into the state. Proxmire was intense, serious, focused, driven, named “most energetic and biggest grind” in prep school. When he was determined to improve his golf game, he once played ninety holes in a day. Proxmire was a health fanatic whose daily regimen included enormous amounts of exercise and a Spartan, non-alcoholic diet.

Nelson, the small town boy who did the bare minimum in school, would rather “bat the breeze” than make a formal speech. He was passionate about politics and ambitious in his career, but no one had ever accused him of being a grind. He said more than once that if he had to campaign like Proxmire did, spending every available minute shaking someone’s hand, he would not run. Nelson was softer around the edges – friendlier, more approachable, more charming, more likely to be socializing than studying, and far more likely than Proxmire to eat heartily and have a drink in his hand. An athlete as a young man, he stayed in shape, using the barbells and punching bag in the Senate gym. He was strong enough to rip a three-inch thick telephone book in half, and was a master of one-armed pushups. “He puts matchsticks between his knuckles, then bends down and picks them out with his teeth,” a gym employee said. But physical fitness was not his religion, as it seemed to be Proxmire’s.

At a party at the Nelsons’, Proxmire said he did two hundred pushups every morning, and, when Nelson challenged his claim, dropped to the floor to prove it. “Oh, I thought you meant one-armed pushups,” Nelson said after watching Proxmire do a few. “Anybody can do them with two arms.” Nelson demonstrated what he meant and Proxmire, who had never tried the technique before, could not do a single one, much to his chagrin and the amusement of onlookers. His wife said Proxmire unsuccessfully tried one-armed pushups a number of times at home before finally giving up.

Despite the contrasts in their approach to life and politics, Nelson and Proxmire were friends, campaigned for one another, and managed a cooperative and peaceful coexistence in the Senate. But they were never close; their differences were too great.

---

The Wisconsin Historical Society has posted an "in memoriam" page with information and photos from Proxmire's career.

Washington Post photo gallery.

-- Sierra Club. If puzzled, see the next post.

Urgent: Arctic refuge under attack again

They never quit.

This urgent message from the Sierra Club:

It's been a long battle to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil companies and their allies in Congress. Today the fight has taken yet another unbelievable turn.

In a desperate last-minute effort to pass widely opposed legislation, a group of Senators led by Senator Stevens from Alaska -- the man who brought you "bridges to nowhere" -- has slipped Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling language onto the Defense Appropriations bill.

Please take five minutes to call your Senators immediately and express your strong opposition and outrage to this scheme.

Tell your Senator that:

The Defense Appropriations bill is the wrong place to decide controversial policy issues or to approve a scheme that would spoil a national treasure forever. This legislation is intended to support our men and women in uniform and should not be hijacked by those who are pushing drilling in the Arctic Refuge.

This sneaky back-door maneuver by pro-drilling politicians is nothing but a desperate attempt to hold the legislative process hostage. It is particularly outrageous given that this bill funds our troops in a time of war.Every minute counts today. Call your Senators RIGHT NOW at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to do everything in their power to stop the drilling lobby from hijacking the Defense spending bill with Arctic Refuge drilling.

Surprise! Conservatives oppose Patriot Act

My usual policy with Republican radio talker Mark Belling is not to even ignore him, since he thrives on attention. But once in awhile he gets so far out there that it's tempting to reel him in.

Belllng's recent column savages Russ Feingold for his opposition to the Patriot Act, which Belling praises as the greatest thing to come along since zippers.

He might be surprised to find that he's way out of touch with business community and real conservatives on the issue.

The National Assn. of Manufacturers, National Assn. of Realtors, and US Chamber of Commerce are among the signers of a letter opposing the bill as it stands and asking for changes. Another broadly-based coalition, Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances, includes the American Conservative Union, Gun Owners of America, the Second Amendment Foundation, Americans for Tax Reform, and others.

Maybe Belling thinks those groups, at whose altars he usually worships, have gone over to the dark side, and -- as he says about Russ Feingold -- are nothing but demagogues.

Ethics board chair is a politician's dream

If you're a politician who likes to push the limits on campaign and ethics laws -- or who might even go over the line now and then -- I've got the Ethics Board chairman of your dreams.

His name is John Carter, and he's the chair of the Milwaukee County Ethics Board. In that capacity, Carter has found that County Executive Scott Walker can do no wrong.

Walker takes campaign contributions from executives of a company that gets a no-bid county contract? No problem, says Carter -- even after Walker's campaign decided to return some of the contributions because they violated a county rule.

The AP reported:

John Carter, the chairman of the county Ethics Board and a lawyer, said the code clause in question does not apply because Walker is running for governor, not a county position.

In any case, the total sum of donations of $2,375 from Phoenix executives to the Friends of Scott Walker campaign from 2002 to 2005 did not seem large enough to be judged to be influence-peddling, he said.

"If we are looking at someone who gave $2,000 to his campaign for governor and they subsequently ended up with a contract, to me, that really doesn't mean very much,'' Carter said.

Carter gave no indication what amount would "mean very much."

Earlier this year, it was Carter and his ethics board who provided the whitewash for Walker's motorcycle trip around the state, at taxpayer expense, to give away free tickets worth $19,000. The trip was a campaign trip barely disguised as a tourism promotion.

But Carter gave it his seal of approval.

As I reported earlier:

Walker says everything is fine and has been approved by the county ethics board. Well, I haven't seen this year's letter, but the one in 2004 from John J. Carter, chair of the board, starts by telling Walker, "You have determined this tour to be county business," then goes on to say it's all fine to use taxpayer money, take staff along, and have a jolly good time. If you start from the premise that Walker gets to decide what is county business and what is campaign, it's pretty easy to see how Carter reached his conclusion

Maybe Carter has successfully developed what the nuns used to call a "lax conscience." That's when you're about to do something wrong, but have beaten your conscience down to the point that it doesn't set off any alarms. To the chair of the county ethics board, nothing seems unethical.

Senator Bill Proxmire, 1915-2005

Bill Proxmire, who served as U. S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1957 until 1989, has died at age 90.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has posted an "in memoriam" page with information and photos from Proxmire's career.

Washington Post. Photo gallery.

Ron Zaleski column in The Capital Times.

NY Times.

Wis.Historical Society photo #30145, used by permission

Wis. House members all back torture ban

UPDATE: McCain, Bush agree on torture ban.

In a rare occurrence, all eight members of Wisconsin's delegation voted Wednesday to support a ban on torture, which passed 308-122. With four Republicans and four Dems, the Badger delegation's votes usually cancel each other out.

The vote was a big setback for the Bush administration, and when Republican reliables like F. Jim Sensenbrenner and Mark Green jump ship, you know you're in trouble.

The Washington Post has the details.

Jenifer Finley story curioser and curioser

Brand new Waukesha County Exec Dan Vrakas is off to a shaky start as the chief exec, or at least as a personnel manager.

Vrakas, who announced his chief of staff Jenifer Finley is leaving after hardly getting moved into her office, now says he really doesn't know if she'll ever show up for work again, although her resignation is effective Dec. 31.

Today's story asks a lot more questions than it answers. And none of the Republican insiders are talking or blogging about it.

Nature abhors a vacuum, so I'll just toss in a piece of rumor. Since I have zero sources in Waukesha County, it's probably highly suspect. But I hear that Dan Finley's former chief of staff, Allison Bussler, is coming back. And that it wasn't Jenifer Finley's idea to leave.

Happy holidays! Journal Sentinel puts the squeeze on its workers

The Journal Sentinel, in the spirit of the property tax freeze and the Whip Inflation Now campaign, is playing hardball with its newsroom union.

Reporter Graem Zielinski, an active Newspaper Guild member, explains the situation in a letter to the Poynter website of Jim Romenesko, a former Milwaukee reporter himself:

So, just in time to add a sprig of Dickensian joy to the holidays, the worker bees at The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will be faced with an ugly choice, namely to accept a contract that features 1.5 percent pay raises for each of the next three years, as well as a boost from a "merit" pool.

Forgetting inflation and other economic reality, this "raise" will without question be swallowed up and much more by sharply rising health care costs. We will lose much ground. (The millions-dollar bonus paid our chairman would have more than made up for the gap of what management offered in raises and what our Newspaper Guild had hoped for, but he will need to buy indulgences.)

The fun of the matter is not just the sinful contract offer, which offends what my Catholic faith teaches me about the dignity of labor, but the way the offer was made: At the point of a gun.

The some 270 members of our bargaining unit must accept the offer by the end of the year or lose all hope of a year's worth of retroactive pay we'd be due, since we've been working during that time with a contract extension. This scenario was just presented to us just this week so there is no real hope of mobilizing against what was said in an off-the-record meeting to be the Journal Communications final offer. Our wings are clipped.

We vote next week. I hope our membership sends a strong message with a strong "no."

Here in Milwaukee, what used to be family newspapers bled into employee ownership and now we live in the dim twilight of quasi-public ownership and the black hand of Wall Street's lunatic profit demands. There is no talk, yet, of layoffs or the type of economic horror now faced by other newsrooms and news chains (and I do thank our union leadership for that and for everything else they've done). But in their clever maneuvering, the new breed of management coming to Brewtown has shown that soon we will live beneath the same lash.

Do we submit to what is presented as an inevitability? Or do we go down valiantly but stupidly? My thought is that these are false choices working in service to relentless appetite and the kind of ethic this Christmas season very explicitly rejects. "Open Your World," is the motto here and now we are open to the type of world the rest of newspapers have seen. Can't say I like it.

The Guild votes today.

Walker returns donations to executiveswhose firm got no-bid county contract

The Associated Press reports that Milwaukee County Exec Scott Walker is returning $325 in campaign contributions from executives of a company that got a no-bid $250,000 contract from the county.

The AP reported last week on $2,375 in contributions from executives of Phoenix Care Systems Inc. after Cory Liebmann, who writes the Eye on Wisconsin blog, broke the story. Liebmann also wrote about the same firm getting a $1.2-million contract despite being ranked near the bottom among the firms bidding.

Walker denied any wrongdoing when AP wrote about the no-bid contract, but is returning a small part of the contributions because they came during a questionable period surrounding a no-bid contract award to Phoenix subsidiary Bell Therapy in December 2004.

The AP reports:

The county's ethics code prohibits donations to the top decision maker, in this case Walker, by those affected during the county's consideration of the contract.

The two donations in question were made on Aug. 26, 2004, a month after the county requested bids. Pfaff said the Walker campaign determined the donations fell within a prohibited period.

Two questions:

1. Eye on Wisconsin wonders: Will the Journal Sentinel, which has steadfastly refused to report on this issue, see fit to run a story now that even Walker's campaign has decided there was something wrong?

2. Will the media ever look at the bigger contract, where Phoenix ranked sixth out of eight bidders, but walked away with a $1.2-million contract?

Editor to GOP leggies: Get serious

I can't recall ever agreeing with the political sentiments of any Wisconsin State Journal editor (even when I worked there for a few years in the 1970s), since the paper has always skewed heavily to the right.

But there is a first time for everything. And James Hopson nails it in this column, entitled, "GOP wasting time on nonsense:"

Here's some advice for the Republican leadership in Wisconsin's Legislature: get serious.

When I look at the legislation proposed by the Senate and Assembly Republicans I see an apparent obsession with matters trivial, wrongheaded or positively harmful to the well being of Wisconsin combined with a conspicuous avoidance of legislation on issues of actual importance.

Let's review the dog's breakfast of bad legislation the majority has recently attempted to foist on the state:

Concealed carry. Just what we need - our streets, shopping malls and workplaces thronged with citizens packing heat. I'm sure there are worse ideas than this, but I can't think of one right now.

A ban on same sex marriage. Already illegal. This is a frivolous waste of time.

Limits on stem-cell research. Great idea. Let's strangle one of the state's growth industries in its crib.

A prohibition on University Health Services dispensing morning after contraceptives to coeds. Guaranteed to stop premarital sex dead in its tracks. Not.

All manner of university-bashing proposals. Making sport of those liberal goofballs at UW-Madison surely gets lots of laughs back in the home districts of these geniuses. But does harming one of the nation's great research institutions and an important contributor to Wisconsin's economic growth really make this state better or more successful in any way?

These misadventures in social engineering are purely political theater, intended only to score political points with conservative voters. They do not address in any useful way the real problems Wisconsin faces.

If the Republicans actually want to accomplish something useful, I'll suggest a couple of topics they could work on:

School funding. School districts all over the state are squeezed by a school funding formula that permits costs to grow at a consistently higher rate than revenues. Destructive and unsustainable. How about using your legislative majority and some of your political capital to fix this?

Corrections. Your tough-on-crime legislation and mandatory sentencing laws have yielded a prison population three times larger than neighboring Minnesota's and an incarceration rate for African-Americans that is the worst in the United States. This is a scandal for a historically enlightened state like Wisconsin, and it costs a fortune to maintain.

And when you've fixed those two, come back and I'll give you some additional assignments.

But with the cynical leadership squandering their time and political capital on right wing nonsense, I'm not going to hold my breath.

The Amtal Rule,, one of the new blogs in town, has an interesting take on GOP legislative priorities, too.

O'Reilly: Madison communes with Satan

I mean, this is not Madison, Wisconsin, where you expect those people to be communing with Satan up there in the Madison, Wisconsin, media. -- Bill O'Reilly.

First it was Mark Green, alienating voters in the state's second biggest city, which he calls "Planet Madison."

But now Madison has hit the big time. Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, champion of Christmas with a capital Christ, goes after Madtown, too.

Media Matters has more.

House passes Patriot Act extension

Wisconsin's delegation split down the middle, along party lines, as the House voted today to reauthorize the Patriot Act. F. Jim Sensenbrenner, Mark Green, Paul Ryan, and Tom Petri all voted aye, while Gwen Moore, Tammy Baldwin, Dave Obey and Ron Kind voted no.

Action moves to the Senate, where Russ Feingold and others have threatened a filibuster. Renee Crawford has details.

Mark Green: Liar

Gov wannabe Mark Green is caught in " a flat-out, bald-faced lie" by blogger Mike Basford.

And no, being mentioned several times today does not make him the frontrunner.

Waukesha County election irregularities!

Wait until the Journal Sentinel hears this.

Many more votes reported than ballots cast in Waukesha County Tuesday. This should be good for about 17 investigative stories, several Republican bill introductions, a few public hearings, and 187 press releases from concerned politicians.

Wanna bet?

What makes Scotty run?

So Scott Newcomer, who was willing to move and spend $30,000 of his own money, is all but the new state rep from the 33rd District, after winning the GOP primary on Tuesday. There's the formality of the general election, but in Waukesha County that's all it is.

Eye On Wisconsin wonders why Newcomer wants so badly to be a lawmaker.

Another question: Jessica McBride says consultant R. J. Johnson was "pretty heavily involved in Newcomer's race." Makes you wonder why he doesn't show up on any Newcomer campaign finance reports. Is RJ a volunteer now?

And now for a little campaigning

Last chance today to vote for our buddy Jay Bullock's "Folkbum's Rambles and Rants" as blog of the year at MKE Online. Vote here and visit his blog here.

While you're in a voting mood, help Russ Feingold decide which candidate should get the first $5,000 contribution from his Progressive Patriots Fund. Ryan Alexander at 1832 blog endorses Tim Walz, a Minnesota House candidate. I concur. I've met Walz at a veterans' event and he's an impressive candidate.

Live from Madison ... It's Tuesday night!

The Recess Supervisor over at Playground Politics has an amusing review of the Assembly's late-night session. It includes this advice to the Republican wingnuts running the show:

... [Brett] Davis and Andy Lamb are the two likeliest casualties in a southeast Wisconsin appeasement strategy that seems to have taken hold in the Assembly. Dear conservative nutjobs of the Milwaukee suburbs, you will not get anything passed through the Legislature after we lose people like Davis, Lamb, Hahn, Loeffelholz, and are back in the minority. While you continue to try and create the Republican equivalent of the Aryan race, you continually put outstate Republicans and vulnerables in increasingly tenuous positions. Just thought you'd like to know what's going out here in the rest of the state, you know, the part that revolves around Waukesha County.

GOP gov candidates have high negatives

While the Republican candidates for gov tell everyone how great the news is in the latest poll, from Rasmussen Reports, forget the head-to-head matchups for a moment and consider this nugget:

Congressman Green is viewed favorably by 44% of Wisconsin voters and unfavorably by 38%. For Walker, the numbers are 40% favorable and 38% unfavorable.

Those are extremely high negatives for candidates who are still in the process of introducing themselves to the voters. There's really been no criticism or negative publicity about them, except in backwaters like this blog.

It is probably a sign that people just don't have very high opinions of any politicians these days.

But if I were a Green or Walker strategist (so far neither has tried to hire me), I'd be concerned. It wouldn't take much of a negative television campaign to push those negatives well over 50%. That's a problem.

Doyle's had some problems with negatives himself, but in this poll he had a positive rating, 55-42. People also approved of the job he's doing as governor, 56-42.

Milwaukee war referendum in November?

It appears that the citizens of Milwaukee will get a chance to express themselves on the war on Iraq, but probably not until November 2006.

Backers of the referendum had asked for a vote in April, when the war will be on the ballot in Madison and a number of other communities, but the Common Council moved it to November, when there will be a bigger turnout.

Final passage, ironically, was held up by Ald. Jim Bohl, who had argued the Council was spending too much time on the issue but then used a parliamentary maneuver to insure that it will spend more time at its next meeting.

Some complained that the November date was being chosen to try to help Gov. Jim Doyle, who will be on the ballot then. It's hard for anyone to complain too loudly, though, because the Republicans in the legislature are blatantly timing a gay marriage referendum for November in hopes of bringing out people who will vote against Doyle.

The Journal Sentinel reports.

UPDATE: Rundown on statewide action.

Tax freeze works well for Mark Green

Spivak and Bice:

For the GOP gubernatorial candidate, it doesn't get any better than this.

Not only did he get an issue to whack Gov. Jim Doyle on - this week he's been taking shots at the Democratic incumbent to any reporter who will listen - but Green also received a tax cut on his $288,000 home.

Records show that Green was hit with a property tax bill of $5,198 this year, down $309 from what he paid a year ago. That represents a 5.6% cut on his Town of Hobart house.

Green's response? Doyle doesn't pay any property taxes because he lives in the state-owned governor's residence in Maple Bluff.

Which, of course, is exactly where Green is hoping to live a year from now.

Nice try. No points.

Green uses 'Don't ask, don't tell' policywhen it comes to his staff and scandal

The Capital Times reports:

Green, R-Green Bay, said he had never met Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is reportedly under investigation for allegedly bribing members of Congress and other public officials. Abramoff's partner pleaded guilty to bribery last week after admitting that he and Abramoff had provided items of value to officials in exchange for political favors.

"I have never met Abramoff in my life. I wouldn't know him if he walked in the room. I have no relationship" with him or his firm," Green told reporters this morning at the state Capitol...

Green's former chief of staff, Mark Graul, has been accused in published reports of taking tickets to Abramoff's private skybox in Washington for NBA games, concerts, and other events, but he has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Green said he has never asked Graul, who is now his campaign manager, whether he knew Abramoff or any of Abramoff's associates, but he added that "there is no reason that he would."

Green said flatly, "There is nothing there. Period."

That raises a few questions.

Why hasn't Green asked Graul, his former chief of staff and current campaign manager, whether he knows Abramoff or his associates?

It's because he wants deniability. He doesn't want to know.

Graul has also denied he knows Abramoff, but he certainly knew his staff, and knew them well enough to e-mail back and forth and accept free tickets to events from them. That's all been reported. You can find the documents here.

For Green to say he doesn't know is to say he doesn't want to know what Graul has been up to.

Feingold talks to the netroots

Sen. Russ Feingold is featured this week on TPM Cafe, an offshoot of the Talking Points Memo blog. He discussed the Patriot Act in some detail yesterday, with lots of comments and back and forth.

It's the latest example of Feingold's new national media role or roll, if you prefer.

Some of the behind-the-scenes credit must go to John Kraus, who has helped raise Feingold's national profile this year, increase his presence in the blogosphere and building support with what DailyKossacks call the netroots, and helped shape Feingold's message and policy on Iraq.

Kraus, who handled communications on last year's Feingold reelection campaign, is leaving Feingold's DC Senate office at the end of the month. It sounds like he's headed back to Wisconsin, and is looking at opportunities both in and outside of politics.

Down the road, that could include a 2008 presidential campaign job. Kraus didn't want to make the leap now to Feingold's political action committee, which is helping to lay the groundwork in case Feingold does get into the race for real. Kraus was state director for John Edwards' presidential campaign in Wisconsin last year, so having a good relationship with two possible candidates isn't a bad spot to be in.

Come on, tell the good news about killing

Guest post from my friend Jess, an aspiring blogger:

Hey, guys,why don't we ever hear the good news about Iraq?

I mean, like, OK, the President said 30,000 civilians have been killed, and that's not so good. But it could have been more, like 300,000 or 3 million or something. Let's keep it in perspective.

But 45,000 insurgents have been "killed or detained," so that's really good news, isn't it? And we never hear about that.

I mean, come on, the ratio of insurgents to civilians is 3 to 2. Of course, all of those insurgents aren't dead, I guess, and all of the civilians are, so maybe it's closer to even.

But that's still good news, isn't it? Well, isn't it? Come on, you guys.

Walker plans campout far from home

The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram reports:

He may live hundreds of miles away, but Chippewa Valley voters can expect to see a lot of Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker in the next 11 months.

“(I’m) basically going to camp out in the western side of the state,” Walker, the Milwaukee County executive, said Friday during a visit to Eau Claire.

It's a good thing he doesn't have a job that the taxpayers of Milwaukee County pay him to do.

Rep. Mark Green will get flak every time he misses a Congressional vote to campaign for governor, while County Exec Walker, apparently, will be camping out at Lake Wissota State Park.

-- Don Wright, Palm Beach Post, via Cagle.

Jenifer Finley: leaving so soon?

Omigod!

Jenifer Finley is leaving her job in Dan Vrakas' office and I had to read it first on WisPolitics, without the inside scoop from McBride?

The release says the transition's over. But neither Vrakas or Finley ever said she was going to oversee the transition. They said she would be chief of staff. Period.

So why do you suppose she's really leaving? Methinks there is more to the story. And you won't read it here first.

Patriot Act showdown looms

Two Wisconsin members of Congress, Sen. Russ Feingold and Rep. F. Jim Sensenbrenner, square off this week on renewal of the so-called Patriot Act. Renee Crawford says Sensenbrenner proclaims himself a civil libertarian, but isn't acting like one.

To show support for Feingold, who has said he will filibuster the bill if necessary, sign this petition.

Let's give fraud the purple finger

Here's an idea that Rep. Mark Green should have thought up, but I'll let him have it for free.

It combines his purple finger/Victory in Iraq caucus with his fantasies about election fraud in Wisconsin.

One of the real "scandals" in the 2004 election was that people were voting more than once, the Republicans claimed. At last count, after a year-long investigation, four people had been charged with double voting, and no one had been convicted.

Green wants photo ID cards to stop double-voting, although it's not clear whether anyone actually voted with someone else's name.

Isn't the obvious solution to do the purple fingers, with indelible ink, next election day? If you've already voted, your finger will give you away. Seems a whole lot simpler and cheaper, doesn't it?

Lead paint issue isn't about lawyers;it's about victims poisoned for life

Pity the poor lead paint manufacturers.

There they were, minding their own business, just trying to make a buck, not hurting anybody, when -- WHAM! -- along came some greedy lawyers who tried to take their hard-earned money.

At least that's the way columnist Patrick McIlheran sees it. If they can do it to the lead paint companies, he warns, they can do it to anyone. "... if you've ever earned money off something fattening, maybe you should worry," he writes in the Journal Sentinel.

Lead paint is not quite like Coca-Cola or Big Macs, however. There are a few things McIlheran neglected to mention.

Lead paint is a deadly hazard that has poisoned thousands of children in Wisconsin --more than 20,000 in the last 10 years alone. Milwaukee has the fourth highest rate of lead paint poisoning among kids in the US, but it is a statewide problem. Children ingest lead chips in older homes where lead paint still exists on window sills and elsewhere.

Lead may cause a range of health effects, from behavioral problems and learning disabilities, to seizures and death. Children under 7 are most at risk, because their bodies and brains are developing quickly and are sensitive to even small amounts of lead.

Children affected by lead poisoning may suffer learning disabilities, brain damage, loss of IQ points and intellect, academic failure, behavioral problems, neurological problems, brain swelling, major organ failure, coma, and death,according to the National Safety Council.

It is an issue now because the Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that lead paint manufacturers can be held liable for injuries caused by their poisonous products, even if the injured person can't prove which company made the paint decades ago.

The harmful effects of lead paint have been known for 100 years. In 1904, Sherwin-Williams Co. publicized the hazards of white lead paint in its own monthly publication, according to the State Supreme Court decision.

But many manufacturers kept right on making and marketing it until 1978, when the federal government banned it for residential use.

More than 25 years later, lead paint, still in many older homes, continues to poison Wisconsin children every day. Some of those children will be permanently brain-damaged.

The Republican-run legislature is reacting by passing bills that will make sure no lead paint victim is ever able to hold any manufacturer accountable.

One of the provisions in the bill about to be passed puts a 25-year statute of limitations into place. Manufacturers would be liable only for products manufactured and sold within the last 25 years. Since this product was outlawed 27 years ago, victims and their families no recourse to win compensation for the injuries, often lifelong, caused by lead paint. That is truly justice denied.

Business and manufacturers, their lobbyists and knee-jerk free enterprise conservatives like to talk about greedy lawyers and use them as the bogeymen in their arguments on issues like this.

That's because they don't want to talk about the victims.

---

The Journal Sentinel's recent three-part series highlighted the problem in Milwaukuee.

Green orbits Planet Madison

Rep. Mark Green teed off on Wisconsin's capital city last week, calling it Planet Madison and ridiculing its political culture. It was one of those cheap shots a politician takes in front of a friendly audience, and Green thought the Badger Herald, the conservative paper on the UW campus, was safe, apparently.

But his comment got a lot more attention than he bargained for.

It didn't sit too well with Mayor Dave (on Planet Madison, everybody knows your name), who fired off a letter to Green:

I noted your comments as reported yesterday morning in The Badger Herald regarding ‘Planet Madison.’Insulting the 225,000 residents of Wisconsin’s second-largest city is a novel electoral strategy in your run for governor. Good luck with that approach.

Green, the mayor said, comes from Planet Washington, where he hangs out with inhabitants like indicted Republican Congressmen Tom DeLay and Duke Cunningham.

Now, in a Badger Herald opinion piece,Rob Rossmeissl asks: Is it possible to make people believe you take them seriously after you publicly label them lunatics?

There are a lot of voters on Planet Madison, and they're not all liberal loons. Green's line may play well outstate, but it'll cost him in Madison. A bad miscalculation. Let's see if Scott Walker can take advantage of it.

Speaking of dead-end political jobs ...

State Rep. Pedro Colon, D-Milwaukee, apparently has decided he has no aspirations for higher office. So he took this assignment, as the public face of the agency people love to hate.

Widgerson Library and Pub looks at it from a different angle, but needs a refresher in Spanish pronunciation. It's Co-LONE.

Madison gay-friendly, at the moment

Madison's long had a reputation as a Midwestern community that has welcomed gays and lesbians, so it is no surprise that the city is listed among the top 50 gay-friendly cities in the country in a new book.

Of course, there's that little piece of nastiness called a constitutional amendment that will be on the ballot next year, which could change that ranking. Gays and lesbians won't feel quite as welcome if the citizens of Wisconsin vote to take away their rights to be treated with respect as couples. They can't marry now in Wisconsin, but we don't rub their noses in it -- or restrict other recognition of longterm partnersips.

Passage of that amendment will be a clear message that gays are not welcome here, unless they don't mind being treated as second class citizens. That would be a big step backward.

Are we ready to let New Orleans die?

A New York Times editorial, which needs no further comment:

Death of an American City

We are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum.

We said this wouldn't happen. President Bush said it wouldn't happen. He stood in Jackson Square and said, "There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans." But it has been over three months since Hurricane Katrina struck and the city is in complete shambles...

Total allocations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terror have topped $300 billion. All that money has been appropriated as the cost of protecting the nation from terrorist attacks. But what was the worst possible case we fought to prevent?

Losing a major American city.

"We'll not just rebuild, we'll build higher and better," President Bush said that night in September. Our feeling, strongly, is that he was right and should keep to his word. We in New York remember well what it was like for the country to rally around our city in a desperate hour. New York survived and has flourished. New Orleans can too...

Maybe America does not want to rebuild New Orleans. Maybe we have decided that the deficits are too large and the money too scarce, and that it is better just to look the other way until the city withers and disappears. If that is truly the case, then it is incumbent on President Bush and Congress to admit it, and organize a real plan to help the dislocated residents resettle into new homes. The communities that opened their hearts to the Katrina refugees need to know that their short-term act of charity has turned into a permanent commitment.

If the rest of the nation has decided it is too expensive to give the people of New Orleans a chance at renewal, we have to tell them so. We must tell them we spent our rainy-day fund on a costly stalemate in Iraq, that we gave it away in tax cuts for wealthy families and shareholders. We must tell them America is too broke and too weak to rebuild one of its great cities.

Our nation would then look like a feeble giant indeed. But whether we admit it or not, this is our choice to make. We decide whether New Orleans lives or dies.

What if 'Daily Worker' backed Bucher?

The Capital Times tears Republican attorney general candidate a new orifice in an editorial on his extremist views.

Highlights from the edit:

...Van Hollen is now placing himself on the radical fringe of conservatism.

Two weeks ago, he was ranting about the "pro-gay" agenda of legislators who oppose discrimination against same-sex couples.

Last week, in a discussion about his legal philosophy, he effectively compared women who seek to terminate unsafe or unwanted pregnancies with murderers...

Van Hollen's statement caused a public outcry and he was forced to acknowledge that, under the law of the land, women have a right to make decisions about what happens with their own bodies. But he did not back off his comparison of such women to murderers. Nor did he suggest that he believes anything different...

There are many social conservatives who offer principled arguments for changing laws regarding abortion.

J.B. Van Hollen is not one of them. He has placed himself outside the mainstream, and that ought to place him outside of consideration by responsible Republicans.

How embarrassing would it be for Paul Bucher, Van Hollen's primary opponent, if the Capital Times -- the paper Joe McCarthy used to call the Madison Daily Worker -- endorsed him in the Republican primary? He'd never live it down. It could cost him the nomination, if the GOP's lunatic base found out.

Just to make sure that doesn't happen, watch for Bucher to say something even crazier and more extreme than Van Hollen in the days ahead. When he does, it probably won't be a strategic move, but just an unguarded moment -- like when he talked about how great it would have been if everyone in that Brookfield church service had been armed when a nutcase fired 22 shots in a matter of seconds and killed seven people.

Never fear. When it's all said and done, Bucher will be just as loony as Van Hollen.

Nobel Prize winner pulls no punches

In case it has escaped your notice, Nobel Prize winner for literature Harold Pinter had some remarkable things to say last week, guaranteed to make the right wing froth at the mouth. Such as trying George W. Bush and Tony Blair as war criminals, for example.

Matt Rothschild of The Progressive comments.

Pinter's text.

Scott Walker's 'holiday' message

-- Matt Bors, Idiot Box, via Cagle.
While the right wing sputters about the secularization of Christmas and legislators call for the State Capitol holiday tree to be called a Christmas tree, Milwaukee County Exec Scott Walker issues . . . a "holiday" message. He does say Christmas tree, however.

No evidence of wrongdoing, but plenty of innuendo in coverage

You may have missed this, hidden back inside the Sunday Crossroads section of the Journal Sentinel. The whole section is hard to find, unless someone is determined to read the editorials. I suspect that's a fairly small number.

The editorial, about the Public Service Commission's approval of the sale of a nuclear power plant after utility employees contributed to Gov. Jim Doyle's campaign, said:

There is no reason to believe that Doyle influenced the decision by the PSC - the majority of whose commissioners were appointed by Doyle - to first reject and then approve the sale of the Kewaunee nuclear plant, owned by Madison-based Alliant Energy Corp. and Green Bay-based Wisconsin Public Service Corp...

While there's no evidence that the governor exerted undue influence on the sale of the plant, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is asking legitimate questions. Questions that perhaps wouldn't have to be asked at all if the governor and the Legislature actually did something to reform a badly flawed campaign finance system.

Readers, unfortunately, are much more likely to have read and remember last week's front page story, with the headline: Doyle Donations preceded sale of nuclear plant. (The online headline was much milder.)

That story clearly suggested there was something wrong taking place. If not, why the big front page headline and story, a reader might wonder. There is no response from the PSC or the Doyle campaign on the front page; that comes after the story jumps to page 11, if a reader bothers to follow it. But the clear impression you're left with is that there's something fishy.

The paper has run a series of such "exposes" on the Doyle campaign, none of which has produced any evidence of wrongdoing.

It appears from Sunday's editorial that the paper is holding Doyle responsible for the fact that no new campaign finance laws have been passed to clean up the system. I don't know if the editors have been paying any attention lately, but the state legislature is solidly controlled by Republicans who haven't done anything Doyle wanted in three years and aren't about to start now.

I agree that the system needs to be cleaned up, and would like to see Doyle take the lead. But holding him responsible for what the legislature does or doesn't do makes no sense whatsoever. My advice to him (not that he's asked for any) would be to propose the toughest campaign finance reform bill ever written. He'd at least get some credit, but of course it wouldn't pass.

In the meantime, making it appear that every contribution is some kind of payoff does a real disservice and contributes to people's mistrust of government, which those same editorial writers bemoan.

No rational reason for gun permit secrecy

The late Erwin Knoll, editor of The Progressive magazine, used to say he not only believed in unilateral disarmament, he practiced it. In a world where it seemed like everyone was armed, he didn't own a gun.

Neither do I. (We have two fiercely barking dogs, though, so don't get any ideas.)

Knoll's quote came to mind while reading of the debate over whether to not only let people in Wisconsin carry concealed weapons, but to keep the list of permit holders secret, even from law enforcement.

The discussion produced some of the most unbelievable statements I've heard in awhile, as the bill's sponsors, State Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire, and State Rep. Scott Gunderson, R-Waterford, explained why it is so important to keep the names secret.

"It's silly to think we should have a list of permit holders available to the public," Gunderson said. "The beauty of the bill is that the criminal will not know who is or who is not carrying a weapon."

Of course, we don't know now who's carrying a weapon, either. Feel safe? Will you feel safer when another 100,000 people are carrying them?

Zien and other proponents said if the names and other information of concealed-carry permit holders were public, thieves would know where to find guns - a highly sought-after item in burglaries.

And if a criminal learns you don't carry a concealed weapon, "some people might see you as easy prey to rob, rape or murder," Zien said.

Talk about arguing both sides. If criminals know you don't have a gun they are more likely to rob, rape and murder you. And if criminals know you do have a gun they are more likely to break into your house.

Those arguments are plain lunacy.

Records of who has a hunting license are public, and presumably anyone with a hunting license has a gun in his or her home.

Do we think that burglars are checking the list of homes to rob against the hunting license list? Does anyone think they will check the list of permit holders? Get real. This is a bogus argument.

Unfortunately, it is being used as an argument to deny access to the list by people who actually need it -- law enforcement officers who are sent to the scene of a domestic dispute or other potentially dangerous situation. They will be dispatched to the scene without being able to check and determine whether they are likely to encounter someone with a gun.

But there is really no reason we all shouldn't have access to that information. It's bad enough to put tens of thousands of more guns on the street, without also keeping it a secret.

Fortunately, this bill is headed for another veto.

Wisconsin Dems too quiet on Iraq

While Republican Rep. Mark Green leads the Purple Finger caucus and continues to predict "victory" in Iraq, Wisconsin Democrats in Congress have, for the most part, been pretty quiet about the war. As they say in the Westerns, it's too quiet out there.

It was a pleasant surprise, then, to read Sunday that Reps. Gwen Moore and Tammy Baldwin are members of the "Out of Iraq" caucus founded by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. But the fact that it was surprising was also a sign of how little the two women have had to say on the issue.

Baldwin and Moore, along with Rep. Dave Obey and Sen. Russ Feingold, voted against going to war in Iraq. But while Feingold has been on the leading edge of efforts to set a target date for bringing US troops home, we have heard little from the others. They've practically been AWOL.

Baldwin and Moore are in safe Democratic districts and don't need to have a finger in the wind; they could lead public opinion in their districts, but have not chosen to do so yet. Obey has more foreign policy experience than anyone else in the delegation, but has been quiet on Iraq.

Two Wisconsin Dems, Sen. Herb Kohl and Rep. Ron Kind voted in 2002 to authorize force against Iraq.

Neither one supports Feingold's call for a timetable, but both are unhappy with what has transpired since their votes, the newspaper reported last week.

Kind says the Bush administration "purposefully misled" lawmakers about weapons of mass destruction, and "it's been very clear from the beginning that the timing and manner in which the president introduced troops in Iraq was a mistake."

Kohl doesn't support a timetable but told the Journal Sentinel the U.S. should significantly reduce its role next year.

Kind said he accepts the view of those in the military who have told him that timetables "set them up for failure, since conditions can change on the ground."

But Kind also said, "At some point, we've got to make it clear to the Iraqis we're not intending to stick around forever."

... [I]n the year 2006, the Iraqi people have to step up and take over sovereignty of their country and have to do a much bigger job of taking over the security of their country," Kohl said.

Kohl is on the ballot in 2006, as are all of the House members. It's hard to imagine that Iraq will not be a major issue in their campaigns. It would make sense to get out in front on it, even if there's a little political risk. This is a case where it is better to lead public opinion than to follow it. Some would say it's an obligation.

Quote, unquote

"While radical militant librarians kick us around, true terrorists benefit from OIPR's failure to let us use the tools given to us.This should be an OIPR priority!!!"

-- E-mail from FBI agent, complaining about the Patriot Act. OIPR is the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review.

Hat tip: Truthout.

Eugene McCarthy, the man who hoped he could both be right and be President, is dead at 89. He had to settle for being right.

He was never President, but he was right in 1968, and he did change the course of history, even if not exactly in the way he intended.

Washington Post story.

Earlier post: No, 2005 is not 1968. Or is it?

UPDATE: Paul Soglin recalls Allard Lowenstein's visit to Madison to start the Dump Johnson movement in Wisconsin.

A poll you can safely ignore

There is a new Edgewood College poll, which got a big story in the Capital Times on Saturday.

Here's my analysis: Don't waste your time.

The total sample is 225, not enough to tell you anything meaningful -- and totally worthless when you break it down into subgroups like city vs. county.

Read it here if you must. But don't be fooled into thinking it means anything.

I say that even though Jim Doyle beats Mark Green and Scott Walker about 4 to 1, and Kathleen leads Peg Lautenschlager for AG. I see no indication they even limited the AG primary question to Democrats. Even in Dane County, everyone's not a Democratic primary voter. The story goes back and forth between calling those surveyed "voters" and "residents," so it's not even clear who was surveyed.

Maybe details of the poll and methodology will clear up some of those questions if and when the college releases them. But it won't change the sample size, and that's a real problem.

Thumbs up on Feingold's Air America talk

Sen. Russ Feingold's Friday interview with Air America gets a good review from Bob Gieger on his Yellow Dog Blog:

While I still haven't entirely forgiven Feingold for voting in favor of John Ashcroft's confirmation, he articulates the Democratic position as well as anyone out there today and he does a tremendous job in this interview – including making it clear at one point that he thinks Donald Rumsfeld is a liar.

--Cal Grondahl, Utah Standard Examiner, via Cagle.

Putting out the unwelcome mat

Bill Wineke, a Wisconsin State Journal columnist who moonlights as a pastor, asks in his column why Wisconsin legislators seem so eager to put out the unwelcome mat and discourage people from coming to the state. First it was stem cell researchers; now it's gay men and lesbians. Who's next?

Another court says Newcomer misrepresented facts in business deals

Another lawsuit against Republican Assembly candidate Scott Newcomer, and another finding, by another court, of misrepresentation by Newcomer in a business deal.

Newcomer's on the ballot in Tuesday's GOP primary for the 33rd District seat in Waukesha County.

Once again, Eye On Wisconsin has the details.

Vets board turns down rule changeto insulate secretary from discharge

--By Gary Fisher

The Veterans Affairs Board Friday retreated from changing its rules to require a unanimous vote of all seven members to remove the secretary, and only for cause, giving the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs secretary virtual lifetime tenure.

The ill-fated effort to provide the secretary with a free ride was a short-round as the board prudently decided to keep the status quo.

In other words, it still takes a vote of five board members, not seven as originally proposed, to remove the secretary.

Significantly, money from the Veteran's Trust Fund cannot be used to pay the legal fees of a secretary facing removal from office for misconduct.

Board member Kathy Marschman, who proposed the arcane rule changes, was visibly absent at today's board meeting in Union Grove.

John Scocos, WDVA secretary, who would have immediately benefited from virtual lifetime tenure, reportedly left the meeting early before the vote was taken.

UPDATE: The board also voted to keep the stipend paid to participants in military funeral honor details at $50, rather than cut it to $35 as had been proposed.

---

UPDATE 2: The Associated Press story includes this denial:

Board chairman Ken Wendt said the backlash against the proposed rules did not influence Friday's decision.

"We're a nonpartisan body, and we do what's best for the veterans," he said. "By having a policy in place to remove a secretary or hire a secretary, we're doing our job."

Right. Without the attention generated byGary Fisher's dogged reporting on this issue, virtually ignored by the mainstream state media, the proposed rules would have slipped right through a month ago. -- Xoff.

Newest blogger on the block findsechoes of discrimination in marriage laws

Renee Crawford launches a new blog, Crawford's Take, today with some personal and relevant observations about discrimination and marriage. She writes of her parents:

At the time they married in the summer of 1966, it was ILLEGAL for them to get married in 38 states in the United States. They were in love and married against the general will of society in the island of Milwaukee where our Progressive tradition did not prevent their affirming that love and committing to each other legally.

They were not gay; they were of different races. But Crawford sees the parallels:

The reasons they gave for miscegenation laws are not very different than the reasons given today against same sex relationships. Mixing of races was considered against the laws of God and nature, there were worries about "the children", it was dangerous to society, sexually deviant and perverted, and could endanger the very institution of marriage itself. Sound familiar?

-- Matt Davies, Journal News, via Cagle.

Speaking of election fraud. . .

AG candidate J.B. Van Hollen's newsletter touts another big victory.

Van Hollen Wins Straw Poll Victory Over Primary Opponent
JB Rolls With 58 %; Nearly 52,000 Votes Cast In WisPolitics.com Straw Poll

With 58 percent of the vote over his primary opponent, JB won a decisive victory in the largest straw poll conducted to date in the race for Wisconsin attorney general. The poll was conducted by WisPolitics.com, a Wisconsin political news service and website. The poll was conducted online for roughly one week ending on Friday, December 2.

JB received an impressive 30, 477 votes in the poll, which had a total of 51,896 total votes cast.

That is impressive. Fifty-two thousand votes cast in an online poll? In Wisconsin? In one week? How many voters do you suppose it took to cast that many votes? There must be some people at both the Van Hollen and Bucher campaigns with serious carpal tunnel problems.

Others voting on war; Milwaukee should, too

While the Milwaukee Common Council considers whether to put a referendum on the Iraq war on the ballot, other communities in the state are moving forward to put the question to the voters on April 4.

Madison organizers collected enough petitions to get it on there (the petition drive fell short in Milwaukee, which is why it is up to the Council, which is to decide at its Tuesday meeting.)

Grassroots Shorewood filed 1105 signatures with the Village Clerk this week, which should be more than enough to get in on the ballot. The ballot question there is modeled on Sen. Russ Feingold's target date for withdrawal of troops by the end of 2006. There's more at their website.

In Whitefish Bay, organizers say they've contacted about half of the households in town and are close to having the number of signers they need by Dec. 19. The question there will be: "Should the United States now (which would be April 2006) begin withdrawing troops from Iraq, and continue steady withdrawals until all our troops are home?"

In Polk County, signatures have already been filed in Amery and will be in Frederic soon, organizers say.

Enough signatures have been filed in Algoma and Kewaunee, and it will be on the ballot in Evansville, too.

Still the works -- Sturgeon Bay, Osceola, Dresser, and a number of other bigger cities.

There are probably more. This is a grassroots effort organized in each community. The closest thing to a central information point is the website of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.

Milwaukeeans should get to vote, as I said before. If you live in the city, contact your alderman and ask him/her to vote Tuesday to let the people have a voice. Contact list.

Has GOP outfoxed itself on gay marriage?

Have the Republicans outfoxed themselves by delaying a vote on an anti-gay constitutional amendment until next November? Joel McNally, in a Shepherd Express column, thinks that might be the case.

My favorite line, although it doesn't really advance the argument:

Many politicians are such strong supporters of traditional marriage, they have committed it over and over. Some of them even have pseudo-wives in Madison to keep them from missing the ones they have back home so much.

Madison mayor recall fizzles

What a surprise. The group (is calling it a group giving it too much credibility?) trying to recall Madison's Mayor Dave has fallen far, far short of getting the signatures it needed, the State Journal reports.

Earlier post: Madison ain't Pewaukee, ain'a?

UPDATE: Citizens for Responsible (I say Republican) Government claims victory despite falling flat on its face.

One faithful reader says:

Apparently, recalls aren't about actually recalling people ... they're about, well, other stuff.

I do appreciate their candor, though, that among other things this recall was a "training exercise", and an attempt to organize for 2006 statewide elections. One might think that the initiation of hopeless recalls in order to develop voter ID lists is an abuse of the system. But that would be awfully cynical.

Wouldn't it?

Republican candidates confuse criticism with frontrunner status

Have you noticed how ever time some Republican gets attacked or criticized by the Dems, the R claims it's because he/she is the frontrunner?

Scott Walker and Mark Green do it all the time, each claiming he's the one Doyle is afraid to run against, therefore the attacks.

J.B. Van Hollen, Republican AG hopeful, is the latest to claim that being criticized is a badge of honor and makes him the frontrunner.

Actually, he drew some flak from the Dems because he stepped in it and said something dumb in a joint appearance with his primary opponent, Paul Bucher.

Asked at a WisPolitics debate whether “government should be involved in the personal decisions as to whether somebody should have an abortion,” Van Hollen said:

“You are not going to find me saying that I believe that that is something that should be the choice of an individual any more than I believe that homicide in any other circumstance should be the choice of a specific individual.”

When Van Hollen equated abortion with homicide, he painted a big target on himself and invited the Dems to fire away. Dem Chair Joe Wineke, always happy to oblige, did just that.

Among other things, Wineke said that "having a candidate for Attorney General refer to abortion as 'homicide' raises enormous red flags about both the priorities and philosophy such a viewpoint would bring to the office." Indeed it does.

Van Hollen's ">ridiculous response was to say that Wineke's release "confirms that he is the clear front runner in the GOP primary and Democrats are afraid their hold on the office of attorney general is in real jeopardy.

“I’m pro-life and proud of it. But I’ve been crystal clear that the attorney general’s job is to enforce the law and Roe v. Wade is the law of the land,” Van Hollen said.

Indeed it is, at least for the moment. But Van Hollen's fellow Republicans keep passing laws to restrict women's access to abortion and even to birth control and medical advice about preventing pregnancies. You can bet he'd be eager to enforce those invasions of women's rights and privacy as well.

I've had more negative things to say about Bucher than Van Hollen so far, mostly because Van Hollen has been pretty low profile. That's not because I think Bucher's the front-runner, though. I'm happy to shoot at any target that presents itself. If Van Hollen continues in this vein, you'll be reading a lot more about him on this blog, I suspect.

Letter to Lieberman: Let Joe Know

From Democracy in America:

Earlier this week while discussing the war in Iraq, Senator Joseph Lieberman said, "It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge he'll be commander-in-chief for three more critical years, and that in matters of war we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril."

Unfortunately, President Bush has no credibility. His administration misled our nation into the war in Iraq on trumped-up charges of weapons of mass destruction. His "stay the course" strategy has led to over 2,100 American deaths. And no one sees an end in sight.

It is disturbing enough that Senator Lieberman remains one of the president's biggest cheerleaders. But his call for opponents of the president's failed policy to keep quiet is outrageous.

The only way we will end this war is by having an honest debate about how and when we can bring our troops home.

Join me in sending Senator Lieberman an open letter asking him to join the majority of Americans in questioning the Bush administration's Iraq policy:

If Americans don't challenge a president who is bankrupting our treasury, damaging our moral leadership in the world, and jeopardizing our national security then we are failing our democracy.

Please co-sign the letter today.

GOP caught in Lambeau/Lombardi abuse

Jim Schuessler of Wisconsin Grasssroots Democrats caught GOP gov candidates Mark Green and Scott Walker both ripping off shots of Lambeau Field on their campaign websites to try to associate themselves with the Pack. Now, he's upped the ante, giving Green some exposure with Lombardi. Can a Scott Walker/Curly Lambeau shot be far behind?

Feingold threatens Patriot Act filibuster

House and Senate Republicans have reached agreement on a compromise version of the Patriot Act, but Sen. Russ Feingold is threatening a filibuster.

Feingold, the only senator to vote against the bill in 2001, said: "I will do everything I can, including a filibuster, to stop this Patriot Act Conference Report, which does not include adequate safeguards to protect our constitutional freedoms." His statement.

Feingold and five other senators, including three Republicans, issued a joint statement calling for more changes to the act.

WashPost story.

-- Working for Change. (Click on cartoon to enlarge.)
Apologies to Charlie Sykes for stealing all of his best lines.

'We can't win war on terror' -- G. W. Bush

When they're not complaining about Howard Dean and Democrats bad-mouthing the war in Iraq, the Republican National Committee is spreading the good news about the war on terror, how we're winning, and Republican support for it.

Today, the RNC falsely claimed that President Bush has always predicted victory in the War on Terror, and argued in a release that “President Bush Never Said We Couldn't Win And Has Laid Out Stategy for Victory.” In fact, last summer, on the first day of his convention, President Bush told Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Today Show” that he didn’t think “we can win it.”

NBC, "The Today Show", 8/30/04

MATT LAUER: You said to me a second ago, one of the things you'll lay out in your vision for the next four years is how to go about winning the war on terror. That phrase strikes me a little bit. Do you really think we can win this war of ter--on terror? For example, in the next four years?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I have never said we can win it in four years.

MATT LAUER: No, I'm just saying, can we win it? Do you say that?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I don't--I don't think we can win it.

New York Times Headline: "Bush Cites Doubt America Can Win War on Terror." "President Bush, in an interview broadcast on Monday, said he did not think America could win the war on terror but that it could make terrorism less acceptable around the world, a departure from his previous optimistic statements that the United States would eventually prevail." [New York Times, 8/31/04]

Hat tip: Ye Old DNC.

Have yourself a merry little holiday

-- Bob Engelhart, Hartford Courant, via Cagle.

Having taken care of the little stuff, like toting guns and hassling gays, Wisconsin lawmakers now can turn their attention to the major issue of the day.

Warms your cockles, doesn't it?

To 46 leggies who signed the letter: Get a life.

Candidate's business practices questioned; Court found evidence of misrepresentation

I have devoted almost no time or attention to the special primary election Tuesday in Waukesha County's 33rd Assembly District, because the winner is certain to be a conservative Republican and I don't particularly care which one it is.

The right-wing blogs seem to think Scott Newcomer is the frontrunner. He's the only one I've even mentioned, because he's the only one who doesn't actually live in the district he wants to represent. He got a pass from the State Elections Board saying he could vote there anyway.

Now, Eye On Wisconsin tells of a court case which raises serious questions about Newcomer's business practices.

The lawsuit was brought by someone who had bought a home inspection business franchise from him for $250,000 but realized the business was not as profitable as Newcomer had led them to believe.

The Court of Appeals found evidence the Newcomers had made misrepresentations to the buyers before the sale. For example, inconsistencies in documents suggested the Newcomers had altered data given to the prospective purchasers to make the business appear more profitable. Eye On Wisconsin has more details, and says it will report on a second case tomorrow.

A new low for Lieberman

-- Gary Varvel, Indianapolis Star News via Cagle.

Joe Lieberman has discredited what little remained of his Democratic bona fides by parroting the Bush line. Lieberman is so much of service to the Bush Administration that the Prince of Darkness himself, Dick Cheney, bestowed praise upon him, Matt Rothschild of The Progressive says.

Unfortunately, Dems are so tolerant (read wimpy) they never actually take anyone to the woodshed.

Norquist set the stage for city's success

There are a lot of good things happening in Milwaukee these days. Mayor Tom Barrett likes to say that Milwaukee's on a roll.

Milwaukee Magazine editor Bruce Murphy acknowledged in a recent online column that a good share of the credit for the city's downtown resurgence rightfully belongs to former Mayor John Norquist:

The real story is that Norquist's vision for Downtown is coming to fruition. For that matter, consider the development occurring in the Menomonee Valley. When Norquist talked about a clean green redevelopment of this area 15 years ago, nearly everyone (including me) thought he was crazy. Anything but, it turns out.

What the former mayor understood is that any development won't do; it has to maximize the advantages of the city. "Density matters,"the Brookings study concluded. "Producing low-density suburban models squanders the market advantages of centrally located real estate that many Downtown dwellers value."

Norquist was, and is, passionate about cities and making them livable. He wasn't always able to articulate it clearly. Sometimes it sounded a little goofy, and sometimes his personality got in the way. But he understands cities, what makes them work, and what makes them attractive places to live.

If you ever saw his slide show, you understand what he was talking about. He was at his best in that presentation, which he showed to anyone who would watch, from Rotary clubs to Vice-President Al Gore in his DC office. The slide show and his commentary brought together his love and knowledge of cities' history, architecture, planning, transportation, zoning, design, and more.
It's unfortunate that he isn't in Milwaukee to see the results of the groundwork he laid during nearly 16 years as mayor. He knew the city like few others did; he could tell you the history of practically any neighborhood or intersection you happened to pass. He cared about detail, to the point of driving the city with his public works commissioner to look for ways to squeeze in more parking spaces in crowded areas.

People are flocking now to live downtown, in condo and loft developments. The Third Ward's resurgence has now spilled over to the south into the Fifth Ward, and Kinnickinnic, Bay View's Main Street -- a street he loved and featured in his slide show -- is booming. the Milwaukee Public Market, which he had the vision to support, is open and drawing throngs of shoppers. Park East development isn't coming as quickly as many would like, but it is coming, and his vision of taking down the freeway spur will benefit Milwaukee for decades to come.

He got little credit for anything positive while he was mayor. People were impatient and blamed him for the inability of the Grand Avenue mall to attract major retail outlets. But he understood that downtown retail demands people who live downtown, not just work there 9 to 5. Now that's happening, too.

History may eventually give him his due. Right now, two years after leaving office under a cloud, he gets little or no credit. But if Milwaukee is on a roll -- and it truly is -- John Norquist is the one who started it rolling.

---

Disclosure: I managed Norquist's first campaign for mayor in 1988 and was the chief strategist for his three re-election campaigns, in addition to serving from 1996-98 as his chief of staff.

Officials get raises, vets' funerals face cut

Report below from Gary Fisher, virtually the only reporter who seems interested in what's going on at the state Dept. of Veterans Affairs, although the current Blue Book says there are about 470,000 veterans living in Wisconsin. Opinions are his. The board will also consider Friday whether to change its rules to require a unanimous vote of all seven members to remove the secretary, and only for cause, giving the secretary virtual lifetime tenure. -- Xoff.

---

IT'S LONELY AT THE TOP
"Listen to the band, they're playing just for me
Listen to the people paying just for me
All the applause-all the parades
And all the money I have made
Oh, it's lonely at the top."
-Randy Newman

The top executives at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs are in line for $28,000 in merit pay raises at the same time the department is considering a 30% cut in the stipends paid to those who conduct military funerals for the state's veterans.

"We finally get (general purpose revenue) to pay for the military funeral honors program, and WDVA managers give themselves pay increases," said State Rep. Terry Musser, a Black River Falls Republican and Vietnam vet.

In August, the board authorized an immediate increase for John Scocos, WDVA secretary, and Scocos authorized six more awards in September, which, according to an informed source, the board doesn't know much of, or anything about.

The $28,000 is in what are called discretionary compensation awards (DCAs), also known as "merit" raises.

"How can you justify a DCA while vets, surviving spouses and children are taking cuts?" asked Board Member Marv Freedman, who said he was unaware of the raises.

The raises go to Scocos, Bill Kloster, Anthony Hardie, Tom Rhatican, John Crowley, Ken Grant and Amelia Franke.

Calculating annual salaries by multiplying the hourly salary times 2088 workable hours in a year, the total for all seven is $28,075; and for the six managers the
total is $25,557.

Notwithstanding Scocos' "revenue up, costs down" mantra, the increases benefit:

Scocos = $2.336 ($4,878) to $56.730 an hour equals $118,452 a year.
Kloster = $2.162 ($4,514) to $47.042 ($98,224)
Hardie = $2.002 ($4,180) to $43.070 ($89,930)
Rhatican = $1.854 (3,871) to $41.424 ($86,493)
Crowley = $.706 ($1,474) to $44.326 ($92,553)
Grant = $3.180 ($6,640) to $33.627 ($70,213)
Franke = $1.206 ($2,518) to $22.897 ($47,809)

WDVA has three funds: Veterans Trust Fund, Mortgage Loan Fund and Veterans Home Fund, and, depending on the employee's position, the DCA pay raise is generated from one or more of those funds.

After concerns were expressed by the state Legislature, no change has been made, yet, to the stipend program. It will be discussed at the next board meeting Friday in Union Grove.

Part of the military funeral honors program, the $50 stipends are proposed to be cut to $35. They are funded from a state general fund appropriation, at $175,500 annually. The stipends go to members of veterans service organizations (like the VFW, American Legion) who provide honor guards at veterans' funerals.WDVA has two funeral honors teams, and they are funded from a segregated appropriation funded from the veterans trust fund.

The military funeral honors program assists funeral directors and families by providing and coordinating funeral honors for veterans. Based on available resources the honorary ceremony may include the presence of military members or volunteers, folding and presenting the flag, firing of three rifle volleys, and sounding of Taps.

Who will have those concealed weapons?

Is this what they mean by the law of unintended consequences?

Dilemma for Green -- Campaign or do his job?

This is one of those things that get a politician into trouble.

It's always a dilemma for members of Congress -- do they stay in Washington and do their job, or come back to Wisconsin and campaign?

Rep. Mark Green decided this time to raise money in Wisconsin instead of voting on issues in the House. Attending fundraisers sounds even worse than if you miss a vote to keep a speaking engagement or some other date that seems more legitimate.

Every time Green chooses Wisconsin over Washington in that kind of situation, it will cost him.

Meanwhile, his primary opponent for the GOP nomination for gov, Milwaukee County Exec Scott Walker, doesn't have to punch any clock at the courthouse -- or be there for any particular meetings of votes. His time is his own. Big advantage.

If Green continues to miss votes to run for office, will Walker speak up, or just hope the Democrats continue to do his dirty work?

'Let the people vote on war'

The Capital Times takes the Journal Sentinel to task for its editorial opposing a City of Milwaukee referendum on the Iraq war.

I agree.

40% say get out of Iraq now

Quinnipiac news release:

AMERICANS SAY FIGHT TERROR, BUT NOT IN IRAQ,
QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY NATIONAL POLL FINDS;
MANY SAY GET OUT OF IRAQ NOW

American voters say 77-17 percent that the U.S. should continue a global war on terrorism, but almost 60 percent of voters say the U.S. should withdraw its troops from Iraq, with 40 percent who say get out immediately, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll.

Another 4 percent say get out in six months; 10 percent say get out in one year and 5 percent say get out in two to three years. Only 34 percent of voters oppose setting a deadline or immediate withdrawal.

Going to war in Iraq was the wrong thing to do, American voters say 54 – 41 percent, the lowest support in any poll by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. And voters say 49 – 46 percent that the Bush Administration deliberately misled the American people in making its case for the war.

“Americans want to fight terror, but they don't think Iraq is the place to do it. Forty percent say ‘get out now,’ and another 19 percent favor a phased withdrawal,” said Maurice Carroll, Director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Not only is the President pushing an unpopular war, Americans think he lied to get us into it."

The poll also showed Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton in a tight race for president -- although those numbers reflect mainly name recognition. Both support the Iraq war, which could be problematic in the long run.

Bush continues war on Christmas

My card hasn't arrived yet -- my ZIP code sometimes seems to take longer -- but the word is out on the 2005 "holiday" cards from the White House.

And President Bush, who is closer to God than any President we've ever had, has once again ignored the Christ child.

The base is unhappy, the Washington Post reports. And with good reason. We've got to put Christ back in Christmas, or my name's not Xofferson.

Earlier post: Bushes declare war on Christmas.

---

Now, Chris Micklos offers his explanation in a Christmas story,

"The Bush Who Stole Christmas."

Enjoy.

Rely on this from Walker, Green -- Both are consistently inconsistent

Rep. Mark Green's e-newsletter this week reminds voters that his primary opponent, Milwaukee County Exec Scott Walker, has flip-flopped on the life and death issue of whether to allow people to carry concealed weapons in Wisconsin.

Green's right. Walker did change his position, temporarily, in an example of the kind of posturing and opportunism that gives politics a bad name.

In 1999, Walker co-sponsored a concealed weapons bill, which never came to the floor for a vote.

But in 2001, when a nearly identical bill was introduced, Walker didn't sign on.

And when it came to the Assembly floor for a vote, he was all over the map. He voted in favor of suspending the rules to consider the bill. But the next vote was on a motion to table the bill, and Walker voted yes, although the tabling motion failed.

Next came votes to exempt the City of Milwaukee from the bill, which was tabled 70-28 with Walker voting to table, and to exempt Milwaukee County from the bill, also tabled 67-31,with Walker voting to table.

Finally, when the bill passed 58-40, Walker voted no.

So he flip-flopped multiple times, and even failed to support exempting Milwaukee City or County from the bill, even after he had apparently decided he was opposed to the bill.

What was going on? Why was he so conflicted about a bill he had supported in the previous session?

It's simple. The votes took place in February 2002, and Walker was running for county executive.

Milwaukee is one place people don't support concealed carry, and think we have enough guns on the street. So Walker, trying to add some moderate city dwellers to his supporters, pandered on the issue and simply switched sides. He couldn't bring himself to go all the way and vote to exempt Milwaukee, but he could say he voted against the bill.

When he ran for reelection as county exec, his opponent David Riemer asked him where he stood on concealed carry, and Walker -- now planning a statewide race for governor -- said he supported it.

These days, with the campaign in full swing and Walker trying to win a statewide Republican primary, he is a rabid supporter of concealed carry.

It's just another example of how both Walker and Green do what's in their own political interests at the moment, instead of acting from some principled position.

This week's hoo-haw over repealing the gas tax indexing is another example. Walker and Green are all over it, urging the legislature to stop "taxation without representation." They don't mention that when they were in the Assembly, both of them voted to continue the system of raising the gas tax automatically every year. But that was then, and this is now.

With two candidates who will do or say whatever they think it takes to win, and change positions whenever it's politically expedient, this should be an interesting primary.

Real 'victory' in Iraq is not going to happen

Howard Dean says we're not going to win the war in Iraq. Well, no shit, Sherlock. What gave you your first clue?

Republicans, however, are upset that someone told the truth.

Let's start with what Dean, the Democratic national chairman, actually said:

Democratic Chairman Howard Dean on Monday likened the war in Iraq to Vietnam and said, "The idea that the United States is going to win the war in Iraq is just plain wrong,". . .

In an interview with WOAI-AM in San Antonio, Dean criticized what he called President Bush's "permanent commitment to a failed strategy" while saying, "We need to be out of there and take the targets off our troops back." Dean recalled that the strategy to stay the course in Vietnam cost thousands more lives to be lost.

"I wish the president had paid more attention to the history of Iraq before we had gotten in there," Dean said. "The idea that we're going to win this war is just plain wrong."

Oh, no, it's not, says Wisconsin Republican Chair Rick Graber. We're winning, can't you tell? From a Graber press release, parroting the party line:

"It is disappointing to see that Howard Dean, in saying that we can’t win in Iraq, is joining other Democrat leaders in supporting retreat and defeat in the focal point in the War on Terror. Merely days before historic elections, Dean’s comments serve to undermine the significant progress that has been made in Iraq. . . I encourage Democrat leaders in Wisconsin to reject his remarks and defeatist strategy.”

OK, I know the President said "victory" 15 times in his speech at Anapolis, because his pollster told him to. But that doesn't mean we can "win" in Iraq.

Just what would "victory" be? What would it take to "win?"

Since the Bush administration has never defined victory -- because it never had a plan for achieving it -- victory can be whatever we decide it is.

Maybe it's time for the Vietnam solution proposed by the late Sen.George Aiken, R-Vermont: "Declare victory and get out." (I'm not the first to say that. Helen Thomas wrote a column saying that very thing about Iraq on Sept. 12, 2003.

The Bushies sent troops into Iraq expecting them to be welcomed by the populace as conquering heroes, you may recall. Instead, they are reviled as occupiers. Most of the people of Iraq, the ones we are "liberating," want US troops gone.

Bush can say "victory" over and over again. Just like the May 1, 2003 "Mission Accomplished" sign, it doesn't mean a thing.

Howard Dean is right. We can't win. We should quit pretending we can and start planning an exit, while Joe Lieberman and Mark Green plan their Victory in Iraq rallies.

Hillary's red state strategy for '08

The leaked memo.

I dunno if it's real. I mean, If you were gonna leak it, would you give it to Arianna Huffington or John Nichols?

"Many contractors make donations' but not all make news: JS editor

Wondering why a wire story about County Executive Scott Walker's award of a no-bid contract to a campaign contributor didn't make the Journal Sentinel, although it was reported by many other news outlets,the Dem Party's communication director asked the guy who runs the daily news operation, Managing Editor George Stanley.

Here is the exchange, with his less than satisfactory reply:

From: Jessica Erickson [mailto:jessicae@wisdems.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 2:27 PM
To: George Stanley
Subject: Noncoverage on Walker No-bid contract for campaign donors

Hi George,

I was wondering why the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has so far ignored the below AP story on Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker approving a $250,000 no-bid county contract for a campaign donors’ firm – especially when the paper has devoted so much coverage to a proper contract by Governor Doyle’s Administration that was the best price for taxpayers, was properly done, and was with a Wisconsin company.

I hope to see the paper report on this Walker story in tomorrow’s edition.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Jessica Erickson
Communications Director
Democratic Party of Wisconsin

---------------------------------------------------------
From: George Stanley [mailto:GSTANLEY@journalsentinel.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 5:00 PM
To: Jessica Erickson
Subject: RE: Noncoverage on Walker No-bid contract for campaign donors

Dear Ms. Erickson:

After receiving your email, I asked our reporters about this and learned that David Umhoefer and columnists Cary Spivak and Daniel Bice had checked this out, determined that the contributions were small, that the county’s “time out’’ rule for contributions during contract procedures had not been violated, and that there was nothing suspicious about how the contract was granted.

Dave Umhoefer reported on the contract at the time – it was an emergency situation with hospital ERs overflowing with mentally ill folks and the firm that got the contract had had county contracts for years.

Many contractors make political donations, and we check them out without regard to political party, but not all of them are suspicious or cause for news stories.

I hope this answers your question. I have received a number of emails this afternoon, in what appears to be a coordinated campaign, and I would appreciate it if you could send this response to others you have asked to contact me.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

George Stanley
Managing Editor
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Actually, I am the one who asked people to e-mail Stanley and ask why this story has not seen the light of day in the state's largest newspaper. I have no idea who may have contacted him, nor does Jessica. But if you did, it doesn't sound like you should hold your breath waiting for a reply.

Now, to his reply. The unanswered question is what makes this different from the Adelman Travel contract, which has prompted a series of stories, complaints, and an investigation, largely driven by the newspaper's coverage.

The next question is whether anyone has investigated the other contract awarded to those same donors, in a bidding process where the winning firm ranked near the bottom of the pile.

If these Walker contracts are not worth a story, why was the Doyle contract? Fairness and equal treatment is the real question. Perhaps someone should ask Stanley that.

---

Menwhile, the person who uncovered the story in the first place, Cory Liebmann of Eye On Wisconsin, has posted an open letter to Stanley. Let's see if he gets a response.

Open Letter to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Mr. George Stanley, Managing Editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

On November 21, 2005 I posted an investigative story entitled “Contract Questions for Scott Walker”. That same morning I called your newsroom and notified them of the existence of that post and it’s contents. A week went by and I saw nothing about the story in your paper so I decided to email you. If you recall, you responded by telling me “Thanks, we’ll check into this.” I must admit that I was heartened by your short message. I received that email two weeks ago today and still nothing has been mentioned in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Yesterday the AP picked up one part of our investigative report and actually reported on it. This, in turn, has been picked up by several newspapers and a few television stations, but still nothing from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Now perhaps you are investigating a whole new aspect of this matter or maybe you are planning for a story in tomorrow’s paper. In the name of balanced coverage, I hope that this is the case.

As you know, you have reported several times on the contract issue with Governor Doyle. I believe you even had one of the stories on the front page. You also had a lengthily editorial on one occasion. This on a contract that was actually bid and won by Adelman Travel. One of the contracts that we expose in our report is a no-bid contract to a company whose executives contributed to Scott Walker. Yet another one was worth a whopping $1.2 million and was awarded to the same company even though their scores did not even place them in the top 4 of those competing. This alone should warrant a story in the hometown paper shouldn’t it? Your paper even quoted very serious comments by Walker against Doyle, regarding the travel contract. In my opinion, this puts even more responsibility on you to report on this potential Walker scandal.

Am I missing something here? Is there a legitimate reason that this is not newsworthy? If this is the case, please explain. Explain why not only I am mistaken but also why the AP and others are mistaken as well. Without this explanation, we can only assume that you have “a horse in this race” and it just might be the Milwaukee County Executive.

Sincerely,

Cory Liebmann
Eye on Wisconsin

Bushes declare war on Christmas

-- Jeff Parker, Florida Today, via Cagle
This may come as a surprise, if you have been paying any attention to the right-wing's complaints about the plot to make Christmas a secular holiday. (As someone who has taken Christ out of Christofferson I am also suspect.) Anyway, Think Progress reports:

President Bush’s War on Christmas

This shocking event occured at the White House this morning:

Laura Bush ended the event by saying, “So have a very, very happy holiday to everybody. Have fun. ”

If Ms. Bush watched more Bill O’Reilly she’d know how offensive her remarks were to Christians:

GUEST: “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy Holidays,” Bill, does not offend Christians.

O’REILLY: Yes, it does. It absolutely does. And I know that for a fact.

Look before leaping into water compact

Is Wisconsin going to race to be the first state to take the plunge and ratify a new Great Lakes management compact? It is beginning to look that way, with lawmakers in both parties seemingly anxious to get credit.

Jim Rowen, writing for WisOpinion,warns that Wisconsin should look before it leaps.

Democratic and Republican legislators are rushing to make Wisconsin one of the first states to ratify a new U.S.-Canadian management plan for the Great Lakes.

Historians, and our grandchildren, and their grandchildren, will lament it as an historic mistake.

'No organized voter fraud' in Milwaukee; GOP prosecutor discovers the obvious

UPDATE: Republican Chair Rick Graber peeps up. And I do mean peeps. This is the whole statement. Not a word about IDs.

“In light of the results of the U.S. Attorney’s investigation into voter fraud in Milwaukee, the Republican Party of Wisconsin continues to maintain that one case of voter fraud is one too many. The investigation is still ongoing, with more prosecutions possible. Moreover, this does not take into account the problems with voter fraud that have been uncovered statewide. We continue to believe that, in the interest of both parties and for the sake of restoring integrity to the election system, we need to be vigilant in weeding out and preventing voter fraud.”

---

Given how many times I've written on this subject, I would be remiss if I did not say I told you so. And the Republicans are strangely silent today.

From the front page of today's Journal Sentinel:

No vote fraud plot found
Inquiry leads to isolated cases, Biskupic says

By STEVE SCHULTZE

The nearly yearlong investigation into voter fraud in 2004 has yielded no evidence of a broad conspiracy to try to steal an election, U.S. Attorney Steve Biskupic said Monday.

He predicted that perhaps "a couple of dozen" isolated cases of suspected fraud might be charged, and he said that sloppy recordkeeping by election officials was a key impediment to proving such cases.

Nothing in the cases that his office has examined has shown a plot to try to tip an election, Biskupic said during a meeting with Journal Sentinel editors and reporters.

Critics had raised such fears of partisan voter fraud schemes in the election aftermath. But Biskupic said, "I wouldn't say that at all."

He said, "We don't see a massive conspiracy to alter the election in Milwaukee, one way or another."

Biskupic, a Republican whom President Bush appointed in 2002, and Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann, a Democrat, announced a joint effort to investigate allegations of illegal voting in January. . .

Just for the record, here is the scorecard:

Four of the 18 people accused of felonies in the investigation have been convicted, officials said Monday.

Here is the breakdown of cases:

Federal prosecutors have charged 14 people: 10 felons with voting illegally and four people with double voting.

Four of the felons accused of illegal voting were convicted, one was acquitted and five cases are pending, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Frohling said.

None of the four people charged with double voting has been convicted. Charges against one person were dismissed because of mental incompetence, one person was acquitted, one trial resulted in a hung jury, and one person who agreed initially to plead guilty now wants a trial, Frohling said.

Two of those charged with double voting were driven to several polling places in the same van, but the driver hasn't been identified, and no evidence of an organized conspiracy has been uncovered, Frohling said.

McCann's office has charged four people with felonies in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Two people affiliated with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now were charged with filing false voter registrations, and two felons were accused of illegal voting. None of those cases has been resolved.

Please remember that 277,000 people voted in the city in the last presidential election. Eighteen people have been charged. Four have been convicted.

But the fairy tale of "massive voter fraud" in Milwaukee, has been repeated endlessly by the Republicans and reported hysterically by the media, especially the Journal Sentinel, which has killed entire forests to print its long stories on the subject.

Milwaukee's "fraud" has become the rationale for requiring every voter in Wisconsin to show a photo ID card at the polls.

The real reason Republicans want to do that is to discourage the poor and minorities from voting, because they tend to vote Democratic and are less likely to havthete required IDs. The elderly also will be affected, but they are not really the GOP's target.

The GOP-run legislature has repeatedly passed a photo ID bill and sent it to Gov. Jim Doyle for his certain veto. They have never been willing to compromise and offer a bill that would require ID without disenfranchising tens of thousands of people. Now they are proposing a constitutional amendment to require photo IDs.

What is the crisis that requires us to amend the state constitution, impose another burden on voters, and create a bigger bureaucracy?

It's not the felons who voted. Photo ID would not have helped, because they used their own names. (There are steps being taken to prevent felons from voting in future elections, however.)
So just what is the problem the GOP is trying to solve? Simple: Too many Democrats voting in Milwaukee. They are not trying to steal the election; they are simply trying to win it.

So are the Republicans, by keeping Democrats away from the polls and making it as hard as possible for them to vote.

Today's story.

Walker's no-bid contract to donors rates no coverage in hometown paper

Do you remember how crazed the Republican radio talkers and their blogging buddies were when they thought the Journal Sentinel wasn't giving enough attention to the Doyle administration's awarding of a contract to Adelman Travel?

To put it delicately, they went apeshit, with cries of double standard, whitewash, liberal media conspiracies, and who knows what else. The state's biggest newspaper wasn't covering the story, which McSykes & Co. saw as a major scandal.

The "scandal?" Doyle's administration had given a contract to a company whose CEO is a Doyle donor, and who gave to Doyle's campaign both before and after the contract was awarded. The firm that came in second said the process was fair, but after enough media coverage changed its mind and complained.

That brings us to yesterday's Associated Press story on a contract awarded by the Scott Walker administration in Milwaukee County.

It's a $250,000 contract, awarded without bids, to a company whose executives gave money to Walker's campaign before and after getting the contract. In this case, Walker himself signed off on it. (Doyle did not see, authorize or approve the Adelman contract.)

The Journal Sentinel did not run the AP story on Walker at all. Not only was it not on the top of the front page, where one of several Adelman stories ran, but it was not on the back page, not in the Metro section, not on the obituaries page. It was spiked.

So let's review the AP story, which begins:

Walker OK'd no-bid contract for donors' firm

County executive potential Doyle rival

BY RYAN NAKASHIMA
Associated Press

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, a potential gubernatorial rival who slammed Gov. Jim Doyle for taking campaign donations from a firm that won business from the state, himself approved a $250,000 no-bid county contract for a company run by campaign donors, records show.

Walker approved the contract to provide eight beds for mental health patients awarded in December 2004 to Bell Therapy, a subsidiary of Milwaukee-based Phoenix Care Systems Inc., a county official confirmed.

Campaign finance records show Phoenix executives donated $2,375 to the Friends of Scott Walker campaign from 2002 to 2005, including $1,475 in the year the company received the contract. Two donations were made Aug. 26, 2004, four months before the deal was awarded.

Walker told the AP he did nothing wrong.

Phoenix CEO Leonard Dziubla said any connection between campaign donations and its contract was a "magic leap." "It's a personal contribution and I believe in his philosophy," Dziubla said.

Walker faces U.S. Rep. Mark Green of Green Bay in the GOP primary to take on Doyle in next year's election and has said he would "clean up state government." He has criticized a state contract for airplane tickets worth an estimated $750,000 awarded to Adelman Travel in March after a top company executive donated $10,000 to Doyle's campaign. A member of the Adelman board donated another $10,000 to the governor after the contract was awarded. Local, state and federal authorities are reviewing the donations.

"There's absolutely no similarities between what happened with the Doyle administration and what happened in this particular case you're referencing," Walker said.

Walker's right. There is no similarity in the two cases because Walker didn't even ask for bids before giving this contract to his campaign donors.

There is another contract involving the same firm which didn't make the AP story, and which raises even more questions. It is more complicated, in a way, than the no-bid contract - so maybe the Journal Sentinel needs more time to work on it. But I doubt it, since the newspaper has a history of covering up for Walker at worst and giving him the benefit of the doubt at best.

Cory Liebmann, on his Eye On Wisconsin blog, is the one who did the investigative work and blew the whistle on both contracts. Here's his description of the other one:

In 2004, Phoenix Care Systems and seven other companies went through a bidding process for a Milwaukee County contract. During this same year two Phoenix executives gave to the Walker campaign (pages 1 and 2). Five of the seven companies competing with Phoenix scored higher than them, yet Phoenix ended up getting the contract (Scored pages 1, 2, and 3). Phoenix was chosen for the contract less than three months after the two executives gave their last gifts of the year to Walker. This was no small contract (remember the Adelman contract was only $250,000). The Milwaukee County contract that was awarded to Phoenix was for $1,248,112!

You can get more detail from Eye On Wisconsin here.

It appears you are unlikely to get them from the Journal Sentinel.

(You might want to e-mail the managing editor, George Stanley, at gstanley@journalsentinel.com and ask why. He seems eager to answer Jessica McBride's questions about coverage. If he answers yours, please let me know what he says.

Proposed rule changes benefit veterans secretary, not veterans

A rule change pending before the state Board of Veterans Affairs would allow the agency's head to be dismissed by the board only for cause, and only with the votes of all seven board members. It looks like a partisan political ploy, designed to keep Secretary John Scocos, a Republican appointee, in power even if Democrats gain a majority of seats on the board and want to replace him. The secretary now serves at the pleasure of the board. The proposed rule change is now scheduled for action on Friday. Gary Fisher, who has been following the issue, checks in with this:

The Fabulous "409"

She's real fine my 409
She's real fine my 409
My 409

Well I saved my pennies and I saved my dimes
(Giddy up giddy up 409)
For I knew there would be a time
(Giddy up giddy up 409)
When I would buy a brand new 409
(409, 409)

Nothing can catch her
Nothing can touch my 409
(409 409 409 409)
Giddy up 409
(409 409 409 409)
Giddy up 409
(409 409 409 409)

-The Beach Boys

"Backwards dancing."

That's what one vet calls the Veterans Affairs Board's swift retreat on rules compromising the statutory requirement that the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs secretary serve at the board's pleasure. The rule change is now scheduled to be acted on Friday.

As originally proposed, Rule 4.09 requires seven votes to remove the secretary from office for wrongdoing. It doesn't take a unanimous vote of members present. If there's a board vacancy it's impossible to get seven votes, and the secretary is protected.

DVA Secretary John Scocos should encourage the board not to adopt the proposed changes, State Rep. Terry Musser, R-Black River Falls, a Vietnam vet, said. "The John Scocos I know would be urging the board not to adopt these unreasonable changes on hiring and firing the secretary," he said.

The proposed changes also give the board chair unprecedented power in appointing a special committee, determined by the chair, to replace the secretary. But Board Chair Ken Wendt pretty much scrapped that idea.

During a board teleconference, Wendt said he wouldn't support a rule change that would give "unilateral powers" to a secretary.

The proposed rule changes would also enable the secretary to pick and choose his or her own legal counsel and the department budget or veteran's trust fund would pay defense attorney fees.

Board member Walt Stenavich said the department shouldn't have to pay even reasonable attorney fees if a secretary is charged with misconduct or mismanagement in office. Stenavich also supports five votes to amend board procedures; so if three board members object, it's not going to happen.

Changing the rules won't benefit vets. It punches Scocos' ticket and solidifies his influence by insulating him from any possibility of losing his job unless he's caught with his hand in the till or otherwise breaking the law.

Another Vietnam vet said, "It comes down to whether the secretary serves at pleasure of the board or board must demonstrate cause to dismiss, that's the battle."

The board could decide not to vote on the changes, to table, postpone, or defeat them. But the proposed changes to the board's rules of procedures are on the agenda when the board meets at 9 a.m. Friday, Dec. 9 in Union Grove.

A staffer for Rep. Jerry Petrowski, R-Marathon, member of the Military Affairs Committee, said they'd "be keeping watch and monitoring" the board's action on the proposed rule changes.

Shielding Scocos, board member Kathy Marschman takes all the credit for the arcane changes, but she offers no explanation why such sweeping modifications are necessary.

Board member Pete Moran reasons the board and the agency should be nonpartisan in its responsibility to make the right decisions for the benefit of state veterans.

"I know that we can appoint a department secretary in a nonpartisan manner," said Moran. "There is no reason to believe that we would act otherwise in removing the secretary, if misconduct or mismanagement is evident."

And that would not require any rule changes.

Walker approved $250,000 no-bidcontract to campaign donor, AP reports

Well, what do you know? The news media have reported that Scott Walker personally approved a $250,000 no-bid contract that went to a campaign donor.

He was all over a story about Gov. Jim Doyle's admministration awarding a contract to a travel agency whose officers had donated to Doyle, calling for Doyle to return the money, rebid the contract, and scourge himself in public with a whip.

This Milwaukee County contract can't be rebid, of course, because it was never bid in the first place. The firm in question did get another contract that went out for bids, though -- except that the "winning" firm (the Walker donors) ranked near the bottom of the pile. That one could be re-bid, and Walker could give back the money, for starters.

Cory Liebmann at Eye On Wisconsin broke the original story and has continued to ask questions and prod the media to report it. He rates a gold star on this effort.

Do you think it will be the top-line story in the Journal Sentinel, as the Doyle story was, or is McSykes right about there being a double standard?

Here's the AP story:

Records show Walker approved no-bid contract to campaign donor

RYAN NAKASHIMA
Associated Press

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, a potential gubernatorial rival who slammed Gov. Jim Doyle for taking campaign donations from a firm that won business from the state, himself approved a $250,000 no-bid county contract for a company run by campaign donors, records show.

Walker approved the contract to provide eight beds for mental health patients awarded in December 2004 to Bell Therapy, a subsidiary of Milwaukee-based Phoenix Care Systems Inc., a county official confirmed.

Campaign finance records show Phoenix executives donated $2,375 to the Friends of Scott Walker campaign from 2002 to 2005, including $1,475 in the year the company received the contract. Two donations were made Aug. 26, 2004, four months before the deal was awarded.

Walker told The Associated Press he did nothing wrong.

Phoenix CEO Leonard Dziubla said any connection between campaign donations and its contract was a "magic leap."

"It's a personal contribution and I believe in his philosophy," Dziubla said.

Walker, a Republican, hopes to unseat Democrat Doyle in next year's election, and has said he would "clean up state government." He has criticized a state contract worth an estimated $750,000 awarded to Adelman Travel in March after the company donated $10,000 to Doyle's campaign.

"There's absolutely no similarities between what happened with the Doyle administration and what happened in this particular case you're referencing," Walker said.

Walker said Bell Therapy was a long-standing mental health services provider that won an expanded contract, while Adelman was bidding for a new one. The county contract also was approved by the county board and recommended by a panel that included consumer advocates. The Adelman contract was approved only by the state administration.

"It's all stuff that goes before the county board. They have to approve that. There's a whole elaborate process that's set up. It's unlike the situation that they're talking about with Adelman Travel, where the administration approves that and there are no checks and balances," Walker said.

The nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a group that advocates campaign finance reform, said both deals were suspect.

"Whenever there is a decision made to suspend a competitive bidding process and the company that gets the work also happens to be a generous campaign donor, that does not pass the smell test," executive director Mike McCabe said.

Adelman Travel won a contract after a bidding process in which it did not rank the highest on a 1,200-point scale.

Bell Therapy won its no-bid deal after mental health care givers in the county determined beds were needed immediately to clear a backup in hospital emergency rooms, said James Hill, the administrator of the county's Behavioral Health Division.

"It made good policy sense and it made good treatment and clinical sense," Hill said.

Bell had provided eight crisis respite beds for mental health patients in the county since at least February 2001, when it also won a no-bid contract, he said. It made sense to award the company another contract because it had an available facility, he said.

After winning the deal in December, the facility was up and running by Feb. 1, Hill said.

A competitor, Health Care for the Homeless of Milwaukee Inc., said it may have been able to provide the same service in the same timeframe more cheaply, if it was allowed to bid.

"Certainly it sounds like something we could have provided and we would have most likely submitted a bid if we had a chance to," said its finance director, Brant Mursch. "If we can do it better and/or at a lower cost than another provider, it would make sense to have us do it."

Dziubla said in a statement Bell won the contract because it had offered similar services to the county for 20 years and "because of our long established record of providing quality programs, our history of successfully serving similar clients and ready availability of a facility."

In 2003, Walker signed into law an ethics rule that says no one seeking a contract from the county is allowed to make campaign donations to an official who has final authority during the contract's consideration.

In this case, final authority rested with Walker, but donations were made to his campaign a month before and six months after the prohibited period.

According to Hill, the consideration period began Sept. 20, the deadline for a response to the county's request for proposals. It ended when Walker signed off on the deal, some time after the full board approved it Dec. 16, he said. Walker usually signs contracts approved by the board within a week, he said.

After the Aug. 26, 2004, donations to Walker's campaign of $200 by Dziubla and $125 by Phoenix president Donald Fritz, Fritz contributed another $250 on June 30 this year, avoiding the prohibited time.

No endorsement? No disclosure

An opinion piece on WisOpinion (suitably enough) by Barbara Boxer praises the genius of Scott Walker on the gas tax issue, concluding that:

That has strategists recognizing Walker as showing the type of leadership the Republicans have desperately needed and haven't had since Tommy Thompson.

-- Boxer is a Democratic activist and Milwaukee attorney. She hasn't endorsed any gubernatorial candidate at this time.

Technically, she may not have "endorsed" anyone yet, but, as I pointed out in a recent post, she is raising money for Scott Walker, and some say she has promised to raise him $250,000. That hardly makes her a "Democratic activist." It makes her a former Democrat.

Just for the record, I haven't "endorsed" anyone for governor yet, either. But I'm not pretending to be a neutral observer. Anyone who's paying attention knows I'm for Jim Doyle. And I don't call myself a Republican activist.

I should add that Charlie Sykes is just as dishonest when he represents Boxer, I'm told, as a "Dem Activist" on his Sunday television show's panel. She's the only Dem activist I know who is attacking the Governor on medical malpractice caps and supporting Scott Walker.

How about a 'no win' campaign pledge?

AG Peg Lautenschlager hoped to score a few points last week when she challenged her primary opponent, Kathleen Falk, to sign a "clean campaign pledge," most of which had little to do with running a clean campaign. And perhaps her idea was appealing to people who are tired of high-priced negative campaigns. (Lautenschager's against them because she thinks she will be outspent and that the negatives will be about her.)

The Falk campaign explains in an op ed in the Capital Times, Lautenschlager's biggest cheerleader, why that pledge was a bad idea and that Lautenschlager doesn't even seem to be carrying it out herself.

The trouble is that the author, Melissa Mulliken, talks about winning, which seems to be irrelevant to many hard-core lefties, so in their minds it may invalidate the points she makes. Read it here.

Taking away Tom DeLay's right to vote

Blogger Dennis York has way too much fun with State Rep. Joe Parisi's proposal to allow felons to vote. I've actually suggested the same thing more than once myself.

York has some funny lines, but misses the mark on this:

First of all, are felons really clamoring for the right to vote? By extending them this right, aren't you doing a favor for the very people that are least likely to cast a ballot? Isn't keeping felons from going to the polls kind of like preventing Pat Robertson from going to a 50 Cent concert? Isn't civic duty is like kryptonite for felons?

In fact, one of the things the right wingers are so incensed about is that 200 felons apparently voted in the last election in Milwaukee. Their solution, of course -- one solution fits all -- is photo ID cards for voters. Never mind that requiring a photo ID would not have prevented those felons from voting, since none of them pretended to be anyone except themselves.

So, yes, they do want to vote. And it's hard to think of a really good reason why they shouldn't. Do we want to take away Tom DeLay's right to vote? Scooter Jensen's? Brian Burke and Chuck Chvala? (Well, yes on those, because they vote "wrong" -- for Democrats).

On the list of things I'm worried about, preventing felons from voting is #8,265 -- just one notch higher than photo IDs, and way above letting people carry concealed weapons, banning gay marriage, stopping abortions, birth control and sex education, and a host of other items that make up the legislative agenda for the wingnuts running our legislature.

-- Jimmy Marguiles, The (NJ) Record, via Cagle.

Quote, unquote

"Ask any 6-year-old if it's OK to kill someone because he killed someone else. The answer is so obvious, they'll think it's a trick question."

-- Maureen Connors Badding, in an op ed in the Journal Sentinel on the death penalty.

More good news from Iraq -- alas, not true

The news from Iraq just keeps getting better and better. When the US isn't paying to get good stories in the Iraqi press, it's just making stuff up. For example:

President Bush, in his speech at the Naval Academy:

This year in Tal Afar, it was a very different story.

The assault was primarily led by Iraqi security forces -- 11 Iraqi battalions, backed by five coalition battalions providing support. Many Iraqi units conducted their own anti-terrorist operations and controlled their own battle space -- hunting for enemy fighters and securing neighborhoods block-by-block. To consolidate their military success, Iraqi units stayed behind to help maintain law and order -- and reconstruction projects have been started to improve infrastructure and create jobs and provide hope.

CNN interview of Time magazine's Baghdad Bureau Chief Michael Ware, by Anderson Cooper.

COOPER: The president also said today that, in the battle of Tal Afar, the assault in the north of Iraq, that he said it was led primarily by Iraqi security forces, 11 Iraqi battalions, backed by five coalition battalions providing support.

WARE: With the greatest respect to the president, that's completely wrong and is extraordinarily misleading.

COOPER: How do you know that?

WARE: I was in that battle from the very beginning to the very end.

I was with Iraqi units, right there on the front line, as they were battling with al Qaeda. They were not leading. They were being led by the U.S. Green Beret special forces with them, Green Berets who were following an American plan of attack, who were advancing with these Iraqi units as and when they were told to do so by the American battle planners. The Iraqis led nothing.

Time for more shock and awe? 19% think there are WMDs in Iraq NOW

Amazing. And surprising that Bush's numbers aren't even better, since such a large percentage of the American public apparently resides on another planet. A Fox News poll, so you know it's fair and balanced:

In addition, some Americans think there are still weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. A 42 percent plurality thinks Iraq had weapons before the war and moved or destroyed them, while 28 percent think there were no WMD at all. Almost one in five (19 percent) think there are still WMD in Iraq

Where do you suppose they moved them? They weren't in the hole with Saddam. If we find out where they moved them -- I assume it's another country -- it will be time for a little of the old shock and awe, wouldn't you say?

Hat tip: Think Progress.

How many more?

Tomah Marine killed in Iraq
He had a passion for excitement, being different

A Marine Corps sniper from Tomah, remembered as someone who had a knack for seeking excitement, has become the 51st Wisconsin service member to die in the war.

Sgt. Andy A. Stevens was killed Thursday in an explosion near Fallujah, along with nine other U.S. troops on foot patrol, military authorities said Saturday. Eleven other Marines were injured. It was the deadliest attack against American troops in four months.

Iraq casualty count.

Referendum on Iraq policy would be real exercise in democracy

The Journal Sentinel editorializes Sunday against allowing the citizens of Milwaukee to express their opinion on the war in Iraq.

The newspaper calls on the Common Council to defeat a resolution that would put an advisory referendum on the spring ballot.

Why? From the editorial:

"Shall the U.S. end the occupation of Iraq and immediately begin withdrawing troops from Iraq?" That's the resolution proposed for the ballot.

It should be rejected because it proposes a draconian solution to a problem that requires a more nuanced remedy and because 2006 is a year in which more effective means will be available for voters to make their wishes known. Also, the Common Council simply has too much on its plate by way of real problems at home to divert any energy on a resolution that is only advisory anyway.

This Editorial Board has also urged a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. But, like Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, we've suggested a flexible timetable, perhaps beginning the withdrawal at the end of 2006. The problem is with the word "immediate.". . .

Hey, here's an idea: The Common Council can amend the resolution to ask any question it wants. How about taking out the word "immediate?" or making some other changes?

What makes the newspaper think it has a monopoly on offering opinions on the issue? I don't recall electing that editorial board or voting on its plan for a flexible timetable, do you?

Also, while a ballot measure - if it passes - may be satisfying to those opposing the war from the get-go, it is not as effective a tool as other options. Next year, all Wisconsin members of the U.S. House will stand for election or re-election. Rather than a piecemeal message from parts of Wisconsin, holding these representatives accountable statewide for their votes and views on the war will be the most effective means of sending that intended message. . .

As the Journal Sentinel well knows, seven incumbent members of Congress are locks to win reelection, because their districts are not competitive. The only one in doubt in 2006 is the 8th, in the Green Bay area, where there is an open seat because Rep. Mark Green is giving up his seat to run for governor. So those House races are not exactly a bellwether for voters' opinions on Iraq.

But the most important reason for the council to reject the measure is that there are huge problems in Milwaukee having to do with poverty, jobs, budget and services that require undivided attention. Surely, these are enough to keep aldermen busy.

It wouldn't take 15 minutes' of aldermen's time to put this on the ballot. That is simply a bogus argument.

While the right-wing leadership in the legislature moves to put gay marriage, photo ID for voters, limits on government spending, and a host of other items on the ballot, why should a proposal to let the people vote on a life-and-death issue be out of line?

The referendum could engender some real debate in the city about what our policy should be in Iraq. It is true that the decision will ultimately be made in DC, as the newspaper says. But Congress would make a much more informed decision if it listened to the grassroots. In New England they have town meetings every year, where citizens sound off and pass resolutions about anything under the sun. It is democracy in action at the grassroots. That's exactly what a referendum, in Milwaukee and other cities across the country, would accomplish.

---

More than 100 US cities have passed resolutions calling for an end to the war. One of the more recent was Sacramento, Calif. on an 8-1 vote of its City Council, which said, in part:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the City of Sacramento, on behalf of the citizens of Sacramento, urges President Bush and the United States Congress to commence a humane, orderly, rapid and comprehensive withdrawal of United States military personnel and bases from Iraq; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the City of Sacramento calls on President Bush and the Congress of the United States to provide promised veterans’ health, education, disability, and rehabilitation benefits, and otherwise meet the needs of returning veterans.

What could possibly be wrong with letting the people of Milwaukee speak their minds?

---

Columnist Patrick McIlheran wrote about the referendum, too, and Folkbum (Jay Bullock) does a job on him.

Some of the 'good news' from Iraq

Sick of the media only telling the bad news about Iraq? Here's something more uplifting, from The Times in the UK:

The unprecedented number of troops who are returning from Iraq with missing limbs has given the US Paralympic Team an unexpected recruitment boost and the chance to become “unbeatable” at the next Games in Beijing in 2008. More than 60 potential recruits have already been identified in sports as varied as powerlifting, archery and table tennis.

Hat tip: Wonkette

Green gets pass from WDC on DeLay $$$

--Dan Wasserman, Boston Globe, via Cagle.
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign made some news this week when it highlighted questionable campaign contributions to Wisconsin gubernatorial candidates from Illinois donors who have been accused of wrongdoing of one kind or another, then followed up with letters to the three candidates asking them to return the money.

The letter to Rep. Mark Green's campaign manager, Mark Graul, talks tough:

The people of Wisconsin deserve candidates for governor who set a higher ethical standard and are more discriminating about those with whom the choose to associate. We believe Congressman Green must disassociate himself from all of the donors cited in our report as well as the interests they represent. All of the donations should be returned to the donors immediately.

But WDC makes no mention of nearly $30,000 that Green has accepted from the political action committees of Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Tex., who was forced to step down from his House leadership post after being indicted for mishandling and laundering political contributions. DeLay makes the Illinois donors look like pikers, both in the scale of the misconduct he is charged with and in the amount of money he poured into Green's campaign coffers.

DeLay doesn't live in Illinois. But his money is certainly tainted and should be returned or disposed of. Brian Christianson, a Republican campaign consultant, can't understand why Republicans aren't giving back the DeLay money.

Actually, several of them have. Republican Reps. Jeb Bradley, Heather Wilson, Kenny Hulshof, and Steve LaTourette have cleaned up their campaign accounts to the tune of $52,000 in DeLay PAC money. Some have had to find creative ways to dispose of the money rather than refunding it because of legal complications. But they have all gotten rid of the tainted money.

Mark Green has dissembled and offered a variety of answers and excuses for keeping DeLay's $30,000, one being that he needs the money to beat Jim Doyle." He's also claimed that he only transferred $2,000 of it into his governor's campaign and spent the rest on past House races. That's nothing more than sleight of hand. Green's campaign treasury has benefited to the tune of $30,000 and ought to return the full amount.

One reason he continues to resist is that he hasn't gotten enough political heat about the DeLay money. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign hasn't helped by giving him a pass.

Other WDC letters: To Scott Walker and to Jim Doyle.

How to spot a terrorist

Using the official Air Force guide as his, well, guide, Bob Harris identifies suspects in a photo essay.

Hat tip : Blah3.com.

Get out of Iraq, retired general says

Want stability in the Middle East? Get out of Iraq!

In his last piece for NiemanWatchdog.org, retired Gen. William Odom argued that all the terrible things the Bush administration says would happen if we pulled our troops out of Iraq are happening already. In a new postscript, Odom writes that the converse is true as well: Bush says he wants to bring democracy and stability to the greater Middle East -- but in fact the only way to achieve that goal is to get out of Iraq now. Read it here.

Hat tip: Truthout.

When ignorance is no excuse

Republican attorney general hopeful J.B. Van Hollen can't plead ignorance to explain his hysterical support for the anti-gay constitutional amendment being pushed by the right wing Republicans who run the legislature. He knows better. That leaves as the only possible explanation either bigotry or demagoguery, John Nichols suggests in his Capital Times column.

Right wing in denial over Iraq reality

Republican radio's Charlie Sykes fell right into step, as usual, with the White House and state GOP this week in an effort to build support for the debacle in Iraq.

They have all gone after Sen. Russ Feingold for being the first one to call for "a policy on Iraq that includes a flexible timetable for completing our military mission there, so that we can focus on our national security priority – defeating the global terrorist networks that threaten the U.S."

But the London Times reports that the Bush administration is planning to withdraw significant numbers of National Guard troops from Iraq, despite President Bush's claims this week. The paper reveals that the U.S. National Guard is "planning to cut the number of its troops in Iraq by 75 per cent over the next year in a dramatic change of approach by the American military." Such an approach would mean that nearly 50,000 of the 159,000 troops in Iraq will soon be heading home.

Can we expect Wisconsin Republican Chair Rick Graber to call this a "cowardly cut and run strategy?"

The strain on the National Guard has been felt in a variety of ways.

First, our troops have been asked to serve multiple tours.

Second, recruitment is down. "The active-duty Army and the part-time Army National Guard and Army Reserve all missed their 2005 recruiting goals by 8% to 20%. The three fell short by a combined 24,000 enlistees."

And third, the Guard is encountering equipment problems to deal with domestic responsibilities. A recent GAO study found "more than 101,000 pieces of National Guard equipment, including items such as trucks, radios and night vision devices, have been sent overseas."

If Sykes had his way he would continue to run the military into the ground, all in the name of Bush's failed "stay the course" strategy in Iraq that is costing 4 troop deaths a day and $5.6 billion a month.

And about that fight against global terrorist networks that threaten the U.S., a fight that Feingold said Iraq would distract us from. For the Sykes and Graber crowd that likes to think that the Bushies can walk and chew gum at the same time, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report this week that says the "government's efforts to help foreign nations cut off the supply of money to terrorists, a critical goal for the Bush administration, have been stymied by infighting among American agencies, leadership problems and insufficient financing." The government still "lacks an integrated strategy" for assisting foreign countries in the effort to curb terrorist financing around the globe, the report states.

In one instance, "the State Department refused to allow a Treasury official to enter an unidentified foreign country last year to help with strategies to fight terrorist financing because of turf battles," causing a delay of several months. The New York Times notes that "experts in the field say the results [of President Bush's anti-terror financing strategy] have been spotty, with few clear dents in Al Qaeda's ability to move money and finance terrorist attacks.It all makes you wonder what ever happened to . . .

-- R. J. Matson, NY Observer, via Cagle.

GOP panders to police union, as usual

Another week, another reminder of how outstate Republicans are willing to pile costs onto Milwaukee taxpayers. When Tommy Thompson, talking about the stadium, urged people to "Stick it to 'em" in Milwaukee, he knew exactly what he was doing. (Whether he meant to say it out loud is another question. He didn't mean to say it, but he meant what he said.)

The latest outrage is the refusal of the GOP to repeal an onerous law requiring Milwaukee -- but no other community in the state -- to pay the salaries of fired police officers while their firings are being appealed, which can take years.

The Republicans have been willing to give Milwaukee cops anything they want, at the expense of local taxpayers, ever since the Milwaukee Police Assn. began endorsing Republicans, contributing political action money to their campaigns, and putting members on the street to help them.

Paying fired cops is just the latest. There is also a state law requiring Milwaukee property taxpayers to pay the salaries of the union officers, who spend much of their time lobbying for things like getting fired cops paid.

The vote on the fired cops was along party lines, the Journal Sentinel reported. But it was also along geographic lines. None of the six Republicans lives in Milwaukee or represents anyone who has to pay property taxes there.

Mayor Tom Barrett said the city could hire a new class of 60 officers with the $2.5 million it has paid to fired officers since 1990. There are more than 200 officer vacancies in Milwaukee. Instead of putting more cops on the street, the city's taxpayers will be paying cops who aren't working because they were fired, and most of them will never work as cops again when the appeals are over.

Next time a Republican talks tough about cracking down on crime, ask him to justify this "law and order" policy.

Doing the Lord's work

I seem to be of a religious bent today, at least with my headlines. But it really struck me, reading this story, about what it means to have the courage of your convictions.

It's one thing to go door-to-door in Madison asking for signatures on petitions for a referendum on the war in Iraq. It's quite another to knock on doors in Waukesha on the gay marriage amendment. But that's what these folks are doing, and having some success.

Their legislators say their minds are made up, of course. But maybe this canvass will have some impact on the referendum itself, which seems certain to be on the ballot next November.

And, yes, I do think that advocating tolerance is the Lord's work. How would Jesus vote?

Walker, Green come to Jesus on gas tax

Meet the Republican candidates for governor, Mr. Flip and Mr. Flop. But change is a good thing, they say -- they have seen the light, not on the road to Damascus but on the campaign trail for governor.

They've been dueling all week about which one hates gasoline taxes more than than the other. Scott Walker presses for a vote to end the automatic gas tax increase every April. Mark Green calls that and raises Walker by proposing a 2-cent cut in the gas tax, too.

It turns out that both Green and Walker are recent converts who have been born again on this issue. They've gotten religion after sinning against conservative doctrine in their past lives, as Wisconsin state legislators.

As Spivak and Bice report today, both Green and Walker had a chance, in the legislature, to vote to end the gas tax indexing, which automatically raises the gas tax every year without lawmakers having to vote for it.

It's a great system if you're a legislator who doesn't want to have to vote to raise taxes. It's not so great if you're a taxpayer. Wisconsin's gasoline tax has gone up 21 times since 1985, while the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents a gallon hasn't been raised since 1993. What's the difference? To raise the federal gas tax, it requires a vote of the Congress and approval by the President.

Both Green and Walker voted in the State Assembly to continue the automatic indexing system.
And both also voted for a state budget that actually raised the gas tax in addition to continuing the index.

I had mentioned Walker's sordid past in an earlier post, but didn't realize Green was just as big a sinner.

Walker's response was classic -- Hey, nobody's perfect. (Actual quote: "I haven't said that anyone in the governor's race is absolutely perfect on it.")

Granted. But when you go around attacking other Republicans on the issue, for not doing enough or not moving quickly enough, you do leave yourself open to some pushback. Some right-wingers are suggesting John Gard is a RINO (Republican in Name Only) for putting up some resistance on repeal of the indexing. But the same people champion Walker and (to a lesser extent, Green), whose credentials are no better than Gard's.

Besides the two votes mentioned by Spivak and Bice, Walker passed on a couple of other chances to try to repeal the gas tax indexing, too.

Green was in Congress by the time these two came around. The first, 2001 AB344, was introduced by Rep. Peter Bock. Walker passed on the opportunity to co-sponsor the bill. Walker did offer an amendment, to remove $90.3 million from the transportation budget (the money generated from indexing in 2001-2003). But that seems more like it was intended to demonstrate the fiscal consequences, and perhaps torpedo the bill. The bill died with no action.

The other bill Walker refused to cosponsor was 1999 AB935, introduced by Rep. Spencer Black, to repeal the gas tax indexing. It also died with no action.

Joint effort on cancer research

This observation from a reader about the I-94 Connection that allows two UW campuses to collaborate on programs. There's been a lot of recent talk about whether public health programs should be in Madison or Milwaukee, but this ingenious solution involves both:

It seems to me that the UW System uses the tax payers money to set up an environment for contracting cancer and then the UW System uses our money to study the effects of it.

(1) UW-Milwaukee Student Union management board allows the sale of smoking materials and smoking on the premises.

(2) UW-Madison campus is completely smoke free and hosts The University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention. They are nationally recognized for their research into tobacco dependence and its treatment.

If Madison is looking for guinea pigs for cancer study all they have to do is enlist the students at UW-Milwaukee.

Lobbyists, legislators 'speed date'

Here's an idea we haven't tried yet in Wisconsin: Speed "dating" between lobbyists and leggies -- as a fundraiser, of course.

Wait till John Gard reads this story. It's be a New Day in Wisconsin. It'll probably just be business as usual for Rep. Mark Green in DC, though.

Feingold new Dem leader?

Russ Feingold is the new leader of the Democratic Party.

Who says so? Frameshop blog editor Jeffrey Feldman, after watching Dems respond to the latest Bush speech on Iraq.

The White House is giving Feingold a lot of notice, too. They seem to disagree with his analysis, though.

Hat tip: OpEdNews.

Watering down my right to shoot people

There they go again. Now the legislature is putting a bunch of exceptions into the concealed carry law.

I think I'm with Owen at Boots and Sabers on this one.

If I can't take my gun to the day care center, or to a kids' soccer game, or even to visit a friend at the hospital, what's the point? This bill's so meaningless it should just be defeated.

If that's not enough, they don't want you to carry when you're drunk, either. As Art Kumbalek would say, "What the fock, ain'a?"

-- Dave Sheneman, Newark Star Ledger, via Cagle.

"The bromide-heavy speech that President George W. Bush gave yesterday at the Naval Academy presents a clear strategy for quagmire and eventual disaster. Despite the gathering storm of opposition to his approach to the war in Iraq, the speech was bereft of new ideas, calling to mind the words of Emerson: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." -- Ray McGovern at Truthout.

Bucher strikes out on 'voter fraud'

Paul Bucher, Waukesha County DA and would-be attorney general, campaigns against voter fraud on his campaign website, but hasn't actually done anything about it -- because he hasn't been able to find any fraud (except his own fraudulent claims.)

Laurel Walker's column has the details. And Eye On Wisconsin has a comment.

Reynold's loony idea preceded Avery case

I believe I have done a disservice to State Sen. Tom Reynolds, R-Lunacy, by suggesting that the death penalty bill he is circulating was drafted in response to the Steven Avery case.

The Reynolds bill would require a criminal to score a hat trick -- rape, murder and dismemberment (not in any particular order) in order to hit the death penalty jackpot -- a ride on the gurney to the death chamber.

Sorry for the light tone. Killing people in our name is no joking matter. But is idea is so loony it is hard to treat it otherwise. Dennis York agrees.

A reader reminds me that Reynolds has been researching this particular bill for a long time. As Spivak and Bice reported, one of the off-kilter assignments Reynolds gave his staff was:

Surveying the worst of the worst inmates to ask them if they would have committed their awful crimes if the state had adopted a death penalty for anyone convicted of the unholy trifecta of rape, murder and dismemberment – Reynolds’ capital punishment plan.

This would have been a very fast survey, since Department of Corrections officials found that nobody currently serving time was convicted of all three felonies, according to memos released in response to an open records request filed with the state.

That news must have resulted in a collective sigh of relief in Reynolds’ office. Evidence: When a corrections official apologized last October for a delay in providing a list of convicted killers doing time in Wisconsin, it took (then-chief of staff Steve) Krieser all of a minute to fire back the following response: "No problem. Frankly, I'm in no great hurry to contact these people, for my part."

So, what's the harm, you might ask, if this death penalty doesn't even affect anyone? It's that Wisconsin, which has gotten along fine without a death penalty -- even for Jeffrey Dahmer -- would have it on the books. And once it's in the statutes, those who want the state to kill people will work in every legislative session to expand its scope.

If there's a bloodlust to kill something, let's kill this bill right now.

Know your neighbor: Rick Graber, Republican fixer

It was Rick Graber's cheapshot, chickenshit press release Wednesday, attacking Russ Feingold -- . . . Feingold continues to undermine the milestones that have been made in Iraq by offering nothing more than a cowardly cut and run strategy" -- that made me a little curious about just who this tough talker is.

We know he's the chair of the state Republican party, and in that capacity he spews venom with the best of 'em. That goes with the territory to some degree, although Graber has overstepped, and stepped into some shit, with stunts like holding a news conference on voter fraud in front of the home of a Milwaukee family that was innocent of any fraud. It turned out Rick Graber was the fraud.

But, truth be told, I was looking into his bio to see if I could find a little military background to back up his fighting words. I didn't find any evidence that Graber has served in the military. Maybe he's too modest to mention it, although I highly doubt it.

But far be it from me to question his courage. I mean, maybe he has flat feet, ya know? So I'll give him a pass and not even call him a chickenhawk. And, yes, it's fine to have an opinion on the war whether you've ever experienced war or not. That's what our young men and women are fighting for -- the right of non-combatants to declare that we will keep sending them off to be killed until we achieve total victory. So all opinions are welcome.

I'd just be a little careful about using "coward" quite so freely. A good rule of thumb is to only call someone a coward if you think you can whip him, because you just might have to. It's the kind of thing that used to get a person challenged to a shootout. Even now, it could lead to fisticuffs, I suspect. And if concealed carry passes, we could be back to the shootouts. Would you call someone a coward if you knew he was armed? Maybe concealed carry will produce civility.

But I digress.

What I did find in Graber's law firm bio is pretty interesting:

Richard Graber is a director and President and Chief Executive Officer of the firm and a member of the Business Law and Government Relations Departments. Rick draws his clients from a variety of industries, including paper manufacturing, automotive, lighting, transportation, media, publishing, petroleum, moving and storage, financial institutions and higher education. Rick provides creative counsel and strategic help to his business clients on matters including mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, corporate governance and reorganization, executive compensation and corporate succession. He uses his knowledge and experience of government to help clients negotiate government contracts and to provide legislative solutions which stimulate the economy and help businesses to thrive.

Oh, really! What does that involve? Negotiating government contracts? Providing "legislative solutions"? Here are some of Graber's recent success stories the firm highlights:

Representing a transportation client which had lost a government contract it had maintained for 40 years. Rick was able to ensure that the contract was rebid and, as a result, his client was awarded the government work.

Got a contract re-bid and his client got it? Wouldn't you like to know a little more? Was this a firm that needed help with a state contract when Tommy Thompson or Scott McCallum were driving the bus? Or was it a Milwaukee County client who needed a little help with Scott Walker's government? Or something entirely different? Let's not jump to conclusions -- but do let's ask some questions. I somehow doubt this happened in Mississippi; I suspect it was close to home.

Enabling the state's two medical colleges to receive extensive funding from Blue Cross/Blue Shield by strategizing with the colleges and state officials to broker a fertile organizational environment for the funds.

Wouldn't you like to know just a little more, especially about who the "state officials" were?

Acting as a lead lawyer on the State of Wisconsin redistricting legislation.

Graber was hired, of course, by the Republican leadership in the legislature to draw the lines to benefit them, while the taxpayers foot the bill.

I don't know what this looks like to the average person. I think I may have a tad of anti-Graber bias. But it smells to me like a high-priced lawyer who's selling his access and power, at hundreds of dollars an hour, to make deals with his fellow Republicans. No, he's not a registered lobbyist. He's what you call a deal-maker. A fixer. He's the guy -- the non-lobbyist, mind you -- who went into the Republican caucus when there was a budget deadlock and brokered the deal.

Back to the bio:

When not practicing law or working on state politics, Rick enjoys perfecting his golf swing and coaching little league.

And setting cats on fire.

Cops not on board with concealed carry

Despite a headline that said,"Cops on board with concealed weapons bill," it turns out that most law enforcement officers in Wisconsin still oppose the idea that we should put more guns on the street.

An amendment allowing police officers making a stop to find out whether the driver has a concealed weapons permit was enough the get the Milwaukee Police Assn. (the Republican police union) and the State Troopers Assn. on board. (Actually, the MPA president said Wednesday his group had always been for the bill.)

The militia mentality of the gun-lovers showed itself in the amendment, which also provides that police officers who misuse or make the permit information public can be prosecuted. There is a basic mistrust of police, which is why we all need our own guns.

The amendment still won't allow an officer called to the scene of domestic violence or other potentially volatile situations to find out whether someone in the household he's about to enter has a gun permit.

The head of the State Patrol, Superintendent David Collins, made it clear that those groups don't speak for him, or for most of the other police officers in the state:

The minor change announced today to the concealed weapons bill amounts to window dressing on a very dangerous, unnecessary piece of legislation. Having more people carrying around loaded, hidden weapons under their coats during the holiday season will not make Wisconsin any safer. It could put the public at risk, and it will make the job of law enforcement more difficult and more dangerous.

The change announced today doesn't always allow law enforcement to know if a suspect is carrying a concealed weapon. Officers would still be at risk in many situations not covered by the amendment, like when they are responding to a domestic violence call, responding to someone who's not in a car, or pulling over someone who has committed a crime other than a traffic violation.

I am confident that the overwhelming majority of law enforcement, including much of the Wisconsin State Patrol, remains opposed to this legislation, which will only make their jobs harder. Concealed weapons have been illegal in Wisconsin for more than 100 years, and not coincidentally, we are one of the safest states in the nation."

UPDATE: Police chiefs chime in.