An empty chamber?

Just when you thought there may be a judge or two left on the Wisconsin Supreme Court that could hear Congressman Mark Green's case trying to force our state to look the other way while he spends special interest dollars raised in Washington, D.C. that no one else can spend, the conflicts keep rolling in.

Kreitlow's clever ad

If you haven't seen it yet, check out Pat Kreitlow's ad called "Pat on the Trail" at the Wispolitics ad watch section. It's a pretty funny ad that touches on an issue I doubt Senator Dave Zien's constituents think is funny any longer.

Zien's steady diet of taxpayer dollars above his salary has grown to an outrageous sum. One year, with a $24,000 reimbursement just in mileage Zien pulled in more than $47,000 above his actual salary. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10/17/04)

It's going to be lonely at the top

If the Wisconsin State Supreme Court decides to take Congressman Green's case to stop the state of Wisconsin from enforcing campaign finance laws, the chamber may echo a bit during arguments because there are so few people in the room.

Justice Patience Roggensack would have to recuse herself from the case as well since Congressman Green wrote her campaign a check from his campaign account in 2002.

Maybe suing the state you want to be governor of wasn't such a hot idea...

What our nation is becoming

Go here to see a picture of the horrible methods our country is using on people in the so-called war on terror. If you don't think people will say anything, even if they have to make it up, just to stop this than you're just not be honest.

Our inspiration for these methods? Well, the photographs were taken by Jonah Blank last month at Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The prison is now a museum that documents Khmer Rouge atrocities.


Hat tip: Pundit Nation

Republicans for Jim Sullivan

This post shows why it is possible that Jim Sullivan will beat Senator Tom Reynolds in the 5th Senate District. Combine the thoughts outlined in this post from a Republican in Wauwatosa with the people that may skip voting in that race rather than voting for the crazy incumbent, and you can have a Democrat win that wins that seat.

Abramoff free until after election day

Whew! Jack Abramoff can stay out of prison until November 15th. Thank goodness or how else could he attend election night parties with all of his Republican friends?

Green misses abortion vote

So is Congressman Mark Green trying to avoid generating another story on how extreme he is on abortion rights or did he just not make it in time to vote for a bill that would make it a federal crime for aunts or even religious counselors to take a young girl that was raped by her father across state lines for an abortion?

Green missed that vote. But he did make a vote twenty minutes later.

Normally someone like Congressman Green would be first in line to make sure victims of incest are forced to ask the parent that raped them if they could get an abortion. This week he just couldn't get there in time.

Perhaps his plane was late and he submitted something into the Congressional Record saying how he voted. But perhaps there is something else at work. Wonder how the "pro-lifers" feel about him not making that vote...

Wilcox conflict has another layer

Supreme Court Justice Jon Wilcox's conflict of interest on a potential case regarding Congressman Mark Green's transfer of PAC money raised from Washington, D.C. based interests has an additional layer than the one discussed here yesterday. Congressman Green's lawyer knows Justice Wilcox pretty well.

Green's lawyer is Don Mills. He is a former State Elections Board (SEB) member and was the lead negotiator for the SEB in the settlement with Wilcox.

Dale Schultz's fantasy world

Wispolitics held a luncheon today with Senate Minority Leader Judy Robson and Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz. And Schultz was really working hard to sell an alternative reality to what is going on in the state senate races.

At one point in the discussion Schultz said there is no chance that the Republicans would lose control on the state senate. After he said that, I hope everyone stopped listening to what he said. Come on, this is politics. There would be a chance even if the Democrats hadn't recruited good candidates who are doing well fundraising in this anti-incumbent Republican year. And if you can't admit that, you can't be honest about anything.

Robson didn't try to sell people on some pie in the sky absolute win for the Democrats. She said there is a better than fifty-fifty chance that the Democrats will take control. And she's right.

But now that I've heard right from Schultz's mouth that he can't even admit that this is a tough year for his caucus, other things that I've heard make more sense. The Republicans have been trying to tell people that Senator Dave Zien (R-any place I can get tax money for riding my motorcycle) is up by ten to twelve points. That doesn't wash with any other polls out there. That race is close and truth be told, Zien's opponent, Pat Kreitlow, is just slightly ahead. Even a dead heat at this point is great news for Kreitlow since outside groups have spent thousands on radio up there over the last few months trying to prop up Zien and no one has put up a negative ad against him.

The 21st Senate District has started to swing for Rep. John Lehman. Polling shows him up now that folks have gotten know his opponent, William McReynolds, a little better. And Lehman has moved ahead of McReynolds despite Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) running negative ads against Lehman.

You can go here to see how the race for the 31st Senate District is going. Hint, it's not going well for Schultz's team. The Democrat, Kathleen Vinehout, is in a great position to beat Senator Ron Brown (R-Eau Claire).

The Senate Republicans had to raise a ton of money to defend Senator Joe Leibham's seat because he votes far more conservatively than his district. His opponent, Jamie Aulik, has a great story to tell and continues to raise money to get that story out there. The anti-incumbent Republican mood that is hovering over the entire country could be enough to overcome Leibham's money advantage in this race.

And even though by the numbers the 5th Senate District is Republican, Senator Tom Reynolds(R-West Allis) will be hard pressed to get enough voters in his district excited about helping him and many may just skip that race rather than vote for him. Jim Sullivan is doing well and raising enough to get his message out to voters.

The Senate Republicans have also finally taken notice that one of their senators only has about $16,000 in the bank and has a candidate really energizing a lot of people about his candidacy. At first I didn't believe that there was a poll suggesting Senator Alan Lasee (R-De Pere) was in trouble, but since his leader hasn't said anything true in a while and they scheduled a Madison fundraiser for him last night, I'm starting to believe. His opponent, Charlie Most, is the Door County Board Chairman and his hard work has got people talking in the 1st Senate District and in Madison.

No one was expecting Senator Schultz to say there is only about a fifty percent chance he will still be the leader next session. But an honest look at the facts out there suggests if he doesn't start giving assessments of the landscape that are at least based in reality a little bit, no one will believe anything he says.

Prosser and Wilcox must recuse themselves from Green case

As Congressman Mark Green prepares to continue his fight to spend PAC money raised from Washington, D.C. interests in his race to be Governor of Wisconsin, all eyes now turn to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. And there should be no doubt that Justices David Prosser and Jon Wilcox should recuse themselves from this case.

An article from the Wisconsin State Journal in 2003 during the Scott Jensen trial describes when a justice should remove themselves from a case:

Under the state's judicial ethics code, a judge is advised not to participate in a case if he or she has a personal bias or prejudice toward the defendant or if a reasonable person who knows all the facts could question the judge's impartiality.

So let's look at the facts.

Justice Prosser served in the state legislature with Congressman Green. In fact, they were part of a leadership team together. Prosser was the Speaker of the House while Green was the Caucus Chairman so it is reasonable to assume they had some sort of relationship during this time that would cause a bias one way or another. Prosser and three other justices did not participate in the Scott Jensen trial for the same reason.

And there is no one in politics today that would want to strip power from the Wisconsin Elections Board more than Justice Wilcox. In 2001, fines levied against Wilcox and his campaign team were the largest ever given out in state history. From the Wisconsin State Journal:

In settling a lawsuit filed by the state Elections Board, Wilcox agreed to pay $10,000 for his campaign committee. The lawsuit charged Wilcox's committee and his campaign manager, Mark Block, with colluding with another group to evade campaign finance laws in his 1997 race for the state's highest court.

Back then the Wisconsin State Journal asked the following in an editorial:

Former opponent Kelly and Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, have said Wilcox should resign his seat on the court. That's up for Wilcox to decide - and it may hinge on how effective he can be as a justice during the remaining six years of his 10-year term. For example, it's likely that Wilcox must recuse himself from any case involving "school choice," or public vouchers for private school students. Must he also step aside on cases involving campaign finance issues?

The answer is yes. The pall of that fine has only recently started to fade for Wilcox, so it would be a shame for him to head into retirement with questions about that brought up again. Sitting in on the Green case would insure that the fines he paid are his legacy on the court.

No reasonable person could argue that Justices Prosser and Wilcox would not come into this case with personal biases. Let's hope they don't try.

-By Ann Telnaes via Slate.com

Be careful what you beg for

Progressive Majority has recently posted the rules that were demanded by State Senator Tom Reynolds (R-West Allis) in order for him to debate his opponent Jim Sullivan. You can find them here.

The rules say only news cameras can videotape any part of the debate and outline a way for Reynolds to make the hosts throw out anyone he suspects of taping the debate.

Last time a group attempted a debate, Reynolds tried to make the host agree to confiscate any cell phones with video capability. Here's to hoping someone wants to poke a stick at the crazy animal in the corner by standing up with a cell phone in their hand to see how long it takes Reynolds to lunge at them from the podium.

Do you think Reynolds even gets that by throwing a tantrum for weeks about having cameras at the debate, he has pretty much insured that news cameras will show up at the debate? Chances are the media would have ignored this and any other debate in that race, but now, there's almost no way that there won't be cameras there.

Perhaps this is his way of getting free media coverage. But his past performances on camera should have put the brakes on any plan to get him more TV coverage than absolutely necessary.

Honesty is the best policy

Further, nothing in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article they site indicates that Mark Green would cut anything. During this campaign, the only people who have mentioned anything about cuts to programs are Jim Doyle, the Democrats and the Greater Wisconsin Committee.

-Mark Graul, Congressman Green's campaign manager

At least the Green Team is not trying to delude itself that they are taking the responsible route of telling the voters what cuts they will make in order to implement all of the promises Congressman Green has made during this campaign. Afterall, why should the voters think they deserve to know how a candidate will find over one billion in budget cuts before they head into the voting booth?

And since when does the Republican in the race defend keeping every program in government that is there? I guess the party of less government has thrown in the towel.

Green takes the money and runs

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel account of the fundraiser held today with Vice President Dick Cheney for Wisconsin Republicans has a really funny detail in it.

The event was billed as a fund-raiser to help GOP candidates in Wisconsin this fall, including governor candidate U.S. Rep. Mark Green. Cheney, however, made only brief reference to Green during his remarks.

Green addressed the luncheon at the Pfister Hotel separately before Cheney was introduced and did not share the speaker's platform with the vice president.

Speaking with reporters after Cheney had left, Green said not to read anything into that.

Riiiiight. The Vice President of the United States travels across the country to raise money for Congressman Green, the Congressman won't even get on stage to shake his hand, and we are to believe it doesn't mean anything?

Of course it means something. It means Congressman Green doesn't want any pictures of himself and Vice President Dick Cheney in the newspaper. Green will have no problem with the Republican Party using the money that Cheney raised for the election this fall; but he doesn't want to get too close to Cheney in case those approval ratings in the twenties are contagious.

The line up of Republicans coming to raise money for Green this fall reads like a who's who of politicians people love to hate. Former Speaker Newt 'shut the whole place down' Gingrich will complete the trifecta with President Bush and Vice President Cheney of leaders Green wants money from with no photographic evidence.

Perhaps Green should talk to State Senator Tom Reynolds on how to avoid cameras before his next event.

Quotes are all you need on this one

Here is a summary of an article in the Wisconsin State Journal about the stem-cell issue and how the race for governor may impact the future of the research in our state. All you need is a few quotes from the article to see just how important this issue is to the future of medicine and our economy.

"We're still leading, but without support, we'll lose very soon to California or other states." -Igor Slukvin, one of more than 110 UW stem-cell scientists.

"I know (the embryo) has the potential for life, but I can't understand why a blob of cells is considered more important than a person who is alive and suffering from a disease." -Lois Anderson, a Republican conflicted on who to vote for in the governor's race because her husband has Parkinson's disease.

"I have never seen the potential for the university to have an impact on the economy of this state be so great, but I've also never seen the threat of undermining that capability be greater." -John Neis, managing director for Venture Investors of Wisconsin

Any legislation seen as limiting research "would send a powerful message to the biotech, venture capital and research community that Wisconsin has a hostile regulatory environment." -also Neis

A tale of two lobbyists

Lobbying the Wisconsin Elections Board according the Wisconsin State Journal.

It was a scandal. It was just a phone call.
It was a front page story. It was worth nothing more than page three in the local section.
Doyle's name was in the headline. Green isn't even mentioned until paragraph two.
The story about Doyle was used to bury something else for Green. The story about Green was used to remind folks about the accusations about Doyle.

Don't you just hate that liberal media?

Race for the 31st Senate District heats up fast

Senator Ron Brown (R-Eau Claire) is desperately trying to remake himself as he faces re-election this fall. His website offers all sorts of "solutions" for things he should have been working on for the last four years. The voters in his district aren't buying it though. Polling suggests Senator Brown might be looking for a new job soon.

Kathleen Vinehout holds Brown to a statistical dead heat right out of the gate despite Brown holding almost a two-to-one advantage in name recognition. When voters are informed about the two candidates, Vinehout blows Brown out of the water 57% to 39% even though the polling was being done while a positive Brown ad was on TV.

Brown's Bush-like approval numbers continue in many categories. Only about 39% approve of the job he is doing in the Senate.

No doubt Brown's constituents are tired of hearing his claims that he is an avid fisherman while he votes against mercury protections for our lakes and streams. His constituents fish in those waters too and have probably seen nearly every lake in their area slapped with a mercury warning.

His constituents are also probably sick and tired of seeing trash trucks come over the boarder from Minnesota because the Senate and Assembly actually voted to reduce the tipping fee for garbage in their version of the state budget (AB 100, 6/30/05). Wisconsin's tipping fee is already too low and Brown and his colleagues should have increased the tipping fee to keep our state from becoming the dumping ground of the Midwest.

As more people get to know Vinehout on the campaign trial in the next few weeks, her numbers are only going to go up. Brown is headed no where but down.

Senator Ellis' memory problems

It was hard not to laugh at all the Republicans tripping over each other yesterday to be the first to post about an attorney contacting the Elections Board Members about the illegal money Congressman Green is being ordered to get rid of in order to comply with Wisconsin State Law. While it was probably not a great PR move, it is not illegal.

Do the Republicans really think that no one supporting Green contacted the Republican members of the Elections Board? Anyone that says they believe that is just not based in reality.

But the Republican that takes the cake on this one is Senator Ellis who said this:

"That's the very same sort of activity that recently sent state legislators like Senator Chuck Chvala and Representative Scott Jensen to jail.'

Um, no it's not. You know what is similar though? This little nugget from a 1995 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Story:

For his part, Ellis has vowed to remember any and all lobbying groups and lobbyists whom he holds responsible, if he and his party are dumped out of power by Petak's recall. Anyone who has "decided they would like to make me the minority leader . . . is going to have to be prepared to accept the consequences, just like you do in politics," Ellis said.

Thank goodness for those statutes of limitation huh?

All the girls stomp your feet like this

In the hopes that a few college age girls check out my blog today after being named the Daily Cardinal blog of the week, I want to urge them to use their power to vote on an issue that will impact their future.

The election this fall for governor and attorney general could not be more important to the ability of young women to control their reproductive health. Having the right to control your reproductive health means being able to run your career the way you want and compete with the men in your field.

If Congressman Mark Green gets elected governor and J.B. Van Hollen gets elected Attorney General of our state, the ability of young women to control their future will go out the window.

The Republicans could not have fielded more extreme candidates when it comes to a woman's right to control their reproductive health. J.B. Van Hollen is endorsed by Pro-Life Wisconsin, which means he doesn't support abortion in ANY circumstance. Not if you are raped, not if in the case of incest, and not even if your life is in danger by going through childbirth.

Congressman Mark Green isn't much better. He doesn't support a woman's right to a safe and legal abortion in the case of rape or incest either. He also doesn't think health care companies should be required to pay for birth control, but doesn't mind if Viagra is given out like candy.

And neither candidate believes woman should have easy access to emergency contraception to stop an unplanned pregnancy. They think a young woman in college should have her career blown off the tracks because a condom breaks. The man in this situation gets to walk away if he wants and it won't hold his career back at all. Access to emergency contraception would make this situation far more fair, but Green and Van Hollen think a couple of cells in women's body are more important than a future career.

If a young woman in college happens to get pregnant from a gang rape like the one that happened to a woman recently behind a dumpster near the UW-Madison campus, tough. Congressman Green and J.B. Van Hollen don't think it should be easy for her to take precautions against getting pregnant by taking emergency contraception.

Neither Congresman Green or J.B. Van Hollen ever had to worry about a pregnancy while they were in college and what it could do to their future. And if college women don't come out and vote for Governor Doyle and Kathleen Falk for Attorney General this fall, neither will the women currently in college.

Congressman Green and J.B. Van Hollen will make the decision for them.

Have fun at Congress' expense and maybe win money doing it

Remember when Chevy invited people to put together new commercials for them? People had great fun putting together the ads and even did a few that made fun of Chevy. Now you have a chance to do the same thing and there is a better topic to use. This time it's the Do-Nothing Congress.

The Sunlight Network is asking people to go to this website and put together an ad to show what Congresspeople do all day. If you make the best ad, you could win $5,000 so get your creative juices going and start making fun of an easy target.

Senator Brown has a fire to put out

Now the bizarre attacks on Kathleen Vinehout, the Democrat running against State Senator Ron Brown, are starting to make sense. There is polling out there that shows Brown has a fire in his district that will take more than the fire truck he drives in parades to put out.

The people of the 31st Senate District are not happy with Brown. He will have to spend a lot of money to break fifty percent at this point. Vinehout almost beats him already in the head-to-head match up; and when voters are given information about both candidates, she beats him outright.

Vinehout is a great candidate and she has a story to tell that many people will find familiar. Her family struggles to pay for health care and when she saw her state senator doing little to help people like her, she decided to run against him. Brown's response so far on health care has been to whine that it's not his fault and hope people don't look too closely at his voting record.

And that's a strategy I hope he continues for the next couple of weeks.

What students think of the brain drain issue

Congressman Mark Green has been searching for an issue to distinguish himself from Governor Doyle and he has recently settled on one – brain drain. Brain drain is the term used to describe college graduates leaving our state for jobs in other states. It's an odd issue to put as many resources into as Congressman Green has done in this election, but with a close election maybe every issue can sway some voters.

Funny thing is, not even the students are buying this. The Daily Cardinal, one of the papers available on the UW-Madison campus, had this to say about Congressman Green’s attempt to use the brain drain issue.

But while discussing taxes in Wisconsin, the debate shifted to the "brain drain," the exodus of those Wisconsin university students out of state, often to Chicago or Twin Cities, after graduation.

Green thinks that Wisconsin's taxes are driving the young people from our state.

While we concede that a brain drain does exist, we don't think it has much to do with Wisconsin's tax burden.

Green specifically blamed property taxes, but property taxes are not on the mind of the youth fleeing to these major metropolitan areas. Most of them will rent apartments. How many 23-year-olds with student loans can really afford the down payment for a house?

Young people are not fleeing to Chicago and the Twin Cities because our taxes are too high, they are fleeing to these cities because they want to live in a vibrant urban environment teeming with jobs for the highly educated.

Seriously, how long has Congressman Green been out of college? Does he even remember what it was like to be 23 and looking at all the possibilities stretched out before you?

When I left Wisconsin after I graduated from the UW-Madison, taxes never even crossed my mind. I moved to Philly and then to Washington, D.C. because I wanted to go someplace new and exciting. The state of Wisconsin could have offered me a tax-free life here and I wouldn't have stayed. I wanted to meet new people and enjoy the freedom of being able to throw everything I own in a truck and go wherever I wanted before I had real responsibilities to tie me down.

I eventually moved back because I missed my family and I missed my home state. The big cities are great to live in for a while, but they are also exhausting because the people really just aren't as nice as the folks here. Every trip to the grocery store gets annoying because the clerks aren't helpful and don't have to be nice to you. There are 7 million potential customers in the metro area so being nice to you is simply not necessary.

The bottom line is Congressman Green is using students to talk about taxes rather than actually address the issue facing that generation.

If Congressman Green wants to make sure young Wisconsin graduates come back or never leave in the first place, he will offer a plan to invest heavily in the new economy. A recently released study showing the economic impact of the University Research Park points to the direction our state needs to go. The average employee working there makes $62,000 a year, which is much higher than the county average.

Salaries like that will bring many graduates home when they are looking for a place to live after they have experienced the big cities.

Clean up your own house

After Jessica McBride got done trying to make all Democrats looking bad because a few of them running for office are on the fringe, Xoff correctly notes that the people McBride cites were soundly defeated while the Republican side actually nominates people on the edge.

The views of some of in the Republican party are not only outside of the mainstream, they can be hateful and cruel. Take the Republican running against Rep. Terry Van Akkeran in Sheboygan. Here is part of a post on an internet board from that candidate:

Truth and Morality are "timeless," and not subject to Popular Opinion. If there are 100 people in a room, and all 100 Vote that Homosexuality is Okay, irregardless, Homosexuality is still Morally Wrong.



If you polled 1,000 Groups of 1,000 each about whether it is Morally Wrong for an adult man to have sex with an 8 year old girl, you would probably find at least 1 pedophile, in each Group, who would say sex with an 8 year old girl is okay. So now, if we take that 1 pedophile from each Group, and form 1 Group of 1,000 pedophiles, and they unanimously Vote that is is completely acceptable for an adult man to have sex with an 8 year old girl, will that make it Morally Right? No.



Homosexuality is no different. Homosexuality has always been recognized as a Sexual Perversion, and simply because society has become weak on the subject, and has bowed to the Vocal Minority, does not make Homosexuality Morally Right, any more than a Group of pedophiles Voting to approve of pedophilia.



What was Morally Wrong before, is still Morally Wrong now. All the Theories, and Studies in the World, that falsely conclude that some people are "born Homosexual," will not make Homosexuality Morally Right. These are simply people in need of Psychological Counseling, the same as pedophiles are in need of Psychological Counseling. Plain and Simple. End of Story.

No doubt this candidate has seen that the Republican Party has welcomed similar views from their elected lunatic, Senator Tom Reynolds (R-West Allis) and felt comfortable sharing them with people on the internet.

I feel confident the voters of the Sheboygan area will reject these views and this candidate in November, but will fellow Republicans like Jessica McBride be writing any time soon about the need to reject the views of Van Akkren's opponent because they are outside of the mainstream?

Didn't think so.

Trying too hard

WISC-TV has a section on their website where they post the "Reality Check" segment of their newscast. That segment examines what candidates say on the campaign trail and in their commercials and tries to match what they say to facts. They recently posted a segment about the debate where they try too hard to say both candidates are right about everything they argued about at the debate.

When it came to the jobs portion of the debate, Congressman Mark Green tried to say that Wisconsin is losing jobs under Governor Doyle, but the facts don't back up Green. Here is what WISC posted about it:

The candidates also couldn't agree on whether there are more or fewer jobs in Wisconsin under Doyle's watch.

"When I took office we were losing jobs and we have been gaining jobs in Wisconsin," Doyle said.

"The sad reality is we obviously are losing jobs," Green said.

Who's right? Again, it's a mixed bag.

According to the federal government, Wisconsin has gained 177,000 jobs since Doyle took office, and manufacturing jobs are up 7,600 while many other manufacturing states have lost jobs.

Ummm, where is the mixed part? Not only has Wisconsin gained jobs, our state has bucked a national trend on manufacturing. Those jobs typically pay family-supporting wages so they are a great addition to our economy.

You can find the story here if you need to make sure I didn't cut out only the part I wanted to use.

Why our country should not have secret prisons with no oversight

A story from the Washington Post today illustrates exactly why our country should not have secret prisons with no oversight. If you are Muslim, all you have to do is talk to people a government is watching and you could end up losing years of your life whether you know if the people you are talking to are up to no good or not. The Canadian in this account has a horrific story:

Arar, now 36, was detained by U.S. authorities as he changed planes in New York on Sept. 26, 2002. He was held for questioning for 12 days, then flown by jet to Jordan and driven to Syria. He was beaten, forced to confess to having trained in Afghanistan -- where he never has been -- and then kept in a coffin-size dungeon for 10 months before he was released, the Canadian inquiry commission found.

You can find the rest of the story here.

And while many people think they can rest easy because they are not the ethnic group the government is currently targeting, keep in mind a quote from the past. Many variations have been tossed around and people argue over the original text of the poem, but it doesn't really matter what the orginal words were. No matter what groups you plug into the poem, the meaning comes through loud and clear.

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Pastor Martin Niemoller

Military in Iran?

This should make everyone sleep a little less easy tonight if this is true. A retired general was on CNN today saying “We are conducting military operations inside Iran right now. The evidence is overwhelming.”

Congressman Green did what he was told

There is an interesting website out now where you can get information about Republican Congresspeople from the DCCC. The page for Congressman Green can be found here and from there you can find the rest of our Republican delegation.

If you compare the Republican Congressmen from Wisconsin you will find that none of them voted with President Bush as often as Congressman Green did. When President Bush came looking for votes in Congress to implement his agenda that few Americans are currently happy with, Congressman Green rarely said no. He voted with President Bush 88 percent of the time. Congressmen Ryan, Petri and Sensenbrenner are no moderates by any stretch but they all voted against President Bush's agenda more often than Congressman Green.

He said no to his party leaders even less often than he said no to President Bush. If Congressman Green had voted against cutting federal student financial aid by $12.7 billion, he could have lowered his percentage for voting with his party leaders for a good cause. He also could have lowered his percentage by voting to expand the military health care program to Reservists and National Guard members, but he chose party allegiance over our soldiers.

Congressman Green would have taken a lot of heat from his party leaders for voting against their wishes on these and other bills. But the thanks from our students and soldiers should have been worth enough to him to take the heat.

Green ignoring the corruption in Congress

For a guy that sees corruption everywhere he looks on the Dem side, Congressman Green has a remarkable ability to turn a blind eye to the muck coming out of Congress these days.

Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH), a man he liked so much that he invited him to our state so we could all get the Ney version on reform, has recently admitted to felonies but he is refusing to resign from his job. Someone concerned about corruption in government should be demanding that anyone guilty of a felony for actions involving their conduct in office step down from office immediately.

We haven't heard one word from Congressman Green on his friend Ney lately though. Why should Ney still be getting a check from the taxpayers of this country? Why does Congressman Green think Ney should still be getting taxpayer paid for health care when there are millions of Americans that do without health care because they can't afford it?

It's not surprising if this sounds sickeningly familiar to you. Congressman Green's leader up until a few months ago didn't remove himself from office until the public ran him out of town. Congressman Green and his colleagues even voted to change the rules to let former Majority Leaders Tom DeLay stay longer.

If Congressman Green can't see the corruption in Congress and be a leader on it by speaking out against it, why should voters believe he will be a leader on that issue as Governor?

Hundtermark helpful?

Even though Congressman Mark Green endorsed Jean Hundtermark before the primary, he must be questioning whether or not she brings anything at all to the ticket after seeing the numbers coming in on election night last week.

Nick Voegeli receiving 44% of the statewide vote in the Republican primary for Lt. Governor races was amusing when we were all talking about how he spent very little, but now that we see he spent not one thin dime it really makes you wonder why Voegeli received so few votes.

Was it a gender thing? Did people just flip a coin? Does the average GOP voter not like Hundtermark? Who knows?

But maybe it was that endorsement from Congressman Green...

New swift boat group getting sued by IN

And before any Republicans say it's just some liberal Democrat suing, take note that the Attorney General in IN is a Republican.

TPMmuckraker has the story here.

The reason Senator Reynolds is camera shy?

Progressive Majority has the answer here.

It seems Senator Tom Reynolds(R-West Allis) just doesn't know what he should and shouldn't talk about when the camera is rolling. Check out the video. It's unbelievable. The post from Progressive Majority is called "Senator Tom Reynolds on Fingers, Butts and Spankings" so that should give you a hint as to how weird the video gets.

Voting machines hacked

Republicans often complain about vote fraud, but not one ever pipes up about how easy it is to hack into the electronic voting machines being put in all over the country. Curious isn't it?

They worry about a handful of people voting in our state that shouldn't, but don't worry that the entire vote can be compromised by someone who can pick a small lock and download a program. A new report out illustrates how easy it was for a group of graduate students to do this.

Felten and graduate students Ariel Feldman and Alex Halderman found that malicious programs could be placed on the Diebold by accessing the memory card slot and power button, both behind a locked door on the side of the machine. One member of the group was able to pick the lock in 10 seconds, and software could be installed in less than a minute, according to the report.

And they could do a lot of damage in that minute.

The researchers say they designed software capable of modifying all records, audit logs and counters kept by the voting machine, ensuring that a careful forensic examination would find nothing wrong.

The programs were able to modify vote totals or cause machines to break down, something that could alter the course of an election if machines were located in crucial polling stations.

It was also possible to design a computer virus to spread malicious programs to multiple machines by piggybacking on a new software download or an election information file being transferred from machine to machine, Felten said.

If the Republicans were really worried about an accurate voting process, they would be pounding the tables demanding something better than the machines that are being used now. Of course, a hardcore Republican manufactures and sells many of the machines so chances are the Republicans know they can be the last ones in the machines to put together the vote totals they want to see.

You can find the rest of the story here.

Green's march to the middle

The September 15th edition of the Isthmus has an article by Doug Hissom that is worth the read. It examines Congressman Mark Green's move to the middle of the political spectrum after years of voting as a hardcore conservative in Congress. The article does a really good job of examining whether or not Congressman Green's moderate talk on the campaign trail matches his voting record in Congress.

Turns out the Congressman Green on the campaign trail doesn't even resemble Congressman Green in Congress.

Almost every politician moves to the middle as election day moves closer, but not all do it well. A politician moderating her/his stance must perform a delicate balancing act that attracts new voters without pushing away the base of voters they have relied on in the past. The moderation has to be on the right issues that will bring more voters than lost by changing positions.

One of the issues that Congressman Green chose to moderate his stance on, embryonic stem-cell research, could prove to be a gamble he will lose. At this late stage, it's going to be hard for Congressman Green to convince the average voter that he will be better for our state on the stem-cell issue. Governor Doyle has spent months talking about his support for stem-cell research and contrasting it with Congressman Green's refusal to fund the research without the Catholic Church getting to hover over the scientists in the lab.

The only way for Congressman Green to try to sway the average voter that he will be good for the state on the stem-cell issue would be running a large TV ad campaign on the issue. The couple of press releases that he has put out saying he is for embryonic stem-cell research that doesn't destroy embryos, even though that research doesn't exist, have not gotten him enough exposure to sway the average voter.

But a TV ad campaign on the stem-cell issue would only serve to remind the "pro-life" voters that Congressman Green is not on their side and might make a lot of them stay home on election day. In the end, Congressman Green will probably sacrifice more voters than he will gain by trying to find a middle ground on embryonic stem-cells because what the releases have done is signal to the "pro-life" voters that really follow politics that Congressman Green might sell them out if he is elected governor.

Single-issue "pro-life" voters haven't proven to be a very forgiving bunch. They have punished politicians in the past by not showing up on election day if a candidate doesn't support their agenda all the way.

The abortion issue that Congressman Green and his supporters have tied to embryonic stem-cells is not one to be played with in politics close to an election. The few people that do vote solely on the abortion issue do not have any wiggle room for candidates and far too many candidates have tried to appease both sides of the abortion issue only to be rejected by both.

When you try to make everyone happy, everyone ends up mad on the abortion issue. And they often end up staying home on election day.

Coffee drinking Christians unite!

Catacombs Coffeehouse, a Christian gathering place on the UW-Madison campus, had to move from its location in the Pres House due to a construction project that will remodel the building and add space. How long before we see the Congressman Green press release demanding that the UW stop all of its discriminatory construction? Surely this whole "remodeling" project is nothing more than an attempt to harass coffee drinking Christians.

Gard's student tax plan

Rep. John Gard, the Republican candidate for the 8th Congressional District of Wisconsin, recently released his tax plan for students. I found one aspect of the plan very funny.

Increase the Student Loan Interest Deduction --- Raise the limit on the amount of interest that one may deduct on interest paid on student loans from $2,500 to $5,000.

Why do we need to increase the interest deduction? Because the guy leaving the seat in Congress that Gard wants just voted to increase the interest charged on student loans. Oh and that guy, Congressman Mark Green, is currently running for governor of our state trying to sell people on the fact that he is good for higher education.

So does Gard think Green was wrong to vote to increase the interest rate charged on student loans? If he doesn't, that is the most ridiculous way to get a tax cut.

NRCC budget in 8th CD so far

The National Republican Congressional Committee(NRCC) recently bought $2 million in negative advertising. The last entry in this FEC report is for the 8th Congressional District of Wisconsin. It says $89,129.60 is going to be spent against the Democrat in that race, Steve Kagen.

According to the FEC filing, the NRCC is doing issue ads against Kagen. So what's the issue in their ads? The NRCC doesn't think the Republican in that race, John Gard, can hold that Republican seat on his own and they are going to beat up Kagen for Gard. The NRCC knows Gard brings more baggage into this race than a Samsonite sale and that's why Green Bay area residents are seeing ads attacking Kagen for having the nerve to think he should get paid for his services as a doctor.

It's early and Gard is going to need a lot of help to hold this seat in the Republican column so don't be surprised if this is the first of many NRCC filings for the 8th CD this fall.

Spinach contamination should prompt questions to Republicans

The E.coli outbreak on spinach this week should prompt some tough questions for the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate Republicans. Why? One of the most likely sources of this outbreak was irrigation with water contaminated with manure.

Does that sound familiar? It should.

This post from Xoff in early August alerted everyone to a news story that was receiving little attention. The Senate and Assembly Agriculture Committees heard hours of testimony about a proposed rule from the Department of Natural Resources that would prevent big agribusinesses from spreading manure on frozen ground. The testimony included this:

The testimony of the young father before the Senate and Assembly Agriculture Committees was dramatic and heart-wrenching. Two years ago he got up from his dinner table and went to the kitchen faucet to pour a glass of water. Out of the tap came manure laced water. Panic set in as he thought about the fact that the meal that had just been eaten by his wife and their three young daughters had been prepared with water form that faucet.

Four days later Scott Treml picked his six and one-half month daughter Samantha out of her crib, seriously ill and covered in feces and vomit and rushed her to the emergency room. He and his wife Judy were told that there was a good chance that their daughter could die or suffer severe brain damage. Thankfully she recovered. The next day, daughters Kaitlyn (8) and Emily (6) become seriously ill, another day later his wife and three days later he becomes seriously ill. The whole family eventually recovered.

When agribusinesses spread manure on frozen ground, it ends up in a lot of places other than the field they are trying to fertilize. Sometimes it comes out of your tap, and sometimes it ends up contaminating water that will be used to irrigate fields. Even when the ground is not frozen, manure spreading has to be done carefully so it doesn't run off into area water that will be consumed or used for irrigation.

If we don't want to see more outbreaks like the one we just had with the spinach, we need to pass the types of rules that the Republicans in the state legislature turned down this year.

The ghost of debate past

The Wisconsin State Journal ran the most ridiculous picture of the debate on the front page today. Governor Doyle looks like some sort of ghost or mist. The online version is about 100 percent clearer than the printed version. You can barely even tell that Doyle is in the picture in the printed version.

Hmmm, which candidate does that paper favor?

The debate was a snooze fest and neither candidate said anything new. Congressman Mark Green looked like he just stepped out of the sauna before he got on stage. Those lights must have been pretty hot. Doyle started to look shiny as well near the end, but Congressman Green's face was more of a white light reflection from the minute the camera came on last night.

Overall, the debate was a draw. Neither candidate looked stellar, but neither looked bad either. But since Congressman Green is the one that needs the debates to introduce himself to most of the state, the night was a loss for him.

Illinois can have Sensenbrenner

From the Washington Post...

Outgoing D.C. Mayor Tony Williams , at his weekly news briefing Wednesday, talked about meeting with House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner to talk about getting voting representation in Congress.

Williams went on about how Sensenbrenner is from Illinois, and how that's a great state, always supportive of civil rights, home of Abraham Lincoln , our greatest president and so on.

At the end, one reporter asked: But isn't Sensenbrenner from Wisconsin?

Well, whatever, Williams said, it's a "core American value" were talking about.

Will McDonell pull a Cheney?

The front page of the Wisconsin State Journal local section has a story about Dane County Board Chairman Scott McDonell declaring that he will run for Dane County Executive if Falk wins the Attorney General race in November. She will so that means McDonell will become the interim county executive when Falk resigns. He then has 30 days to appoint a temporary county executive.

And here's the 'pulling the Cheney' part - he hasn't decided whether or not he would appoint himself.

To look high and low and find no one else that could hold the office for four months would be akin to Vice President Dick Cheney heading up the search for President Bush's Vice President and finding on one as good as himself out there. Except for McDonell, it would be riskier. Voters had no way of punishing Vice President Cheney because he was part of a ticket. McDonell would face the voters alone after he declares himself best in the land.

To be sure, being viewed as the incumbent has a lot of advantages. But Dane County voters might not take kindly to a king maker.

Debate jeopardy

Congressman Mark Green will go into his first statewide television appearance tonight with some pretty big numbers floating around out there about him. So let's play a little game of Jeopardy so everyone has the numbers straight before the debate.

$1 billion - What is the total cost of Congressman Mark Green sticking to his campaign pledges so far? It's only September and according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Congressman Green has promised to take our state at least $1 billion into the red. That number doesn't even include two parts of his plan that will cost millions more, but Congressman Green has this pesky little habit of making his "plans" so vague that no one can figure out what they will do or cost. Including Congressman Green.

$10 Trillion - What is the debt ceiling that Congressman Green has voted to take our nation to after years of Republican budget mismanagement? That's right, you're grandchildren will still be paying for Congressman Green's budget mismanagement long after he is gone.

33 percent - What is the increase in federal spending that Congressman Green has voted for in the last four budget cycles? Count the minutes it takes Congressman Green tonight to say he will fiscally responsible and reduce spending. You won't get to the 33 that matches the increases he has voted for as a Congressman.

Four days - What is the number of days that Congressman Green has refused to even talk to the state's largest newspaper about his budget record and plans? By all means, keep ignoring the state's largest newspaper. If there is something that reporters love more than anything, it's being ignored. They never take it out on the candidates that ignore them. Just ask Scott McCallum.

$467,844 - What is the dollar amount of PAC money that Green has in his campaign account that needs to be returned the day after the debate because it against the state law that says money spent on Wisconsin campaigns must come from PACs registered in Wisconsin? It's a law folks, not a rule made up by the Elections Board. And Congressman Green's defense of "that's what everyone else was doing" has been tried before. Maybe you remember it. It was called the Scott Jensen trial. The rules of politics change all the time. They change when the collective will decides that it's time to start enforcing the rules in place.

Round two will come with the second debate...

Congressman Green: A Property That's Been On The Market For A Long Time

I guess the housing market really is a buyer's market right now. In fact, if you have been bankrolling the right politician for a over a decade, you can buy an entire housing plan for about $100,000.

Earlier this week the AP revealed that Congressman Mark Green took in about $100,000 in campaign donations from real estate and building interests on the day before and the day after he outlined a plan that would be very beneficial to the industry. But a One Wisconsin Now press release shows that the real estate industry put a sold sign on Congressman Green a long time ago. They got in on the ground floor.

In January 1994, Green received $1,220 in Wisconsin Realtors Association PAC and conduit money and then was the main author of a bill to give real estate agents a partial exemption from a fraudulent sales representation law. The bill, which passed the state assembly in November of 1995, would only make real estate agents legally responsible only if they knowingly gave false information to a client, unlike other sales representatives who are responsible even if they did not know the information was false. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Assembly Sold on Realtors Bill,” November 15, 1995; Wisconsin State Journal, “Assembly OKs Bill to Protect Real Estate Agents from Lawsuits,” November 15, 1995)

I mean really, why should real estate agents have to live by the same rules as everyone else?

And let's not forget, this is the standard that the Republicans have set for donations so they will have no trouble admitting that they aren't living by the standards they have demanded for Governor Doyle, right?

Of course not. When the Green Team was asked about the timing of the donations, they said there was no connection and the group just supports Congressman Green's agenda. The real estate industry said the donations are ok because their support of Green goes back fifteen years.

But when a Wisconsin business that has known and supported Governor Doyle for years gives money to his campaign, the Republicans think state employees should go to prison.

Time will tell if the standard the Republicans have set will come back to bite them harder. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

Race for Dane County Executive

There have been a few articles popping up about the people that may run for Dane County Executive once Kathleen Falk wins the race for Attorney General. (Ok, that last part is from me.) The names of a couple of Dane County Board Members have been batted around, but I wonder why no one has asked Madison Mayor Dave about the race yet.

Unless I missed it, Mayor Dave has not announced he is running for reelection. When asked about it in May of this year when Ray Allen announced he is running for Mayor of Madison, Mayor Dave said it was too early because people are thinking about summer rather than politics. True, but he has also been on board with Kathleen from the very beginning of her campaign so waiting to see if she won may be what is really keeping him from announcing he is running for mayor again.

The County Executive job would allow Mayor Dave to work on the issues he cares about in a more complete fashion than working for just one city. Issues like the environment and transportation are really better addressed with regional solutions.

Mayor Dave may just be waiting to announce his reelection until after the elections of this fall are in the pas. But I'm surprised a reporter didn't call him when they made the round of phone calls to ask about Falk's current job.

Health care on hold

Note to Senator Ron Brown (R-Eau Claire) - The actions by your colleagues yesterday is one of the reasons your constituents are forming coalitions in your area about health care reform. Your silence on the action guarantees that these groups will continue to grow and demand answers from you.

Yesterday the Republican lead Senate Committee on Organization voted 3-2 along party lines to delay putting out the recommendations of the Senate Select Committee on Health Care Reform.

Quick - three guesses as to which month the delay was pushed to and you won't need all three guesses to get it right.

If you guessed December, you get to advance to the next round.

Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) said this of the move to delay the release until after the elections:

With campaigns now in full gear after Tuesday's primary, Erpenbach believes that the committee missed an opportunity to have health care reform become part of the dialogue for candidates this fall.

And that's the point isn't it? Republicans don't even want to talk about this issue much less do anything to try to solve it.

What a smooth move by leadership. If the Republicans didn't want to talk about this issue during the election cycle, why did they have the release date scheduled for mid-September in the first place? It's not like election day was only recently scheduled. This action just puts their unwillingness to tackle this issue on public display right before an election.

Most likely the Republicans didn't like the sound of the recommendations they were going to have to make in the report. Trying to get people health care coverage sounds like 'big government' to most Republicans even though the business owners of our country are the ones clamoring the loudest for health care reform these days.

The health care cost issue won't be on hold until after the election just because the Republicans pull stunts like this. People will still get their bills and employees will learn that their employer will no longer provide coverage between now and election day.

And if the Democrats are smart, they will keep bringing this topic up.

Swift boaters are back

The 8th Congressional District might get a real treat this fall on TV. They might get to see some nasty ads done up by those that did the so-called Swift Boat Veterans For Truth ads in 2004. The guy that put up the money for that lovely piece of work has just dumped $5 million into a new 527 group for the elections this fall.

Steve Kagen might be on the receiving end of this money since holding onto the 8th Congressional District is an important part of the Republican plan to keep the House of Representatives under their control.

TPMmuckraker has the story here.

The silly season begins

The Republican Party of Wisconsin has officially started the silly season with their press release trying to attack the Kathleen Vinehout, the Democrat running against Senator Ron Brown in the 31st Senate District. In it they accuse Vinehout of being a lobbyist. And she was indeed a lobbyist.

FOR FARMERS.

Yes, Vinehout has spent the last few years lobbying a legislature that won't listen on issue important to family farmers. Call it whatever you want - lobbying, advocating, sounding the alarm, trying to get the attention of the legislature - but criticizing Vinehout for trying to get health insurance for family farmers is an issue I can only hope they bring up over and over again.

It must have been very important to expose this "scandal" quickly since the person making these accusations is only referred to as 'Wiley' in the press release. Wiley's claims that Vinehout's lobbying activities are extensive is just laughable. $41,000 spent on two people over eighteen months hardly makes the Wisconsin Farmers Union or Kathleen Vinehout a powerhouse in the lobbying world.

And if Senator Ron Brown and the legislature did a better job on the issues that family farmers care about, Vinehout wouldn't need to lobby them in the first place.

If this is the issue Republicans are going to use against Vinehout, I like our chances to pick up the 31st Senate District this fall.

Governor Ann Richards

The world of politics became a little more dull today with the loss of former Texas Governor Ann Richards.

I was lucky enough to meet her in DC. Funny thing is, my meeting her had nothing to do with my job in politics. Well, it sort of did. I was her waitress one evening at the restaurant I worked at to be able to afford to work in Congress and live in DC. Her quick humor made that night of work go pretty fast.

If you never saw her give a speech, you missed out on something special.

Bucher finally gets the coverage he needed

The Spiceblog has a link to the Paul Bucher concession speech if you care to watch it. It's the most watched video clip on WISN-TV today according to Spivak and Bice. They offer up this summary:

The seven-minute talk is sometimes flip, sometimes bitter and sometimes a tad strange, like when he goes on the attack against some unidentified mean people.

We all know mean people suck.

McReynolds investigates self, finds nothing wrong

Republican State Senate Candidate for the 21st Senate District, William McReynolds, issued a press release today that is really something else. First he claims he is a victim and then he says:

The Racine County Corporation Counsel has already determined all purchases were lawful and found no violation of the ethics rules.

Would that Racine County Corporation Counsel be Jon Lehman? The same Jon Lehman that gave the McReynolds campaign over $500 last year? The same Jon Lehman that McReynolds has the authority to give pay raises to if he wants now that he is the Racine County Executive? (Ironic isn't it? Same name as McReynolds' opponent.)

McReynolds is basically saying his best friend wrote him a note saying that it was ok for McReynolds to set up a company to do business with the county department he ran the budget for so why all the questions?

Luckily, someone else thinks the whole thing stinks. A story in the Racine Journal Times says someone else is going to investigate this just in case.

UPDATE: Progressive Majority has more here.

So what did we learn yesterday?

We learned that if you are going to run in a statewide election, you have to go on TV with a good-sized buy and run ads in the entire state in order to win. If you don't do that, you might as well not even bother spending much money at all. Nick Voegeli, one of the Republicans running for Lt. Governor, spent almost no money on his campaign and got a larger percentage of the vote than Republican Attorney General Candidate Paul Bucher received in his race.

We learned that the Democrats look much more motivated for the election season, even if it means taking out one of their own. The Democratic Primary for the Attorney General race attracted over 350,000 votes while the Republican Primary only attracted about 238,000 votes (so far-the final totals are not in yet). I'm sure there were some crossover votes, but not enough to account for the large discrepancy in vote totals.

We learned that people don't like party switchers even when they come their way. Nancy Nusbaum was unable to convince very many people that she is a strong Democrat after she once ran as a Republican. She came in third in her primary for the 8th Congressional District behind two people that started out with a lot less name recognition than she had. One spent a lot of his own money, but one did not.

We learned once again that voting really matters and campaigns can't take anything for granted. There are a couple of primaries that are too close to call yet because there will be recounts. One of them only has about eight votes between the winner and the loser. One of the close primaries has a former state senator (Gary Drzewiecki) running for an assembly seat.

We learned that it's very tough to beat an incumbent, but not impossible. Most incumbents survived the night, but one did not so don't be scared to run just because it will be hard.

And we learned that despite being more removed from campaigns now, I'm still a nervous nelly that still worries about get-out-the-vote plans. I suspected I was being targeted by the Sanders campaign and in the end I played along because I thought it was an interesting race. Madison Republicans were trying to flex a little muscle in an overwhelmingly Democratic district and city. In the end what really mattered was that Travis' office has clearly been doing the constituent work and Travis votes the right way so it was hard for Sanders to make the case to vote him out.

80th Assembly District

For anyone following the primary for the Democrats in this race, WTMJ has the wrong results. They have Walter Fellows winning but I'm pretty sure the winner was Janis Ringhand. I think they've mixed up the vote totals. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has it the other way as does the Wisconsin State Journal.

Why voting matters

According to WTMJ, Walt Christensen beat Andy Jorgensen by one vote. With 100 percent of the vote in, the final was 959 for Christensen and 958 for Jorgensen.

Think there are any people that were planning to vote for Jorgensen and just didn't make the time to get there that are feeling pretty bad right now? I'm betting yes.

UPDATE: WTMJ officially sucks at election results. Other sources have Jorgensen winning.

However, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has Dan Jardine beating Meagan Yost by only one vote with 100 percent of the vote in for the 47th Assembly District.

Note-This morning they have Yost up by eight. This one is too close to call and I'm sure there will be a recount.

Republican AG race

WTMJ in Milwaukee is calling the race for Van Hollen. With 38% reporting it is Van Hollen with 58 percent.

I guess Bucher does suck.

Amusing read

If you need something to read while you are waiting for election results to roll in, check out Bill Simmons' report on his road trip through Wisconsin if you haven't read it yet. It is hilarious.

Many of jokes are about how much our state eats. He should plan his trip next year during Beef-A-Rama in Minocqua. They have a parade of roasts. Really.

Strange campaign tactics

There are many things people do as election day draws near to 'get in the head' of the opposing side. For example, Henry Sanders came to my door last night even though I have a sign in my yard for his opponent. One of Peg Lautenschlager's supporters chose took a different path along this route last night.

At about 8:30 pm last night, one of Lautenchlager's deputies was outside Kathleen Falk's headquarters screaming things like "you're going down" at the people working inside. This is something I'd expect from the best friend of a fifth-grader running for class president, but not a grown man.

Needless to say, those present at the event suspect a little alcohol was involved. I'll skip the easy jokes on that one.

Van Hollen looking for votes in all the wrong places

Last night I received a recorded phone message from the Van Hollen campaign going on an on about illegal immigration and why I should vote for Van Hollen because he's going to round them all up and send them home.

What the hell kind of list does the Van Hollen campaign have that they think they should be calling me asking for a vote? And asking me for that vote using a message about illegal immigration is really just insane. It's not like I live in a swing area either. I live in a ward and assembly district that votes for Democrats by a pretty good margin.

That phone call says to me that Van Hollen is using the kitchen sink list. Just call everyone you think will vote on election day and hope you hit enough of the people that may vote for you. An interesting strategy but not one I'd go $700,000 in the hole for by any stretch.

-By Rob Rogers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Reynolds campaigning like it's 1799

Senator Tom Reynolds (R-West of Sanity) is saying he won't debate his opponent, Jim Sullivan, unless the organizers of the debate confiscate cell phones will video capabilities. How long can it be before he decides that this campaign should be run without any electricity?

Afterall, a word of mouth campaign is probably what Jesus would do.

Reynolds' increasingly bizarre behavior regarding electronics makes me think those rumors about him trying to build a spaceship were true. Perhaps Reynolds is worried that all of these new fangled devices will interfere with messages from the mother ship.

You can almost hear the exasperation in poor Mr. McGinnis' (the event organizer) voice in this letter to Reynolds and Sullivan:debate.pdf

If Reynolds keeps this up, Sullivan won't need video of Reynolds for campaign commercials. The word of mouth campaign on how bizarre Reynolds is getting will probably be enough.

I'm assuming no one came here today looking for a tribute to the victims of 9/11 so I'm not going to post anything on that. Anyone looking for that should do to the newspapers from the two cities that were directly attacked by the terrorists - NYTimes or the Washington Post. They have much better writers there. I still don't even know how I'll explain to my son someday why the skyline picture I have of NYC in our family room looks so different than what he will see.

What's in a name?

Not much. But when that's all you have, I guess you have to take it pretty seriously.

Secretary of State Doug La Follette is all fired up about a newspaper claiming that La Follette changed his name to make it match former Wisconsin Governor Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette. A story in the Duluth News Tribune has La Follette saying:

"It's pretty upsetting to have someone attack you for your name," La Follette said.

But if that's pretty much your entire campaign, it really can't come as much of a surprise that someone else brought it up can it?

The funny thing is that La Follette is using the story to attack his challenger, Scot Ross, even though he describes the issue this way:

Scot Ross, said Monday that he considered the dispute "a nonissue"

Tomorrow you can either vote for someone that considers the spelling of his last name an important campaign issue, or you can use your vote to give the job to someone that will seek to do more than just guard the great seal of our state.

I'm picking the latter and voting for Scot Ross.

Battle for the 81st Assembly District

A while back I asked if anyone thought Rep. Dave Travis might lose his election. No one ventured any guesses here so I'm going to answer my own question now.

I think Travis could lose tomorrow.

I didn't think that until this week and I certainly don't count him out by any stretch. It's really hard to beat an incumbent. However, his opponent Henry Sanders has run a textbook campaign and could win.

On Saturday alone I received a nice large mailer from the Sanders campaign, someone left a card for him at my door, I received two emails about him and Sanders himself stopped by a festival that I was volunteering at that day. Four hits in one day. And that is on top of the fact that I have received twice as much mail from Sanders and phone calls to boot.

The Travis/Sanders election reminds me of the last two Madison School Board races that saw two incumbents get beat by aggressive newcomers.

If Travis is going to win, he better have one heck of a get-out-the-vote program scheduled for tomorrow.

UPDATE: Sanders just came to my door despite the fact that I told someone calling for him today that I won't be voting for him and we have a Travis sign in our yard. He said he had seen the sign but wanted to tell us why he is running. Some might call that a wasted effort, but it's the last day and you know someone with a sign in their yard is going to vote so it could be worth the effort. Personal visits from candidates can make the difference to a lot of voters. The man is tenacious and could squeak by Travis tomorrow.

Van Hollen mail

I'm guessing the photo for this mail piece comes from video used for a commercial??? How else do you explain Van Hollen looking like he is throwing his hands up like he is wondering what is going on? And I know he is trying to make himself look tough, but the whole photo is just weird.

A one-two punch to Lautenschlager

Two major newspapers each took a jab at Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager over the weekend.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel endorsed County Executive Kathleen Falk over Lautenschlager by reminding people that the drunk driving conviction is not the only reason to vote for Falk rather than Lautenschlager on Tuesday. Falk is also a very qualified candidate.

Peg Lautenschlager, the incumbent attorney general, is still trying to crawl out from under what she calls "the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life." That mistake - driving while intoxicated on Feb. 24, 2004 - has led to a strong challenge from within her own Democratic Party. We back the challenger, Kathleen Falk ,
Dane County executive and onetime assistant attorney general.

Democratic leaders called on Falk to run because of worries that fallout from the drunken driving incident had fatally weakened Lautenschlager. But Falk also is a superb candidate for the post.

She boasts an impressive public-service career. For a dozen years, she championed the public's interest with regard to public water and other natural resources before boards dominated by powerful special interests, in court and in other venues, as the state's public intervenor. Gov. Tommy Thompson eliminated the post in 1995. Credit Falk with, among other accomplishments, improving the public access to public waterways.

And as Dane County executive since 1997, she has proved to be both tight-fisted and innovative. She voluntarily adopted spending caps, before Madison lawmakers caught the fever to impose such caps. Yet through careful budgeting, she managed to drastically step up expenditures for public safety - adding 105 positions to the Sheriff's Department and boosting the district attorney's funds by almost two-thirds.

The second punch came from Scott Milfred at the Wisconsin State Journal. He wrote an editorial saying Lautenschlager's drunk driving arrest is fair game in the election and it's absurd that Lautenschlager's supporters are trying to turn it into a positive for her.

Lautenschlager apologists have tried to argue that merely bringing up Lautenschlager's drunken driving conviction and all that goes with it is akin to dirty campaigning. They're trying to turn Lautenschlager's biggest negative into a positive. If an opponent so much as mentions drunken driving, the spin goes, that opponent is being unfair and cruel.

I don't think so.

To repeat: This is the state's top law enforcer who broke the law. That's obviously an appropriate issue in the race.

If Democrats in Tuesday's primary want to forgive Lautenschlager for her conviction, her poor handling of its aftermath and subsequent mistakes, so be it.

But don't blame Falk or Bucher for making legitimate points about a mess that Lautenschlager alone created.

The best point that Milfred brings up is that it really wasn't the drunk driving that hurt as much as the way she handled the whole mess. People would have forgiven her for just the drunk driving. Milfred sums up what will do her in on Tuesday with:

It's much more about the details surrounding the conviction, her failure to come clean, and what it all says about her character.

that will most She refused the blood test and tried the whole "I was taking a prescription" route that many try to hide behind. And then it went even further downhill from there.

Her unfortunate slide down the hill will come to an end this Tuesday.

Congressman Green's paper trail

You might think that a congressman that represents serious paper making country would have an easy time finding paper lunch bags made in his district. Or at least in this country. But you'd be wrong. Congressman Green was handing out paper bags made in Canada all summer long during the parade circuit despite the fact that there is a company in his district that manufacturers the bags. Tony Galli at WKOW has the story.

Social Security on the ballot this fall

Check out this story from tpmcafe.com about how President Bush has not given up on privatizing Social Security.

Quote of the day

After the Primary, Van Hollen, should he still be in the race, will no longer have to paint himself as 'as nuts as Bucher.' Bucher, on the other hand, will still be as nuts as Bucher.

-Ben Masel on this post over at the In Effect blog.

Campaign expenditures gone hog wild

If someone only raised about $14,000 total this year for their first re-election campaign, would spending over $4,000 on livestock at county fairs be a wise expenditure?

I know the name of the person or company that buys the animal gets put up above the animal so people see it when walking by; but how many people from his district actually saw that? And then how many of that group saw it and thought, "Rep. Terry Musser bought this pig so I should vote for him"? And then which of those two people will remember that in November?

While I think it's nice that Musser is supporting young farmers, surely $4,000 could have been spent on a more effective means of communication to his voters when he only has $14,000 to spend so far.

When is an endorsement not an endorsement?

When the candidate is running in a very progressive district and wants the money and support of a Republican group, but doesn't want the progressive district to know about - that's when.

Is is possible that Rep. Dave Travis' challenger, Henry Sanders, doesn't know what an endorsement is? Because he is outraged that Travis would say Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce (WMC) has endorsed Sanders. What in the world would give Travis the idea that WMC is supporting Sanders? Perhaps a letter from WMC to its members that they put out on the same day Sanders put out a release saying he is not endorsed by WMC that says:

If you live in the 81st Assembly District, and if you're going to vote in the Democrat primary, please vote for Henry Sanders to bring a new voice to the Legislature - and maybe a little bit better business voting record, too.

The wording almost suggests that WMC finds it odd that any of their members would be voting in the Democrat primary.

The letter also says Travis should not be elected because he scores low on the WMC voting scorecard. The state senator from this area, Senator Jon Erpenbach, also scores low on this scorecard. Why do Travis and Erpenbach vote this way? Because the constituents of this area want them to vote that way. If either Travis or Erpenbach scored high on the WMC scorecard, they would be voted out of office faster than Senator Schutlz grabbed headlines using the pain of a family dealing with perverts digging up the grave of a loved one.

I used to think the talk about Sanders being a Republican was crap until this week. Some of the Republicans supporting Sanders are neighbors of Sanders' parents so I considered it more of a 'all politics is local' kind of thing. But WMC going to bat for Sanders combined with a conversation I heard he had with a woman about spousal consent for abortion leave me to believe that while he may not be a Republican, he is far too conservative for this district.

Sanders is trying to be too cute by half on both the WMC support and the spousal consent. He wants to get the support of groups without taking the baggage that comes with them and he is telling some groups what they want to hear even though he doesn't really support it.

Reynolds Xmas card

A reader was hoping to see the Xmas card sent out by Senator Tom Reynolds (R-West Allis) so here it is for your viewing pleasure. It is cut off a little bit but take a look at some of the faces and you can see that they are changed. I'm sure the original structure where Mary gave birth to Jesus said "Merry Christmas from the Reynolds" as well.

Hold the phone

If you are a regular voter, you might want to unplug your phone for the next couple of days. The autocalls are in full swing. I received two yesterday within a few minutes of each other. One from Senator Herb Kohl and one from Rep. Dave Travis' primary challenger Henry Sanders.

The call from Sanders was amusing to me because the whole time Milt McPike (the speaker for the call) is talking there is a large grandfather clock going off in the background. It's pretty hard to even hear what he is saying with all the chimes and gongs going off through the call.

House can't stop horsing around

Record numbers of people might be without health insurance, but the U.S. House of Representatives had more important issues to tackle today. They passed a bill today to stop people from slaughtering horses to eat them.

Seriously.

3:01 P.M. -
UNFINISHED BUSINESS - The Chair announced that the unfinished business was the question of adoption of the motion to instruct conferees on H.R. 5122, which had been debated earlier and on which further proceedings had been postponed.

H.R. 503:
to amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other purposes

On passage Passed by recorded vote: 263 - 146, 1 Present (Roll no. 433).
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

UPDATE: I didn't think it was possible for this story to get even more ridiculous, but it did. The debate for this bill lasted almost FOUR HOURS!!

Senator Schultz makes sick grab for press

It is pretty disgusting to try to get attention for yourself in the press by putting out a release about the awful story of a woman's body being dug up by perverts. And please Senator Schultz, don't kid yourself that you are doing this for the family. If that were the case, you would have just quietly put together a bill for next session instead of putting out a release to grab the issue before anyone else did.

In his release, Schultz appeared shocked that only sixteen states have laws on the books about this. That's probably because there haven't been any politicians like Schultz willing to capitalize on the pain of a family by making this an issue during campaign season.

Or maybe it's because there are laws to punish these people. In fact, they've been charged with crimes.

Schultz says he is doing this to stop this from happening in the future. What planet does Schultz live on to think that putting a new law on the books is a larger deterrent for most people than the actual act itself?

Seems more likely that Schultz saw that his opponent raised a significant amount of money (more than Schultz) and he decided he need press fast.

It's a sick grab at press no matter what Schultz will claim is his motivation.

Wood voucher support funds campaign

Republican Jeff Wood of Chippewa Falls must be having a hard time raising money in his district. His latest campaign finance report has him raising only about $7500 (with an $11,000 outstanding loan to himself) and about $4700 of that came from conduits or out-of-state special interests concerned about the school voucher program.

They must be worried that one of their biggest allies in the legislature is in trouble.

The conduit money is a 'whose who' of private school choice supporters... Dick Devos, the Waltons, Edison school employees. His individual donation list reads like a 4th grade geography test - San Fransico, CA - Grand Rapids, MI - Bentonville, AR - Milwaukee, WI - Jackson, WY. And that's just the first ten donations.

These folks show up on the campaign finance reports of many of the Republicans running for office in our state. They think they should be telling Wood how to run the schools in his district rather than the people of Chippewa Falls.

When Wood announced he was running for reelection, he said one of his goals for the next legislative session was "introducing a bill to consolidate some of the over 400 school districts in Wisconsin. The goal would be to save money by eliminating redundancies in administration and sharing resources."

Given the amount of money Wood has pouring in from voucher supporters across the country, it seems more likely that he wants to gut the funding of the local schools to try to strengthen the argument for private schools getting tax dollars.

Wood's opponent, Roberta Rasmus, has almost as much money on hand ($25,678) as Wood has ($27,641) without a personal loan so this race should be interesting to watch.

The next amdendment

News Release

Republicans Plan to Introduce Constitutional Amendment to Stop Intersex Fish From Coming to Wisconsin

Madison - Recent news accounts regarding an intersex male bass fish with eggs being found in the Potomac River have spurred Republicans to take action to protect Wisconsin's traditional fish. They plan to introduce a constitutional amendment to stop the fish from coming to Wisconsin's lakes and streams.

Rep. Mark Gundrum (R-New Berlin) noted that fast action was needed to prevent the spread of intersex fish to our state.

"We must take action now before our traditional fish want to be intersex fish too. If we don't pass this amendment, some liberal activist judge is going to use these fish to make us clean up the lakes and rivers in our state."

Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) seconded the need to stop activist judges.

"Those that have called for pollution controls to address this matter clearly don't see the real threat here. Activist judges - they're everywhere you look. Why would we take the long route of addressing the pollution of our state waters when we can just quickly pass this amendment, blame activist judges, and go home an tell everyone we've solved the problem?"

Senator Tom Reynolds (R-West Bend) said he plans to hand out pamphlets to the fish on they can learn not to be intersex fish.

Reynolds added, "Why do you think Jesus talked about fish so much in the bible? He clearly wanted us to protect the traditional fish from this attack."

Madison City Council on another planet

Last night the Madison City Council passed a resolution proclaiming Pluto as Madison's ninth planet. Really. And they wonder why people joke about our city council.

Does this mean that the city council thinks Madison actually has eight other planets?

And rest assured people of Madison, the city council has extended a hand of friendship to the Plutonians so I'm sure we won't be attacked now.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the City invites any representatives of Pluto (should any exist) to an upcoming Common Council meeting where they will receive the keys to the city, passes to the Goodman Pool, an honorary membership in the Chamber of Commerce (to ensure that the folks on Pluto realize how business-friendly Madison really, REALLY is) and, finally, an autographed CD from the Dixie Chicks.

Sigh.

Secretary of State race gets going

Secretary of State Candidate Scot Ross had a nice piece of mail hit this week. For a race that "nobody cares about" it has an impressive collection of newspaper clippings about Ross and mentions that he has the 'Fighting Bob' spirit.

SOS La Follette's response to Ross' spirit has been that the legislature will never give the SOS office more authority. This could be true, but La Follette refusing to ask or try to build support for it just makes it a self-fulfilling prophesy.

When I asked La Follette's office to provide me with the documents from his "never hesitating to use the 'bully pulpit' of his office to promote fair and honest elections" he couldn't provide me with much. I was sent a couple of copies of the same letter addressed to different people with a press release about the letter and one email. They were both from this year after Ross announced his challenge. La Follette's assistant did say that La Follette doesn't write down his speeches, but surely someone who supposedly speaks out from his office would have more than one press release.

Wisconsin Right to Life sells out

The world may be coming to an end soon. I never thought I'd see the day that Wisconsin Right to Life would compromise the deeply held beliefs of the members of their group in order to prop up any candidate.

How does this:

Susan Armacost, chief lobbyist for the group, said her organization likes Green's proposal.

"We share a goal of wanting ethical, successful research," Armacost said. "It sounds like (Green) would like to take the research community in a new, more ethical direction."

Jibe with this (bolding mine):

Wisconsin Right to Life: WRTL Vindicated
9/5/2006

Barbara Lyons Executive Director or Susan Armacost, Legislative Director
email: wrtl@wrtl.org
(414) 778-5780 or Toll Free (877) 855-5007

Report that Embryonic Stem Cells Obtained Without Destruction of the Embryos Proven False

“The public needs to wake up to the fact that just about anything said by the promoters of human embryonic stem cell research has to be viewed with skepticism,” stated Barbara Lyons, Executive Director of Wisconsin Right to Life. “From Governor Jim Doyle to the research community, hype and even inaccuracy are the operating communication mode. Anything to keep the public believing that we need to continue to kill human embryos, or say we are not killing them when we are.”

Wisconsin Right to Life was the lone voice in our state and one of the few in the nation that publicly cried “foul” when a research company in California claimed it had retrieved embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo. It is now reported that all 16 human embryos in the experiment were destroyed as the researchers took them apart cell by cell.

“Amazingly, some researchers are claiming in the wake of this untruthful revelation that if we could just use tax dollars for this unethical research – well, problem solved,” continued Lyons. “How about just discontinuing the unethical research and using adult stem cells which are daily providing real treatments for real people?”

So why does she like Green's proposal to use tax dollars for this "unethical research"? Makes you wonder what Green promised her in order to get Wisconsin Right to Life to say nice things about his proposal doesn't it?

Smile for Congressman Green's camera kids, not Governor Doyle's

I am frankly shocked that Jim Doyle would use the suffering of a little girl as fodder for a political attack ad.

-Mark Graul, Campaign Manager for Congressman Mark Green

Not shocked enough to keep his candidate from having a press conference about lots of sick children that even talks about children almost dying. Kids must be safe from the doings of politicians if they are in a pack.

"When we nearly lost our then 7-year-old son, Scotty, in April of last year, we were devastated to learn that Type 1 Diabetes, brought on by a viral infection, was the cause. It is heartbreaking to watch him have to endure the pain of four or more injections of insulin a day just to keep him alive, not to mention the constant need for finger pokes to keep track of his blood sugar levels. It is also terrifying to know that without it, he would die in a very short period of time," said Annette Conant from Waukesha. "Then, as now, we would do almost anything to have our son cured..."

And that's the key isn't it? They would do anything to help their child. Kind of like the woman in Governor Doyle's ad talking about her sick child that made some Republicans question her as a mother.

I respect this family for getting involved in the process because they want to help their child. What I don't respect, is Congressman Mark Green telling her things to make her believe this:

"...we just don't believe human embryos should be destroyed to help Scotty. We were hopeful when we learned of the new method that, if done correctly, is believed to not cause harm to the embryo..."

when he knows that it's not true. Last week we learned that the embryos used in the new procedure were indeed destroyed. In fact, the company that claimed they had found the cure for the politics that ails stem cell research has a history of over promising on their findings when they need money.

Let's just call this what it is and get it over with here Team Green. You found yourself on the losing end of an issue so you compromised your beliefs to try to gain some ground back. Those little clumps of cells are either children being experimented on or they are not.

In the end Congressman Green is using the "suffering" of what the extreme right, and until today Congressman Green himself, called children for his political gain.

McReynolds second job on the taxpayer's dime

Donovan Riley might not be the only candidate out there that was dumb enough to run for office with something in his past that could result in criminal charges. Racine County Executive William McReynolds might find himself facing a court battle before his campaign for the 21st State Senate District is over.

McReynolds' set up a company specifically to sell products to Racine County while he was Racine County Sheriff and continued to operate the business while he was Racine County Executive. For the first couple of years, McReynolds kept the orders smaller, most likely because he knew he had to keep them under $1,000 to be safe.

He got close to $1,000 with the first order to his company. The next couple of orders are much smaller. Why does the $1,000 figure matter so much? Anything over $1,000 triggers a competitive bid process. But then McReynolds got lazy and two orders went through that were over the $1,000 mark. Those two orders could be what sends McReynolds to court rather than the Wisconsin State Senate.

His actions have caught the eye of the local newspaper. The Racine Journal Times Editorial Board recently wrote:

But we can't believe that McReynolds doesn't see the inherent conflict over the situation that set up. No county employee - and that includes a patrol captain - should be placed in the position of having to decide on a contract knowing that the firm making the pitch is co-owned by his superior.

That is both unfair and inappropriate and we are stunned that McReynolds doesn't see it that way.

We have no problems with McReynolds setting up a business venture; he has every right to do so. But it would seem to us the first directive he would have given to his partners in such a venture would be "Don't make a sales call on Racine County."

His actions might also catch the eye of a prosecutor since both Racine County and our state have laws designed to keep this exact situation from happening.

Progressive Majority Wisconsin has more details on the transactions and the company here.