Big Sunday Story On Missing State Jobs Finds Walker AWOL, Too

The Journal Sentinel's major Sunday story is about Wisconsin missing out on the national jobs recover.

Also missing: Scott Walker, who has plenty of time to travel the country raising recall election money and pose as conservative hero, but when it comes to taking hard questions six straight months of job losses beginning when his budget took hold or any overall responsibility, he refused to be interviewed for the story.

That lack of responsibility - - part arrogance, part cowardice - - has been his hallmark since his college days.

And right through his years as County Executive, and all the way to the Governor's office.

 More examples...

Legal Analyst Shows How Assembly Mining Bill Guts Existing Law

This bill is one vote from approval in the Senate, and Walker's signature. Read on:

Assembly Bill 426, introduced Dec. 14, 2011, makes sweeping changes that would affect permit applicants, local governments, neighboring property owners, citizens’ groups, and the state itself. Elizabeth Wheeler of Clean Wisconsin explains that these changes span a range of issues, from permit fees and tax revenues to permitting timelines and environmental standards as applied to iron mining.

One Senator jumping ship turns the clock back decades and jeopardizes clean water in Wisconsin.

Tommy Thompson's 'I Stand For Nothing' Campaign

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson's back-tracking and self-serving contradictions on really important issues in pursuit of a US Senate seat - - earlier on Amtrak, and now health care and women's reproductive rights - - is nothing short of astonishing.

Does the man have any shame, or awareness of how weak and grasping his vanity-driven, run-to-the-right campaign is making him look?

There's no end to it:

This line appears on his campaign website, in blue bold-face type:

The Original Reformer

He's spent so much time on the trivialities (like hair dye) of appearances - - yet here's a case where the appearances make a difference and are damning, yet off he goes, oblivious.

Way too much ego and opportunism and interest in personal advancement over policy and civic representation these days, though I note an exception in Republican State Senator Dale Schultz's stand-out, stand-alone political courage on the mining bill.

Take a look at this report about Tommy, in part:

Thompson’s campaign refused to take a stand on the highly controversial Blunt amendment this week, but a Facebook post on his official account last month expressed outrage over a rule requiring employers to offer contraception coverage in their health care plans.

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel examination of Thompson’s mandatory candidate personal financial disclosure report, notes that the former governor served for seven years on the board of directors of Evofem, Inc., a San Diego-based maker of women’s health products including “contraception and conception productions.”

He received at least $5,000 in compensation for his consulting services from the company. It also reveals that Thompson’s huge healthcare investments include somewhere between $15,001 and $50,000 in stock in Teva Pharmaceuticals and between $1,001 and $15,000 in Watson Pharmaceuticals — both makers of emergency contraceptives.

Follow The Mining Bill's Complicated Procedural Path

Inside State Capitol baseball, anyone?

I posted last week some emails obtained through Open Records from the office of Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, (R-Juneau) from a few weeks ago - - some about lobbyists here, and another about talk radio here - - after Fitzgerald had: seized control of the mining issue; cancelled the work and hearing plan proposed by a special select committee he'd created; and directed a blatantly pro-mining bill the GOP-led Assembly had passed to the friendly confines of the GOP-controlled Joint Finance Committee (JFC), where sources say a deal on a final bill, pro-industry bill could be struck as early as Monday.

The maneuvering by Fitzgerald caught the eye of State Sen. Tim Carpenter, (D-Milwaukee), a member of the special committee that Fitzgerald obliterated, and I'd included Carpenter's questions about the process late last week:

...State Sen. Tim Carpenter, (D-Milwaukee), a member of the special committee that Fitzgerald had terminated, emailed Fitzgerald and other GOP Senators (Kedzie, State Sen. President Mike Ellis, (R-Neenah) on Wednesday, February 15, at 4:13 PM - - as Fitzgerald's coup against the Kedzie plan was well underway - - with this question - - that went unanswered, documents show:

My Esteemed Fellow Senators,

Can you please explain why this highly unusual maneuver was made? As [a] Senator who has tried to act in a Bipartisan fashion, I am deeply disturbed by this unfortunate act.

Sincerely.
A deposed member - Select Senate Mining Committee
Tim Carpenter.

Well, here's an official explanation about some of the hoops that Legislative technicians needed to jump through to facilitate the maneuvering, according to an email from Assistant Chief Senate Clerk Jeff Renk on Wednesday, February 15, at 4:12 p.m., to two legislative staffers, and it should be a nominee for Bureaucratic Memo Of The Month:

OK, once again, after reading the rules more carefully, I believe that Senate Org now CAN directly refer the bill to JFC. Since it's an Assembly Bill, pursuant to Senate Rule 18(1), all bills received from the Assembly for concurrence are placed in Senate Org. However, the President refers them, however, only on first reading (Senate Rule 36).  Since it's been considered "Read a first time" in the Senate, Senate Rule 36 does not apply anymore. That brings us back to Senate Rule 18(1) saying it is in Org. Therefore Senate Org can rerefer it pursuant to Senate Rule 41 (1)(e).  Whew....OK, I think that the end of my going back and forth on this.....and I'm sticking to it! Here's my suggested wording for the ballot:

[Senate Org is shorthand for the Senate Committee on Organization, which Fitzgerald chairs.]

Renk then provided suggested language for a motion to dissolve the select committee and have the Assembly bill be "rereferred" to the JFC.

An hour and 25 minutes later, Renk told the same staffers he was revising and shortening the suggested wording as "the bill has officially been rereferred to JFC today (Wednesday) we only need the ballot to dissolve the committee......so....."

Conservative Writer Provides Perfect Image For Proposed Iron Ore Mine

A conservative essayist provided the perfect image for Southeastern Wisconsin readers about what's wrong with the proposed iron ore mine in Northern Wisconsin:

...the current proposal will virtually flatten the Penokee Hills by excavating a 22-mile-long, 1,000-feet-deep, and up to 1.5-mile-wide pit. Imagine widening I-94 between Lake Michigan and Pewaukee to 600 lanes — that’s roughly the same footprint.

What Was Read Most Often Here Last Week

Posts on the mining issue, road-building and Walker-inspired politics - - a broad swatch of the political environment, I'd say - - racked up the most hits here last week during the blog's heaviest use in its history back to early 2007.

Many thanks to the readers:

Proven False Claim By Walker Featured In National ... Nov 25, 2011

One Word On Scott Fitzgerald's $1,000-A-Ticket Eli... Feb 29, 2012

Beware Those 'Mining Bill Dead' Stories Mar 1, 2012

Emails Show Instant Communications Between Senate ... Mar 2, 2012

Officials Want Fresh $207 Million For A Suburban F... Feb 28, 2012

Legislative Details About A Mining Hearing: Getting Your Mileage Paid

I posted some emails - - some about lobbyists here and another about talk radio here - - obtained through Open Records about a period a few weeks ago when Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald a) seized control of the fate of proposed mining legislation, b) got his caucus to endorse an already-approved-and-blatantly-pro-industry Assembly mining bill and c) cancelled the work of a special Senate committee he'd created before it could advance an alternative that neither he or mining lobbyists favored.

The mining issue has been hot in Wisconsin for months, and really began to get the public's attention when the Assembly released its bill without sponsors, then quickly set up a hearing in Milwaukee on short notice - - forcing people who lived up North hundreds of miles away to arrange transportation and make a long trek during the workday in order to testify.

In other words, the convenience to citizens was not the Assembly's first priority - - and though it grudgingly held a hearing closer in Hurley to the most-affected area - - the special Senate committee, before Fitzgerald stepped in and cancelled it, was again setting up an inconvenient hearing, this time in Platteville, in the southwest corner of the state and even further from the probable mine site.

So I was struck by this section of an email to his colleagues on February 10th, four days before the Platteville hearing that never was, and the bureaucratic distance to which State Sen. Neal Kedzie, R-Elkhorn), had already to make sure the needs of legislators and staffers were being addressed.

Maybe it's standard protocol, but in an era of high gas prices and unemployment, what a slap at regular citizens who are forced to chase after three minutes of speaking time at disparate hearings wherever legislators' deign to schedule them, and then shell out again with their tax payments to a Legislature that has comprehensive procedures and accounts to cover their members and staffers attendance at these same hearings.

From the memo, in part:

From:  Senator Kedzie
Sent: Friday, February 10th, 2012 4:53 PM

Subject: Senate Mining Jobs Committee - hold date

We are making arrangements through the Senate Chief Clerk's office and Senate Sergeant-At-Arms for transportation and reimbursement of costs for committee members, support staff, and one staff person for each member. Reimbursement of any and all costs will be covered through Senate member office accounts, which we will be requiring approval of from the Senate Organization Committee. You are not required to make similar request of Senate Org., but should contact the Senate Chief Clerk's office ahead of time with the name of the staff member who will be staffing the hearing.

Lots Of Gossip About Mining Bill Pressure Being Brought On Senators

The State Journal says GOP leaders, desperate to hand Walker a pre-recall victory (my take on it), are making incremental concessions on the mining bill.

Lots of chatter about this matter today.

Democrats have got to hang tough, not negotiate with themselves and decline to fix the mess the GOP began with its closed-door (except to mining interests) Assembly bill writing process.

Video Of Walker Pledging Bargaining On Concessions Raises So Many Questions

An amazing video surfaces on a blog (hat tip, Jud Lounsbury) showing candidate Scott Walker telling the Oshkosh Northwestern he'd negotiate concessions with unions.

Several questions:

Was this a feint by Walker?

Or did he change his mind later?

And why was the Northwestern been sitting on this?

On The Mining Bill, Remember 2010, Plale and Decker

As legislators meet today on a last-ditch 'compromise' on the mining bill, with Democrats said to be under ferocious pressure from the right, a salient bit of history:

Two Democratic Senators - -  Jeff Plale and Russ Decker - - broke ranks and voted with Senate Republicans in the waning days of out-going Gov. Jim Doyle's second term, helping block approval of previously-negotiated state worker contracts and paving the way for Scott Walker's union-busting "bomb" dropped just after Walker's inauguration.

Key mining holdout Dale Schultz, (R-Richland Center) may be the swing vote and obstacle right now against the Senate's adoption of the blatantly-pro-industry mining bill - - but he can stand firm against a barrage of criticism from talk radio and the WI Club for Growth only if all Democrats remain united against a bill so bad the Journal Sentinel called it "rancid" - - and that level of discipline broke down at the last minute the last time a high-profile vote at the end of a session surprisingly went Walker's way with Democratic defections.

Just saying...that bad bill is not dead yet.

The Dems need to remember they were effective when unified as The 14 who stood strong together over collective bargaining. Clean water, citizen participation and treaty rights are that important.

Emails Show Instant Communications Between Senate Leader's Office, Mining Lobbyists

A few words about information, access to it and opportunities to talk to policy-makers in the State Capitol - - in the context of the imbroglio over mining legislation.

Spoiler alert: it all depends on who you are and who you know.

Assembly Republicans set up a hearing on their version of the mining bill in Milwaukee last last year that was hundreds of miles from the Bad River watershed where the most affected people live, and videos have been posted that show State Reps. Mary Williams, (R-Medford), and Jeff Stone, (R-Greendale) dodging, ducking and denying citizens various routes to easily connect over the issue - - but if you are a pro-mining lobbyist, the way to direct communication with Legislative power and fast access to documents is smoothed for you.

That's clear in some records made available to me under the State Open Records law by the office of State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald that show fast, friendly interaction between the Senate office and pro-mining lobbyists.

Examples:

* At 4:52 p.m. on Friday, February 10th, State Sen. Neal Kedzie, (R-Elkhorn), sent an email to about 20 legislators and staffers telling them to hold time on the following Friday, February 17th, for a hearing - - later cancelled by parliamentary maneuvering by Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald - - on an alternative mining proposal a select committee chaired by Kedzie was preparing for release.

*Four minutes later, at 4:56 p.m., the Kedzie email was forwarded by Fitzgerald Chief of Staff John Hogan to Bob Seitz and Scott Manley.

State lobbying records show that Seitz is a registered, contract lobbyist for Gogebic Taconite LLC, the mining company that wants to open the iron ore mine near Ashland , and Manley is the Director, Environmental Policy and a registered lobbyist for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

The WMC, a statewide business trade association, is a strong supporter of the mine and legislative efforts to steamline state mining reviews.

* At 3:18 p.m. on Monday, February 13th, Kedzie sent out another email about the public hearing he was planning, with fresh information about the location, and a reference to the bill he was going to introduce, with its Legislative Reference Bureau [LRB] file number.

* One minute later, at 3:19 p.m., Hogan forwarded that email to Manley and Seitz.

* Still at 3:19 p.m., Manley emailed Hogan and said:

How can we get a copy of the LRB [Legislative Reference Bureau] draft? Is it available?

* One minute later, at 3:20 p.m., Hogan responded to Manley:

I'll get you one.

I posted yesterday an email from Fitzgerald's staff to Charlie Sykes during the that same period two weeks ago when Senate Republicans were abandoning Kedzie's plan in favor of the Assembly's more pro-mining version.

Just Don't Ask These Folks To Be Your Home Repair Contractor

Why the DNR wants to levy a fine against We Energies over its coal ash dump into Lake Michigan last year: about that pond you built near the bluff...without a liner...

Provocative Essay By Wisconsin Conservative Against Mining Proposal

A great essay, definitely worth the read. A tidbit:

Conservatives frequently look to tradition for policy guidance, and mining proponents are pointing to northern Wisconsin’s historic mining activity as evidence of safe practice. This is not an accurate comparison.

The late 19th- and early 20th-century, operations in the Hurley area relied on underground shaft mines and the region’s landscape remains intact today.

Conversely, the current proposal will virtually flatten the Penokee Hills by excavating a 22-mile-long, 1,000-feet-deep, and up to 1.5-mile-wide pit. Imagine widening I-94 between Lake Michigan and Pewaukee to 600 lanes — that’s roughly the same footprint. This isn’t your grandfather’s mine, and it would be wise to honor Wisconsin’s tradition of responsible stewardship that has provided us a strong balance of development, recreation and preservation.

On a recent visit to the Penokee Hills with a childhood friend who works at the nonprofit Clean Wisconsin, I snowshoed to one of several pre-glacial gorges where world-class trout streams cross the range. I observed the bubbling headwaters of the 76-mile-long Bad River at Caroline Lake, just a few miles from the wetlands where the proposed mine’s tailings — leftover, non-iron minerals — are to be deposited. I drove 25 miles downstream through the Bad River watershed to Lake Superior, passing by homes and farmsteads, state parks and hunting lands.

I was stunned by the Penokee Hills’ important role in influencing the flow and connectivity of the region’s wetlands and waterways all the way down to the Great Lake.

As a conservative, I believe society prospers when we operate with a strong moral order and shared sense of right and wrong. After visiting the region, I know it would be wrong to risk this important watershed and the communities (and economies) that depend on it without first conducting a proper permitting process.

Iron Mining Irony

It takes about 2.5 years for a mining permit review to be completed in Wisconsin under current law, so if GTAC had made its pitch to the state 13 months ago when it said it had no interest in a new law that weakened the process, the company would be about halfway there by now.

WI Mining Story Goes National

Long AP version at Huffington Post.

Among several items here, this has some Open Records info.

When The 1% Feeds On Itself, The Cato Institute Must Die

Because the Koch brothers demand its control. #family fued

WI Club For Growth Attacking Sen. Dale Schultz

I heard Sykes reference an ad - - I assume it's radio.

Sykes also said the "anti-mining left" was organizing support for Schultz - - so I guess backing Schultz is working.

I repeat - - let Schultz you know you respect and appreciate his principled stand on mining and the environment, at:
Sen.Schultz@legis.wisconsin.gov

And read the remarks of Sen. Jauch.

Beware Those 'Mining Bill Dead' Stories

[originally posted at 10:15 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 29] It is true that the mining bill is still stalled in the Legislature - - principally due to the principled stand by State Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center) against the Assembly's version that gives away state water quality and Native American treaty-protected resources to an iron ore mining company - - but notices of the bill's imminent death in the Senate (where all Democrats oppose the Assembly measure, with Schultz's opposition being the keystone) in the waning days of the current Legislative session may be premature, or a tactical move by proponents to force a last-minute, flawed 'compromise.'

And remember these things:

* Walker is out campaigning hard for a bill, since jobs are being shed during his roiled tenure and he wants a victory with "jobs" in the headline.

*  The current legislative session ends March 15. Two weeks is a long time in politics, especially when one party controls all the machinery, is driven by a pro-industry agenda and has media-savvy wealthy allies among conservative advocacy groups..

Parliamentary barriers? Consider that State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, (R-Juneau), imperiously turned the Legislature upside down over mining proposals two weeks ago when, within a few hours, he and/or his staff:

*  Eliminated a special committee he'd created with Sen. Neal Kedzie, (R-Elkhorn) purportedly in charge, because Kedzie had rolled out a draft bill with too many environmentally-friendly, public-participation provisions - - and, horror of horrors, a minuscule per-ton mining fee for restoration work and mitigation costs borne by localities in the way of mining shovels and trucks.

*  Cancelled a public hearing that the special committee had scheduled.

*  Ended any possibility of a second hearing up North, where mining will have the most deleterious effects on tourism, water quality, everyday life and treaty-protected wild-rice harvesting by the Bad River band.

*  Redirected the Assembly's bill to the Joint Finance Committee for consideration, since by that time a majority of GOP Senators had turned their back on the special committee's draft and plan (their colleague Kedzie under the bus, notwithstanding) and signed on to the Assembly bill instead.

*  Set in motion a talk radio and media campaign against the special committee's draft and plan and in support of Fitzgerald's support for the Assembly bill, email records show. 

*  AM 620 WTMJ conservative radio talker Charlie Sykes got the information about the GOP senators' Fitzgerald-led support for the Assembly bill by email from Fitzgerald's office at 9:18 a.m. on Wednesday, February 15 - - and devoted time that morning to it - - after which other media began talking to Fitzgerald's office later that day about the change in legislative strategies, according to documents released to me on February 23 by Fitzgerald's office under an Open Records request.

Sykes teased the subject early in his show that morning of the 15th, and then discussed it in detail in the show's first 90 minutes, as his podcast indicates.

All this maneuvering, and changing of schedules and committees, and mindfulness of the Senate's arcane rules to breathe new life into the Assembly version was so deft and so swift that State Sen. Tim Carpenter, (D-Milwaukee), a member of the special committee that Fitzgerald had terminated, emailed Fitzgerald and other GOP Senators (Kedzie, State Sen. President Mike Ellis, (R-Neenah) on Wednesday, February 15, at 4:13 PM - - as Fitzgerald's coup against the Kedzie plan was well underway - - with this question - - that went unanswered, documents show:

My Esteemed Fellow Senators,

Can you please explain why this highly unusual maneuver was made? As [a] Senator who has tried to act in a Bipartisan fashion, I am deeply disturbed by this unfortunate act.

Sincerely.
A deposed member - Select Senate Mining Committee
Tim Carpenter.

The point is that Fitzgerald, aided by his brother Jeff, the Assembly leader, could force a 'compromise' to the floor for a vote and transmission to Walker for a signature very, very quickly.

Best thing to do:

Tell Dale Schultz you appreciate his stance, urge him to be firm and urge your friends to do the same:

Sen.Schultz@legis.wisconsin.gov

Looks Like Walker's Wisconsin To Suffer Yet Another "Mass Layoff" Event

Wisconsin led a 12-state Midwest region in so-called "mass layoff" (50+ employees) events in January, a federal survey found, and it looks like another one was announced today.

This is the second in two days, based on a cursory review of some state media.

More details, here.

Can Sen. Dale Schultz Save Wisconsin From Assembly's "Rancid" Mining Bill

Give the Republican Senator from Richland Center credit for being the one member of his party willing to resist an Assembly mining bill - - a bill so badly conceived that it was called "rancid" by the Journal Sentinel editorial board - - and refuse to sell out the public, its clean water and rights to participate in the review of mining permit applications.

Imagine the pressures on Schultz: call or email him and thank him for holding firm.

Madison Office Room 122 South State Capitol P.O. Box 7882 Madison, WI 53707-7882
Telephone (608) 266-0703 Or (800) 978-8008
Fax (608) 267-0375
Email Sen.Schultz@legis.wisconsin.gov

District Telephone (608) 647-4614

Walker Signs Wetlands Filling Bill Before Special Interest Crowd

Give Walker credit for dropping all pretense about governing in the public interest by signing the bill that weakens wetlands protections in front of a gathering of realtors.

Look to him signing the eventual easy/enabled mining bill that comes to him in a couple of weeks at the Hurley offices of GTAC, the mining company that helped write the Assembly version of the bill and which has given Walker and other mining proponents campaign donations.

While Fitz Ferries DC Cash Back Home, A Citizen Opponent Emerges

Kudos to Fort Atkinson's Lori Compas for leading the historic petition drive effort to recall the powerfully out-of-touch Senate Republican Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, and then agreeing to run against his arrogance and money.

Fitzgerald's response, other than dubious signature challenges: a vacation with his best legislative pals from maneuvering on behalf of an out-of-state mining company by jetting off to DC for an event tonight at a major lobbying firm to raise money at a $1,000-a-ticket.

For that kind of money, the chocolate truffles better come dipped in 24-karat gold.

One Word On Scott Fitzgerald's $1,000-A-Ticket EliteFest Tonight

What a snob.

Radio Funny Man Michael Feldman Has Tweet Of The Day

Michael Feldman ‏ @myfeldman 

what are the odds some throwing up in santorum camp?

 

 10:17 AM - 29 Feb 12 

More On Rick Santorum's Home-School Subsidy

Article with links about Santorum's sweet, under-covered home-school deal: live in Virginia during his US Senate service for Pennsylvania, but home-school some of the kids in a Pennsylvania "virtual" school and reap $100,000 in benefits - - the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said the cost was $33,000-a-tear - - from Pennsylvania taxpayers

As various media outlets from Mother Jones to the Washington Post have reminded us in recent weeks, Santorum’s record as a home-schooler is ambiguous at the very least, and arguably hypocritical. From 2001 through at least 2004, when Santorum was serving in the Senate and living full-time in Loudoun County, Va., five of his children were enrolled in an online charter school based in Pennsylvania — a public school, albeit an unusual one — with computers, curricula and other educational services provided at taxpayer expense. According to the Penn Hills Progress, a newspaper in Santorum’s suburban Pittsburgh hometown that broke the story at the time, the local school district had spent approximately $100,000 educating the senator’s so-called home-schooled children, although they lived neither in the district nor in the state.

Santorum owned a modest three-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot house in Penn Hills (and reportedly still does), on which he paid about $2,000 a year in taxes. But owning a home is not sufficient to prove residency, and public records, neighborhood testimony and common sense all suggest that Santorum’s constantly enlarging family — his kids now range from age 3 to age 20 — never actually lived there. (At the time of the Penn Hills Progress investigation, Santorum’s wife’s niece and her husband were registered to vote at that address.)

Appearing to live in Pennsylvania was distinctly advantageous for the Santorums, because state law required school districts to pay 80 percent of the online charter-school tuition for local families who chose it. (No such law pertained in Virginia.) The Penn Hills district challenged Santorum’s local residency, and the ensuing dispute only ended when the senator withdrew his kids from the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. Since 2006 the Santorum kids have reportedly been registered as Virginia home-schoolers.

When Penn Hills tried to bill Santorum for $72,000 that the state had withheld from the local education budget to cover the senator’s kids’ online tuition, he refused to pay. In the end, the Pennsylvania department of education was forced to refund most of that money to the local district. In other words, the Santorums presented themselves to the world as home-schoolers for at least three years, while Pennsylvania taxpayers picked up the bill for their kids’ education — and they actually lived in a different state. For a private citizen, this would have been an embarrassing ethical lapse, but somewhat short of criminal misconduct. For a politician whose reputation rests upon issues of character and integrity, it’s considerably more damning.

Romney Wins; Stock Speech, Plus An Entitlement Grasp

And he just said we "deserve" Canadian oil.  Full quote:

"I'll get us that oil from Canada that we deserve."

Wow.

Not a gaffe. Just an opening into the way his mind works.

I hope everyone heard that.

Catholic Voters In MI Going For Romney Over Santorum

Snobby remarks about JFK and contraceptives have consequences.

Romney Win In Michigan Will Hurt Walker

It will hurt Walker because it solidifies an underlying truth about Walker and the powerful people who want him to remain in office; that the GOP is the party of Wall Street and the 1% - - privileged people who can access, raise and spend unlimited of dollars millions through SuperPACs, or in Walker's case, special recall or legal defense funds to win and hold power at any cost.

Karl Rove Says Romney Will Win Michigan By 4-6%

Yes, I'm watching Fox News. Rove says a lot of Democrats did cross over and voted for Santorum. Maybe so, but cross-over voting is stupid.

Hey, Rachel Maddow: No Fair!

She just said Newt Gingrich staying in the race is the GOP's "existential question."

Amazing Romney Fact, From Howard Fineman On MSNBC Tonight

As the votes are being counted, Fineman says Romney has already spent $65 million campaigning.

Scott Fitzgerald, Pals, Jetting To DC For Some Scott Walker-Style Money

Happy Leap Year, Republicans and Friends!

$1,000 will get you into a big-time DC lobbying firm's door Wednesday night, so that mining bill and other state business will have to wait a day. More details, here, but the heart of it is below.

Wisconsin Night in Washington DC

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

Republican Party of Wisconsin 

With Hosts:

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald 

and

Joint Finance Co-Chair Rep. Robin Vos

along with

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

Joint Finance Co-Chair Senator Alberta Darling

Ring Up Another Mass Layoff Event In WI For Scott Walker

Wisconsin led a 12-state Federally-defined Midwest region in "mass layoff" events in January - - job losses of 50 people or more - - and now the Walker administration racks up another by closing car emission testing stations in Southeastern Wisconsin at the cost of 62 jobs, and having a vendor use as yet-unnamed service stations or oil change shops to perform the tests, the Journal Sentinel reports.

Two Wisconsin Courts Going In Different Directions

Federal Judge J. P. Stadtmueller - - a Reagan appointee to the bench in Milwaukee, by the way - - ripped GOP legislators and attorneys for their secrecy.

He was commenting on how the Legislature conducted its recent redistricting, and noted it was outside the Wisconsin tradition.

...we have had enough of the charade and mischaracterization. I don't mean to impugn either you or anyone associated with this case, but as they say, the facts are the facts. What has occurred here is beyond the pale in terms of lack of transparency, secrecy, and at the end of the day, as the court has commented earlier, it may not have anything to do with the price of tea in China, but appearances are everything, and Wisconsin has prided itself for one generation after another on openness and fairness and doing the right thing.

A few days later, the Wisconsin Supreme Court - - through its 4-3, conservative and pro-Republican majority - - voted, like bureaucrats or private consultants, to close many of their discussions that are routinely carried out openly.

"To sit out here and philosophize about issues is really not the best use of our time," sniffed Justice Patience Roggensack, leading the charge to retreat to chambers.

Seems a majority of the state Justices, more focused on power, have little use for Stadtmueller's "openness and fairness and doing the right thing."

Which is pretty much the definition of justice, don't you think?

The Wisconsin high court is moving from choke holds to Roggensacking,

Volumes spoken.

Officials Want Fresh $207 Million For A Suburban Freeway Mini-Extension

This is what passes for planning in Our Land of Highways.

* The Milwaukee-area bus system is on life-support.

* The commuter train through the South suburbs to Racine and Kenosha is dead, snuffed by talk radio and Legislative Republican led by the railophobic, transit-authority-averse Assembly Rep. Robin Vos, (R-Burlington).

*  And many area streets, maintained by cash-strapped municipalities, have potholes so deep they need Environmental Impact Statements and building permits for repairs...

*...Yet South suburban leaders are asking for another $207 million in our deficit-ridden- toll-free, gas-tax dependent state to extend I-794 six miles - - at $34.5 million/per-mile - - past the airport (this is over-and-above the $6.4 billion regional free[sic]way improvement [sic] plan) just to cut five minutes off a daily commute on some local streets to or from Milwaukee.

And some of these leaders want the 794 rammed all the way south to Illinois, even though taxpayers are paying - - right now - - $1.9 billion to add a lane to I-94 just a few miles away also to the Illinois border from the south side of Milwaukee.

Call Walker's Fraud and Waste Task Force. If this isn't grand-scale public finance excrescence, what is?

Because how many taxpayer-paid corridors with lanes, medians , shoulders and ramps do these people and their leaders want, and why?

Is there no limit to their self-serving entitlement, their taxpayer-financed greed and largess larded on to the road-builders bottom lines?

You can ask the planners, and some of the local and state officials who want all this spending some questions at a public Town Hall-style meeting tonight beginning at 6 p.m., in the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, 901 15th St., but we all know how these projects go: a so-called advisory committee stacked with government officials makes a recommendation to build - - as has already taken place in this case - - and once the public has been allowed its turn at a meeting with nice graphics, story boards and hand-outs - - but without sworn testimony - - the project moves towards implementation and funding with little or no follow-through on changes in favor of transit, biking or other alternatives.

This is not comprehensive, land-use-based planning.

It's road-building addicted madness - - enabled, as always, by the reliably-highway-compliant Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission - - as I interpret the Journal Sentinel from the link above:

Of the 118 acres that would have to be acquired, 41 acres are considered primary environmental corridors, 27 acres are wetlands and 20 acres are parkland, the study says. But in many cases, the parkland, wetland and primary environmental corridor designations overlap, noted Ken Yunker, the planning commission's executive director.

Oh, good. The lost environmentally-sensitive wood and wetlands may drop into mere double-figures - - so a burn-off of precious resource capital handed down over generations won't be so bad after all - - like the erasure of County Grounds public space for a research park and engineering college buildings on the western edge of Milwaukee.

Class A felonies against the land and legacy, reduced to Class B or C crimes against conservation and the commons.

What foresight. What stewardship.

And don't worry your pretty little head over those filled, paved, concretized wetlands in the way of highway-building progress, Mother Nature.

Under Walker's new 'Pave-A-Wetlands, Hug-A-Developer Act' promoted by the Wisconsin Builders Association, the lost wetlands will be mitigated (read: artificially-replaced-or-enhanced-new-and-improved-and-better-than-the-stupid-old-original) somewhere else in the state.

Could be Lincoln County, could be Grant or Vilas County, could be anywhere.

That works, right?

And about that parkland? It's a drop in the bucket. A tree falling in the forest.

Twenty acres?

Firewood.

And hey: Let's be honest. Parks are for the riffraff. They're so 1930's and 40's. Doesn't everyone these days have a backyard, with a white-washed picket fence, a picnic table and a leafy maple or two?

Though ye suburbanites now might need a taller fence, or one of those publicly-financed lovely sound-barriers to block out the noise from the new lanes and roads in Our Your Land of Highways. 

Walker Could Manage Santorum's No-Snob Club

Marquette University dropout Scott Walker might be saying, "told ya."

How Wisconsin Lost Its Public Legal Advocate For Conservation

As the state eliminates wetland protections and hurtles closer to allowing mining in a watershed known for wild rice harvesting, you might want to read this article (pdf format) about the 28-year legacy of public environmental legal work and public policy advocacy that Tommy Thompson ended during his tenure as Governor.

Jeff Wagner Brings Out AM 620 WTMJ Ghouls

Afternoon WTMJ-AM righty talker Jeff Wagner played to the base of his conservative base this afternoon by wondering aloud about the possibility of "intent" in Milwaukee's rash of co-sleeping deaths.

His producer then teed-up the callers, the first of whom said investigators should check to see if parents had taken out life insurance policies on the dead kids.

These talkers know how to stir up the worse emotions and 'thoughts' of the audience.

Glenn Grothman's Repeal Of "Equal Pay Act" Heading For Walker Signature

Solid and shocking account of how far to the right, and backwards, these Republican radicals are dragging the State of Wisconsin.

Grothman displaying his priorities at Joint Finance mining hearing, 2/18. Rebecca Kemble photo.

Does Walker Say This Stuff With A Straight Face?

In an interview with Yahoo News, Walker predicts he will be outspent in the recall campaign, then extends this fiction by claiming "a money gap" that does not exist:

Scott Walker, Wisconsin governor, braces for recall election, proclaims controversial law is working

By David Chalian | The Ticket – 4 hrs ago

Scott Walker, the Republican governor of Wisconsin who is battling an effort to recall him from office, told Yahoo News that his controversial law that ended many collective bargaining rights for public-sector employees and sparked protests from labor unions and their allies one year ago is accomplishing his goal...

His campaign and allied groups have already spent more than $7 million on his effort to keep his job, but Walker expects to spend less than his opponents.

"I think I'll be woefully outspent," Walker said in explaining why he believes the recall election will be tougher to win than his 2010 race. "So, in terms of being confident, I'm cautiously optimistic. The reason for caution is if we're able to break through the money gap and get our message out to compete with all this money from out of state interests, then I think we can win."

Outspent? With the Kochs and other right-wing deep pockets in your corner?

Please.

David Koch, the conservative financial angel, recently told the Palm Beach Post newspaper that one of his advocacy groups had already sent Walker's anti-recall effort $700,000, and he'd do more to help:

Asked about his efforts to sway public opinion, Koch acknowledges his group is hard at work in places such as Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker is facing off with public unions and grappling with a likely recall vote.

"We're helping him, as we should. We've gotten pretty good at this over the years," he says. "We've spent a lot of money in Wisconsin. We're going to spend more."

By "we" he says he means Americans for Prosperity, which is spending about $700,000 on an "It's working" television ad buy in the state. It credits Walker's public pension and union overhaul with giving school districts the first surpluses they've seen in years. The unions and the left see things differently.

A year ago, a blogger posing as David Koch famously prank-called Walker and goaded the governor to say it would be "outstanding" if Koch would fly him to "Cali" as a reward for crushing the public unions. The Koch brothers' conglomerate, Koch Industries, holds regular political meetings in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and the events have attracted the likes of U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

At the time of the prank call, Koch told The New York Times, he didn't even know the Wisconsin governor's name. He knows it now.

"What Scott Walker is doing with the public unions in Wisconsin is critically important. He's an impressive guy and he's very courageous," Koch says after a benefit dinner of salmon and white wine. "If the unions win the recall, there will be no stopping union power."

Walker Concedes Signatures Issue, But...

...With this guy, there's always a "but" - - keeps alive his documented pattern of dissembling by claiming he didn't have enough time to check the recall petitions.

Walker's people know there are more than enough valid signatures, but are incapable of simply saying it because they have a playbook that says do nothing to suggest weakness.

Editorial Conflates Both Parties On Redistricting, But Without Evidence

[Originally posted 2:51 p.m., Sunday, 2/26]

 This line in Sunday's Journal Sentinel editorial on the GOP redistricting now before a three-judge panel should have been backed up with facts, edited or deleted:

For all the sanctimonious whining about the way the Republicans have operated, Democrats would have done everything in their power to ensure their success at the ballot box - just like the GOP did.

"Everything in their [Democrats'] power...just like the GOP did."

The line follows this unsubstantiated remark to the judges by assistant attorney general Maria Lazar, as the editorial recounts it after saying "poor Lazar" had to defend her GOP clients with a straight face:

Noting that the last time legislators and the governor approved maps, Democrats controlled the Capitol, she said: "Had the Democratic Party held the majority and the governor's office (last year), a similar legislative process would have been implemented, as it was in 1983."

C'mon - - toss Lazar or the GOP legislators a bone, but don't go so far overboard.

I got to the newspaper in 1983, and I'll acknowledge it if I am wrong, but I don't recall reporting or disclosures then about Democratic legislators who were made to sign confidentiality oaths at private attorney offices in order to see their district maps, or about records forced into public view by judges and court orders, etc., because so much of the GOP's recent effort was not just carried out in secret - - it was meant to stay that way.

One of the GOP legislators' attorneys last week was even required by the court to give a deposition about the redistricting process: what does that tell you about how far from business-as-usual this redistricting procedure had strayed?

The editorial correctly slaps the GOP for its scuzzy process - - as did the judges (see the chief judge's strong statement, here) - - so the point stands on its own.

In ordering GOP legislators to turn over documents to a group of Democrats, the judges (two of whom were appointed by Republican presidents) wrote:

"Without a doubt, the Legislature made a conscious choice to involve private lawyers in what gives every appearance of an attempt - albeit poorly disguised - to cloak the private machinations of Wisconsin's Republican legislators in the shroud of attorney-client privilege. What could have - indeed, should have - been accomplished publicly instead took place in private, in an all but shameful attempt to hide the redistricting process from public scrutiny."

And I'm not taking issue with the word "sanctimonious" aimed at the Dems: that's a fair perspective if you want to make that subjective judgement - - but there was no need to try and balance the editorial's criticism with a hypothetical, unsubstantiated assumption aimed the other way - - even if you want to argue, as does the editorial, that a neutral process is needed to replace the current partisan process.

A process to which the GOP objectively added unique debasement - - and again, look no further than what Judge J. P. Stadtmueller had to say in just one of his public remarks about what the GOP had done and was continuing in pre-trial activities:

...we have had enough of the charade and mischaracterization. I don't mean to impugn either you or anyone associated with this case, but as they say, the facts are the facts. What has occurred here is beyond the pale in terms of lack of transparency, secrecy, and at the end of the day, as the court has commented earlier, it may not have anything to do with the price of tea in China, but appearances are everything, and Wisconsin has prided itself for one generation after another on openness and fairness and doing the right thing. 

I appreciate the need for fairness and balance in reporting, and editorial writers are free to pile on all the adjectives they want - - after all, they are writing an opinion piece - - but editorials don't need to artificially create middle ground without facts to fill it in.

Where The Heck Are Wisconsin's Job Data For January?

I'm wondering when Wisconsin's monthly jobs' numbers for January will be released.

[Monday Update: I regret missing news reporting about the January data coming out in March, and a link on the DWD website with the entire schedule. Rather than take down the item, which causes confusion, I will add the information (following several comments about this Sunday) and a link to the DWD release date information for the year. - - http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/dwd/newsreleases/lmi_release_dates.htm]

Recent federal figures showed Wisconsin leading the Midwest in new individual jobless claims and "mass layoffs" (50+ workers at a time) events for January - - data I posted.

No sign of them on the Workforce Development site - - it's virtually the end of the following month. Usually they are out by now, no?

Santorum Was A Precocious Little Constitutional Scholar

From ABC News:

GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum said today that watching John F. Kennedy’s speech to the Baptist ministers in Houston in 1960 made him want to “throw up.”

In 1960, Santorum was two-years-old.

On Mining Issue, State Rep Cory Mason Vs. State Rep. Mary Williams

I offer for your weekend edification two short videos about the Assembly's flawed mining bill, - - which the Journal Sentinel, a supporter editorially of changes to existing mining law, has labeled "rancid."

As things sand now, the GOP Senate leadership, with its 17-16 majority, wants to approve the Assembly bill but does not have the votes because one moderate Republican, Dale Schultz, (R-Richland Center), has said he will not vote "yes" and have "R" stand for rancid.

On one hand, State Rep. Mary Williams, (R-Medford), et al.

On the other hand, State Rep. Cory Mason, (D-Racine).

Score on transparency, passion, facts, language, sincerity, big picture/little picture focus.

Waters Near Proposed Iron Ore Mine Win International Wetlands Recognition

From the Facebook page Friday of Mike Wiggins, Jr., Chairman of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa - - the same people with sovereign treaty rights kept from the table as the GOP-led Legislature rushes to approve an iron-ore mining bill drafted with industry assistance that will harm water quality in the Bad River watershed:

World-class!! The Kakagon and Bad River Sloughs joined the shortlist of world class wetlands this week when our piece of heaven was listed as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. This is the first tribally-owned Wetland of International Importance in the United States. Frank, Eldred and I attended doings at the Wisconsin Wetlands Association Conference in Lake Geneva. Thank you to the people of Bad River, our BR Natural Resource Dept and others for the preservation and protection that made this possible.

The US has signed the Ramsar Convention. From its website, this is the agreement's description and mission:

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, called the Ramsar Convention, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

The Ramsar Convention is the only global environmental treaty that deals with a particular ecosystem. The treaty was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and the Convention's member countries cover all geographic regions of the planet.

The Ramsar mission

The Convention's mission is "the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world". 

The Convention uses a broad definition of the types of wetlands covered in its mission, including lakes and rivers, swamps and marshes, wet grasslands and peatlands, oases, estuaries, deltas and tidal flats, near-shore marine areas, mangroves and coral reefs, and human-made sites such as fish ponds, rice paddies, reservoirs, and salt pans.

The Wise Use concept

At the centre of the Ramsar philosophy is the “wise use” concept. The wise use of wetlands is defined as "the maintenance of their ecological character, achieved through the implementation of ecosystem approaches, within the context of sustainable development". 

"Wise use" therefore has at its heart the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands and their resources, for the benefit of humankind. 

Two WI Republican Newsmakers In One Wonderful Photo

Rebecca Kemble photo

Your tax dollars at work in the State Legislature.

Rep. Mary Williams, (R-Medford) - - who would not say who wrote the mining bill she managed as a committee chair (see video) - - and Rep. Joel Kleefisch, (R-Oconomowoc) - - who wants a hunting season in Wisconsin for Sandhill cranes, or as he calls them, "the rib-eye in the sky."

Here they are seen taking testimony on allowing the hunting of grey wolves.

State Sen. Grothman Gives Full Attention To Mining Bill At Finance Hearing

Congratulations, West Bend: Your GOP Senator Glenn (center) distinguished himself at the 2/18 all-important mining bill hearing:

Rebecca Kemble photo

This Blog Should Load Faster

After a second complaint about slow-loading posts, I took some advice and deleted several graphic elements that I'd embedded on the left margin, and one person with previous problems reports they are resolved.

Truth In A Bumper Sticker, For Wisconsin And Beyond

Redistricting, Mining And Legal Matters Top-Rated Here Last Week

Here's feedback for readers about last week's leading posts, and thanks for driving up the numbers:

Federal Judge Redefines Political Obligation In Wi... Feb 24, 2012

Republican Arrogance On Full Display In Madison, M... Feb 22, 2012

GOP Redistricting Lawyer Finds, Turns Over, More E... Feb 18, 2012

This Is Definitely "Watch The GOP Week" In Wiscons... Feb 20, 2012,

Wisconsin GOP Playbook's First Rule: Never Apologi... Feb 23, 2012

Redistricting Case Argument Ended Friday; Decision In A Few Weeks

So ends the courtroom phase of our education about the making of Wisconsin's legislative district maps - - perhaps set in stone for a decade, or not - - with a three-judged Federal panel now deciding if the maps are Constitutional.

A tip of the hat to the court for having forced out documents and discussions and methods held and carried out secretly by Republican legislators and their attorneys - - secrets intended to be kept locked away from the public for partisan reasons.

If legislating is like making sausage, this legislators' process and product were, to quote last Saturday's editorial Journal Sentinel about a separate piece of GOP legislating - - the Assembly's mining bill - - "rancid."

Overhaul the state's mining regulations: We aren't fans of the Assembly bill to relax mining laws, and we think Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald's in-your-face power play to try to shove that rancid piece of legislation down the throats of Wisconsin's citizens was ill-advised. But there is still time to push through a reasonable bill. All it would take is a little reasonableness on the part of Fitzgerald and his brother, Jeff, the Assembly speaker. Yes, we think that's possible. Hundreds of jobs in the economically depressed North Woods are at stake. There is no reason to destroy the village to save it, Mr. Majority Leader.

Good News About Transit On Regional Planning Website, But...

Not at the website put up by SEWRPC - - the public, taxpayer-paid planning agency for the transit-deprived, highway-rich Milwaukee/SE Wisconsin region.

Nope - - you gotta look to the Chicago commission site for this valuable information, included in its always newsy weekly email update.

2/24/12 9:48 AM

On February 23, 2012, the U.S. House of Representatives leadership indicated it may revise its five-year transportation reauthorization proposal, the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act (AEIJA).

SEWRPC does not send out such weekly updates.

Doesn't have a "news" button.

Hasn't issued a topic newsletter for four months or a new publication in two months.

Remember this the next time SEWRPC demands to be taken seriously on transit issues, or complains about suggestions that its focus is highways over transit.

Wisconsin Reports Most "Mass Layoff" Events In Midwest, In January, Says Federal Data Report

[initially posted 12:50 a.m., updated 8:40] The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 78 "mass layoff events" (50 or more workers laid-off) in Wisconsin for January, 2012, the data show - - the largest number of such events in the twelve-state Midwest region.

And 6.014 new unemployment compensation claimants - - also the most among Midwestern states.

In both categories, we're unfortunately ahead of bigger states, like Ohio and Michigan.

I expect that by Monday or Tuesday we'll have the actual net job gain or loss data: the six prior months for Wisconsin have all been in the minus category.

PolitiFact had been charting the month-by-month job picture, but since the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development has yet to release January numbers, the chart only covers 2011. 

And the 250,000 new private-sector jobs Walker promised in his 2010 campaign?

Not happening.

Looks like Team Walker has its new campaign song, Tom Petty notwithstanding.

Remember When Waukesha County Clerk Hit The Wrong Buttons On Her Dang Computer...

Though Kathy Nickolaus was supposed to have election-night reporting correctly in her sights - - let's hope she doesn't confuse "safety on" with "safety off."

Walker's Denials About Tampering With State Pension System Fall Flat

And why is Scott Walker having trouble being believed when he says he has no plans to change the state pension system?

Poor baby: can't a hard-working chief executive get some love?

* Well, for one thing, his budget required a study of the system, even though it is fully-funded and nationally-respected. And that fed into recollections that he:

*  Withheld his "bomb" to demolish collective bargaining, the called it a "modest" proposal.

*  Has had 28 of 42 statements rated by PolitiFact as "mainly false," false," or "pants on fire."

A batting average of .667 false doesn't get you much respect outside of those Annual Liars' Contests like the one sponsored in Burlington, WI.

(Note to staff: Schedule Walker there, pronto.)

Plus, he's managed to rack up six straight months of net job losses statewide, and created a new budget deficit larger than what he faced when he came into office and said we needed to attack it with the so-called Budget Repair Bill, which also included his "modest" changes to collective bargaining - - so any route into the multi-billion-dollar pension system or reducing its cost to the state would be attractive to Walker and his anti-worker, budget-strangling team.

So his credibility on the issue is zilch, and rightly so.

Does GOP Prefer No Mining Bill To The Assembly's Suicide Pact?

Some people think so, but I suspect the Assembly/Fitzgeralds would swallow a compromise bill that retains the citizen hearing provision now in the permitting law if the approximate $2-per-ton reclamation fee on the mining company is lowered or waived.

After all, even Walker, who has no use for citizen involvement, had said he didn't think keeping the hearing was a deal-breaker.

Maybe they can schedule the hearing after the permit is approved, or have it limited to an hour, or only open to people with approved ID?

Care to watch how Walker/Fitzgerald allies comport themselves with regard to some of the Assembly bill's critics/skeptics, and see how your tax dollars for these legislators' salaries and expenses are being spent? Videos, here.

GOP Redistricting Moved Many Thousands Of Voters Unnecessarily, Court Told

Testimony in the civil rights trial in Federal Court in Milwaukee brought against GOP legislators indicates that voters were moved in and out of districts en masse without justification, the Journal Sentinel reports:

In drawing new election districts last year, Republican lawmakers shifted huge numbers of voters into new districts, in one case moving more than 700 times the number of people needed, according to court testimony Thursday.

They could have left the 60th Assembly District in Ozaukee County largely alone because it was underpopulated by just 10 people. Instead, they moved 17,595 people out of the district and put 17,963 people into it. In all, the shift moved 719 times as many people as was necessary, testified Ken Mayer, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist.

The moves also had profound effects for the Latino neighborhoods on Milwaukee's near south side, he said.

There, the new batch of voters in the 8th Assembly District "would simply overwhelm the voting power of the Latino community and severely diminish their ability to elect the candidate of their choice," Mayer testified.

To set the right population levels in the district on Milwaukee's near south side, lawmakers needed to add about 2,800 people. But instead they pulled almost 23,000 people out of the district and added about 25,600 people to it.

The result: Almost half of the people who used to be in the district no longer are, Mayer said. Similar shifts occurred in the neighboring 9th Assembly District.

"They were both in my view radically reconfigured," Mayer testified.

The Romney Campaign: Bad Staff Work, Ridiculous Candidate

Scheduling an event in depressed Detroit's nearly-empty 65,000-seat NFL stadium? Where the candidate says his wife drives "a couple of Cadillacs?" After seven years of running for President, this is what is being offered as GOP "front-runner?"

Santorum and Obama should issue a joint news release of thanks.

In Redistricting Case, State Lawyer Arrogates, Not Litigates

It's amazing how the GOP legislators in Milwaukee Federal Court over their redistricting plan and process are being represented - - on our dime:

After being forced by a three-judge Federal panel to release documents in the redistricting case, after having an attorney for GOP legislators deposed about the withheld documents, after being fined for filing frivolous motions, and after being repeatedly tongue-lashed from the bench about poor procedures - - a "charade," and out-of-character for Wisconsin, according to the panel's chief judge - - an Assistant Attorney General actually had the temerity in Federal Court yesterday to lecture the three-judge panel about the relative insignificance of procedure.

As reported by Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel:

The panel hearing the case - two of them appointed by Republican presidents - repeatedly has admonished GOP lawmakers for the secretive process they used to draw the maps.

But [Assistant Attorney General Maria] Lazar argued on Thursday that the judges must concentrate on the maps themselves, rather than how they were drawn.

"The process of legislation is not on trial," she said.

That sure looks disrespectful to me - - and hardly the way to get past all the earlier statements and actions from the bench that practically shout out that process is pivotal when it comes to writing laws about voting and representation in a democracy.

Nothing about how the case has unfolded shows the judges will respond positively to that bit of unwanted arrogance - - and citizens should be further outraged at this display of wasted taxpayer dollars on top of all the fees paid to private attorneys and GOP legislators whose secret processes has landed them in Federal Court.

Lazar must have missed this statement about process from the bench Tuesday by Judge J. P. Stadtmueller, the chief of the three-member panel:

..we have had enough of the charade and mischaracterization. I don't mean to impugn either you or anyone associated with this case, but as they say, the facts are the facts. What has occurred here is beyond the pale in terms of lack of transparency, secrecy, and at the end of the day, as the court has commented earlier, it may not have anything to do with the price of tea in China, but appearances are everything, and Wisconsin has prided itself for one generation after another on openness and fairness and doing the right thing. 

Seems to be a Wisconsin GOP trend of late.

And risking a bit of apples-to-oranges-criciticism: ask Ryan Braun if process is unimportant when it comes to things legal.

Testimony In Redistricting Case Shows Special Interests Were At The Table

The Journal Sentinel notes just how selectively secret were those redistricting meetings that GOP lawyers and staffers had organized out of the public view:

Also Thursday, a filing with the federal court showed the Republicans' redistricting team met with Realtors and other groups about drawing maps around January 2011, shortly after the GOP took control of the statehouse.

Those groups spend heavily to elect Republicans.

Jim Troupis, an attorney for the Legislature, said in a deposition the Realtors were at the meeting and that he believed also present were a bankers group and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's large business lobby.

Troupis discussed the meeting during an eight-hour deposition that occurred Thursday night and was filed with the court Friday. He did not describe in detail what was discussed.

The meeting with the groups occurred just months before the redistricting team had most Republican lawmakers sign secrecy agreements promising not to discuss the maps with anyone.

Add that to earlier disclosures that information about the redistricting was communicated to the General Counsel of the Republican National Committee and with a high-ranking member (former GOP Assembly leader Scott Jensen)of a major national conservative advocacy group, among others - - disclosures forced out by the judges once they learned that key records had been withheld by the legislators' attorneys.

Hungry For Grilled Crane, Joel ("Rib-Eye") Kleefisch Makes The NY Times

Not for his voting scam, but for his dopey proposal to shoot cranes.

Federal Judge Redefines Political Obligation In Wisconsin

"Openness and fairness and doing the right thing."

Write that down: it should be the new State of Wisconsin motto.

It is ironic to the nth degree that J.P. Stadtmueller - - appointed US Attorney in Milwaukee in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan, and then elevated to the US District Court bench by Reagan in 1987 - - has clearly enunciated in the current political environment the perfect frame for the recall efforts against Gov. Walker and Senate Majority Leader Fitzgerald, and more importantly, for all political campaigns, public policy work, and taxpayer spending in the state - - from now on.

I am sure Stadtmueller had in mind only the obfuscatory tactics used in the redistricting case by GOP legislators and their attorneys in mind, but his admonishment in open court Tuesday from the bench to an attorney for the state can fairly be applied to other public policy and procedural issues - - across, and regardless of, partisan lines - - because Stadtmueller gave it broad reach:

...we have had enough of the charade and mischaracterization. I don't mean to impugn either you or anyone associated with this case, but as they say, the facts are the facts. What has occurred here is beyond the pale in terms of lack of transparency, secrecy, and at the end of the day, as the court has commented earlier, it may not have anything to do with the price of tea in China, but appearances are everything, and Wisconsin has prided itself for one generation after another on openness and fairness and doing the right thing.

*  Openness and fairness and doing the right thing - - completely contradicted by Walker's dropping a bomb withheld during the campaign for Governor on collective bargaining rights  after his swearing in, and;

*  Absent from the Assembly's mining bill drafting in secret, then released without sponsors, ith further exclusions of public participation in the process to come, and;

*  Absent from then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's office operation, where prosecutors allege the presence of a secret email system used to facilitate illegal campaigning on public time and with public resources, and'

*  Absent from Scott Walker's continuous claims that his 2011-'13 budget did not raise taxes, when it raised two taxes, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau - - and cost low-income residents and the working poor money from their already stressed lifestyles and budgets while upper-income earners and some businesses got tax breaks.

What we need to do is promote and reclaim the legacy that the no-nonsense Stadtmueller so eloquently and precisely summed up in one simple sentence of a mere eighteen words - - The Stadtmueller Standard - -  that should be sworn to by public officials, applied by policy watchdogs, and be bold-faced in school books here, permanently:

"Wisconsin has prided itself for one generation after another on openness and fairness and doing the right thing."

Racine Legislator Flubs Tribe's Name, Proves He's Recall-Worthy

The man is Van Wanggaard, an actual elected State Senator, who doesn't even know the name of the Native American group whose land and waters would be directly affected by the mining bill he claims is his.

And you wonder why his party looks so bad in this mining issue (video of more GOP legislators, here) - - maybe Van Wanggaard would have been better informed if the Ojibwe hadn't been shut out of the process - -  and why he deserves the recall election headed his way, according to this report:

Senator Van Wanggaard held a mini-town hall today in Racine County Wisconsin and during his question and answer session, Wanggaard began talking about the mining bill and how it would create jobs in Wisconsin.

As you will see in the video, he seems to be very proud of his bill. It is around the 4 minute mark in the video, Senator Wanggaard states that mining will be coming up very shortly.

It was then he was asked this question from a member in the audience "Did you at all work with the sovereign nations when you were writing this bill?"

Van Wanggaard replies "Sovereign, you mean the Indians?"

Questioner:"The tribes."Van Wanggaard then replies "Absolutely."

The Senator then recognizes the camera and points out the fact "And you are taping me I know."

Van Wanggaard continues "We had several of the Indian tribes, the uh bad land, let’s see is it bad water?" The audience then interjects "Bad River."

Van Wanggaard: "there you go, the Bad River tribe actually had a chat with me about it."

The audience member injects again, "Oh so they were in on the planning?" in which Van Wanggaard replied, "oh well, I don't know if they were in on the planning, I'm not on the mining commission."

Then later in the volley of questions the senator was asked if he would vote for the bill, after a moment of dodging the question, Van Wanggaard tersely replies "Am I going to vote on it? It's my bill!"

Oh - - and here's another video of a mining supporter at work in the Assembly.