Federal Judge Irked Over Late Email Release In Redistricting Case

US District Court Judge J.P. Stadmueller was not happy to learn that attorneys for the Legislature had released a fresh dump of emails Friday, given that the judge had ordered all such emails improperly withheld from redistricting case plaintiffs released the day before, the Journal Sentinel notes in its coverage of the case Tuesday evening.

This blog disclosed that belated email disclosure last Saturday - - 

GOP Redistricting Lawyer Finds, Turns Over, More Emails

- - but I saw no mainstream media coverage:

On Friday afternoon, a day after a three-judge Federal panel ordered lawyers for Republican legislators and staffers to release to the public 84 emails (some with maps, and attachments), and to lawyers suing over how the secretive redistricting came about and was handled, an attorney for the legislators told the plaintiff lawyers he'd found additional communications and had sent that file  - - email messages, maps and attachments - - to the plaintiff lawyers too. [italics added Tuesday]

This is What A Peeved US District Court Judge Sounds Like

In court this afternoon, US District Court Judge J.P. Stadtmueller addressing an attorney for the defendants on how some portions of the state had conducted itself in various legislative and pre-trial matters prior to the opening of the redistricting trial Tuesday, and whether more pre-trial information was needed:

...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.

To be candid, we have seen everything but that in the way this case has progressed. Not because of anything that you did...or anybody else, but the facts are the facts, and so we're going to get to the bottom of the facts so that the judges who are called upon to discharge their function have all of the information before us that will result in a fair, just and complete opinion.

That's what this case is all about. So to the extent that additional discovery is required, it's going to happen.

Another Twist in The Redistricting Case...

Here's one you don't see every night on "Law and Order":

Jim Troupis, a lead lawyer for the GOP, is apparently going to be deposed by plaintiffs for Hispanic voters and thus could end up testifying at the trial as a witness, based on his role in the redistricting work that surfaced in emails among the lawyer, state officials and others forced into view by the Court last week.

In Court Tuesday afternoon, US District Court Judge J. P. Stadtmueller said, the transcript shows:

"but it appears, at least from my preliminary 10-minute scan of the emails, he is certainly going to have to testify. The areas of inquiry still need to be fine tuned. So there will be a deposition."

The Journal Sentinel reported it this way:

The plaintiffs have taken the unusual step of subpoenaing Jim Troupis, an attorney for the Legislature, to elicit his testimony on how lines were drawn in Latino areas of Milwaukee. Troupis filed a motion Monday asking the court to limit his testimony on the grounds of attorney-client privilege, and Stadtmueller said the panel would rule on that issue Wednesday.

The question appears not to be whether he will have to testify, but how extensive it will be.

"It appears at least from my preliminary scan of the emails he is certainly going to have to testify," Stadtmueller said.

But he also said he wanted Troupis to give a deposition to the plaintiffs before giving testimony in open court, which could easily delay the trial.

More later.

Lead Federal Judge Again Rips Republicans Over Redistricting

After giving Republicans the day to consider scrapping their redistricting plan crafted in secrecy - - an offer on the eve of a trial that the Republicans declined to accept - - the Federal judge and Reagan appointee leading a three-member Court panel that will decide if the redistricting plan is Constitutional took another shot at the GOP in court late Tuesday, according to the Journal Sentinel:

The panel - which includes two judges appointed by Republican presidents and one appointed by a Democratic president - has repeatedly criticized Republican lawmakers in written orders for their secretive process for drawing the maps.

On Tuesday, they did the same in open court.

"The facts are the facts and what has occurred here is beyond the pale in terms of lack of transparency (and) secrecy," presiding Judge J.P. Stadtmueller. "Appearances are everything and Wisconsin has prided itself one generation after another on openness and fairness in doing the right thing. And to be frank we have seen everything but that in the way this case has proceeded.

"We're going to get to the bottom of the facts so the judges who are called upon to discharge their function can have all the information before them so they can render a fair and just opinion."

In the run-up to the beginning of the case Tuesday, the judges have forced attorneys for legislative Republicans to release documents withheld improperly from both the plaintiffs and the general public, and also fined GOP lawyers $17,500 for having filed frivolous motions - - all of which had made it difficult for plaintiffs to prepare their case.

The Road To Sprawlville: Chapter 54

The headline and jaw-dropping quotes show Waukesha-Talk has taken root across the Big Lake.

World’s Worst Elected Official Makes the Case for Sprawl

“Well, let me state it unequivocally: I love sprawl,” says L. Brooks Patterson, county executive of Oakland County, Mich. “I need it. I promote it. Oakland County can’t get enough of it,” he continues, in an essay posted to the Oakland County website. 

Wisconsin Republicans Trapped By Their Embrace Of Secrecy

Look at all the problems now facing Wisconsin Republicans. What's the common thread?

Secrecy - - poison to a democracy - - has entangled the GOP at so many levels and gives the recall movements purpose and breadth:

* Former aides and allies of Scott Walker were allegedly using an off-the-books email system to carry out partisan fund-raising and campaigning when he was Milwaukee County Executive, but running for Governor.

* Redistricting legislation drafted with public funds by GOP legislators was carried out in private attorney offices - - with the assistance of legislative aides - - but legislators agreed to sign confidentiality agreements to keep the legislation and accompanying maps secret.  Little wonder the matter is now in court, and a three-judge Federal panel Tuesday gave the Legislature a day to think about starting over.

After Republicans spent $400,000 of our money on the bill's extremely-partisan, closed preparation - - including getting advice from conservative activists (known now only because the Federal judges forced the Republicans to reveal key documents previously withheld) - - rather than through genuinely-open and sincere communications with the public?

* The State Assembly passed a mining bill prepared behind closed doors - - but with the participation of mining industry officials - - and with the Assembly bill mired in controversy and delayed in the State Senate, an 11th-hour compromise may not have the votes or energy to pass, either. Where was the open, public process when the mining issue was unfolding months ago?

Secrecy defeats good government. The GOP deserves all the brick-bats and self-inflicted woe coming their way.

From Judge Stadtmueller's Redistricting Remarks In Court Today

From the Federal District court transcript this morning in the redistricting case, along with other procedural and substantive issues discussed and scheduled, Federal Judge  J. P. Stadtmueller said, in part - - after a delay and recess because counsel for the Legislature was late in arriving:

... In the interim, against the backdrop of the comments that I have just made and drawing upon the oft quoted phrase of one of my mentors, John Reynolds, it is never too late to engage in meaningful dialogue between counsel and their clients, with regard to how best to proceed with regard to achieving that which every citizen, without regard to party affiliation, without regard to politics, ought to achieve, and that is a fair, just and meaningful redistricting plan.

So what I'm going to suggest is that counsel meet and confer and notify the court by the end of today, and specifically 5:30, whether there is any opportunity available to revisit the entirety of the subject matter that the court has raised in terms of its concerns directly with the parties involved, be they the leadership in the Legislature, the governor, the attorney general and other interested parties, and advise the court as to whether or not there is an opportunity to revisit this legislation in the forum that it should be addressed, namely, the Wisconsin Legislature.

If that avenue is not available for whatever reason, we will commence with the trial starting tomorrow morning at 8:30. Likewise, if there is a good faith effort to achieve legislatively that which everyone would like to see achieved, we will extend the beginning of this trial either to the week of March 12th or March 19th, which means essentially if the Legislature would like to revisit this subject, they, in effect, will have about four weeks to do so, if the trial resumes on Monday, March 19th.

I appreciate that's an awful lot on the opening day of trial for a lot of folks to digest, but I think in the end, with all of the hard effort that has gone into this case thus far, together with the numerous filings, the experts, the advocacy, that those advocacy skills may, at the end of the day, be better addressed in the forum that it should have been addressed initially, and that is in the halls of the Legislature.

If that process not work its way and we are still left where we are this morning, we will resume with the trial either tomorrow morning or the week of March the 12th or March 19th.

Some earlier legal context.

Federal Judges Give GOP Legislators A Big Hint On Redistricting: Start Over

The judges hearing the suit that began today in Milwaukee against the legislature over redrawn maps that involved politically-drenched and secret drafting off-the-Capitol-grounds gave the defendants a day to think over the suggestion from the bench that new maps be drawn.

Will The Fitzgerald brothers and their troops take the hint?

Oh - - and no more payout by taxpayers. That $400,000 wasted is not to be replenished.

Legislators Should Use State Constitution To Guide Mining Bill

As legislators wrestle with an industry-written bill that trims the time frame for mining permit reviews, cuts the public out of current hearing procedures and rolls back other environmental protections, how about they start with this:

Follow Wisconsin constitutional principles and unambiguous directives written and enforced over the decades on behalf of citizen rights and water conservation, as explained by the DNR on its website?

The Public Trust Doctrine

Wisconsin's Waters Belong to Everyone

Wisconsin lakes and rivers are public resources, owned in common by all Wisconsin citizens under the state's Public Trust Doctrine. Based on the state constitution, this doctrine has been further defined by case law and statute. It declares that all navigable waters are "common highways and forever free", and held in trust by the Department of Natural Resources.

Assures Public Rights in Waters

Wisconsin citizens have pursued legal and legislative action to clarify or change how this body of law is interpreted and implemented. Watch how their efforts have benefited all Wisconsinites: "Champions of the Public Trust" [VIDEO length: 28:02]

As a result, the public interest, once primarily interpreted to protect public rights to transportation on navigable waters, has been broadened to include protected public rights to water quality and quantity, recreational activities, and scenic beauty.(1)

All Wisconsin citizens have the right to boat, fish, hunt, ice skate, and swim on navigable waters, as well as enjoy the natural scenic beauty of navigable waters, and enjoy the quality and quantity of water that supports those uses.(2)

Wisconsin law recognizes that owners of lands bordering lakes and rivers - "riparian" owners - hold rights in the water next to their property. These riparian rights include the use of the shoreline, reasonable use of the water, and a right to access the water. However, the Wisconsin State Supreme Court has ruled that when conflicts occur between the rights of riparian owners and public rights, the public's rights are primary and the riparian owner's secondary.(1)

What are Wisconsin's stream and lake access laws?

Wisconsin's Public Trust Doctrine requires the state to intervene to protect public rights in the commercial or recreational use of navigable waters. The DNR, as the state agent charged with this responsibility, can do so through permitting requirements for water projects, through court action to stop nuisances in navigable waters, and through statutes authorizing local zoning ordinances that limit development along navigable waterways.

The court has ruled that DNR staff, when they review projects that could impact Wisconsin lakes and rivers, must consider the cumulative impacts of individual projects in their decisions. "A little fill here and there may seem to be nothing to become excited about. But one fill, though comparatively inconsequential, may lead to another, and another, and before long a great body may be eaten away until it may no longer exist. Our navigable waters are a precious natural heritage, once gone, they disappear forever," wrote the Wisconsin State Supreme Court justices in their opinion resolving Hixon v. PSC.(2)

---

Sources:
(1) Quick, John. 1994. The Public Trust Doctrine in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Environmental Law Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1.
(2) "Champions of the Public Trust, A History of Water Use in Wisconsin" study guide. 1995. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Water Regulation and Zoning. Champions of the Public Trust - PDF 1,390kb

For more information, contact:
Dale Simon, Waterway Protection Section
Bureau of Watershed Management
(608) 267-9868

Expand Recall Discussion To Mining Issue

Discussions and strategies about removing Gov. Scott Walker and Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald through recall elections should be broadened to target and block these officials' misguided special-interest-driven bill to de-regulate mining in the state, as new polling data released by the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, (WLCV), show more people in the state, regardless of political party, prefer wetlands protections and citizen involvement in mining permit review procedures than support the Walker and Fitzgerald de-regulation bill.

The leaders' support for bad, anti-science legislation is more than a political or policy disagreement with the opposing party that can be hashed out in the next regular election cycle: it poses an emergency threat to clean water, public health, environmental protection and treaty rights held by the Bad River band of Ojibwe who live close to land and waterways affected by the proposed iron ore mine near Ashland that the Walker/Fitzgerald bill would fast-track.

And set a terrible precedent for citizen participation in basic conservation policy-making, wetlands protection statewide and water-dependent tourism and recreational businesses from Superior to Kenosha.

The Journal Sentinel notes that this is the second poll showing little enthusiasm for weakening state environmental laws that now guide mining permit reviews - - with the earlier poll commissioned by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, a conservative political organization finding:

A minority of Wisconsinites (38 percent) favor streamlining environmental regulations in order to create more mining jobs in Northern Wisconsin while slightly more than half (51 percent) say environmental regulations should not be weakened. Eleven percent don’t know or declined to answer.

From the firm that that conducted the WLCV poll:

From: Tom Jensen, Director of Public Policy Polling

To: Interested Parties Subject: Wisconsin voters oppose effects of open-pit mining bill

Date: 2/20/2012

A new Public Policy Polling survey finds that Wisconsin voters are strongly opposed to the effects a new open-pit mining bill would have on the state’s environment. 

Concern about the bill carries across party lines - this is something Wisconsin voters from all political backgrounds find deeply troubling. Key finding from the poll include:

-69% of voters oppose weakening Wisconsin’s wetlands law, while only 22% think doing so is necessary to attract open-pit mining companies and jobs to the state. Majorities of Democrats (81/14), independents (70/21), and Republicans alike (53/35) stand against any legislation that would hurt the state’s wetlands. The negative environmental fallout far outweighs any other factors for voters when it comes to this bill.

 -Only 22% of voters support a provision that would reduce public participation in the mining application process, while 72% are opposed to it. This is another proposal where we find strong agreement across the party spectrum

- Democrats (87/10), independents (74/21), and Republicans (52/37) all think there should be no weakening in the right of citizens to speak out against mining permits.

 -Just 34% of voters support any streamlining of environmental regulations to help bring mining jobs to northern Wisconsin, while 49% oppose any weakening of water protections. Always critical independent voters are even more against proposed streamlining of environmental regulations than the population as a whole, opposing it 51/33.

Wisconsin voters are sending a clear message: legislators should vote against this bill. They think its negative environmental impacts far outweigh any jobs it may create.

And they strongly oppose any changes to the process that would quiet citizens’ voices.

PPP surveyed 866 Wisconsin voters on behalf of the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters on February 17th and 18th. The survey’s margin of error is +/-3.3%.

In Addition To Master Lock, Obama Put Spotlight To Another Milwaukee

President Obama toured and praised Master Lock during his Milwaukee visit last Wednesday - - and rightly so, as it's a great local and national story - - but let's not forget that Obama in his remarks recognized another local success story: Diamond Precision.

There's text and video from WISN-TV, here.

Bryan Weiss took the Johnson Creek machining company over in 2006 and recently expanded to a building at 111th Street and West Heather Avenue.

Two years ago, the company had 55 employees and was struggling to keep them all on. Today, between plants in Johnson Creek and Milwaukee, it more than doubled its workforce."Now we're over 120, so business is booming," said Weiss...

During his economic speech at the Master Lock plant in Milwaukee, President Obama mentioned Diamond Precision as an example of people creating manufacturing jobs in the U.S.

"Diamond Precision, a machine manufacturer that will be adding dozens of jobs here in Milwaukee, a company that's growing because its customers are choosing to buy American-made products instead of supplies from China," President Obama said...

Weiss said the company is looking for skilled machinists and unskilled workers to fill jobs at the Milwaukee plant that pay between $10 to $25 an hour. For more information, call Diamond Precision at 920-699-7001.

Props also to Howard Snyder, the development activist and long-time Executive Director at the Northwest Side Community Development Corporation who put together a recent, $700,000 loan to Diamond Precision to help its expansion and hiring in Milwaukee.

That's homegrown job creation.

This Is Definitely "Watch The GOP Week" In Wisconsin

So-called Republican Senate moderates may roll out a mining bill today or tomorrow, and we'll see whether they have included the public hearing process in existing law but which was cut out by the Assembly after closed-door drafting with industry reps, or whether that provision and other environmental protections go by the wayside to please one out-of-state iron ore mining company and their comrades at the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

The WMC also hates a tiny per-ton extraction tax for a mitigation fund to make sure there is money lean-up after a mine closes. I think that will be tossed or reduced to a fraction of what could be needed once toxic residues begin fouling streams and groundwater in Northern Wisconsin to the detriment of clean water, good fishing and wild-rice cultivation by the Chippewa people there.

Tuesday is also the scheduled opening of a trial in Federal Court in Milwaukee where plaintiffs want Republican legislators to justify their behind-closed-doors - - see the theme? - - drafting/manipulating of new legislative district boundaries that put GOP incumbency at the top of the drafters' priority list.

And by the end of the week, or perhaps shortly thereafter, we'll see if more shoes drop in the John Doe probe, where prosecutors have already filed charges and unearthed a secret email and campaign-assistance system operated a few feet from then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's office door allegedly by and for partisan operatives and candidates.

February is the shortest month, but could turn cruelly longl for Wisconsin Republicans.

Pious Baloney Served With Wisconsin Cheese

Newt Gingrich's wacky, vanity campaign for the 2012 GOP Presidential nomination will soon expire for a lack of funding and insurmountable candidate negatives, but thank him for one memorable phrase when Mitt Romney said he wasn't a professional politician.

"Can we drop a little bit of the pious baloney?," Newt said.

Wisconsin Republicans are thriving on the dish.

Scott Walker is raising record millions at out-of-state fundraisers for ads to resist the recall election through a quirk in state law allowing incumbents facing recalls to raise unlimited dollars until an election date is set, yet he tells his audiences he needs their money to fight outside money that sure hasn't shown up.

Put some Wisconsin cheddar on that baloney.

And Republicans, led by Joint Finance co-chair Rep. Robin Vos, (R-Rochester), want to restrict the Constitutionally-guaranteed Wisconsin right to recall elected officials - - but have made no effort to close the loophole through which Walker is gathering his unprecedented war chest and opening new vistas for pay-for-play and the diminution of everyday citizens' equal access to government and policy-making.

Will Legislative Leaders, Moderates, Take New Mining Bill Up North?

Will there be the hearings that GOP Senate leader Scott Fitzgerald blew up on behalf of the mining company, or is this going to be more top-down, closed-door, take-it-or-leave-it legislating?

The so-called moderates have to show a commitment to process and content.

Right-Wing Interests' Dominant Presence In WI Redistricting, School Choice Issue

Journalists in Wisconsin have been following the Right's networks and funders and their powerful political impact.

Bill Lueders, a leading Wisconsin investigative reporter, discussed last week the kind of interests that had a hand in the secretive redistricting and map-drawing unearthed in a Federal lawsuit, and that were amplified in subsequent, court-ordered email dumps:

Last July 13, just after the new maps were unveiled, the Legislature held a single hearing on redistricting. Forty-nine people registered and 21 spoke against the bills; one person registered and six spoke in favor, including aides to Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. That’s an overall margin of 10 to one.

In other words, the Legislature’s GOP leadership passed redistricting maps that were drafted in secret and received almost no public support, financial or otherwise, from any quarter. In this case, it seems, the legislators were motivated by a deeper core principle: self-interest.

And had there not been the lawsuit, and a panel of federal judges who forced out some email records they found improperly cloaked with lawyer-client privilege, we would not be learning that the special interests in this matter extended all the way to former GOP Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen and the conservative, national school choice organization for which he works - - the American Federation for Children.

Barbara Miner, a former Milwaukee Journal reporter, public school advocate and free-lance writer has tracked the school choice movement and its conservative funding, observing in an unpublished essay (and, again, citing Lueders):

Jensen...is a senior adviser to the American Federation for Children/Alliance for School Choice.

According to a Sept 21, 2011 report by Madison-based journalist Bill Lueders:

Jensen is also registered as one of the three contract lobbyists for the federation, which reported spending $56,659 on lobbying Wisconsin state government in the first six months of 2011. This included $6,680 to Jensen for 32 hours of lobby work, which comes to more than $200 an hour.

The bulk of the federation's lobby effort in Wisconsin is handled by its government affairs associate, Brian Pleva, formerly an aide for Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon. Former Fitzgerald chief of staff Jim Bender left to become a lobbyist for School Choice...

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's analysis found that individuals and political action committees associated with school choice gave $125,220 in campaign contributions to Walker and another $181,627 to current legislators and committees, most of them Republicans, in the 2009-10 election cycle...

Continues Miner:

On May 9, 2011, the American Federation for Children invited Gov. Scott Walker to deliver a keynote address on school vouchers at its national policy summit in Washington, D.C...

A list of the funders of school voucher organizations reads like a Who’s Who of right-wing foundations and billionaires. Think Progress— a non-partisan liberal blog focusing on investigative journalism — outlined some of the funding links in a May 21, 2011 report.

Funders just for the Alliance for School Choice alone included [Betsy] DeVos, the Wal-Mart Foundation, the Chase Foundation of Virginia, the Charles Koch Foundation, and the powerful Walton Family Foundation (of Wal-Mart fame)...

The Bradley Foundation has long been one of the most important ideological and financial supporters of vouchers. It made an estimated $41 million in grants for school voucher initiatives from 1986 to 2003 alone, and subsequent grants have maintained a similar pace, according to this searchable Journal Sentinel data base.

Lessons learned:

* There's a lot of independent journalism out there on a complex subject. 

* Litigation has impacts because courts level the playing field. The emerging clash in Federal court between the grassroots group Voces de la Frontera on one side, and powerful Republican legislators with a major law firm, $400,000 of taxpayers' dollars and nationally-ranked advisers on the other side is the stuff of John Grisham novels and Hollywood films.

* Do not underestimate the reach, tenacity and financial strength of the far right's advocacy networks. With the Bradley Foundation, the school choice movement, and the Scott Walker phenomenon all rooted here, Wisconsin is deeply influenced by a committed, focused, organized, agenda-driven and wealthy conservative movement.

As the Bradley Foundation's chief executive and board chairman put it to the Journal Sentinel a few months ago:

Michael W. Grebe...likened the Bradley Foundation to the 1960s Green Bay Packers, who ruled the football world with a fearsome ground game and a deceptively simple running play, the sweep.

"We're going to run off tackle, right over there, and we're telling you we're going to run there and we're going to knock you on your butt and carry the ball down the field," Grebe said during an interview inside the foundation's headquarters near downtown. "There are no surprises."

Mining Editorial Slams The Imperious Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, But...

The Journal Sentinel's editorial on the mining bill continues to leave the Bad River Chippewa band, and close-by iron ore mining's risks to their wild-rice-growing culture and treaty rights out of the discussion.

Both the Assembly and the Senate are doing the same thing, and need to be called out for it.

Fitzgerald deserved the tongue-lashing, but excluding the Native American people from the discussion is the bill's fatal flaw.

GOP Redistricting Lawyer Finds, Turns Over, More Emails

On Friday afternoon, a day after a three-judge Federal panel ordered lawyers for Republican legislators and staffers to release to the public 84 emails (some with maps, and attachments), and to lawyers suing over how the secretive redistricting came about and was handled, an attorney for the legislators told the plaintiff lawyers he'd found additional communications and had sent that file  - - email messages, maps and attachments - - to the plaintiff lawyers too.

At first glance, the documents contain strategy, talking points, and legal research that were similar, and in some cases identical to, the first set of records released Thursday.

It is unclear whether there will be an impact from this belated disclosure on the federal lawsuit that is scheduled for trial Tuesday, or on the temperament of the three-judge panel that has already issued stinging orders - - and a forfeiture - - to the legislators' lawyers for having either filed frivolous motions or withholding documents under lawyer-client privilege that the judges said did not exist.

Here is the communication about the disclosure: I will post the file of documents when I can convert it out of the pdf format in which I have seen it.

Wrote Eric McLeod, of Michael Best & Friedrich, in part (some names, email addresses and phone numbers appearing in the communication have been deleted):

From: McLeod, Eric M (22257)

Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 1:56 PM

In light of the Court's order of February 16, we have determined that in all but two instances, the attachments to the emails identified on the privilege log were previously produced in the prior document production from Mr. Ottman and Mr. Foltz.  However, rather than identifying them in the prior production, I am going to re-produce all of the attachments now, so that it is clear what attachment goes with what email.  I will be forwarding those attachments in successive email messages.  Each email from me will separately include the attachment(s) from each email on the privilege log.

Also, after review of the Court's order, we realized that there are additional responsive email communications between counsel and Mr. Ottman and/or Mr. Foltz that were not in the actual possession of Mr. Ottman and/or Mr. Foltz, but which were in the possession of counsel.  Thus, those email communications should, arguably, be produced.  We did not include them previously in the privilege log as our focus was on identifying documents within the possession of Mr. Ottman and Mr. Foltz.  However, in order to ensure that we are fully complying with the Court's order, we are producing those now.  Those items are attached to this email.

EMM

Eric M. McLeod

Michael Best & Friedrich LLP

One S. Pinckney St., Suite 700

Post Office Box 1806

Madison, WI 53701-1806

Dr. Fitzgerald's Prescription Will Make You Sicker

Experts spelled it out at a Friday hearing, but Legislative leaders seem ready to ignore pointed, scientific warnings about a proposed iron ore mine because Republican legislators, led by recall-threatened Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, (R-Juneau), are still in love with the deregulation goals of the industry-friendly, industry-drafted Assembly mining bill.

As written, the bill suggests this analogy: you're facing heart surgery, but get no x-rays or blood tests in advance because your insurance company doesn't think they're necessary.

And your surgical team, lead by a "Dr." Fitzgerald, prefers boning up on surgical techniques by reading its advertising brochures instead of medical journals and conference proceedings.

From the Capital Times:

...But later testimony focused on the fact that the stretch of northern Wisconsin land Gogebic Taconite wants to mine contains more than simply iron ore.

"This is a scientific issue," Joe Skulan of Lodi told members of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee. "And nobody is talking about the rocks."

Skulan, and others, including George Meyer, who served as secretary of the Department of Natural Resources under former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, were critical of the state passing a mining law that only regulates iron ore mining and doesn't address toxic chemicals that are likely to be stirred up in the process.

The state's current mining law regulates all of these materials. But the bill now before the committee no longer regulates non-ferrous mining. By all accounts, this bill was crafted specifically to assist Gogebic Taconite in its proposal to dig a huge iron ore mine south of Ashland.

Meyer says the lack of regulations would leave no safeguards in place when the sulphite layers above the iron ore seep into the lakes, streams and groundwater nearby.

"This is a mine that should be regulated under current standards," Meyer said.

Meyer, currently the executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, said anyone who knows anything about rock formations can simply look at the site where the $1.5 billion mine is being proposed to see there are other rock materials on top of the iron ore that will be problematic.

Skulan added that when a material like pyrite, commonly known as fool's gold, mixes with oxygen, it becomes a toxic substance that also would go unregulated, causing pollution to nearby waterways.

"There may well be as much pyrite as there is ore," Skulan said. "But the mining company is saying ‘No. This is just an iron ore mine.'"

Gogebic Taconite has not done any sampling of the rocks, leading to wide speculation about what is buried below the earth.

"Those concerns about environmental damages are very real," Meyer says. "There is no way of arguing that this law isn't lowering the state's environmental standards."

Most Read Items Here Last Week - - And Some Bonus Feedback

These were the five most-read items here last week, and many thanks:

Protocol Lets Walker Crash Obama Visit To Master L... Feb 15, 2012

His Turn: Senator Kedzie Sticks It To The Chippewa... Feb 14, 2012

Scott Jensen May Have Advised GOP On Drawing Hispa... Feb 16, 2012

CogDis Blog Blows Whistle On Walker "Ready, Set, B... Feb 15, 2012

The Withheld Emails Will Show Drafters Knew Their .. Feb 16, 2012 And here are the most-read five posts in the last month - - the busiest four weeks here since this blog began 2/2/2007: The Wreck Of The Governor Walker Feb 6, 2012 Scott Walker, The New Nixon Jan 27, 2012 Walker's John Doe Meeting Preceded By Misdirection... Feb 7, 2012 The "Save Walker's Bacon" Rally Only Drew 1,000 Pe... Jan 22, 2012 Protocol Lets Walker Crash Obama Visit To Master L... Feb 15, 2011

Another Scott Walker Falsehood Wins Coveted "Pants On Fire" Rating

PolitiFact, shooting fish in a barrel, finds false Scott Walker's assertion that Gov. Jim Doyle had approved a wasteful job-creating program that enriched financial investment firms with state funding instead.

Turns out that the program began during the Tommy Thompson administration, and that Scott Walker, as a legislator, voted for it.

Scott Walker

Doyle didn't sign it, but Walker voted for it

A 10-year state program that created 202 jobs at a cost of $247,000 per job was approved by former Gov. Jim Doyle.

Plus, a bonus helping of icing on the cake: PolitiFact notes that righty talker Charlie Sykes broadcast the same misinformation - - which can happen if Walker is your source.

WTMJ radio talk show host Charlie Sykes picked up on the topic and in a three minute segment linked Doyle to the CAPCO program five times. He called it "a Jim Doyle idea," and said the program was "one of Jim Doyle’s signature venture capital bills."

In an email, Sykes acknowledged that the program was created under Thompson. And he pointed out that Walker had tweeted on the subject the day before.

This episode of false-talk puts Walker's truthiness rating further into the "false" categories - - 28 of 42, PolitiFact has found.