New Twist On Scott Walker's "Transparency" Lodestar

Walker said he'd "lived" transparency, but now his lieutenants prefer silence!

Include "Colorado" In Climate Change Discussion

Every time right-wing politicians, Fox 'pundits' and local radio talkers mock and deny the extreme effects of climate change, just add in the word "Colorado." It's hard to miss Colorado's recent record heat, wildfires, rainfall, landslides, floods, and massive property losses, And the dead people.

Dirty Air Alert, Milwaukee!

Current Air Quality for Milwaukee, WI
Thursday, September 19
At 4 PM CDT Particle Pollution (2.5 microns) reached 191 AQI - Unhealthy

Do not reply directly to this email. If you want more information on the air quality forecast, or other aspects of the local air quality program, please contact your local air quality agency using the information above. For more information on the U.S. EPA's AIRNow Program, visit http://www.airnow.gov.

Walker Hauling In Out-Of-State Campaign Cash

Thanks to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign for following the money and illuminating why Walker's national aspirations should be taken seriously. Basically, he's going to have access to spectacular financing to build an image far from John Doe and Scott Suder:

Seventy-eight individuals and couples mostly from outside Wisconsin contributed nearly $1 million to legislative and statewide officeholders and candidates during the first six months of 2013, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found....

These high rolling campaign donors, who contributed a total of $978,037, represent a wide range of influential special interests including business, manufacturing, banking and finance, insurance, health care, construction, energy, mining, school voucher and transportation (Table)....

The top recipient of this elite donor cash was Republican Governor Scott Walker who received $831,573 or 85 percent of their contributions.

Remember, for example, that big money created out of nothing the successful State Supreme Court candidacy of a nobody, the obscure northern Wisconsin circuit court judge Mike Gableman.

Or what Ron Johnson did with $10 million of his own dough.

Walker may not have the national name-recognition of, say, Marco Rubio or even a Jeb Bush - - but millions and millions of dollars can quickly buy a lot of polling points and PR.

Waukesha, Water And The "L" Word - - "Litigation"

In a posting yesterday, I reprinted an account from the Waukesha Freeman about a water policy panel discussion last week where predictions of litigation over Waukesha's Great Lakes water diversion application were aired.

I've also been told that panelists opined that litigation would occur no matter whether the application were denied or approved.

Here is the account I quoted:

Consisting of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, “Great Lakes Water Wars” author Peter Annin and Milwaukee Riverkeeper Cheryl Nenn, the panel discussed Waukesha’s application for Lake Michigan water in front of a packed room at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center on Wednesday...   

The water service area is created by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, not Waukesha, but Annin said the larger service area makes Waukesha’s application more vulnerable to a veto by another state than it would have been otherwise.  

“No matter what happens, this is going to get challenged in federal court,” Annin said. 

[Side note: Annin is speaking about the Compact this evening in Milwaukee. Details, here.]

But seeing the word "litigation" in the context of Waukesha and diverting water reminded me of another story about Waukesha's strategy for a Lake Michigan diversion written even before the Great Lakes Compact of 2008 was finally negotiated and signed.

It was a story I wrote in 2006 as a freelancer for WisOpinion.com after I discovered in the files of the Waukesha Water Utility through an Open Records request that Waukesha had made two confidential entreaties to the Doyle administration for diversion permission. without the other Great Lakes states' approval.

The requests went unanswered by the Doyle administration.

Anyway: here is a link to the story and a sentence or two:

...behind the scenes, the utility is playing hardball, tasking its lawyers with trying to win state support for a jaw-dropping plan: obtaining its desired supply of fresh water from Lake Michigan without having to apply to regional regulators as a new diverter, or get the approval of the other Great Lakes states or be required to return an equal amount of water to the basin for treatment and replenishment.  

Lawyers at Godfrey & Kahn, S.C., under contract to the utility, twice this spring proposed to Gov. Jim Doyle that the state allow the city of Waukesha access to Lake Michigan on terms that would help avoid litigation, according to documents obtained from the utility under the Wisconsin Open Records law.  

Dropping “litigation” into discussions of Great Lakes water policy-making is like throwing a grenade into a plywood shack.  

Litigation could have set off political and environmental consequences across the Great Lakes region, lead to countersuits, and undo years of recently-concluded negotiations among the eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces....  

Waukesha Water Utility general manager Dan Duchniak said in a Wednesday interview in his office that “the last thing we want is litigation.”  

Duchniak said that the utility was exploring several water-supply options, including new well sites as well as Lake Michigan water with return-flow. 

When Headlines Are Soup-Spillers

I have an old Madison friend from another life who did a wonderful pantomime of a curmudgeonly conservative whom we all knew settling down at the dinner table with his evening paper (I told you this goes way back), spotting an upsetting headline and spilling the first course cup of soup laid out before him in his historic mansion.

I think this one's a soup-spiller in certain other Madison mansions, too:

Journal Sentinel files motion asking John Doe judge to release sealed county records

Add The Suder/DNR Grant Scandal To Walker's "No Knowledge Of" List

Walker says he didn't know anything about Scott Suder's wiring a $500,000 state grant:

Gov. Scott Walker maintained Wednesday he had no knowledge of efforts to steer a sporting heritage grant toward the politically connected United Sportsmen of Wisconsin and side-stepped a question when asked if a top Republican lawmaker properly handled the situation.

Let's see...where have we seen 'no knowledge of' business and Walker before?

In this long list from 2012, with examples stretching from the John Doe matter, to his days as Milwaukee County Executive and even back to his ill-fated 1988 run for Marquette University student body President:

...The Marquette Tribune had it in 2010, and used its files clear back to 1988, when Walker's campaign for student body president imploded over ethics and rule violations, and it was time to take responsibility:

Walker’s campaign record murky

In the run-up to election day, the Tribune’s editorial board endorsed Walker’s opponent John Quigley, but said either candidate had the potential to serve effectively.

However, the Tribune revised its editorial the following day, calling Walker “unfit for presidency...”

The revision also expressed disappointment in Walker’s campaign workers reportedly throwing away issues of the Tribune after the endorsement was initially made.

Walker dismissed this, saying he had no knowledge of what his supporters did, according to a Tribune article from February 25, 1988.

File Under Walker, Jobs, False - - Or "What Else Is New?"

Walker makes a claim about jobs in Wisconsin, and PolitiFact rules it "mostly false."

It comes on top of previous Walker false speaking about jobs - - the issue on which he is most vulnerable because his promised 250,000 new private-sector jobs after one term was campaign dross, not an attainable achievement.

On this subject, "inveterate" comes to mind. Look it up.

About Starbucks And Guns

The only thing that will stop Starbucks from letting in customers carrying guns is a decision by those of us not packing to take our business elsewhere.

The Inarticulation, The Denials And Sportsmen'sGate Are All Walker's

The spin is dizzying and the word salad is vintage Walker, but Scott Suder and the sleazy bogus $500,000 'sportsmen's'/Tea Party-soaked grant fully belong to the Governor, according to this Journal Sentinel account:

Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday his administration did not consider how former Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder handled a $500,000 grant for a politically connected group in deciding to give Suder a job.

"We didn't look at that at all," Walker told reporters. "The Public Service Commission I think looked at the totality of his experience, not just any one particular item in terms of offering a division position...."

Asked if he thought Suder had handled the situation properly, Walker said: "Not being involved with it, it's really hard for me to comment. You only get bits and pieces that you've heard about. But from our standpoint, it's one of those where there's multitudes, as you all know in the budget process, of amendments offered, budget motions."

Waukesha Water Plan Raising Questions - - Some Old, Some New

There has been an exchange of letters between Waukesha Water Utility General Manager Daniel Duchniak and Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Mayor Keith Hobbs.

The subject: Waukesha's draft application (reviewers at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources have yet to get Waukesha's final, final, final draft, but that is another issue for another day) for a diversion of Lake Michigan water under the terms of a 2008 US-Canada Great Lakes water management Compact.

Because Waukesha's borders are outside of the Great Lakes basin, the application needs the approval of all eight Great Lakes US states' Governors before any water can flow because Waukesha's application comes in under a Compact section as an exception to the Compact's broad diversion prohibitions.

Thunder Bay's Hobbs, who is also the chair of a US-Canadian regional Mayor's group, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, is raising questions about Waukesha's application and specifically about Waukesha's intention to send water beyond its city limits.

Some of the diverted water is ticketed for neighboring towns which had made no application for diverted water on their own and to date lack certain Compact-related mandated water conservation plans.

Acreage in and near the proposed and expanded water service area - - defined on a map drawn up for Waukesha by staff at an unelected regional planning commission - - is also set to benefit from road expansion - - another sign that Waukesha County is growing.

Canadian provinces bordering the Great Lakes cannot veto an application for a diversion by a community like Waukesha. But the Canadians have an important advisory role when an out-of-basin diversion application like Waukesha's is being considered because the two countries share responsibility for managing the Great Lakes resource under the Compact, now also US and Canadian law.

Canadians have been raising these questions about Waukesha's application, as I noted six months ago:

So concerns expressed publicly by Canadian Ambassador to the United States Gary Doer about Waukesha's languishing application (Waukesha's Common Council approved it three years ago, though efforts to gain a diversion have floated around since 2006) should be taken seriously as the Wisconsin DNR continues to review the application. 

And decides whether to forward it to the Canadians for their advice and to the other seven Great Lakes states which would have to approve it unanimously under the 2008 Compact for the diversion to occur:

During a visit to Milwaukee last week, Canadian ambassador Gary Doer said Canada generally opposes transferring water from one watershed to another, fearing it would hurt water quality, “and today's project may make sense, but 100 of them won't.”

About the Compact and Waukesha's application, I further recommend this recent, excellent summation op-ed by local water rights advocate Atty. Jodi Habush Sinykin:

Bottom line, if we care about the future of our Great Lakes, we must do what we can to protect them; in the present instance, by supporting a stellar review process that will hold the City of Waukesha's diversion application accountable to every standard and requirement of the compact...

And before I post the letters, let me say that Waukesha's intention to send water beyond its city borders has been raising questions since Waukesha water utility officials leaders delivered the proposed diversion application to its city council in the spring of 2010.

Back in 2010, I wrote;

The weakest link in the application - - and what will raise questions all the way from the Town of Waukesha to the City of Milwaukee, and with reviewers and regulators in all the eight Great Lakes states, is Waukesha's plan to send Lake Michigan water into parts of Pewaukee, Genesee and the Town of Waukesha. 

Expanding the current service territory land mass by 80%. 

That expansion - - mapped out and green-lighted by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission for the Waukesha application administratively, without public review - - plays some role in Waukesha's request for up to 18.5 million gallons of Lake Michigan water daily.... 

Water for growth is not the goal of the Compact. Take it from a Compact expert's superb analysis, here.... 

Waukesha's water-for-expansion goes beyond meeting its own needs. It's an assault on regionalism, and resource sustainability and the core preservationist principle of the Compact. 

It's where the diversion application lacks the most justification and creates the most waves.

Also among the many commentaries on this blog about the application also is this excerpt from a 2012 posting: 

There are innumerable uncertainties about the application's reception in the seven other Great Lakes states, and perhaps in two Canadian provinces which have advisory roles, as do First Nation tribes there. 

Even after after Wisconsin sends the application to the other states - - and who knows if and when that takes place - - any of the states could send it back for fresh answers or a time-consuming do-over. An unambiguous veto by any of the states (not a step available in the provinces) would deny Waukesha the unanimous approvals by all eight Great Lakes states the Compact mandates for such diversions. 

The Great Lakes water expert Peter Annin, brought some time ago to a public meeting in Waukesha by the city, told an assemblage of citizens and officials in the Common Council chambers that they should expect as a given, at least one state to reject the application on its first reading.

And speaking of Annin, his name and his warning cropped again last week in the Waukesha Freeman:

Waukesha Freeman 09/12/2013, Page A04

Panel: Waukesha’s water application will be challenged in federal court  Barrett says other states will question service area By Sarah Pryor  Freeman Staff MILWAUKEE – Even if the other Great Lakes governors accept that Waukesha needs a new water source, they’ll have big questions about the city’s water service area, and the application will almost certainly be challenged in federal court, predicted three members of a panel at a breakaway session on Waukesha’s quest for Lake Michigan water during the Great Lakes Coalition’s 9th annual Great Lakes Restoration Conference. Consisting of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, “Great Lakes Water Wars” author Peter Annin and Milwaukee Riverkeeper Cheryl Nenn, the panel discussed Waukesha’s application for Lake Michigan water in front of a packed room at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center on Wednesday...    The water service area is created by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, not Waukesha, but Annin said the larger service area makes Waukesha’s application more vulnerable to a veto by another state than it would have been otherwise.   “No matter what happens, this is going to get challenged in federal court,” Annin said.

Now to the letters:

For technical reasons in the blogging tool, I will start with Hobbs' response, then Duchniak's, so in reverse chronological order: [12:45 p.m. Update - - A copying problem with the Duchniak letter has been resolved. The text is below.]

Mr. Daniel Duchniak, General Manager Waukesha Water Utility
115 Delafield Street
Waukesha, Wisconsin 53188-3615
Dear Mr. Duchniak:

August 27, 2013

Thank you for your letter concerning my comments about the proposed Waukesha diversion from the Great Lakes. I am not sure why you were “surprised and disappointed” at my expression of concern about the proposal. 

The mayors in our organization from Canada and the United States take our stewardship responsibilities for the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence very seriously, and your proposed diversion presents some very significant concerns to the entire community around this water resource treasure we share.

We participated actively in the development of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Sustainable Water Resources Agreement, and the Compact, and want to make sure it is implemented true to the spirit and the letter of the law. 

With the City of Waukesha not in the Great Lakes basin at all, and Waukesha County barely in the basin, close scrutiny of your proposal is definitely required. 

This is especially so because we understand you intend to provide water out into the far western portions of the County, even farther away from the Lake Michigan shoreline and the basin boundary.

We also understand that there are significant questions about your consideration of alternative sources of water supply, and your projected demand in the future. Those issues will need to be reviewed closely. 

You state that Waukesha will return “100% of the volume of water it withdraws.” That suggests that you aren’t consuming any of the water while you have it, or that you are replacing Great Lakes water with other water that you are returning, both of which raise concerns.

We plan to follow the proceedings closely because, as you said, this will be an important precedent. 

Only time will tell if it is “good” or “bad” precedent.

Sincerely,

Mayor Keith Hobbs, Chair Great Lakes and St. Lawrence
Cities Initiative
Mayor of Thunder Bay, Ontario 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

July 11, 2013

Mayor Keith Hobbs, Chair
Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Cities Initiative

Dear Mayor Hobbs:  

We were surprised and disappointed to read your comments to CBC News on behalf of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative about Waukesha, Wisconsin’s request for Great Lakes water ( HYPERLINK "http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/story/2013/07/11/tby-thunder-bay-mayor-great-lakes-water-protection.html" http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/story/2013/07/11/tby-thunder-bay-mayor-great-lakes-water-protection.html).  

We hope that this letter helps clarify some of the issues you raised.  

We are also happy to discuss these issues further.  

It is our understanding that your organization participated in developing and also supported the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement between the Great Lakes provinces and states, as well as the similar Great Lakes Compact (which is federal law in the U.S.).  

Your support for those agreements is not surprising.  The Agreement between the Great Lakes provinces and states bans diversions outside of the Great Lakes Basin with an extremely limited exception within counties partially in the Great Lakes Basin. 

Then the jurisdiction still needs to demonstrate a need for water with no other reasonable alternative.  You raised the question of where do we draw the "line".  The Agreement and Compact have already drawn the "line" at counties along the Basin divide.  They absolutely prohibit water from going to other counties, states or provinces or to other countries.  

The debate and controversy about drawing a "line" and preventing Las Vegas from getting Great Lakes water was resolved several years ago with the adoption of the Agreement and the Compact.  

The Waukesha Application should be judged on its compliance with the Agreement and Compact.  If approved, it would create an important precedent that the Agreement and the Compact are working.  To oppose or deny the application for the reasons you raised is a threat to the ultimate success of the protections provided by the Agreement and Compact.

As the first community in a straddling county to apply for Great Lakes water, Waukesha will set a positive precedent for any future applications.

For instance, the Compact requires that Waukesha returns approximately 85% of the water it withdraws.  Although Waukesha’s daily withdrawal would be only about 1/1 millionth of 1% of the water from the Great Lakes, Waukesha is proposing to exceed the Compact’s requirement and to return 100% of the volume of water it withdraws, resulting in a ZERO change to lake levels.

The State of Wisconsin is also doing an exhaustive analysis of Waukesha’s application through an Environmental Impact Statement, creating yet another positive precedent.

In addition, Waukesha has been a leader in water conservation, creating the first conservation rates, the first toilet rebate program and the first daytime sprinkling ban in Wisconsin, along with public education and other important initiatives. 

Any threat to Great Lakes levels is not from Waukesha’s application.  The threat to the Lakes would be to ignore the Agreement and the Compact. 

Waukesha provides the opportunity to show that this historic cooperation among governments to protect this resource is actually working.  We are confident that when you have an opportunity to review the details of the application, you will see how Waukesha has worked hard to meet the requirements of the Agreement and Compact.

We hope you will support the Agreement and the Compact by endorsing an objective and scientific review of Waukesha’s application under the terms of these historic accords.

Sincerely,

Dan Duchniak, general manager

Waukesha Water Utility 

cc:  GLSLCI members and staff

Walker Returns 8% Of Housing Funds Lifted From Milwaukee

Remember the GOP alleged WI Dems had raided segregated funds? Walker and A. G. Van Hollen diverted $24.3 million in housing dollars for Milwaukee, and have sent back 8%. Nice.

Big Government To Rescue Powerless WI Landlords From Tenant Bullies

Free at last: Landlords finally get some leverage and flexibility from Wisconsin GOP legislators.

Trouble In The Right's Paradise

Interesting this morning that Charlie Sykes used his WMTJ AM right wing radio perch to unload on WISN-AM afternoon righty radio host Mark Belling.

I didn't hear it, but I guess Belling has accused Governor Scott Walker of changing his position on expanded Indian casino gambling - - the issue being a proposed Menominee tribal casino in Kenosha County - - because of political donations from the Potawatomi, owners of the Milwaukee casino.

Sykes cited Walker statements on tribal gaming over the years, then called Belling's assertion factually-wrong, "toxic." "dangerous," "over-the-top,"  and an example of some conservatives "circular firing squad" when the left should be seen as the "the enemy," Sykes said.

Strong language. Gauntlet thrown down.

And formal notice from the powerful right-wing spin apparatus marketed by Journal Communications' Broadcast Group that dissent about Walker is dangerous disloyalty.

Belling has always been something of a wild card on the Right and less likely to use or let his program be used- - a program which which he's the owner, unlike Sykes, or Wagner, who are Journal Communications employees - - as a party-line voice.

I remember when he ripped Republicans for fronting fake candidates in legislative recall elections, for example:

Interesting rant - - his word - - by AM 1130 WISN conservative talker Mark Belling Tuesday afternoon at Republicans, and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald by name, for openly touting their rotten little scheme to force recall election primaries and string out the process by recruiting fake Democrats.

If you listen to both stations, it sounds from time to time that WTMJ radio talkers get their calls from GOP spinmeisters before Belling gets his, and not just because Belling is an afternoon program.

I don't think this will expand into an all-out talk radio war on the right, but it's useful to note the cracks in the facade, and to take Sykes' outburst as a sign that decision makers on the Right, given their long-range investment in Walker and their value standing with Walker as their highest priority.

One Thought About the DC Navy Yard Massacre...

What does it say about stationing gun-toting, good-guy guards, perhaps even retirees or volunteers, in schools if an armed bad guy bent on mayhem can blast his way into a high-security military base, then steal more weapons from disarmed guards to inflict greater mayhem?

Walkerites Slowing Down Special-Interest Express

Looks like the State Senate won't 'debate' the forest-closing-for-potential-mining bill this week, and the reason is pretty clear.

Walker is wobbling in the wake of the double-barreled Scott Suder scandal - - first the sweetheart $500,000 annual earmark Suder put into the budget to fund a politically-friendly 'sportsman's' group, then the fat state job Walker handed Suder for jobs well done.

So this probably isn't the right time for Walker's legislators to hand out fresh and unjustifiable public land and tax favors to special interests - - in this case, the West Virginia-based mining firm GTAC with a record of donations to Walker & Co. - - already benefiting from insider access to self-serving bill-drafting.

Also little wonder that we haven't heard much about selling off state assets.

Even the ideologues running state government right now know there are tipping points and they are getting close.

Raise For Suder Fits A Pattern

Good for the Journal Sentinel to focus on the 88% raise (with future pension guaranteed, too) lavished on former State Sen.Scott Suder as Gov, Walker lets his key legislative pal play over in the Public Service Commission sandbox.

And let's make sure we remember that the Suder mess is not an isolated in an administration honest about dedication to fiscal conservatism and merit-based hiringt:

*  Walker's awarding of big-salaried state jobs - - the pattern began in the early hours of his administration when a 27-year-old lobbyist's son got an $81,000 job - - to good soldiers like Cindy Archer, or disgraced WisDOT manager Steven Krieser, and, through civil service manipulations, State Capitol police chief David Erwin and his deputy;

Don't Forget There's Another $500,000 DNR Piggy Bank

As the stench continues to rise from the half-million bucks Republicans slipped into the budget for a politically-connected 'sportsmen's' group, don't forget that another half-million DNR dollars annually is now set aside in the same budget for some lucky winner(s), according to a Walker news release:

"Also, $500,000 is being provided annually to purchase large fingerling walleye for stocking in Wisconsin’s waters from private fish farms.  Several states including Indiana and Minnesota have had success improving their walleye fisheries with purchases of walleye fingerlings from private sources."

Kinda rings a bell - - $500,000, awarded annually, with fuzzy eligibilities, for the sporting world...

Under Walker, The PSC Is Special-Interest Central

Looks like Scott Walker found the perfect spot to insert an open-minded public servant, Scott Suder.

Septic Waste Dumping Tests DNR's Enforcement Resolve

Looks like Scott Walker's "chamber-of-commerce mentality" DNR has to decide if and how to enforce septic waste dumping violations in central Wisconsin:

The DNR received complaints against a number of septic haulers in western Marathon County and Wood County, according to the agency's wastewater engineer Fred Hegeman.

“Our conservation wardens found haulers that were disposing of septage illegally,” says Hegeman. “They were land disposing behind buildings [and] dumping it at the end of roads.”

The DNR let an offender in southern Wisconsin off with a slap on the wrist the last time a high-profile case made the news, and in that one there was a political and campaign donation connection between the dumper and a top DNR official.