The Political Environment

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Conservation Organization Says Mining Bill Worse Than Expected

From the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, this alert:

Today we received Special Session Assembly Bill 24.

We expected this to be a bad bill. Turns out that it’s worse than our very worst expectations.

We thought this bill would be about mining. It is. But it goes much, much further than that.
Read Special Session Assembly Bill 24 here. We will post updates as we have them on our Facebook page.

We are working quickly to prepare an in-depth analysis for you (expect it early next week), but for now — mark your calendars! The one way to stop this bill is to demonstrate to legislators that it is WILDLY unpopular with voters.

This will be a JOINT hearing of the Assembly and Senate Natural Resources Committee. We need you, your friends, neighbors and family to be in Madison for this hearing.

Public Hearing on the Special Session AB 24
Wednesday, October 26th
11:00 am
State Capitol, Room 412 East
Please RSVP here.

Please share this email broadly with your networks of friends who – like you – care deeply about Wisconsin, democracy, and public health.

Thursday night update from the group's Facebook page:

Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters
Looking for your advice. What would you name a bill that GUTTED water protections, ELIMINATED public input, DECIMATED mining laws, gave MASSIVE handouts to Walker contributors and created NO jobs???

League Of Women Voters In Wisconsin Sues To Guarantee Voting Rights

Great to see this litigation moving forward, and thanks to the non-profit arm of the League to bring the suit.

Here is its full name and address, should you wish to donate:

LWVWI Education Fund
612 W Main Street #200
Madison, WI 53703

Readers of this blog had been following this development, here.

Ohio's No-Regulation Policy On Exotic Animal Ownership A Tragic Decision

The incumbent Governor and former Fox talk show host John Kasich is now speeding up the work of a task force in the wake of the exotic animal release and slaughter earlier this week.

A little late, wouldn't you say?

PSC's Lurch Towards Confidentiality Violates Walker's Pledge On Transparency

Walker posted on his campaign website an interview he gave to a reporter saying his experience and beliefs ensured guaranteed policies providing transparency in government.

"I don't just say that. I've lived it," he said..."it applies to everything."

Except to Public Service Commission documents, effective immediately, according to a memo sent me earlier this week.

Employment In Walker's Wisconsin Going In Reverse

New negative numbers are making Walker's 250,000 new jobs/10,000 new businesses pledge looking, what...rhetorical at best? Or politically-inspired, unattainable, or fill in the _____________.

Carp Barrier Electric Current Turned Down

Interference with railroad signals is the culprit.

Bad news for the effort to keep this super-predator out of the Great Lakes.

Evidence that without a physical separation of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds, the carp are going make the jump.

There's A Lemon Law For Politicians; We Have A Recall For That

I can remember the day our whole family headed for a dealership on E. Washington Ave. below the Madison Capitol Square and piled into our new car - - a 1975 Plymouth Valiant, clone of the Consumers' Report highly-rated Dodge Dart.

Ours was two-toned - - a white vinyl top over a gold lower body - - in what the company said in this video was a "glamour" compact car.

Oh, brother:

We drove it off the lot, and it stalled. It was always in the shop in search of a fix that could not be found.

This was before the days of lemon laws, so we were stuck with it.

Fortunately, voters can recall an elected official who's a lemon, and I would argue that Scott Walker's entire failed first year in office - - from the "budget repair" bill that contained his collective bargaining assault, to a string of proven statements rated "false" to the the quick collapse of the first Walker budget - - reminiscent of earlier fake budgets with built-in land mines that he oversaw while Milwaukee County Executive - - means he's always going to be in the shop.

Voters do not have to accept lemon leaders; the Walker recall effort will show they won't.

Republicans Should Abstain From Undoing State's Sex Ed Curriculum

Especially during a special legislative session on job-creation.

Where Mortgage-Related Fraud Is Found, Justice Is Not Equal

The feds are bringing criminal charges against some alleged local mortgage fraud perpetrators. The charges are serious and it looks like jail or prison time is coming.

So be it. Anyone who had a hand in this national economic scandal should face criminal charges.

But where we have already had banks too big to fail, we've got some bankers who apparently are too big to jail.

The feds are alleging a massive mortgage-securities related scheme perpetrated by Citigroup by letting the Wall Street giant settle and buy its way out through a civil complaint process...though Citigroup continues to report billions of dollars in profits that dwarf the amount of the proposed settlement...after having received the largest taxpayer-paid bailout to survive the crash it helped bring on by creating and selling and profiting from shady, toxic mortgage securities and manipulations.

And you wonder why the Occupy Wall Street movement has power?

A State That Is Open For Business Can't Have Its Public Business Troubled By Open Records

How else to interpret the State Public [sic] Service Commission's decision to put documents into confidential status - - by default?

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

EPA Orders End To Sewer Pollution - - In Brookfield

Seems there's trouble in the brooks and fields near Brookfield.

Are we going to hear talk radio dump all over the tony Waukesha County suburban City of Brookfield, as it regularly does when Milwaukee is involved, now that the EPA is giving Brookfield a 2015 deadline to end sewage overflows?

In the seven years between Jan. 1, 2004, and Feb. 28, 2011, Brookfield reported 46 sanitary sewer overflows to tributaries of the Fox River or Lake Michigan, according to the consent order. Only five of the overflows were caused by contractor error or other problems not related to rainfall.

Wisconsin PSC Opts For Document Secrecy. Why?

This decision by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission certainly raises a lot of questions about open government, public access to records and the free flow of information:

NOTICE TO ALL WISCONSIN PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION ELECTRONIC REGULATORY FILING USERS

Effective immediately, the Wisconsin Public Service Commission is changing the handling of confidential filings. As you may recall, past practice was to have confidential status expire automatically after 4 years unless a party requests an extension of that status. Because the retention for the vast majority of our documents is greater than 4 years, this resulted in numerous and repeated requests for extensions of confidential status. This was becoming burdensome and inefficient. To reduce waste, improve efficiency, and to better align the Commission’s practice on the handling of confidential materials with the Commission’s document retention practices, the Commission has decided to abolish the 4 year automatic expiration period. Instead, please be advised that Commission practice, until further notice, is to maintain the confidential status of the document throughout the life cycle of the document.

Please be reminded, however, that the grant of confidential status does not automatically mean the document will be retained confidentially and withheld from public inspection. Such determinations must be made consistent with Wisconsin’s public records law and any other law requiring release of Commission records.

Please see attached for more information. This document has also been filed in the ERF System. If you have questions regarding the Commission’s practice and procedure relating to handling of documents granted confidential status, or the duration of that status, please contact the Commission’s Office of General Counsel at (608) 266-1264 or e-mail Cynthia Smith.

Cliff Koehler
Data Administrator
Public Service Commission of Wisconsin
Cliff.Koehler@wisconsin.gov
phone: 608.267-9026 fax: 608.266-3957

Fresh Cuts To State, UW Reminiscent Of Walker's Sham County Budgets

Suddenly, Wisconsin state officials discover there is a need for major state agency budget cuts, especially at the UW, even though the current state budget is just a few months old.

Milwaukee County residents and courthouse observers will recognize this "oops" budgeting.

As a former county supervisor Jim McGuigan wrote in 2004:

In his past two budgets he has systematically over-estimated revenues, causing a fiscal crisis that will automatically trigger by mid-summer. This mechanism allows Walker to keep his tax freeze pledge and true to his extremist ideology, cut programs and employees mid year. This past year there were several mid-year cuts with the pool closings gaining the most attention...

The Walker budget understates expenses and overstates revenues. He relies on $2,000,000 more in court related revenues which he hopes to get from the state through increased lobbying and some good old-fashioned wishful thinking. The Doyle administration has already said it’s not going to happen. Parks are anticipated to draw in $19 million in fees and other revenues, but on a good year, the County only brings in about $17.3 million...

By inserting unrealistically rosy revenue projections into next years budget, Walker has again won approval of a budget that will require deep cuts by mid-summer; well after his upcoming April election. Parks, bus services and other programs will have to be trimmed back or eliminated in order to fill the problems of a built in budget deficit. Last year he said the need to close pools earlier than normal was due to an unexpected deficit. County residents should expect to see a need for similar “unforeseen” cuts in 2004.

Isolated incidents?

In 2008, the County had to order sudden cuts because, again, revenues were not coming in as projected and shortfalls were showing up before the last fiscal quarter had begun:

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker ordered a series of belt-tightening moves to offset a projected year-end deficit of nearly $6 million, including a partial hiring freeze and layoffs of temporary workers, supervisors were told Wednesday.

Walker also halted nonessential travel, suspended most overtime and ordered cuts in energy use...

Walker said he didn’t know the red ink was growing to nearly $6 million when he decided on the raises over the summer. “It was not even on our radar screen at the time,” he said.

Notice that Walker said he didn't know anything about the situation - - a pattern I've found in Walker statements and actions since a 1988 controversial election he was running as a student at Marquette University where his party was found to have violated the rules.

Scott Walker Has Easy-Pass To Road-Builders Money

In a post earlier Wednesday about the politics of road-building in SE Wisconsin - - expansion in the face of continuing cuts to transit and purported fiscal shortfalls - - I made this observation:

The threats to transit are taking place while billions in new highway construction roar forward unrestrained.

Walker fast-tracked the Zoo Interchange project (in a slightly reduced footprint, but still at an unaffordable cost of at least $1.7 billion) to appease the road-builders and Walker's base constituency in Waukesha County.

But these days, cars are running more efficiently, and the depressed economy has eliminated some driving, leaving road budgets planned without restraints short of money because most of the needed revenue to build them comes from gasoline taxes.

So is the highway budget taking the sort of cut you'd expect in our broke state?

Are you kidding?

The road-builders, serviced by campaign-donation-driven Legislative lap dogs, and by a Governor already double-talking around the issue, are looking to introduce tolls to fund these unsustainable concrete projects and dreams.

Let me elaborate:

Remember that Walker jetted off for a withdrawal at the road-builders ATM when the fellas were sunning themselves in Florida during the 2010 campaign.

All in all, 304 donors listed in the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's data base as "road builders" gave Walker more than $166,000 in the campaign, records show, with the "transportation" category supplying twice that, roughly.

And once the campaign was over, Walker was off again to DC right after he dropped the bomb on state employees for another money fix the road builders helped organize.

Hearing On Medicaid Cuts Begins At 1 P.M.Wednesday In Madison

Here is the schedule for the meeting, and for another in Milwaukee later this month, so turn out on behalf of the 99%:

The Department of Health Services (DHS) will hold a Town Hall Meeting in Madison on Wednesday from 1-7 p.m. to hear from the public on its 39 proposals to save funding in Medicaid programs. DHS Secretary Dennis Smith and Deputy Secretary Kitty Rhoades will be present at the meeting.

The Town Hall Meeting will be held:

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

1:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M
Goodman Community Center
Evjue Community Room D
149 Waubesa Street
Madison, WI 53704

DHS is also holding a Town Hall Meeting in Milwaukee from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, October 21.

Today Is Citizen Lobbying Day On Mining, Environmental Issues

Show up, organize, button-hole your legislators, follow through and in no uncertain terms tell them you want transparency at the Capitol and resource preservation for the Wisconsin environment in bills that deal with mining, wetlands and waterways in Wisconsin. From the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, history and details.

And the schedule:

*Special* Conservation Lobby Day on Mining in Wisconsin
Wednesday, October 19th
State Capitol, Room 425 S.W.
12:30pm-4:30pm Citizen Training and Lobby Meetings

SE Wisconsin Regional Transit: Stability, Instability And Insanity

We offer you The Good, The Bad and The Ugly that passes for a transportation system in Southeastern Wisconsin.

First the stability:

Both Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele are trying to work their way around state budget cuts to keep Milwaukee's bus system afloat by supporting a County plan from Abele to fill part of the funding gap with one-time federal financing amounting to a few million dollars - - including transferring to bus services a relatively small amount of money that could have helped Barrett get a City streetcar Downtown moving towards its long-delayed start-up.

Give them both credit for cooperation, and to Barrett for giving ground on the streetcar, as it no doubt will give a few hours comfort to his rabidly anti-rail, anti-city talk radio critics.

But now the instability:

The federal funding became available to help Milwaukee bus services because an ideologically-motivated Republican state legislature killed planning for a commuter rail line to connect Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha, thus guaranteeing congestion on the I-94 corridor south to the Illinois line that is under $1.9 billion worth of reconstruction and widening for several more years.

So this short-term boost for Milwaukee bus comes at the expense of transit options regionally, and keeps them narrowed focused locally - - on buses, off rail - - all while the Legislature and Gov. Walker make transit services in Wisconsin fight for nickels and dimes and survival.

And the insanity:

The threats to transit are taking place while billions in new highway construction roar forward unrestrained.

Walker fast-tracked the Zoo Interchange project (in a slightly reduced footprint, but still at an unaffordable cost of at least $1.7 billion) to appease the road-builders and Walker's base constituency in Waukesha County.

But these days, cars are running more efficiently, and the depressed economy has eliminated some driving, leaving road budgets planned without restraints short of money because most of the needed revenue to build them comes from gasoline taxes.

So is the highway budget taking the sort of cut you'd expect in our broke state?

Are you kidding?

The road-builders, serviced by campaign-donation-driven Legislative lap dogs, and by a Governor already double-talking around the issue, are looking to introduce tolls to fund these unsustainable concrete projects and dreams.

[Updated campaign donation data, here.]

The motoring public in all four directions from the Zoo Interchange confluence of State Highway 45, I-94 and I-894 has no real sense of the killer congestion that politicians are sending their way without mitigation because anti-urban politicians killed a light rail system along the I-94 corridor west from the downtown 15 years ago that is targeted for road expansion and rebuilding.

With more of the same ticketed for I-43 to the southwest into Walworth County, and to the north across Milwaukee and Ozaukee Counties, as the non-elected, 100% taxpayer-supported Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission's $6.4 billion, unfunded freeway 'modernization' plan moves into future decades.

When, at the end, the Marquette Interchange will get placed on the schedule for rebuilding, and on, and on, and on.

In the end, we are probably going to get tolls for some or all of these major road projects while transit in all forms is further hollowed out, or blocked, as Walker did with the Milwaukee-to-Madison Amtrak line and the state's connections to the Midwest High-Speed Rail Network - - allegedly because they were just too darn expensive.

That's not a transportation system for a region in need of innovation to prosper.

It's a one-dimensional economic death sentence, a prescription for stagnation, a 'solution' that is not systemic and that picks people's pockets for road-building (and not for local street services) ordered from the top down that locks in - - along with congestion and pollution - - inevitable and costly expansion, patrolling, plowing, general maintenance, sprawl and development distortions.

All delivered by the small government crowd that, for political reasons, keeps the traveling public dependent on cars, locked in traffic jams, doomed to wasteful commutes and easily propagandized into paying for and suffering through repetitive cycles of road-building schemed by politicians who withheld choices while catering to special, self-serving interests.

There's your insanity.

Planning, Plating And Plate Lunches

Some food for thought in this season of public budgeting:

A few days ago I posted the rationalization for Milwaukee County withholding its $800,000+ annual annual assessment from the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, (SEWRPC).

Note in a discussion of regional planning in the Madison Capital area, we learn that Dane County is currently blocking a similar assessment - - and I'd argue that the issues in the two disputes have overlap - - and thereby is willing to use the receipt of taxpayer dollars logically and fairly as a lever to meet land preservation and other public policy goals.

Where is the gumption in Milwaukee County government to ask SEWRPC, at a minimum, for an annual work plan in exchange for a large grant of taxpayer dollars?

I'll bet there are many agencies that would like to receive a no-questions-asked annual grant of more than $80,000, let alone more than $800,000.

And let's not think that in an era of billion-dollar budgets that $800,000 isn't real money.

For example, unless I misread pages 7900 7-8 in the 2012 proposed Milwaukee County budget for the Department of Aging, the County will spend about $600,000 on meals for seniors - - a service being cut for several reasons, including the loss of a state contribution.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Activists Can Press For Medicaid, Environmental Fairness On Wednesday

Big day tomorrow, as Wednesday offers a special citizens environmental lobby day at the State Capitol as well as a half-day town hall meeting on proposed Medicaid cuts.

Sports And These Erratic Republican Debates

Looking for an analogy. Super Bowl? Hardly. Little League World Series? Not even close.

Eight-and-under youth soccer? Now you're talking. A lot of sound and motion but nothing close to a game plan, and no one scores.

In The State That Gave Away A New Amtrak Line...

There are still rail crossings that need fixing, and someone has to monitor rail-related fencing, though it's not clear why this isn't a mid-level task managed by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

Anyway...who is Scott Walker, Mr. Small Government, declaring as the best person for this job,at $90,001 a year?

Jeff Plale, the former Southside Milwaukee Democratic state senator who sided with Republicans on key issues late in Governor Jim Doyle's last term and landed. so far, two plum jobs with Scott Walker.

Plale got confirmed by the State Senate today, and his salary - - about double what he was earning as a State Senator (oh, man, what a pension upper!) - - is also a $1 boost over the $90,000 he was getting in his first Walker appointment at the Department of Administration.

In a broke state, this is called austerity.

We Have A Governor Who Defaults To Spin, Falsehood

Why does Governor Walker have such a hard time being straight with the public?

Remember his no-tax increase budget that actually raised some people's taxes?

Or the union-busting policy tucked into his "modest" budget repair bill?

And his repeated insistence - - vetted and found to be false - - that he had been upfront about his plans to Drop The Bomb on collective bargaining?

Now it's reached the blatantly absurd - - offering after-the-fact spin over his failure to meet a campaign promise to "immediately" begin making larger contributions to his pension account.

Adding seven months to immediately is like announcing a new, 19-month calendar.

And how do you rack up "half-false" or worse on 23 out of 35 statements analyzed - - almost 70% - - in your PolitiFact file?

And expect to be believed in the swirl of publicity surrounding a John Doe probe involving staffers by reminding people that you were an Eagle Scout.

That was then, this is now.

With Walker, Spin Trumps Facts

Scott Walker continues to spin his failure to meet a campaign promise about immediately paying more into his state pension by claiming that when the final accounting is done, he'll actually pay in more.

Nice try - - and we've been trackingand summarizing for the archives his rhetorical games since April - - and again - - but that's not the issue.

The issue is that he said he'd begin paying in more "immediately," yet he and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch waited months before making the increased payments.

All they had to say is, "we forgot."

Or "tweaking the state payroll computer program took a long time to get straight."

Or "the dog ate my forms."

Anything other than trying to change the conservation and terms of the original statement after the fact..

This is back-filling, sheer CYA, and completely dishonorable.

"Immediately" is not a flexible or ambiguous term, and a promise is a promise.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Both Parties Have Failed On Climate Change

The New York Times notes America's singular state of denial, inaction and downright arrogance about climate change awareness and effort.

Look to our politicians' short-term thinking and the pervasive influence of climate change experts, such as Professors Beck and Limbaugh, the Koch Brothers' money and the propagandists at Fox.

Transnational Tar Sand Oil Pipeline Hitting The Fan

The political and environmental implications of building a pipeline from Canada's ruined arboreal forests to the Gulf of Mexico, principally to serve the world market, is reaching a decision-point and forcing Pres. Obama to choose among priorities and constituencies.

This blog has been reviewing the issue for some time, and Wisconsin has had its share of oil pipeline leaks that indicate the damage should the proposed pipeline leak over US farm land and underground fresh water supplies.

Climate Change Could Leave Many Major Coastal Cities Prone To Flooding

Calcutta, Tokyo, Miami, Shanghai, New York...

More here and a chart below:

And Don't Forget, Scott Walker's 250,000 Jobs Promise Had A Part Two

That would be creating also 10,000 new businesses. That's what he said on very own campaign website, and since he has a poor personal relationship with facts, memory and follow-through, let's make sure we help him remember both parts of the big bumper-sticker promise that helped him win the Governorship.

Check it out for yerselves:

Scott Walker Unveils Plan to Bring 250,000 Jobs and 10,000 New Businesses to Wisconsin by 2015
Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Tells Business Leaders “People Create Jobs, Not Government”
Madison – Scott Walker, Milwaukee County executive and candidate for governor, announced today at the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) Gubernatorial Candidate Forum his ambitious plan to bring 250,000 jobs and 10,000 new businesses to Wisconsin by 2015....

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Jonathan Capehart at The Washington Post finds Herman Cain describes Herman Cain correctly.

Tommy Thompson To Talk Stem Cells At The Vatican

Our ex-Governor takes his last-ditch quest for one more Big Title (US Senator) all the way to Rome, Italy - - surely there are more actual votes in Rome, Wisconsin - - for a talk on stem cells, where just about anything could happen in a move so Onionesque.

As has been noted, Tommy has been all over the place on the issue of embryonic stem cells, but to the Right, which the one-time relatively moderate Tommy is courting, it's a closed issue.

Sheriff Clarke Joins The PolitiFact "False" Parade

Spinning his budget requests and fuzzing the math earns the Milwaukee County Sheriff an "F."

Advantage, County Exec Abele.

Medicaid Hearing Wednesday A Test Of Walker Vs. The 99%

(originally posted Sunday) Scott Walker's proposed cuts to Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of lower-income Wisconsin residents and a hearing about them Wednesday in Madison will be a test of the strength of the 99% to overcome the venality and thoughtlessness of the 1% with power and money and privilege.

I wonder if the architect of these changes, Department of Health Services Secretary Dennis Smith, will officiate?

This may be your only change to ask an actual former Heritage Foundation fellow a question.

(editorial note: this replaces an earlier version with a typo in the headline and URL. My apologies for any confusion.)

Hidden Agendas In Wisconsin Jobs Bills Replay "Budget Repair" Feint

Beware Walkerites bearing jobs.

And always look past the gift-wrapping.

Remember that Scott Walker began his first year as Governor by offering the infamous "Budget-Repair Bill," his so-called "modest proposal" which was meant to wipe out 50 years of public employee collective bargaining.

Justifying the deception, Walker falsely claimed he had campaigned on that anti-union plan, only admitting the truth when challenged, under oath, before a Congressional committee.

But the pattern was established. Make stuff up, spin it and stick with it.

It was an exercise in Power Politics 101, backed by majorities in both legislative houses and a compliant, 4-3 pro-business and conservative majority on the state Supreme Court.

A coordinated use of government - - ironically by the small government crowd - - to expand government intervention in the marketplace and also into local affairs, directed from Madison - - all to serve special interests, without apology for tactics, dissembling or outcomes.

Which brings us to the special legislative session Walker has called, purportedly on job-creation, though phrases like "wetlands and habitat restoration" ominously show up in the legislative materials.

At one level, this is pure campaign-mode public relations - - a bells-and-whistles show to make it appear that something is actually being done about joblessness - - coming on the heels of Walker's so-called job summits around the state these past few weeks.

And those were more cotton candy for TV cameras and campaign brochure photos than for producing any real results or acquiring genuine input from the props - - those clutches of hand-picked business execs and state officials gathered around a table.

These dog-and-pony shows and the special session, too, are aimed at making us forget that Walker has twice intentionally cost the state thousands of jobs and related business expansion when his satisfying real estate developers and road-builders came first, to wit:

* He forfeited $800 million in federal rail funding that would have created work on a new, Midwest Regional High-Speed Amtrak line connecting Milwaukee and Madison, and paid for other rail improvements with spin-off white-and-blue collar jobs and development opportunities.

* He also forced the cancellation of several wind farm projects in the pipeline worth hundreds of millions of dollars by deliberately tying them up in new regulations and construction uncertainties - - thus sending well-paying technical, construction and maintenance jobs in a cutting-edge sector elsewhere, particularly to neighboring, competitive Illinois, which also received some of the rail money Walker refused.

So the special session - - theater aside - - seems aimed at providing cover for bills to give business a freer hand to fill wetlands and weaken existing environmental protections - - a sure-fire, pre-Walker recall fund-raiser gimme pitched to conservative, corporate activists like the Wisconsin Manufacturing & Commerce and the Club for Growth/Americans for Prosperity.

And, in particular to smooth the way for easier private control of public waterways and land for everything from open pit mining to development to pier-building.

(And by the way, if you want to know what this pier-building issue is all about, check out this recent example of how existing waterway usage, protected by the state law and the constitution, is already flouted.)

The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters and others are trying to peel back the camouflage - - remember "Budget Repair" - - covering the special session and bills being written under the guise of "wetland and habitat restoration:"

"The portions of these bills we have seen are reminiscent of what we saw in the mining bill introduced earlier this spring," says Anne Sayers, Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters' program director. "Clearly, something is going on here."

Specifically, the summary for the "wetland and habitat restoration" bill -- an actual bill has not yet been finalized and made public -- says it would "provide more consistency with the Army Corps of Engineers by mirroring federal guidelines and regulations."

The Army Corps allows for developers to build on isolated, or essentially inland, wetlands. State law currently does not allow for such a practice...

The second piece of proposed legislation that advocates say is designed to make it easier for mining to occur in northern Wisconsin concerns environmental standards for piers, wharves and other structures. A phrase in the bill summary released by Walker states the bill will address "the placement of deposits and structures on the beds of navigable waters and the removal of materials from the beds of navigable waters."

"The Republicans will say this is a piers bill," Sayers says. "But to build a strip mine, you have to dig. That creates a lot of dirt and earth that contains mercury, which will then run into Lake Superior..."

With good reason, Sayers' group and others will gather at the Capitol Wednesday to press for clean lakes and trout streams, healthy woods and wetlands and - - a real jobs agenda for tourism-rich Wisconsin - - and demand transparencyand accountability from the legislature:

*Special* Conservation Lobby Day on Mining in Wisconsin
Wednesday, October 19th
State Capitol, Room 425 S.W.
12:30pm-4:30pm Citizen Training and Lobby Meetings

More details, here.

We've seen Walker hide the true nature of a major legislative move, so be super wary.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

If You Hold It, They Will Come

In Iowa, a dinner of dreams.

Des Moines is, what, six hours from Madison?

Where They Make Planning Interesting, Contemporary And Inclusive

The weekly newsletter (now there's an idea) emailed by Chicago's regional planners again tells us how far SEWRPC is behind its counterpart to the south.

The agency has blogs. It communicates about climate change. It folds in student involvement. At a regional planning commission! You can do that?

Future Leaders in Planning 2011-2012. On October 15, CMAP will begin its fourth Future Leaders in Planning (FLIP) session. This year students will explore the region's water system and how actions such as salting the roads in the winter can impact the whole water supply and our environment. Using field trips, science experiments, conversations with regional officials, and multimedia, students will produce a final project that shares information about the northeastern Illinois water supply and alternative actions to keeping it clean. See a list of participants.

Policy Updates. We analyzed housing trends in the region, which indicate that demand for multifamily and rental housing options is growing. Another post described federal actions taken to mitigate climate change.

That Herman Cain Is One Funny Man

Now he says he was just kidding about electrocuting and shooting Mexicans crossing the border illegally, and that American should get a sense of humor.

What a comedian.

Translation: "I can say any crazy thing in front of a crazy bunch of Tea Partiers, and then backtrack like the slick politician I claim not to be when I am called to account."

Looking classy, GOP.

Romney gets the nomination by default.

Will Milwaukee County Throw Away Another $800,000+ On SEWRPC?

Every year, same old story, or here, too - - Milwaukee County ships to the un-elected Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission an annual gob of taxpayer dollars without a contract, a performance review, a memo about deliverables for the coming year, a projected or promised work plan, a wish list - - nada - - and though about half of that County funding comes from City of Milwaukee taxpayers, the City has no representation out at the Pewaukee-based Commission's 21-member, heavily suburban and rural board.

SEWRPC simply draws up an annual budget - - no taxpayers are involved - - and allots each of seven counties a sum it expects to be sent to meet its budget - - the agency's 2011 budget is here - - and the counties ship off the money.

Milwaukee County's assessment in 2011 - - $830,000, and not mere chump change for a broke county.

And the county has sent SEWRPC more than $20 million since the state set up SEWRPC 50 years ago and assigned Milwaukee County to it, along with the very non-urban Waukesha, Washington, Ozaukee, Walworth, Kenosha and Racine Counties.

And you wonder why SEWRPC wrote for the region a $6.4 billion freeway plan (no new transit in it), waited 35 years to finally start some months ago a regional housing plan and endorsed diverting Lake Michigan water to Waukesna and other non-lakefront communities.

Also tried last week to find out if SEWRPC is still planning on holding its annual taxpayer-paid December soiree at The University Club, a private club, but didn't get any firm information back.

The city and regional economies are stagnant, SEWRPC doesn't have even a satellite office in the City of Milwaukee, and has not one City resident on its board - - but it likes to meet at a private club in the City once a year and have a fancy dinner on the public dime.

What Passes For Republican Presidential Material These Days

Electrocuting Mexicans sneaking across the border.

Or shooting them.

Sick.
[Update; Cain says he was joking. Oh, haha.]

Saturday, October 15, 2011

About Sarah Palin Now Running

OK, I missed it by a few weeks:

From this blog on Sunday, November 30, 2008

2012 Is A Long Way Off: Palin-Watch

I can't imagine Sarah Palin can sustain this for four years, and by 2012, she'll be yesterday's papers.

What Was Most-Read On This Blog Last Week

Some feedback for readers. Many thanks for dipping in most frequently to items about politics, transportation and environmental regulation, validating the blog's name:

All In For The Walker Recall

Oct 11, 2011

Walker And The Recall Will Catch The Occupy Wall S...

Oct 12, 2011

You Don't Have To Be An "Environmentalist" To Be O...

Oct 13, 2011

Don't Believe It When You Hear We Need Tolls To Cl...

Oct 13, 2011

Scott Walker, Gone To The Dogs

Oct 12, 2011

Ditch Your Big Bank - - Take Your Money To Main Street

Good message for Occupy Wall Street Everywhere Day: Ditch your big bank!

We've had our checking and savings accounts, even mortgages and IRA's, at Credit Unions in Milwaukee since 1983. Here's plenty of information about options to big banks:

Friday, October 14, 2011

Walker And Lt. Gov. Kleefisch Broke Promises To Begin Added Pension Payments "Immediately"

Seems in the oft-faked world these people live in, "immediately" can also mean "after seven months."

Four-Hour Gun Carry Requirement In Wisconsin Masks The Real Story

Which is the complete insanity of the concealed carry law and its supporters obeisance before the political enforcers in the NRA in the first place.

So Walker can look 'reasonable' by approving, on an interim basis, the four-hour training requirement - - as opposed to the zero-minutes training requirement that the ever-farther-out gun advocates want.

Nothing good is going to come of this fiasco.

Stop Asian Carp From Invading The Great Lakes

Groups, petitioners, demand action to block invasive predator from nation's largest supply of fresh surface water.

OCT. 13, 2011

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Clean Wisconsin – Freshwater Future -- Midwest Environmental Advocates – Milwaukee Riverkeeper -- River Alliance of Wisconsin – Sierra Club – Wisconsin Environment – Wisconsin Great Lakes Coalition -- Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters – Wisconsin Wildlife Federation)

    Citizens and conservationists call on Congress to force separation of Mississippi River, Great Lakes basins

    Thousands of people across the Great Lakes region want the federal government to immediately begin working toward separating the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins, according to conservation leaders who gathered Thursday in downtown Milwaukee.

    Several conservation groups held a press conference at Pere Marquette Park to call on Congress to direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to immediately work toward separating the basins. The groups then walked several blocks to U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl’s office, where they delivered more than 2,800 signed postcards from Great Lakes residents demanding a new approach to keeping Asian carp in the Mississippi River system from invading the Great Lakes.

    “People around the Great Lakes have been sending the same message to their members of Congress that we delivered to Senator Kohl today: We want a permanent solution to stop the Asian carp,” said Cheryl Mendoza, associate director of Freshwater Future. “The Great Lakes are too important to wait years for studies when we could be taking actions toward a permanent solution now. We need our members of Congress to help make that happen.”

    Freshwater Future developed the post cards that were delivered to Sen. Kohl as a way to give Great Lakes residents a way to speak out on the Asian carp issue.

    The Army Corps is currently studying how to keep Asian carp in the Mississippi River system from reaching the Great Lakes, but that study won’t be complete until mid-2015 at the earliest. An electric fence the Army Corps operates in the Chicago Waterway System doesn’t repel all sizes of fish, meaning the lakes remain vulnerable to an Asian carp invasion.

    Experts have said that disconnecting the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins is the only sure way to keep Asian carp from conquering the lakes.

    “Live Asian Carp have been caught in the Wisconsin River 60 miles upstream of the Mississippi, and as far as 50 miles up the St. Croix, a National Wild and Scenic River,” notes Lori Grant of the River Alliance of Wisconsin. “Our left flank has already been penetrated; these destructive fish can not be allowed to breach and wreak havoc on the Great Lakes too.”

    Asian carp were imported to Arkansas fish farms in the 1960s. The fish later escaped into the Mississippi River and headed North; they are now on the verge of invading Lake Michigan via the Chicago Waterway System.

    Built in the late 1800s to solve Chicago’s sewage crisis, the Chicago Waterway System is a series of canals that created an artificial link between Lake Michigan the Mississippi River basin. Those canals have become a conduit through which Asian carp, zebra mussels and other invasive species can move between Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins.

“Milwaukee’s rivers have enjoyed a tremendous renaissance over the last several decades and are now a source of community pride. Opportunities for fishing and recreation have improved greatly, as well as those for economic development. Now we are faced with new threats as invasive species that could wipe out our restored fisheries head our way. We must do everything in our power to prevent the Asian Carp from destroying all the wonderful improvements people have worked so hard for,” stated Karen Schapiro, Milwaukee Riverkeeper Executive Director.

    Congress in 2007 directed the Corps to find ways to keep Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes. Four years later, the Corps is still studying the problem without any plan for eliminating the threat.

    The Corps’ own studies have found that electric barriers in the Chicago Waterway System won’t keep Asian carp from reaching Lake Michigan.

    Four preeminent Great Lakes scientists recently concluded that the only sure way to stop the movement of Asian carp and at least 40 other species between the Mississippi River and Great Lakes systems is to physically separate the two basins.

    Studies have shown that separating the basins is technologically feasible and that such action would benefit the Great Lakes and Mississippi River ecosystems and the massive economies they support.

    “We know what the problem is. The consequences of not doing everything we can to stop the Asian carp could be catastrophic and forever change our Great Lakes,” stated George Meyer, Executive Director for Wisconsin Wildlife Federation. “Our Great Lakes way of life is at risk. Now is the time to act toward a permanent solution.”

(Clean Wisconsin – Freshwater Future -- Midwest Environmental Advocates – Milwaukee Riverkeeper -- River Alliance of Wisconsin – Sierra Club – Wisconsin Environment – Wisconsin Great Lakes Coalition -- Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters – Wisconsin Wildlife Federation)

    Contacts:

    Karen Schapiro, Milwaukee Riverkeeper: (414) 507-7049
    George Meyer, Wisconsin Wildlife Federation: (608) 516-5545
    Lori Grant, River Alliance of Wisconsin: (608) 257-2424 ext. 111
    Cheryl Mendoza, Freshwater Future: (231)571-5001

Milwaukee Expects A Lot Of Water-And-Development Information From Waukesha

It is not a surprise that Milwaukee is asking Waukesha for a great deal of water-sale-related data and facts, but does indicate how high and intricate are the planning and development hurdles Waukesha has to meet if it wants Milwaukee to sell it water.

And that is if...if...if...all eight Great Lakes states approve Waukesha's application for Lake Michigan water diversion, conservation and waste water discharge plans.

I have previously posted the Milwaukee Common Council resolution, #080457 that lays out what Milwaukee needs to see and hear from Waukesha on several policy matters, and here is a link to the full text.

You Don't Have To Be An "Environmentalist" To Be Outraged By This Case

[reposted due to technical problem] Wisconsin's lakes, rivers and streams, as common waterways, belong by law and the State Constitution to the people of Wisconsin - - all the people - - yet the lengths certain people with money and a sense of entitlement will go to tamper with and damage these public waterways for their own private uses boggles the mind.

The couple did not have state permits when they began building a stone wall in August 2009, damaging more than 10,000 square feet of lake shore and bed, Van Hollen said in a statement. They also dumped 70 cubic yards of sand on the lake bed without a permit in August and September of 2009.

This took place on Upper Nashotah Lake, where others find spiritual renewal.

At Nashotah House, the beauty of holiness goes hand-in-hand with the beauty of creation; chief among our campus’s many attractions is the seclusion it provides for reflection and recreation. "Getting away from it all" at the House entails no more than stepping out your own back door. Herds of deer regularly range our campus and are frequently found grazing on the Dean’s front yard; wild turkeys, owls and hawks make our woods their own; and the clear waters of our lake are hospitable to swimmers, boaters and fishermen all. This, together with a beautiful constellation of historic buildings and sacred spaces, makes our campus a sanctuary unto itself.

The Attorney General's statement elaborates a bit more on what happened to the lake:

The violations are related to construction on Upper Nashotah Lake, a navigable water and an area of special natural resource interest and home to several endangered or threatened fish, birds and flora..

According to the complaint, Susanne and Michael Michels, in and after August 2009, placed stone walls and boat rails and disturbed more than 10,000 square feet along the bed and bank of Upper Nashotah Lake, and in August and September 2009 placed 70 cubic yards of sand on the bed of Upper Nashotah Lake, without any water regulation or grading permits and with no or inadequate erosion control measures, in violation of state water protection statutes.

So we're not talking an incidental activity out in what is known as Lake Country in Waukesha County.

Dumping into the lake 70 cubic yards of sand? How long did it take to truck that in?

That's more than 90 tons.

How long does it take for a lake to recover from such a trashing?

Final thought: this project was discovered by a DNR warden. Some of you out there still think deregulating and de-emphasizing Wisconsin's environmental preservation ethic and goals is a good thing?

Hat tip: Don Behm at the Journal Sentinel.

Al Gore's Current TV Lands New Host

To tell the truth, I hadn't checked out Keith Olbermann's new program on Al Gore's network, but giving former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm a show right after his just might do the trick.

Scott Walker, Koch Money And That Iran Taint

Let's go out on a limb and predict that when Scott Walker is allowed to raise unlimited funds in the recall election coming his way that the Koch brothers will again be major donors.

[Update: Dan Bice discloses Walker appearance at Koch-related conservative gathering.]

And let's also predict that Walker will take every dime of these funds without flinching at the disclosures about Koch interests' bribery in relationships with Iran.

In May 2008, a unit of Koch Industries Inc., one of the world’s largest privately held companies, sent Ludmila Egorova-Farines, its newly hired compliance officer and ethics manager, to investigate the management of a subsidiary in Arles in southern France. In less than a week, she discovered that the company had paid bribes to win contracts.

“I uncovered the practices within a few days,” Egorova- Farines says. “They were not hidden at all.”

She immediately notified her supervisors in the U.S. A week later, Wichita, Kansas-based Koch Industries dispatched an investigative team to look into her findings, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its November issue.

By September of that year, the researchers had found evidence of improper payments to secure contracts in six countries dating back to 2002, authorized by the business director of the company’s Koch-Glitsch affiliate in France.

“Those activities constitute violations of criminal law,” Koch Industries wrote in a Dec. 8, 2008, letter giving details of its findings. The letter was made public in a civil court ruling in France in September 2010; the document has never before been reported by the media.

Egorova-Farines wasn’t rewarded for bringing the illicit payments to the company’s attention. Her superiors removed her from the inquiry in August 2008 and fired her in June 2009, calling her incompetent, even after Koch’s investigators substantiated her findings.

Next Wednesday Is Special Citizen Lobbying Day On Mining, Environmental Issues

Important information from the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters:

We Need YOU at *Special* Conservation Lobby Day on Mining on October 19th

With only two weeks left in the session we still haven't heard exactly what is being proposed in the two environmental rollback bills buried within Governor Walker's "Special Jobs Session". What we do know isn't good. The two proposals will likely initiate major rollbacks to Wisconsin's natural resource protections making it easier for ANY industry to dump waste into Wisconsin's exceptional waterways, fill in wetlands, and contaminate drinking water.

The Time is Now!

We need you at this lobby day to tell our legislators to oppose any rollbacks to protections for natural resources and public health.

*Special* Conservation Lobby Day on Mining in Wisconsin
Wednesday, October 19th
State Capitol, Room 425 S.W.
12:30pm-4:30pm Citizen Training and Lobby Meetings
RSVP HERE

Looking for more information?

*Get prepared for action by taking a moment to watch this video on the very latest on the mining proposals from WLCV Legislative Director Jennifer Giegerich.

*Visit our website to find updated information and a set of tools you can use to protect Wisconsin's land and water.

Thank you for your conservation efforts,

Tom Stolp
Field Director
Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters
715-835-4248

P.S. Can't make the trip to Madison? Take a moment to send an email to your legislator. Please show your support by contributing TODAY, so we can put your donation to work immediately!

New Villard Square Library Dedication Saturday Morning

Join Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett for the Grand Opening at the new, green, innovative:

Villard Square Branch Library
9:45 A.M.
5190 North 35th Street
Saturday, October 15, 2011

Free family fun includes a book parade, drum line, giveaways, music, crafts, balloons, refreshments

The building is a new mixed-use development by Gorman & Company and the Northwest Side Community Development Corporation that includes the library and 47 apartment homes targeted to families where grandparents are the primary caregivers. The new branch covers 12,770 square feet, and includes 50 desktop and laptop computers for users, community meeting and study rooms, children’s and teen areas, and self-checkout stations, as well as an on-site parking lot for 32 cars.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Hunter Is One-Man Environmental Wrecking Crew

People like this deserve long stretches in prison.

These people, too, as bad behavior against animals is a signal, too.

You Don't Have To Be An "Environmentalist" To Be Outraged By This Case

Wisconsin's lakes, rivers and streams, as common waterways, belong by law and the State Constitution to the people of Wisconsin - - all the people - - yet the lengths certain people with money and a sense of entitlement will go to tamper with and damage these public waterways for their own private uses boggles the mind.

The couple did not have state permits when they began building a stone wall in August 2009, damaging more than 10,000 square feet of lake shore and bed, Van Hollen said in a statement. They also dumped 70 cubic yards of sand on the lake bed without a permit in August and September of 2009.

This took place on Upper Nashotah Lake, where others find spiritual renewal.

At Nashotah House, the beauty of holiness goes hand-in-hand with the beauty of creation; chief among our campus’s many attractions is the seclusion it provides for reflection and recreation. "Getting away from it all" at the House entails no more than stepping out your own back door. Herds of deer regularly range our campus and are frequently found grazing on the Dean’s front yard; wild turkeys, owls and hawks make our woods their own; and the clear waters of our lake are hospitable to swimmers, boaters and fishermen all. This, together with a beautiful constellation of historic buildings and sacred spaces, makes our campus a sanctuary unto itself.

The Attorney General's statement elaborates a bit more on what happened to the lake:

The violations are related to construction on Upper Nashotah Lake, a navigable water and an area of special natural resource interest and home to several endangered or threatened fish, birds and flora..

According to the complaint, Susanne and Michael Michels, in and after August 2009, placed stone walls and boat rails and disturbed more than 10,000 square feet along the bed and bank of Upper Nashotah Lake, and in August and September 2009 placed 70 cubic yards of sand on the bed of Upper Nashotah Lake, without any water regulation or grading permits and with no or inadequate erosion control measures, in violation of state water protection statutes.

State Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald, US Senate Candidate, Has PolitiFact Ratings Mainly False

We've come to expect ratings like this:

Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald, State Assembly leader and US Senate candidate is just another GOP leader and fibber - - one true, two mostly false, one Pants on Fire rating so far - - earning him about the same false-to-true PolitiFact rating owned by Governor, Scott Walker.

There is a Wisconsin Republican struggle with truthiness, as I noted a couple of months ago:

Another day, another "False" rating from PolitiFact for a top Republican leader from Wisconsin.

This time, it's Reince Priebus, the Wisconsinite running the national GOP apparatus these days.

In a statement, Priebus was found to have doubled the amount of money public-employee union spent in the recall elections - - turning about $15 million into $30 million.

That's a pretty big goof, both in total dollars and in as a percentage of the true facts.

Accident or spin or willfully misleading? Hard to say, but it continues a pattern for Preibus where the word "false" shows up far more often than "true:

PolitiFact has rated seven of his statements this way: two half-true, four false, one Pants on Fire.

It seems that Wisconsin's senior GOP elected officials have far more negative than positive PolitiFact ratings. Here's a summary as of Sunday, August 28th:

PolitiFact has rated 11 of 31 statements by Gov. Scott Walker true, mostly true or half-true, while 20 were rated mostly false, false or Pants on Fire.

The scorecard for Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch: Three statements rated - - two false, one Pants on Fire.

For Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald: Four statements - - one half-true, one mostly false, two false...

For US Senator Ron Johnson: Eleven statements - - one true, one mostly true, one half-true, four mostly false, four false.

US Rep. Paul Ryan, by comparison, squeaks through with one more "true" than "false" in his ratings, but it's still a weak record for an incumbent and chair of the House Budget Committee: Nine statements rated: one true, one mostly true, three half-true, three mostly false and one Pants on Fire.

Don't Believe It When You Hear We Need Tolls To Close Road-Funding Shortfall

The road-builders and their friends were massaging the media a little while ago, fretting that Wisconsin didn't have enough money to deal with all the road work we are said to need.

The answer: tolls.

But wait.

Comes the Federal government - - the same entity regularly bashed by Republicans and other small-government (wink, wink) advocates - - telling us via the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office that every state in the Union now gets back from the feds more money in highway aid than it sends in through the gas tax.

We got back $1.27 for every dollar sent in fuel taxes to DC, so how, with this surplus, could the state be in a highway-funding shortfall?

That doesn't make us the richest "donee" state, but the data shows us doing better than plenty of other states, including every one of our neighbors, and plenty of their neighbors.

This chart shows the amount of Federal-Aid Highway money given to each state per dollar contributed to the Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund for fiscal years 2005-2009. Image: GAO

Could it be that the scale of road-building in progress, and on the books in Wisconsin is grandiose and unsustainable?

That we don't know how to budget, plan, spend wisely?

In Wisconsin, regardless of party, though we starve transit for ideological reasons, we do loves us our highways.

The SE freeway reconstruction and expansion is a $6.4 billion program. There's another billion in the works for another lane on I-39/90 from Illinois to Madison and perhaps all the way to the Dells.

The big-design, full Hoan Bridge replacement is set at perhaps $350 million. And there are countless new road projects being cooked up at the DOT, as local streets decay and bus systems wither.

We don't need tolls. That will only keep the beast fed - - no, overfed.

We need a genuine balance between roads and transit - - something we do not even approach - - and we need fiscal conservatism when it comes to the state's road-building binge - - something the conservatives [sic] running the show in Madison forget when the road-builders are involved and the lobbyists come a-callin'.