About That Rumored WI Mining Training Plan...

I heard WTMJ radio afternoon host John Mercure disclose his "scoop" Wednesday afternoon - - that there was to be a training plan for minority youth in Milwaukee added to the mining bill, to which Milwaukee Democratic Senator Tim Carpenter had purportedly agreed, then backed away from right before the final vote that failed Tuesday, and that the mining company and GOP senators believed they had a done deal on the training plan with Carpenter to save the bill.

Without having talked to Carpenter - - and neither did Mercure - - let me say this:

*  Even if Mercure's story is accurate (and so far, no one has knocked it down), and even if the training plan was conceived with only the best of intentions by all parties - - there's no way it could have helped move the bill forward, because as a last-minute carve-out revealed late in the game to Carpenter's caucus, it would have only reinforced the toxic and correct perception that, from the beginning, the mining bill was crafted - - like the controversial redistricting scheme, too - - with too much hidden effort.

Hindsight is 20-20, but imagine what perspectives and considerations for many parties might have been in the bill if the process to draft it had been genuinely open and inclusive, not secretive and self-interested.

Remember that the bill was written by the Assembly behind closed doors, but with the company at the table, the proceeded with botched hearings and continuing exclusion of the Bad River band whose lands and waters border the mining area.

*  And if one legislator could win a last-minute advantage for his or her city and district to get the bill over the hump, surely other legislators, from Racine County to Iron and Ashland Counties might wonder: "Where's our special benefit? We have unemployed young people who need technical training for jobs, too?"

*  And what was the plan to get kids from Milwaukee hundreds of miles north for work and residency?

I suggested Tuesday after the bill failed that in the wake of vote, comprehensive, ground-level economic development planning statewide could help take the sting out of the debacle:

Some free advice to the other side:

*  Take people and the land more seriously.

* Don't jam the public.

*  Stop writing legislation - - whether for mining giveaways or self-serving redistricting maps - - behind closed doors.

*  Work with local residents on serious, comprehensive economic development plans, from the north woods to low-income neighborhoods in Milwaukee and Racine.

That would be a better Act II in the mining and legislating drama than more acrimony and finger-pointing.

 

Club For Growth Wi Goes All Sticks-And-Stones On Dale Schultz

This silly foot-stamping about State Sen. Dale Schultz, (R-Richland Center), is in the regular Wednesday email yesterday to the faithful from the Club For Growth Wisconsin:

Wisconsin’s unparalleled king of panderers has lately taken to praising ex-Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, who’s sold out to the teacher unions in her bid to unseat Governor Walker.

For those who relish irony, a Schultz defection would be almost certain to net a couple of editorials calling him “principled.” That’s a temptation he probably couldn’t resist.

Oh, that's gotta hurt (not!).

Three Lakefront Mayors Raise Water Diversion Questions Jointly With Waukesha

The Mayors of Milwaukee, Oak Creek and Racine - - each potentially the chief executive of a Great Lakes water-selling community should Waukesha have its application for a Lake Michigan diversion approved - - have together signed a joint communication to Waukesha raising several basic questions about how the City of Waukesha made its future water calculations and what amounts of future water use are projected for existing Waukesha territory plus use in a geographically-expanded service area, along with more information.

It's a sensible, regionally-cooperative strategy by the Mayors: seeking information together simplifies the information that Waukesha might need to gather and distribute, and the approach also reduces the chance that one potential selling community could be played against another.

You can access the letter in pdf format, here.

The diversion application is being reviewed by the Wisconsin DNR, and word has it that sometime later this year or in 2013, the DNR is likely to send it on the seven other Great Lakes states for their review.

Among the elements of the review yet to be completed by the DNR: an Environmental Impact Statement, decisions on the proposed pipeline and waste water discharge routes, and public hearings.

Approvals are not guaranteed, as the political climate differs from state-to-state, and there are objections to the plan for differing reasons in Waukesha and in Milwaukee as well.

All eight Great Lakes states must approve the application for a diversion to be green-lighted because the City of Waukesha is outside of the Great Lakes watershed boundaries, according to protocols established by the Great Lakes Compact of 2008.

Waukesha is under a legal obligation to provide radium-free water to its users by June 30, 2018, and has decided among supply alternatives on a Lake Michigan purchase through one of the lakefront cities to meet the compliance timeline instead of continuing treat radium-tainted well water for its supply.

[Update: Waukesha tells the Journal Sentinel it is stunned by the letter.]

Dale Schultz 2.0: Key GOP Legislator Votes To Save Wind Power Rules

And blocks an effort to stall the implementation of consensus rules about to go into effect, freeing investors - - job-creators - - to build and install turbines.

State Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center), again steps up for the Wisconsin environment a day after blocking the mining bill yesterday.

Senate Republicans put forward a bill requiring the PSC to write new wind rules, but they pulled the bill back Wednesday because they didn't have the votes. Sen. Frank Lasee (R-De Pere) said there was no way to get the measure passed and that the old rules would go into effect.

Republicans control the Senate 17-16. All the Democrats and Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) opposed blocking the rules, meaning Republicans were one vote shy of passing it.

Sen. Fitzgerald, On Video, Talks About The Mining Company "Building That Bill"

All pretenses dropped:

At the 0.44 minute mark, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald acknowledges how the mining bill came about.

False Equivalency Explained And Exposed

Another fine essay by the literate and passionate labor activist Dom Noth.

If you do not have his site bookmarked, you are missing something.

Sykes Demands Statement On Mine From Walker...

And the Governor rushes out a statement that Sykes read suggesting Walker is still looking for a deal.

This is what I was writing about last night:

I would predict the following from the Fitzgerald/Walker Republican camp:

*  Participation in an amped-up PR strategy coordinated by the mining company, the WMC, friendly unions and the Governor that will distort a false jobs vs. the environment dichotomy and turn it against the bill's opponents.

*  Threats by the company to take their mining plan elsewhere.

*  More visibility by the Governor - - who wants a win on the bill because he, too, is facing a recall election, and the possibility of more bad employment data later this week and through the spring.

Despite What You Hear On Talk Radio...

Charlie Sykes says the Dane County judge who blocked the Voter ID law is a "lefty."

Truth is, the judge was appointed by Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson in 1999, a court publication shows.

Despite What You Hear On Talk Radio...

The mining bill would not have been a job-creator in Milwaukee factories, and would have had only a small impact on sales tax collections and the state budget picture because of exemptions in state tax law, reports WisBusiness.com:

MILWAUKEE -- A proposed new iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin is unlikely to boost jobs at Milwaukee-area manufacturers Joy Global and Caterpillar, leading makers of massive blasting and hauling equipment. 

By The Way, Wisconsin HAS A Mining Law

Under which GTAC mining could have applied more than a year ago for a permit to mine iron ore up north. But they wanted a process rigged for approval, with the public shut out - -  the same way the so-called 'streamlining' bill was written in the Assembly - -  and when they couldn't get it even in the GOP-controlled Senate, they're done, - - or so they say.

Finger-Pointing Fitzgerald Blames Dems For His Mining Bill Failure

Sen. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald was on WTMJ-AM radio today blaming the Democrats for killing the mining bill, saying he thought either Sen. Carpenter, Wirch or Coggs would support the bill.

Here's why the bill died: it was written in secret in the Assembly and was so at odds with clean water, Native American treaty rights and Wisconsin tradition and law that Fitzgerald lost a swing vote in his own caucus.

As I said last night, here comes the orchestrated spinning and finger-pointing, and Fitzgerald is leading the way.

Get ready for Walker to come in behind Fitzgerald: Charlie Sykes is paving the way for this rightist blueprint today, segueing from mining to an attack on Tom Barrett.

Mining Vote Show GOP Has Dismissed The Public Trust Doctrine

It is amazing that only one Republican State Senator, Dale Schultz, saw enough value in the core of the State Constitution's Public Trust Doctrine - - that the state's waters belong to everyone - - to apply it as relevant to the mining issue and bill.

This is a dangerous situation for our most basic public resource and shared legacy.

Mining Bill, Walker Rescue Should Continue To Fade

[originally posted, 8 p.m., Tuesday, March 6:] Unable to convince all 17 members of his caucus that the ugly mining bill he supported should become law, and facing the possibility of an historic recall election in the spring, State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has again taken control of the process - - a losing move  - - by moving it from the Senate Floor where it was voted down Tuesday to a committee he chairs - - Senate Organization - - where he and his lobbyist allies can keep the bill warm while they plot their next - - and losing - - moves.

So the spin cycle goes into high gear, along with continued finger-pointing away from the mirror the GOP should be staring at, since this fiasco began with the Assembly's secretive process and continued through Fitzgerald's demolition of the special committee he appointed to create the compromise, bipartisan bill he scuttled in favor of the special-interest turkey he he followed to its 17-16 demise.

I would predict the following from the Fitzgerald/Walker Republican camp:

*  Participation in an amped-up PR strategy coordinated by the mining company, the WMC, friendly unions and the Governor that will distort a false jobs vs. the environment dichotomy and turn it against the bill's opponents.

*  Threats by the company to take their mining plan elsewhere.

*  More visibility by the Governor - - who wants a win on the bill because he, too, is facing a recall election, and the possibility of more bad employment data later this week and through the spring.

Walker will urge the company to set aside their exaggerated threat to leave, playing faux leader and peacemaker, and he will claim the mining bill is a silver bullet solution for the state's jobs crisis, when, in fact, a mining permit - - if the company submitted and won an application - - would face still face considerable state, federal and legal obstacles putting approval many years away.

* A special session called with fanfare and hot-off-the-press news releases by the Governor, within days - - all theater - - reminding folks of his last last special session on jobs that got us some pro-gun and other extraneous, ideologically-motivated/no-jobs' legislation.

That non-performance drained the drama from special sessions, so now our expectations for results are pretty low.

I'd rate the success of these transparently-political ploys as very low, especially if opponents stay united and focus on their strengths: respect for the the state's clean water heritage, respect for public participation in policy-and-decision-making, and respect for Native American treaty rights.

The 17 votes against the bill are solid, in part because the Assembly bill and its roll-out were so bad, while Fitzgerald's cancellation of the Senate select mining committee, its work and bill drafting compounded the Assembly fumbles because Fitzgerald's moves were so ostentatiously clumsy, imperious and anti-democratic.

Furthermore, Walker and Fitzgerald, and their allies in both houses look like the politically-obsessed industry pawns that their actions have underscored.

Proponents of the bill and this particular mining proposal have no one to blame for their failure Tuesday than themselves.

Some free advice to the other side:

*  Take people and the land more seriously.

* Don't jam the public.

*  Stop writing legislation - - whether for mining giveaways or self-serving redistricting maps - - behind closed doors.

*  Work with local residents on serious, comprehensive economic development plans, from the north woods to low-income neighborhoods in Milwaukee and Racine.

Update, Tuesday, 10:07 p.m. - - As predicted:

March 6, 2012

Statement by Gogebic Taconite, LLC President Bill Williams on State Senate Rejection of Mining Reforms:

Senate rejection of the mining reforms in Assembly Bill 426 sends a clear message that Wisconsin will not welcome iron mining. We get the message. GTac is ending plans to invest in a Wisconsin mine. We thank the many people who have supported our efforts.

For Further Information Call: Bob Seitz, Arrowhead Strategies, LLC at 608-310- 5323

Update, Tuesday 11:50 p.m.

To which the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters responds:

For Immediate Release: March 6, 2012
Contact: Anne Sayers, Program Director, 608-208-1129 (direct), 608-658-0186 (cell), anne@conservationvoters.org

Statement of Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters' Executive Director Kerry Schumann on GTAC's announcement that they are leaving Wisconsin:

"Gogebic Taconite's announcement that they are leaving Wisconsin confirms that the company was never interested in responsible mining.

 Further, it illustrates Governor Walker's eagerness to place polluting special interests above Wisconsin's working families. His failed leadership led Gogebic Taconite to believe that they could change the law, so they alone could pollute Wisconsin waterways with deadly chemicals, silence the voices of our citizens and shift the costs from the mining company to the taxpayers.

Responsible mining requires companies to work with stakeholders and minimize environmental impacts. That's the Wisconsin way and Wisconsin voters know it. The bi-partisan Senate vote to reject the open-pit mining bill was a victory for Wisconsin families and clean drinking water."

Mining Company Says They're Done: We'll See...

March 6, 2012

Statement by Gogebic Taconite, LLC President Bill Williams on State Senate Rejection of Mining Reforms:

Senate rejection of the mining reforms in Assembly Bill 426 sends a clear message that Wisconsin will not welcome iron mining. We get the message. GTac is ending plans to invest in a Wisconsin mine. We thank the many people who have supported our efforts.

For Further Information Call: Bob Seitz, Arrowhead Strategies, LLC at 608-310- 5323

Super Tuesday's Big Winners

On a super day in the Wisconsin legislature - - the winners Tuesday were: the environment, clean water, citizen participation in politics and mining hearings, Native American treaty rights, sixteen Democratic State Senators and one Republican - - the swing vote - - Dale Schultz of Richland Center.

Mining Bill Pushed By GOP, Sen. Fitzgerald Fails By One Vote

All 16 Dems and GOP Senator Dale Schultz, (Richland Center), voting "no."

Big win for environment, Native American rights.

Watch for GOP maneuvers to bring it back, or have Walker call a special session to take it or another 'compromise" up.

Breaking News: Judge Blocks Voter ID Law

Trial set for April, the Journal Sentinel reports.

A Dane County judge has granted a temporary injunction against Wisconsin's new voter identification law.

Circuit Judge David Flanagan granted the injunction Tuesday, meaning the law would not apply for the April 3 presidential primary election.

The NAACP's Milwaukee branch and immigration rights group Voces de la Frontera filed the lawsuit last year. A trial on a permanent injunction is scheduled for April 16.

"It's a solid victory for voting rights and all voters in the state of Wisconsin," said Richard Saks, attorney for the NAACP, who said the group was planning a news conference later Tuesday.

The Journal Sentinel added this to a later version of the story:

Flanagan's 11-page order covered the history of Wisconsin Supreme Court rulings upholding votes even when they may have run afoul of technical procedural requirements imposed by the Legislature, and distinguished Wisconsin's voter ID law from Indiana's voter ID law that was recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court...

He also relied on the testimony and reports of the plaintiffs' expert, professor Kenneth Mayer, whose work concluded there were more than 220,000 constitutionally qualified voters in Wisconsin who don't have the type of ID required under Act 23, as well as affidavits from 40 residents describing the costs and difficulties they encountered while trying to obtain photo ID to allow them to vote.

Flanagan found the impact of the law hit disproportionately hard on the elderly, indigent and minorities.

"The scope of the impairment has been shown to be serious, extremely broad and largely needless," Flanagan wrote. "There is no doubt that the plaintiffs have shown a very substantial likelihood of success on the merits."

There are multiple suits against the law: This separate case is pending.

[Updates: Flanagan is a Vietnam Vet who was a 1999 Tommy Thompson appointee - - see page 9 of this court newsletter.]

Legislation Blocking Wind Turbine Siting Rules May Get Quick Senate Vote Today

As if the mining fiasco planned for State Senate consideration wasn't enough for activists to follow today, there are reports that parliamentary maneuvering by Republicans will bring for quick consideration also today a bill in the State Senate to effectively block wind turbine siting rules - - years in the making  - - that will force the Public Service Commission to waste more time starting the rule-writing process all over again.

In that interim - - lost construction jobs, dirtier air and more identity for the state being closed to alternative energy generation and high-tech manufacturing.

The votes of some legislators with good environmental records in both parties are said to be in play:

Residents of Wisconsin and supporters of wind power who would like to see the state’s uniform wind siting rules take effect are encouraged to contact the state’s Senators and tell them not to suspend the rules, particularly Senators Jon Erpenbach, Kathleen Vinehout, Dale Schultz, Alberta Darling, and Neal Kedzie.

Milwaukee Senate Dems United Against Mining Bill, Report Says

The Badger Democracy blog posted this earlier today, which is important in the context of rumoring yesterday:

In an interview Monday afternoon with State Senator Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee), Badger Democracy was told that the entire Milwaukee contingent of Democratic Senators are united in their opposition to the bill. Coggs confirmed he had been contacted by pro-mining bill corporate interests, but that calls from his constituents over the weekend in opposition ran 50-1 against the bill. Coggs stated that the caucus looks to Senator Bob Jauch as the leader on the mining issue, having spent a significant amount of time studying the issue in-depth. Coggs agreed that the corporate interests may attempt to “pluck” a vote out of the Democratic Caucus or Senator Schultz, but he felt the votes will not change, nor would the opposition from constituents and citizens statewide.

To Dilute Impact Of Bad Job Numbers, Walker Might Call Special Session On Mining Bill

Walker and others know that official employment numbers come out Thursday for both January and February, so to counter tbad news if the downward jobless trend of the last six months continues, Walker could call a special session if the mining bill goes down today to create the impression that he is doing something about jobs as the recall election looms.

Wisconsin Senate Will Spin Off Its Axis At 1:30 PM Today

That is when debate, or should I say, self-righteous finger-pointing extraordinaire, will be launched by Republicans over a mining bill they dredged from lobbying and secret drafting muck so deep and toxic that Senate GOP leaders cannot find the votes in their majority caucus to pass it.

So doing what they have done so often under Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald's imperious direction (leadership would be an unfairly substantive description)- - a style that features self-justification over awareness, and which appears to have made him eligible for a history-making recall election this spring - - Republican Senators will evade their responsibilities for the bill they birthed, scour the rule book for some sort of parliamentary scale-tipping, and failing that...will instead...

Blast Democrats for being unwilling to sell out the public's inherited environmental legacy, legal status in mining application reviews, access to clean water and Native American sovereign nation treaty rights won long ago from the US Government - - all to masquerade as special-interest subservient Republicans for a day, cross over and save the GOP from itself.

No wonder Walker is said to be considering a special session to force the bill's approval: official job numbers for January and February come out Thursday, and Walker, facing a recall election for sure, needs the mining 'win' to dilute more bad job numbers and news - - he's had six straight months of negative numbers - - that trends suggest are coming.

GOP Legislators Trying Again To Embed Their Incumbency

That's a straight-forward headline.

The Wisconsin Assembly will pass a bill today, already approved in the Senate, to place limitations on the recall election process into the State Constitution. To become law, it would have to pass two  successive legislatures and then in a statewide referendum,.

Right now, the recall process is a tool for the electorate to correct what at least 25% of voters in an election felt was made, but the GOP, outraged at the recall aimed at Walker, and that last year took down two sitting Republican Senators, want to make the recall process more like impeachment - - for specific causes - - rather than as a political exercise of voter judgement using rights that have been on the books for a long time.

The Assembly is also to debate a bill today to remove from state law a requirement that voter registration be offered in high schools.

This is part of the GOP's broader voting suppression strategy, including approving the rigid Voter ID law and more limits on registration to trim the vote in low-income and student communities -- where Democratic voters live in large numbers.

An expert recently said the law may block more than 200,000 Wisconsin citizens from voting.

Legal push back to this fundamental attack on voting has begun with a lawsuit against the Voter ID law, and a Dane County judge ruled yesterday that the suit can move forward.

And in a separate lawsuit, a three-judge panel in US District Court in Milwaukee is reviewing the most recent Wisconsin redistricting plan, where legislative district maps were drawn up by Republicans in secret and large numbers of residents were moved to new districts where the voting power of minorities is alleged to have been illegally diluted, and where thousands of voters would miss a regularly-scheduled State Senate election.

The more they abuse the process, the faster the GOP ensures their defeat and irrelevancy.

Fresh Lesson In 1% Privilege - - Or How To Beat OWI Penalties In WI

If you are the President of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Wisconsin, and you get pulled over in Fond du Lac for driving your Mercedes-Benz under the influence, just have the DA amend the charge to operating an airplane under the influence, and penalties applied to impaired motorists just fly away.

Think the DA will drop to jaywalking the ticket written to regular old you for speeding through a school zone?

Meet Your New WI Judicial Commission Members/Walker Donors

Another fine piece by Rebecca Kemble.

Voter ID Lawsuit To Proceed, Judge Rules

This is the lawsuit brought by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin alleging that the Voter ID law establishes conditions and barriers to voting not spelled out in the state's pesky Constitution.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard Niess ruled the suit should proceed because:

...the League is in the best position to argue on behalf of voters who are "too physically infirm, mentally ill, impoverished, itinerant, elderly or simply neglectful to comply" but are still qualified voters under the state constitution.

"This is the same cohort of citizens that shows up in the circuit courts in increasing numbers, day in and day out, without lawyers, in foreclosure proceedings, collection actions and family matters," Niess wrote. 

"Who will advocate for them on these constitutional issues that affect their fundamental, inherent and constitutional right to vote, if not the plaintiffs, or entities like the plaintiffs?"

I'm pleased to say that months ago, I told you so:

The League of Women Voters is the perfect plaintiff, as its goal is the furtherance of voting rights and process, not its obstruction.

Niess also rejected arguments by the state that other state officials and not Gov. Walker be the defendant:

Walker, Niess wrote, is a proper defendant because under recent state law he has ultimate authority over rule-making by state agencies, including GAB.

"Gov. Walker has a virtual monopoly on implementing these administrative rules and regulations," Niess wrote.

Call that an unintended consequence of Walker's absorption of administrative rule-making, awarded him by a compliant Legislature in the opening days of the GOP's takeover of state government last year.

From last May, here:

Unless the Wisconsin GOP really believes its majority and control are permanent, they will regret giving the state's Governor so much authority. Somewhere, a payback countdown clock has been wound.

Feature Story On Walker Ten Years Ago Worth A Read

Some interesting nuggets in a story I don't remember seeing about Walker in a long Journal Sentinel piece - - the link will take you to an archive of photocopied pages from the paper and you can go backwards through the archive to read the beginning of the story - - prior to his win in 2002 for Milwaukee County Executive:

* Walker said in the story that his appearances on conservative Sunday morning TV talk shows were like free advertising for his campaign.

Critics who claim these shows provide something of value unfairly to their frequent conservative guests can point for validation to Walker's own words  - - that being on the Belling and Sykes TV programs were "almost like having run a large amount of TV."

* He tried to manipulate a judge hearing a youthful Walker's speeding ticket by wearing a borrowed jacked with a charitable logo.

* He says he left Marquette University with one semester to go before graduation, but I thought he quit MU with about a full year, or about 30 credits, to go. His reason for leaving - - a run for the Assembly and a part-time job at IBM selling warranties on mainframe computers  - -still raises a questions.

Cal Thomas Was Mr. Crude About Birth Control Before Rush Limbaugh's Sleaze

Don't forget that syndicated conservative columnist Cal Thomas made some personally-aimed cheap shots about contraception, too.

Thomas dropped his incivility into in an exchange with The Heritage Foundation's Genevieve Wood before a chortling, televised CPAC audience in Washington, DC, about Rachel Maddow and others working at MSNBC:

“Well I’m really glad, Genevieve, that you played the Rachel Maddow clip,” Thomas said, “because I think that she is the best argument in favor of her parents using contraception. I would be all for that, and all of the rest of the crowd at MSNBC, too, for that matter."

Video here.

Thomas later apologized later to Maddow.

Walker's Ego Newly Expands - - Now He's Vince Lombardi

I don't think so.

Walker told Dillman employees [in Prairie Du Chien, WI] Gogebic Taconite could bring 2,300 jobs to the state; he said Dillman could see direct effects of it because they manufacture equipment used for mining.

Walker said all of those [mining] jobs will help him keep his campaign promise to bring 250,000 jobs back to Wisconsin by 2015.

"You think back, long, long ago when Vince Lombardi first took over the Packers," Walker said.  "They had a losing record and bout four years later he got them to the world championship, or the Super Bowl we'd call it these days.  But, it's not going to happen overnight."

He said they're on the right track; they went from losing 150,000 jobs to gaining jobs last year and hopefully gaining more now.

And - - in that story, Walker keeps inflating the number of mining jobs at GTAC's proposed iron ore mine by including construction and other spin-off positions, and furthermore, who knows if the companies he toured over the weekend pushing the bill will ever win a dollar of contracting to supply equipment for the mine?

Showing up at mining supply firms in this context is completely manipulative.

A Lesson Courtesy Of Limbaugh, Planned Parenthood, Santorum, Et Al

As they suffer from self-inflicted wounds - - then wallow under ridiculous 'apologies' that confuse sincerity with spin and justification for awareness  - - we learn that right-wing ideologues don't do damage control very well.

On Their New [Sic] Mining Billl, Vos And Darling Turn "R" Into Ridiculous

When "R" becomes a joke:

A mining bill the Journal Sentinel recently called "rancid" has been taken to an even more ridiculous low by Joint Finance Committee co-chairs Sen. Alberta Darling, (R-River Hills) and Rep. Robin Vos, (R-Burlington)..

The Journal Sentinel is reporting that on a key sticking point - - retaining, or not, the current law's all-important public hearing with sworn testimony on mining applications - - the Vos/Darling proposal rolled out today would keep the hearing, but insert it into the process after an application were approved.

File that bill under "How stupid do they think we are?"

Said the swing vote holdout:

"The compromise they just offered is no compromise at all," said Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center). "In fact, it makes a bad idea worse."

And the co-chairs are doing their typical inside power game, but for all the world to see.

From the Twitter feed at WisPolitics.com: 

RepCoryMason: Local control on floodplain protection standards rolled back by Vos/Darling amendment on mining bill. So much for local control.

JulieMLassa: GOP committee chairs begin mining hearing, refuse 2 allow Dems time 2 read new proposal even though GOP received a full briefing #wiunion

The Twitter Is Crackling About Limbaugh's Fresh Ad Losses

AOL pulled out this morning, and now:

ThinkProgress ‏ @thinkprogress

BREAKING: Ninth advertiser, Tax Resolution, drops Rush Limbaugh thkpr.gs/yOPdrG

Now we're up to 10:
ThinkProgress ‏ @thinkprogress

BREAKING: 10th advertiser, @bonobos announces they will pull ads from Rush Limbaugh thkpr.gs/yOPdrG

Walker's Mining Ploy Scratches The Surface

Scott Walker has added the image of the miner with a shovel on the State Flag and the origin of the Badger nickname for the state (miners were said to have burrowed like badgers) to his pitch for the iron ore mine near Ashland.

But miners a hundred and sixty-odd years ago worked with picks and shovels in narrow tunnels: the proposed mine up North will include a taconite mill, excavation draglines, trucks, and roads at a massive open pit - - up to a mile and a half wide, at least seven hundred feet deep and initially 4.5 miles long.

Here is what large-scale open-pit mining looks like:

Does Walker want that image added to the state flag?

You won't see the Department of Tourism slapping it on brochures selling the Northwoods and the pristine Penokee hills and Bad River watershed to anglers, hunters, hikers and seekers of a weekend getaway.

Let's dig a little deeper into the issue.

Photo from the Wisconsin League of Conservation voters, which is organizing opposition.

For You Archivists Out There - - Some Recent Mining Posts

Here's a mini-archive from last week, all listed most-recent first.

• Faced With Mining Vote, Senate Dems Should Check T...
• Legal Analyst Shows How Assembly Mining Bill Guts ..
• Follow The Mining Bill's Complicated Procedural Pa...
• Conservative Writer Provides Perfect Image For Pro...
• Legislative Details About A Mining Hearing: Gettin...
• Lots Of Gossip About Mining Bill Pressure Being Br...
• On The Mining Bill, Remember 2010, Plale and Decke...
• Emails Show Instant Communications Between Senate ...
• Just Don't Ask These Folks To Be Your Home Repair ...
• Provocative Essay By Wisconsin Conservative Agains...
• Iron Mining Irony
• WI Mining Story Goes National
• WI Club For Growth Attacking Sen. Dale Schultz
• Beware Those 'Mining Bill Dead' Stories

Also from February:

• Can Sen. Dale Schultz Save Wisconsin From Assembly...
• How Wisconsin Lost Its Public Legal Advocate For C...
• On Mining Issue, State Rep Cory Mason Vs. State Re...
• Waters Near Proposed Iron Ore Mine Win Internation...
• Two WI Republican Newsmakers In One Wonderful Phot...
• Does GOP Prefer No Mining Bill To The Assembly's S...
• Racine Legislator Flubs Tribe's Name, Proves He's ...
• Must-See Video Of WI Assembly Members Dodging Mini...
• GOP Offers Seats At The Table...But Not To Ojibwe ...
• WI Wildlife Federation Lauds Mining Bill Compromis...
• State Journal Writer Highlights Mining Bill's Igno...
• Will Mining Bill Get Done By 2/29? $1,000-Per-Tick...
• Republican Arrogance On Full Display In Madison, M...
• Legislators Should Use State Constitution To Guide...
• Expand Recall Discussion To Mining Issue
• Will Legislative Leaders, Moderates, Take New Mini...
• Mining Editorial Slams The Imperious Sen. Scott Fi...
• Dr. Fitzgerald's Prescription Will Make You Sicker...
• Fatal Flaw In Modified Mining Bill Fails To Fix Fi...
• Scott Fitzgerald Is To The Outdoors As Romney Is T...
• Jt. Finance Committee Will Roll Over Mining Oppone...
• Feds Have Said Mining Bill Changes Could Delay Per...
• Major Editorial Boards Mum On Scott Fitzgerald's M...
• Mining Bill On Tap Tomorrow Removes Current Law He...
• River Alliance Of Wisconsin Dissects Mining Bill F...
• If Formal Mining Hearings Are Ruled Out In Wiscons...
• No Place In Wisconsin For Fitzgerald, Walker's Dic...
• Wisconsin Wildlife Federation Rips Mining Bill Pow..
• Assembly's Insulting Mining Bill, Senate's Stalini...
• Pre-Recall Mining Power Grab Continues In State Se...
• GOP Party Line Vote Weakens Wisconsin Water Law, S...
• Walker's Delayed Environmental Assault Now Far Bey...
• Kedzie's Senate Mining Bill Leaves Companies In Th...
• Kedzie Blows Off N. Wisconsin Residents With Inacc...
• To Help Stop The Mining And Water Deregulation Bil...
• Mining, Wetlands Deregulation Bills Strike At Wisc...
• Neal Kedzie's Mining Dance
• Wetlands Add Billions Of Dollars To Wisconsin's Ec...
• Kedzie Was Waiting For The "All-Clear" Memo
• Senate Majority Leader Thinks He Can Prevent A Rec...
• One Point For Wisconsin State Sen. Neal Kedzie
• The Assembly's Mining Mess Belongs To Jeff Fitzger...
• Federal Authorites Ask If Mining Bill Violates Tri...
• Mining Company Denied Interest In Weakening Enviro...

From January:

• Mining Bill Manager On One-Percenters' Giving List...
• Assembly's Toxic GOP Majority Undermines Wisconsin...
• Streamline Wisconsin Mining? The Correct Term Is D...
• Special Interest Mining Bill Passes Assembly, DOA ...
• Kedzie And Political Quicksand
• Environmental Lawyers Shred Assembly Mining Bill
• Mining Bill Spurs Protests
• Look For Walker To Back Mine In State Of State Spe...
• Assembly Actions Tuesday, Thursday On Bad Mining B...
• We're All Getting Fracked
• Watering Down Water Legacies; "Once Gone, They Dis...
• Another Fine Resource About The Proposed Iron Mine...
• Iron Mine's Connections Run Far And Wide To The Ri...
• Scorecard Tracks Assembly Mining Bill Ignorance
• Assembly Republicans Blew Off US Army Corps Of Eng...
• Mining Hearing In Hurley Called "Charade"
• Republicans Tipped Their Hand On Mining Bills. Twi...
• More Treaty Troubles For The Proposed Iron Mine
• Assembly Republicans Admit Mining Hearing Is A Mer...
• Assault On Wisconsin Waters Started By Tommy Thomp...
• Republican Governor, Big-City Midwestern Mayor Agr...
• Even The DNR Knows The Assembly Mining Bill Is A L...
• Mining Project's Proximity To Trout Streams, Water...

December:

• Mining Plan Conflicts with Chippewa Sovereignty
• Assembly Mining Bill Undermines Transparency Claim...
• The WMC's Mining Meltdown
• Iron Mining Execs Donated To Pro-Mine WI Politicia...
• Mining Company President Won't Take Ownership Of A...
• Mining Bill Has More Holes Than Chicago Bears Seco...
• Mining Comments Can Be E-Mailed
• Mining Hearing A Public Policy Low Water Mark
• Bus From N. Wisconsin Adds To Crowded Mining Heari...
• Huge Crowd At Mining Hearing
• Too Much Water Needed; Mining Plan Might Violate G...
• Mining Bill Hearing Ploy Called "Detestable," And ...
• Assembly Mining Bill Hearing Begins At 10 A.M.
• Mining Officials, Associates Gave Walker, Key Legi...
• Ashland Current Newspaper Op-Ed Calls Mining Bill ...
• Full Text Of WI Legis. Ref. Bureau Memo On The Min...
• Reminder About EPA-Sponsored Power Plant Pollution...
• How Walker, Mining Interests Are Dissing Northern ...
• Mining Bill Will Hurt Walker With Several Constitu...
• Bad River Band Excoriates Assembly Over Fast-Track...
• Assembly Mining Bill Eases Standards, Reviews, Env...
• Wisconsin Mining Bill Rewrites Coming Today

November:

• Mining Bill Rushed Before Governor's Office, State...

What The Mining Bill And Legislators Ignore

Supporters of the mining bill have a political and legal death wish, as they continue to ignore:

*  Existing treaties with Ojibwe tribes:

Armed with its status as a sovereign nation and powerful treaties with the federal government, the Bad River Chippewa tribe has the legal muscle to do what Democratic opponents of an iron mine proposed for northern Wisconsin have so far been unable to do: halt or delay the project.

Those powers, say experts on Native American law, appear to have been both underestimated and misunderstood by proponents of the mine, including Republican legislators who have been criticized for failing to consult with tribal members as they work on a bill to streamline permitting for the mine.

"All of us are going to get an education in federal Indian law," said Larry Nesper, a UW-Madison scholar in Great Lakes Indian law and politics.

Nesper said Bad River and other Chippewa tribes have the power to challenge the proposed mine in federal court by invoking the federal treaties that protect their access to clean water and clean air.

*  Advice from the US Army Corps of Engineers, now many months old:

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Assembly Republicans Blew Off US Army Corps Of Engineers Advice

(first posted, 9:45 Wednesday, Jan. 11): Attention, Assembly Republicans:

As you rush your flawed mining bill to a vote next week, have any of you read the document sent in August by the US Army Corps of Engineers to Gov. Walker - - and to others, including Natural Resources Committee and Hurley hearing chair Rep. Mary Williams, (R-Medford) - - that explains in great detail how the Assembly Republicans' legislative approach to shorten mining permit reviews would actually lengthen the process because the state and Corps' reviews would be on different and incompatible time lines?

Here is a link to the letter in pdf, courtesy of the Ashland Current - -  GovWalkerOffice 07-2011.pdf

"Multiplying expense and time," is the path that the Corps urged the Assembly to avoid.

Why not take the advice, unless obeisance to contributors, a Tea Party-pleasing confrontation with Obama's Feds and displaying world-class arrogance is what these legislators really want to accomplish?

Raise your hand if you think a Federal court is going to throw out the Corps' responsibilities required under the decades-old, bi-partisan reality known as the Federal Clean Water Act in favor of something cobbled together by a group of unnamed Wisconsin legislators and a mining company?

Early warning about this.

Faced With Mining Vote, Senate Dems Should Check Their 2008 Platform

Democratic legislators being lobbied hard to join with Republicans already willing to weaken environmental law, ignore Native American rights - - text, videos here - - and approve a bad bill on mining should remember what they signed on to four years ago. The italicizing is mine:

Democratic Party of Wisconsin 2008 Platform Approved by Convention June 14, 2008...

From the text:

We recognize that minorities, senior citizens, and the poor often face formidable challenges, including obstacles to voting. We will work to eliminate those obstacles. We pursue legislation and cultural change that end racial and ethnic profiling, respect the sovereignty of our indigenous Native American host nations and ensure equality between men and women. We shall work for gender-balanced, qualified representation at all levels of government. Our goal is a government and an electoral process free of the corrupting influences of money and power wielded by some who lobby our representatives.

 Further from the text:

Protecting the ecological systems of our planet is essential to the economic and social welfare of our state and nation and to the future of humanity. Our legislators and leaders must pay heed to soil, water, and atmospheric pollution; scientific evidence of global warming; invasive species; and decreasing biodiversity while enacting appropriate legislation to safeguard our environment. We must maintain the integrity of the vast fresh water supply in the Great Lakes...

We will restore responsible environmental regulations affecting open space, wilderness areas, soil conservation, forest management, toxic and hazardous waste disposal and cleanup and watershed protection. We call for the use of advanced technology and environmentally-friendly practices to be implemented in industrial settings and mining natural resources and the enforcement and strengthening of safety regulations. To ensure the protection of our state's valuable natural resources, we support the re-establishment of a Public Intervenor's Office and an independent Department of Natural Resources.

None of that sounds like agreeing to artificially shorten mining permit reviews, end sworn testimony and a public hearing in the mining application process, enable mining and waste disposal in the Bad River watershed and wild-rice estuaries, and ignore Ojibwe-US Treaty agreements.

Photo below taken from the Wisconsin League of Conservation voters, which is organizing opposition.

Tommy Thompson Picks Odd Spot For Milwaukee Event Next Week

The 'I Stand For Nothing Campaign' schedules a stop at property owned by this long-time donor friend who has put a troubled bankruptcy behind him.

In 2007, he [Darshan Dhaliwal] pledged to raise $1 million for former Gov. Tommy Thompson in his bid for the presidency. Dhaliwal never paid as Thompson's candidacy fizzled.

Thompson's son, Jason Thompson, worked for Dhaliwal before joining a Milwaukee law firm.
Dhaliwal's financial problems resonate beyond the petroleum business.

In 2006, he promised to make a $2.5 million donation to Cardinal Stritch University. Officials at Stritch said some money was received, but not the full amount.

The same year, Dhaliwal pledged $4.5 million to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside to expand its communication arts building. He hasn't paid anything on that promise since 2006, when he gave $450,000.

In 2008, Dhaliwal was sued by oil giant BP in federal court on allegations of swindling customers out of brand-name gas at as many as 120 stations nationwide, including a handful in Wisconsin.

The lawsuit alleged he was charging brand-name prices for gas not formulated with the promised protectants and detergents designed to extend the life of vehicles.

A settlement was under negotiation when Bulk Petroleum went into bankruptcy in February 2009.

ProFlowers Is 7th Sponsor To Pull Ads From Limbaugh Program

The boycott pressure is working.

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

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

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

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

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

 More examples...

Legal Analyst Shows How Assembly Mining Bill Guts Existing Law

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

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

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald turns the clock back decades and jeopardizes clean water in Wisconsin.

Tommy Thompson's 'I Stand For Nothing' Campaign

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

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

There's no end to it:

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

The Original Reformer

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

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

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

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

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

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

Follow The Mining Bill's Complicated Procedural Path

Inside State Capitol baseball, anyone?

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

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

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

My Esteemed Fellow Senators,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conservative Writer Provides Perfect Image For Proposed Iron Ore Mine

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

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

What Was Read Most Often Here Last Week

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

Many thanks to the readers:

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

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

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

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

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

Legislative Details About A Mining Hearing: Getting Your Mileage Paid

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

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

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

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

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

From the memo, in part:

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

Subject: Senate Mining Jobs Committee - hold date

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

Lots Of Gossip About Mining Bill Pressure Being Brought On Senators

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

Lots of chatter about this matter today.

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

Video Of Walker Pledging Bargaining On Concessions Raises So Many Questions

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

Several questions:

Was this a feint by Walker?

Or did he change his mind later?

And why was the Northwestern been sitting on this?

On The Mining Bill, Remember 2010, Plale and Decker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Examples:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'll get you one.

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

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

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

Provocative Essay By Wisconsin Conservative Against Mining Proposal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Iron Mining Irony

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

WI Mining Story Goes National

Long AP version at Huffington Post.

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

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

Because the Koch brothers demand its control. #family fued

WI Club For Growth Attacking Sen. Dale Schultz

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

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

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

And read the remarks of Sen. Jauch.

Beware Those 'Mining Bill Dead' Stories

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

And remember these things:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Esteemed Fellow Senators,

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

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

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

Best thing to do:

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

Sen.Schultz@legis.wisconsin.gov