Monday, December 10, 2012

Wisconsin Has Become Bizarro World Under Walker

Pop culture vultures from Superman comic book devotees to "Seinfeld" fans know that everything is backwards or inverted on the fictional, cube-shaped planet of Bizarro World, where the credo begins:

"Us do opposite of all Earthly things!

The metaphor holds up if you look at Wisconsin turned upside-down by Scott Walker and his allies in the State Legislature and even on the State Supreme Court in the last two years:

* Wisconsin was the first state to legalize public employee collective bargaining, but Walker's Act 10 has virtually killed the process.

* Wisconsin produced environmental leaders and inspirations from Aldo Leopold to Gaylord Nelson, but the Walkerites instituted wolf hunting, want a Sandhill crane "harvest," eliminated a system of air pollution alerts, rolled back wetland protections, killed train projects, enabled Wild West frac sand mining and chose fossil fuels over wind turbines and other renewable energy programs.

* Wisconsin built a wonderfully serene network of state parks and trails; the Walkerites he installed to run the DNR like a bueiness want to allow hunting and trapping on about two-thirds of the parks and trail acreage.

* Ojibwe tribes in the 19th century ceded land through treaties across the northwoods to help create the state and provide timber to settlers for their homes and culture, so now the state wants to pave the way - - liberally - - for a massive open-pit iron ore mine up to a mile across, 22 miles long and 1,000 feet deep at the edge of Ojibwe rice-growing lands - - downstream from the proposed mine.

* Wisconsin is among the leaders nationally in voter turnout, so Walker and his GOP allies are moving to tamp down election participation by requiring mandatory ID cards and ending popular election-day voter registration - - so popular, in fact, that Walker's son Matt, a college student, registered at the polls for his first vote this summer, with Dad in tow.

* Walker said the state was broke, instituted austerity measures and effectively cut public employee pay in the name of fiscal restraint, but now his wife wants a $487,000 kitchen upgrade to the Governor's Mansion.

* And Assembly Republicans, after instituting cut-after-cut across the board in the budget - - well, with the exception of funding the now-foundering Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation which Walker chairs - - are talking about increasing their $88-per-day taxpayer-paid, and tax-free expense account allowances.

* Bizarro World certainly extends to the Walker-created-and-chaired Development Corp, where millions of dollars are owed but were not tracked or may be lost forever through bankruptcies.

On Bizarro World, bonds sold are guaranteed to lose money.

Editorial On Troubled WEDC Missing Two Words

The Journal Sentinel correctly and strongly criticizes the performance of the troubled Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) - -

...incompetence has put this good idea at risk...Our concern is more about simple management - keeping track of a loan portfolio...borrowers have fallen behind in making payments on taxpayer-funded loans worth $12.2 million...

Earlier, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found WEDC had spent nearly $10 million in federal funds without legal authority. Top WEDC officials knew about the concerns but didn't tell the agency's board.

- - but does not once mention the name of the Wisconsin official who proposed, touted, picks its board members and chairs it:

Scott Walker.

Why give him another spray-coating of Teflon?

Doesn't the buck at WEDC stop with him?

Sunday, December 9, 2012

This Is Why You Don't End-Run The Great Lakes Compact

From The NY Times:

Ideas for Colorado River Include a Feeder Pipeline

600 miles long.

WI Wolf Hunt Closing Out Quickly, Without Dogs, So...

Why are legislators and the Wisconsin DNR
a) so hell-bent on making Wisconsin the first state in the country to let dogs loose in a wolf hunt?
And b) pushing to allow dogs that are being trained for hunting to run unleashed against wolves - - even during wolf breeding and mating seasons? Sounds to me like sanctioned cruelty to both dogs and wolves - - and a prohibition against cruelty has been extended in one recent case to wild animals in Wisconsin.

Is the goal here to get a lot of dogs killed by wolves?

The Journal Sentinel explains the DNR's thinking;

The permanent rule would: limit to six the number of dogs used for hunting or training on wolves; require the dogs to wear a collar or have a tattoo with the owner's name and contact information; allow training of dogs for wolf hunting only during normal hunting hours (not at night); and restrict training of dogs on wolves to the day after the gun deer season (late November) through March 31.

The proposal also states no license is required to train dogs on free-roaming wolves. And the dogs are not required to be on a leash.

When the Legislature passed and the governor signed Act 169 in April, Wisconsin became the only state to authorize the use of dogs to hunt wolves...

A lawsuit was filed in August by humane societies and individuals who contend the DNR had inadequate controls in place to protect dogs from "deadly encounters with wolves."

I have read the plaintiffs' lengthy brief, and cannot reprint it from its pdf format, but found a few excerpts pretty revealing - - especially the arguments that without the use of dogs, no no one would spot a wolf, so presumably none would be shot - - even though the hunt is nearly over, earlier than some had predicted.

(1) Pages 1-5: Introduction, including the following excerpt at p. 5:

It also is important to point out that a central factual predicate for the Bear Hunters’ arguments is untrue. Their representatives have stated that use of dogs is necessary to hunt wolves. See, e.g., Lobner Affidavit, ¶ 9; Linzmeier Affidvait, ¶ 7 (without dogs, “there would be little chance of ever spotting a wolf.”).[1] Beyond the fact that wolf hunting has proceeded without the use of dogs, these statements are simply false. In fact, DNR reports that there have already been 83 wolves killed in the initial five weeks of the hunting season (nearly 75% of the quota in 25% of the season); and DNR has already closed two of the six zones before dogs could have been used under Act 169, absent an injunction. See http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/wolf.html.

[1] Mr. Lobner is president and Mr. Linzmeier is a member of the Wisconsin Bear Hunters’ Association. These affidavits were submitted in connection with the Bear Hunters’ motion to intervene.]

While these facts underscore the speculative nature of the Bear Hunters’ arguments, they by no means minimize the importance of a ruling from this Court. To the contrary, a final decision by this Court is necessary to prevent the immediate onset of unrestricted training of dogs for wolf hunting, which is not contingent upon hunting quotas, during the upcoming high-risk months of wolf mating and breeding. Moreover, a final decision by the Court will provide essential guidance to DNR as the agency embarks on permanent rulemaking for both wolf hunting and training with dogs. Based on the conduct of DNR and the NRB to date, without guidance from this Court, a repeat performance of the emergency rule-making process will likely ensue. Indeed, the defendants’ conduct at the September 2012 NRB proceeding foreshadows a comparable disregard of best available science and the law in the absence of a ruling by this Court

(2) Ft. note 19 at page 34:

“The Bear Hunters also cite Wis. Stat. § 951.015(1), arguing that wolf-dog confrontations are exempt from chapter 951 because § 29.185 authorizes the wolf hunt, i.e., that any hunt under chapter 29 is exempt. This argument was soundly rejected in State v. Kuenzi, 2011 WI App 30, ¶ 34, which distinguished between “common hunting practices” and those acts that cause unnecessary and excessive pain or suffering. The evidence is clear that unleashing packs of dogs on wolves is unprecedented and unauthorized anywhere else in the United States, and surely does not qualify as a “common hunting practice.”

MI Gov. Snyder, WI Gov. Walker On The Environment

Gary Wilson at Great Lake Echo takes a look at regional Governors, environmental issues - - notes the limitations and opportunities - - and finds Scott Walker lacking:

The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters says that Gov. Scott Walker has proven to be “the most anti-conservation governor in Wisconsin’s history.” It cited nine examples to support its claim, including an “attempt to eliminate recycling programs and fast track the filling of wetlands.” Wisconsin had historically been seen as a leader on environment issues.

Enter Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Don't Wander Off Those Wisconsin State Park Trails...

Or you might, on most state park land and trails, catch a bullet or leg trap if the DNR has its way:

About two-thirds of the acreage in the Wisconsin state park and trail system would be open to hunting and trapping from Oct. 15 to late May, according to a proposal released Friday by the Department of Natural Resources.

The plan, which has attracted strong opposition, is the DNR's latest as it prepares to implement Act 168.

The Natural Resources Board takes it up Tuesday.

Scott Walker Donors, And Pay-to-Play Allegations...What?

Who would dare make such an accusation?

Oh, the feds.

Tommy Thompson's Former DNR Secretary Nails Mining Bill's Major Flaw

George Meyer was Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources during the Tommy Thompson administration, and now serves as Executive Director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation - - a broad-based group representing hungers, anglers and others.

After testifying earlier this week before a State Senate panel on mining legislation, Meyer posted this comment Friday on his Facebook page, which I reproduce below with his permission:

After two years of saying that their legislation did not lower environmental standards, Gogebic Taconite finally admits that to mine in Wisconsin they want to lower environmental standards. The following is from today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel....so much for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce's statements that AB 426 did not lower environmental standards:

Bob Seitz, a lobbyist for Gogebic, took a dim view of the committee's work, noting it isn't legislation but "a page and half of talking points." He said the Democrats failed to address issues on water quality, wetlands and groundwater standards that Gogebic wants changed. Democrats and conservationists see those issues as rollbacks of environmental protections.

The Journal Sentinel article which he references is here.

Colleges Pushed To Divest Fossil Fuel Stocks

A nascent national movement about climate change that made a swing through Madison last week gets front-page treatment in The New York Times:

In recent weeks, college students on dozens of campuses have demanded that university endowment funds rid themselves of coal, oil and gas stocks. The students see it as a tactic that could force climate change, barely discussed in the presidential campaign, back onto the national political agenda.

This was a prominent tactic some years ago to get colleges and universities withdrawing their endowment funds from businesses that doing business in South Africa in the apartheid era, the Times notes:

The divestment demand is so new that most administrators are just beginning to grapple with it. Several of them, in interviews, said that even though they tended to agree with students on the seriousness of the problem, they feared divisive boardroom debates on divestment.

That was certainly the case in the 1980s, when the South African divestment campaign caused bitter arguments across the nation.

... the campaign required prominent people to grapple with the morality of apartheid, altering the politics of the issue. Economic pressure from many countries ultimately helped to force the whites-only South African government to the bargaining table.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Tone-Deaf GOP WI Pols Hear Their Stomachs Growl

Wisconsin First Lady Tonette Walker wants nearly $500,000 for a new kitchen - - and can't say how much comes from the taxpayers.

GOP Assembly members want more taxpayer money added to their daily, tax-free expense accounts.

Per Diem...Ahhhhhh

$88 a day, even when the Legislature isn't in session, just isn't enough.

I have an idea: send those hungry GOP legislators looking for richer fare on the gravy train - - - "rib-eye-of-the-sky," perhaps - - over to the Governor's Mansion over in Austerityville and let them make themselves a PB & J.

Case Study In WI DNR Transparency [Sic]

Outrage alert:

Here's your Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources at work:

In April, the Legislature passed Act 168 to permit hunting and trapping in all state parks as of January 1, 2013, and began to write rules to administer what this controversial plan.

A draft was produced, and listening sessions were held in late October and early November - - but the agency not make the draft available for posting until about 10 a.m. today - - and the Natural Resources Board will consider the rule at its meeting next Tuesday at 4 p.m.

You can submit comments on the rule - - it's 65-pages long - - or you can register to speak at the NRB meeting Tuesday - - but the deadlines to do either is 4 p.m. today.

2:30 p.m. update: the registration deadline to speak at the hearing has been extended to 4 p.m. Monday.

This site has a link to the comment function, with the deadlines.

The December NRB meeting agenda is at: http://dnr.wi.gov/about/nrb/2012/December/12-12-NRB-agenda.html

Tough Sentencing In Walker Doe Case Reveals Double-Standard

One of Scott Walker's lower-level appointees during the Milwaukee County Executive years is going to prison for two years for stealing money from a charity.

Tim Russell, a higher-ranking Walker appointee, has pleaded guilty to similar thievery and is being recommended for a sentence of two-and-a-half-years.

And let's be clear: their behavior was reprehensible.

But another higher-ranking Walker appointee - - former Milwaukee County Deputy Executive Chief of Staff Kelly Rindfleisch - - got only six months for doing campaign work on public time in Walker's office on behalf of the candidacy of Brett Davis, then a state legislator and Walker's choice for Lt. Governor.

That's certainly a form of stealing - - from taxpayers - - so why the differential in sentencing?

Note that Rindfleisch, also a former Walker Deputy Chief of Staff, did her campaign work on a secret email system set up in Walker's office suite - - by Russell.

For which Russell was not charged.

And why is Brett Davis still Walker's Medicaid chief?

Political Twins On The Right: Wisconsin's Walker, Michigan's Snyder

So after saying he wasn't much interested, Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder says he'll sign right-to-work legislation the GOP-controlled legislature there is rushing to his desk to stick it to union families that had the gall to back Democratic President Barack Obama over one-time Michigan favorite son Mitt Romney.

In Wisconsin, Scott Walker said recently that he wanted to end election-day voting registration (popular in Democratic strongholds), then said he wasn't much interested - - spurring two of his closest legislative allies - - State Sen. Alberta Darling, (R-River Hills) and State Rep. Joel Kleefisch, (R-Oconomowoc) - - to immediately begin looking for signatures on a biil to do just that.

Now whom do you suppose gave them that green light?

You'll see a similar dynamic at work in the mining issue.

While the state voted for the Presidential candidate most identified with environmental protection, Republicans who hold all the cards at the State Capitol will fully assert their power and approve an environmentally-hostile or dismissive bill heavily-influenced by conservative special interests and inevitably threaten the Bad River watershed with an open-pit iron mine - - for starters, statewide.

Same for Obamacare implementation, or any major policy matter that comes along where Walker and the legislature can thumb their nose at the President and the voting majority in the state that wouldn't put Mitt Romney and Janesville's Paul Ryan in charge.

The politics of pique and payback. Very small-minded.

But that's how electorates that want more than one-party rule across the Republic and which vote Democratic in Presidential election years are going to be treated by Republicans like those in Madison and Lansing who control state houses and Governors' mansions.
They hold the cards and will play them - - not because it's the right thing to do - - but because they can.

More at The Political Environment, here.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

MI Gov Flips On Right-To-Work; Message To Wisconsin

Beware of GOP governors who say they're not interested in punitive, restrictive limitations on rights, then do the opposite when they have legislative majorities.

Michigan Republicans approve right to work amid protests

Wisconsin relevance? Walker's game with ending voting day registration, step-child to Voter ID:

...cue Walker's unconvincing back-pedaling:

Walker said Wednesday he still supports the measure, but downplayed it and said opponents had turned it into a "ridiculous issue.
But that didn't stop two of his most slavish lieutenants, State Rep. Joel Kleefisch and State Sen.Albert Darling from fashioning a bill and looking for sponsors, pronto.

And remember when Walker said right-to-work wasn't a priority for him?

River Advocates Offer Gifts Of Many Kinds

A couple of things I like about the River Alliance of Wisconsin:

* Its annual fund-raising auction, closing tonight, and...

* Its always snappy and informative newsletter - - a current sample:

Mine! All Mine!

Our lawmakers are back at work with their figurative pickaxes, prospecting for a shiny new mining law. What exactly they will eventually dig up remains a mystery to everyone. Last week the Senate Select Committee on Mining held another public hearing on an alternative bill to Assembly Bill 426, the disastrous ferrous mining bill that was defeated by a single vote in the Senate last session. Since the last set of hearings in October, the political landscape has shifted in Wisconsin.

No surprise then, that the intrigue level at the hearing was high, with the Wisconsin Mining Association (WMA) representatives, on record criticizing AB426, choosing their words carefully beneath the watchful eye of WI Manufacturing and Commerce (WMC), who is championing the very same bill. Add to that Monday's announcement that the head of WMA, Tim Sullivan, has accepted a board position on a rival company to Gogebic (for whom AB 426 was written). You confused yet? You're not alone. Here's what we do know:

1. The republican majority in Senate has grown, and it's likely that a version of AB426 will be introduced early next year. Unless Sen. Dale Schultz finds allies within his party, the bill will pass the Senate.

2. Federal agencies and tribal interests have testified that AB426 is incompatible with federal timelines and with federal trust responsibilities to First Nations. Even though this bill was supposed to streamline the permitting of ferrous mines in WI, it may have just the opposite effect.

3.There is talk of then opening up our existing sulfide mining law to changes as well. This is likely what the Senate Mining Committee will tackle in today's hearing (You can see the outline of their major issues posted at The Wheeler Report.). Expect to hear lots of talk about the mining moratorium and about how much the public should have a say in the permitting process.

We will continue to fight hard to protect clean water and prevent the rollback of environmental protections and public involvement in the permitting of mines. Stay tuned for how you can get involved.

More Bad News For Wisconsin Jobs, Via #Walker Fail

Remember Walker's 250,000 new jobs' pledge?

Still going south:

Wisconsin has nation's biggest jump in new jobless benefit claims

Wisconsin Gazette Documents Wolf Hunt History, Controversy

This year's hunt, mercifully, is about over. This piece helps explain the "harvest."

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service put faith in the state wildlife agencies to responsibly manage wolf populations, but their overzealous and extreme plans to allow for trophy hunting and recreational trapping immediately after de-listing demonstrate that such confidence was unwarranted,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. “Between Minnesota’s broken promise to wait five years before hunting wolves and Wisconsin’s reckless plan to trap and shoot hundreds of wolves in the first year, it is painfully clear that federal protection must be reasserted. The states have allowed the most extreme voices to grab hold of wolf management, and the result could be devastating for this species.”

Some Dems Offer Mining Alternative

With the Democrats about to lose their Senate majority - - and hence authority behind proposals - - I see Janesville Senator Tim Cullen's mining alternative, containing some improvements to one-failed, unspeakably bad GOP Assembly plan - - as easily dismissed by incoming Republicans.

The bill adds about ten more months to an application's review period to the Assembly 420-day framework - - in current law there is no 'one-size-fits all' review timetable and deadline - - and Cullen's proposal attempts to guarantee environmental protections - - though it's hard to see how an open pit iron ore mine like that which is back on the front burner near Ashland and that involves the removal of the top of the Penokee Hills to get at ore 1,000 deep, and many miles long, wouldn't harm the land, air and water table so close to the Bad River band's treaty-protected wild rice growing waterways.

The Cullen bill tries to finesse a major flaw in the Assembly version by retaining all-important public, quasi-judicial hearings on mining proposals as they are brought to the DNR - - but moves them in the process from prior to a DNR decision, as the law now stands, to a point in the process after the DNR has made a ruling.

The entire point of a hearing is for the DNR to hear testimony and see data produced in a before the agency makes what is supposed to be a dispassionate, science-based decision.

Putting it at the end of the process is an invitation to the DNR to simply 'let the ruling on the field stand.'

Two Telling Sidebars To Jim DeMint's US Senate Resignation

As the Tea Party chief heads from his South Carolina Senate seat to run The Heritage Foundation, it's hard to miss in The Washington Post's account two gems that speak volumes about the Right, Congress and the state of affairs on Capitol Hill these days:

* Mitch McConnell thanked DeMint for his "uncompromising service..." That gets it right when it comes to the Right.

* DeMint explained himself on Rush Limbaugh's program.

And you don't these folks live in a bubble and speak to an echo chamber?

Lake Michigan Ferry Won't Get Earmark Extending Coal-Ash Dumping

An effort by the owners of the SS Badger to get five more years to change fuel sources and/or cease its routine, by-the-multiple ton coal-ash dumping into Lake Michigan failed in the Congress Wednesday.

The ship's owners had agreed with the EPA in 2008 to make the necessary changes, haven't and now face a year-end deadline. Some history, here, or use this blog's search box in the upper left.

Walker, GOP Keeping Voter Suppression Ruse Alive

They're playing games in Wisconsin, again, with our right to vote.

First it was GOP-crafted Voter ID to fight unproven voter fraud - - stopped in court, so far - - when, in fact, the GOP was actively defrauding people out of their right to vote through purged voting roll purges and reduced access to polling places from Florida to Ohio to Pennsylvania.

More recently there was the spectacle of Scott Walker, his ego soaring over the Reagan Library like a Thanksgiving Day parade balloon, telling the faithful he'd like to end same-day voter registration in Wisconsin - - because those poor old folks who help out at the polls get tuckered out by all that extra paperwork.

Then came the blow back, - - more here - - so cue Walker's unconvincing back-pedaling:

Walker said Wednesday he still supports the measure, but downplayed it and said opponents had turned it into a "ridiculous issue.

But that didn't stop two of his most slavish lieutenants, State Rep. Joel Kleefisch and State Sen.Albert Darling from fashioning a bill and looking for sponsors, pronto.

Walker & Co. are governing by deception, misdirection and ruse.

I award his two-faced voter suppression play and ploy Four Snares:

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Controversial Mining Bill Driven Over The Ferrous Cliff(s)

You have to give mining association executive and retired industrialist Tim Sullivan credit:

It takes ingenuity to a) be tasked by Gov. Walker to help save a once-defeated GOP Assembly iron mining bill originally labeled by the Journal Sentinel "a travesty of legislation" - - but then to b) further muddy the issue by getting the bill's version 2.0 tangled up in conflict-of-interest allegations...by the GOP's incoming Assembly Leader:

Rep. Scott Suder, the incoming Assembly majority leader, criticized Sullivan for not disclosing his ties to Cliffs [Natural Resources] when he testified before a Senate committee last week on the mining legislation...

"I find this very disturbing," Suder said of Sullivan's work for Cliffs. "This raises some pretty serious red flags about Tim Sullivan's personal ethics and all of his comments about mining over the last six months."

And, c) in this moment of minute-by-minute references to the "fiscal cliff," set off the latest round of rancor by accepting a lucrative board seat on a business named "Cliffs Natural Resources." Over the ferrous cliffs we go.

Hat tip for the entire saga, Dan Bice.

Walker, GOP's Go-To Mining Guy Undermines GOP's Mining Bill

Talk about digging yourself a hole, as Dan Bice explains:

Tim Sullivan, the head of the Wisconsin Mining Association, is coming under fire for taking a paid position with a firm that would compete directly with the proposed $1.5 billion iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin...

Rep. Scott Suder, the incoming Assembly majority leader, criticized Sullivan for not disclosing his ties to Cliffs when he testified before a Senate committee last week on the mining legislation...

"I find this very disturbing," Suder said of Sullivan's work for Cliffs. "This raises some pretty serious red flags about Tim Sullivan's personal ethics and all of his comments about mining over the last six months."

Walker sure can pick 'em:

Two months after the bill died in the Senate Walker asked Tim Sullivan, the former CEO of mining equipment manufacturer Bucyrus International, to bring mining experts and conservation leaders together to see if there's a way to get the mine approved.

Wisconsin Assembly Republicans Channel Mitt, Santa

More gifts, please.

Small Government Champ Vos Is Assembly Expense Account Leader, Too

Incoming Assembly leader Robin Vos, (R-Burlington), was just ahead of fellow GOP budget-cutter Scott Suder, (R-Abbotsford) in 2011 Assembly daily expense account claims, this Journal Sentinel chart shows.

And the GOP-led Assembly is thinking about raising the rate above the $88 per day in tax-free, taxpayer-supplied expense money they can already claim just for showing up in the Capitol building even when the Legislature is out of session and no official meetings are scheduled.

From yesterday here:

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2012

WI Assembly Leadership, GOP Members Have Big Appetites

Dreaming of more taxpayer-paid, tax-free expense money.
Their priorities are served:

The Little Men Running Wisconsin's Legislature Get Even Smaller

In a rough economy, and having already foisted austerity on public employees, transit riders, and low-income residents through tax policy, Wisconsin legislative leaders first wanted bigger offices and grand staircases to reflect their images and serve their partisan 'needs.'

Now there is talk of larding up on more taxpayer dollars to enlarge their expense accounts - - which are tax-free, so taxpayers and public treasuries are hit twice by the freebies' cost - - which they can claim and pocket for a full daily payment even if they merely set foot in the State Capitol on any given day.

Talk about a sweet, deal - - a neat, second-income - - tax-free, too.

Legislators already get free cellphones, mileage reimbursements and other perks; leaders get enough taxpayer support funding to hire a retinue of spokespersons and chiefs of staff.

What's next? Country club memberships? Clothing allowances? Massages? A motor poll, perhaps? Servants?

Is there a limit to this greed, hypocrisy, real-world isolation and flat-out arrogance?

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

WI Assembly Leadership, GOP Members Have Big Appetites

Dreaming of more taxpayer-paid, tax-free expense money.
Their priorities are served:

WI Legislators Want More, Tax-Free Expense Money From Taxpayers

Honest-to-God - - you can't make this stuff up.

Assembly Republicans are considering raising how much the 99 members of their chamber can claim for expenses...

Most lawmakers receive $88 a day when they come to the Capitol to cover hotels and meals. Those who live in or close to Madison receive half that amount.

The per diem is not taxed, by the way, and legislators can claim it for simply stopping in at the Capitol and, say, check the mail - - even if there is no session and they have zero meetings.

How out-of-touch and arrogant can this bunch get?

Lake Michigan, In Decline, Muddies Waukesha Diversion Pitch

And those falling water levels make for a poor back-drop also for an ill-timed-and-defined regional pitch.

The authors want to divert even more water from a declining Great Lake
for growth in communities without the need for Lake Michigan water on top of what Waukesha and its stalled diversion application is after.

Global warming, declining lake levels - - the entire changed picture now in sharper focus than just a few years ago - - make the 2008 Great Lakes Compact and the diversions it bars - - other than in genuinely exceptional, last-ditch option cases - - more prescient.

Fox's Failed GOP King-Making - - Petraeus, Not Romney

It's a news organization, right?

Another Ruse Schemed, Spun By Wisconsin Republicans

Just the other day Gov. Walker feigned concern for the workload of older election-day polling staffers as an excuse for his plan to end same-day voting registration - - coincidentally popular in Democratic strongholds like college towns and central cities where Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan got whomped Nov. 6th.

I gave his proposal that no one asked for, and to which current poll workers and County clerks rejected four snares in my new, truthiness vetting service.

Now comes incoming Senate GOP Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald with another partisan move clumsily disguised as an innocent.

In the name of "balance," Big Fitz wants politically-appointed members to manage the state's ethics and elections panel, better known as the Government Accountability Board, instead of what's there now: a panel of non-partisan, retired Wisconsin judges established in a bi-partisan move some years ago.

Bi-partisan = balance, but don't force Fitzgerald to look for a dictionary.

So this is just what we need: politicians who run campaigns appointing contributors, friends and various associates to the very monitoring board that oversees politicians' campaigns and their behavior in office.

I give Fitzgerald's excuse-laden, self-interested and patently bogus imbalanced switcheroo three snares:

Monday, December 3, 2012

Some $$ Gone Forever From Walker's Failed Development Corp.

The state that was opened for [monkey?] business by Walker with billboards, Rebecca Kleefisch cold-calling, some Walker bluster in Illinois and a CEO-friendly, big-budget Development Corp. has had ~~its~~ our pocket picked.

Rep. Kleefisch Distorts Mining Bill

Suppose you found out you had a tumor near your heart - - bad enough - - but then learned your doctor didn't tell you that the only way to reach this particular growth was to cut through a lung and let it drain. And was OK with the treatment plan.

Now meet the equivalent political surgeon- - State Rep. Joel Kleefisch, (R-Oconomowoc) - - who released last week what reads like a mining industry windshield flyer touting a bill that died earlier this year in the State Senate.

Kleefisch said the bill is aimed at iron mining, which will produce "no risk" of runoff pollution:

The mining bill concerns ferrous mining, meaning that the environmental impact will be minimal. Ferrous mining for iron uses magnets, as opposed to sulfide mining, which uses chemicals. With ferrous mining there is no risk of acid drainage contaminating ground and surface water. The magnets separate the metal from rock.

However, there was extensive testimony prior to the vote earlier this year that explained why getting to the Northern Wisconsin iron deposit in question would release acid run-off - - with the Bad River Band's land and water immediately downstream - - because there is pyrite with potentially toxic sulfide on top of the iron ore in the deposit ticketed for blasting and excavation in a proposed an open pit mine up to 1,000 feet deep:

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

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

4:00 p.m. update:

Note that pyrite is a sulfide:

Pyrite

Sulfide Mineral Pictures

Pyrite, iron sulfide (FeS₂), is a common mineral in many rocks. Geochemically speaking, pyrite is the most important sulfur-containing mineral.

Sure Hope WI Fog Today Not Trapping Particulate Pollution

We'll see...

Rally in Milwaukee Today For Transit

As Scott Walker gets ready to launch a budget to finance more road-building and no doubt squeeze a few more bucks from local transit support, transit supporters are rallying Monday evening to make their voices heard.

Details from friends:

Transit Rally Monday, Dec. 3. Please join us, even for a short time. Help us raise the voices of our neighbors who use the bus.

Community Listening Session on Milwaukee's Public Transit Crisis Public Event · By ACLU of Wisconsin

Washington Park Senior Center, 4420 W. Vliet St., 5:30 to 7:30 pm.

Take the bus and wear your bus transfer at the rally.

This will be one tough fight in the next State budget, a real life David vs Goliath scene. Your story told tomorrow might be the stone that hits the target.

Legislature Disrespects WI Tribes: Exhibit "A" - - Rep. Jeff Stone

Fine piece in the Wisconsin State Journal Sunday enumerating tensions arising from the State Legislature's dismissal of native tribes as partners on hunting and mining issues - - so let me offer the public testimony in March of State Rep. Jeff Stone, (R-Greendale) as Exhibit "A."

Stone said during a hearing months ago on the failed, industry-drafted Assembly mining bill - - a bill that mining interests still believe is the key to getting what they want in the new legislative session beginning in January - - that it is not the job of the state to provide the tribes with a seat at the table - - though the Bad River Ojibwe Band's land, water, wild-rice production and culture are directly downstream from the controversial Penokee Hills open-pit, mountain-top site Stone wanted approved.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Gogebic Is Back! The Great Wisconsin Mining Charade Plays On

What a shocker:

The company that basically wrote the awful, environment-killing Assembly mining bill that died last year in the GOP-controlled Senate still thinks it's the basis for a new bill next year that will allow it return to Wisconsin.

Stick it to Northern Wisconsin.

All is forgiven.

"Mostly False," Snares Are Scott Walker Metaphors

PolitiFact has handed out yet another rating containing the word "false" to Scott Walker after reviewing a Walker speech, radio interview and public statement

Walker says he unveiled legislative agenda in Wisconsin, not California

This blog has closely followed Walker's PolitiFact performance - - one sample among many - - and notes, again, the preponderance of his ratings he's won that fall into categories with the words "false," or, worse, "pants on fire" - - as in, 'Liar, liar, pants on fire,' etc.

In fact, Walker can muster only 11 of 58 statements vetted by PolitiFact, or 19%, as "true" or "mostly true," though a batting average of .190 on truthiness looks better than his anemic .100 on job creation.

Anyway - - the facts, by the independent fact-checking service, on his facts:

Walker's statements by ruling

Click on the ruling to see all of Walker's statements for that ruling.

True 6 (10%)

Mostly True 5 (9%)

Half True 11 (19%)

Mostly False 12 (21%)

False 20 (34%)

Pants on Fire 4 (7%)

I'd be remiss if I didn't add two huge ruses - - my term - - that Walker has employed to highlight his disconcerting and disqualifying default to dishonesty:

* More recently, his nakedly partisan proposal to end election-day voter registration purportedly to relieve phantom burdens on older election-day workers. Fake humanitarianism. Won't fly.

* And, of course, there was the ruse of the "modest proposal" - - his words - - to describe his infamous Act 10 dropped bomb he'd withheld during the 2012 gubernatorial campaign. It served to make Walker a national rightwing hero, and all but erased public sector union rights and created ongoing political warfare in Wisconsin as well as distrust of anything of or about Walker, and his allies.

To close the circle on all this, Walker said he had previously disclosed his anti-union intentions - - just as he claimed to have previously disclosed his big picture plans in Wisconsin before unveiling them in California.

PolitiFact called Walker out on the California dodge with "mostly false," and also rang him up as "false" on the Act 10 disclosure claim.

See the pattern? Truth-telling is not this Eagle Scout's strong suit.

My rating on both:

Four snares:

Walker Gives Corporate Backers Massive Tax Gift

Grover Norquist's discredited privatized, drowned government regimen is fading away, but not in Wisconsin, where Scott Walker is ending much business income taxation, so guess who gets to pay for public services stripped to the bone as CEO's and shareholders are enriched?

Barrett Shows Flaws In Regional Water Pitch; One More Flaw Exposed Here

State Rep. Jeff Stone, (R-Greendale), and Rich Meeusen, the CEO of water-industry leader Badger Meter had written a Journal Sentinel op-ed two weeks ago arguing that a regional water authority, or RWA should be created to push water and aid growth for Waukesha and elsewhere in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Meeusen and Stone focused on:

...resolving the question of how to provide water to the growing community of Waukesha and the economic engine it has become...

The RWA would create economies of scale that would benefit customers in all the communities, and a permanent long-term solution would create a positive environment for economic development moving forward...

We can establish a permanent solution for water service in the region, creating a stable environment for economic development...and we would invite all the mayors of Oak Creek, Waukesha, Franklin and any other impacted communities to come together with us to solve this issue and move our region forward together with shared benefits for all our citizens.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has dissected the Stone-Meeusen proposal with a Journal Sentinel response op-ed today.

Barrett focuses on the Great Lakes Compact - - the 2008 water management and conservation agreement protecting a world-class water resource. The Compact is cooperative with Canada and two of its provinces; Compact standards, goals and procedures are now embedded in US and eight states' laws, including Wisconsin's, from Minnesota to New York State.

In other words, its reach and purposes extend far beyond the mini-region Stone and Meeusen are addressing.

Said Barrett:

This "regional" approach however breaks down when it is held up to the basic requirements of the Great Lakes compact....

The compact makes it clear that diversions outside the basin are generally prohibited.

I have stated many times that I am willing to negotiate an agreement to sell safe, affordable water to the City of Waukesha for use in its current service area. What I am not willing to do is violate the Great Lakes compact by selling Lake Michigan water to communities within Waukesha's proposed expanded service area that have not demonstrated potable water needs.

In addition to reminding Stone and Meeusen that the Great Lakes Compact is not a blueprint for water-driven development, there's a glaring mistake in their op-ed that suggests they are relatively unfamiliar with the Compact, or how it works.

In the second sentence of their op-ed's opening paragraph, Stone and Meeusen say:

It is unfortunate for everyone in the region that we have not yet found a way to solve the issue of providing Lake Michigan water to one of the straddling communities that, under the Great Lakes compact, may be entitled to such water.

No: Under the Compact, Waukesha is not a "straddling community."

Under the Compact, Waukesha is a community in a "straddling county."

It's a big difference, legally and procedurally.

Were Waukesha a straddling community that actually touched the boundary of the Great Lakes basin, its diversion application under the Compact would need only an approval from the State of Wisconsin. No other state could veto it.

That the simpler process which allowed the City of New Berlin, a true straddling community, to get its diversion plan approved by the DNR a few years ago, with Milwaukee the designated seller.

But as a community completely outside the Great Lakes basin - - eligible to apply for a diversion only because the Waukesha County line straddles the basin boundary (no water can be diverted to a county that does not touch the basin boundary) - - the City of Waukesha's diversion application is subject under the Compact to a more rigorous review, and needs, for implementation, the unanimous approval of all eight Great Lakes states.

If Waukesha were only a straddling community - - as was New Berlin - - under the Compact, Waukesha Water Utility piping contractors would no doubt already be laying pipe, as the Waukesha application was written two-and-a-half years ago.

With Waukesha's high-profile diversion application already on the table and a matter of controversy, people proposing an RWA should do their homework about the Compact before suggesting another vehicle to tap the Great Lakes.

Penokee Hills Slide Show

Mine this?

No way.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

The Little Men Who Love Bigger Government

Gimme, gimme, gimme:

Incoming Assembly Speaker Robin Vos will likely enjoy a second Capitol office under a plan that will push Rep. Scott Suder out of the space the majority leader has occupied for more than half a century.

As Vos (R-Rochester), Suder (R-Abbotsford) and others considered how to reallocate office space, they also contemplated installing a spiral staircase in the speaker's office so lawmakers could more easily reach other offices one floor below...

Moving into Suder's office would be aides to Vos. The incoming speaker wants to restructure leadership staff into teams that are to work on policy and communications for all GOP representatives.

Air Pollution Alert For La Crosse County, Too

Along with Dane and Grant Counties today...

[Particle pollution, also called particulate matter or PM, is solid particles or liquid droplets suspended in the air. Exposure to these suspended particles and droplets can cause serious health problems in humans, especially those with respiratory conditions such as asthma and cardiac disease. ]

Advisory for Particle Pollution (Orange)

Start Time:	5:00PM CT Saturday, December 1, 2012
End Time:	11:00PM CT Saturday, December 1, 2012
Counties:	La Crosse

AIR QUALITY INDEX CHART

Air Quality Index (AQI) Values	Levels of Health Concern	Colors
When the AQI is in this range:	...air quality conditions are:	...as symbolized by this color:
0 to 50	Good	Green
51 to 100	Moderate	Yellow
101 to 150	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Orange
151 to 200	Unhealthy	Red
201 to 300	Very Unhealthy	Purple
301 to 500	Hazardous	Maroon

For More Information:

Daily Air Quality Hotline - 1-866-324-5924 (1-866-DAILY AIR)

Managers Set To Award Merit Pay At DNR

Negotiated pay raises for state employees?

Forget that old-timey collective bargaining model because state agency management is getting ready to hand down merit pay to the deserving, with the DNR leading the charge.

DNR employees found out last week through an all-Departmental email from Secretary Cathy Stepp that some merit pay awards for some permanent staffers will be awarded.

Employees can obtain more information through an electronic town hall meeting Monday morning, according to Stepp's email:

Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 12:12 PM
Subject: DNR to award merit pay

Dear Colleagues,

Even in these tight fiscal times, I believe DNR’s highest performing employees should be rewarded with merit pay. I am pleased to announce that DNR will be one of the first Cabinet agencies to award merit pay.

To be successful, the department needs talented and motivated employees who can achieve high performance and productivity. As a result, since we started at DNR, the Secretary’s Office has been working with our HR team to identify pay-for-performance strategies to reward our best employees.

The Department Leadership Team worked together to develop the philosophy, strategy and guidelines for merit compensation:

Staff are awarded for their contributions in a fair and consistent manner;

Managers/supervisors, staff, and HR all have roles in managing merit pay;

Merit is awarded roughly proportional among staff and supervisors, as well as field and central office staff;

Under OSER rules, only permanent classified staff are eligible (e.g. appointed positions are not eligible) for merit;

The focus is on rewarding exceptional performance or results in the three categories described below; and

As promised, we are not going to use the new performance review forms as the basis for merit in this fiscal year).

How we will manage merit this fiscal year

One key review step we will employ in this process is a Merit Review Committee. Comprised of two regional directors, two division administrators, the HR director, and a representative of the Secretary’s Office, this committee is charged with reviewing merit award nominations submitted from the divisions to ensure fairness and consistency. This year’s committee is regional directors Dan Baumann and Jean Romback-Bartels, division administrators Pat Stevens and Paul Delong, a Human Resources representative and Director of the Office of Business Support and Sustainability Al Shea.

We will base merit awards for this round on last fiscal year’s performance and will be bound by the following:

No more than 1% of available salary can be used in total for merit;

While both lump sum and base-building awards will be allowed, the primary emphasis will be on lump sum awards;

Lump sum awards will be minimum of $500 and a maximum of $3,000; and

Very few, if any, base-building awards will be given and will be limited to no more than 4 in-range pay steps to a maximum of $4,000.

We will use a simple Discretionary Merit Compensation Form (DMCF) to document the circumstances that support any merit increase recommendation. You can nominate yourself or supervisors can nominate. The form is available on-line. Here’s how to use it...

Merits will be awarded for excellence in one of the three following categories:

Sustained Superior Performance: Sustained superior performance awards recognize employees who maintain a continuous record of superior performance of all significant duties assigned, is long lasting and exceeds the expectations of position duties.

Special Act or Service/Sustained Superior Performance in a Temporary Capacity: Special act or service awards recognize employees who make a significant contribution to the agency by a one-time, non-recurring act or service, or for excellent execution of sustained temporary duties. Examples include: strong performance of a temporary assignment of duties in addition to employee's regular position, the exemplary handling of an emergency situation, or performance of unusually difficult duties for limited periods of time.

Suggestion or Invention: Suggestion or invention awards recognize employees who identify an improvement that benefits the agency in some material way. The suggestion or invention must have been submitted in writing by the employee and approved in writing by management. Examples include suggestions that: save the department significant fiscal resources, identifies process improvements tied to performance objectives, or identifies measures that improve operational efficiency.

DNR has been given the nod to be one of the first Cabinet agencies to implement merit, and we are using this ability to implement as expeditious a process as possible, so there will be some fairly short turn-around times! In keeping with that, initial recommendations will be due by close-of-business on December 7. Final awards submitted by the committee need to be approved by the Secretary’s Office, and then routed to the Office of State Employee Relations. We anticipate that merit increases will be reflected in the late February or early March, 2013 paychecks.

Before closing, I want to address an area of concern that I think you know I am passionate about: fair treatment of our colleagues who hold Limited Term Employment (LTE) appointments. While I am told that OSER rules, unfortunately, do not allow the provision of merit for LTEs, I want you to know that, within fiscal constraints, I am still committed to recognizing exemplary performance by LTEs. I do not know what form that will take at this time, but I felt it was important to state my intent as we move forward with merit.

We have planned an all-DNR town hall meeting for Monday, Dec. 3 at 10 a.m. You will have the ability to send in questions to me, an HR rep and others. I hope you will plan to participate. Here are the particulars:

Title: December 2012 Secretary Cathy Stepp Town Hall Meeting

Date: Monday, December 03, 2012

Time: 9:50 AM CST

Duration: 1:20:59

Recognizing and rewarding exemplary work is critical to the success of any organization. Please will join me in celebrating the return of merit pay for the first time since 2008. I know that the entire Department Leadership Team believes this a very important tool for the department to be able to recognize and reward the excellence we have within our ranks.

Cathy Stepp
Secretary

Walker Posts Among Most-Downloaded In November Here

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Walker, The John Doe, And the Implications Of Impl...

Nov 21, 2012

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Nov 13, 2012

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Nov 19, 2012

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Remembering Scott Walker's Early Reform Plans

Nov 19, 2012

Dane, Grant Counties Under Polluted Air Alert

Advisory for Particle Pollution (Orange)

Start Time:	10:00AM CT Saturday, December 1, 2012
End Time:	6:00PM CT Saturday, December 1, 2012
Counties:	Dane and Grant

AIR QUALITY INDEX CHART

Air Quality Index (AQI) Values	Levels of Health Concern	Colors
When the AQI is in this range:	...air quality conditions are:	...as symbolized by this color:
0 to 50	Good	Green
51 to 100	Moderate	Yellow
101 to 150	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Orange
151 to 200	Unhealthy	Red
201 to 300	Very Unhealthy	Purple
301 to 500	Hazardous	Maroon