Not A Story From "The Onion" Story: Ron Johnson Wanted To Prevent Filing Of Lawsuits by Childhood Sexual Abuse Victims

Making it harder for young sexual assault victims to sue their perpetrators' employers?

Oooh, too costly, said Johnson in what has been described as his first foray into politics.

Yipes, what a beginning. 

I guess there's a pro-business spin to anything, but who would get up in front of a state legislative panel and find a dollars-and-cents excuse to hurt these victims again?

Talk about an "ick-factor," and who wants that kind of compassionate conservatism in the US Senate?

Curiously, Dan Bice reported it months ago.

No doubt video of his testimony makes it newsier and certainly makes Johnson downright creepy - - and, there's a bonus: we get a look at the beard Johnson had until recently.

We're learning more and more about this guy every day, but let's wait until Tuesday so talk radio can straighten this all out.

Great NY Times Story About UW-Madison, Mindfulness And The Dalai Lama

The school hits the PR jackpot, deservedly.

WUWM Reports On Waukesha's Water Planning, Expansion

A group of people took a tour of Waukesha the other day and heard presentations about the water situation there from a wide variety of speakers.

WUWM tagged along, and the reporter's text and audio are here. 

One note: I'd disagree with the segment's intro that describes the Waukesha water situation as "acute." If it were, regulators a couple of years ago wouldn't have given Waukesha until June, 2018 to fully resolve the situation.

For now, and for years to come, Waukesha has plenty of water and the means to clean it.

Manganese In Madison's Water; A Serious Contaminant

Nothing to mess around with, study says, so good for Madison making its removal a top priority.

Journal Sentinel Features Top-Shelf Architecture Writing

I do miss reading old pal Whitney Gould's work in the Journal Sentinel, but when she took the buyout she told me that Mary Louise Schumacher was going to do really good work on the architecture beat, and Whitney was right.

So enjoy another informative, literate story from Schumacher - - this one about an unusually green new house in Racine.

Brookings Challenges Great Lakes Region To Think Big

This is not the first time - - earlier examples, here and here - - that the Brookings Institution has reminded us that the Great Lakes define the real region that demands out collective attention.

A Special TARP For Waukesha School District - - Thank You, Madison!

Having borrowed and blown more than $15 million to buy $65 million worth of can't miss Wall Street funny money, the too-clever-by-half members of the Waukesha School Board are turning to the Devil itself for a fix- - State Government - - and a refinancing bailout.

It'll work like TARP - - the federal lending program that saved banks from bleeding red ink due to crazy lending practices and investments.

An obscure state agency can help the school board replace the original borrowing by lending it the money at a public, hence discounted, interest rate.

I'm expecting to see a joint release signed by all the small-government/free-market/take-responsibility crowd - - Jim Sensenbrenner, Dan Vrakas,  Ted Kanavas, various radio squawkers. et al - - hailing State Government for rescuung the the Waukesha School District.

There are four other districts in the state facing similar problems, so maybe the state's mini-TARP can grow bigger - - and it might have to, since Milwaukee County accepted Scott Walker's plan to borrow $400 million in order to fund its pension plan.

Who's to say that loan won't need propping up?

Of course, the intended pot-of-gold windfall that the initial Waukesha school board loan had anticipated is gone, pending the outcome of litigation, so perhaps out there in GOP-Land folks are counting on another bogeyman for help - - trial lawyers.

And that's not the end of the the public financing ironies west of 124th St.

The Waukesha Water Utility and Common Council are turning backflips to re-appoint one of the school board members to the utility as it anticipates a borrowing 11 times larger that the school's troubled loan to fund its water supply plan.

Look At The Hoops That Waukesha Will Jump Through To Get An Expert On Its Water Utility

Add three seats to basically appoint the expert and retain as utility commission chairman a long-term Waukesha County power broker.

A compromise?

Yes.

Is the old guard there still alive and kicking despite the April Mayoral election?

Indubitably.

George Meyer's Cautionary Words Well Worth Waukesha's Attention

If the subjects are water, conservation and public policy in Wisconsin, and George Meyer is speaking - - people listen.

Meyer was a veteran official at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and served as its Secretary- - the chief administrator's position - - for eight years before taking over the reins at the statewide Wisconsin Wildlife Federation in 2001.

He's a recognized conservationist with credibility and credentials, so in case you missed it I want to take and italicize for you a sentence or two from George that was included in a water conservation coalition's news release last week about how the DNR is handling Waukesha's still-incomplete Great Lakes water diversion application.

The application was approved by the Waukesha Common Council in April, submitted to the DNR in May, found incomplete, and deficient, and we learned last week still has problems.

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Doing its Job,

DNR again finds Waukesha’s Application for Lake Michigan Water “Incomplete.”

WAUKESHA--... the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) again had to take the unusual step of having to inform the city that its application for Lake Michigan water is still incomplete.

In the letter to Council President Ybarra, the DNR noted that more information is required and “our experience with these types of complex, technical reviews has shown that it is more efficient to make sure we have a complete application before beginning a more detailed review.”  

The [Great Lakes] Compact Implementation Coalition applauds the DNR for taking this action...

"The second decision by DNR that the application is incomplete is very rare and clearly reflects substantial shortcomings in the Waukesha application,” stated George Meyer, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and former DNR Secretary.

"The City of Waukesha should recognize that the DNR is deadly serious in requiring that any application for a diversion of Lake Michigan water fully meet the requirements of the Great Lakes Compact and water quality standards."

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Anyone doubt that the message being sent Waukesha's way by the DNR can be boiled down to - - 'get that application whipped into shape, now!'

Walker's Teflon Thickly Applied By Apologists - - Who Also Get Things Wrong

Scott Walker's persona in County government and on the gubernatorial campaign trail has been marked by trademark finger-pointing and a political shoulder-shrug.

Any problems here? 'Not my doing...somebody else's fault.'

So it's not surprising that this theme has been picked up by one of Walker's leading media excuse-makers, who argues in a piece of sheer partisan propaganda in the Sunday paper that Walker's inaction on developing County-owned land in the downtown Park East Corridor is partially the fault of the former Milwaukee Mayor, John Norquist - who left office in January, 2004.

Though Walker has been slow or absent on following through with the nitty-gritty detailed work managing an urban county, he found time Sunday to wash the other hand through a timely Tweet for the Sunday column:

"As usual, another great column on the economy by Patrick McIlheran: http://ow.ly/1qVP0s about 7 hours ago via HootSuite"

Yes, Norquist pushed for the demolition of the Park East freeway spur, which released the land beneath to the County, but County officials at the time were insistent that the County be in charge of the land's management and development planning.

Norquist, however, opposed setting in place by the County the very community benefits agreement that the County did establish on its land, and which McIlheran also blames - - so, in fact, McIlheran, if he were accurate, would be praising Norquist, not condemning him.

But that doesn't fit the conservatives' bash-Norquist templace; inaccurate simply works better for the Right.

Walker has nothing effective since 2002 to change the County's Park East passivity, and even left the position of county economic development manager vacant for years.

In a bad economy, any property seller has to be creative and aggressive. Inert won't find you many buyers, which explains, in part, why the County has been unable also to unload a $3 million recreational parcel in Franklin for a long time.

And let's remember that it was Walker's mentor, then-Governor Tommy Thompson, who initiated the deal among the city, county and state that included tearing down the freeway spur - - also approved by the regional planning commission (SEWRPC) - - so that a frozen pot of $241 million in federal funds could be thawed and partially invested in the rebuilding of the Marquette Interchange.

The interchange was a top Walker and Thompson highway-project priority in a package that also got the Sixth Street Bridge built, and which will buy the County some new buses and the city a starter, downtown trolley system.

So it is not accurate to say, as does the pro-Walker writer, that Norquist "ordered" the spur be destroyed.

It came after many meetings and approvals by and among city, county and state officials, and as a Norquist aide, I was present at many of those discussions.

No one ordered anything be done, and if you want to complain about the deal then you also have to complain about the Interchange, and the Sixth Street Bridge, and all the development in its wake - - the Harley-Davidson Museum, Canal Street and west through the Valley along a cleaned river and on a new bike trail- - results which Walker has said he likes.

So let's leave it at this: Walker is free to say that he wasn't at the table when Tommy's deal with the city and the county began, but where's the leadership or vision in pouting?

What has he done since as the County Executive - - the top manger - - since 2002 to work with the realities of the Park East corridor?

He has got to stop evading responsibility for County situations, or problems, or their fixes.

His cheerleaders in the conservative echo-chamber should stop enabling their candidate for Governor by blaming people long-gone from the local scene, too.

Ron Johnson Outed As Corporate Welfare Beneficiary

And thanks to readers who keep sending me these interesting Daily Kos posts:

WI-Sen: More federal spending hypocrisy from Johnson

by Joan McCarter

Sat Sep 25, 2010 at 02:46:04 PM PDT

Ron Johnson is emerging as the biggest beneficiary of federal spending among the teabaggy candidates who regularly rail against federal spending. TPM summarizes:

Ron Johnson, who claims "government doesn't create jobs," and who's hoping to unseat Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), has perhaps the longest record of benefiting from government largesse. 

In 1979 a company called Wisconsin Industrial Shipping Supplies, owned by Johnson's brother-in-law, received a $75,000 development grant from the city of Oshkosh to build a rail spur to a plant it was building. One of the conditions of the grant required WISS to hire 11 people in exchange for the funds. Just a few months later, WISS became Pacur -- the company Johnson owns today -- and the factory was opened. 

The factory itself was also built with the help of a $1 million government-issued development bond.
Years later, as president of the board of the Grand Opera House in Oshkosh, Johnson would investigate the possibility of obtaining stimulus money to help pay for theater renovations.

Here's more on that factory-building story.

The Oshkosh plastics factory owned by Republican senate candidate Ron Johnson was built, in part, with the assistance of a $1 million government-issued industrial development revenue bond.... 

According to records provided by the city, the money was loaned to Wisconsin Industrial Shipping Supplies - Pacur's previous name - a company owned by Johnson's brother-in-law.
The funds were used to buy land, construct the building and buy equipment at the new factory, which Johnson said he co-owned on day one. 

Gary Green, a UW professor and economic development expert, says bonds like the ones issued by the city of Oshkosh are widely used.
"The issue seems to be does government create jobs?" he said. "Most economic development professionals across the state see industrial development revenue bonds as the primary tool in which local government can actively try to create jobs in their communities."

So that would fairly objectively rebut Johnson claims that government doesn't create jobs. Government not only creates jobs, but created the very company Johnson owns today.

Right-Wing Money Flow Into Wisconsin Exposed At Daily Kos

Here it is, in toto:

Groups tied to Koch Industries trying to undermine democracy in Wisconsin

by Laurence Lewis

Sat Sep 25, 2010 at 03:48:04 PM PDT

Voters of Wisconsin be warned: organizations affiliated with a pair of out-of-state oil billionaires are attempting to undermine the functioning of your state's democracy. Writing at Think Progress, Josh Dorner of Progressive Media exposes the network of organizations that helped kill a Wisconsin law intended to prevent voter suppression-- a network which not coincidentally overlaps with the people and groups now alleged to have plotted to suppress the Wisconsin vote. And following the money trail points in the direction of the Koch brothers. The entire post is essential reading, but it all boils down to this:

To recap, it appears that a network of Koch-backed groups killed a proposed Wisconsin law to protect voters, which then cleared the way for an overlapping set of Koch-backed groups to move with an alleged voter suppression plan.  What’s more, Koch-funded AFP is currently attempting to further influence the outcome of the election by airing millions of dollars in attack ads targeting Democratic U.S. House and Senate members in Wisconsin and other states.

If you're not yet aware of the Koch brothers, read the chilling exposé by Jane Mayer, in The New Yorker:

The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry—especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers’ corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a “kingpin of climate science denial.” The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies—from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program—that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.

And Frank Rich:

When David Koch ran to the right of Reagan as vice president on the 1980 Libertarian ticket (it polled 1 percent), his campaign called for the abolition not just of Social Security, federal regulatory agencies and welfare but also of the F.B.I., the C.I.A., and public schools — in other words, any government enterprise that would either inhibit his business profits or increase his taxes. He hasn’t changed.

The Koch machine also is a leading financier of climate denialism, which must make sense to oil industry billionaires who clearly don't care about the science of climate change. Of course, ending regulation, taxes, and campaign finance laws would make the brothers effective royalty, with no possible means for those interested in the public good to check their dangerous and rapacious greed. And as Mayer points out, the 1980 Libertarian platform on which David Koch ran for vice president called for the abolition of Social Security and the minimum wage. After all, who cares about the tens of millions of people that rely on one or both when you're a billionaire who doesn't have such a need and apparently doesn't care about the needs of others?
Koch Industries has essentially declared war on the Obama administration. In Wisconsin, Koch-affiliated groups have essentially declared war on democracy. And all Wisconsin voters should know about it. And they should consider why a couple of oil billionaires who are not from Wisconsin seem to want to use any possible means to control Wisconsin's election. And Wisconsin voters should consider why organizations affiliated with these brothers are so determined to defeat Wisconsin Democrats, this November. After all, there is no evidence that these oil billionaires care about the general well-being of the general public, and there is particularly no evidence that they care about the well-being of the people of Wisconsin. But this isn't only about Wisconsin. As Dorner concludes:

If the vast network of Koch-backed groups nationwide is nearly as active as those in Wisconsin appear to be, it appears that the ‘Kochtopus’ may be an even greater threat to the integrity of our democratic process than previously imagined.

And all who care about Social Security, the minimum wage, the environment, the public good, and the very survival of democracy and freedom as we know them are duly warned.

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Saving Land, Open Space In New Berlin

Tip of the hat to these conservationists.

Steve Hiniker, Smart Growth Advocate, Proves Rail Is A Bargain

Nice op-ed by the executive director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin.

He proves that the high-speed train is a good investment.

By the way, you should join that organization, as I have.

It's a good investment.

Site and forms, here.

Stimulus Jobs Disappearing - - Also Giving Lie To Right-Wing Claims

It's a talk radio mantra..."the stimulus didn't create any jobs..." so how come all these stimulus-funded jobs are set to disappear?

Walker Mocked Regional Job Effort - - But Now He Wants Credit

I was surprised to hear Scott Walker in Friday's debate claim credit for job creation, when he stood in front of the Downtown Rotary in 2005 and mocked the new seven-county business and government collaborative designed to bring and keep jobs in the region.


Remember "Lipstick on a pig?"


Glad Tom Barrett remembered.

Here's what I wrote about it back then.

Doesn't Walker know that the Internet has memory? Even if he doesn't?

You can read the Journal Sentinel's reaction at the time - - "exceedingly unhelpful" - - here.

For A "Rookie," Ron Johnson Spins Like A Veteran

Government aid that helped his business was a good thing.

Other government assistance, like stimulus, is bad.

Read more.

A double-standard, and double-talk?

Absolutely.

And for a self-proclaimed rookie, Johnson has his no-comment, no-details schtick polished like a pro.

Walker 'Budgets' Phantom Dollars To Repair Decaying Buildings

Even for Scott Walker- - whose campaign paper on jobs and finances was inflated with phantom pages - - this budgetary sleight-of-hand revealed today is going too far:


Walker is using in his proposed 2011 County budget millions of dollars from two real estate deals that haven't taken place to come up with money to help fix O'Donnell Park and other County buildings found needing repairs.


As described in the Journal Sentinel,. Walker proposes to use $3 million from the sale of a County property in Franklin that is inert in a lousy real estate market, and $5 million from a portion of the already-delayed land deal with UWM at the County Grounds - -  a deal that is contingent on UW system investment and millions more from as-yet unidentified private donors arriving - - perhaps - - after the County budget is approved.


Don't forget: there's been no deferred maintenance on Walker's watch.


And more millions for the repair fund are coming from the cancellation of two so-called aquatic centers, a move the County Board will probably resist, so Walker can, again, claim it is the Board that boosts the budget. 


Neato!

Budgets always use revenue projections, but sound and professional practice errs on the side of caution, and fiscally-conservative estimates - - not magic and Monopoly money.


Betting on complex land deals not consummated involving multiple buyers in a horrible market is truly reckless.


Is this honest governance?


No: more evasion.

Ideology, Fear Cost Brookfield Transit-Oriented Development:

Hoping for development on its eastern border, Brookfield could have used the light rail service killed in the planning stage in 1997 by so-called pro-business leaders like Scott Jensen, Tommy Thompson and Dan Finley.

The Gubernatorial Debate; Barrett Was In Charge

This was a televised exchange, so demeanor counted as much or more than words.

Barrett looked and sounded more organized, confident and informed.

In a word, reassuring, like the seasoned pilot whom you want to see sitting in the captain's seat in the cockpit when you board the plane.

Walker looked more like the junior, second officer.