Tommy Says He Made A Lot Of Money
Tommy tells the Journal Sentinel "I did quite well" in his private sector years.
Nothing else to say but "Mazel Tov."
Background here.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Metro Milwaukee Jobless Crash For African-Americans On Walker's Watch
As reporting shows record joblessness for African-Americans in Metro Milwaukee, can we hear from Scott Walker, current Governor and Milwaukee County Executive from 2002-2010 about that? Can he explain what job development his now-criminally charged economic development point man Tim Russell helped arrange, especially in Park East land Walker sat on for years because he was too stubborn to turn it over to the city's Department of Development for packaging?
I remember a moment during one of the televised debates during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign between Walker and Tom Barrett where Barrett, Milwaukee's Mayor, asked Walker to cite a single job Walker had created in Milwaukee's central city.
Walker had nothing to say, which the data reflects.
John Doe Probe, Criminal Charges, Make Walker Boast Laughable
With more criminal charges apparently coming against Scott Walker insiders and former staffers who worked for him during his Milwaukee County Executive tenure, these lines from a Lakeland Times campaign interview with gubernatorial candidate Walker in September, 2010 sure look silly now:
When he says he believes in government transparency, it's not just a campaign slogan, Walker said "I don't just say that, I've lived it," he said.By the time that interview took place, a shortfall of funds had already been discovered in a veterans fund managed from Walker's office, and Walker had already ignored County ethics' advice to remove the fund from his office and personally it handed to long-time aide Tim Russell, who now stands accused of stealing from it.
Transparency?
Please.
Walker Solicits Wall Street's 1% To Fight Wisconsin's 99%
$2,500 would have gotten you through the door last week to join the former CEO from bailed-out AIG to fete Scott Walker on Park Ave. in New York City help Walker fight a million citizens trying to recall him back home in Wisconsin. The checks got written to "Friends of Scott Walker." Just whom do you think those "friends" are? 61% of Walker donors live out of state, a new study shows.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Mining Bill Spurs Protests
Bad bills have consequences.
Protests are scheduled this week in Madison over the Assembly's pro-industry mining bill - - despite 11th-hour, minimal tweaks - - and little wonder,
Among the phrases the Journal Sentinel editorial board - - which supports the mine - - used in a full-throated screed against the Assembly bill, were:
"...a travesty of legislation...significantly weaken environmental protections...as if children had replaced Republican legislators...dump toxic waste into wetlands and flood plains...allow mining corporations to contaminate the groundwater of neighboring properties...allow mining operations to inflict significant damage to the environment...an act of political cowardice...an insult to the people of northern Wisconsin...
And the Legislature will do to wetlands what the mining bill will do to the Bad River watershed. It's a coordinated attack on people and the waters that belong to them.
Gingrich's Creepy Grandiosity
I don't recall a candidate for high office more in love with the sound of his own voice and more driven by a distorted sense of self-importance than Newt Gingrich - - highlighted by Gingrich's repetitive call for a series of seven, three-hour debates wherein Newt believes he would out-talk and out-shine President Barack Obama.
Gingrich's proposed format would duplicate the structure of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates that helped Douglas, a Democrat, win re-election to a US Senate seat in Illinois in 1858.
Slavery was the debates' dominant topic across the important Midwestern State of Illinois - - and long-winded oratory was more in vogue than in today's Facebook, Twitter and cable TV world - - so 150 years ago those debates made a lot of sense.
But it's painfully laughable that Gingrich thinks contemporary issues, as he sees them, are the moral and political equivalent to slavery, with disunion and war on the horizon, or that he's entitled to command so much of the nation and President's time, or that Gingrich's debating skills - - while substantial and entertaining - - rate the exposure that modern electronic media would inflict on the nation.
For no doubt weeks - - on top of the rest of the campaign.
Granted that politics is an ego-driven profession, and debates are crucial, but Gingrich's proposal - - like so much of his persona - - reflects an out-of-control grandiosity absent even a hint of self-regulation.
This isn't 1858. And there's no way, since Douglas was the incumbent, that Gingrich - - who wants inner city kids to clean their schools' toilets - - gets to play Lincoln on the grandest stage imaginable against "the food stamp President."
Pomposity should have its limits. So should self-parody.
Newt, too.
Hat tip, David Maraniss.
Frank Lasee's US Senate Campaign Finally Earns Media
[Sunday, Jan. 29 update: Lasee drops out.]
State Sen. Frank Lasee is up against better-known rivals in the US Senate race, including Mark Neumann and Tommy Thompson, so getting ink hasn't come easy for the De Pere Republican.
But if any publicity is good publicity, then Lasee's PolitiFact "false" rating for misrepresenting health insurance costs in Wisconsin might be just the PR boost his candidacy has needed.
Like many ideological conservatives, Lasee opposes government spending, but is now well into a second decade of helping himself to it.
He's was elected (official bio) to the Assembly in 1994 and served until 2008. After losing his Assembly seat, Lasee got back to Madison by winning an election to the State Senate in 2010.
He's a government guy winning elections by running against government. No contradiction, apparently.
As a Wisconsin legislator, Lasee has enjoyed years of taxpayer-paid salaries and a variety of benefits - - from health insurance to $75 in tax-free meal and lodging payments for any day during which he reports for work at the Capitol - - but who could tell a Tea Party rally last year (video) in Oshkosh that "government is too big, too expensive...taxes too much..."
Lasee has made news erratically, with opposition to wind farms and hearing aids for kids, but support for armed school personnel were all among previous media wins.
Sykes On Gingrich: No...And Then Some
The conservative talker with the biggest morning audience compiles some links to explain why he's no fan of Newt's.
But will Charlie repeat the great story he told several weeks ago about the few days he spent with Newt in DC when the-then GOP House of Representatives figure was looking for a ghost-writer, and decided to decline Newt's proposal?
Should This DNR Take Over County Wetland And Other Water Programs?
[First posted Saturday, 1/21, 3:49 p.m., revised Sunday, 1/22, 9:52 p.m., reposted for Monday, 1/23, 12:01 a.m.]
Open up the agenda for the upcoming Natural Resources Board meeting, scroll down to "action item 3.B.," and then open the link at # 10 - -
Congress Matters: Wisconsin Conservation Congress 2012 Spring Hearing Advisory Questions (Rob Bohmann, WCC Chair, 20 minutes) Added- - then scroll to items #3-4-5 there, and then after, yes, a laborious search of an arcane agenda for meetings during the working day when citizens can't attend, ask this question:
Do you want this particular DNR management team with its "chamber of commerce mentality" (Scott Walker's phrase) is the right group to obtain consolidated management powers over all 72 counties' existing wetlands, storm water and erosion programs and controls?
And is this the right way to go about it - - with barely a crack of sunlight into the Board's process, and with late additions to the Agenda?
The anti-big government, business-friendly crowd running the show in Madison is all for local control - - except when they are not.
This is the exact language of the proposals, buried as they are in an obscure agenda for a meeting in Madison:
3. Consolidating Jurisdictions for Wetland Management Regulations (requires legislation) Currently, the state of Wisconsin, each of the 72 counties and many incorporated municipalities in Wisconsin have independent wetland protection rules.
All or most local wetland ordinances are versions of a state model ordinance. Because of these overlapping jurisdictions it is often unclear, even within the agencies, who is responsible for a particular wetland.
Applications often need to be made to both the state, each of the 72 counties andall incorporated municipalities and permits are often received from both.
To reduce the number of employees required, and to make the permitting process easier to understand for permit applicants, do you favor the transferring shore land and isolated wetland protection responsibilities to the State of Wisconsin?
4. Consolidating Jurisdictions for Storm Water Management Regulations Currently, the state, many counties and many municipalities within those counties in Wisconsin have independent storm water management rules.
All or most county and local ordinances are versions of a state model ordinance.
Because of these overlapping jurisdictions it is often unclear, even within the agencies, who is responsible for a particular construction site.
To reduce the number of employees required, and to make the permitting process easier to understand for permit applicants, do you favor a consolidation of permit issuance responsibilities so that both the state and county permits are issued by the counties, with the state paying part of the necessary county employee's salary and costs, and with local municipalities having the option for county permit issuance?
5. Consolidating Jurisdictions for Erosion Control Management Regulations
Currently, the state, many counties and many municipalities within those counties in Wisconsin have independent construction site erosion control rules.
All or most county and local ordinances are versions of a state model ordinance.
Because of these overlapping jurisdictions it is often unclear, even within the agencies, who is responsible for a particular construction site. Duplicate applications, and permits from both the state and the county are almost always required.
To reduce the number of employees required, and to make the permitting process easier to understand for permit applicants, do you favor a consolidation of permit issuance responsibilities so that both the state and county permits are issued by the counties, with the state paying part of the necessary county employee's salary and costs, and with local municipalities having the option for county permit issuance?
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Tavern League Favors Iron Mine Bill
The Tavern league of Wisconsin has taken a position in favor of the water-rights killing Assembly iron mining bill.
What the heck does the position in the group's filings bring to the table?
There are plenty of mine backers already seated there, says the Ashland Current.
The mining company itself used nine lobbyists in 2011, records show, including employees, established lawyers, and firms.
Seriously - - mining and drinking?
I don't get it.
The "Save Walker's Bacon" Rally Only Drew 1,000 People
OK - - to be precise, "more than 1,000," says the authoritative AP.
But not "thousands."
The way the Journal Sentinel covered it Saturday, with breathless speech-by-speech Newswatch coverage - - "'If we let Scott Walker go down our country is going down,'" [Glenn] Grothman said,'" - - instead of a summary story, you'd have thought the pro-Walker crowd had approached the size of at least a modest anti-Walker 2011 rally at the Capitol, in a smaller county, without a Wauwatosa-style 'All-Star Lineup.'
Nope. Not even if you say the Wauwatosa Patch's crowd estimate of a whopping 3.000 was accurate.
Today the Journal Sentinel says the crowd was "large," while a photo caption says "a couple thousand," giving the estimates a certain je ne sais quois quality, and free of statistical offense.
Note that in February in Madison there were two anti-Walker rallies with official estimates of at least 70,000, and another in March of at least 85,000.
Now that's "large."
A Taxing Performance; Romney Fails Campaigning 101 And Authenticates Newt Gingrich
Every politician, every office-holder, every candidate knows the first rule of life in the fish bowl:
Never Create A Second-Day Story
The corollary being:
Get Ahead Of Bad News, Take Control And Move On
Mitt Romney has repeatedly broken this cardinal principle of self-preservation by withholding, caviling, parsing, waffling and otherwise looking dense and making trouble for himself over releasing his tax returns, and now, finally agreeing to let loose of last year's - -but not until Tuesday.
Further stumbling.
Even if his 2010 returns show huge tax payments, a hefty effective percentage and massive charitable donations, the selection of just last year's paperwork begs questions like, "why now?," and "what about returns for 2009, '08, '07, etc?"
For which there are no good answers.
Second-day stories? Make that second-week. At a minimum.
In the Year of the Protester, Occupy Wall Street, the Walker Recall and other grassroots movements and media worldwide against powerful elites and their privileges, Romney chose to behave more like the Bain Capital CEO and less like a seasoned politician connecting with regular people.
He and Walker have shown their arrogance, and self-destructive distance from people, so are paying their pipers.
Walker has triggered an historic recall threatening to boot him from office. His shortcomings are fully exposed.
And how bad a politician is Romeny, setting aside his history of flip-flops from GOP moderalte to Tea Party panderer?
So bad that Romney allowed himself to be defined and brutally out-maneuvered by a cartoonish, over-the-hill and deeply-flawed Newt Gingrich.
Romney is a former Governor, and has been running for President the last seven years. But his performance on something as basic as releasing tax returns and why that was important proves he couldn't win an election for 10th-grade class treasurer.
Mess With The Wisconsin Retirement System? Welcome To A Hornet's Nest
My advice to the GOP - - that would be the Grand Overreach Party: Go right ahead.
Newt On Food Stamps And Race
Chris Matthews is right. Gingrich is using insensitive and racist language to attack President Obama as the food stamp President.
Gingrich should immediately stop attacking white people, as Bloomberg reports:
About 34 percent of food-stamp recipients are white, while 22 percent are African Americans and 16 percent Hispanic, with the rest being Asian, Native American or those who chose not to identify their race, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Rob Henken Explains Region's Transit 'Plan'
Once upon a time, Milwaukee had $289 million to spend on transit.
Then talk radio and Waukesha County got involved.
Rob Henken brings us up to date.
Puts Walker's forfeiture of even more Amtrak money into perspective, doesn't it.
Economically, we're being railroaded.
"They" Should Do Their Dishes, Stop Buying Fancy TV's, Shoes
Rebecca Kleefisch, the woman who is now Wisconsin's Lt. Gov., (and who is married to a state legislator making them a two-income public employee household), is seen in this 2010 video explaining that, as a journalist, she saw biased media produce stories pushing big government solutions and sympathy for poor people who'd chosen to buy flat-screen TV's and brand-name shoes instead of dish detergent or roach traps.
Those people...
I'd say Kleefisch earned her way on to that recall ballot.
Hat tip, Xoff.
Look For Walker To Back Mine In State Of State Speech Wednesday
With six straight months of job losses on his permanent record, and management of the state like a failing business, look for Scott Walker to take a few minutes out of his re-election posture during his State of the State speech Wednesday to push the special-interest driven iron ore mining bill awaiting an Assembly vote Thursday.
He'll tie it into support for companion plans to deregulate Wisconsin's wetlands, allowing for fewer hearings, less public input and faster fills of what the State Constitution defines in the Public Trust Doctrine as public property.
The scheduling of the mining bill's consideration in the Assembly and the State of the State speech the same week is not a coincidence. That's how a ruling party uses its power and incumbencies to play the game - - and in the case of these right-wing Republican radicals, how policy payoff is managed.
The timing of the vote and the speech will allow Walker to shift the focus away from the embarrassing job losses in our "open for business" [Sic] state to the creation of jobs that might be had at the Ashland mine someday - - despite inevitable legal and environmental delays in what is shaping up as a classic battle by the 99% against the ruling 1%.
Walker will not talk about the Assembly bill's many legal and environmental flaws, the damage it will do to an entire watershed and the Bad River Band's wild-rice cultivation and cultural integrity.
He'll also tout as a personal victory his role in luring a small airplane plant to choose Superior over a site in Maine - - but will not dwell on the need for more than $100 million in state subsidies that originate nearly entirely with the evil Obama/Big Federal administration, or the highly-speculative, boom-and-bust nature of the small-plane, corporate-flying SUV business.
$112 million total, according to this estimate.
Is This The Right Time To Subsidize A Line Of Small Planes?
More than $100 millions in state subsidies to build a line of new, small planes aimed aat corporate buyers? Let's hope Walker hasn't given away the store to outbid Maine for the airplane venture.
And isn't ironic that Walker is relying on federal tax credits - - take a bow, Obama - - to seal the deal?
For the record, let's archive these quotes from a business publication:
“We’re talking 600 new jobs,” Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said at the
morning announcement at Richard I. Bong Municipal Airport...
“Six-hundred is a reasonable number and we hope to eventually have
even more,” said Kestrel chairman and CEO Alan Klapmeier, who also
co-founded Duluth-based Cirrus Aircraft.
At the 2010 EAA show in Oshkosh, Klapmeier is seen in this video was praising Maine and officials there for making him a deal that was supposed to launch his new plane's construction there.
What Was Most-Read Here Last Week
Here were the top five posts. The fifth-place post had the most comments. Thanks to the readers.
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