In a comment on this blog, Dohnal said, “Sullivan will be gone before then and (Tom) Reynolds will be swept back into office“.

Former State Senator Tom Reynolds of West Allis was ousted by Sullivan in a tough race which brought Reynolds eccentricities and extreme positions to light. This past November was not kind to neo-cons like Reynolds who were running for re-election.

How is one to take Dohnal’s comment other than to look at the way he and his crew have acted over the past several years. As a booster for the Republican fringe group, Citizens for Responsible Government, Dohnal was a supporter of recalls against democrats in the past. How else could Sullivan be gone before a smoking ban would be voted upon. For that matter, a recall isn’t even legal until a year after a person is elected. For Dohnal to suggest that Sullivan won’t be in office could mean he’s got even nastier tricks up his sleeve than the threat of recall.

This isn’t the first time that Dohnal has exercised his slimy political muscles. This past fall, Dohnal attempted to claim that Sullivan voted twice in an election — once in Whitefish Bay, and once in Wauwatosa. The problem was that it wasn’t true and Dohnal knew it. Jim Sullivan Jr. voted in Wauwatosa, while his father, Jim Sullivan SR. voted at his home in Whitefish Bay.

We’ve written in the past that Sullivan should sue Dohnal for his distortions. If Sullivan wants to end the slimy politics that were used against him, he needs to take action. To do any less would imply that he’s not a fighter and politician who’s not up for a fight should look for other work.

State Senator Tom Reynolds term ends tomorrow as his successor, Jim Sullivan, is sworn in.

The problem is that Reynolds checked out of the Capital right after the election and hasn't been seen since.  Did Reynolds turn back the paychecks he's been receiving since his November loss?

Nope.

Unlike other Senators who continued to work despite their impending unemployment, Reynolds has simply chosen to suck off the golden teat of government.  What was that thing that Republican bloggers were saying about Reynolds?  Something about wanting more efficient government?

I guess they forgot to mention that they favor Reynolds getting a two month paid vacation.

There is also a lesson to be learned from Tom’s conduct during this campaign.  When you disappear from debates with lame excuses, you gain no respect.  When you stuff our mailboxes with lies and innuendo, you simply reinforce your lack of credibility.  Moreover, when you threaten constituents exercising their First Amendment rights with lawsuits, you strengthen their resolve.  

Finally, surround yourself with angry and unsavory advisors and you will reap derision, ridicule and scorn.  

The Reynolds campaign has become the play-book of every conceivable stunt capable of alienating the big fat middle.    

Jim Sullivan’s election to the 5th Senate District had everything to do with Sullivan cultivating his base while reaching out to moderate Republicans and independents.  

Sullivan demonstrated a reasoned and insightful interest in the views of the voters.  He showed strength of character when Reynolds could only demonstrate cowardice.  His campaign manager never called us names; instead he asked for our opinions.  
 
The extremists of the Republican Party need to know that moderates and independents are not going to sit back, shut-up and be taken for granted when ineffectual, unresponsive and insipid individuals are dressed-up and strutted-out as leaders.  It will never work.

Keep it up and keep losing elections.

###

Tom Gaertner is a contributing writer for Watchdog Milwaukee.  He lives in Wauwatosa. 

For me, as a long term West Allis resident, there are reasons never discussed as to why this Talibanista should not be reelected. Tom Reynolds is neither a participant nor a member of the broader West Allis community. West Allis is his hometown. Everyone is reminded of this when we see (and cringe) "R-West Allis" after his name.

In my years of living here, through good or bad, but always as a participant in the community of West Allis, I have never seen Reynolds associated with any of our organizations, service clubs or schools. Has he contacted the Downtown Improvement Association to learn abut their activities, achievements or participated in their "Main Street" activities? (Their Trick or Treat on Greenfield Avenue was wonderful and their Xmas Stroll on Greenfield Avenue is as wholesome as Reynolds’ Ice Cream Social fundraisers.) Did Reynolds ever attend parent/teacher conferences or open house when his son attended a West Allis high school? Is he aware that West Allis Charities gives grants to needy citizens in the community as well as sponsoring Western Days and the Christmas Parade? (Outside of Milwaukee, West Allis is the only municipality in Milwaukee County that still has a Christmas Parade!)

Sen. Reynolds walks in the Fourth of July Parade and the Western Days Parade. Big Deal! But did he bother to participate in any of the organizing committees? Did he contribute to the soon-to-be renovated Centennial Plaza? The Historical Society? West Allis Players? Block Watch? Old Timers Baseball? CAAD? No surprise to anyone, No and NEVER!

And that’s not the worst of it. West Allis is entering potentially critical times. Sen. Reynolds is disengaged and isolated from the core issues that West Allis, as a community, faces in the coming years.

West Allis is a first-tier suburb, landlocked and no longer a manufacturing powerhouse. As Milwaukee gentrifies, the crucial issues plaguing the city can shift to first tier suburbs like West Allis. Fortunately, West Allis still retains assets for restorative development. The development of the old Allis-Chalmers site is a strong example. The homes are well-maintained, reflect pride of ownership and respect for neighbors and neighborhoods. We also have citizens, civic organizations, neighborhood associations, businesses and local governmental units committed to helping this city toward rejuvenation while meeting the social and fiscal challenges ahead.

Working together as individuals and organizations is essential to the future of West Allis. The alternative is a rust-belt model. Tom Reynolds has never demonstrated, by personal commitment or in four years in the State Senate, that he can function in an innovative, cooperative and entrepreneurial manner for the benefit of West Allis. He has no appreciation or concept.

Witness his support for diverting Lake Michigan water to Waukesha! He is clueless. If politics are local, Tom Reynolds truly is from Saturn.

Never mind the sleaze. If he wins, it will be sad. We deserve better.

Theodore Roosevelt created our unparalleled collection of wildlife refuges and national parks.  It was Republican administrations that signed into law the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and established the Environmental Protection Agency and created the Conservation Reserve Program.

To paraphrase the mission statement of Republicans for Environmental Protection: 

Nothing is more conservative than conservation. True conservatives safeguard the resources on which the health, recreation, and economic prosperity of present and future Americans depend. There is nothing conservative, and certainly nothing wise, in squandering our wildlife, wilderness, wetlands, and other natural treasures.

Regrettably, Senator Reynolds has never come close to meeting that standard.  Reynolds has made evident his contempt for science and demonstrated that he would dismantle these protections at every opportunity.  He is not some sort of “Libertarian Conservative” as his supporters would portray him.  Rather, he is an obsessive, extremist ideologue with a very narrow personal agenda.   He has proven himself callously indifferent to his rather sizeable constituency who value wildlife, outdoor recreation and natural resources.  

I was encouraged by some interesting factoids in the organization’s report.  The average Senate score increased from 46% in 2003-2004 to 62% in 2005-2006.  Of the 33 members of Wisconsin’s Senate, 2 voted to protect clean air, clean water, and sporting opportunities 100% of the time.  42% of the Senate membership received scores of 80% or higher.  

Stunningly, State Senator, Tom Reynolds, holds the Senate’s lowest score – 22%.  That is unacceptable.  

Just as he scored dead-last in the Wisconsin Professional Police Association’s Legislative Report Card, the Senator has effortlessly managed to score dead last with voters who place a high value on simple matters like clear air and water and outdoor recreational activities like hunting and fishing.  What is this, a race to bottom?

The Senator’s pandering to a small extreme right-wing minority and interference in superfluous stuff like the sexual orientation of his constituents has had the sad result of essential matters of good governance left neglected.  With two consecutive failing report cards, maybe the senator should be flunked.

That my senator (representing a district largely devoid of piers) would favor the special interests of developers and a small minority of shoreline property owners over the interests of his vastly larger constituency of mainstream outdoor sports enthusiasts contradicts the outdoorsy image he has been struggling to cultivate.  Equally, it is disingenuous to feign sincerity while hiding behind the pretext of protecting “private property rights” when this particular class of private property encroaches upon the state’s public waterways.  Primacy of the public’s right to use and enjoy the state’s waterways is always paramount.

Tom Reynolds is no friend of anyone who fishes and recreates on the public waterways.

The vast majority of the public supports protections for rare and endangered plants and animals.  Yet, if State Senator Tom Reynolds has his way, a dangerous precedent will be set for protections to be removed to benefit political contributors.  In the future no endangered or threatened plant or animal will have a chance since they can’t make campaign donations like the developers supporting Reynolds.

Reynolds’ indifference to science and penchant for catering to the whim of a special interest group is a serious source of frustration to us outdoors folks who hike, camp, fish, or hunt, and place a high value on wildlife and natural resources.

As a member of the legislature’s Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules, Reynolds wants to remove ("delist") the Butlers Garter Snake from the state’s list of threatened species.  At first glance you might think, big deal, it’s only a snake.  Yet only a couple of generations ago, the bald eagle was just another scavenging bird.

The fact is that this would be the first time in the United States that a threatened or endangered species would be delisted for political reasons rather than for a scientific reason.  That’s a pretty big deal.

The bald eagle, America’s icon of freedom and liberty, was once a species almost driven to extinction and I am grateful that someone had the moral fiber to protect the eagle and allow it to recover.  Wouldn’t you rather see more critters than another ugly strip mall?

Characterizing Sen. Reynolds as a snake would be an affront to the reptile species.  He's made it quite clear that he is no friend of sportsmen and outdoor enthusiasts.

The original records, stored on a computer system called VOTER, had multiple errors and was run on an antiquated system.  Ledesma never changed the original records. 

Still, Reynolds allies Bob Dohnal and Stan Zurawski are expected to may hay over nothing.  Despite an investigation which clearly required thousands of dollars to investigate, Dohnal is not happy.  The problem is not that an investigation was done — the problem for Dohnal is that it did not come out as he had hoped.

Dohnal was unsuccessful in the end in his effort to smear Ledesma.  The question now is, will the mainstream media expose Team Reynolds for their smear tactics or will they allow them to get away with them.

Lewis Rosser, campaign manager for State Senate candidate Jim Sullivan, chimed in saying "clearly this is another of Tom Reynolds' vain attempts to distract from his record of extremism and failure".

For the full 17 page document, click here. 

I patiently pointed out to the Senator that property owners who feed deer and hunters placing bait for deer give rise to a host of negative consequences.  Putting out piles of food alters the natural movement patterns of deer.  Supplemental feeding contributes to an overpopulation of deer stressing the carrying capacity of the land leading to over-browsing and loss of natural habitat. Conflicts created by hunters who bait between those that do not, has ruined hunting in some areas of the State.  The biggest negative is the significant number of diseases that are easily transmittable to deer by their congregation at artificial food sources.

Reynolds surprised me with his casual indifference and dismissal of the foregoing and eagerness to promote baiting and feeding.  I was told that none of this was “sufficiently compelling” to change his mind.

Reynolds was unconvinced by surveys confirming a majority of deer hunters favored deer baiting and feeding bans.  He was unmoved by the fact that every deer hunting organization in Wisconsin supported the Department of Natural Resources on the baiting and feeding ban, as well as the Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, Conservation Congress Executive Board, and the Farm Bureau Federation.  

Recognition by the DNR, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Canadian Government and the overwhelming majority of wildlife biologists in the world that CWD is spread by these practices was all lost upon the Senator.

Instead of embracing the best science available, Tom Reynolds chose to side with the moneyed interests who would prefer to turn resource management over to politicians.  

Today, Reynolds and his cohorts are routinely dismissive of Wisconsin’s independent citizen Conservation Congress, the Natural Resources Board, hunting and conservation organizations and the science of game management.  They follow the money and do the will of lobbyists representing non-hunting interests.  As for the baiting issue, from 2004 to 2005 baiting violations in Wisconsin increased 47 percent.  Illegal baiting is now the leading violation reported by game wardens.  

Tom Reynolds is no friend of hunters; he is an imposter, a sheep in wolf’s clothing.

Dr. Frank Urban, a Republican and former State Representative who represented a Brookfield assembly district for over 10 years, has endorsed Sullivan.  This is likely a product of Sullivan's moderation as well as his common sense approach to health care.  Sullivan supports health care reform which includes universal risk pools, cost containment and requires the buy in of both industry leaders and consumers.  As a health care attorney, Sullivan represented hospitals, clinics and physician groups.

Sullivan can now count two former Republican Mayors among his supporters.  Maricolette Walsh, former Mayor of the City and Kate Bloomberg, former Mayor of Brookfield, have both endorsed Sullivan. Bloomberg said, "we think (Sullivan) brings excellent qualifications to the job, and we think this is a very important time in the life of this state to put qualified people in that office and we think Jim Sullivan is that person."  Walsh points out that she's not abandoning Republicans — her front yard still sports the sign of other Republicans but she's also proud to be able to sport a Sullivan sign.

### 

Links:  Brookfield Now: Bloomberg, Urban Back Democrat – Former mayor and state rep, both Republicans, call Reynolds an "embarrassment"

JSOnline: Sullivan a Strong Pick 

— 

The following Mayors support Sullivan

Tom Barrett, Mayor of Milwaukee
Jeanette Bell, Mayor of West Allis
Jim Benz, Former Mayor of Wauwatosa
Kate Bloomberg, Former Mayor of Brookfield
Theresa Estness, Mayor of Wauwatosa
Ron Hayward, West Milwaukee Village President
Michael Neitzke, Mayor of Greenfield
Jim Ryan, Hales Corners Village President
Maricolette Walsh, Former Mayor of Wauwatosa 

A reader, commenting on our coverage of last week's 5th state Senate District debate, raised the question on the minds of many voters as they consider the strong challenge 'Tosa alderman Jim Sullivan is giving quacky Republican Senator Tom Reynolds: "How did Reynolds get elected to begin with?"

A look at the 2002 election that sent Reynolds to the Legislature reveals that residents of Milwaukee County cannot be held responsible. Reynolds lost the Milwaukee County portions of the district to economic development specialist George Christenson (25,462 to 25,428).

But thanks to some clever gerrymandering by the Legislature's controlling Republicans, the 5th Senate District included for the first time in 2002 wards outside of Milwaukee County.  After the 2000 Census, 16 wards of Brookfield and Elm Grove were added to SD 5's northwest Milwaukee/West Allis/Wauwatosa base. No matter how far out Reynolds' takes on important issues are, he crushed Christenson in Brookfield and Elm Grove, where he took home 71% of the vote and collected his margin of victory. The final tally: Reynolds 53% to Chrisenson's 47%.

How much did SD 5 change? Before redistricting, SD 5 contained thirty Milwaukee wards. Now there are 21. The 18 wards on the north side of SD 5, including two 'Tosa wards, were lopped off and the district pushed west into Waukesha County and south to include all of West Allis and West Milwaukee. Had Reynolds and Christenson run against each other in the old 5th District, Christenson wins.

The overt gerrymandering strategy of state Republicans has been to carve away at Democrats' Milwaukee stronghold while maintaining safe seats in the area. The notion in SD 5 was to make life difficult for Democrat David Cullen, whose Assembly District 13 was for a decade comprised entirely of SD 5's thirty Milwaukee wards. The gerrymandering gave Cullen the eastern half of 'Tosa (where County Executive Scott Walker lives) and five West Milwaukee wards to go along with 19 Milwaukee wards — but he kept winning.

The GOP did create a safe Assembly seat out of the west subdivisions in 'Stallis and 'Tosa and the Brookfield-Elm Grove 'burbs. But in giving away 13 of 'Tosa's 24 wards — 11 to Cullen and the two north wards to the 4th Senate District (Lena Taylor) and the 12th Assembly District (Fred Kessler) — Republicans gave the Dems a firm foothold in the birthplace of the John Birch Society.

Along the way, 'Tosa lost its popular, moderate state Senator, Republican Peggy Rosenzweig, now a regent on the UW System Board.

Prior to running against Rosenzweig in the 2002 GOP primary Reynolds' previous claims to fame were printing radical religious materials and twice losing big to Congressman Jerry Kleczka. Rosenzweig had bucked the party on the takeover of MPS, cosponsored bipartisan health care initiatives, voted pro-choice and even cosponsored bipartisan campaign finance reform legislation. In 2002, the hardliners in her party backed Reynolds and went after her in the primary.

Still, Rosenzweig might have survived were it not for Tom Barrett. In 2002, the likeable west sider was making his bid for governor; and on Milwaukee's west side and in east 'Tosa, many of Barrett's moderate voters were also Rosenzweig voters. Then-GOP Senate leader Mary Panzer, in an interview with Wispolitics.com after the 2002 election, estimated that Rosenzweig lost 2,000 voters to the Democratic Primary and Barrett.

"People wanted to vote for both, but they couldn't," Panzer said, noting that Barrett and Rosenzweig carpooled to Madison together in the 1980's when both served in the Assembly.  (Ironically, Panzer would meet a fate similar to Rosenzweig's two years later as the GOP continued to sweep the moderates from its house).

Rosenzweig lost to Reynolds by 971 votes, 53.7% to 46.3%, despite beating Reynolds in Brookfield and Elm Grove. The total number of votes cast in the Republican primary was relatively low for the high turnout 5th — only 10,555 compared to 16,036 cast for unopposed Christenson. This lends some credibility to Panzer's theory.

For Wauwatosa, Tuesday Nov. 7 is a chance to elect one of their own, Jim Sullivan, and reclaim the political power lost when the city was carved up after the 2000 Census. The 'Tosa alderman can expect to win the Milwaukee County vote by a larger margin than Christenson did, but to come out on top, he has to win the trust of voters in the western subdivisions of 'Tosa and 'Stallis and in Brookfield and Elm Grove.

If Sullivan does this, Nov. 7 becomes a referendum on whether the hardliners controlling the state Republican Party — by squeezing an out-to-lunch, bible belting home-schooler through the 2002 primary back door — have proven themselves out of touch with the suburban voters they claim to champion.

His bizarre understanding of things has got to confuse even his most strident supporters.

Amnesty for Out of Wedlock Mothers 

When asked what he would do to improve safety in public schools and guard our children against violence, Reynolds said "society produces dysfunctional kids" and his "staff is drafting a bill to provide an amnesty program for women who have children out of wedlock".

Those were his words.  "Amnesty."

We're not quite sure what he meant but we do know that if women got married under the Reynolds plan, they would get a bonus or some sort of benefit from the marriage.  If you don't get married, there would be a penalty.  Who are the people Reynolds believes need this amnesty?  "Those women … who live on the north side of Milwaukee."  (which is primarily African-American)

No Child Left Behind

As Reynolds understands the law, "school districts can opt out of no child left behind requirements".

Not only is Senator Reynolds completely mistaken in this assertion, but the question has to be asked, does Reynolds think that schools actually have the option to opt out of requirements?  The plan is called "no child left behind," not "some children left behind if the school district doesn't want to follow the law."

School Choice and Education

Everyone knows that when a child goes into the school choice program, funding that would have otherwise been spent toward the education of that child were he or she in public school are directed to the choice school.

Responding to a Legislative Audit Bureau report, Reynolds actually said "the school choice programs free up more dollars for public schools."

Unfortunately for Senator Reynolds and for public schools, quite the opposite is true.  But why would a senator not understand the basics of school choice?  He said, "this issue is a little blurry for people."  Clearly it as only blurry for Reynolds tonight.

Reynolds said he supports 2/3rds funding for public schools.  Yet, in the 2003 budget he voted against 2/3rds funding.

Now he is "open" to repealing the QEO and revenues caps.  Reynolds then referred to the QEO as part of a funding mechanism.  (Does he even understand what the QEO is?)  In case he doesn't understand it, and since we know his main strategist reads Watchdog Milwaukee, we'll educate him.  A QEO is an acronym for Qualified Economic Offer.  Teachers may work without a contract but cannot strike in Wisconsin.  Districts which claim they've tried to reach an agreeable contract with the teachers may force teachers into a QEO which means the teachers do what the district says they're going to do or they can quit.  In other words, teachers must take it or leave it.

Tom Reynolds: Works and plays well with others?

During the debate, Reynolds claimed that he has the "most bipartisan voting record in the senate."

Facts don't bear out his claim.  Reynolds voted with Republican leadership 90% of the time.

### 

The debate was taped for West Allis Public Access on Time Warner Cable.

Now State Senator Tom Reynolds is alluding that his challenger, Wauwatosa Jim Sullivan of having ties to convicted felon and former State Senator Gary George.  But Watchdog Milwaukee broke the story on how it was Tom Reynolds, not Jim Sullivan, who donated $500 to the campaign to beat back George's recall.

But this piece of campaign literature from Reynolds gets even stranger.

Reynolds has taken a cue from spiced rum character Captain Morgan.

Argh Matey!

To say that Reynolds is drunk with power may be an understatement.  With his leg cocked in a Captain Morgan style pose, Reynolds is using the State Capitol dome as a foot rest.  Reynolds and Captain Morgan aren't the only ones who are known for lifting their legs.

 It could be said that Morgan was staking his claim, or perhaps marking his territory.   But was Reynolds actions more those of someone who was coveting something they treasured, as Morgan would have treasured his rum, or treating the capitol more as something that he owned, much like a dog marks his territory.

We can only surmise from Reynolds anti-government attitudes and votes that it's the latter.

UPDATE: Milwaukee Rising has an interesting posting from the Business Journal describing Reynolds as a Printer for Christ. 

Last week, Reynolds had a law firm send a threatening letter to blogger Gretchen Schuldt of the blog Milwaukee Rising.  Schuldt's alledged crime?  Daring to question why the quirky Reynolds would be paying his utility bills with cash collected in his campaign.

If that wasn't enough attention drawn to his own heavy handed approach to politics, Reynolds political hit man, Bob Dohnal is now threatening Watchdog Milwaukee.  But like Schuldt, we won't be intimidated.

Reynolds still hasn't answered the questions he needs to answer and neither have his flacks.

If Reynolds had simply billed for printing services, writing himself a check would have been much clearer.  Billing for print services as well as utility bills just looks like skimming.  Is Reynolds suggesting that he undercharged for the printing so he needed to cover his print costs with the itemization for the utility bills?  Isn't that just a bit more than odd to itemize those costs out?  And how does Reynolds separate out the time he's spending printing anti-Catholic leaflets for his pal, Pastor Ralph Ovadahl who called Pope John Paul II a "minister of Satan"?  (Incidentally, Reynolds says he only prints for groups/people he agrees with so we can safely assume Reynolds believes the late Pope was a "minister of Satan".)

###

Update: Gretchen Strikes Back! and Gretchen takes Reynolds Attorney to task

Amusing Link:  The Business Journal: Candidate Reynolds; Printer for Christ 

Wisconsin State Senator Tom Reynolds answered that question — shoot the messenger.

This week, Reynolds had his attorney draft a threatening letter to former Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporter turned blogger, Gretchen Schuldt.  Schuldt's crime, according to Reynolds that is, was that she dared to question why Reynolds was using cash from his campaign account to pay for utility bills.  We all have to pay our own utility bills but it appeared that Reynolds didn't believe he had to.

It's all a misunderstanding Reynolds claimed.  He says the bills are for a building which houses his personal printing business.  During campaign season, or so he says, he uses the press to print his own campaign materials.  In off-season he only bills a portion (or so he says) of the cost of the building.

Schuldt, a constituent of Reynolds, said in an interview with Journal-Sentinel reporter Anyssa Johnson, "this is an attempt to intimidate a constituent".

But the story gets richer.  Reynolds and his apologist Bob Dohnal (who doubles as a political hitman) claim that Reynolds was required to take the money because the printing building and Reynolds home are used for the campaign.  Yes that's right — Dohnal actually said Reynolds took the money to stay in compliance with the law.  I guess that makes nearly every other person who has ever run for political office who didn't take money for their utility bills a scofflaw or by Dohnal's logic, a crook.  Yes, lining your own pockets with the cash from your contributors, all of whom likely have to pay their own utility bills, makes Reynolds a better person and somehow a cleaner politician.

A crazy side note in this whole drama is that Reynolds also uses that printing building to print materials for a fringe evangelical Pastor friend of his, Ralph Ovadahl.  Ovadahl is the Pastor who outraged Catholics and many Christians by calling the late Pope John Paul II a "minister of Satan."  So how does Reynolds calculate the amount of time he's using the building for printing campaign materials versus the amount of time he's using to print materials calling the Pope a "minister of Satan"? 

Now mind you, this claim against Schuldt from Team Reynolds is from the same people who made bogus claims just last month that they knew were lies about Reynolds opponent, Wauwatosa Alderman Jim Sullivan.  Dohnal knew his claims were a lie.  Reynolds knew the accusations were bogus also.  Even Republican talk show host Mark Belling said he didn't believe the accusations.  Yet they still threw those accusations out there in their mudslinging campaign.

Reynolds claims about Sullivan were libelous and without merit just as his claims that Schuldt libeled him are without merit. 

Perhaps Reynolds is looking for a way to recover some of the damages he's likely incur if Sullivan sues him for libel. 

State Senator Tom Reynolds would likely want us to think that he wasn't colluding with the Michigan-based special interest group "All Children Matter" but one look at the campaign piece the pro-voucher group mailed recently and you know that claim wouldn't hold water.

Pictured on the inside is Reynolds talking with two women and a man.  (Presumingly about what a great guy they think he is.)  They're tight — as in tight enough to show every single one of them without gaps between them.  These people aren't just close — they're touching.  It's a fairly common pose that's used in campaign material but the photographer always has to tell the people to squeeze in a little closer.  Normal people don't talk to each other with shoulders that are nearly touching. The posed photo was either set up and paid for by All Children Matter, or it's a Reynolds campaign photo. 

As for the message, it's a lauding of Reynolds backed up with vague language.  For instance, this group says Reynolds is "working for better schools" and that he supports "educational options".  The only way this can be true is if you think that parents (including Reynolds) who choose to home school their children deserve a fat tax break.  If you think that Reynolds should benefit from a tax break he clearly authored to benefit himself then I suppose you could claim that he's working for schooling on some level.

But the piece isn't taking that approach.  There's no mention of how it will benefit Reynolds himself.  There's no mention of how Reynolds operates on what appears to be a universe of only himself and a few friends.  There's no mention of how he uses his campaign funds to pay his personal utility bills.  No, there's no mention of how padding your own pocket with home school legislation and your utility bills with campaign funds isn't exactly kosher.

In a questionaire he returned to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, Reynolds said he would push for the increase.

Reynolds handlers need to remind the Senator that he's fighting an uphill battle in a tough election year for republicans.  Reminding voters right before an election that he's planning to stick it to the poor and elderly is exactly what democrats have been saying about republicans.  So rather than take the normal politicians course of hiding this sort of thing until after the election, Reynolds does exactly what the dems are saying about republicans.

This bodes poorly for the embattled Reynolds.

The irony here is that Reynolds is the beneficiary of campaign cash from the family who owns Wal-Mart.  Wal-Mart is known for paying its employees a substandard wage and those same employees have to turn to the government for health care in the form of Badgercare, GAMP (the county's General Assistance Medical Program) and Badgercare.

So now the people who can least afford to pay are being suggested by Reynolds as the source of cash to solve the health care deficit.  At the same time, he's raking in cash from the businesses that don't provide health care coverage which shift more costs on to the taxpayer.

The logic of this (and the math) doesn't hold up.  I know Reynolds is a Republican and likes to support the shift of taxes from big businesses on to individuals, but this is just poor public policy. 

Wauwatosa is awash with Sullivan signs while it seems that State Senator Tom Reynolds seems to have a slight edge in West Allis.  The district is made up of three Assembly districts with the Wauwatosa Assembly district consistently netting about half of the votes in the race.  The A.D. with West Allis and the A.D. with Milwaukee (combined) make up the other half.  The Milwaukee A.D. can be expected to go to the dem (Sullivan) and the West Allis A.D. is traditionally a toss up. 

If Sullivan continues to build on the momentum he has developed in Wauwatosa, he will win.  If he wins with 53% or more of the vote, he will be a very formidable incumbent in the 2010 race, as incumbents can usually build on their legislative successes and constituent work.

"Hello"?

For the next 50 minutes, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporter Anyssa Johnson screamed at me for a few lines I wrote in a column last month.

I tolerated the call and do not doubt that Johnson believed in her heart that I was being unfair in my column.  After all, it's not often that a reporter gets mentioned as being lousy at their trade but when I nominated her as one of the worst reporters, I simply said,

Anyssa Johnson: This JS reporter has somehow managed to get assigned to the political beat.  She focuses on innuendo and scorns issues, leaving the public in the dark and unable to discern the positives and negatives of candidates.

Her recent article covering the Tom Reynolds v Jim Sullivan race has some of the same old stuff for Johnson but at the end it does offer some decent insight — something I'm not used to Johnson focusing on.  But back to the phone call…

'Consider the source' was what Johnson said one of her collegues told her.  So let's explore that.  This source, Watchdog Milwaukee, breaks news stories that the Journal-Sentinel sometimes covers as late as a month later.  This source, Watchdog Milwaukee, covers news stories that the JS never even touches.  We don't pretend that neutrality in an campaign means giving equal amounts of column inches to both subjects with legitimate ideas as well as lying detractors.  Rather, we dismiss liars as liars and it would be refreshing if the JS did also.

From there the call only turned more personal.  "This is about your own recall isn't it" she screamed.  'No Anyssa; this is about bogus reporting.  This is about doing what Edward R. Murrow used to do and in the JS case, it's about betraying the legacy of Murrow.'  But as long Johnson was making this about me, I said we should explore what it is that the JS did to County Supervisors in 2002.  They did a hatchet job.  They didn't do their research and accused Supervisors of not doing their homework without citing lines that they believed Supervisors should have caught.  Their own reporter covering the County Board didn't catch the problems with the pension scandal before it happened and she received the same information packet Supervisors did.  The JS profited from increased circulation but NEVER, EVER reported the lines that would have been an indictment against Supervisors.  Never in any of the documents provided to JS reporters, could they find an area which Supervisors missed.  Why you ask?  Because those lines they insinuated existed were no where in the packet.  Yet did they report this?  No.  Instead, they ran with republican talk radio recall mania, choosing instead to stick with innuendo and deception and snipe rather than report.

Johnson's sort of dismissive and insulting comment sums up why people are turning away from the mainstream media.  Arrogance of reporters and even those who decide which stories get in and which stories get dumped is why the public is turning to blogs that break real news and offer honest commentary, albeit opinionated, yet have nothing to lose.

We'll continue to cover legitimate stories and the late night bullying of one reporter won't change anything.

That being said, you almost have to admire the fact that Johnson contacted us.  Had it not been at 11pm at night and had the tone been more civil, I probably wouldn't have asked her if she had been drinking.  There were moments when I almost felt sorry for her.  I had no intention of publishing this story until I read her column on the Reynolds-Sullivan race.  She's usually not as good as she was in this story but she managed to write more bunk even if it was mixed in with some substance.

Johnson writes:

"Jim Sullivan is about as far left a liberal as anybody can be," said Reynolds, of West Allis …   

Sullivan countered, "If it's not pursuing an extreme right-wing social agenda, Tom Reynolds is not interested in the subject matter."

Ok.  We get it.  Reynolds says x about Sullivan and Sullivan says y about Reynolds.  How does this make any voters better informed on the issues?

She continues:   

It has become one of the most contentious races of the year, as the candidates have sniped over ground rules for debates, responsiveness to constituents, and how the other spends his war chest.

While Johnson is correct that it's been contentious, she's wrong about candidates sniping over ground rules for debates and "how the other spends his war chest". 

Ground rules for the debates have been discussed between the faith-based groups that offered to provide the free space in churches and Tom Reynolds — debates which Reynolds ducked.  Sullivan was silent on ground rules, leaving those up to the host.  What Sullivan did say and Johnson failed to mention was "I will debate Tom Reynolds anytime, anywhere".   Offering to debate his opponent is hardly sniping as Johnson asserts.

And it wasn't Sullivan, it was the blog community including both Watchdog Milwaukee and Milwaukee Rising who is questioning how Reynolds is using his war chest which in Reynolds case is less a chest and more of a slush fund.

Apparently Reynolds is feeling the heat.  Johnson writes, "Reynolds said he's been miscast as a kook and a zealot as payback for refusing to sell his vote to lobbyists."   In this one sentence, Johnson has allowed Reynolds to skirt why he's been cast as a kook and a zealot.  It's because Reynolds (who only prints things he agrees with) did the printing for fringe "Pastor" Ralph Ovadahl who called Pope John Paul II a "minister of Satan".  It's because Reynolds attended a conference on homo-fascism and it's because Reynolds asks job applicants for his capital office staff if they're virgins and have accepted Jesus Christ into their hearts and those examples are just a modest sampling of what Reynolds has done over the past few years.  Lobbyists have nothing to do with why the self-wounding Reynolds is seen as a kook.

But it's not just that Johnson got her facts wrong.  She has given a voice to Reynolds claims about his opponent instead of focusing on what Reynolds stands for.  Continuing with Reynolds she writes, "He insisted that Sullivan would be beholden to the road builders, teachers unions and other organizations that have endorsed him."  What proof does Reynolds have for this?  None.  Why would a reporter run with a quote that is not backed up by any substance?

But this story really isn't about Reynolds v Sullivan race.  It's about lousy reporting.  Johnson asked me why I would call her out and I told her that she did a hatchet job on past races and one in particular that comes to mind.  Her poor reporting hurt real people — real people who had good intentions and made a positive difference but who then had to find a job despite her words which were forever dedicated to print and which any potential employer could easily look up.

In our conversation, Johnson chose at times to take a nasty tone including threatening to have the Journal-Sentinel attorneys go after us.  We expect that since we write hard hitting columns that sometimes people who like to harm other people, don't like.  If the Journal-Sentinel wants to send their $250 an hour attorneys from Foley and Lardner after us for penning two lines nominating Johnson they wouldn't be alone.  It was about a year ago that the republican shill group CRG, ironically named Citizens for Responsible Government, had one of their partners send us a letter threatening to go after us after we published a graphic directly from the CRG website which showed a connection to CRG and the Republican party of Wisconsin.

Johnson claimed that it was not fair for a story to be written about her because she is not a public figure.  But she is a public figure.  Every time she pens a column for a newspaper which is distributed to hundreds of thousands of homes with her name on it, she becomes a public figure.  She cannot simply snipe and expect to be given a permanent pass and now no reporter who makes thier living through poor writing or vindictiveness (after talking with her it appears in her case that it is the former) should ever think they will get a free pass again.

The blogosphere is here to stay and the public will decide which blogs rise in popularity and which ones become relegated to little more than a public diary.  Unlike the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, there is not just one blog in Milwaukee County so savvy news seekers will quickly discover where the insight really is.  Here at Watchdog Milwaukee we realize that we're not always going to break the story.  As volunteers, we don't have a crew of well paid writers.  What we do have is passion and a love of writing coupled with an interest in providing an alternative news source which reporters news stories which the mainstream media often doesn't feel are worthwhile to print — for whatever reason.  

Here's a few paraphrased quotes that actually came out of Reynolds' mouth tonight. 

Wisconsin is a magnet for illegal immigrants because of our (great) public benefits.

Famlies on the north side just don't exist.  They continue to be violent their whole lives.

South Carolina has 13  or 14 nuclear power plant sites and Wisconsin should go in that direction.  We need to get on the band wagon before all of the jobs go South Carolina because of cheap electricty from nuclear power.

"The clean energy act (SB 459 which was supported by all State Senators but Reynolds) is the best example of a piece of legislation specifically for special interests"

Senators can't control themselves so that's why we need to put a cap on government spending (enact TABOR). 

It's six weeks away from the election and the Wisconsin GOP is in panic mode over the likely loss of the seat currently held by State Senator Tom Reynolds — so much so that they're using distortions even among their own donors to try to pump up the self-wounding Reynolds.

They're claiming that Reynolds holds a 5 point lead over Wauwatosa Alderman Jim Sullivan — but their data is old.  Two weeks ago, Sullivan started to mail his first pieces to the constituents he hopes to represent.  This is a time when candidates develop their name recognition.  Reynolds already has name recognition but for all the wrong reasons. The GOP polling data predates Sullivan's mailer. 

He's used his printing presses to do work for a friend of his who called Pope John Paul II a "minister of Satan".  He's asked potential hires during job interviews things like "are you a virgin" and "have you accepted Jesus Christ into your heart"?  He's authored a bill custom made for his pharmacist friend and political kindred spirit Bob Dohnal which would make Dohnal exempt from any requirement to fill a prescription he didn't want to — putting the pharmacist beliefs above the patient needs.  Reynolds has even ducked two debates and has turned his back on both Catholics (his anti-catholic bias was already obvious on his printing press) as well as Unitarians who offered Reynolds the opportunities to debate Sullivan.

Sullivan started with extremely low name recognition, and over the next 6 weeks he will continue to build it.  He's built an impressive campaign machine and has nearly 150 volunteers who showed up recently for a massive canvassing effort.   He's raised more money than any other Democratic State Senate candidate in the first six months of this year while Reynolds (the incumbent) raised only about one-third what Sullivan raised.

The GOP knows Reynolds is in trouble so they're trotting out poll numbers from prior to when Sullivan mailed his first campaign lit piece and prior to the massive canvassing push Team Sullivan launched two weekends ago.

The reality is that they're asking donors to pony up to throw good money after bad.  Even if donors do pay up in a futile effort to save Reynolds, there is no promise that he would even spend it effectively.  He's used his campaign funds to pay his own heating bills as well as paying himself a printers salary from the campaign account.  Apparently, according to Reynolds own actions, his State Senator salary isn't enough yet his proponents are silent about why Reynolds is justified in skimming from a political account he's asked other GOP donor to fill.

All this adds up to one clear conclusion — Reynolds is in trouble. 

UPDATE: Gretchen over at Milwaukee Rising has a story about how Reynolds is using his campaign to pay himself nearly double the salary a printer in our area would make according to an analysis of printer salaries on salary.com.

UPDATE 2: Any GOP poll that could have been done was done prior to a debate with Reynolds and Sullivan since Reynolds ducked the last two debates.  Apparently he plans on showing up for an upcoming one at his own church. 

UPDATE 3: Dave from The Diamond Mind has a good column on why Reynolds is going to lose.  Dave alludes to how State paid staffer JJ Blonien who was Reynolds campaign manager (Reynolds says consultant) is sucking off the government teet while doing campaign work. 

As I pulled up to St. Theresa's Catholic Church, a woman told me "it's not worth going in — only one candidate bothered to show".  She had brought her son with the intention of it being a civics lesson but when Reynolds didn't show up, it became more of a lesson in bad politics.

In the basement of the church, 75 catholics gathered to hear the debate between Reynolds and his challenger, Wauwatosa Alderman Jim Sullivan.  Reynolds decided to skip the event citing his fear of cameras whose footage could be used by his opposition in campaign ads.  In order to alay Reynolds fears, the organizers agreed to prohibit taping of the event by anyone but news media.  This was insufficient for Reynolds who insisted that anyone who was recording the event, even if just with a cell phone camera or still picture, needed to be ejected.

Here's the interesting thing — any outside groups that wanted footage to use against Reynolds already have it.  In a forum held by Marquette University Republicans, Reynolds already made several over the top comments.  New footage isn't even necessary.

So which nefarious group sponsored the event?  It was MICAH (Milwaukee Inner City Alliance for Hope) and their Waukesha counterpart SOFIA (Stewards of Prophetic Hope and Intentional Action). These are church organizations who are concerned about the poor and support issues of social justice, yet Reynolds appears to be calling these groups "special interests".

Despite Reynolds not showing up, Sullivan stepped up to allow himself to be grilled on multiple questions.

Attendees emotions ran from angry to disappointed to just confused.

Marcus White, Executive Director of the Interfaith Conference said, "It's disapointing that Tom Reynolds didn't show up.  We're always supportive of MICAH and SOFIA and their efforts to help people discern electoral decisions." 

Sullivan said, "At this point, I think we can all agree that Tom Reynolds doesn't care to be bothered with the concerns of the constituents he is supposed to represent.  He's been dishonest, elusive, and an embarrassment to our communities."

At the end of the debate turned forum, attendees held hands and prayed the "Our Father".  Then they piled out and drove to Tom Reynolds house to ask him why he blew off the forum. 

Maybe the Senator needs to focus less on legislating morality and more on parenting.

Click here for the video.

###

Reynolds is set to debate his opponent, Wauwatosa Alderman Jim Sullivan at St. Theresa's Catholic church tonight on 95th and Bluemound Road at 7:00pm.  If he chooses to attend, one has to wonder how he's going to answer the question as to why he prints anti-catholic materials for a "Pastor" who called Pope John Paul II a "minister of Satan"?

UPDATE: Reynolds skipped the debate. 

Having been abandoned by the Wisconsin GOP has got to be embarrassing for Reynolds who raised even less than his democratic challenger, Alderman Jim Sullivan.  How Reynolds plans to mail his campaign pieces will be an interesting trick.

It makes you wonder, how many used bibles do you have to sell to raise enough cash to send out 30,000 to 50,000 fliers?

Sullivan raised over $114,000 in the last six months.  That's $62,000 more than Reynolds and that spells danger for Reynolds.  If Reynolds cannot raise momentum he will not be able to mail even two fliers during the campaign season, meaning he will have to rely entirely on independent expenditures carrying him.

On another note, one group has already started running pro-Reynolds ads.  The group calls themselves something like "Citizens for lower gas prices".  The ads make some false claims that we won't go into.  Suffice to say that the statements are false.  The Manitowoc gas station owner on the ad is a former Southern minister who was chastised by his own community for gouging his customers in the post-Katrina disaster.  He has since tried to save face by blaming his gouging gas prices on the unfair sales act (also known as the minimum markup law).  

I was just looking over State Senator Tom Reynolds campaign finance reports and there it was — at a time when Gary George was being investigated by the FBI and in the heat of a recall campaign, Reynolds donated over $500 to George to fight against his recall. 

Whuuuuuuuuhhhh?

Reynolds is known for his kooky antics but to donate to a person who was under indictment at the time is unheard of.   

The bogus questions about Sullivan are coming from JJ Blonien, campaign manager for State Senator Tom Reynolds.  Blonien claimed that he had nothing to do with the claims but blogger Xoff exposed that the claims were coming from the Reynolds camp because the Microsoft Word document that Blonien gave to Stan Zurawski to diseminate throughout the blogosphere had Blonien's name in the properties field of Word.  Zurawski has been the head of Tosans for Responsible Government, the group that is a part of the GOP front group, Citizens for Responsible Government. 

Zurawski and Dohnal are claiming that Sullivan voted in September 1998 in Wauwatosa as well in Whitefish Bay.   Jim Sullivan's father, Jim Sullivan Sr. lives in Whitefish Bay but in September '98, Sullivan Jr. was housesitting for his parents who were out of the country for a few months.  The electronic records in Wauwatosa show that Sullivan Jr voted in Wauwatosa while living on Blanchard Street.  The problem is that the paper records which are always verified by to poll workers on the day of the election show that Sullivan Jr. did not vote in Wauwatosa on that date despite the claims of the Reynolds cronnies. 

In any village or city, after the double verified records have been submitted to an election official at the end of the night, they are manually entered into a database if a person has voted.  In Wauwatosa it appears that the data entry clerk didn't do his or her job correctly because while the double checked voter sheet shows that Sullivan did not vote in Wauwatosa, the electronic data entered after voting day does show that he voted.

You would think that any decent person with a sense of right and wrong, in other words a person with a moral compass, would have checked both records before making the accusation, but the Reynolds camp didn't believe it was necessary to do their due diligence before making such a scandalous claim. 

Here is the page from the voter roll where Sullivan would have voted but as you can see, Sullivan didn't vote in Wauwatosa in 1998.  One has to wonder what new myth Dohnal and his zany partisan pal Stan Zurawski will come up with now. 

Various groups from the metro-Milwaukee faith community sponsored the event including the Unitarian Universalist Church West, MICAH and SOFIA.  Reynolds knew that the majority of people attending the church would be people of faith yet he blew off the debate — a harsh irony since Reynolds considers himself "born again" and an evangelical.

Still, people packed the church so it was standing room only.  Candidate Jim Sullivan spoke for over an hour, taking questions and interacting with the crowd.  In the end, nearly 50 people volunteered to work on the Sullivan for State Senate campaign.

One has to wonder how Reynolds feels that he will get away with insulting these people.  They came to see the debate and yet they only saw one candidate. How is he going to get away with this?  Recently, even right wing bloggers have turned on him.

### 

For more on this story, visit Milwaukee Rising.  Hat tip to Milwaukee Rising blogger Gretchen Schuldt who snagged this great photo of the "debate".

This isn't the first time Reynolds has shown himself to be camera shy.  We broke the story on May 10th that Reynolds said No to recording his town hall meeting in a public building in Wauwatosa.  (When the head Librarian in charge later found out about this, Reynolds received a harsh scolding proving once and for all that librarians aren't to be messed with.)

The folks at the Unitarian Universalist Church West who agreed to host the event are more than a touch upset at being dis'ed by their own Senator.  You can read the document that Tom Reynolds signed agreeing to the debate (postmarked July 14th) here.

###

Link: WisPolitics: Reynolds Drops Out of Debate; Fears Opponents Will Tape Event for Ads

Update: Link: JSOnline Spivak & Bice: Camera-shy senator fears making ad fodder

Schuldt states:

Reynolds acknowledged that he personally directed Michael Goggins, who first made the allegations, to send relevant voting records to JJ Blonien, a Reynolds campaign consultant, who helped ensure their further spread.

If you're interested in watching the sparks fly yourself, check out the debate this Wednesday.  Here's the details a reader sent us:

The congregations of MICHA/SOPHIA are co-sponsoring a public policy forum which will feature James Sullivan and Tom Reynolds, both candidates for the Fifth District seat in the State Senate.  The forum will take place on Wednesday August 23 ^rd at the Unitarian Universalist Church West (13001 W. North Ave. in Brookfield) and will begin at 7:00pm and end at 8:30pm.  Rev. Jamie Washam of the Underwood Memorial Baptist Church in Wauwatosa will serve as moderator.

On another note, you'll recall that Xoff has a Microsoft Word document which was supposedly from Wauwatosa's own anti-porn at Mayfair Mall (i.e. no panties or bras should be displayed in the windows at Victoria's Secret) crusader Stan Zurawski.  It turns out that Blonien forgot that Word records the original author in the properties section of each document.  BUSTED.  (See Smoking gun shows Reynolds campaign is behind smear effort)

Mark Belling tried to rattle Sullivan but Sullivan called in and denounced the bogus info.  Xoff has the details. 

Meanwhile, Milwaukee Rising outs Reynolds mouthpiece Bob Dohnal for telling Bill Christofferson "Fuck You" in a column entitled "They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love…" 

Xoff's story, Smoking gun shows Reynolds campaign is behind smear effort, explains how despite Blonien's claim that he had nothing to do with the bogus claim, a document formatted with Microsoft Word showed the author of the document was Reynolds campaign manager, JJ Blonien — the same Blonien who was (and possibly still is) employed by Reynolds as a member of the staff but paid for by the State of Wisconsin.

This post was a follow up from his previous post, Reynolds campaign still in denial, which exposed GOP activist Bob Dohnal as a "bald-faced liar".

Nice work. 

Here's a couple observations I've noticed in the last few days:

Owen said I didn't know what he had done with following up on the facts.  I would ask him if he has bothered to call Jim Sullivan to at least ask first hand if the claims made by Bob Dohnal were true.  Did Owen call Senator Reynolds to get his take on this accusation?

Owen said (District Attorney E. Michael) “McCann never prosecuted an elected Democrat in his life”.  Really?  Two problems with that.  One, didn’t McCann prosecute Chvala?  Two, at the time this came up, late March, 2000, politically motivated and right before the 2000 aldermanic election, Sullivan was not an elected Democrat.  For that matter, he is still not, because city council is non-partisan.

Owen said, as did Mark Belling, that “the evidence and public record shows Jim Sullivan voted twice in 1996”.  It does not.  It shows a Jim Sullivan voted in WFB in 1996, and that a Jim Sullivan voted in Tosa in 1996.  Jim Sullivan Sr., votes in WFB, and Jim Sullivan Jr. voted in Tosa.

This isn’t about 1996, when JJ Blonien (yes, the same Blonien who is or at least was recently getting paid with benefits as a member of Reynolds staff) purports to “know” that Sullivan Sr. wasn’t in Whitefish Bay, and that that was when Sullivan Jr. was house-sitting for them.  That’s contrary to fact.  Sullivan Jr. voted in Tosa in 1996.  Maybe Owen ought to question why Reynolds campaign manager is getting involved in this or why nobody knows what Blonien was doing on the State payroll since he was not required to go to the capitol.

As for Bob Dohnal claim that Whitefish Bay is a small village, and everybody knows each other.  There are over 14,000 people in Whitefish Bay.  Either they all have incredible memories or Dohnal doesn't understand how the human mind works.  Owen isn't questioning the bogus claim of duplicate voting from a person who thinks that 14,000 people all know each other.  Duh!

Owen attempted to defend himself on his blog and the American Mind blog by saying that while there was some confusion, “there was no evidence proving that Sullivan’s claim was true”.  Well, Duh.  How are you supposed to prove that any bunch of made-up BS is false, or that any denial is true?  I have no proof that Owen wasn’t standing on the grassy knoll when JFK was assassinated in 1963.  I rather expect that he wasn’t, and I’m sure he’d deny it, but I don’t think he can prove to me that it isn’t true.  At least, not without corroborating evidence, like a birth certificate from a government entity showing he wasn’t alive yet, which is not unlike the provable value of, say, a DA’s letter saying that they looked into a matter and found it to be without merit.

Expect more of this unsubstantiated recycled garbage from the Reynolds camp. 

Dohnal tried to claim that State Senate candidate Jim Sullivan voted twice — a case he made 6 years ago that the District Attorney threw out for lack of merit.  At that time, Sullivan's attorney, Michael Hart, sent a letter to Dohnal via process server that alerted Dohnal that the information Dohnal and company were allegedly propagating was bogus.  Enclosed with that letter was a letter from an Assistant District Attorney that discredited the manufactured claim that Sullivan voted twice in an election — once in Whitefish Bay and once in Wauwatosa.

Dohnal received the information that explained that James Owen Sullivan Sr lived in Whitefish Bay while James Owen Sullivan Jr lived in Wauwatosa.  It was clear then that the horrible double voting that activist Michael Goggins alleged was untrue.  Covering all of his bases, Sullivan attorney Hart also sent a copy to Dohnal alerting him to the bogus claim and pointing out that he would be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law should he continue to propagate the bogus story. 

Fast forward 6 years and Dohnal has taken to the blogosphere to do what — to propogate the same story he knew had no merit 6 years earlier.

Sullivan should hold Dohnal accountable.  He should rehire Michael Hart and go after Bob Dohnal's personal assets.  There has to be some repercussions for doing what Dohnal has done.  It is reprehensible.  It is immoral.  It is an unequivacal lie.  Dohnal knew that if the story came out, regardless of the fact that it was meritless, a few voters would simply remember the accusation and that may be enough to tip the scales in Tom Reynolds favor.  Dohnal has gotten the ink that he believes he deserved but if there is any justice in the world, Sullivan will sue him for defamation of character to start.

Dohnal is clearly an unsavory character who will stop at nothing and will say anything to achieve his partisan goals.   But also important is the company that Dohnal's pal and the beneficiary of the Dohnal smear, State Senator Tom Reynolds, chooses to keep.  Although Dohnal clearly flaunted his partisan interests above the law and decided that impuning the integrity of Sullivan would be more fun than telling the truth, Dohnal is not the only character that Reynolds has kept close.  Take the case of Pastor Ralph Ovadahl.  Watchdog Milwaukee broke the story (which both Spivak and Bice as well as talk show host Charlie Sykes followed up on) of how Reynolds' personal printing business does the print work for Ovadahl who called Pope John Paul II a "Minister of Satan" — a claim that doesn't go over too well with Catholics (myself included). 

Reynolds has also hired GOP flack JJ Blonien for his campaign.  There's an even deeper rub there; while Blonien is a well known integrity assassin, he's working on the Reynolds campaign in what appears to be the same financial reporting period that he's drawing a paycheck from the state.  He's not required to report into the office, apparently, so it looks terribly suspicious that he's getting paid by the state to work on Reynolds campaign.  Reynolds needs to realize that having the state pay for employees to work on your campaign is the same thing that led to the felony conviction of former Republican Assembly Leader Scott Jensen.

Dohnal's actions are an embarassment to the Wisconsin political landscape.  Wisconsin, once a haven for clean elections, is worse off for having suffered the distortions of Dohnal as well as his partner in crime, Stan Zurawski.  It was Zurawski who sent the document which was clearly doctored to the GOP blogger Owen Robinson, who publishes Boots and Sabers. 

Zurawski is best known for his anti-porn crusade at Mayfair Mall where he's apparently upset that the panty and bra clad manequins are too realistic.  He is another of Wauwatosa's character assassins who heads up Tosans for Responsible Government (a CRG affiliate) and has run 2 or 3 campaigns for Mayor in Tosa by focusing on how much he can impune his opponents.  Fortunately, Tosa residents were too smart for Zurawski and they turned him and his rhetoric back each and every time.

Wisconsin would benefit from a successful lawsuit which held Dohnal accountable for his reprehensible actions.  A message has to be sent that this sort of deception from Dohnal, or for that matter anyone who pulls similar dishonest stunts, should not be tolerated.  Like a child behaving badly who deserves a spanking, Dohnal needs to be held accountable for his actions and there needs to be lasting and severe repercussions.

When actions like those taken by Dohnal are allowed to go unchecked, out political system is worse off and civility in our political discourse has been compromised. 

Dohnal is alledging that State Senate Candidate Jim Sullivan voted twice in an election in Shorewood.  He's getting his facts wrong on so many levels.  (Check out his bogus claim yourself on the GOP blog, Boots and Sabers). 

Republicans have been attacking Sullivan since 2000 when he first ran for Alderman.  At that time, GOP attack dog Michael Goggins filed a complaint alledgeing that Sullivan voted in the same election in both Whitefish Bay and in Wauwatosa.

Here's the problem with Dohnal's claim — Sullivan whose full name is James Owen Sullivan is a Jr.  That's right, he shares a name with his Dad, James Owen Sullivan (Sr).   

James O. Sullivan Sr who was born in 1936 lives in Whitefish Bay.  James O Sullivan Jr who is in his 30's lives in Wauwatosa.

Here's where it gets even more interesting.  The Whitefish Bay voter logs say that James Sullivan Jr who was born 10/27/36 voted in an election while living in the Bay.  It lists his address as on Carlisle Street which is where the senior Sullivan lives.  Clearly Whitefish Bay's election commission made a mistake by indicating that the Sullivan born in 1936 was the Jr Sullivan.  Because of this, the complaint filed in the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office by Goggins was thrown out.

In a letter Watchdog Milwaukee has recieved dated March 28, 2000, Assistant District Attorney Kurt Kenkley, writes:

The Whitefish Bay voter history list fails to carefully distinguish James Sullivan, Sr. from James Sullivan, Jr.  More specifically, the entry for "Sullivan, James (Jr.)" lists a date of birth of "10/27/36."  James Sullivan, Jr., in fact, is just 32 years old.  He was not born in 1936.  This confusion as to voter identity renders Whitefish Bay voter history records as to James Sullivan, Jr. and James Sullivan Sr. unreliable and valueless.

On March 29th, 2000, both Bob Dohnal and Michael Goggins were served with a letter from Attorney Michael F. Hart to inform them that the information they were alledging was bogus.  Hart states:

The purpose of this letter is to place you on formal notice that any further communication whether written or oral including but not limited to, the dissemination and/or distribution of campaign literature claiming that Mr. Sullivan engaged in illegal or improper conduct with respect to his voting history, place of residency and/or compliance with State election laws will be deemed actionable as knowing misstatements of fact, and we will take any and all legal action on behalf of Mr. Sullivan to enforce his rights.

And still, despite knowing he was lying, Dohnal today knowingly and intentionally claimed that Sullivan voted twice.  Rather than just being happy with his original screw up, he's now claiming that Sullivan voted in Shorewood.  Sullivan never lived in Shorewood.

Yet another interesting fact here is that Owen Robinson of Boots and Sabers just abandoned a HUGE amount of credibility by running a story that he either knew was untrue or Owen's sources handed him a story they knew to be untrue and did not tell him about the very relevant fact that the District Attorney's office called the basis for this complaint to be "unreliable and valueless".  The real interesting thing here is to see how Owen handles this on his blog.

Check out the documents yourself by clicking HERE. 

posted: 9:53pm 

Post Publication Update: Another GOP Blogger, No Runny Eggs helping Dohnal to propogate the story he knows to be untrue.  However, after publication of his column, Eggs says he's going to pull an open records request and assumably draw his own conclusions.

Getting the lowest score of any State Senator wasn't enough.  Reynolds was given special mention in their 2005-2006 scorecard.  They write:

Out of 132 state legislators, State Senator Tom Reynolds cast the only vote against the Clean Energy Bill (SB 459.  Enough said.

I guess it wasn't enough that Reynolds angered the Wisconsin Police Association and got the lowest score of any Senator last month.  Reynolds apparently went looking for ways to destroy public health and our natural resources too.

The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters is a non-partisan group that, it would seem, doesn't mind lauding a legislator regardless of partisan affiliation as was evident of their honor roll of key republican State Senator Neil Kedzie who was lauded for his work to protect groundwater.  Others were mentioned for their positive workings in the legislature, but Reynolds was the only Senator to receive an individual special recognition on the dishonor roll.

In a line listed simply "printing services", State Senator Tom Reynolds gave himself $6000.  That's a lot of packer schedules and fliers.

At a time when other candidates such as JB VanHollen (who is running for the Republican nomination for Attorney General against Paul Bucher) are lending their campaigns $350,000, why would Reynolds be so bold as to not care if he shows lower numbers on his campaign finance reports?  There are only three possibilities; either he is stupid, overly confident, or naive.

Either way, Reynolds got trounced in the money raising arena when his democratic challenger, Jim Sullivan, raised almost three times what the incumbent State Senator raised.

Perhaps Reynolds is just sporting his bravado knowing that the district trends republican.  But that trend isn't going to bail him out.  The tides are changing in that district and Reynolds has done some pretty nutty things that embarrass even republicans who have to admit that they voted for the guy. 

State Senate candidate Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa) has raised three times what incumbent State Senator Tom Reynolds (R-West Allis) has raised in the first half of this year.

In his campaign finance report, Sullivan discloses he raised a whopping $86,000 while Reynolds raised just $27,000.

What does this mean?  Could the GOP be abandoning Reynolds since he is seen to be just unelectable?  Could it be that his oddities have sent a wakeup call to even the heart of the GOP that they ought to spend their resources elsewhere and cut their losses with Reynolds?

Both parties will be analyzing the statistics in the coming days.  What they'll find is that Sullivan raised more than any other Democratic legislative challenger in the entire state.  Not even the incumbents could manage to raise what Sullivan did.  Would the GOP really want to go up against this sort of fundraising prowess?  If Sullivan can raise that much this far out from the election, just imagine what he'll raise when peole start to pay attention to this race.

Reynolds was hoping he could make this race about taxes but Sullivan voted against the biggest tax increases while an Alderman in Wauwatosa.  What is Reynolds left with?

This race looked like it was going to be the biggest blood battle in Wisconsin and it still could be, but if this recent fundraising report is any indication of what could happen in this race, Sullivan could emerge as the 1000 pound gorilla in this race instead of Reynolds.

Here's the problem for Reynolds — if a candidate raises a certain (low threshold) of money for their campagn, they are required to file their campaign finance statements electronically.  Reynolds did not file electronically which means he didn't raise very much at all — either that, or he's violated state law by not filing electronically.

Either way, this catapults Sullivan into the top partisan spot in Milwaukee County.  There is no question that political strategists with an inkling of savvy will see Sullivan as the top candidate but the question now is how much energy will the GOP put behind defending the eccentric evangelical Reynolds who has done more to bury his own campaign than any other candidate in recent Wisconsin history.

Reynolds wants to protect us while in our cars from event data recorders and the transferance of data which people who participate in illegal activity might not want law enforcement to know about.

Why would he focus on something like this?  Well why was David Koresh so offended when the feds wanted to look over his Branch Davidian complex?  Perhaps there is some odd connection between the evangelical Senator and the late evangelical cult leader?

Or maybe it's just a little paranoia?  It's not really paranoia if everyone is really out to get you and Tom Reynolds has certainly painted a massive target on his own back. 

Recently the Senator refused to let a person videotape one of his town hall meetings despite it being held in a public building.  He's been known to say whacky things in public like when he spoke in front of a college Republicans meeting and said he believes in spanking for things like when his son sticks his finger in his sisters butt.  (ewwww…!!!  Perhaps deviancy is genetic?)  And then there's the story of how Reynolds fired all his office staff right before Christmas because he was worried that they were spying on him.

Who knows what will come out of Reynolds next — alien attacks?