Irony abounds in this race. Walker was the Milwaukee County Executive who won not just one but three elections in Milwaukee County before leaving the county post for the Governors mansion. But Walker’s was a classic case of over-reaching by thinking that voters gave him carte blanc to pursue the radical agenda he wasted no time in passing. Stone made the mistake of thinking that talk radio would deliver him the votes he needed to win the seat. After all, it worked for Walker, it should work for Stone, right?

Wrong.

Voters across the state had one of the most contentious Supreme Court races to choose from than they have ever had on their plate. Incumbent, and former Republican Speaker of the State Assembly, David Prosser was defending his seat against Assistant Attorney General Joann Kloppenburg. Prosser is part of the 4-3 Republican sympathizer majority on the court and if he has the chance, he will certainly uphold the Walker legislation stripping workers of their collective bargaining rights.

The Supreme Court race has been dominated by outside interest ads including those from billionaire David Koch‘s Americans for Prosperity PAC. Koch used his ads to smear Kloppenburg.

One of the advertised criticisms of Kloppenburg has been that she has never been a judge. This is true. However, David Prosser was never a judge before he became a Justice on the Supreme Court either. Kloppenburg and her allies failed to point this out in her ads and even as this is being written, the results of that race are within 1000 votes and it is too close to call. (It astounds the mind that a state Supreme Court race would come down to less than 1000 votes.)

State Representative Jeff Stone

Stone took the unusual approach of touting his education and degrees which are impressive. He contrasted himself to Abele who has not completed a college. But this is Milwaukee County. Our blue collar roots run deep. Voters have already made it quite clear in the past 3 County Executive races that a degree does not matter. After all, Walker had been criticized for dropping out of college but it never affected his winning his Exec races. It was a poorly thought out calculation to claim he was more experienced based on a college degree that voters don’t care about.

This race was more than about whether Chris Abele or Jeff Stone were good guys. This race was also a referendum on Scott Walker. Never in the time that Walker was in office in Milwaukee County did he ever try anything as radical as killing the unions. He underfunded departmental budgets. He created a yearly fiscal crisis by understating expenses and overstating revenues. He borrowed heavily to continue to fund programs and infrastructure the local public holds dear. He even kicked privatization up a notch above and beyond the privatizing that his predecessor, Tom Ament, had already done.

But as County Executive, Walker never had the ability to attack all nearly all unions at the same time. When he did that, under an all too transparent guise of balancing the budget, the pendulum swung back to hit him. When Walker went on television and said that the protesters were dominated by out of state union representatives, anyone of the hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites who had traveled to Madison to protest were outraged. They felt belittled. They were correct in thinking that their voices were being ignored. Walker sent a very clear message to Wisconsinites who disagreed with him — they did not matter.

And then Jeff Stone voted with Scott Walker.

The public was enraged. Walker continued his policy of dividing people against their neighbors. Everyone has an opinion about this issue. Firefighters, who were hailed as selfless heroes in the aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attack on the world trade center are maligned as overpaid and selfish. Teachers who dedicate their days to teaching children and their nights and weekends to grading papers are being portrayed by the Walker allies as being greedy and out of touch. Every public employee throughout the state has at some time in the last few months had Walker fanatics tease them or mock them for their pension or benefits package that is part of their negotiated compensation.

Walker made these public servants feel unappreciated and a target for malice and envy.

And then Jeff Stone voted with Scott Walker.

Walker’s use of class warfare has been effective in the past but many union members have still voted for him. This has emboldened the GOP and their funders to dial up the class warfare fight. They have made it clear that they want to tie public servants to greed. Even in the Supreme Court race, Joann Kloppenburg was called a “government lawyer”. In the past, being a prosecuting attorney or an assistant Attorney General would have great on a political resume. Since that would not serve the Prosser campaign, the Prosser allies attempted to tie Kloppenburg to those greedy government workers.

Clearly allying himself to Walker was not a wise move for Jeff Stone. He should have smelled his own blood in the water when two committees to recall republican senators turned in enough votes to force an election to toss out Walker’s rubber stamp allies. It is a monumental task to gather nearly 20,000 signatures to force a recall election and anti-Walker activists are close to filing against a third Republican Senator.

Abele, who ran a great campaign, was certainly a beneficiary of Stone’s alliance with Walker. This wasn’t just a small slap on the wrist for Walker. It was an uppercut that will daze the GOP and will likely force them to change their strategy going into the 2012 elections.

Chris Abele continues his ads with this one explaining why he thinks County government is broken. He talks about “perks” such as cell phones and cars. Unfortunately for Abele he appears to be out of touch with how businesses and government works. Nearly everyone today owns a cell phone — even many seniors. Cell phones allow high level workers to communicate with their staff. Abele unfortunately doesn’t understand there are not many department heads that have “company cars”. It’s really disappointing because Abele is normally a smart guy who is deserving of respect, but he is clearly pandering to voters who want to think the worst about County government and the fear-monger voters have already lined up behind Jeff Stone. Abele is unlikely to pry those voters away from Stone and it is safe to say that his strategy of trying to win the hearts of Republicans isn’t a smart primary strategy.

This will be interesting as the political races unfold in the coming weeks.

Although this race is non-partisan, both Sullivan and Abele are democrats while Stone is a republican.

Since Stone has free non-stop commercials running as talk radio in the Milwaukee market, expect him to make it through the primary election. That means that Sullivan and Abele are left to fight it out for the other position.

Both Sullivan and Abele have a few things going for them.

As a former State Senator, Sullivan has one of the highest voter turnout areas in the County that he can count as his base. Wauwatosa has an extremely high voter turnout and despite his loss in November, Sullivan carried the Milwaukee County portion of his district. That means that his base of Wauwatosa, as well as the West Allis / West Milwaukee areas he carried could be enough in a low turnout election to vault him over the top in a primary.

Abele also has a benefit — he can self-finance his own campaign and in fact he has already started running television commercials. Being able to go to the television airwaves this early gives him a distinct advantage. His non-partisan good government approach does have an appeal that many voters will like.

Whichever of these two wins the primary will likely beat Stone. Simply put, Stone has been more of a paperweight in the legislature than a mover and shaker. Either Sullivan or Abele could capitalize on that.

The one thing that Stone has on his side is that talk radio will give him as much free advertising as he wants and if recent actions from the Journal-Sentinel are any indication of Milwaukee’s sole major newspapers intent, they will be taking it easy on him at least but more likely they’ll be promoting him.

The hazards of judges' campaigns being funded by interest groups and of the politicization of decisions as an election approaches are obvious. I'm also concerned about the problem of low information in judicial elections, where even in a high-profile contest voters may make their decision based simply on whether a candidate is labeled "liberal" or "conservative," which can be a simplistic and misleading way to sum up a judge's record.

Of course, appointive systems present their own problems, some of which are laid out articulately in the article's comments.

Some local conservatives have alleged that the advocates of ending judicial elections are expressing sour grapes over Butler's defeat, or, more perniciously, that we are elitists who don't trust "the people" to make sound decisions. But democracy, like capitalism, only functions smoothly and well when all parties are fully informed. That's why most of us are at a disadvantage when we take our cars to the shop, or ourselves to the doctor: we are not expert enough to evaluate the recommendation, and it comes down to trusting the mechanic or physician.

Similarly, most people — and before you cry "elitist," I include myself — simply don't have the knowledge to evaluate and compare prospective judges' records and qualifications. As voters, we end up trusting TV commercials or local pundits, who may have their own agendas.

It may be that in choosing judges, as in choosing other government officials, democracy is the worst system except for all the others. But I'd like to see a serious, non-partisan consideration of whether Wisconsin's judges should be appointed, and if so, what system might strike the best balance between expertise and accountability.

I would also like a magical sparkle pony.

Listening to Channel 12 reporter Nick Bohr “report” on Scott Walker you would think it was a paid television ad. Bohr not only let Walker get away with deceiving news watchers about the fiscal health of Milwaukee County, but he failed to call Walker to the carpet for the destruction of the infrastructure and overall health of the county. Bohr then proceeded to let Walker take ridiculous and deceptive pot shots at challenger and State Senator Lena Taylor.

Bohr contacted Taylor to get her response while the State Senate was in session. Effectively, if she wanted to answer Bohr’s questions on his schedule, she would have had to leave the floor of the Senate during debates (in other words, not do the job she was elected to do) and work around a reporters schedule.

You’re probably wondering, is Bohr an idiot? Clearly the answer is yes.

As a citizen journalist, I know that politicians are always going to be self serving and that’s ok — journalists should expect politicians to defend their positions and advocate their agendas. After all, that is what they were elected to do. The problem with some journalists, and yesterday Bohr was a shimmering example of this, is that they take what the politician says and report it as fact without ever doing any research.

But what ever happened to looking at all of the facts?

Without doing any in depth research, we know a few things about Milwaukee County that are in the recent new which Bohr should have pressed Walker on had he been doing journalistic due diligence.

Here are just a few questions that Bohr, or any other reporter, could have expanded on and I’ll premise this by saying, “Executive Walker, you said that there is a surplus in this years budget yet”…
1) The bus system which used to be the top rated bus system in the nation for farebox recovery has suffered from large fare hikes and route cuts and consequently now has one of the lowest ridership rates in the country despite historically high gas prices.
2) Milwaukee County Parks, once known as a crown jewel of the county, has been allowed to decay as staff that has historically maintained the parks have been cut. Infrastructure continues to fair. How do you reconcile the neglect of the parks with your claims of strong and responsible management of the county?
3) Half of the staff has left the Medical Examiners office whose budget and consequently the salaries of the employees, which you have cut. Autopsies and crime lab backups are a major problem in your County which have resulted in jail overcrowding which in turn leads to increased overtime costs at the jail and House of Corrections. Now after half of the staff is already gone, you’re suggesting increasing the salaries in the Medical Examiners office to make them competitive so the County can keep its needed employees. Isn’t it a bit too late for that?
4) Forced overtime at the House of Corrections is out of control. Employee morale is at an all time low, yet you continue to resist hiring additional correctional officers despite overtime costs which could have paid for additional officers. While it is an election year and it is understandable that a politician is prone to bragging about their accomplishments, how does it make fiscal sense to understaff the HOC especially in light of the young man who recently died of a methadone overdose as an inmate where he clearly got his drugs when he was incarcerated?

Any of these questions could have been posed to Walker. Instead, reporter Nick Bohr and WISN 12 chose to run an ad for Walker, disguised as a report. This clearly calls into question both Bohr and WISN 12′s journalistic integrity.

John McCain said Monday that to win the White House he must convince a war-weary country that U.S. policy in Iraq is succeeding. If he can’t, “then I lose. I lose,” the Republican said.
He quickly backed off that remark.
“Let me not put it that stark,” the likely GOP nominee told reporters on his campaign bus. “Let me just put it this way: Americans will judge my candidacy first and foremost on how they believe I can lead the country both from our economy and for national security. Obviously, Iraq will play a role in their judgment of my ability to handle national security.”
“If I may, I’d like to retract ‘I’ll lose.’ But I don’t think there’s any doubt that how they judge Iraq will have a direct relation to their judgment of me, my support of the surge,” McCain added. “Clearly, I am tied to it to a large degree.”

Reported by Liz Sidoti AP Writer Rocky River, Ohio Feb. 25, 2008 speaking with reporters after a town hall meeting in Cleveland, Ohio

Flip-flop…

Yet earlier in that town hall-style meeting in Cleveland, in this same report, McCain accused Democrats of distorting his earlier comment when he said that he supported the U.S. staying in Iraq militarily for 100 years (this was after he was asked from a member of the audience if the U.S. might be staying in Iraq for 50 years.)

This time, he said “The war will be over soon, the war for all intents and purposes, although the insurgency will go on for years and years and years. But it will be handled by the Iraqis, not by us.”

Does any of that sound familiar? … perhaps an echo of comments made by Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz and others in the Bush Administration?

“Mission Accomplished”, “The war will be over in weeks, not months”, “The insurgency is in its last throes”, “The war will cost less than $50 Billion and most of it will be paid for by Iraqi oil revenues.” “We’re only going to stay as long as it takes to train the Iraqi troops to take over.”

We’ve heard this fiction before.

These are the same lies that are being repackaged for a hopeful but naïve public who believe that because John McCain has a war record (having been shot down and held in a Vietnamese prison camp, and tortured for years until he signed statements repudiating the U.S. for our involvement in the war.)

Flip-flop…

This is the same John McCain who spoke out against water boarding as real torture, until he wanted to get Mitt Romney’s endorsement, and then changed his position on it, claiming it really wasn’t torture anymore. Now, I don’t blame McCain for giving in to the Vietnamese torture, it was understandable that he would finally break, but he broke on the issue of water boarding as torture far faster and easier in order to get Mitt Romney’s endorsement. There’s nothing showing him standing up for any principles here.

Flip-flop…

This is the same John McCain, who has repeatedly spoken out against the Bush Administration policies and tactics in the war in Iraq, but in March 2006, retooled his campaign, building it out with members of the Bush circle, (and in exchange, McCain has thrown his support behind Bush’s policies). In addition, this retooling is basing McCain’s pitch on the notion that he is the only sensible, elect-able and competent commander who can take control of the war on terror. (This is the same argument that Hillary is trying to make – that she is the only one with the experience, is elect-able and can be commander in chief on day one. Obama says that he was the only one among them with the judgment to say that we shouldn’t go into Iraq and that we were going into Iraq for all the wrong reasons. You can decide who is leading us in the right direction.)

But how is supporting and continuing a war which is fast approaching
• 4,000 dead U.S. Servicemen and women, along with
• almost 30,000 wounded U.S. Servicemen and women, and 600,000 dead Iraqis,
• with a price tag to the American Taxpayer fast approaching $1Trillion dollars,
• with about one and a half times that amount in costs for continued medical care for our wounded veterans in the years to come, and the cost to rebuild our army and National Guard, as well as to replace all of the equipment that was destroyed in Iraq….

….How does that qualify McCain to be commander in chief?

With all of the economic problems that we are having here at home, with an economic outlook that even Fed Chief Ben Bernanke calls “grim”. (Bush still doesn’t have a clue, and hadn’t even heard analyst predictions of $4.00 a gallon gasoline by this spring. And, Friday March 1st, the stock market took another dump, dropping 315 points, the second time this year that the stock market took such a large hit.)

With the stock market continuing to tank; and with a home mortgage crisis causing millions of families to lose their homes; with all the jobs that are continuing to be shipped overseas; and corporations going offshore so that they don’t have to pay any U.S. taxes…

….and with John McCain himself admitting that he doesn’t know anything about economics…..

….how does John McCain, as the self-proclaimed, “best candidate to be commander in chief”, propose to pay for all of his continued war time spending over the next 100 years, when the current commander in chief has not paid for any of his $750 Billion from the past five years? Yes, that’s right, while it has been budgeted for and approved by Congress, (not in the actual annual federal budget, but as separate appropriations, so that it doesn’t show you what we are really racking up in Federal DEBT), it has not been paid for. According to George W. Bush, that is for future presidents and future generations to figure out and pay for. And that is what John McCain is proposing. Just MORE OF THE SAME.

Yes – John McCain – More of the Same; Just Like Bush, Only Older.

Our government just racks up more debt and prints out more worthless greenbacks to pay for things they don’t have any assets to pay for, so the value of the dollar continues to drop and consumer prices continue to increase.

To get a better idea of how the Iraq War is actually being fought and how it puts hundreds of billions of dollars of profits from no-bid contracts into Bush and Republican Party donors’ pockets, voters need to see the evidence of rigged war profiteering scams.

They need to see that, rather than there being any real effort to actually win this war, the collusion between corrupt politicians and greedy CEOs have turned the Iraq War into a feeding trough for them to drain the U.S. Treasury and keep U.S. Taxpayers in debt for the next several generations.

There is a documentary by Robert Greenwald, titled, “Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers”, which documents with interviews of former employees of Halliburton, KBR, Titan, CACI, Blackwater, and other right wing businesses who have profited by their sweetheart, no-bid contracts with the Bush Administration. These were people who were staunch Republicans, who supported the war and supported Republicans, until they saw what was really going on in Iraq. It also interviews soldiers who have witnessed fraudulent billing going on by companies who are ripping off U.S. taxpayers, and putting the lives of civilian contractors and our U.S. military at risk all in the name of the almighty dollar.

http://gobnf.org/i/ifs/ifs_quotes.jpg (Poster from Iraq for Sale with comments from movie reviewers.)

Not only does it document how a contractor billed the U.S. government for cleaning water to make it potable for use by our servicemen and women, but didn’t treat the water AT ALL, but it also showed how the rank and file servicemen and civilian contractors were repeatedly told to keep their mouths shut about it.

It also shows votes in the U.S. Congress where Democrats repeatedly attempted to hold military contractors accountable for their malfeasance, and fraudulent billing for services that they did not provide, but which Republicans in Congress REPEATEDLY BLOCKED. Even when Democrats reduced their demands to only prevent companies from being awarded contracts when they had been shown to over bill the U.S. Taxpayers by MORE THAN $100 Million Dollars, the Republican side VOTED AGAINST IT.

The war has been going on now for five years longer than what the Bush Administration told us it would take to “win” the war, and has cost 15 times more than what they told us it would cost, yet Republicans in Congress and even Bush supporters across the country refuse to question why?! They refuse to allow an investigation into the conduct of the war. They refuse to allow a proper investigation into the budget overages and the continued escalation in costs. They refuse to allow proper investigations into rampant fraud on the part of contractors and Pentagon officials and they refuse to allow proper investigations into whether or not contractors are actually supplying what they claim they are supplying.

If YOU were charged 15 times more than you were quoted, for a job that you asked to be done, and it took 5 years longer than what you were told it would take, wouldn’t you want to know why? Wouldn’t you want to know if there was a better way to do the job, so that it wouldn’t take so long, or cost so much? And wouldn’t you want to fire those responsible for their incompetence?

Obviously, the Republican members of Congress don’t want you to know, and are refusing to ask the questions.

Several of the Congressmen and Senators who were shown in the documentary, supporting the award of contracts to companies who massively over billed the U.S. Taxpayers, have since decided not to run for re-election.

You can see trailers from the film or buy the film online from:
store.bravenewfilms.org/ifsdvd06.php

I would encourage anyone who hasn’t see the film, particularly if you are a Republican who actually believes what the Bush Administration and McCain campaign are telling you, to see the film for yourself and then make up your own mind about what is happening.

Forget for once the differences between Democrats and Republicans. If you see this evidence – and it is damning, you should be furious as an AMERICAN.

Corporate lobbyists who control the quality and flow of goods and services which are vitally needed by our fighting men and women, are putting our military behind their profits, and clearly Republicans in Congress and in the Bush Administration are supporting the War Profiteers, not the troops.

Flip-flop…

Yet John McCain, this self-proclaimed “maverick”, who claims to be different and unaffected by lobbyists, has forty or fifty campaign staffers who are….lobbyists!

McCain has promised that he will continue this war in Iraq, and you can bet that with his new found appreciation for the Bush circle of friends who are supporting his campaign, that he and his lobbyist staffers will continue to show their appreciation, the way they always have, to their donors.

More information on the 5th CD DPW fundraiser and DVD distribution follows:

I would encourage activists to get as many copies of this film as possible into the hands of as many people as possible so that they can see for themselves what is happening.
Share this with your friends, neighbors and relatives. Organize large viewings and discussions of the film so that people can start to understand what is at stake and what they can do to take action.

The 5th Congressional District Democratic Party of Wisconsin Executive Committee is organizing a fundraising campaign, to purchase these DVDs in bulk lots and distribute them to anyone who wants them.

We will give them out to anyone for a minimum $12.00 donation or more, (plus shipping and handling if we have to mail it to you), and will have them available at:

the 5th Congressional District DPW Convention on April 13, (open only to delegates and alternates who have been elected at their County Delegate level to go on to the DPW State Convention.)

or 5th Congressional District DPW Delegate Caucuses on May 4, (open only to delegates and alternates who have been elected at their County Delegate Caucuses).

(If anyone is not going to attend either of these events, but knows someone who will and wants a copy, please tell them in advance, and have them contact us and send in checks or money orders with the number of DVDs requested, in advance so that we know how many units we’ll have to have available. If anyone is anticipating that they would like to order larger quantities please contact us and let us know in advance and we will provide you with directions on where to send checks or money orders to, and how you can get the DVDs if you won’t be able to attend either of the above events. For those who send checks, there will be a ten day wait for the check to clear before we can ship the DVD.

Or, if people won’t be able to attend these events but would still like to help in the fundraiser, or order copies of the DVDs:

Send inquiries to chair5thcddpw@gmail.com

You can also order them online directly from the link provided, or ask your County DPW Chair to organize bulk ordering so you can have them available for distribution and fundraising for your local events. Other organizations are welcome to do the same thing.)

Les Nakamoto

Chair 5th Congressional District Democratic Party of Wisconsin

Nik Kovak hosted an event where CRG mouthpiece Orville Seymer was in attendance. Dan Knauss of Riverwest Neighborhood Network has his take here.

Here’s a short excerpt from Knass’ website:

Now comes Orville Seymer, who resides in Franklin and usually donates to Republicans like State Sen. Glenn Grothman. Evidently Seymer is a Nik Kovac supporter now that Nik has hitched himself to the Bondars. Seymer is the “Network Field Operations Director” for the suburban Republican attack group “Citizens for Responsible Government,” and his history of activism has few rivals for attention grabbing eccentricity and ineffectiveness.

UPDATE: Kovak supporters are fairly upset about Knauss’ post. For the record, several members from Riverwest Currents, a respectable liberal website, are supporting Kovak.

Key word “some”.

Ziegler doesn’t deserve a medal. Before being elected to her current position on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Ziegler heard cases where she had a direct financial conflict of interest and ruled against the parties who were before her asking for justice.

Here’s how the Journal-Sentinel described the case:

On Monday, the panel of three appeals judges will hold a hearing in West Bend on Ziegler’s handling of cases as a Washington County circuit judge. Ziegler handled 11 cases involving West Bend Savings Bank, where her husband, J.J., earns $20,000 a year as a director. Judicial rules say judges must step aside in such cases unless they disclose the matter and all the parties involved say they approve of their hearing the matter.

After Ziegler was elected, she admitted wrongdoing in a settlement with the state Ethics Board and agreed to pay a $5,000 forfeiture and about $12,000 in attorney fees for the state.

In a separate investigation covering some of the same cases, the Judicial Commission concluded Ziegler should be publicly reprimanded. Ziegler has agreed that punishment would be appropriate. The panel of appeals judges will make its own recommendation to the Supreme Court.

By cashing in, Ziegler permanently sullied herself as a judge and showed she has a problem understanding the basic concepts of both fairness and justice.

Ziegler brought these problems on all by herself. Her partisan proponents have been claiming she’s some sort of victim but even in her political campaign she showed poor judgement. It started out when she took a picture in front of the Washington county courthouse and her campaign used Adobe Photoshop to show her in front of the signs of several counties. The problem was it was the same picture. The building behind her was the same and the shape of the sign was the same — the only thing that was changed was the words. I’ll admit, I had a little fun with this on Watchdog Milwaukee. One good piece of photoshop creativity deserves another right?

Fast forward to the present and Ziegler has taken $8625 from the Wisconsin Realtors Association‘s political action committee. She’s recused herself in one case, yet another hasn’t stated whether she’ll recuse herself in the other.

For Ziegler, this has the scent of West Bend Savings Bank all over it. Despite the fact that she’s still under scrutiny for her past wrongdoing, she’s not automatically recusing herself where she has a present conflict. It is unfortunate for Ziegler, but even more unfortunate for the public when someone entrusted with such a high profile seat in the judicial system cannot grasp the basic concepts of justice.

Ziegler should step aside in those cases where she’s bellying up to the bar for a shot of campaign cash. Justice isn’t a game and the Supreme Court isn’t a playground. It’s not her place to stand in judgement in a case where she’s been accepting handouts from one of those in front of her.

Imagine if you had a case in front of her and the opposing side was her pal. And what if you, like others who have had their cases before her, didn’t know about her conflicts. If she’ll stand in judgement of you on that day, who’s to say she didn’t make a call the previous day to her pals telling them not to worry — that since they’ve covered her back, she’ll cover theirs. After all, that would be a simple case of loyalty right? Helping the person who helped you, on the surface at least, seems like the right thing to do.

Well the realtors are upset. They don’t want her to recuse herself on cases involving realtors and Ziegler. They shelled out their money, now they want their payday.

It’s a simple fact in a capitalistic society — you don’t get something for nothing.

Walker’s actions as the Chief Executive Officer in charge of the County have led to financial meltdown and large scale diminishment of the county’s commitment to the park system — once called Milwaukee County’s “emerald necklace”, a reference to the green space set aside by past political leaders.

The race was a bitter one with her opponent, Chris Kujawa, having access to the Walker deception machine as well as the benefit of AM talk radio show hosts including Republican shill and WTMJ host Charlie Sykes. By a margin of 54%, voters rejected the rhetoric of the Walker machine and looked at the record of Walker while expressing deep concerns over Kujawa’s assertion that he would be a key Walker ally on the County Board.

This from Progressive Majority, the same organization which I credited for the Democratic takeover of the State Senate:

Jursik campaigned on Walker’s culpability in the new pension scandal and on his dismantling of the Milwaukee County Parks system, and directly criticized Kujawa for being a likely rubber stamp on the board for Walker. She entered the race because the recent budget cuts were harming Sheridan Park, located across the street from her house. Apparently she isn’t the only one in the 8th District upset with Walker.

An interesting element here is that the Walker machine is crumbling. Walker rose to power by playing the blame game and swiftboating his political adversaries. He has continued to use his talk radio mouthpiece, Charlie Sykes, as his most valuable asset yet Sykes was unsuccessful in his efforts to swiftboat Jursik.

What also is important to note here is that the district is not considered to be a liberal one. Encompassing Cudahy, South Milwaukee and St. Francis, the district embraces conservative working class values. Clearly the working class people of the 8th district aren’t happy with Walker’s borrow and spend tactics but neither can they be pleased with the disintegration of the parks since Walker has taken the reigns. The 8th district is considered to be “park rich” in that it follows the shore of Lake Michigan with its bike paths and walking trails.

But I’m also a fan of Barack Obama. Obama also has a great deal of charm and if I look at all the issues, I probably agree with Obama more than any other candidate.

Since my choice, Al Gore, won’t be running, I’m left to choose between two exceptionally talented individuals — neither of which will be visiting the democratic state convention this week so even if I wanted to attend as a guest, I wouldn’t have an opportunity to hear them.

I’ve also heard the detractors say why they think one candidate is less than perfect for one reason or another. Yes there’s that argument that the country wouldn’t elect a black President. I think that’s probably bunk. I’ve also heard the criticism of John Edwards apparent fixation with his hair — to that I say big deal. Everybody has their quirks. Some people bite their nails and some people play with their hair. The hair thing is just a shallow attempt to discredit a guy who has spent his political life to do good things.

That’s the crux of this video (click here) featuring State Senator Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa). “It’s a disclosure bill. It’s a right to know bill” said Sullivan. From the floor of the State Senate, Sullivan alluded that his argument wasn’t just about Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler, it was about a bigger picture.

Apparently this bill gets Sullivan’s Irish up. As an attorney, Sullivan works with the Judiciary on a regular basis and he’s concerned that to not have this bill would erode public confidence in the justice system.

Sullivan said:

I think that what we have is members of this body who are simply trying to cover the tracks of a recent judicial election after the horse has left the barn. I think there is nothing that can be done about that election right now. I think we should be very clear that this isn’t about a current or past judicial candidate. This is about the publics right to know.

It will be interesting to see what happens to this bill once it hits the Assembly.

That time is now.

Republican partisan and US Attorney Steven Biskupic did just that when he went after state administrator Georgia Thompson with the flimsiest of arguments. Biskupic claimed that Thompson steered lucrative travel contracts to Adelman Travel whose owners were also donors to the campaign of Governor Jim Doyle.

Biskupic’s stormtrooperesque efforts were an attempt to smear Doyle right before the election. Unfortunately the mainstream media owes Thompson a huge apology for reporting the GOP press releases as though they were fact. The result is the destruction of Georgia Thompson’s life in an era when we should all know better. Americans were right to hope that reporting had changed since the baseless rantings of former Senator Joe McCarthy were reported as fact.

Here’s another rub — Adelman Travel was the winner of that contract not because of the sole decision of Thompson, but because they had the lowest reasonable bid. Yes, another business was close but their score didn’t put them ahead.

The federal government, whose partisan attack dog persecuted Thompson, should reimburse her for her legal fees. The media who “reported” allegations as facts needs to regain their credibility by apologizing.

by Rick Kisséll

I spent this past Election Day (4/3/07) at the Westlawn housing project on 60th and Silver Spring, going door-to-door with MPS School Board candidate Wendell Harris. I chose to work with Harris because my own neighborhood on the south side didn’t have a district race for School Board, and I wanted to help multiple candidates simultaneously. However, when I connected with Wendell, I learned that he didn’t have any literature to distribute for any of the other candidates– not even for Bama Grice-Brown, the citywide candidate for School Board. So, we stopped by the nearest poll, and I grabbed a large stack of sample ballots, which I marked with red ink the candidates I was supporting. Many Westlawn residents didn’t know that it was Election Day, and when I offered them a sample ballot, they were universally glad to get it.

My assumption is that, even in elections that are officially “nonpartisan”, there are de facto slates, especially for candidates for the Milwaukee School Board, which has been openly divided into factions for years. Beyond that, many of the supposedly nonpartisan judicial races feature fairly obvious right/left ideological divisions, such as the Supreme Court race between Linda Clifford and Annette Ziegler and Asst. District Attorney Chris Liegel‘s challenge to Judge Bill Pocan.

So, why is there apparently no coordination between these campaigns? At least at the School Board level, I would have expected some attempts at coordination between the various candidates endorsed by the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association: shared lit drops, etc. But according to Bama Grice-Brown, there wasn’t any. Why?

Ditto for the Supreme Court and circuit court races. Am I wrong in assuming that if you voted for Linda Clifford (despite her typically Democrat campaign: top-down and unwilling to challenge the Right’s “soft-on-crime” rhetoric), you’d probably also vote to retain Judge Pocan, and for the pro-MPS slate for the School Board?

To me, it also seems obvious that the logical group to organize such coordination would be organized labor, which has a long history of endorsing candidates in both partisan and “nonpartisan” elections. However, the largest teachers’ unions (WEAC and the MTEA) have never been affiliated to the AFL-CIO, and the unions have their own problem: fewer and fewer of their members and staff actually live in the City of Milwaukee any more. That is especially true for union officers and staff. Take a look at the movement of union offices over the past few decades: typically, they move from the city to the suburbs, often as far out as Waukesha County.

Perhaps the state AFL-CIO and WEAC could take the lead in creating a body to coordinate such efforts in Supreme Court races, with the Milwaukee County Labor Council and the MTEA setting up a parallel body for “nonpartisan” offices in Milwaukee County. In Milwaukee County, the MCLC and MTEA should reach out to groups like the NAACP to ensure that the endorsement process includes Milwaukee residents of all races in proportion to their presence in the city or county. (Another approach would be to modify the candidate endorsement processes of the MCLC and MTEA to make sure that the endorsements of candidates in the city and county of Milwaukee have the support of a majority of union members who reside in the city or county.)

However it’s structured, I’d like to see it result in the mass distribution of full-size sample ballots about a week before “nonpartisan” elections, with the arrows next to the progressive candidates’ names marked in red ink, with a clear and brief explanation on the back explaining the reasons why candidates were endorsed — the central issues and the candidates’ stands on those issues. That means a return to the days when organized labor had its own program and platform.

Rick Kissell, guest columnist for WatchdogMilwaukee, is a longtime progressive activist in Milwaukee. This essay has been published here with permission.

Yes, he was the Governor in Wisconsin at the time welfare reform was first talked about but it seems that very few people have their facts straight on this one. Welfare reform was not Tommy Thompson’s baby — it was Shirley Krug‘s.

Krug, a former State Assembly Representative from the Northwest side, created Wisconsin Works — a welfare reform program complete with safety nets. Essentially, all Thompson did was remove the social safety nets and change the name and he wasn’t even creative with that.

Krug’s Wisconsin Works became Thompson’s W-2.

But let’s look at the results of W-2.

Yes, there are fewer people on welfare but visits to food pantries have skyrocketed. The first year of W-2 alone saw a near doubling of visits to food pantries, and a big increase in women with children in homeless shelters such as Hope House and the Rescue Mission.

Under W-2 reform, more children went without meals. For the first time in recent history, hunger became a major problem in Wisconsin and it continues to be. The Huner Task Force has in recent years called hunger in Milwaukee a crisis. Meanwhile, Wisconsin continues to throw up roadblocks to those that want to apply for foodstamps (now called the Questcard).

This is the legacy of Thompson. Increased poverty and hunger followed Thompson’s stripped down “reform.” Had Thompson gone with Krug’s Wisconsin Works plan as she had it written prior to his hatchet job, she would have certainly backed down and let him take the credit.

Now that we’ve been proven right, what will be the effect of McGee’s win? The answer is simple — he will be emboldened to continue his poor behavior which is unbefitting of a public official.

To understand why the black community said no, you have to understand the racial politics in Milwaukee. It is very difficult for a white person to win in a majority black district and even though McGee’s opponents were people of color, there was no secret about who was pushing the recall — white suburban republicans.

Ignorance and fear fueled the successful GOP inspired 2002 recalls in white suburbia in Milwaukee County. Attempts to bring the poison to the central city failed and now that the recalls have been proven to have been under false pretenses (even Milwaukee’s GOP County Executive, Scott Walker, indicated in his state of the county address this year that the county board had been lied to), people of color aren’t in any mood to embrace the knee jerk activism from pro-recall GOP activists like Orville Seymour or Chris Kliesmet.

To add fuel to suspicion, Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG) held a pro-recall rally at the same south side establishment (Serb Hall) that they launched the other pro-GOP recalls. GOP talk radio show host Charlie Sykes used his show to lambaste McGee. Since Sykes often uses his show to take dishonest and unfair cheap shots at high profile people of color on his high wattage station, it was clear to McGee’s constituents that Sykes was once again not representing their interests. Add to the fact that Sykes wrongly and immorally lied about McGee and got caught doing it, accusing the Alderman of making anti-semitic comments when he made no such statements, fueled suspicion.

Take a look though at McGee’s record and you’ll find that he’s had a horrible record which defies responsibility. Should McGee have been recalled? No. Normal election times are the best time to replace irresponsible public officials. Should he be removed next April? Absolutely. His actions have been an embarrassment for his constituents.

But Jim’s Watchdog post “AirTran Deal Not So Bad for Milwaukee” continues to generate a lot of discussion as we weigh the merits of AirTran’s proposals and Midwest’s growth plan. Also on the table: How committed to Milwaukee would AirTran be? How committed is Midwest really? What does real growth mean in the air travel industry? – and other questions.

More than anything, Milwaukee’s parochialism and often quaint perception of itself within the larger economy is a steady undercurrent to the AirTran question, and local media perpetuates this. The New York Times and AP, on the other hand, have given AirTran’s latest offer more merit than it has received in local media. Read the AP/New York Times story here.

Nationally it seems, AirTran’s takeover of Milwaukee’s “regional airline” is not considered so nefarious.

In comparison, here’s the link to coverage in the Journal Sentinel.

McGee wrap up and a look back
Only a few blocks of Riverwest are in the 6th Aldermanic District, but because the neighborhood is just across Holton Street from the eastern end of the 6th, Riverwesters took a strong interest in Ald. Michael McGee, Jr. In fact, Riverwest Currents, the monthly community newspaper, supported McGee against Marlene Johnson three years ago and has featured the alderman on its cover (in 2004, a couple of months before the barrage of headline-making McGee hijinks hit).

Scanning the blogosphere after the election, I found some commentary and a nice link to our analysis of the McGee recall attempt election night on http://riverwestneighborhood.org, a great looking website. Check it out.

That’s a take from east of the 6th. Here’s a post-election take from a nicely-designed website from west of the 6th, in Sherman Park, by business consultant James T. Harris, who mans the 7-9PM slot Sunday nights on TMJ – TMJ’s only black radio host that I’m aware of.

Most the criticism of McGee in the blogosphere and in media came from outside the district (I live and vote in it). Here at Watchdog, McGee has been an ongoing subject of blogs and commentary during his first term. We went back and forth over the recall, but even early on the alderman was a prime candidate for our “LackeyWatch.”

Here’s Jim on the snafu over McGee’s name.

“Faces of Rage” – thoughts on aldermen, vicious cops and male strippers.

Here we come to McGee’s defense in the fight against those “forces of darkness.”

The full McGee archive – 16 posts dating back to March 2005.

Enjoy!

The tall, mustachio’ed white guy standing just behind McGee as the alderman did his victory interview looked an awful lot like John Balcerzak, president of the Milwaukee cops’ union. Balcerzak had been on the news earlier in the day to say that the union was backing off the full pay for fired cops during the fire and police commission appeal process. If it was Balcerzak — and I’m not stating that it was — can anyone who also saw the Channel 12 interview confirm or refute this? I’m putting this out as part of the process of establishing fact. It was a quick TV interview, though a good one, and the reporter made no note that it was Balcerzak.

It does make sense that McGee, Jr., or the cops working the 6th Aldermanic District would begin some conversations in light of the 6th District’s convincing affirmation of McGee; it doesn’t seem out of the question at all that the cops’ union chief might want to open a relationship. Let’s spark some interactive journalism here at Watchdog. Is this, in fact what is happening?

For the record and the sake of some reportage here, McGee thanked god for his victory and that the recall process was over, and seemed genuinely overwhelmed a bit by the 65% show of support 6th District voters gave him. He said he thought the recall process brought him “closer to his constituents.”

“I want black people to stop killing each other,” he closed. “That’s what I want – what I’m about.”

This was a statement election from the near northeast side of Milwaukee, where I live and vote. McGee has renewed life, has reached a plateau, a solid place where he can stand in confidence knowing that he goes back to city hall with a mandate. Given the realities of this recalll effort and the 6th District, that’s quite a statement indeed.

The city of Milwaukee, not Ald. Michael McGee, needs to change.

Percentages don’t lie and Ziegler had over twice the amount of votes that Clifford had after the race was narrowed to just two candidates.

Could it have been won? The short answer is yes, but it was very, very unlikely.

Clifford would have had to cement herself into voters minds as the perfect candidate. She would have needed to focus her commercials entirely on herself and let the independent expenditures bring out Ziegler’s shortcomings. Her public face needed to be the only one who had argued a case before the supreme court. Clifford also faced another problem — she isn’t a judge and it’s pretty safe to say that people prefer someone to be a judge before elevating them to be a justice.

Other groups needed to point out that Ziegler is only a Judge because Daddy bought her a seat and without the big donations to former Governor Tommy Thompson, she wouldn’t have gotten the appointment.

Ziegler also would have needed to really screw up and her shortcomings needed to become public. For the most part, that did happen and that is the only reason Clifford ended up having a chance.

Add to the soup the fact that Ziegler had an unprecedented amount of special interest spending on her behalf. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce spent $1.45 million to buy Ziegler the seat and clearly they were successful. Compare that to the mere $300,000 that was spent by a pro-Clifford group and you can see how Ziegler had an upper hand in this race.

Some will say that all of this is just Monday morning quarterbacking. To a small extent extent that’s true, but at the same time I’ve been the quarterback and I know how the game is played. Most “Monday morning quarterbacks” have never picked up the football.

###
“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”
President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864
(letter to Col. William F. Elkins)

Vianna Jordan — the retired U.S. Army communications specialist who stood up to a barrage of dirty tricks, intimidation tactics and legal challenges from the McGee camp after she filed recall signatures last fall – deserves the chance to run head-to-head to be the alderman for this district.

The polls closed a minute ago. At no time during the 6th Aldermanic District recall did any of the eight candidates running for a chance to be the next alderman knock on our door to ask me or m’accomplice for our votes. Yes, she is a registered voter at this address. And, no, we didn’t get a single “sorry we missed you” lit drop. So it was difficult to take any of the candidates seriously, and we considered sitting it out so the rest of the district could decide whether McGee should stand for a recall or not. (If McGee gets 50 percent of today’s vote – and this isn’t likely – I don’t have many punctuation options here to underscore how wrong I was on this point -he keeps our city council seat.)

McGee did mail us a glossy, postcard-sized flier last week, but it should be noted that sending out a mass mailer is expensive. First a candidate needs to buy the registered voters’ list – about $1,000; then produce the flier (printers are not cheap); and mail it to, at minimum, the 10,345 voters in this district who voted in the 2004 aldermanic race won by McGee. This covers the bulk of the $10,000 McGee reported spending in defense of his seat. No other candidate had that much on hand in this recall.

I also received a nice email after yesterday’s post from a supporter of Una Van Duvall, a Department of City Development administrative assistant who has a lot of support from her neighbors in Brewer’s Hill. Support from one’s neighbors is a good thing, and Una seemed to gain momentum as the election approached. Vianna Jordan’s supporters said Una was “riding on Vianna’s coattails.” Una supporters said Vianna had offered no ideas of her own, instead focusing on criticizing McGee. Someone had to criticize Mcgee to justify the recall. Vianna’s supporters also noted that DCD’s record is abysmal, not that Una had anything to do with that in her job as an administrative aide.

McGee has thrown down a challenge of his own. “We’re at war with the city of Milwaukee,” McGee said at a city hall press conference. Can anyone who knows the 6th Aldermanic district really argue? A system of crack houses line the alleyways just west of Holton Street from North Ave. on up to Keefe. Dealers sling heroin within three blocks of the District 5 police station. The police? They set officer Dan Masarik loose in our neighborhoods with a taser, unleashing a flood of citizen complaints — in one Masarik screamed at Puerto Rican residents: “This is OUR neighborhood now.” That was before Masarik joined the mauling of Frank Jude, Jr.

McGee claims to represent the disenfranchised of this district. But he also represents me. I voted for him against Marlene Johnson in 2004 because it was time for a change. Now the question is whether the district likes McGee’s … let’s call it “style” … which can only be described as reactionary absurdity. He’s like a crazy character written into a blaxploitation film. Truth is, things do get hoop-dee crazy out here. McGee’s challenge to the black community to fend off outside forces has legs … and arms too.

As we drove to the polls, I wondered about the Journal Sentinel endorsement, and why, after all of Vianna’s hard work, it went to Una. In reality, a candidate probably doesn’t want the JS endorsement in this race (those outside forces again, which McGee calls “forces of darkness.”) But I wondered why Vianna, who did the hard work to make this recall vote possible, who withstood all challenges to the signatures she collected from within the district – much more work than any candidate in this race has done – seemed to receive so little respect. True, her supporters are political outsiders such as Leon Todd, who obtained a restraining order against McGee during the race. Attorney Alan Eisenberg is another. Is their support a factor? Is it because, before she led the recall, Vianna was inexperienced? Because her background is in the military, not in politics?

On many levels, McGee has a point: The 6th District does not necessarily want an alderman schooled in the Byzantine processes of city hall. We’d like someone who has their feet in the district – all of it – not just development rich Brewer’s Hill. This election is certainly a test of these notions and the above questions. Three years ago, the answer for the 6th was Michael McGee, Jr., and his chances of fighting off this recall are fairly good.

But for us on election day, the answer is Vianna Jordan. She’s done the work in this race, and has given the district every reason to believe she would do the same at city hall.

As I write it is Sunday afternoon, two days before the vote. I’m one of two registered voters at a house just off Holton Street on the eastern end of the 6th Aldermanic District. There are seven challengers and Ald. Michael McGee, Jr. vying for a shot at a head-to-head run off to be our alderman. Every vote will count in this low turnout race, judging by past spring elections. There are only a few thousand votes out there. It’s the kind of race where the candidate who knocks on the most doors, talks to the most people and hangs the most door-lit would be tough to beat.

Two days before the election and it is raining, but we’re waiting nonetheless for the happy sound of grassroots politics: footsteps on the porch, lit being dropped in the door, or better still, a knock on the door from a candidate asking for our votes. In this part of the 6th District, all’s quiet.

Two days out and here’s how the candidates stack up in terms of campaign activity at our house:

Ald. Michael McGee, Jr. – 1
Jesus Christ – 1

Campaign volunteers for Jesus came by the other day and dropped some lit at the door, asking us to join in remembering “the greatest man who ever lived” on the anniversary of his death, Monday, April 2. This was rubber-banded to the doorknob, a sure sign that volunteers for Jesus were out in the neighborhoods, working the grassroots. McGee hasn’t been on the block. We received a mass mailer from the alderman a couple of days ago. It’s glossy, the size of a postcard, and tells us he is “Fighting for Justice God’s Way”.

Who would you vote for, Jesus as a write-in or Michael McGee, Jr.? We just might sit this one out.

###

Whether she’s the best choice or not depends on whether or not you want a Justice with ethics.

In her television commercials, Ziegler is attacking Linda Clifford for bringing to light the fact that, as a Washington County Judge, Ziegler failed to recuse herself from cases in which her own husband had a stake. Ziegler’s husband is on the Board of Directors for West Bend Savings Bank. You would think that a Judge who is ruling on a case before her would actually tell people that she had a stake in the outcome of a case.

But it gets better.

Ziegler has also ruled on cases where she has held stock for one side or another. Again, she failed to disclose her personal bias and investments before ruling on these cases. Once again, her rulings have impacted the profitability of companies she benefits from.

Now she wants us to believe she’s changed? Really, it didn’t affect how I ruled, she protests.

Oh please.

It’s not like she didn’t know she had stock in Wal-Mart. It’s not like she didn’t know her husband was on the Board of Directors for West Bend Savings Bank. Those omissions are lies. They’re not just harmless little white lies which hurt no one — they’ve impacted peoples lives.

But still, Ziegler has the audacity to blame Linda Clifford for playing dirty politics. All Clifford did was to bring up the issue of Ziegler failing to disclose her connections and point out that she should have recused herself. That’s not dirty politics — that’s news. Clifford is simply pointing out facts. This distortion is yet another reason Ziegler is unqualified for the bench.

Despite these two lies by omission, I’m even more concerned over her light touch with pedophiles. I know that Ziegler is using her campaign commercials to tout her toughness against sexual predators but what of the case where she gave a man just one year for molesting his 10 year old step daughter? That makes me sick and it should make everyone sick. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Reporter Mike Nichols broke the story a few years ago but her commercials touting her toughness with sexual predators continue to run. Voters should ask themselves what sentence they would have given a man who violated his own step daughter? Annette Ziegler gave him one year in a facility where he still got work release. Even when the girl was trying to watch a children’s movie, the man was molesting her. Still, Ziegler thought the man needed “treatment” instead of hard time. Despite this, Ziegler says she is tough on sexual predators.

That’s another lie.

Is that the kind of Justice you want? Does Ziegler share your values?

Ziegler points to her experience as the main reason voters should consider her. But facts are facts and when Ziegler has been given the power and responsibility of a judge, she has failed. Now she wants a promotion.

Alderman Michael McGee/Jackson has announced that he will be campaigning for Mayor of Milwaukee, and the clear signal is that life will change in our city when he is elected. All white citizens will be required to move out of town. All Latinos will be asked to move. The Police Chief will be ordered to no longer make arrests for possession of cocaine and other drugs of choice. His Mayoral campaign will be taken “to the streets.” Campaign funds will be raised from proceeds of muggings, and drug transactions on the streets. Fund raisers will be held by drug dealers. The name of Martin Luther King Drive will be changed to McGee/Jackson Boulevard. All of our churches will close. Women’s lives will change drastically. Courts will no longer be needed, as telling the truth in courts will have no significance. McGee/Jackson will first appoint himself Chief of Police, and then Chief Judge, also. All gay and lesbian men and women will be arrested and incarcerated, they will be required to wear insignia bearing the legend: “faggots.” Hate crimes will be abolished. All Milwaukeeans will be allowed to have two names, and they will not be restricted to one driver’s license. If they have a judgment against them for an auto accident in one name, they can then get a driver’s license in a second name. Shouldn’t everyone be allowed to do that? Assaulting or verbally abusing police officers will be allowed, especially by him, and especially in neighboring municipalities like Wauwatosa. Should Mr. McGee/Jackson decide that he wants more extra-marital affairs so that he can spawn more children, and then deny such relationships exist, it will be approved. Women of his choosing will be horse-whipped if he chooses. His office will designated: Command Central, Principalities of Darkness. Will Milwaukee become a McGee/Jackson Utopia? Is this the script for some futuristic movie? Life in Milwaukee will become a “Principality of Darkness, if we let it.” Stay tuned.

Here’s the gist of it: Zweifel received a call from PR flack Tim Scheiderer. Scheiderer offered to set up an off the record meeting with some guy named David W. Simon and Republican blogger and Attorney Rick Esenberg who teaches law at Marquette University. Then Scheiderer starts spouting off the GOP party line on liberal judges. In his column, Zweifel explains that Scheiderer is paid by Virginia PR firm Creative Response Concepts — the same firm who worked on the Swift Boaters smear campaign against Kerry. CRC also does work for the Republican Party, the Christian coalition and other right-wing groups.

So what does Ziegler have to say about all this? Well nothing so far but if what’s happening now is any indication of how this race will up, expect it to get very dirty.

Of the two autocalls I received from a group calling itself the Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce, Ziegler was touted as business friendly. What voters should really look at in April is which candidate is more family friendly.

The problem with Ziegler is her weak sentencing of pedophiles. As the website OneWisconsinNow points out, Ziegler gave a man who molested his 12 year old step-daughter a mere one year sentence. If that is the sort of precedent that Ziegler would follow as a Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice, Wisconsin may find it’s tough laws on pedophiles being struck down.

Is that what we really want for our state?

One thing is certain — overcoming the numbers that Ziegler came through with in the primary is very difficult if voter turnout remains at the pitiful 7% that it was for Tuesday’s election, but her opponent, Linda Clifford still has a narrow chance. There’s really only one way she can pull this one out and that’s if she exposes Ziegler’s record. It’s going to be costly but the real question that voters need to answer is whether they prefer to have the reputation as being a family friendly state?

The big question Ziegler needs to answer is “how could you have given a man convicted of molesting his 10 year old step-daughter just one year in prison”?

The website Progressive Majority resurrected the story (written by Mike Nichols of the Journal-Sentinel) recently, pointing out “the pre-sentence report recommended 15 years — five less than the prosecutor demanded. The defendant’s own attorney suggested five to seven years. But Washington County Circuit Judge Ziegler stayed a 25 year sentence — meaning it wouldn’t apply unless the man failed to go through with treatment. Ziegler also gave him 20 years of probation and one year on work release in the county jail.”

As a father I’m utterly disgusted. What kind of cretin gains pleasure from violating a child? This sicko even molested his step daughter as she watched the killer whale movie “Free Willy“.

What was Ziegler thinking? Could she have sleeping through the trial?

It will be curious to see how republicans defend her. It will be interesting to see how they manage to play their “family values” angle while supporting a candidate who let a pedophile walk after just a year.

Judicial candidates are supposed to be impartial and non-partisan but in reality it's not possible to be completely impartial.  You're a product of your surroundings and your collective experiences.  Unfortunately for Ziegler, that means that she's part of a family who has donated to GOP candidates like convicted felon Scott Jensen as well as former Guv Tommy Thompson.

Does this mean she's unqualified?  Of course not.  But if you look at judicial activism in the courts over the past decade or so, it has all been conservative (read republican) activism.  That activism is dangerous to those of us who value constitutional freedoms.

But do we know how Ziegler would vote on issues of constitutional freedom?  No. 

What we do know is that Ziegler's family contributed $5800 to then-GOP Governor Tommy Thompson's campaign before her judicial appointment.  We do know that an additional $7250 was sent to Thompson after he made good on the appointment.  We do know that after her swearing in ceremony, that Ziegler's father in law sent in a check for $500 to the Guv.  We also know that from 2000 to 2006 the Ziegler family sent nearly $120,000 to Republican candidates for office.

So do we know which way she leans on issues important to people who value constitutional protections?  It's a pretty safe bet that she's not with them.

###

Thanks to One Wisconsin Now for tipping us off to this story. 

Annette Ziegler will face Linda Clifford this spring.

The twist?  Ziegler's website features her standing in front of the Ozaukee, Waukesha and Milwaukee Justice center.

The problem?

It's all the same place.  Someone just digitally edited the names of the centers to reflect the county Ziegler was supposedly standing in front of.

It's amusing but hopefully she won't take anymore shortcuts this campaign season.   She could very well be a great person for the job (or might not).  We'll reserve our judgment for a while.  For the time being, she needs to have a stern talking to with her campaign people.

###

Link: Folkbum snagged the pictures off of the website. We're sure that Ziegler will take them down.  Credit Carrie Lynch from What's Left for breaking the story.

Recalls should be used sparingly and only for malfeasance in office.  Here in Wisconsin they've being horribly misused by sour grapes political activists who weren't happy with the original election and they believe they deserve a "do over".  

What makes McGee Jr.'s likely recall even stranger is that he actually signed his own recall papers.  McGee claims he thought he was signing a petition to keep a school open.  This makes McGee look even more dimwitted than the public already thinks he is.  The whole "recall Michael McGee" heading that the papers would have had should have tipped him off that it was more than a petition to keep a school open.

So does McGee deserve to be recalled?  If he signed his own recall petition apparently he thinks so.  Probably the best thing he could do right now is step down.  That way he spend more time with his illegitimate child.

Normally I only believe that people who sign recall petitions are fair game for recalls but what do you do when the candidate signs his own recall petition? 

Fiscal and community issues are a completely different story.

The problem with PVS is that they leave it up to the special interests groups to rank your legislators.  You also can't just assume that because you would tend to agree or disagree with a certain group all the time.  It requires a little research and for you to find out what questions they asked.

Some legislators also make it difficult for PVS to inform their readers.  Take the case of State Senator Alberta Darling.  Her profile reads: 

SENATOR ALBERTA DARLING REPEATEDLY REFUSED TO PROVIDE ANY
RESPONSES TO CITIZENS ON ISSUES THROUGH THE 2004
NATIONAL POLITICAL AWARENESS TEST

SENATOR ALBERTA DARLING REFUSED TO PROVIDE THIS INFORMATION WHEN ASKED TO DO SO BY:
Major News Organizations
and key national leaders of both parties including,

John McCain, Republican Senator
Geraldine Ferraro, Former Democratic Congresswoman
Michael Dukakis, Former Democratic Governor
Bill Frenzel, Former Republican Congressman
Richard Kimball, Project Vote Smart President

Why would she refuse to answer questions? 

You can also find some issues that would seem strange to you until you knew a little background.  Here's an example –  why would Darling get a rank of 0 (zero) from Planned Parenthood?  If you knew about Darling's background you would know that she once served on the Planned Parenthood Board of Directors.  She was once pro-choice. 

What happened? 

Here's the part that PVS doesn't tell you about.  Far right Republicans started to pick off her friends.  Her good friend, Mary Panzer who was seen as a moderate was ousted after a long and distinguished career in the State Senate.  But Panzer wasn't just another Senator, she was her party's leader in the Senate.  Panzer had a reputation working and playing well with others and she was branded by extremists in her own party as a RINO (Republican in name only).  Darling had the same sort of voting record but she made a dramatic shift to the right after seeing her friend Panzer get recalled. 

Was it right?  No.  There was no excuse for it.  Recalling Panzer was a shameful act and an abuse of a state law.  Other states require malfeasance in office and in Georgia, you must even prove malfeasance in front of a Judge before a recall can move forward.

But back to Project Vote Smart — you have to think of it as a tool but it is an imprecise tool that doesn't give you the full picture.

First, McGee himself had signed the recall petetion against him. Then, after Jordan filed the paperwork at the city Elections Commission, McGee missed a crucial Common Council vote on Mayor Tom Barrett's lone budget veto.  Aldermen overrode the veto without McGee (11-3), and his vote would not have blocked the Council, but McGee has no excuse for skipping out on his constituents on one of the most important budget votes.

By overriding Barrett, aldermen restored firefighter positions to ladder trucks that the mayor had cut to fund a pilot program to put cops in schools.  The Council, which had already approved 40 new Milwaukee Police Department positions in this budget, decided that MPD had ample funds to start the school safety project.

One would think that an alderman who represents a district in which a student was beaten to death outside of his school, in broad daylight at 1st and Center Streets in front of other students, would feel compelled to represent the school safety concerns of his constituents.  Does skipping the vote make more or less sense to McGee Jr. — who cuts himself in the mold of his father, the former alderman and leader of what he dubbed the New Black Panther Party – when it's considered that the beating occurred at afrocentric Malcolm X Academy?  There's no need to bother with his answer.

McGee, Jr., is worse than tiresome, his antics only trivializing every issue he involves himself with.  Local media aids and abets in a lurid, OJ-style symbiosis that makes mockery of it all, at once bursting and inflating McGee's small town persona.  We’ve been guilty of it too here at Watchdog Milwaukee. 

Nobody takes Jr. as seriously as they took his dad but, sadly, in 2006 Milwaukeee it's still easier to write about a McGee than it is to write the truth:  When the sun goes down, much of the 6th District deteriorates to a phantasmagoria of crack-infested alleys, heroin deals near the District 5 police station, angry faces and street maulings, prostitution and drugs, more drugs, gunplay, murder, rage and despair.

Somebody’s got to be alderman when the sun comes up, and residents of the 6th District can do much better than McGee.

He offered no statement yesterday after Jordan filed the recall petition (and still hasn't), but expect Jr. at the elections commission in the coming weeks, challenging signatures and somehow challenging his very own, defying witnesses who saw him sign it.  The 2,300 signatures Jordan filed are over 600 more than what she needs to force the election, and she does plan to run for the 6th District seat.  She won’t likely be the only candidate and she’ll have to build more than an anti-McGee message, as strong as that message is.

Vianna Jordan’s 10 Reasons to Recall Ald. Michael McGee, Jr.

1. Has become an embarrassment to our community
2. Perjured himself in court about an illicit affair with mother of his child
3. Arrested on charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and threatening to kill a woman
4. Aide arrested for possession of guns, drugs and open alcohol
5. Used slurs and epithets against LGBT community; unbecoming of a role model
6. Has shamefully earned the public reputation of a scofflaw
7. Lacks the rapport and leadership skills to be an effective leader
8. Refers constituents to disreputable cronies in a conspiratorial hoax/scam
9. Fraudulent use of alias names to avoid responsibility for accident damages
10. Used constituent organizations to rally in defense of a shameful act

Apparently, Harley-Davidson workers are voting again today on the company's plans to expand in the Milwaukee area and create 120 new jobs. I was confused. When Mark Green ran for governor, he told me that Gov. Jim Doyle had chased those jobs out of state.

Sometimes TV news gets things wrong, so I waited until morning and checked the business section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to see if it was true. It turns out that print media also thinks there is a vote on the Harley expansion today. Mark Green, how can this be?

The union has to vote on Harley's plans because Harley, which is turning record profits and prides itself on being a great place to work, wants to save money on the backs of its future workers. Harley doesn’t want the new jobs to be subject to its collectively bargained wage scale, which requires an okay from the union. The union, Local 2-209 represents about 1,600 workers, who overwhelmingly rejected Harley's initial plan, which had some workers set to make $10 an hour. I was surprised to read about the workers’ voting down the expansion. Mark Green told me that Jim Doyle was responsible for the initial Harley deal going bad.

No good union will support a two-tier structure of wages or benefits, which entails selling out future workers while maintaining at least status quo for workers of today. This sort of thing comes up often at bargaining, and unions have to be prepared to walk away from benefits offered current workers, hold the line and negotiate for the future. But this isn't a collectively bargaining situation yet, and Harley's got Local 2-209 over a barrel. This is Harley’s final offer. Reject the deal and Harley moves its new jobs out of state, where they can pay workers much less and the union can't collectively bargain the new positions. Either way, the union's bargaining position in the future will be weakened, but if workers accept the deal today, the new employees will make $20 an hour after one year, according to Journal Sentinel.

It's not a perfect world nor is it the perfect offer, but it's a show of commitment from Harley. We need those jobs in Milwaukee – jobs that Mark Green told me were already gone.

It occurs to me that it’s good for the state and good for Milwaukee that Mark Green lost to Jim Doyle last Tuesday. Either Mark Green didn't have a grasp on what was going on at Harley — and it's important for a governor to understand what's happening in the job economy — or he was just lying to me.

Let's hope the conscience and common sense of the national Democratic Party did not walk out of the race with him. 

Sen. Russ Feingold officially dropped his consideration of a presidential run Saturday, saying in a letter to his Progressive Patriots network that he had "decided to continue my role as Wisconsin's Junior Senator in the U.S. Senate and not to seek the Democratic nomination for President in 2008."

Feingold said he believed he could accomplish more advancing a progressive agenda in the Senate, where he goes to work in January with 14 years of seniority and for the first time a member of the majority party. His Progressive Patriots Fund will remain active in the efforts to increase the Congressional gains made Nov. 7 and elect a Democratic president, he said.

However, in a not-too-thinly veiled reference to leading Democrats preparing to run at the nomination (Hillary Clinton and John Edwards to name two) Feingold mentioned that he "would strongly prefer that our nominee in 2008 be someone who had the judgment to oppose the Iraq war from the beginning …"

Feingold was one of 23 Senators who voted against going to war in 2002. Clinton and Edwards voted with the Bush Administration, changing their positions as the war dragged on and became increasingly unpopular with the American public. Feingold, unafraid to challenge Bush-Cheney in the shadow of 9/11, cast the only Senate vote against the USA Patriot Act, leading a successful filibuster last year to block its renewal.

Feingold publicized his decision not to run on the eve of his 1,000th listening session with Wisconsin voters, set today in Racine. It's a fitting place to celebrate how much has changed since he took his stands against the Patriot Act and the war. Racine voters overwhelmingly approved Nov. 7 referendums to end the war in Iraq and to provide comprehensive health care reform in Wisconsin. Racine also sent a health care reform Democrat to the state Senate, in Rep. John Lehman.

On the campaign trail across the country this year, Feingold said he found a "hunger for progressive change" and a need for "a strong, principled Democratic party that is willing to replace timidity with taking the risks of promoting a platform of bold solutions to our nation's problems."

But the ovations that greeted him were calls for change in the party, he said, not affirmation of a presidential cult of personality.

"I often felt that if a piece of Wisconsin swiss cheese had taken the same positions I've taken, it would have elicited the same standing ovations," Feingold said.

When the US Senate reconvenes in January, the Democratic majority will appoint new committee chairmanships.  It's likely that Feingold could be appointed chairman of the Senate Judiciary or the Intelligence committees. For Feingold, often found leading Democrats on constitutional law and civil liberties issues, the Judiciary chairmanship would be a plum. He may have hinted at such possibilities in his letter Saturday when he listed his four committee posts, noting that he could best advance the progressive agenda "as a Senator with significant seniority."

Below is Feingold's statement to Progressive Patriots on his decision:

"Like many Americans, I am excited by the results of the November 7^th election. My fourteen years in the Senate have been the greatest privilege of my life and I am extremely pleased with what we have accomplished. During so much of that time, however, we Democrats have not only been in the minority but have often been so deeply mired there that my role has often been to block bad ideas or to simply dissent. That is a very important role but I relish the thought that in this new Congress we can start, not only to undo much of the damage that one-party rule has done to America, we can actually advance progressive solutions to such major issues as guaranteed healthcare, dependence on oil, and our unbalanced trade policies. The Senate of the 110^th Congress could also well be a place of greater bi-partisan opportunities for change; something I am very proud to have been effective at in both Republican and Democratic Senates.

I hope all of you know how much I have appreciated the incredible response you have given me and the efforts of our Progressive Patriots Fund since January, 2005. In addition to all of our work in Wisconsin and D.C., I have traveled to seventeen states trying to promote the election of progressive Democrats in all states. At every stop from Birmingham, Alabama to Burlington, Vermont, to Ft. Dodge, Iowa, to Las Vegas, Nevada, people have agreed with my view that we need to stand up for a strong, principled Democratic party that is willing to replace timidity with taking the risks of promoting a platform of bold solutions to our nation's problems. Unfailingly, people responded well to my positions:  opposition to the Iraq war; calling for a timeline to redeploy our troops from Iraq so we can focus on those who attacked us on September 11^th, 2001; my opposition to the flawed provisions of the USA Patriot Act that threaten the freedoms of law-abiding Americans; my call for accountability for the Administration's arrogant disregard for the law especially with regard to illegal wiretapping; fighting for fiscal responsibility including tough common sense budget rules that will help end the reckless policies that have heaped a mountain of debt on our children and grandchildren; as well as my strong belief in guaranteed healthcare for all Americans and substantial investment in alternative energy sources and technologies.

Yet, while I've certainly enjoyed the repeated comments or buttons saying, "Run Russ Run", or "Russ in '08", I often felt that if a piece of Wisconsin swiss cheese had taken the same positions I've taken, it would have elicited the same standing ovations. This is because the hunger for progressive change we feel is obviously not about me but about the desire for a genuinely different Democratic Party that is ready to begin to reverse the 25 years of growing extremism we have endured.

I'm sure a campaign for President would have been a great adventure and helpful in advancing a progressive agenda. At this time, however, I believe I can best advance that progressive agenda as a Senator with significant seniority in the new Senate serving on the Foreign Relations, Intelligence, Judiciary and Budget Committees. Although I have given it a lot of thought, I cannot muster the same enthusiasm for a race for President while I am trying simultaneously to advance our agenda in the Senate. In other words, if I really wanted to run for President, regardless of the odds or other possible candidates, I would do so. However, to put my family and all of my friends and supporters through such a process without having a very strong desire to run, seems inappropriate to me. And, yes, while I would strongly prefer that our nominee in 2008 be someone who had the judgment to oppose the Iraq war from the beginning, I am prepared to work as hard as I can through the Progressive Patriots Fund, and consistent with my duties in the Senate, to maintain or increase our gains from November 7 in the Congress and, of course, to elect a Democrat as President in 2008.

Most important, I want to continue my work as a Senator from this wonderful State of Wisconsin. Our fourteen year ongoing conversation that has taken place in hundreds of communities in Wisconsin in the form of open Listening Sessions is the principal reason I have been perceived as "ahead of the curve" on many key issues. Simply listening to the reasoning and passions of Wisconsinites remains the best source of good ideas and common sense I've ever encountered.

I love this country very much and am so lucky to be able to serve it in the United States Senate. My heartfelt thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement."

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. 

Even in his home ward, Reynolds lost with his neighbors soundly rejecting his divisiveness.

It shouldn't have posed too much of a shock that this was one of the most divisive races in the state with Reynolds constantly attacking Sullivan with the simple catch phrase "liberal lawyer Jim Sullivan" on most of his campaign literature.

This was a race that Reynolds brought a lot of anger to and his campaign materials showed it.  There was no soft edge to Reynolds — no connection that the majority of this well educated district could make to their own senator.

On election night, there was no difference with Reynolds.  He failed to make the phone call that all decent candidates, regardless of how divisive the race, make — the call to concede the race.

Now the difficult work begins for Sullivan — not only legislating from the center as many voters asked him to, but working to win the hearts and minds of voters for a term four years from now.  The district was gerrymandered to make it a safe Republican seat and in four years Sullivan won't be running against an opponent with as much baggage as Reynolds brought to the race.  While the seat is changing more Democratic all the time (Feingold carried Wauwatosa), it's a district that has a huge GOP base.  The question for the next four years is whether Sullivan will be able to hold on to the moderates.

Jim predicts: Doyle (D) won.
JD says: The only way Green wins is if there are swing voters out there who truly hate Bill Clinton and Michael J. Fox. Doyle wins.

Jim says: Sullivan (D) and Kreitlow (D) won their bids for the State Senate putting the Dems over the top and switching power in the State Senate. Unfortunately I think McReynolds (R) also won.
JD says: Sullivan and Vinehout (D in SD 31) win their bids for the state Senate. However, the Dems need three wins to gain 17-16 control of the Senate. Lehman loses to McReynolds in Racine and Dave Zien (R) proves too tough to beat for Kreitlow in Eau Claire.

Jim says: Teplin (D) lost his bid for the Assembly.
JD adds: Not a race the Dems had much hope of winning. Jim Ott (R) beats Teplin.

Jim predicts: Van Hollen (R) won for Attorney General.
JD says: A close race, but Falk can't quite pull it out. Van Hollen.

Jim says: Sheriff David Clarke won with bigger than expected numbers. This will embolden him to run for a higher office at some time in the next 4 years.
JD says: The black vote for Clarke coupled with the lack of Republican voters in Milwaukee County, meant that 40,000 Dems would have had to cross over and vote for Holt. If 20,000 actually do it, Clarke still wins big. Clarke gets 60 percent or more.

Jim says: Sensenbrenner (R) won as could be expected. He will be cocky and rude as ever as Kennedy calls him once again to make the concession call.
JD says: Hardworking Americans build fence around Sensenbrenner's stock portfolio in the years to come.

Jim predicts: Gard (R) wins – Kagen (D) will lose narrowly.
JD says: The GOP base is too strong for Kagen in the 8th Congressional. Close, but Gard goes to Congress.

Jim says: Nationally, of the big three swing seats this election season, TN and VA will go Republican with MO swinging to the Dems. When the numbers are added up, Dems are still denied a majority in the Senate. Dems take the House with a 15-seat margin.
JD adds: Every election it seems MO, TN and VA are about to go Dem. Not this time either. Dems take the House but fall short in the Senate. Republicans claim victory against the odds as Pelosi takes up a "Responsible pollster" bill in her first week, hoping to rein in the Dems’ consultant culture.

Jim predicts: Unfortunately both referendums on the ballot passed. Fair Wisconsin deserves some serious credit for their work on this issue. Fortunately the death penalty issue is just advisory but look to its findings to be used as a wedge issue on future ballots.
JD says: Confusion reigns at the polls as the 'Nos' have it on gay marriage, something that many gay voters don't even want. Mark Gundrum, the New Berlin Assemblyman who wrote the referendum, takes a job at the 7-11.
Death Penalty referendum passes, but it's only advisory — the law will be blocked in the new state Senate.

JD predicts: Milwaukee votes to get the troops out of Iraq; South Milwaukee does too.
Jim predicts: Same as JD on the Iraq referendums. Anywhere in Milwaukee County that there is an Iraq referendum on the ballot, voters want to support our troops by bringing them home.

JD predicts: John Chisholm succeeds E. Michael McCann as Milwaukee County District Attorney. He goes to the phone to take the concession call, but no one’s on the other line.
Jim predicts: Chisholm wins big.

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.

Congressman Mark Green

The Doyle campaign fired back yesterday with an unusually long email highlighting Doyle's crimefighting record. A response TV ad from Doyle that will play like a mantra between now and Tuesday is sure to follow.  Effectively, this ends whatever chance Green had of winning the governor's race.  He has foolishly picked the one fight with Doyle he cannot hope to win, much less land a blow.

It's a fatal mistake by Green and his handlers, and it's more than that. It's yet another display of evidence that the Green campaign has no respect for issues or voters, and apparently believes they can say anything and still eke out an election win.  Down in the polls just days before the election, this foolish and desperate attack against Doyle looks a lot like campaign suicide.

Below is the release from the Doyle campaign, dated Wednesday.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:  "Doyle is Both Tougher and Smarter than Green on Crime" — Dishonest Green Ad Uses Data from McCallum Years to Try and Smear Doyle

MADISON – A day after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorialized that Governor Jim Doyle “is both tougher and smarter than Green on crime,” Congressman Mark Green has launched another attack ad designed to distort the Governor’s crime record.  [Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10/31/06]

Like most of his ads, it’s filled with lies.  This one even uses data from the McCallum years to try and smear Governor Doyle.

Of course, as a prosecutor and Attorney General, and now as Governor, no one’s been tougher on violent criminals and sex offenders than Jim Doyle.

“While Congressman Green was sitting behind a desk in Washington, Jim Doyle, as a District Attorney and Wisconsin’s Attorney General, was prosecuting hardened criminals, and putting them behind bars –sometimes for life,” said Anson Kaye, Communications Director for the Doyle campaign.  “Governor Doyle opposes parole – he led the fight to end it – and no one’s been tougher on sex offenders.  When it comes to law enforcement, Governor Doyle has walked the walk, while Congressman Green’s been little more than a wannabe.”

GOVERNOR DOYLE: NO ONE’S BEEN TOUGHER ON CRIME

• Governor Doyle, a former prosecutor and Attorney General, opposes parole and led the fight for truth in sentencing which ended parole in 1999.

• Governor Doyle appointed a former Milwaukee cop to head the Parole Board, and when he stepped aside, the Governor appointed another former Milwaukee cop to take his place.

• As Governor, Jim Doyle has signed some of the toughest sex offender laws in the nation, earning one of only two “A grades” in a survey of all 50 states by a leading community and victims’ rights advocacy group, Parents for Megan’s Law. [Source:  Parents for Megan’s Law 2006 Report Card] …

I think you get the idea.  It goes on from there, 11 bullet points in all and a Fact Check on the blatant smears in Green's ad.  To read the full release, click here.

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. 

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