Political Heat

After 10 months of chicanery, can we really take the governor at his word? After ridding state workers of their rights to collectively bargain their contracts, a practice that has been respected for over five decades; After cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes for corporations, yet raising taxes through the elimination of a tax credit for working families in the state ; After dismal unemployment numbers over the course of past two months, including figures that demonstrate less Wisconsinites are working than when he took office ; And after all of this, after a series of bills that have nothing to do with job creation (voter ID, concealed carry, etc.), and after it has been revealed that Walker's own cronies have seen wage increases in their government-appointed jobs -- -- Governor Walker has finally decided to make jobs a priority. Calling the legislature back into session (after a month in which they, too, tried to refuse to work more than a single day ), Walker has c...

Amendment for recalls would have allowed for no legislative recalls in prior years There's been a strong push as of late, by Republican legislators in the state and news media alike, to restrict the terms under which recall elections can occur. This call has come after an historic nine recall elections occurred this year alone, more than doubling the number of recalls that had previously been seen at the state legislative level. I have written extensively on the subject, on why recalls strengthen our democracy rather than hinder it ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ). The ability of the people to have a check on their legislators isn't something we should try to restrict -- indeed, the process itself is much harder to initiate than people give it credit for. 18 state senators were eligible for recall this year; of those, only nine faced election, and only two of those were successfully removed from office. The idea that recalls don't respect democratic preference is hogwash, not only bec...

Recall elections should be based on the people's desire to have one When a representative fails to adhere to the values or ideals of their constituents, they no longer serve a productive purpose within the office they hold. The interests of the people fail to be represented, are essentially ignored for the remainder of that person's tenure. Some have contended that recalls should be limited, should only be initiated after a legislator, mayor, etc. acts in a criminal or disrespectful way within that office. But should constituents have to wait for this person to "slip up," for them to make a personal judgment error, in order to remove them from office? Isn't this person's refusal to represent the people in a way they deem acceptable reason enough to warrant removal? It makes no sense to advocate for a change in the recall process that makes it MORE difficult for the people to be respected by their lawmakers. The threat of recall makes officeholders more recepti...

Too many problems, both practical and moral, plague the practice It took me a few days to come up what I wanted to say on the topic of the death penalty. The issue has been in the news on three separate fronts -- it seems fitting to talk about it now. Up until now, I had been a wary supporter of the death penalty in some cases. The attacks of 9/11 led me to that conclusion. Had we caught Osama bin Laden, I would have wanted him to go on trial and to be put to death. But in recent years, I’ve realized that this sentiment, though something I may want for one individual, shouldn’t be implemented in this way. Our emotional response, though justified, doesn’t override the rights of others, even those convicted of heinous crimes. I understand the death penalty -- the seemingly “equal” justice of it (a “death for a death”), the satisfaction of seeing a killer be taken from this life into the next to see their maker, exterminated for the crimes they’ve committed. I “get” that emotion, that nee...

Refusal to assist raises more questions within "Walkergate" The John Doe investigation into whether Scott Walker's administrative staff (back when he was Milwaukee County Executive) used public resources to do political work is gaining steam. Cognitive Dissidence has a great explanation on what is fast-becoming known as "Walkergate" throughout the Wisconsin blogosphere. A new aspect into that investigation was revealed yesterday. State Attorney General JB Van Hollen was asked to assist in the investigation last November -- but Van Hollen refused to lend his assistance and that of the highest legal office in the state. Now, with the seizure of evidence from Walker's employees' homes, it's clear that there's substantial merit to the claims within "Walkergate." At least, the FBI seems to think so. You would think that Van Hollen would have wanted to take part -- he is, after all, the "top cop" in the state of Wisconsin. But th...

Americans support progressive policies of president, want him to challenge the GOP Political strategist James Carville said last week that President Barack Obama needs to start getting into "panic" mode when it comes to his re-election bid next year. Carville is wrong -- the president need not panic. He simply needs to be more bold, act as the progressive candidate Americans elected in 2008. I've pointed this out in the past , and it stands to reason that it's still true: Obama's polling numbers aren't dismal because he's too liberal, but rather because he's not liberal enough. There's proof of this in the latest polling data available to us. The CBS/New York Times poll released just last week shows that President Obama has the lowest approval rating he's ever received from that poll -- just 43 percent of Americans approve of his job performance, while 50 percent disapprove. But that doesn't mean that Americans are turning to conservatism...

Employment numbers from Doyle years match those from last month I just felt like adding some more evaluation to the Wisconsin jobs numbers from last August, which were released just last week. As I pointed out this past weekend , the job numbers from last month aren't impressive. Indeed, while the Walker administration may be able to claim that more jobs have been created this year, overall employment has decreased -- more Wisconsinites were employed in January, when Scott Walker assumed office, than were employed in August ( by a margin of 3,300 ). But the number of Wisconsinites who are currently employed in the state in August is also lower than a different time in our state's history. For instance, Walker's job numbers from August (2,816,003) are actually lower than the last month that former Gov. Jim Doyle was in office, by 1,039 (Doyle's last month total was 2,817,042). But that's not the only bad news. In July of 2009, in the midst of the economic meltdown, t...

Still think Walker's "reforms" are adding jobs? Think again. The latest employment numbers are out, and it's not good news. Wisconsin saw a drop in employment, which the Department of Workforce Development addressed this week. However, despite a loss in jobs and a growth in our unemployment rate (from 7.8 in July to 7.9 in August), the DWD tried to keep things positive (PDF): Even during these challenging times for our nation’s economy, Wisconsin has added manufacturing jobs over the month and, since December 2010, has outpaced the nation’s rate of manufacturing job growth by more than double,” Secretary Baumbach said. “And while Wisconsin showed a slight drop in private-sector job totals during August, we’ve created a net 29,600 private sector jobs this year, reflecting a rate of growth that is stronger than the nation’s. Overall, we are on a positive path and we expect to see continued improvement over the long term. The important part about that statement is that ...

Speech rights aren't protected when actions become harassment I recently wrote a post regarding Rep. Robin Vos’s distaste with Madison police , and how his consideration (alongside that of Glenn Grothman’s) to stiff the city of Madison of reimbursement for the officers’ service (which these lawmakers deemed inadequate) was inappropriate. More on that in a later post as well. For right now, I feel it's also necessary for me to comment on another event involving Vos, one in which he was the victim this time around. A Racine-area protester who has frequently protested against Rep. Vos turned himself in last night for pouring beer on the Republican legislator in a Madison bar earlier this week. He was charged with disorderly conduct, and was issued a citation by Madison police. You'd be hard-pressed to find me telling anyone that their form of protest is inappropriate -- even those I disagree with politically have the right to confront their lawmakers about issues they feel pa...

Inconsistencies in marriage vows, rights for others, within troubling comments Who Would Jesus Divorce? For Pat Robertson, the answer is obvious: people with Alzheimer's. When asked a question regarding a cheating husband whose wife was suffering from the debilitating disease, the Christian leader had a very unorthodox answer -- he actually suggested that the husband divorce his wife, comparing the disease to already being dead. "I know it sounds cruel," Robertson explains , "but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again." Robertson's answer is bizarre for a plethora of reasons. For starters, most marriage vows (certainly close to all in Christian marriages) ask couples to remain faithful and supportive of one another, "in sickness and in health, till death do [they] part." But Robertson suggests otherwise, that a partner with a terminal illness grants the other partner the "religious right" (pun no...

Republican Joint Finance Committee members consider stiffing the city of Madison Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee are having a difficult time figuring out what to do about the expenses for law enforcement during the Capitol protests earlier this year...likely due to how hostile they want to be towards Madison police. Sen. Glenn Grothman and Rep. Robin Vos, both Republicans, decided to let their tempers flare over the events from earlier this year. Grothman had particularly unkind words for former Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. "I hope you're aware that the mayor of Madison clearly would have preferred his police officers to stay on the other side of the (Capitol) Square," Grothman said . Ironically, Grothman's words, typically the most outlandish in other instances, paled in comparison to Vos's, who claimed that there were " legitimate concerns about actions of individual officers " during the protests. There seems to be a bit of confusion on the part ...

Redrawn districts to include old home of freshman Congressman Reid Ribble really wanted to run for Congress. He wanted to run so badly, in fact, that he put his house up for sale last year because it was outside of the district he wanted to run in. He leased an apartment in the town of Lawrence, officially becoming a citizen of the 8th Congressional district of Wisconsin. This allowed him to run, successfully, against Democratic incumbent Steve Kagen. But now, Ribble is doing something, well, unorthodox. He's moving back to his old home, outside of the 8th Congressional district . Don't worry, though: this isn't a major problem. Legislative Republicans redrew the district maps, thus changing the landscape of the Congressional districts all across the state. And wouldn't you know it! Reid Ribble's old home is now in the 8th Congressional district ! Old District 8 map (District 8 in purple) New District 8 map (District 8 in green) If it looks like a duck, swims like a...

Governor now says 250,000 jobs goal will be tough to reach This past weekend Gov. Scott Walker spoke with WISN's Mike Gousha about the state of jobs in Wisconsin. Walker admitted that maintaining his campaign pledge of 250,000 new jobs in Wisconsin will be tough. Gousha : Do you have to revise your expectations for what you can do in Wisconsin? You promised 250,000 new jobs, 10,000 new businesses, do you have to look at those numbers and say maybe that’s just not realistic? Walker : Well, there are certainly some who may look at the numbers and suggest that may be the case. My goal is to still get there -- my goal is to actually exceed that amount. We’re still going to keep pushing. Gousha : Is it going to be tough to reach that? Walker : Oh, I think without a doubt. This is especially true given that Wisconsin's job numbers since Walker took office haven't been stellar. When Walker became governor, Wisconsin had 2,819,301 citizens with a job, and a 7.4 percent unemploymen...

Never forget The events of September 11, 2001 will forever be etched into the memories of those who were alive to witness them. We must never forget that day -- the people who lost their lives, the heroes who sacrificed their own that day (and beyond), and the lessons of the past ten years that we have had to learn.

New policy tells employees to refrain from letting patrons know IDs are free "While you should certainly help customers who come in asking for a free ID to check the appropriate box, you should refrain from offering the free version to customers who do not ask for it." This is the new policy, put out by the state Department of Transportation , for the issuance of free IDs for the new voter ID bill. Rather than help people that come into the DMV to receive IDs for voting purposes, employees are now directed to refrain from mentioning those IDs are free, unless prompted from the patron themselves. The move by the DOT is being criticized by many who see it as a poll tax -- and that criticism is entirely warranted. If the law is to issue free ID cards, then every effort to let people be aware of that policy should be made. Otherwise, some people will end up paying a fee simply to vote -- an unconstitutional practice. Defenders of the move to suppress this information argue that ...

Recalls should require two petitions, one for each office The Government Accountability Board is seeking an opinion from the office of the State Attorney General regarding the outcome of a potential gubernatorial recall. At issue is whether such a recall would remove the lieutenant governor as well, or if that officeholder would stay in place if the governor himself were to be successfully voted out. For Democrats, the hope is that one recall petition/election would remove both Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch. If the opinion is otherwise, it means that two recall petitions -- and possibly two separate elections -- would be necessary to remove both Walker and Kleefisch. Is that fair? Both the governor and lieutenant governor are elected within the same ticket (similar to the president and vice president), so it's reasonable to argue that both should be removed if the governor gets recalled. But this is one instance where I must disagree with the Democrats, not beca...

Stimulus worked, but more bold action is needed to fix economy, unemployment in the U.S. President Barack Obama is set to give a speech on the need for revitalizing our nation's jobs situation. The Nation's John Nichols suggests it could become the most important speech of Obama's presidency. I have to agree with that assessment -- if the president is hoping to turn things around, to throw a Hail Mary to jump-start his re-election campaign, it will all depend on how the people view him on jobs. So far in his presidency, however, most Americans are unimpressed. To be sure, Obama has accomplished a lot. When you look at what he's done on paper , it's nothing short of remarkable. Obama faced an economic meltdown the way one might face a train barreling down the tracks toward them. Indeed, when it comes to stopping economic train wrecks, Obama might be the go-to guy to explain how best to do it. That analogy is no exaggeration: when Obama took office, jobs were being...

Whether through insufficient memory or outright lies, Justice Gableman fails to serve Wisconsin Illusory tenant has a brilliant post that digs deeper into the storytelling that State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman has been up to lately. Gableman made the claim that Justice Ann Walsh Bradley slapped him in the back of the head in front of other justices. But a few problems arose from his claim, including the date on which it happened as well as the fact that none of the other justices remember the event ever happening. Both Justices David Prosser and Annette Ziegler told investigators (during the questioning involving Prosser's alleged neck-wrangling of Bradley) that they had heard of Gableman's fairy tale, but neither could say that they were present for it or actually witnessed anything like what Gableman described. When previously confronted with a slip-up in his story, Gableman changed the facts of his story to fit the situation better . Will he do the same...

Conservative justice claims Bradley "smacked him" on a date when the Court wasn't present The recent spat ( if you can call it as simple as that ) between State Supreme Court Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and David Prosser brought about a lot of questions regarding the integrity of one of the members of our state's highest court. But new allegations -- this time levied by a conservative member against the liberal Bradley -- highlights how others on the Court may have integrity problems as well. During the investigations against Prosser, Justice Michael Gableman told investigators that Bradley wasn't as innocent in the whole matter as she let on, describing an altercation between Bradley and himself involving a slap on the back of his head in response to disrespect Gableman allegedly showed towards Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson : According to the sheriff's reports, Gableman said he was in a meeting with other justices, including Justice Patrick Crooks, who he s...