Gov. Scott Walker says he supports dismantling and replacing the state’s independent elections and ethics board, ratcheting up Republicans’ calls for change to a board that helped investigate Walker’s 2012 recall campaign.
Walker told reporters Monday he wants to scrap the state’s Government Accountability Board, or GAB, which enforces campaign finance, elections, ethics and lobbying laws.
In its place, Walker said, he supports the creation of “something completely new that is truly accountable to the people of the state of Wisconsin.” Walker left open the possibility that a replacement board could have partisan leadership, compared to the current board, made up of six former judges.
The Government Accountability Board’s director and supporters quickly responded. They called the board a national model that’s being targeted by politicians who resent its watchdog role.
“The attacks on the GAB’s impartiality are a poorly disguised power grab,” said Daniel Tokaji, a national elections expert and law professor at Ohio State University.
Walker’s remarks come after the state Supreme Court ruled last week to end an investigation into whether conservative groups illegally coordinated with Walker in the 2012 recall election campaign. The board assisted prosecutors in the John Doe investigation, and since then, many Republicans have questioned its impartiality.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, on Thursday called for the state Department of Justice to investigate the board. The co-chairpersons of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, and Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, called for the board’s director, Kevin Kennedy, to step down.
Walker, speaking at an event in Oshkosh Monday, went further. He joined a group of Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, and Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, who say it’s time for the GAB to go.
“More so than an investigation, I think it’s appropriate just to get rid of (the board) and replace it,” Walker said.
A Vos spokeswoman, Jenny Toftness, said replacing the GAB with a new agency “is one of the options we have been exploring.”
The office of Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, didn’t immediately respond Monday to an inquiry about whether he agrees with Walker. Fitzgerald, speaking in 2012, called for reconstituting the board, claiming it too often favors Democrats.
The board began operating in 2008, led by former judges who are nominated by a panel of current judges, then appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.
It was created a year earlier in a near-unanimous vote by lawmakers from both parties, replacing the former state Elections and Ethics boards — which were criticized at the time as ineffective or partisan.
Some faulted the former boards for not rooting out what became known as the “Caucus Scandal” of 2001-2002, in which legislative leaders used public money and resources to pay for their private political campaigns.
GAB director Kevin Kennedy said in a statement Monday “there has been a great deal of misinformation” circulated about the board.
“The GAB has established itself as a model to be emulated throughout the country,” Kennedy said. “Unfortunately, it has become more expedient to use the GAB as a political target than to honestly assess its performance.”
Jay Heck, director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, a group that advocated for creation of the GAB, said the board, because of its watchdog role, has become a target for whatever party is in power — be it Republicans or Democrats.
In 2009, when Democrats controlled all three branches of state government, Senate Democrats unsuccessfully pushed for an amendment to limit funding for the board.
“They’re not supposed to please partisan masters,” Heck said of the board. “They’re supposed to act independently according to the law.”
The day after last week’s Supreme Court ruling, Wisconsin Club for Growth — the conservative group at the center of the John Doe investigation — led the charge to abolish the GAB.
“GAB was a bad idea whose time has gone,” the group’s director, Eric O’Keefe, told radio host Charlie Sykes. “They need to eliminate it.”
Reporter Matthew DeFour contributed to this report.
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Our State's In Misery
[My Country 'Tis of Thee (America)]
Our State's in Misery
Our Rights are History
For these I sing
Our Leaders often lie
Closed Records they have tried
Vos, Walker, and Fitzgerald hide
From reckonings
Our money's thrown away,
WEDC paid friends to play,
Indict them, please;
Walker glides on the breeze
Above his blooming sleaze,
Thinks POTUS he may seize
'Tis beyond the pale.
Dear Lady Liberty,
May you deliver me
From this nightmare;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
And The Just Prevail!
Scott Walker and his band of liars own us in every elected office in Madison except one. And this one they want to eliminate.
You all did this to yourselves. Didn't you listen to your high school civics teacher who said be careful of one party control because it leads to corruption.
And that teacher was absolutely,,,,,correct.
We got corruption, lying, half truths and massive amounts of money from the Koch brothers.
And now tell me your vote doesn't count.
sign and share the white house petition to restart the john doe investigation!
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/investigate-wisconsin-supreme-court-and-its-decision-stop-john-doe-ii-investigation
LOL. As a PK (preacher's kid) Scott Walker knows: ...be sure your sin will find you out...and he is doing everything he possibly can to cover up his sin! After all, the wicked flee when none pursueth, hey Scott Walker?
What IS your sin, Scott Walker? Not an intern, surely not, your spouse is actually trying to take care of her health these days, so that infatuation must be burning strong. Even her hair now glows with the good health access to modern medicine gives to diabetics in her age group. So, what IS Walker's sin. Other than not being a man of his word...what can it be he is trying to hide. It cannot be the picture of him in lingerie from those college years, anyone can pull up that photoshopped marvel...what can it be.
It's So Easy Being Mean
[It's Not Easy Being Green, by the Muppets]
It's so easy being mean;
Having to spend each day in someone else's state.
Some suggest I could be nicer not seeing red, selling myself for gold-
or some act much more colorful than that.
It just so sleazy being mean.
I find I blame others for oh so many ordinary things.
Then people tend to pass me over 'cause their not focusing on me like flashy sparkles in the water-
for my biggest lies.
But mean's core to campaigning.
And mean is so cruel, unfriendly-like.
And mean brought down Wisconsin and destroyed the Unions, which fell like a tree.
Guess mean is all that I can be
It should make you wonder why, but why wonder? Why Wonder, I am mean cuz it is my time, it's so fruitful!
And POTUS is what I want to be.
Good morning;
Some Lefty's believe that the more they write the more influential they are; but then, again, what options to they have? None.
I support Gov. Walker's efforts to dismantle the Independent and Ethics Board; such is past over due.
Support common sense; vote Republican,
What options do Leftys have? Get out and vote. The Left has more potential to gain than the Right. The Right has played all of its cards with the last elections. After all of the destruction, insanity and bickering among themselves it's been made clear to many that the Republicans are a mess. Just take Sanders numbers as an example the American people want change from corporate controlled America that we've had for far too long.
Al:
"Some Lefty's believe that the more they write the more influential they are; but then, again, what options to they have? None."
Does this apply to gotchburg and gooddgog as well. They write acres of meaningless prose with little content. Call them out as well.
cg:
"It shouldn't, we're (Thank All That Is Holy!!!) NOT Lefties."
You sure? You have never said much with merit or substance to defend the rights position, so maybe you are really a closet "lefty" trying to stir the pot against the right. That makes more sense than 99% of what you say.
@hankdog;
"maybe you are really a closet "lefty" trying to stir the pot against the right."
I'm a recovering. non-participating Lefty, that's what we call each other at the meetings leastways.
"That makes more sense than 99% of what you say."
Not a math guy I take it, that's just plain silly and false.
I say this because with ALL your replies to my posts, more than just 1 % had to make sense.
Otherwise, you may need to admit that you understand what you deem as nonsense and you're on that same wavelength.
The Gotch
I say this because with ALL your replies to my posts, more than just 1 % had to make sense.
Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/scott-walker-dismantle-independent-elections-and-ethics-board/article_b33afe88-c0cf-55db-a6c5-c4e65796f640.html#ixzz3gaA4SLcq
gotch:
"I say this because with ALL your replies to my posts, more than just 1 % had to make sense."
No, none really make any sense. That's why I respond; to point out the futility of your nonsensical posts.
Disregard the previous post of mine. The old arthritic digits hit the wrong button, again..
@hankdog (below);
"That's why I respond; to point out the futility of your nonsensical posts."
Soooo, a guy with arthritic fingers has nothing better to do than to endure typing replies to what he deems nonsense?
It's not beyond the realm of possibility that malady has metastasized to yer brainpan (such as it is), and softening and compromising the workings of your frontal lobe.
90 % of your problem and 90 % of your solution?
With nothing to impair its journey, too much sun is making it all the way to yer scalp, with obvious deleterious consequences.
Wear a hat!
WoofDah!!
The Gotch
cg:
Thanks for proving my point. You are all nonsense, 24/7/365.
@hankdog (below);
Though I suspect I'm too late, I forgot to add to the hat recommendation; don't tighten the strap to much.
It'll cut off needed O2 and make a bad situation worse.
The Gotch
cg:
At least I admit my faults (baldness, arthritic fingers, voted for Nixon, hankering for good Pilsner) rather than hide behind name-calling and, again, acres of meaningless prose.
Oh, and I don't have traps on my hats. The stick-on Velcro works much better.
It's hardly news that you support Gov. Walker's X no matter what the value of X happens to be.
It's also no surprise that you never take the time to explain why anybody else should do the same, because that would imply that you actually have reasons.
That which is asserted without evidence may safely be disregarded without regret.
Al,
Being a moderate Republican, you've drawn the ire, unwanted attention and harassment from the 'tolerant" low-flow lockstep liberal lemming-like Luddites living here inside the Tofu Curtain of the People's Republic of Makistan.
Contrary to the classic Democrat liberal of old, who'd say, I disagree with what your saying, but support your right to say it", ... no, these Proglibocrats are mean and nasty.
They want to silence any opposing voice. They so kindly explained to me, "Shut up."
But you've proved to be old school and have propriety and manners. Aldawg, you're also a very polite and a nice man. You possess a calm common sense voice of reason. However, ... his infuriates them even more, and as their anger and WDS symtoms becomes them, the left wing wackadoodles get wackier and wackier.
Good show. But I dig it, treetoad. "Kill 'em with kindness." is my motto, too.
The GAB should be eliminated. It's out of control, hyperpartisan, secretive and an unaccountable to any oversight.
It's not like it's been around forever, either. It was a good idea gone bad. Time to end it.
GDHM
Since when is Scott Walker a moderate Republican.??
Where do you get your facts?
Lee Sherman Dreyfus was a moderate Republican.
Scott Walker is an extremist and owned by the Koch Brothers.
All the 'lefties' have to do is vote.
Perhaps all of these policies will finally be enough to send the other 45-50% of Wisconsin voters to the polls.
I would wager that apathetic majority would poll heavy Democrat.
Not voting is ignorant. Voting republican is stupid unless you are a billionaire.
Yes the naked tyranny of a partisan DA with the union steward wife and the head of the so called Government Accountability Board and his relation to Lois Lerner and Democrat party is very FREIGHTING!
What's even more FREIGHTING is their ability to send cops to innocent people's homes at 3AM then harassing middle aged women, their dogs and 16 year old kids is very FRIGHTENING indeed.
You bettered JOSEPH MCCARTHY hands down Progressive Leftwing of Wisconsin. Your penchant for tyranny is FRIGHTENING.
Abolish GAB.
What partisan drivel.
What outright B>S>
What foolishness.
What a liar.
what a sad case of fear and ignorance and poor spelling .
Gman, give snooty a break with about spelling. Commenting on a smart phone is not easy, and neither is spontaneous composition on the fly, whether by phone or PC.
Snooty/Cindy/Kelly, which ever name you prefer, being arrested in the middle of the night was not the end of the world and would not have happened in the first place if you had not been on the governor's behalf while on the job. The dog got over it long ago and the 16 year old is now 18 and can speak as an adult. As for Joe McCarthy, he was a piece of all right, tried to destroy the reputation of those who disagreed with him, and ruined the careers of many people along the way, a factual version of your accusations of the DA. We are supposed to learn from history, not repeat history. To persist in an attempt to destroy others because they with you reflects on you, not on them. Progressives are not trying to destroy the careers and earning capabilities of you and others involved with the governor, but are trying to get you to stand down and reconsider what you are doing.
Frightening
"Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, on Thursday called for the state Department of Justice to investigate the board."
The bi-partisan board consists of five retired judges. Investigate them for what? For trying to keep our elections free of corruption? In other words, for doing their jobs?
Vos and the rest of the WisGOP leadership SHOULD be calling for the state Department of Justice to investigate the four WI Supreme Court 'justices' whose recent John Doe decision was clearly bought and paid for by with $8M from the defendants in the case.
And speaking of corruption, how about asking our GOP Attorney General to investigate WEDC -- where there's clear evidence that people are NOT doing their jobs.
Anyone think our AG Brad Schimel will investigate corruption in the high court or WEDC?
Didn't think so.
What we ARE going to get are more power-grabs by Walker & Friends, who act as if the voters elected them to impose corporate rule on our democratic society.
Yeah, let's just dismantle democracy and turn it over to Walker.
Scott better enjoy all the days through November 8, 2016; he won't be in politics after that, and he might expel himself before then.
This is rich. The 4 Supreme Court justices who've raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars from the very organizations being scrutinized by the John Doe probe fail to recuse themselves from a decision in which they are clearly biased parties and rule that the probe was illegitimate, and then the other beneficiaries of all that loot use the supposedly pristine, impartial, fair-minded Supreme Court decision as justification for further kneecapping the ability of the GAB to look into actual, you know, evidence. Because anything that stands in the way of their corporate masters must not only be insulted and denigrated and handicapped at every turn but utterly destroyed at all costs, lest the truth ever come out.
Poppycock! The John Doe started because DA's wife was distraught over Act 10. The DA had a conflict to initiate John Doe. So did the GAB. Your theory falls on the very fallacy that you brag - Evidence.
And yet they have two times the barges of any federal investigation mounted against this president .
And yet they have twice as many charges as the republicans have ever found in their corrupt voting irregularities... That says a lot.
You're trying to claim that those 4 Supreme Court justices did not receive hundreds of thousands of dollars from the very organizations who were parties to the case before them? Really? And you're claiming that your position is based on evidence? Have you ever looked up the meaning of the word?
Media reports say they raked in millions of dollars from those very organizations...WMC spent more than $8 million in support of the four justices. http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/column/matt-rothschild-john-doe-ii-ruling-is-dangerous-and-corrupt/article_fa8fa892-0efd-5f31-9752-2e962c76a6dc.html
I want to see wing nuts defend this. Right after they defend his actions in trying to eliminate the open records law for legislators and the laying off 13 scientists who reported the open pit mine may contaminate the watershed in Northern Wisconsin and the elimination of the independent auditing agency which identified the $124 in bad WEDC loans and the changing the way voucher schools are evaluated after it was found they perform no better (and maybe worse) than public schools and how there is no need to test Wisconsin waterways for mercury (just assume they are contaminated).
Waiting for the Cirque de Soleil contortions that will be used in the explanations. And please try to explain it without mentioning Doyle, Obama and Ben Ghazi.
Amen, well said!!!
Eliminate the independent agency which exposed $124 Million in bad loans by WEDC (60% of which went to Walker campaign donors).
Lay-off 13 scientists who reported the open pit mine in northern Wisconsin would contaminate the watershed leading to Lake Superior.
Get rid of the Independent Elections Board that called for John Doe investigation.
Message received Boss Walker. You would make Stalin Proud.
Walker is a college drop out. He hears the voice of a Hebrew superman in his head and believes the world is 6000 years old. He clearly acts like spoiled child whenever someone opposes him. Yet, he has won three elections.
The problem is that the state is overrun with uneducated, white trash. These people are intimidated by everything: scientists, teachers, wolves, the DNR, anyone with dark skin. This isn't going away. The state is being run by weaklings. Moreover, the democratic party has shown incompetence, if not impotence, in its ability to understand this reality. Frankly, I don't see a reversal in the offing- unless Feingold can save the day.
Thete's a lot to agree with North Wind, but icalling someone white trash isn't one of them.
Too often the holier-than-thou, pius finger pointing that often came from Madison at the height of PC has fueled Walker's politics of resentment. We can''t start too soon trying to heal the divisions Walker exploits.
This should create more jobs. Laser focus by fascists.
Of course....
You republicans still luvin this guy? National stage is going to eat him up
Too bad Emily Mills who writes for the JS isn't also in the Madison press. "Money Talks" - July 19th issue - Wisconsin Club for Growth spent $507,000 for Gableman and $520,000 for Prosser. Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce spent $1.8 million for Gableman and $1.1 million for Prosser. Another $985,000 came from Citizens for a Strong America (Wisconsin Club for Growth) for Prosser. This is why Citizens United needs to be overturned. Wisconsin reflects the words of Franklin Roosevelt - "the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of a private power to the point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in essence, is fascism."
Hooah!
@blue--Unless that money comes from Soros (a Nazi sympathizer) et al. Kennedy has proven he is unfit. His tentacles reach deep into the federal administration. Anyone asking the IRS to help squelch political speech needs to be gone.
Fascism at it's best. This has slowly been going on since this lying power mad wannabe dictator was elected. People better start waking up about this.
So you think that's when it started? :D
I thought about creating a parody profile on this blog...but there is nothing so over the top as all the comments already posted by progressives that would make a parody stand out.
Kind of like your support of our crooked governor Slick Scotty Walker . If you love corrupt government why don't you move to Columbia with tt and keep your nose out of Wisconsin's government seeing as how you don't even live here and the corruption doesn't affect you .
A parody of the wing nut response would simply be three monkeys i.e. see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
The corrupt do what they know how to do best: Be corrupt.
The arrogance of these power grabbers is beyond belief. We the people give our elected officials the power to work on our behalf. Sadly, the elected officials we now have have taken that power and made it their own. They don't respond to emails or calls. They don't listen to what the people want or need. They just do their own thing and the state be damned.
Walker and the majority of Republicans in the legislature as well as the 4 conservative-leaning misfits on the supreme court are all part of the corruption. Corruption will not stop until we clean house by unvoting the perps we have.
You'll have to go back to the 19th century to find state politicians as corrupt as Walker and his minions.
The quality of our lives is not good with these people in power. We must strive to improve that quality.
Yet more corruption.
Walker is becoming the Kingminnow.
This isn't a state government. It's a crime syndicate.
Isn't interesting all the comments comparing today's insanity in Wisconsin's government to fascism
Of the 1930's and early 1940's? If you don't remember your history, you're bound to repeat it
Kennedy was caught in the IRS Lerner's emails that show he is partisan. His participation in the john doe investigation shows it as well. He can act like he is nonpartisan, but most people are not so there is no sense in acting like they are. Time to put the failed gab to rest.
He doesn't "act" like he's partisan. He IS totally nonpartisan. What about this don't you get? Everything he has said or done would be identical if the parties were reversed. "Most people are not" nonpartisan and therefore Kevin Kennedy is also nonpartisan? That makes no sense. Literally, no sense. Do you know that the GAB is "ruled" by retired judges, most of whom have been appointed or reappointed by GovWalker? Do you know that the GAB determined recall petitions to be public record...and then put every single page of the petitions online? Do you know that Dem legislators were investigated while Kevin Kennedy was in his present position? Do you know that those same legislators went on to be charged, tried, convicted and jailed? For pretty much the same crimes that GovWalker's campaign was being investigated for? "Failed' GAB? Yah, I guess. If you hate your state and its people and its government. Otherwise, no.
Mary, he is not as extremely partisan as you I would hope. He and Chisholm had poor judgement and more than one federal judge has determined that. You are so jaded against walker that you wouldn't know partisan if it hit you upside the head. In your mind, if it is against walker, it is good. All other information is disposed of.
Your narrow mind cannot see beyond your own personal interests.
Joe, I don't have a narrow mind -- ask all my friends -- and I don't have any personal interest in either John Doe. So I'll ask you to check those assumptions at the door. Rather, as a nearly lifelong resident of the state, and as a one-time government worker who had occasions to encounter Kevin Kennedy on the job, I can assure you that he is nonpartisan. Sometimes I was happy with his actions and sometimes I was not. But in every instance, I knew that partisanship did not play a role. At all. As for Chisholm, every attorney I know attests to his integrity and non-partisanship when it comes to the duties of his office. You guys want to make this partisan, and it just is not. From personal experience and from everything I have heard about these guys from people who would actually know, they do their jobs regardless of the political persuasion of the people in front of them. I am sad that Eric O'Keefe's only defense is to try to smear two people who are innocent of every charge he has tried to level against them. I wish that he would just try, for once, to stay inside the law instead of going outside of it and then trying to bend it to his will.
joe, you stated;
“You are so jaded against walker that you wouldn't know partisan if it hit you upside the head.”
The fact that Walker has so disrupted our state with his illegal, immoral and revengeful tactics is disingenuous to say it involves partisanship! Are you that blinded or that greedy to actual believe Walker is in the game for Wisconsinites? Or have you forgotten all the bad decisions made by Walker? Really!
So attack the person who points this out. Typical party-of-no tactic. Sad!
Kennedy is a solid cat. Mary, you may be open minded, except when it comes to any issue put forth by Walker. Then, regardless of the issue, it's DOA in your eyes. The truth is that Walker has addressed some issues that needed it, albeit in monarchal fashion and more for his political gain than benefit for the people of Wisconsin.
Nor, I would be more than happy to give credit where it's due when it comes to GovWalker, if anything he had done had worked the way he promised it would work and the way the state needed it to work. I'm not knee-jerk against GovWalker on anything but his ability to speak truthfully; he has lied so many, many times that I stopped taking him at his word a long time ago.
Rather than a biased Walker=Bad response to his actions, I have come to this board most often to ask if anyone can defend some action or another of his as good public policy. I never get an honest answer from you or any of the other Unions=Bad folks on this board. The fact that I seem to continuously condemn the governor has way more to do with the number of his failures and the number of his attacks on good government than it does with my bias. Show me something he has carried through on that was as he promised and that had good results, and I'll be happy to talk about it.
If GovWalker's reforms and tools and flexibilities had had any positive effect on this state's economy or services or resources or people, I would still complain that we could have achieved the same results in better ways. But I would always acknowledge that they had, indeed, worked. The problem, Nor, is that the governor's reforms and tools and flexibilities have not delivered the promised results. Not even close.
What is it you think he has succeeded at, besides winning elections?
Mary, it was the old Elections Board under Kevin Kennedy that denied Mark Green access to his campaign money when he ran for governor. Mark had campaign money which he had accumulated prior to declaring his candidacy for governor. The Board had allowed democrats to roll over money from one campaign chest to another but would not do the same for a Republican. Of course, Doyle went on to win the election. That biased decision caused the Republicans to disband the board. How Kennedy remained is beyond me. I am sure you are familiar with this.
As to the board going after democrats, Chuck Chwala was shaking down people right in the capitol. "I would be happy to get a bill passed favorable to you but first you have to make a donation to the democrat part."
notakers,
What took Walker so long to "correct" the charge that Doyle was corrupt? Or is this just another deflection coming from your pen? Probably!
Chuck Chvala admitted his guilt and served his time like a man. Scott Jensen, equally culpable, went venue shopping, got his Republican buddies in the state Legislature to change the law so he could transfer his case to Waukesha County (not Dane County, where the crimes had occurred), lined up now-state-attorney-general Brad Schimel as his "prosecutor", and got off with a light slap on the wrist.
This is the Republican ideal of "accountability".
Richard below, Chwala was shaking down potential donors right in the capitol. Yes, he was personally involved and his scandal preceded and was not part of the caucus scandal.
Jensen was not personally involved but it was assumed that he knew what his underlings were doing. Republicans asked that the democrat caucus also be investigated but were denied. So much for the unbiased Kevin Kennedy and the elections board.
No.
It is time to give Walker a free and concealed hand to do whatever he wants without being caught.
And Walker needs this to hide his lies from those in other states.
People in Iowa and New Hampshire need to know the truth about Walker.
Tell them yourself.
Are you talking about 4 of our Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices ?
Stop arguing with each other and direct your anger where it belongs. Remember your history-Hitler would NEVER have been successful without the "Brown Shirt Bullies." It's your choice.......
Does anyone see the what is going on with this form of government? Does anyone see where policy would be headed if this person could be in charge on a higher level of government? This is messed up to the point of regression, in the 20's, where fascism was taking root in Europe. Remember when one person wanted to be in charge of every committee, every board, every policy making entity? How did that work out?
Are we really going to allow this travesty of all that has made Wisconsin great be systematically destroyed??? Maybe it's time to fight back against these "Brown Shirts?"
Ya think! Where's the leadership? Do we have kevlar vests to distribute?
I hope he wins the big job at the White House. A real national discussion would happen and things would come to a head.
Walker, Vos and Fitz... they are fascists to the core.
Sieg heil, y'all.
Grande Old Party ain"t so grand anymore,
and someone ,whom ever it was, made the comparison to Hitler,
with Walker, Huh?
now assured ...they might have a point there.
Mussolini. Champion of the Corporatists that became the Facisti.
Yup. I think he even called it the third way.
That was me who made the reference to Hitler.
All anyone has to do is YouTube the numerous videos of Hitler and the Third Reich, make your notes then compare them to Walker's actions and there you have it. No mistake, it's layed out right in front of you. How anyone can not see it is beyond my comprehension.
Forgot who it was that said "fascism will come to America wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross"
Seems like the guy knew what he was talking about.
@Anonymous Challenger;
"when fascism comes to america, it will be wrapped in a flag, carrying a cross." Sinclair Lewis.
From this century:
"When fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jack-boots. It will be Nike sneakers and Smiley shirts." George Carlin.
To which I'd humbly add: "It will be Birkenstocks & Hempen Homespun."
The preferred choice of attire for the Liberal Fascist.
I recommend you pick up a copy of Jonah Goldberg's seminal treatise: "Liberal Fascism; The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning."
http://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Fascism-American-Mussolini-Politics/dp/0767917189
I'd loan you my copy, but strongly suspect you'd "Fahrenheit 451" it, a typical, though by no means solitary, Lefty method of squelching dissent.
http://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451-Novel-Ray-Bradbury/dp/1451673310
The reasons you'd take that action are depicted in another rather telling tome, Dr. Lyle Rossiter's "The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness."
http://www.amazon.com/The-Liberal-Mind-Psychological-Political/dp/0977956318
Happy reading!
FWIW, I got that last stump out; persistence overcomes resistance!
The Gotch
You gobbled up the the lie that the Nazis were "socialists", I see. Like I said in another thread - you're not very bright.
Gootch, if you pay attention you know I'm an American first. I find many flaws with the left too. I also support some things the Right stand for. You need to get that straight.
Unfortunately the Right is way over the top. I do my own research as an independently thinking American and find the Republicans have done what Hitler did to the German population. Walker can't put the people him and his Nazi friends want to eliminate in gas chambers but they can take away medical care and food from the poor and when the poor get so desperate they rob and steal to get what they need. If they happen to steal from the people who support the Republican/conservative base, the second amendment comes into play. The Right Wing gun nuts will shoot them and therefore do their dirty work. Sorry Gootch, we've got it figured out.
@Anonymous Challenger (below);
Sooooooooooo, "The Right Wing gun nuts will shoot them and therefore do their dirty work."?
Not exactly.
More Lefty pipe-dream myths implode having no bearing in the reality-based Universe.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2629704
Notable (bolds mine throughout):
-- Some evidence suggests that PERMIT HOLDING BY MINORITIES IS INCREASING MORE THAN TWICE AS FAST FOR WHITES.
-- Between 2007 and 2014, murder rates have fallen from 5.6 to 4.2 (preliminary estimates) per 100,000. This represents A 25% DROP IN THE MURDER RATE AT THE SAME TIME THAT THE PERCENTAGE OF THE ADULT POPULATION WITH PERMITS SOARED BY 156 %. Overall violent crime also fell by 25 percent over that period of time.
-- STATES WITH THE LARGEST INCREASE IN PERMITS HAVE SEEN THE LARGEST RELATIVE DROPS in murder rates.
-- Concealed handgun PERMIT HOLDERS ARE EXTREMELY LAW-ABIDING. In Florida and Texas, permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors or felonies at one-sixth the rate that police officers are convicted.
Ohhhh! some kinda Wild West showdown, am I right?
The two multiple gun owners in my wheelhouse are so far left they make you look like a Goldwater Republican.
"Sorry Gootch, we've got it figured out."
Sure you do, BIG SCARY NAZI TAKEOVER!
Curious, which is the preference of you, @CollegeDidntTake/Stammering Fool/GotBanned/GotBanned 2.0/Uncle Billy/etc, & @truthzeeker: Alcoa or Reynolds Wrap?
Now, don't you have a Grassy Knoll to search for the Piltdown Man, his squeeze Sasquatch, & their pet the Loch Ness Monster?
And I'd like to make an addition to the Birkenstocks & Hempen Homespun ensemble, perhaps a Guy Fawkes mask???
The Gotch
That was Sinclair Lewis, and he was right. We've always been a short two-step from fascism here. A lot of people align themselves with authoritarianism - it's fits their world view. They prefer that someone put their thumb on others that they perceive to be lacking in morality, productivity,.....whatever straw man the authoritarian puts out there. Yes, the authority figure fits their world view until they're the target of of whatever twisted politics comes out of the erosion of the democratic process. Then it sucks. This state's been divided and with the gerrymandering, politicized courts, and big money in every facet of government it's nearly completely conquered. The sad fact is that half the people - the ones that allowed it to happen - don't even know that they've been duped. If you aren't a millionaire nothing that's happening in Wisconsin today is good for you. If you signed on because of conceal carry or the promise of eliminating illegal voting or abortion you've been cheaply bought.
@CollegeDidntTake/Stammering Fool/GotBanned/GotBanned 2.0/Uncle Billy/etc;
"A lot of people align themselves with authoritarianism - it's fits their world view."
This from the BIG GUBMINT Statist? too freakin' funny!!!
'We're going to punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us..."
Oh, the brain-pan deep viscid ironic hypocrisy!
The Gotch
@CollegeDidntTake/Stammering Fool/GotBanned/GotBanned 2.0/Uncle Billy/etc;
You're literally making a fool out of yourself. But that wasn't hard to do, was it?
Anonymous Challenger,
You are right on with your comments above! Just ignore Gotch. He’d will gibberish all over the comment section trying to protect Walker and at the same time act like he isn’t doing that. He will attempt to do a gibberish attack on you and your honest opinions of Walker.
I have made a similar comment some time age by suggesting people read Mein Kampf and they will see the parallel to Hitler and Walker. Fascism is what it is. It doesn’t matter who is living under that roof if they do all those things which takes away the right of citizens to manage their government with integrity……something lacking in the Walker camp.
I can't take Gootch or many others on this site seriously. I do my own independent research. I watch Fox News far more than MSNBC just to find out what crap is being fed to its viewers. My jaw hit the floor with the Boobs on the ground comment. It's more like boobs in the studio. Anyone who listens to that has no respect coming from me. The female pilot they made that comment has done more with her life and intelligence than the whole anchor desk and Republican clown car combined. I laugh.
@Anonymous Challenger (below);
"Contrary to what most people think, the Nazis were ardent socialists (hence the term “National socialism”).
The National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; NSDAP) was shortened to NAZI to rope in the simple-minded with the seeming promise of free stuff.
Sound familiar?
It should, though it's incuriously missing from your 'extensive' research.
To wit:
*They believed in free health care and guaranteed jobs.
*They confiscated inherited wealth and spent vast sums on public education. *They purged the church from public policy, promoted a new form of pagan spirituality, and inserted the authority of the state into every nook and cranny of daily life.
*The Nazis declared war on smoking, supported abortion, euthanasia, and gun control.
*They loathed the free market, provided generous pensions for the elderly, and maintained a strict racial quota system in their universities—where campus speech codes were all the rage.
*The Nazis led the world in organic farming and alternative medicine. Hitler was a strict vegetarian, and Himmler was an animal rights activist."
The Nazi approach was a gosh darn Lefty wet dream!
They exemplify, nay DEFINE!, the Lefty Way!
The Gotch
Gotcha below,
This is one of the few articles in which you actually used words and sentences that were understandable. That is a great improvement any much more readable. Thank you.
Now where is the source for many of those "good things" the Nazis did? I suppose you want us to believe that is how Hitler came into power. From my brief and limited understanding of his rise to power, he used popular ideas like that to hoodwink the German people into believing in his philosophy. Something like the Republicans seem to do quite well.....except they use abortion, guns, gays, no death taxes, no freebies, etc. Both ways suck!
@truthzeeker;
"He’d will gibberish all over the comment section trying to protect Walker and at the same time act like he isn’t doing that."
We've been down this road before where you allow your maxillary orifice explore territory with which your intellectual wherewithal is hopelessly unfamiliar.
Please cite where I'm defending our thrice-elected Governor Walker, or issue an obsequiously contrite and appropriately groveling apology.
Course, I say that to clueless Lefties that insert their Birkenstocks in their pie-holes all the way to the ilium all the time, and they're too gutless or too unctuous to slither back and do the right thing.
Your play.
The Gotch
Actually, I myself made a comparison between Walker and Hitler the other day, just to prove a point. I said that they both parted their hair on the right, just to demonstrate that it was indeed possible to come up with an even more fatuous irrelevancy than the person I was responding to. BUT I WAS JOKING!
I believe that the majority of the people in this country will see that Walker not only wanted to do away with the "Wisconsin Idea" he wants to bend the "Spirit of America" to suit his twisted self serving egotistical ideology. Just as John McCain referenced the loonies that show up for guys like Donald Trump, Scott Walker courts the same tea party crowd quite effectively.
Eh, McCain played to them pretty hard when it was his turn. Sad to see a somewhat decent GOP voice turn into that. Maybe we can start handing out "Romney awards" every election.
I clearly remember McCain telling a woman that Obama was a "good and decent man" when he absolutely had to. I won't hold my breath that Sqwalker would do the same.
You just can't make this stuff up. When do we say, "enough is enough!" if you don't contact your legislators, even the idiot ones like I have, this will still keep on and on because those d bags think no none is paying attention. What have we created?
My legislators are Republican. I live in a rural area that gladly starves its public schools and can barely afford to get its major roads plowed. I don't think my Republican legislators care anymore what I think than did my previous Democrat legislators.
WI didn't get the way it is just because of the Republicans. It didn't get the way it is because of the Democrats. Yup. Once again, I can point the finger right at the voters...the parents...the adults...and yes, there are three fingers pointing right back at me, but for now, I have nothing to say to Republican legislators that are canned votes for Walker. Nothing.
Citizens: This is what you get when one party holds the following:
Presidential candidate: Republican
Governor: Republican
Lt. Governor: Republican
State Senate : Republican
State Assembly: Republican
All committee heads: Republican
State Supreme Court: Republican
Department heads: Republican
Attorney General: Republican
And we are still foolish enough to think they have our interests at heart.
They have the interests of the Koch brothers at heart and we are merely pawns to be lied to.
We are now superfluous people due to the big oil pipelines bisecting the WI geography and people. It's the oil the Kochs care about, black gold, Canada Tea!
So where does this stop? The guy that "dropped the bomb" and "thought about putting troublemakers" into a crowd of teachers and their children, defunded public education to reward his rich donors, stratigized to "divide and conquer" Wisconsin residents, can't track loans to wealthy contributors, wanted to change the Wisconsin Idea to no longer include "search for the truth", change open records laws so they are no longer open, now wants to remove "accountability" from a board created to do exactly that. I'm sure I missed many other policy changes that help him and hurt us, feel free to add to the list. But seriously, where does this stop?
Everything stops at the polls. If you win, you get your way. If you don't, you don't.
tt34, Your statement about everything can be corrected at the polls is a nice assumption! I guess you consider gerrymandered polls ok. I guess you think voter intimidation is ok. I guess you think messing with ballot boxes is ok. Boy your naive!
Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.
Scott Walker, of course, is the Lord, right?
Why isn't Robin Vos calling for the DOJ to investigate the WEDC, maybe he knows Brad Schimel isn't a real AG, just a partisan shill.
Good evening;
Gov. Walker is right with his attempts to dismantle the Elections and Ethics Board.
Nice evening,
What sriver said: ""Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed." - Jesus.
Al Webb,
You have become the biggest fan of the Governor on here.
Governor Walker is WRONG with this attempts to dismantle a Board that has existed in our state for a long time. No party complained about it before. We now have the Governor wanting to dismantle it ONLY because it would allow him to do things without any accountability.
Lets hear why you feel the Governor is right about his attempt to dismantle the Board,
Nice evening and sweet dreams!
Just a observation. Al Web starts out with " good evening". You don't normally see people inserting a salutation on a blog. Similarly there was another writer here who used the word "balderdash" and other 19th century jargon. Unless of course you want to distinguish your self from others.. Likely other persona's on this blog and or other blogs. Of course, Al is not fooling anybody, he is just paying the rent like the rest of us. Rent is cheaper in Utah though. Just my opinion and observations.
You sound like a drunk, Al Webb.
Fascists without a shred of decency. Vote them out and remember who the are and keep them from ever getting near power again.
An opinion without supporting facts and reasoning is no more than one person's opinion.
That which may be adduced without evidence may safely be ignored without regret.
"Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed." - Jesus.
The logo needs to be changed also. Why would the Government Accountability Board use the same logo as one used as the symbol for anarchy ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchist_symbolism
Use the letters of the office, GAB, and get rid of this symbol.
Great post Lynne - its an excellent illustration of the proverbial broken clock being right twice a day - that is kinda goofy..
So, have you gotten your talking points yet? We're all waiting - wanting to know how the abolition of an independent ethics and accountability board is a good thing. Get back to us soon OK? Im sure there's some reason I just can't think of.
They office is G A B, why would someone chose to a the logo using ONE of the three letters. It is not called "Accountability".
Not a good choice, not matter how you look at it.
So you are focusing with laser-like precision on the very most important aspect of the GAB in much the same way that your hero is focused with laser-like precision on the very most important aspect of the Wisconsin economy, namely creating jobs. Got it!
Maybe they could just erase the middle so that it stands for "oligarchy."
Why does the republican party use the GOP? The Grand Old Party has no relation to todays republican party.
geo,
Wrong definition of GOP.....it now reads Greedy Obnoxious People for starters. :-)
GovWalker's logo needs to be changed, also. The contacts and eyeglasses logo overlay is just plain strange.
There has to be a way to stop this.
Elections. So far it looks like the Dems have been stopped cold, nationwide.
So, what do you do if you are being investigated for political wrong doing.... Of course, get rid of the people who are investigating you!
Walker and the Republicans saw the huge backlash when they tried to get rid of the open records law... I predict the same backlash will come if they try to get rid of the GAB.
Think about it... even their name General ACCOUNTABILITY Board
Oh, that's right, Walker and the Republicans don't think they have to be accountable to anyone.
Walker DID win his election bid three times. Three. So, of course he isn't accountable to anyone. WI elected him THREE times.
On Wisconsin.
Not sure which plan it is but it seems walker is following either the 5 ,10 or 14 step plan to fascism. Definately presidential material here!
To flesh out one of your allusions:
14 Indicators of Fascism
1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights.
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.
4. The supremacy of the military / avid militarism.
5. Rampant sexism.
6. A controlled mass media.
7. Obsession with national security.
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together.
9. Power of corporations protected.
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated.
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.
12. Obsession with crime and punishment.
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption.
14. Fraudulent elections.
The Supreme Court rules for the ACA.Scott calls the 5 judges out. Scott's WEDC throws away money on loans. Scott gets kicked off the board but wants to change it so there are no public officials on the board. Scott gets investigated by a government board following the direction of republican judges, now he wants to outlaw the board and replace it. What will Scott do next? He has already said he wants to tear up the Iran agreement, drug test the unemployed and the hungry. What would he do with social security, medicare,etc/ He wanted to change the makeup of the legislative committee on the state pension. He wanted to end open records. What will he do next/ Will the state troopers march with him when he outlaws voting? After all, he bought them off with a raise. Would you want this man as president or perhaps as dictator in chief. I hope the voters in Iowa, the old white men, will realize that he is coming for your medicare and social security.
Scott Walker is attempting to dismantle government accountability the same way he has dismantled public education. It is the next step toward his ultimate goal of dismantling democracy.
Hmm, and where are the conservatives today? Aren't y'all (claiming to be) the biggest proponents of government accountability?
53703-
1. We have jobs 53703- you now that pesky activity y'all hear about.
2. Yes, we are proponents of government accountability- is that a bad think?
What's your point?
We also went from number 11 in the nation in job creation to 36th under Walker... Yeah, it's working!
@wisconsineye... "Yes, we are proponents of government accountability- is that a bad think? "
According to your governor, yes it is. He's tried to dismantle the election oversight board, dismantle the availability of open government records, and now dismantle government accountability oversight. Scott Walker and the current batch of GOP politicians most certainly do think government accountability is a bad "think", and you continue to support them.
Really? Boy, are you eating up the lies.
1. You have a job for now, but with Walker's record, who knows about the futuer.
2. If you value government accountability, you should be outraged by anything that attempts to remove some of it, regardless of whether it's being proposed by your GOP presidential dopeful.
My point? Don't be a hypocrite. The biggest problem in our government is corruption, and we need a bipartisan effort to get rid of it, not make it worse.
Gov. Walker appears to have forgotten the recent political history of Wisconsin. The bill that created the GAB was based upon a plan of former State Senator Mike Ellis. The bill passed unanimously in the State Senate and by a vote of 97-2 in the Assembly. The framework for the GAB is about as bi-partisan as it gets.
Gov. Walker also seems to forget why the GAB was created. It was created because the former ethics watchdog, the State Ethics Board, failed in its responsibility to detect or investigate the scandal. The GAB is supposed to be able to independently investigate ethics violations.
Finally, Gov. Walker seems to have forgotten how the retired judges who serve on the GAB get there. They are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state senate. Since 2011, Walker has been the governor and his political party has controlled both houses of the legislature, except for a few inconsequential months of Democratic control of the Senate.
If the GAB isn't accountable to the people, or doesn't conduct its business in a transparent way, whose responsibility is that? Perhaps the elected official who appointed the members of the Board bears some responsibility?
Or, to paraphrase Pres. Truman, maybe Wisconsin government has become a place where the buck stops nowhere.
Pete, the key to your comment is that Ellis is "former". It didn't work out for the GOP once they're the ones being scrutinized.
You're on target about responsibility and the buck stops nowhere - 'cept in our case, the even the Buck won't stop 'til it's raised enough taxes.
Or, maybe the Government Accountability Board works too well in that they actually have the courage to hold those serving in government accountable. If it has areas of improvement, restoring its funding and staffing it adequately would help immensely.
I'd be interested to know exactly what type of oversight would be more transparent and more accountable to the public than how the GAB is set up.
I have to be the one to say it: the Buck is getting a brand new stadium.
Why don't they just all put signs on their backs that say "I am corrupt". It couldn't be more obvious than it is now.
And...if the justices had let the REPUBLICAN prosecutor speak, he would have shown proof they did nothing wrong when they raided the homes of the people under investigation. It was all taped and above-board, but the justices did not allow oral arguments...they just did what their big donors told them to do and stopped the investigation and ordered the evidence destroyed. What are they afraid would have come out? It's time for the people to rise up and stop this blatant corruption.
Scott Walker says: Why do I need to be held accountable?
Scott Walker says: Anyone who questions me or my buddies will be targeted for revenge.
These are not qualities a Governor or President should have.
These are qualities Hitler had.
Hitler...maybe. Nixon on steroids...DEFINITELY
The headline could read "Fox calls for dismantling of henhouse"
Thirteen scientists who publish a report saying the open pit mine will contaminate the watershed? Layed-off
Auditing agency which exposed the $124 Million on unsecured loans, 60% of which went to his campaign donors? Liquidated.
GAB investigates his last election?: Eliminate it.
Boss Walker would make Stalin proud. This isn't a state government. It's a crime syndicate.
How about let's be open and transparent with the John Doe 2 records and then let the public decide is the GAB should go. Just because the State Supreme Court chose not to be open and transparent by not holding open hearings and the 4 Justices refused to recluse themselves form hearing the case against the very organizations that funded their campaigns that is no reason to end the GAB. What we need is a federal investigation into the operations of the Wisconsin Supreme Court which has chosen to interpret Wisconsin campaign law in a way never before considered and in a way that saved Walker's behind! Just because 4 Justices are attached to Walker at the hip and are wholly owned by Conservative special interests doesn't make their decisions free of corruption!
Two important things Scott Walker did to move forward. First he eliminated the agency that proceeded the WEDC..Then he gave $ 129 million dollars of our taxes to companies who in turn gave him a percentage of the loan for his Presidential campaign. Second, Scott Walker now plans to remove the GAB from his way so he can do whatever he wants including stuffing the ballot boxes.
In 2010 the election triggered by the recall failed because enough voters thought he should have a chance.
Now in 2015 he has proven that he is not for us and will do what he pleases.
Can you even imagine Scott Walker as President. Doesn't the thought make you nauseous?
Will you work for another recall so people in other states can find out who Scott Walker really is?
This is the best way I can think of to prevent a President Walker.
You.?
They said to each other "You know, there's still something we don't control..."
And so they got busy on it...
Brazen. Damnably corrupt. Self-serving.
All hallmarks of the Waukesha Weasel.
And this guy is running for President, and is among the top three choices of Republicans across the country. PT Barnum must be feeling pretty satisfied, wherever he sleeps tonight.
When Gov says he wants to replace the GAB with a completely new entity accountable to the people of Wisconsin he means accountable to Scott Walker. Make no mistake. People who cross this man better watch their backs, because he is capable of acting in a vindictive fashion. Remember the student who was appointed to a seat on the Board of Regents and was fired by Gov who discovered the kid had signed the recall petition? GAB is toast. You don't investigate Gov even with cause, and expect to get away with it. I hope I'm wrong. Won't it be fun when Gov washes out of the Presidential election process and is returned to us? A thwarted narcissist should be fun to watch.
Lets see...we have a group that is paid by the taxpayers (GAB) that ok's the kicking down of the doors at 3am of members of a group whos only supposed crime was they were part of a conservative group. All of this according to the SUPREME COURT.
You loony liberals have completely lost it.
Get rid of the GAB immediately and do not spend 1 more nickel of y tax dollars on their paycheck or defense.
But because no oral arguments, everything done in secret we only heard one side. You just blindly accept what the groups say? No wonder this State is quickly sinking.
Now, it's 3 a.m.? I heard 7 a.m. previously.......but you're right. 3 a.m. is better.
All of this according to the SUPREME COURT.
Close. All of this according to the 4 JUSTICES on the Supreme Court who were the direct beneficiaries of hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on their campaigns by the very groups under investigation in the John Doe probe. These 4 justices — and their defenders, such as you — clearly are beyond shame. But what else would we expect? That's what they're being paid to do.
Scooter doesn't even try to disguise his corrupt intentions any more.
Some stop this insanity . . . Not only is walker corrupt, but every single politician that does his bidding is corrupt. . . I'll say it again . . . VOTE THEM ALL OUT!
"It's got to be accountable, it's got to be transparent." Will that be before or after he tinkers with open records again. Maybe if he were to tell us who suggested the amendment to close down open records we could credit him with a semblance of some sincerity at wanting to do more than protect his own interests.
The GAB acts just as partisan as Walker does. Lets not pretend that they don't just because the Governor keeps kicking liberal azz and it's the GAB's turn to feel the boot.
Examples please.
Examples? What examples do you need? The GAB ruled wholesale that the recall petitions were public record and that personally identifying information regarding signing the recall petitions was public record. That's how the GAB ruled. Then GAB further posted copies of every single page of the recall petitions online, in the interest of public record. How do you think those ill-intentioned True The Vote people got ahold of everyone's name and personally identifying information? Magic? Mark this in your own personal file for "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" whenever you talk smack about the GAB. http://www.gab.wi.gov/elections-voting/recall
My reply was for Bigdaddy61. I assume he is referring to how all the rulings favor the Dems. Your example is great in showing that is hardly true.
You do know this is the same GAB that OKed the release of the recall petition signers names/addresses, right?
Pretty sure more Dems than GOP have actually been investigated, charged, convicted and imprisoned during Kevin Kennedy's tenure. Didn't hear a peep out of you guys at that time, though.
Yeah, and whenever the refs call one of Aaron Rodgers's passes incomplete after further review, it's because they're secretly working for the Chicago Bears.
ALEC THIS IDEA. ALEC IT A LOT. WHAT'S NOT TO ALEC. BRADLEY SPEAKING, IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
If I wanted to run the most corrupt administration in at least 100 years, I would:
Pack the courts
Try to eliminate open government access
Buy off the cops
Make sure the Attorney General is sound asleep, and
Try to fire the watchdogs.
Check, check, check, check, and check.
Don't forget repress the votes of people who may disagree with you.
More historical perspective. Here’s the countdown of the top half-dozen tragedies in Wisconsin history, 1 of which has a bullet:
(6) Super Bowl 32, 1998 Jan. 25
(5) Kohler Company strike, 1954–1965
•(4) Gov. Scott Walker, 2011–?
(3) Black Hawk massacre, 1832 Aug. 1–2
(2) Sen. Joe McCarthy, 1947–1957
(1) Great Peshtigo fire, 1871 Oct. 8
= = = = = =
“If there is hope, wrote Winston, it lies in the proles.” —George Orwell, 1984, Part 1 Chapter 7
Yes, we need a thorough investigation. Kevin Kennedy and Lois Lerner cannot object unless they have something to hide. An early morning raid to seize emails would be most appropriate.
You've seen me say this before, and I doubt this will be the last time I'll have to say it. Kevin Kennedy has more integrity than anyone calling for his head on his pike has. He is one of the most dedicated, hardworking, astute public servants we've ever had in this state. I have not heard him say nor seen him do a single partisan thing in his 30-plus years with GAB and its previous incarnation, the Elections Board. That is, anything he has said or done would have been the EXACT SAME THING if it had been the opposite party making the request or complaint. He is supervised by a board of retired judges, most of whom have been either appointed or reappointed by GovWalker. The well-healed radical right and the poor-healed tea party want to talk about witch hunts? Hey, guys, here's a real, live witch hunt.
There was no constitutional grounds for the second John Doe. All the attorneys, judges and Kevin Kennedy knew Citizens United and other USSC decisions and rather than shut down the investigation, they expanded it numerous times. Lois even suggested a two night get together so they could "work". While he helped to squelch free speech of conservatives and she denied them tax exempt status, what do you think they worked on?
Which political groups in Wisconsin were denied tax-exempt status? Put up or shut-up. Why is republicans think if they say it, it must be true?
Constitutional grounds? Not sure what you're talking about. What is readily apparent from parts of investigation that did leak is this: more than enough evidence was presented to justify investigation. Dem and GOP DAs all agreed, GAB (again, with most judges on the board either having been appointed or reappointed by GovWalker) also agreed. Investigation led by GOP prosecutor who VOTED FOR GOVWALKER in recall. Citizens United changed nothing about Wisconsin's laws against coordination and was irrelevant to John Doe II. GOP is not and never has been victimized in a partisan manner. None of the people involved in the investigation would have behaved any differently if it had been Dems suspected of breaking law. You can't ask for anything better than that. Also, there have been Dem politicians in this state who were actually convicted and jailed for pay-to-play and coordination schemes, and it all happened while Kevin Kennedy was in his present position. As for tax-exempt status, I don't know the outcome, but I'll be very disappointed if we're now granting tax-exempt status to hate groups like Sons of Liberty.
Mary below, Judge Kluka was supposed to oversee the Doe but only rubber stamped the subpoenas until she resigned without giving a reason. Judge Peterson stopped the Doe on Jan 10, 2014, a year and a half ago, because the prosecution did not show probable cause, in other words, did not show evidence that a crime was committed. The Supreme Court had earlier determined that it was not illegal for Club for Growth and others to coordinate with the Walker campaign unless they were conspiring to commit a crime. Issue ads, as long as they did not say vote for or against a candidate, are considered free speech and cannot be regulated (Citizens United).
Geo, we are talking national.
Mary, US constition First Amendment.
State constitution Article One, Section Three. Both cited for free speech.
There is no evidence that the prosecutor voted for Walker.
Citizens United determined that issue ads were free speech and WI SC found that the Doe was attempting to limit free speech.
As to republican appointments, there are lazy republicans.
Nearly all the applications Lerner denied were conservative organizations. She must be guilty or why did she loose her emails.
Not, below...
The prosecutor said he was a Republican and that he voted for GovWalker in the recall. If you think he needs to provide "proof" of that statement, you do not understand lawyers. At all. None of them, short of the guy on Better Call Saul, wld make such a statement unless it were true.
Of course CU determined that issue ads were free speech. I think they were deemed free speech in cases even before CU. GovWalker and PresObama are free to help groups outside of their campaigns raise money, and both have proudly done so. Those groups are also free to spend that money however they have seen fit. And they have. The only issue -- and the only evidence presented by the prosecutors that so compelled a bipartisan go-ahead for the John Doe II investigation is coordination. Any elected official can help an advocacy organization raise money. But they most emphatically may NOT coordinate with that group as to how the money is spent. That is explicitly against the law in Wisconsin, and every elected official is well aware of that fact. Evidence indicates that GovWalker and Club for Growth and other such organizations bet early on that they would be able to either find a way around the law or change the law before they could be charged. Not something I'd be proud of, if I were you. And not something that is actually answered yet, because credible grounds for investigation -- again, on a bipartisan basis -- have presently been quashed.
There are way too many reprehensible GOP and tea party organizations wrapped up in suppressing the vote or harassing voters for you to feel comfortable, if you knew what they were truly doing. Slapping a patriotic-sounding name on a group doesn't mean it's deserving of your tax dollars, or mine.
notakers
"But there is someone who deserves much more scrutiny given her role not just in one, but two botched John Doe investigations."
That person is Judge Barbara Kluka."
http://www.rightwisconsin.com/dailytakes/Where-is-the-Accountability-for-Judge-Barbara-Kluka-317360491.html
Time for Kluka to answer some questions.
A "thorough investigation" of WHAT?! Of anything and anyone you don't like and view as an obstacle to absolute Republican political power? You obviously don't realize how insane you sound. You'll have to "investigate" all of us.
Yet no call for investigating the WEDC? Strange how that works.
When you have a totally Republican run state you can get away with murder. And Scott Walker is the one who once again wants to end any inspection of his illegal moves.
Walker supplies a daily outrage.
Keep it hidden and then lie is Scott Walker's bible statement.
And, will you let the people of Iowa and New Hampshire know?
Let's analyze this: Scott Walker wants to dismantle government accountability. The governor wants a government that is not accountable to The People. This alone should be enough to cause any rational Wisconsinite to shout in outrage.
Add in his cowardly attempt to eliminate the ability of the public to access open records, and we see just what kind of government Scott Walker wants.... and it's not a democracy.
Walker also wants to get rid of the nonpartisan Legislative Oversight Committees, all Citizen involvement boards, nonpartisan review panels, independent courts and investigations, the nonpartisan elections oversight, and more.
Scott Walker wants to be a dictator, where he is accountable to no one and where his actions and words are hidden from the public. This is disgusting, and everyone -- especially the "small government" conservatives should be up in arms.
Yes. Top Down Big Government, Scott Walker style.
All to impress his big daddy...you know the one that puts the political voices in Scott Walker's head.
Sounds like the conservative mantra "less taxes and no government." And certainly Mr Walker advocates no auditors, law enforcement, legal system, judicial review or oversight panels to catch the privatization movement in action while they scam the country. Ironically however, Mr Walker likes being on the government payroll so much, he has been on it his entire career.
"You want something that can stand the test of time, so it's got to be fair," Walker said. "It's got to be accountable, it's got to be transparent."
Hmmmmm remember a few weeks ago when: "Gov. Scott Walker’s office was involved in drafting dramatic changes to the state’s open records law that would have made it harder for the public to monitor how its government works, a spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday".
This guy is waste. Pure toxic waste.
As of March 22, 2015, the Journal Sentinel's fact-checking service PolitiFact has examined 130 Walker statements. His most frequent rating is "false," totaling thirty-five. Ten more rated the most-dishonest, or "pants on fire," those forty-five findings are exactly triple the fifteen Walker statements rated fully "true."
In upcoming requests from Scott Walker:
After Walker's son Alex is stopped for speeding in I-94 in the Town of Delafield, Scott Walker calls for the dismantling of the Wisconsin State Patrol.
After Scott Walker's father's Wisconsin Income Tax return is audited, Scott Walker calls for the merging of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue with the State Department of Administration.
After of state DNR licence check while fishing on Muskeego Lake, Scott Walker calls for the elimination of Game Warden positions in the 2017 DNR budget.
Let no one say that our Governor has not learned a thing or two from history. Let the show trials begin. Will they be forced to drink hemlock or simply shot in an alley?
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