A Brand-New Election Day
They may barely be mentioned by the media, but a growing number of folks around the state are beginning to realize those elections are the first opportunity for voters to register a thundering objection to Walker's heavy-handed, destructive agenda.
In a few months, the recall elections of eight Republican co-conspirator state senators can give Democrats control of the Senate, taking away Walker's rubber stamp as the governor continues to do his worst until he himself can be recalled in a year.
But, first, in just a couple of weeks, two elections—one in Milwaukee County and the other statewide—are directly tied to the radical right-wing schemes of Walker and the Tea Party Republicans.
The election to determine who will succeed Walker as Milwaukee County executive has taken a comic turn.
State Rep. Jeff Stone, a suburban Republican ally of Walker, finished first in the primary by running as the next Scott Walker. Now he's blasting his opponent, Chris Abele, for running an ad linking him to Walker.
The connection is open-and-shut undeniable. Stone stood proudly behind Walker as the governor announced his bill to destroy collective bargaining rights. Stone voted for the original bill in the Assembly and for the amended bill after it was jammed through the state Senate in minutes without any Democrats present.
In between, Stone alternately claimed he didn't support the destruction of collective bargaining rights in the bill when asked about it at county executive forums and claimed he did support destroying those rights when asked about it on conservative talk radio.
At this point, even conservative Republicans have to be a little embarrassed by Stone's dishonest contortions. It's pretty insulting to those who still support Walker for Stone to attack a commercial accurately linking Stone to Walker as negative campaigning.
It's a public admission that Walker has become a liability to Republicans running for office.
Meanwhile, Abele is on the side of the angels. Not only does Abele support collective bargaining rights, but his whole campaign is built around cooperation among various levels of government to reduce costs by merging services.
Abele's theme of taking the best ideas from both Democrats and Republicans is the exact opposite of the scorched-earth, crush-the-other-side tactics of Walker and Stone.
Vital Supreme Court Election
The other election on April 5, between Justice David
Prosser and Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg for a 10-year term on
the Wisconsin Supreme Court, could have a profound effect on the state for the
next decade.
For some reason, the ties of Prosser, the incumbent
justice, to the right-wing movement behind Walker has not yet become an issue
in the media despite clear questions the connection raises about Prosser's
judicial ethics.
A year ago, a statewide convention of the Wisconsin
Tea Party movement took place in Wisconsin Dells.
The crowd included the usual collection of racists
and other extremists. One speaker called President Barack Obama a cabana boy who
needed to be kept in his place by the master who ran the mansion.
Not surprisingly, Walker, running for governor, was
there. So was Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, running for
re-election, who denounced illegal immigration by declaring: "We need to
preserve America for Americans!"
But many judges around the state were surprised two
Wisconsin Supreme Court justices also attended, flouting ethical guidelines
against involvement of the judiciary in partisan political activity.
The justices were Prosser and the well-known-to-be
ethically challenged Michael Gableman.
Prosser even gave a bizarre speech attacking a famous philanthropist as some kind of evil, foreign influence who might try to buy the Supreme Court race. He warned of "George Soros-types flying alien ships into Wisconsin."
Ironically, Soros, who grew up in Nazi-occupied Hungary, has donated billions of dollars to create democracies in Eastern Europe and reform the criminal justice system in America.
Anyone who believes that's some kind of alien plot
should not hold any public office and certainly should not be on the bench.
JoAnne Kloppenburg, on the other hand, is a longtime
independent state prosecutor. She's served in the attorney general's office
under both Republicans Don Hanaway and Van Hollen and Democrats Jim Doyle and
Peg Lautenschlager.
With Walker and legislative Republicans showing
their willingness to use novel interpretations of state laws to justify
whatever they want to do, it's more important than ever for justices on the
state Supreme Court to be guided by the law, rather than some extremist agenda.
Polls across the state show Democrats, independents
and fair-minded Republicans oppose the extreme, undemocratic actions Walker has
taken (and which were never part of his campaign).
April 5 will be the first of a series of brand-new
Election Days in Wisconsin.
Joel needs to take a deep breath and relax. He's all over the place with some sort of bipolar racing thoughts. What I think he is trying to say is he is just mad because he can't figure out why people elect Republicans. Every one is crazy but him. Walker is Governor. Joel is the free paper crybaby. Do the math on who is really crazy.
Not enough people know yet of Prosser's close ties to the likes of Walker & his henchmen & his policies...he has publicly stated he would support these policies...the media (of any and all kinds) need to make the public aware of the importance of this seemingly unimportant election!
...and Kloppenberg, besides being far less qualified than Prosser, has made the same statements from the "biased-to-the-left" side. Should the media also make everyone aware of that?
But we are supposed to turn a blind eye when a candidate is biased to the right, or otherwise meets WMC approval like Gableman or Ziegler, that people in power can be legally bought (called "Return On Investment").
I don't get it.
- We all want "job creation", meaning good-paying jobs, not low-paying jobs that leave us losing ground.
- We used to keep repeating that Small Business creates the job growth. We already know that Big Business will out-source as soon as they can afford to make that move (lower taxes for them helps them out-source faster)
- We used to repeat that 85% of American workers are employed by Small Business, (means not Big Business). Big Business wants to SELL to all of America, I do not see them trying to HIRE all of America.
- Yet, we keep making policies that benefit Big Business more than it benefits Small Business. And we keep putting people in power that benefit Big Business more than Small Business.
Did you all believe that Reagan's Supply-side economics actually worked? What has Trickle Down done for you in the last 25 years?
Vote to make sure the entire gov't team is going to pull in your favor, to create enough customers for small business to be good.
"Vote to make sure the entire gov't team is going to pull in your favor, to create enough customers for small business to be good." What in god's name are you talking about?
Being endorsed by a group is just fine, whether it is the public employees unions or the WMC. A candidate signalling how he or she will rule on a case that is currently in the news is not fine. Doing it blatantly on your facebook page (should a judicial candidate have a facebook page at all??) is another signal that Kloppenburg would be an unapologetic activist judge.
As far as legally buying people in power goes (one coherent thought I wrestled from the WaukeshaLoon post), I pay for the public sector unions to purchase Democratic politicians- the money goes from my check, to the government coffers, and then directly to the union dues- never even hits the public sector employee's bank account. Is that fair? I am literally forced to fund the campaigns of politicians I'd never support. But it's only corporations that "buy" power, right? And what do they do? Oh, just employ the vast majority of us, pay property taxes, income taxes, payroll taxes, license and regulation fees, and make everything government does possible...
Small businesses are crucial, but most of them are corporations, too.
Prosser is just another damned Kochsucker; a vote for him is just like another vote for Governor Wanker. On the 5th, I'm going to the polls to vote for Kloppenberg and Abele.
I shall also eagerly await the Walker recall vote and the impeachment and removal of Justices Gableman and Ziegler.
You are a brain surgeon.
I predict Prosser will win big the way Walker did. His opponent - well I haven't seen any signs or ads. Everyone knows Prosser is running. But few can name his oppenent. Look if we elect someone like Gableman, who you have to admit is a bit creepy, right? Then Prosser is a shoe-in
Abele - how many drunk driving and parking tickets does this guy have? He needs to get a driver. He can't hold his liquor and doesn't even know how to operate a parking meter.