The Waukesha Surprise
Instead of simply accepting Republican Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus' questionable claim that magically appearing votes now put Republican David Prosser about 7,000 votes ahead of JoAnne Kloppenburg, law enforcement should be impounding every ballot box and election computer in the county.
That's what Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm says would happen if thousands of unreported votes suddenly appeared in Milwaukee County to give Kloppenburg a 7,000-vote lead in the Supreme Court race.
"There would be state police squads flying in immediately and every computer and ballot box would be confiscated and secured instantly," Chisholm told Dominique Paul Noth, editor of the Milwaukee Labor Press.
Of course, that would raise other suspicions, since the state patrol now is headed by a Republican political appointee, Stephen Fitzgerald, the father of state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, the Republican legislative leaders who appear to have no qualms about violating state laws to enact Gov. Scott Walker's political agenda.
Just as worrisome, the entire apparatus of the state Department of Justice is now controlled by Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, who has developed a habit of advising Republicans they can do anything they want regardless of state law or court orders.
So all we have seen so far are some clerks from the Government Accountability Board dropping by Waukesha County to double-check Nickolaus' newest math.
Where are all the cops? Who's impounding all the voting machines? Where's "CSI: Waukesha" to run tests on the DNA of Brookfield voters and analyze the fibers of their carpets and their hair follicles?
A more serious criminal investigation into Republican wrongdoing wouldn't be anything new to Nickolaus. The last time she was investigated for Republican crimes she even managed to win immunity from prosecution by cooperating with authorities.
That was back in 2001 when the Dane County district attorney was conducting a criminal investigation of Nickolaus and other members of the Assembly Republican caucus for performing election campaign work on state time.
The boss of the Republican caucus when Nickolaus originally was hired in 1995 was—guess who?—Assembly Speaker David Prosser, before his appointment as an extremely partisan Republican justice on the Supreme Court.
The way someone like Nickolaus wins immunity during a criminal investigation is by giving investigators information on her fellow Republicans.
Despite that, the investigation's biggest Republican target, former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, ended up beating the rap, too.
Jensen was convicted of three felonies and a misdemeanor in 2006, but later won a new trial from the Supreme Court. Last December, Jensen worked out a plea deal in Waukesha County to plead guilty only to the misdemeanor.
Clearly, those Republicans out in Waukesha County have a serious crime wave going on. And since Scott Walker was inaugurated governor in January, Republican crime appears to have spread to Madison.
Well-Earned Credibility Problem
The current Republican credibility problem is well
earned. First, legislative Republicans flaunted the state's open meetings law
to pass a law destroying collective bargaining rights for public employees.
When a judge issued a court order preventing
implementation of the law, the Walker administration began implementing the law
anyway and had to be threatened with contempt of court.
What can Wisconsin voters do when a crucial Supreme
Court election could be decided by the incredible discovery of thousands of
uncounted votes in the most Republican county in the state?
The Walker administration itself cannot resolve any
of the legitimate questions satisfactorily when the people in charge of
investigating those questions are Republicans with a pattern of breaking the
law for political advantage.
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin from Madison has
requested a federal investigation into the handling of votes in Waukesha
County.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder,
Baldwin wrote: "Following this week's election for the Wisconsin Supreme
Court, numerous constituents have contacted me expressing serious doubt that
this election was a free and fair one. They fear, as I do, that political
interests are manipulating the results."
For the outcome of the Supreme Court race to have
any credibility at all, federal oversight from this point on is absolutely
necessary.
Republicans keep thinking they can push through
their agenda and squeak through elections by hook or by crook and cool off the
anti-Walker political momentum around the state.
But 19 counties won by Walker last November flipped
in the Supreme Court race to vote for Kloppenburg.
The voter anger and recall organizing will only
increase if the pro-Walker Prosser manages to win re-election to the Supreme
Court as the result of a dubious "Waukesha Surprise."
So, was Lisa Sink of patch.com in on the "Waukesha Surprise?" She reported the actual totals- EXACTLY the revised totals that Nicklaus reported last Thursday.
For Democrats to cry fraud is the height of hypocrisy. And what about Ramona Kitzinger? She was convinced that the numbers were correct and stated that categorically at the press conference. Now, she maintains in a written statement (produced after her discussions with Democratic officials) that she is just a confused old woman, who doesn't understand computers. This woman, disgusting creature, is a season political operative, an officer in the Waukesha Democratic Party, and a long-time political donor and fundraiser. If she is so confused, so easily duped, why was she put in charge of the canvassing on the Dems side? Or did she just have a change of heart after being berated by Stuart Smalley's (Al Franken, national embarassment and Dem Senator from Minnesota) lawyer?
So Joel, were you suspicious when actual ballots were found in the trunk of a car in the Franken Senate race? Was that the "Minnesota Surprise" and a clear case of fraud and criminal deeds? No, you exalted in Franken's win- even though finding votes in the trunk of a car couldn't be more suspicious.
And now Dems are crying about the politicization of this race. Did any of you take a look at Kloppenburg's facebook page? It couldn't have been MORE political. Did you miss the unions supporting Kloppenburg as a way to "get even" with Walker and the Republicans? Was that not political?
Hypocrisy is the worst possible human tendency, short of being an actuall criminal. You must be so ashamed when you look at yourself.
But let's return to the first point I made- why not call Lisa Sink and ask her if she is in on the "Surprise?" She had the vote totals the night of the election- the correct vote totals.
One more thing- when did it become a giant issue that the MEDIA was given the wrong vote totals? The canvas came out right, according to Kitzinger (but of course she's just a confused old bat, right?)
Yeah the "confused old woman" approach is pretty funny. It reminds of SNL's sketch of Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer.
This article is ridiculous. Is Joe suggesting that it makes more sense if there were no votes cast in the city of Brookfield?
I agree with Joel that Democrats should be skeptical. But its unlikely any wrong doing will be found. We have the cards stacked in our favor.
A while back I was visiting a friend in a rural area. He would speed, run stop signs, and park wherever he wanted. I asked him if he was afraid of being arrested and he pulled out his deputy sheriff badge. " No one is going to arrest me and if you get stopped, just say you know me."Thats what feels like being a Republican right now.
I think the dirtiest trick the Republicans pulled was sending men dressed up like women over to the Waukesha County court house and pretent they were pro-Kloppenheimer protesters.
Joel, how DARE you criticize a white woman of the suburbs? Don't you know that she belongs to the most privileged class of society? These people can do no wrong, the mere suspicion of impropriety from these members of the Wisconsin Public is a mortal sin!
I've learned this long ago, just from driving and shopping in the suburbs. "Suburb soccer moms" get the automatic right of way, regardless of posted traffic signs and signals. She need not even show ID when she flashes a man's credit card at the checkout counter, merely claims "it's my husbands, I kept my name for professional reasons." Stores have to do this or she will spend "her husband's" money somewhere else.
Clear example... I was buying gas at a Brookfield filling station, self service only and the lowest price in town. A conservatively dressed 50-something woman walks in, stands there wobbling her head slightly, glaring down her nose at the staff, indignant expression on her face. The manager turns to a cashier and tells him to go outside and pump her gas.
A Milwaukee county Sheriff's deputy told me long ago that affirmative action (effective hiring quotas and all), was not created to hire more minorities of color in the workplace, but was created to hire more white housewives. Hiring a white woman was an acceptable way to meet the hiring quota, avoided having to hire a person of color. This was needed to maintain suburb lifestyle, husbands income alone was not enough to keep ahead of the blue collar union masses escaping Milwaukee.
He went on to point out that these women are given "points" to compensate for the lower test scores, lack of appropriate college degree, or other usual requirements that weed out the bad from the good. How many white women do you know in your workplace office who do not have the college degree that usually goes with the position? You will notice that if a non-white is in that position, they will have the correct degree, high test scores, etc.
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PS - the database that Kathy Nickolaus forgot to press "Save" on was Microsoft Access. Unlike Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, all of which require the updated file to be "saved", a database does not have a Save key, the data is stored imediately upon entry. Many new users have found this out the hard way, thinking they can close without saving in case they make a mistake.
That was heard on WPR this morning.
If this were an honest mistake, Nikolaus wouldn't have revealed it, except that the count ended in Kloppenburg's favor. A "fix" was needed, and had to make sure it was sized large enough so that a recount would not be free. It will cost the publicly financed "poor" Kloppenburg camp a full $50 PER WARD to have that ward recounted.
She took one for the team, she will be rewarded.
I can barely even comment on your racist hysteria anymore. Every white woman in my workplace has a college degree. My last two bosses were white women. two of my last six hires were women of color. One of the last six was a hispanic man. You're so committed to race-baiting that you don't care that you look like an idiot. You should start giving your rants titles: "Stories from a Suburban Gas Station"
But to address some of your glaring factual errors:
1. Niklaus was referring to spreadsheet when she referenced the "save" issue.
2. Access will, in many cases, simply not import data when the spreadsheet that has been tailored to the database for import has been modified. In the press conference, she maintained that the Brookfield spreadsheet had been modified.
3. The cost of a recount is $5 per ward, not $50. If Kloppenburg wants a recount of the entire state, it would take about 30 seconds for her to raise enough money. The lawyers, on the other hand, would cost much more- for both candidates.
So, what about the fact that all the vote totals were properly reported by an AOL/Huffington Post media property on the NIGHT OF THE ELECTION?? Are you conveniently avoiding that issue? No votes were "found", and I could care less what was reported to the AP. The canvas numbers are what count, and the canvas numbers were certified by Ramona Kitzinger, who was not able to "deceive on her feet" well enough to lie about the canvas. Notice that Joel does not mention the word "canvas" once. Why the hell do I care at all what was reported to the AP?
I don't think any cheating was going on but certainly some dirty tricks. Very ingenious too. First sucker a very naive politician into thinking she won. A lot of mileage was gotten form those victory speech outtakes. Then sucker her into spending a ton of money on Washington lawyers that really didn't do anything to help her. Then take advantage of an elderly and confused old woman who was suppose to be representing the Democrat party. Even Kathy Nickolaus tried to spare her from too much humilation. Then the phony pro Kloppenheimer protesters dressed up like people having a sexual identity crisis. I think it was intended to teach the democrats a lesson.
Today I was at the Capitol to observe the riots. BORING!!!. Perhaps a dozen protesters. They looked kind of out of place. I mean I can't picture any of them working anywhere. Kind of a cross between homeless, low class, drug abusers that are often found near college campuses. The kind that live near campus but never go to class. Well perhaps art or philosophy. There were a few drum beaters and chanters, but no one anyone would take serious
Well, djl, that's pretty far out there- you're not on Planet Racist with Waukesha Dude, but you're definitely in high orbit, requesting clearance to land...
Couple problems with your theory: (1) Prosser needs those same high-priced lawyers in the event of a recount. He will be as much or more in need of watchful, trained, EXPENSIVE legal eyes if a recount takes place. (2) Prosser would have benefited far more from a convincing win right at the end of the voting, with no controversy. Now the left has an open door to cheat and wrangle away a victory using their lawyers, who can sniff out a box of ballots in the trunk of a car from 1000 feet. If nothing else, the left will always and forever deem the election of Prosser a "selection" and refer to him as "illegitimate". No candidate would choose that route to the bench.
Neither fraud nor incompetence. But the actions of a very clever and cunning individual. Kloppenberger was viewed as a naive and ineffectual politician. The Republicans took advantage of that by suckering her into declaring victory, only to be humilated in defeat. Let her get a taste of vicotry and then drown it out. Reminds me of the time I got tricked into stealing base and got tagged out by the second baseman who was holding the ball the entire time. Nickolaus had the ball in this game.
Republicans have a few dirty tricks, mostly from the Democrat playbook. Later they sent over some "Pat" type individuals from Saturday Night Live over to the Waukesha court house and pretend they were pro Kloppenheimer protesters. This was intended to label Ms. Koppendinger as being associated with those types and stripping her of her femininity.
I'm all for winning but rubbing it in this way was going too far IMO.
Nickolaus did not rise to where she is because she is incompetent. What I see is a hard ball player eager to please and willing to take a bullet.