Uppity Wisconsin

Walker's over-the-top attack on Barrett, Doyle is a real train wreck

xoff — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:06:08 +0000

Scott Walker's blast at Tom Barrett and Jim Doyle over the award of a train contract that is bringing jobs to Milwaukee is hysterical in both senses of the word.

Walker's way-over-the-top news release, accusing Barrett and Doyle of everything short of racketeering, sounds like Walker may be hysterical, if not rabid.

It's also hysterical in the sense that it's laughable. The more you read, and the more you find out the facts, the funnier it gets.

Walker's beef is that a Spanish train company has decided to build its cars at the former A.O. Smith yard instead of at Super Steel, a Milwaukee firm owned by one of Walker's sugar daddies, Fred Luber, a major donor who was his finance co-chair when he ran for governor in 2006.

Walker fulminates about Doyle giving the Spanish company, Talgo, a no-bid contract, about Barrett using tax money to offer incentives for the company to come to Milwaukee, and on and on.

A couple of thoughts:

First, Barrett is the mayor of Milwaukee, and his job is to try to bring jobs and economic development to the city. Walker and Luber Walker complain about

Barrett’s use of taxpayer funds from the office of Milwaukee City Development to unfairly compete against Super Steel as well as proposed sites in Appleton, Janesville, and Racine in an apparent effort to boost his image in the race for Governor.

Or in an apparent effort to do his job. City development funds are intended to bring jobs to Milwaukee, not Appleton or Janesville or Racine. If you're governor, that's a different story. Wonder how many jobs Walker has brought to Racine or Janesville, since he has brought precious few to Milwaukee County in the last 8 years.

Walker says Super Steel got dissed in the process, but Barrett actually signed an appeal to Talgo asking the company to use the Super Steel facility.

Walker also blasts Doyle for using a no-bid contract with Talgo for the trains, but that has been the law since 1997, when it was changed to exempt passenger rail purchases from the state’s competitive bidding rules.

Let's see, was Jim Doyle the governor in 1997? No, it was a guy named Tommy Thompson, who probably hoped he could give some contracts to Fred Luber, a major Thompson fundraiser and donor.

There's more, but it seems like overkill.

How desperate is the Walker campaign -- and how inept?

Tommy backing off from Senate race?

xoff — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:26:32 +0000

The road to filing day is littered with the wrecks of candidates who were once 80% or 90% sure to run for something, but never quite got to the starting gate.

Is the Tommy Thompson for Senate campaign about to join the would-be candidacies that never quite materialized? There's already a whole section in that political graveyard with headstones marking Tommy's previous brushes with running that were stillborn.

In any case, a story by Politico and another in the Washington Post certainly make it sound much less certain that Tommy will take the plunge than his surrogate son, Bill McCoshen, has led people to believe.

McCoshen had Tommy 70% in earlier, but now the Post reports:

Now,Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) is "50-50" on whether or not to challenge Sen. Russ Feingold (D) this fall and will almost certainly make a decision before the May 20 state party convention, according to a source familiar with his thinking.
"He has been in public service his entire life," said the source of Thompson's thought process on the race. "This is not something you take lightly."

Meanwhile, Politico says:

Thompson’s official spokesman at his Washington-based law firm again pushed back at any assumption that the former Health and Human Services secretary had come to a decision. “He hasn’t even made up his mind,” said Jason Denby of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. “I think he is right in the middle right now, trying to decide.”

Meanwhile, Politico notes, Sen. Russ Feingold's campaign is treating Tommy like a candidate, firing shots his way that give him a taste of what the rough-and-tumble of a campaign would be like, portraying him as a fat cat DC lobbyist who's on the wrong side.

Denby said that while Thompson continues to weigh his options, he is not interested in responding to the grenades being tossed in his direction.
“He respects Sen. Feingold, and he doesn’t want to get into a partisan battle. He’s really just trying to talk it through with his family,” said Denby.

When last we heard from Tommy's wife, in Madison Magazine, she was not enthused:

When I mention recent rumors of a very partisan political race—Tommy Thompson vs. Russ Feingold in the upcoming U.S. Senate election—Sue Ann is candid.
“I try to stay out of it. Does it bother me when people ask questions? No. I can’t tell them things I don’t know. I always encourage people to do things but with Tom, it’s always no. I always discourage it; you can’t go back, you need to look ahead,” she shrugs, smiling. “My philosophy is quit while you’re ahead.”

Who's eating Walker's lunch?

xoff — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:05:08 +0000

So it turns out Scott Walker's brown bag idea is stale, copied from a campaign in Ohio.

Two questions: (1) Do you think the sandwiches are fresh?

(2) If Walker's making his own sandwiches at home, as he claims, who's eating all of those Subway sandwiches charged to the campaign as "candidate meals?"

All I know is what I read in the papers

xoff — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:48:31 +0000

And I haven't read anything in the "real" media about a dustup at the Tea Bag Gabfest/American Dream event in the Dells, between the wife of GOP golden boy Sean Duffy and his primary opponent, Dan Mielke. Even though a police call was involved, the media have reported only on the predictable speeches and nothing on the spontaneous fireworks. The two are competing for the nomination to oppose Rep. Dave Obey.

Fortunately, there are other sources of news these days:

Milwaukee News Buzz, a brand new entry from Milwaukee Magazine.

WisPolitics.com

Chris Liebenthal's Cognitive Dissonance blog, which I believe reported it first.

UPDATE: The video that started the ruckus.

Teach-in, marches, vigils and more call for end to wars in Iraq, Afghanistan

xoff — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:05:08 +0000

Remember teach-ins, which sprouted on campuses across the country in the 1960s and 1970s to discuss and educate people about issues like the Vietnam war? Even Earth Day was planned as an environmental teach-in by founder Gaylord Nelson, but it grew well beyond that even the first year.

There will be a teach-in at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus this weekend on the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Also in Madison, and in communities across the state, events are planned this week to call for an end to the US occupation of Iraq, which begins its eighth year on Saturday, and to the war in Afghanistan, which the US began in October 2001.

Since the U.S. invaded Iraq in March of 2003, Wisconsin has often led the country in speaking out for peace. That is the case again this week, with 19 Wisconsin communities, from Chippewa Falls to Waupaca, planning events that range from roadside vigils, to marches and public prayers, according to the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.

The Madison teach-in begins on Friday from 7:00-9:00pm, Alumni Lounge in the Pyle Center, UW-Madison, with a faculty panel moderated by Matt Rothschild of the Progressive Magazine, including Joe Elder, Sociology/ Languages and Cultures of Asia, Jeremi Suri and Alfred McCoy, Dept. of History and Uli Schamiloglu, Dept. of Languages and Cultures of Asia Contact: Adam Schesch, 608-255-9773

Saturday's Teach-In on Afghanistan and Pakistan runs 9 to noon and 2-5pm, at Memorial Union and other locations. The program:

9:00 am: Prof. Zohreh Ghavamshahidi, (UW-Whitewater, Political Science), “The Iranian Crises and the Afghan-Pakistan War”

10:00 am: Prof. Joseph Elder, (Dept. of Sociology/Languages and Cultures of Asia), “Human Factors in the Afghanistan-Pakistan War”

11:00 am: Dr. Adam Schesch, (History, Comparative Resistance and Revolutionary Wars), “United States Counter-Insurgency in Afghanistan: Theory and Reality”

11:00 am: Dr. Alan Ruff, (American History), “Understanding Afghanistan: The Imperial Presidency in Context”

2:00 pm: David Newby, (President, WI AFL-CIO), and Susan Ruggles (Milwaukee ATC and US Labor Against the War), “The Impact of the Afghan-Pakistan War on Wisconsin Working Families”

2:00 pm: Dr. Joy First, (Women’s Studies) and Bonnie Block, Atty., “Civil Resistance and the Afghan War: Theory and Practice”

3:00 pm: [Iraq and Afghan War Veterans] “The Ground War in Afghanistan: The Reality”

3:00 pm: Dr. Robert Reuschlein, (Economics and Peace Studies), “The Defense Budget, the Economy and the Afghan War”

See “Today in the Union” listings at the Memorial Union for rooms and times. Contact: Adam Schesch, 608-255-9773

Other events this week:

Chippewa Falls: 3/20 Sat. 11 am Peace Vigil – At the corner of Bridge and River. Contact: Gaylord Oppegard, lagoclamaol [dot] com.

Elm Grove: 3/19 Fri. 4 – 5 pm Public Prayer For Peace – 13105 Watertown Plank Road. 4:00-4:30 pm, Prayer Service in the All Purpose Room, 4:30-5:00 pm Prayerful, Public Stand for Peace along Watertown Plank Road. Organized by the School Sisters of Notre Dame Global Justice & Peace Commission. Contact: S. Lillia Langreck, SSNd at llangrecssnd-milw [dot] org

Eau Claire: Fri. 5 – 6 pm Stand for Peace – Meet at the corner of Brackett Ave and S. Hastings Way (aka "Hwy 53"). Contact: Lou Recine, 715-834-8756, recinelouissbcglobal [dot] net.

Hayward: 3/19 Fri. 4 – 5 pm Vigil for Peace – At the intersection of Highways 27 and 63. Sponsored by Peace North. Contact: Jacque Lindskoog, 715-798-4435, waylind2cheqnet [dot] net

Janesville: Fri. 4 pm Iraq Moratorium vigil - On the corner of Blackbridge Rd. and Milton Ave. Sponsored by the Rock Valley Fellowship of Reconciliation. Contact: Kathy Holcombe, (608) 752-8117, kholcombe8117charter [dot] net

La Crosse: Fri. 5 – 6 pm Iraq Moratorium Vigil – LaCrosse. Corner of Cass and Third Street, at the foot of blue bridge over the Mississippi River. Contact: Duane Teschler, 608-784 1737, napeacefulwarioryahoo [dot] com or Cathy Van Maren, cvmarenmwt [dot] net.

Madison: Sat. 3/20 Noon, Rally: Bring the Troops Home from Iraq and Afghanistan! Jobs, not Bombs! Starting at UW Library Mall. Contact: Barbara Smith, Madison Area Peace Coalition, (608) 242-9232, barbaramerr [dot] com

Manitowoc: Fri. 4:30 - 5 pm Peace Vigil - At Maritime Drive and 8th Street. Contact: Linda Hunter, (414) 455-4382, huntelcomcast [dot] net.

Menomonie: Fri. 4-5 pm Peace Vigil - Crescent (12/29)and 6th Ave at the Veterans Memorial, which is located in front of Menomonie Market Food Coop . Contact: Steve Hanson, shansonuppitywis [dot] org

Milwaukee: 3/19 Fri. 12 noon Money for Jobs, Not for War and Occupation - Start in front of the blue Federal Building on 3rd and Wisconsin and will proceed to city hall, and then back to the Federal Building. Wisconsin AFL-CIO President David Newby will be speaking. Contact: Liz Klainot, Peace Action - Wisconsin, (414) 964-5158, infopeaceactionwi [dot] org, Sue Ruggles, US Labor Against the War, RugglesSmatc [dot] edu

Racine: 3/20 Sat. 10 – 11 am Racine Stand for Peace – Southeast corner of Highways 20 and 31. Contact: Dick Kinch, 262-638-0204, dkinchrootcom [dot] net .

Rice Lake: 3/19 Fri. 4 - 6 pm People for Peace - At the corner of Knapp and Main streets on the north end of town. Contact: Sybella Yarish, 715-719-0246

Ripon: Fri. 4:30 pm Peace vigil for the Iraq Moratorium – On the Square, by City Hall. Contact: Kent Gallaway, kgallaway54971yahoo [dot] com

Sheboygan: Fri. 4 - 5 pm Stand for Peace – 9th and Erie. Sponsored by Sheboygan Peace-Seekers. Contact: Chris Kuehnel, 920-918-2405.

Superior: Fri. 4 – 5 pm Rally for Peace. On the corner of Broadway and Hammond. Sponsored by the Northland Chapter of Grandmothers for Peace. Contact: Jan at G4peace1charter [dot] net

Viroqua: Fri. 12 noon Peace Vigil - At the Post Office on Jefferson St. Contact: Anita Zibton, amz1357frontiernet [dot] net

Waupaca: Fri. 5 – 6 pm Vigil for Peace - Downtown, on the town square. Contact: Bonni Miller, 715-256-2672, bonniwaupacaonline [dot] net

West Bend: 3/20 Sat. 11:30 am Stand for Peace - Corner of Decorah and Main. 2nd and 4th Sat. Contact: Tom Haebig, Peaceseekers of Washington County, 262-334-3179

Woodruff: Fri. 12 noon - 1 pm Silent Prayer Vigil for Peace - Holy Family Church, in the small chapel. Contact: Sr. Ann Wittman, crossingsholycrosssisters [dot] org .

In addition, the following regularly scheduled peace vigils will be occurring in the weeks following the seventh anniversary:

Appleton: Sat. 4/3 11 am - 12 noon Monthly Vigil for Peace - At College Avenue and Appleton. Sponsored by the Fox Valley Peace Coalition. First Saturday of each month. Contact: Ronna Swift, 920-733-8394, ronnasathenet [dot] net.

Green Bay: Sun. 4/4 1 - 2 pm Monthly Vigil of Resistance to the War in Iraq - First Sunday of each month, at the corner of Webster and Mason. . Contact: Jill Bussiere at jdtitol [dot] com

Menomonee Falls: Sat. 4/3 noon Monthly Germantown/Menomonee Falls Stand for Peace - First Saturday of each month, at Appleton and Main. Contact: peacepeaceactionwi [dot] org

Minocqua: Sat. 3/27 11:00am – noon Vigil for Peace – At the corner of Hwy 51 and Hwy 70. Sponsored by the Northwoods Peace Coalition. Contact: Jerry Woolpy, jerrywearlham [dot] edu

Club for Growth of what?

xoff — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:32:20 +0000

Anyone see anything contradictory or perhaps ironic about an organization calling itself the Club for Growth running radio ads in Racine criticizing local Dems Sen. John Lehman and Rep. Cory Mason for their support of rail projects in southeastern Wisconsin. The ads highlight the high-speed rail line from Milwaukee to Madison and the proposed KRM commuter rail system.

The club is for growth of corporate wealth and growth of bank accounts of the wealthy, but not anything that might actually boost the region's economy.

Afterthought: It's also for the growth of the number of right-wing Republicans in public office, of course. Or is that too obvious to mention?

Can you say 'arms dealer?'

xoff — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:33:48 +0000

Neil Shively, retired Capitol bureau chief of the old Milwaukee Sentinel, writes a "Where are they now?" piece for WisPolitics.com every now and then. Recently featured was ex-US Sen. Robert Kasten. Shively treats him kindly:

Bob Kasten is still in Washington, however -- and in New York City, and Egypt and the Middle East. And he's still a major player, though now in the field of defense contracting using lessons he learned in the Senate. Heard of Oshkosh Corp.'s bonanza with billions in defense contracts? Well, Kasten helped stimulate deals for Oshkosh with foreign nations, such as Egypt.
“My business is not so much a lobbying business. When I was in the Senate, I was chairman of the sub-committee on foreign operations, security and economics,” he said, offering the path to his business today. “We (the U.S.) give large numbers of military and economic aid … $1 billion to Egypt, for example.“So I work for U.S. businesses and try to help them sell to Egypt and other countries in the Middle East,” he said.

What does that business sound like to you?

No brown bags at Ruth's Chris

xoff — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:10:25 +0000

The Associated Press pops Scott Walker's brown bag campaign, reporting on the expensive meals his campaign has paid for while he pretends to carry his lunch.

More on Walker's campaign eating habits.

One more thing: If someone lights one of Walker's brown bags on fire, leaves it on your porch and rings the doorbell, don't stomp on it. You know what it's filled with.

No one wants to build a nuclear plant here? Then why change the law?

xoff — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:17:47 +0000

The party line from people trying to pass the Clean Energy Jobs Act is that there's no reason to worry about the changes that would make it much easier to build a new nuclear reactor in Wisconsin.

No one wants to do that anytime soon, they say, so it's not a big deal.

Sen. Spencer Black, D-Madison, co-chair the Assembly clean energy committee. "stressed this week that the state only has a de facto moratorium on nuclear power anyway, since new plants could be built if they are deemed cost-effective and are supported by a federally approved site to store nuclear waste," WisPolitics reported. "But Black said reducing those standards won't spark a wave of new plants since Wisconsin's energy production is currently outpacing demand.

"Black added that by investing in energy efficiency, the state could push off the need for more power plants -- nuclear or otherwise -- for decades."

State Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee), co-chair of teh Senate committee working on the bill -- and a nuclear advocate -- also downplays the nuclear changes.

"The likelihood of a nuclear power plant being built in Wisconsin any time soon is virtually nil," he told WisPolitics. "The economics just aren’t there, and the need just isn’t there."

If that's the case, why does the nuclear industry, the utilities, and State Rep. Jim Soletski (D-Green Bay). a former Kewanuee nuclear worker who is Black's co-chair of the Assembly committee, want the law changed so badly that they're willing to kill the bill if the pro-nuclear changes aren't included?

They clearly believe that at some point there will be new nuclear reactors built in the state, if the law is changed.

Black downplays the change and says it is possible to build a new reactor under existing law if conditions are met.

That's absolutely true, but one of those conditions is that there be a federal nuclear waste repository to handle the high-level radioactive waste the reactors produce. The change would eliminate that requirement, and open the door to long-term storage of the deadly materials next to the reactors. That's already happening at Point Beach and Kewaunee because there is no safe, permanent way to dispose of the waste, which is deadly for hundreds of thousands of years.

So here's a modest proposal: Since no one's in any hurry to build more nuclear reactors anyway, why don't we just leave the law the way it is? Maybe by the time someone wants to build a plant here there will be a federal waste repository. And if there's not, we can decide whether we want the waste to pile up in Wisconsin.

At least then we would be talking about a real issue, not a theoretical question. And if that were the question today -- Should we build more nukes and pile the waste up in Wisconsin? -- I'm confident the answer would be no.

Referendum, anyone?

In 1983, when people statewide were asked in a referendum whether they wanted a federal waste repository here, 89% said no. This time, we'd just be asking whether they want some smaller piles of the stuff at various locations in the state. If anyone thinks a majority of the people in Wisconsin would support that, let's ask them.

The headline says it all

xoff — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:28:56 +0000

WisPolitics: Conservatives rally for freedom, revolution and opposition to Dem policies.

It's not exactly a non-partisan revolution.