Wisconsin Rep Offers Self-Limiting Bill Guiding Cops to Preserve Life

Madison, Wisconsin — In the better-than-nothing-I-guess category comes a bill in the Wisconsin legislature suggesting in essence police employ measures not to kill people quite so often.

The police-please-stop-killing-people proposed legislative package is in memo form.

The memo is being circulated to Wisconsin Assembly members seeking legislative sponsors for what will be three separate bills. Legislators have until May 31 to sign on as sponsors.

Because the bills are drafted by a Democratic legislator, Rep. Chris Taylor, (D-Madison), the gerrymandered Wisconsin legislature controlled by Republicans will not allow the package to pass and most likely not allow a vote.

The bills themselves are self-defeating and self-negating reform.

The legislative package amounts to a tame set of proposed guidelines and principles that fail to address the reality that post-911 police act as occupying armies in communities and are allowed to kill, harass, abuse, arrest, fine amid myriad other police-state tactics against the citizenry committed by our friends in blue and military-black. (Think of a gang of anti-intellectual thugs with bad attitudes flying under the color of law with a siege mentality, lined up in opposition to people especially the darker ones.)

Consider not killing people, is the force of legislation.

Rep. Taylor's press release is reproduced below:

Rep. Taylor Announces Safe Communities Package
Legislation aimed at making law enforcement and community members safer

MADISON – Today, Rep. Taylor (D-Madison) joined legislative colleagues and community leaders to circulate legislation regarding law enforcement use of force principles, aimed at reducing incidents of officer-involved deaths and increasing safety for everyone in the community, including law enforcement.

Currently, law enforcement agencies are required to have a written policy on when force is used, but very little guidance is given about what should be in that policy. All of the policy recommendations incorporated in the legislation come directly from law enforcement professionals, including both individual officers and national groups and taskforces that have studied policing issues. Additionally, the Law Enforcement Standards Board (LESB) has indicated these principles are entirely consistent with the way law enforcement officers are trained.

A piece of the package would require a law enforcement agency’s use of force policy to incorporate that the primary duty of law enforcement is to preserve the life of all individuals, that deadly force should be used as a last resort, that officers should use skills and tactics that minimize the likelihood that force will become necessary, that if officers must use physical force, it should be the least amount of force necessary to safely address the threat, and that officers must intervene if they witness a colleague using excessive force.

“Adopting more specific use of force standards makes everyone safer,” said Rep. Taylor. “Departments around the country have seen quantitative success in reducing officer injury, the use of force, and officer-involved deaths. Having these principles, which are consistent with the way officers are trained, in a written policy, is important so that the community can see these critical pieces are an expectation.”

Other pieces of the package specify that at least 8 of the annual 24 hour officer training requirement focus on use of force options, emphasizing de-escalation. Additionally, the package directs the LESB to establish a model use of force policy addressing interactions with the mentally ill and other vulnerable populations. Finally, the package requires that a law enforcement agency’s written use of force policy be published online to increase transparency and accessibility.

“These are common-sense reforms that communities and law enforcement can agree upon to enhance the safety of everyone in the community,” said Rep. Taylor. “It’s time to move forward together.”

Wisconsin Partisan DoJ Appellate Unit Protects GOP Laws Against Individual Rights Claims

The people of Wisconsin will not give up their claims of liberty to vote, to marry, to use public bathrooms, to breathe safe air, drink safe water, to organize and on and on.

Constitutionally protected liberties must therefore be fought by Republicans running Wisconsin government for the benefits of Republicans and far-right forces like the Koch brothers for whom Republicans use state government.

To accomplish their task, Wisconsin Republicans passed the 2015-17 budget with funds for the creation of the Republican litigation unit, the Office of the Solicitor General, in the Republican-led Department of Justice.

Writes Steven Verburg is the Wisconsin State Journal:

[C]ritics view the five-lawyer office as money wasted on far-right legal battles most voters don’t support.

'It’s a mini right-wing law firm in the attorney general’s office,' said state Rep. Chris Taylor, a Madison Democrat and member of the Legislature’s finance committee who opposed adding the office’s five attorneys to Schimel’s Department of Justice budget.

Of the 35 cases the new office was involved in, about one-third list the state as defendant. Those include a challenge that overturned a state law restricting abortion rights last month, and pending Constitutional tests of a voter identification requirement and limits on labor unions.

The office is also handling several appeals of criminal convictions. Most of its caseload, however, is made up of Schimel’s challenges to federal policy in such areas as immigration, health care, transgender access to bathrooms, and pollution controls. ...

Madison attorney Carl Sinderbrand said his concern was with how Schimel was using the office. Sinderbrand, who was a state assistant attorney general from 1979 to 1990, recalled when one of his assignments was to keep an eye on federal officials who were looking for sites to store nuclear waste.

Sinderbrand said Schimel’s use of the solicitor general’s office was misguided because it went beyond the usual level of partisanship he has seen in other attorneys general of both parties.

'This is hyper partisanship,' said Sinderbrand, who has since represented state agencies, fought against them in court, and been hired as an arbitrator for department lawsuits. 'And that’s damaging, because the attorney general should be out there as the people’s lawyer, not his party’s lawyer.'

Conservationists have said Schimel’s aggressive opposition to federal pollution regulations raised concerns especially in light of his reduction of a department unit responsible for enforcing environmental laws.

Taylor, the Democratic state legislator, pointed to materials distributed by the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, calling on states to file lawsuits to block the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the air pollution rule while court challenges from 26 states are being heard.

Rep. Chris Taylor's office put a press release out this month noting the private creation of the "Center for Competitive Federalism (CFC), whose main objective will be engaging in ideological litigation aimed at advancing conservative policies and ideas," (Wheeler Report).

The Office of Solicitor General works in political concert with rightwing interest groups like CFC to defend anti-public interest and anti-liberty laws passed by Republicans.

Below is the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) Summary of the 2015-2017 budget and the budgetary description of the Office of the Solicitor General.

12. SOLICITOR GENERAL'S OFFICE [LFB Paper 419]
Governor Jt. Finance/Leg.
(Chg. to Base) (Chg. to Gov) Net Change
Funding Positions Funding Positions Funding Positions
PR $1,027,700 4.00 $0 0.00 $1,027,700 4.00
FED 0 0.00 0 - 4.00 0 - 4.00
Total $1,027,700 4.00 $0 - 4.00 $1,027,700 0.00

Governor: Provide $443,200 in 2015-16 and $584,500 in 2016-17, and 4.0 unclassified positions, to create a solicitor general and three deputy solicitors general. Funding would be provided as follows: (a) $302,500 in 2015-16 and $403,300 in 2016-17 for permanent position salaries; (b) $121,500 in 2015-16 and $162,000 in 2016-17 for fringe benefits; and (c) $19,200 annually for supplies and services. Program revenue for the Solicitor General's Office would be generated from funds received from other DOJ appropriations for expenses related to the Office. The administration indicates that the creation of a Solicitor General's office would, "allow the Department to provide a more in-depth level of representation for the state at both the state and federal appellate levels for increasingly complicated legal issues."

Provide the Attorney General authority to appoint, in the unclassified service, a solicitor general and no more than three deputy solicitors general, each of whom must be an attorney at law licensed in Wisconsin. Further, provide the Attorney General authority to assign assistant attorneys general to assist the solicitor general.

Finally, create a continuing, program revenue solicitor general appropriation to support the Solicitor General's Office. Program revenue for the appropriation would be generated from funds transferred from other DOJ appropriations for expenses related to the Solicitor General's Office.

Joint Finance/Legislature: Delete the solicitor general appropriation. Further, delete funding and position authority totaling $443,200 PR in 2015-16, $584,500 PR in 2016-17, and 4.0 unclassified PR positions annually.

Instead, authorize the legal services investigation and prosecution continuing PR appropriation to support the Solicitor General's office. Further, increase the position and expenditure authority of the investigation and prosecution appropriation by $443,200 PR in 2015-16, $584,500 PR in 2016-17, and 4.0 unclassified PR positions. Under current law, the appropriation is authorized to support DOJ's expenses related to the investigation and prosecution of violations, including attorney fees. Program revenue for the appropriation is generated when DOJ recovers expenses from its investigation and prosecution of violations relating to: (a) the Medical Assistance program; (b) marketing and trade practices; (c) trusts and monopolies; and (d) various environmental violations enforced by the Department of Natural Resources. There is no base funding or position authority associated with this appropriation.

Direct the Attorney General to eliminate 4.0 position vacancies. For purposes of this summary, it is assumed that the Attorney General would eliminate 4.0 FED positions. However, the Department could eliminate 4.0 positions from a combination of other funding sources.

[Act 55 Sections: 744v, 3501, and 3671]

Scott Walker Signs 'Emergency' Rules to Stop Singing and 'Hazards'

Local Broadcast Madison Television Maintains Blackout of Footage of Police Citing Citizens for Singing or Holding a Piece of Paper 

Update: See One Day Longer, 25 Months Stronger: the Solidarity Sing Along Draws Hope from the Next Generation.

Scott Walker continues his quest to stop Wisconsin citizens' open display of disagreement with Scott Walker's policies on the state capitol building grounds.

In a new development, Walker has signed "emergency" rules that "say that any person who refuses to remove or correct 'any hazardous situation' at the request of any department [Department of Administration] employee will be subject to citation, and lists hazards such as 'displays, decorations, signs, banners or the like.'" (Spicuzza. Wisconsin State Journal)

Next week, "a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union against the Walker administration over the citations is scheduled to have a hearing in federal court," notes the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. (Stein)

The Walker administration has remained silent in the face of requests to disclose who initiated the new crackdown, and the new emergency rules against protesters and why.

Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) held a press conference yesterday in which Taylor said, "I was denied any correspondence I've requested between the Department of Administration and the Capitol Police. These are public documents that we have a right to see, that we have a right to know about and this administration is refusing to provide that information."

Legal observers see the Walker crackdown against those opposing his policies as unconstitutional.

Several times in the past two years, Walker and his Department of Administration Secretary Huebsch were ordered by judges to open the capitol that Walker ordered closed.

Walker and the capitol police have since Walker (in his words) "dropped the bomb" on Wisconsin in his surprise attack on the right of workers to unionize, at times turned the state capitol into what State Sen. Fred Risser (D-Madison) said in 2011 was an "armed fortress."

The Capitol Police chief appointed by the Walker administration, Dave Erwin, has walked out of a meeting with state legislators in the past after being asked for the specifics of his policy and how he intends to protect the rights of Wisconsin citizens.

From September 2012 in which Erwin continued his harassment of Wisconsin citizens speaking and singing against Scott Walker:

GOP to Wisconsin Women: GOP Will Decide on Your Bodies

Rape is ALWAYS wrong, Scott Walker!

Republicans cheat, lie and mislead voters, and when they get political power in individual states they pounce upon women like a molesting priest of the Catholic Church

There is something pathological about the political Party (Republicans and Tea Partiers) that wants to decide whether a woman ought to have a child, and force that Party's choice onto women.

Scott Walker says even in cases of rape and incest, women should be forced to conceive, and should be subject to criminal sanctions if women decide on birth control or abortion.

This is Walker's outlandish and misogynistic position, though he keeps this crazed view down low because 'legitimate rape' and other such GOP folly such as Walker's don't play well politically.

Walker has, during his past tenure as a Wisconsin legislator, engaged in a "an all-out assault on abortion rights," as Andy Kroll at Mother Jones notes.

We know what's best for you, GOP tells Wisconsin women

Now, Walker is governor.

And the assault continues.

The Republican Party and Tea Party do not openly run on anti-choice campaign promises.

But they do make anti-choice legislation a "priority," once in office.

They cheat, lie and mislead voters, and when they get power in individual states they pounce upon women like a molesting priest of the Catholic Church.

Actually, without the "specific support" of the Catholic Church, the anti-choice movement would be virtually toothless in America, as Faye Wattleton, former president of Planned Parenthood (1978–1992) told this writer in 1990. The Church is getting worse.

The Catholic Church hierarchy and GOP want abortion gone; they can't use persuasion so they use duplicity; and now the two stained institutions are staunch allies.

Witness Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) who actually worked in 2010 before his election against the Wisconsin Child Victims Act, allowing victims to seek redress for rape and molestation suffered as children and inflicted by the Catholic Church.

Johnson, like Walker, did not campaign on his crazy, rightwing social policies. He stressed jobs and the economy. Sounds familiar.

"Faced with a looming re-election bid in 2014 and near-to-last place in job growth, Governor Walker promised us that from here on out he would 'be focused like a laser on job growth,'" notes Jud Lounsbury. "With this laser-like focus, Gov. Walker and company have a promising lead in their search for jobs: Wisconsin women's vaginas! Of course, to actually find those jobs, you need a really long probe to really search for those jobs. They're in there somewhere and by golly the Wisconsin Republicans are going to find 'em!"

Walker's legislative cohorts—Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald—have decided that forced rape, also known as mandatory "ultrasound" for women seeking abortions is a long overdue, legislative "priority," Jessica VanEgeren reports.   From the Cap Times:

Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, is the former public policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. She says requiring an ultrasound to be performed before all abortions would mean an invasive procedure for women who are less than 12 weeks pregnant.

At that stage in a pregnancy, she said, the uterus may be blocked by the pelvis, preventing a traditional ultrasound from picking up the image. Thus, a vaginal ultrasound would need to be performed in order to provide an image for a medical professional to discuss with a woman.

From NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin:

NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin today denounced yet another anti-choice effort to focus on divisive attacks on women instead of the jobs and healthcare needed for Wisconsin. Anti-choice leadership in the legislature has indicated they consider forced ultrasounds for women to be a "priority,” a move that would put politicians between women and their doctors. The proposed measure is Wisconsin Right to Life’s agenda, and legislators’ comments in support followed Wisconsin Right to Life’s lobby day.

Wisconsin Right to Life and other anti-choice organizations claim their proposal would not require a trans-vaginal ultrasounds for women seeking abortion care. However, the medical reality is that for women early in pregnancy, a trans-vaginal ultrasound is likely the only technology that can comply with the proposed law’s requirements.

"Either Wisconsin Right to Life and anti-choice politicians do not understand the medicine involved or they are misrepresenting the impact of this legislation. Either answer is unacceptable,” said Jenni Dye, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin. "Decisions on whether any medical procedure, invasive or not, is needed should be made between a woman and her medically trained provider.”

"Politicians know that forced trans-vaginal ultrasounds would be met with public outcry, as we saw in Virginia last year. Voters across Wisconsin sent a clear message in November that they are tired of divisive attacks and ready for the Legislature to work together to focus on jobs and the economy. Speaker Vos and Majority Leader Fitzgerald apparently missed the memo that it is time for them to do their own job, not our doctor’s job.”

Assembly Votes Down Resolution on Gallery Dressware with Information

Ejected for holding camera

- Party-line vote on resolution in state Assembly says no message on your clothes, no expression on your dressware -

Think silently wearing a shirt with the First Amendment text while sitting in the Assembly Gallery is your right? Silently holding a copy of the U.S. or Wisconsin constitutions is your right?

No, say Assembly Republicans. This is not hyperbole. The GOP claims it has the power to eject you, and they have done just that with 10-15 armed police acting under orders of the Sergeant of Arms and the GOP leadership.

Crazy time with these Republicans.

Emily Mills reports:

Toward the end of the Assembly's floor session Tuesday night, a resolution introduced by Reps. Mark Pocan and Chris Taylor to suspend a rule forbidding anyone sitting in the gallery from having or holding signs was voted down on a party-line vote of 35-57. ... many Democratic representatives wore buttons during the session displaying the text of the First Amendment.

The Republicans believe whatever assembly rules or interpretation of rules they make outweigh the Wisconsin and U.S. Constitutions, and all statutes. The police, reportedly often reluctantly, follow along with Republican orders.