Randy Hopper Faces Voters Tuesday

Hopper and young Mistress

Field operation rout of Randy Hopper has working families confidentially predicting his doom on Tuesday

A top Wisconsin recall target, State Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Empire (formerly Fond du Lac)), faces Democratic nominee, Oshkosh Deputy Mayor Jessica King, August 9 in a rematch of their 2008 election narrowly won by Hopper.

Hopper is a leading political ally of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and has been facing a near-constant stream of allegations that he turned his back on his working-class constituents.

Hopper has also come under heavy criticism after it was revealed in March that Hopper no longer resided at his Fond du Lac [Fondy] home, rather with his then 25-year-old mistress in Madison.

"Family values" hypocrisy is a political charge with which Hopper has had to contend ever since.

Turn-out

Though Hopper has aroused opposition on several levels, knowledgeable sources in Fond du Lac County point to an effective Republican turn-out machine that could make the race on Tuesday a relatively close call.

Wisconsin recall Rally, March 12 - Photo: Leon

Turn-out, even with the efforts of a powerful Democratic field operation, will determine the winner who certainly remains in doubt.

However, almost giddy optimism remains the sentiment among working family-aligned volunteers against the millionaire Hopper who is seen - even among some of his friends - as having turned his back on his district and his family as he made common cause with an extremist Republican administration.

Phone conversations with sources close to the recall effort this weekend confirm a frenetically paced recall field operation with one long-time aide saying, he was "in the middle of a GOTV [Get Out the Vote] canvas" at approximately 9:00 local time Saturday morning in which some 50 volunteers were already knocking on doors in Fond du Lac.

Rallying in the cold, March 11


"There's very little middle ground from people we have talked to. And most of the people talking are breaking our way. A polarized electorate spells a win for Jessica King," said one long-time working-class man from Fondy. "I mean no one is taking anything for granted, which is precisely why Randy Hopper will lose and Jessica [King] will win."

This perception of a field operation rout against Randy Hopper is the object of efforts to portray Hopper as finally hitting the doors (Schneider, National Review Online), though this perception will not likely change this late in the game.

Other Recall Targets

GOP sources say that Sen. Dan Kapanke and Hopper "are toast."  However, they express confidence Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) will prevail, a sentiment contradicted by a recall-Olsen source. The other three races are regarded as toss-ups.

Three net wins are needed to flip the Wisconsin Senate to Democratic control.

Recall groups say they will win all six races Tuesday.

Ambush

Scott Walker with the help of Hopper targeted Wisconsin families when Walker "dropped the bomb" in an ambush on public employee unions, as described by Walker in a taped phone conversation in which Walker believed he was speaking with far-right billionaire, David Koch, and in which Walker bragged that he was scheming to first threaten and then fire public workers in a politically timed fashion.

Since that display of corruption and cynicism went public, Hopper has been operating under a cloud made darker by revelations that his mistress secured a $43,000 state job with the Walker administration. [Bice]

Hypocritical - even by Randy Hopper standards.
Hopper is in the middle wearing an AFSCME shirt

Scott Walker and Hopper have demonized public sector workers, but Hopper is featured in a photo wearing a public employee union t-shirt in what most people regard as another display of political hypocrisy first revealed by Blogging Blue in March.

It's now conventional wisdom that had Hopper and Walker been honest with Wisconsin citizens about plans to attack public workers and their families, they never would have been elected in their close 2008-10 elections.

Divorce

Hopper is divorcing his wife in a contested legal proceeding listed as being presided over by Judge Robert J. Wirtz, Circuit Court of Fond du Lac County; and the Fond du Lac County Family Court Commissioner.

Legal information on the online Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (WCCA) site is sketchy and dynamic on these proceedings, with no explanation for the changing information available on the WCCA site.

E-mails Reveal Randy Hopper Coached Mistress on Scoring State Job

Randy Hopper has denied helping his mistress score a job in the Scott Walker administration. But e-mails obtained by Eye on Wisconsin reveal Hopper advises his mistress "might congratulate [Keith Gilkes, Scott Walker's chief of staff]" on Walker's victory, among other career assistance for Valarie Cass' getting a state job as Walker told Wisconsin, 'we're broke'. Turned out to be good advice for the communications specialist - girlfriend

By Cory Liebmann at Eye on Wisconsin

In March we learned that state Senator Randy Hopper (R-Unknown) left his wife and filed for divorce last year. According to his wife he had taken up with 20-something Republican operative Valerie Cass. It didn't take long for additional reports to surface showing that this girlfriend was hired by the Walker administration under questionable circumstances and at a questionable pay rate.

Some have wondered if Randy Hopper played a role in getting his girlfriend the taxpayer funded job. A number of newly obtained emails now provide a closer view of some of his involvement.

Based on a November 30th email Hopper and Cass wasted no time in trying to score a state job for her.

See the full report at Cory Liebmann at Eye on Wisconsin.

Armed Guards and Metal Detectors Await Wisconsinites Seeking Entry to Capitol—Formerly the People's House

Democracy dies under the GOP

A week after State Sen. Randy Hopper (Fond du Lac) was caught on video accosting and threatening a Wisconsin citizen in the capitol, Hopper ally, Gov. Scott Walker, continues to post armed guards and metal detectors in the People's House.

"Walker and Company have slowed public access to the Capitol to a near-halt. They’ve closed nearly all of the entrances to the Capitol and force every man, woman and child who doesn’t work in the building to go through metal detectors just to get inside," notes One Wisconsin Now. "I cannot tell you how outrageous it is to watch seniors citizens emptying their pockets and having their purses gone through just to visit the Capitol, or kids on a field trip being treated like they are a security threat."

The married Hopper is good at cheating on his wife and getting his 26-year-old mistress a job in the Walker administration, but not a peep out of Hopper or any other Republican on this ongoing assault against Wisconsin democracy and Wisconsin families.

Notes One Wisconsin Now: "Gov. Walker and the Republicans have repeatedly lied to people of Wisconsin about the security 'threats' at the Capitol and the peaceful protests of Walker's disastrous agenda."

Hopper too has skipped public events in his district, citing security threats.

Maybe Walker will make an exception for allowing easy entry for 20-something mistresses in the capitol. It would be a tiny step in the right direction for Wisconsin democracy under Republican rule.

Scott Walker: I know what's best for all cities, towns, villages

Hopper mistress gets state job in February

Good bye local control, Scott Walker is your mayor, manager, common council and board of village trustees.

You considering a school-voucher program at taxpayers' expense? Walker will tell you when, where and if.

You want paid sick pay for working families taken ill. Walker says 'no.' He has made his decision.

You want your teachers, snowplow drivers, nurses, prison guards, EMTs and public officials to make an honest living. Walker and the GOP will be the judge of that.

The GOP, along with Sen. Randy Hopper (Fond du Lac) and the whole bunch of them is going along for the ride as they secure state-funded jobs for their girlfriends and political contributors and their families; and turn their back on the rest of us.

Blogging Blue Is Back Online

Blogging Blue broke a story on March 11 that IDed Sen. Randy Hopper’s (R-Fond du Lac) secret mistress-girlfriend-fellow GOP traveler as Valerie Cass, formerly of the GOP-connected Persuasion Partners, Inc., a right-wing lobbying firm, and now with the Scott Walker administration which gave her a cushy, tax-payer-funded job.

Blogging Blue also broke the fact of Cass' former employment with the state Senate Economic Development Committee, "of which Sen. Randy Hopper happened to be a member."

And he noted Persuasion Partners scrubbed their website on March 11.

For his trouble whether through heavy traffic or a cyber attack, Blogging Blue crashed. They're back!

Dan Bice: Sen. Randy Hopper's girlfriend gets publically funded state job at $20.35 per hour

Nice work if you can find it.

Republican political operative and Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) girlfriend, Valerie Cass, scored a nice tax payer-funded job last month for political services rendered.

Dan Bice at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an excellent account of a corrupt political arrangement that smells even by the Scott Walker-Randy Hopper standards of misconduct.

An excerpt from Bice's column:

Even though the state is supposedly broke, top officials in Gov. Scott Walker's team were able to scrape together enough money to give a state job to the woman identified as Sen. Randy Hopper's girlfriend.

Anything for a political ally.

Valerie Cass, a former Republican legislative staffer, was hired Feb. 7 as a communications specialist with the state Department of Regulation and Licensing. She is being paid $20.35 per hour. The job is considered a temporary post.

Sen. Randy Hopper's Girlfriend Gets State Job; Hopper Dances Around Explanation

via WKOW27—Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) told WKOW27 News he played no role in the recent hire of a state employee.

Sources told WKOW27 News the employee is the same woman Hopper’s estranged wife, Alysia Hopper referred to as Hopper’s mistress in a public statement and in a letter to a radio station. [That woman is Valerie Cass, identified by Blogging Blue. Cass graduated in 2007 from the College of Communication; with a Bachelor of Arts; Major in Journalism from Marquette University.]


26-year-old GOP operative

Department of Regulation and Licensing spokesperson David Carlson said the woman, 26, was hired in February as a limited term communications specialist.

Carlson said he had no details on whether the woman was hired to a newly-created position or a vacant, existing slot. Carlson said he also had no details on the hiring process or the woman’s salary.

Alysia Hopper maintained in a letter to Milwaukee radio station WTMJ Hopper started an affair in Madison and no longer lives at the family home, which Hopper stills lists as his official residence. Alysia Hopper, a travel executive, also said Hopper lives primarily in Madison. ...

In a telephone interview with WKOW27 News, Hopper initially refused to respond to whether he had written a letter of reference or recommendation, or intervened during the woman’s hiring process.

“I want to keep my involvement of anything as a private matter. So, I’m going to maintain that.”

But Hopper later called a WKOW27 News reporter and said he had no involvement in the woman’s hiring.