Updated: Randy Hopper-owned radio station censors news of DWI arrest

Randy Hopper booking mug. Photo courtesy of Fond du Lac County Jail

Update: The Randy Hopper-owned KFIZ radio station has now run the Randy Hopper DWI story at the top of its web news page Tuesday morning, though the piece omits mention that Hopper "refused to take a breathalyzer test following [the] drunken driving arrest Sunday, according to a Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office report," as was reported by the Fond du Lac Reporter Monday.

The late posting of Hopper's arrest followed several Wisconsin bloggers' items noting the failure to report the Hopper's DWI story.

Hopper is described as "very cooperative" in the KFIZ report, a description attributed to Fond du Lac County Chief Deputy Sheriff Mark Strand, though refusals to take a breathalyzer test in these instances are not characterized as 'cooperative,' according to a municipal police officer speaking on background, serving in Wisconsin outside the Fond du Lac jurisdiction, who is known to harbor critical views of Gov. Scott Walker and Randy Hopper.

No word from KFIZ on an explanation for the tardiness of the news item, and a phone call to KFIZ Monday afternoon was followed by some six minutes on hold, after which the phone call was terminated by the caller. It is not unsual for local news-talk radio stations to have slim or no news staff.
---
Recalled senator Randy Hopper's Fond du Lac news radio station is blacking out news of Hopper's weekend DWI arrest that occurred early Sunday evening while in the company of his young mistress.

The Fond du Lac Reporter reports:

At 5:30 p.m. Sunday, a citizen dialed 911 to report a black Suburban [that Hopper was driving] 'all over the road' on Highway 151 near County Trunk WH in Peebles, said Chief Deputy Mark Strand.

But don't look for the Fond du Lac radio stations owned by Hopper to run any breaking news of the incident though the story is all over the Fox River Valley news outlets.

Fond du Lac's KFIZ, which has a news-talk radio format and is owned by Hopper's Mountain Dog Media, has not run any mention of Hopper's arrest as of mid-afternoon on Monday.

KFIZ' webpage has 17 other local news stories as of the time of this posting: 3:20 P.M.

KFIZ features programming from Fox News Radio.

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.

Wicked Pro-family, Anti-Randy Hopper Mailing

Here's a scanned copy of one/half each of two pieces on recall target, Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac).

The mailing is funded by the the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund.

No comment from the Hopper campaign.

Maybe Hopper will be spending most of the recall campaign season avoiding public appearances for 'security' reasons, as he likes to bs. There's one appearance coming up, and but don't get used to it.

Hopper Scandal Playing Loudly in Fondy

Sen. Randy 'Bed' Hopper's (R-Fond du Lac) affair with a 20-something former state Senate committee staffer and GOP lobbyist is playing very badly in Fond du Lac.

It's the family values hypocrisy that grates on folks. 

Add to that the fact that Scott Walker's top ally is targeting Wisconsin working families, and it's easy to see how every family is feeling betrayed by, and let's be honest, a craven liar.

One Wisconsin Now is raising money to run the ad below, as the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund is mass-mailing a first-rate piece merging the cheating Hopper with the tax-cheating Hopper who, it bears noting, voted to target the middle class, health care and education while getting his girlfriend [while he was still married] a tax-payer-funded $40,000-plus state job.

Fond du Lac Voter Today: Would you like a poll tax, as well?

Hopper scores state job for mistress, at left

Heavy Early Turn-out in State Senate 'fake' Primary in Fondy

Report from Ward 10 in Fondy [Fond du Lac, Wisconsin], voters 388-90 at approximately 11:30 A.M at Rosenow Elementary School on Weis Avenue:

The poll worker's request to produce a Photo ID [ID not required but requested] reportedly met with a response: "Would you like a poll tax, as well?" as folks lined up to vote in the GOP-forced Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Senator Randy 'Bed' Hopper's (R-Fond du Lac) seat in Senate District 18.

The comment brought appreciative laughter from the line of people waiting to vote in the GOP-forced Democratic primary.

The expense to citizens of the Republicans' running fake Democrats in primaries like Sen. Hopper's will top $400,000, according to a June report in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel at the precise time that Gov. Walker is gutting municipal, school district and county budgets.

Hopper is seen as among the top two most vulnerable of the nine state senators facing recall for [among other betrayals]:

• Usurping local control of government
• Attacking public workers, getting his girlfriend [while he was still married] a tax-payer-funded $40,000-plus state job,
• Being an all-around jerk. See video of Hopper tell one Wisconsin citizen, "I’m gonna get you for everything you have fucking done," in response to a simple question

GOP Targets Middle Class

As Republicans keep the People's House blocked as an armed fortress, eight-year-old children are wanded -- as never before -- as Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) and the Republicans tow the line.

By Jim Hightower in Alternet

WISCONSIN. This is where America's middle class first planted its flag and confronted the civil war. As the Lowdown reported last month, newbie-Gov. Scott Walker's extremist, anti-worker agenda (developed for him by Koch-funded corporate front groups) sparked a massive grassroots rebellion of ordinary Wisconsinites, and they are not going away. In substance, Walker's attack on laboring people is much like his fellow right-wing guvs in other states. But he has been especially arrogant, autocratic, and abusive in trying to ram it into law, essentially operating as an above-the-law, tinhorn tyrant. Walker and his legislative henchmen -- openly backed by Koch money and operatives -- are big government on a rampage. Here are just a few of their ends-justify- the-means tactics:


When 14 stalwart Democratic senators left the state for Illinois to deny Walker the necessary quorum needed to pass his bill killing collective bargaining, his senate leader changed the rules so the 14 could not get their paychecks. When this silliness failed to lure any of them back, Walker's team plotted to send state troopers to arrest them -- even though they had broken no laws.

Furious at the Democrats, Walker got real petty. His legislative leaders decreed that the staffs of the 14 absent senators could not use copying machines in the capitol. That'll teach 'em!

With outraged protestors swarming into the capitol daily, Walker arbitrarily locked it down, illegally shutting peaceful Wisconsin citizens out of their own building.

From the start, Walker loudly insisted that suspending public employee rights was necessary to balance the state budget. Finally, though, with Democrats still denying him a quorum, he suddenly dropped his fiscal responsibility pose, stripped the bill of all budget numbers, and -- in a coup with little advance notice and no debate -- slammed the anti-worker provisions through.

A lawsuit, however, claims the bill's passage was illegal because senate leaders violated the open meetings law to sneak it through. To consider this, a judge has temporarily blocked the statute -- but Walker's agents made an end run and simply declared it enacted. No, said the judge, reinstating her injunction.

With the battle now in court, the GOP senate leader issued a new rule dictating that while the 14 senate Democrats are free to attend committee meetings and cast votes -- "those votes will not count." He was later forced to withdraw this autocratic absurdity.

Randy Hopper in Weird Campaign Mode

State Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac)

State Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) is in a strange campaign mode—hiding from his constituents.

Usually, when a politician wants to run for reelection, the most dangerous place to be is between him and a camera.

But Hopper did hire a high-priced political operative and is raising money, with many political TV ads to follow. Check out the next quarterly GAB finance report.

Hopper is in the worst political shape of the eight Republican state senators who look to be recalled.

I was in Fondy quite a bit recently, and believe me the appreciation for those who protect and serve, teach, clean, and treat is very high now.

Politics needs villains in campaigns. Teachers, EMTs, police, corrections officers, cooks and janitors just do not cut it as villains.

Hopper and Gov. Scott Walker do embody the worst characteristics of villains: Lying, scheming sociopaths targeting families and communities.

As Walker said last month to the phone caller whom he believed to be rightwing billionaire David Koch: "We’d already kinda built plans up, but it was kind of the last hurrah before we dropped the bomb." Walker was referring to cutting the salaries and benefits of the mentioned teachers, EMTs, police, corrections officers, cooks and janitors; and using them as pawns as he bragged about coming lay-off notices.

These families whom you use as pawns; they are living, breathing people with loving families, hopes and goals.

And please note: Wisconsin citizens do not like their governor and allies to drop bombs on them.

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.

Randy Hopper's Fall

For an excellent accounting of Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) who used to be known as a nice guy, but who fell hard for the Republican Party and told his community to go to hell, see: A Brief History of how Randy Hopper Lost Touch with his District.

Randy Hopper, the Hypocrite from Fondy, with Video and Hopper Wearing an AFSCME shirt

Two recent pieces point to Sen. Randy Hopper, recall target, and the problems he faces surviving the recall.

• Sen. Randy Hopper's 2008 TV AD Featured Extensive Footage of Young Family
• Hypocrisy, thy name is Randy Hopper

"I don't know about you, but Republican State Senator Randy Hopper sure doesn't look too upset about putting on an AFSCME shirt to show his support for some of his constituents on lobby day last year," writes Blogging Blue

Randy Hopper Story Breaks National as He Hides from "Threats"

Scandal in Fondy from Family Values Man

Update: As of 6:00 A.M., March 15, Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) still lists W5192 Rienzi Road as his voting address in his official State Senate webpage. It's apparent Hopper has not lived there for at least several months, raising the question from which residence did Hopper cast his vote in November 2010? His apartment? The Rienzi Road home? Where did he live and for how long on election day. More to come.

For someone who just helped to eviscerate the livelihood of 10,000s of Wisconsin families, State Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) is very touchy about the topic of his own family, or at least he seems that way through his flacks.

It was first reported here on March 11 that protesters outside the recall target's, Hopper's, house last week in Fond du Lac were met by his wife who reportedly came out and told them: Hopper no longer lives there but with his 25-year-old mistress in Madison.

Two sources in Fond du Lac close to the recall effort say the Hopper maid has signed the legal-sized recall sheet. The maid reportedly said it's likely Hopper's soon-to-be-ex wife will also sign the recall petition.

Blogging Blue reported March 11 the woman in question is a former state Senate committee staffer and now-ex-GOP-connected lobbyist. [Blogging Blue has an independent server and has received so much traffic that the server crashed, but the server should be up soon.]

Attempts to reach Sen. Hopper through his phone book-listed telephone number in Fond du Lac last week and this week were unsuccessful; as were calls made to his Madison legislative office and a Fond du Lac business office.

Other media outlets report a non-denial from Hopper's office on the Madison girlfriend issue but a flat denial on the Fond du Lac residency issue raised elsewhere as Hopper continues to hide from his constituents and the media, citing security concerns and death threats.
 
WTMJ (Milwaukee) reports:

TODAY'S TMJ4 received a letter from a woman claiming to be Randy Hopper's wife, Alysia Hopper. The letter arrived in a letterhead envelope from Alysia Hopper's business. The letter claims Randy Hopper, "started an affair in January 2010 with a then 25 year old Republican aide." It claims "Randy moved out" and "now lives mostly in Madison."

According to Hopper's spokesman, the State Senator rents an apartment in Fond du Lac where Hopper also owns several radio stations. However, TODAY'S TMJ4 was told Hopper was unavailable after making repeated interview requests.

In a written statement, Hopper campaign spokesman Jeff Harvey indicated, "Senator Hopper maintains an apartment in the district where he lives and works. He and his wife separated roughly a year ago and are divorcing, which is a private family matter."

Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports: "Hopper's chief of staff, Rebecca Hogan," said "Senator Hopper lives and works in the district. He and his wife separated roughly a year ago and are divorcing, which is a personal matter. Senator Hopper and his family have received multiple death threats. These new attempts to personally smear him are shameful and disgusting."

Non-denials that Hopper left his wife for a much younger woman while hypocritically preaching the GOP mantra of families and values. This speaks loudly of Mr. Hopper's values, as does his alliance with a vicious GOP attack on Wisconsin families.

Even if Hopper is not speaking, his non-denial from his undisclosed location reveal a man afraid to face the public he was sent to Madison to represent.

As Hopper's story has hit national journals including the Atlanta Journal Constitution, New York Magazine, and the New Republic, Hopper's public posture is: Unavailable.

Sen. Randy Hopper's Problems Mounting in New Politicized Terrain, Resignation Possible

Update: Reader advises that in Wisconsin vacancies in the Legislature must be filled by a special election called by the Governor, per state statute.

Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) is one of eight Republican recall targets in the Wisconsin state senate.

A reliable Scott Walker ally, it appears this political alliance is one among a host of other liabilities in a changed political environment where issues once ignored are gaining prominence.

Hopper's political liabilities are now under increasing scrutiny, going viral on social networking sites.

And his political crises have become the source of speculation that Hopper—elected in 2008 with under a 200-vote margin—may now resign in what the GOP would likely hope is a new state senator for District 18 [includes Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, and the northern part of Waupun; a new candidate would have to run in a mandated special election]). A new candidate is seen by informed political operatives as having a slightly better chance of holding the seat for the Republican Party in what early indications point to as a marked flip of the state Senate into democratic control in the anticipated Summer recall elections in August.

Among Randy Hopper's problems:

• Tax-Shy Randy Hopper's $250 Million Yearly Capital Gains Giveaway (One Wisconsin Now)
• State Senator Hopper arranged for the controversial testimony of businessman and Catholic Right ally, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), opposing the Child Victims Act (via Daily Kos); i.e. Hopper appears more interested in protecting molesters than in protecting children
• A pattern of lies invoking himself as a victim of mobs and dangerous security threats (Blogging Blue)
• And the revelation of a multi-year affair with an ex-GOP state senate committee staffer and GOP operative resulting in his pending divorce with his wife who stated last week that the senator was not living at his phone book-listed address in Fond du Lac but rather with his mistress in Madison



State Sen, Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac)



The other woman, 25-year-old ex-GOP state senate committee staffer and GOP operative



Updated - Sen. Randy Hopper's Wife Tells Protesters Hopper Is Living with 25-year-old mistress in Madison

Update VIII: Former Wisconsin Republican state senate staffer, "Todd Allbaugh said Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, and then-Sen. Randy Hopper, R-Fond du Lac, were 'giddy' and 'politically frothing at the mouth' over" Wisconsin's 2011 photo voter ID bill, at a May 2106 federal voting rights trial, (Opoien, The Capital Times), One Wisconsin Institute v. Nichol (U.S. District Court of the Western District of Wisconsin (Case 15-cv-324).

Update VII: Randy Hopper (R-Empire (formerly Fond du Lac)), defeated in recall election by Democratic nominee, Oshkosh Deputy Mayor Jessica King, on August 9, 2011.

Recall Election Results
Jessica King ,   28,187  51%
Randy Hopper 26,937  49%


Update VI: Randy Hopper’s Chicky-Poo Leaving $42,328 tax-payer-financed gig, reports WKOW TV (Tony Galli) and Caffeinated Politics.

Update V: E-mails Reveal Randy Hopper Coached Mistress on Scoring State Job [See Cory Liebmann at Eye on Wisconsin]. Scott Walker has campaigned for Hopper aggressively during the recall election to be held August 9 against Jessica King.

Update IV: Though Gov. Scott Walker maintains his contention that Wisconsin is in a fiscal emergency, a lie knocked down weeks ago, Hopper's reported Madison girlfriend (the 26-year-old Valerie Cass) in February accepted a cushy job at the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing. WKOW TV (Madison) reports: "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." No news on whether Hopper wrote a letter of reference or recommendation.

Update III: "Citing recent threats during the budget repair bill battle, Republican Senator Randy Hopper says he will not participate in Saturday's St. Patrick's Day Parade in Fond du Lac," reports WBAY TV. "In a written statement, Senator Hopper said, 'I had looked forward to walking the parade route and sharing this celebration with my family, friends, neighbors, and constituents, but I, in no way, want to put the citizens of Fond du Lac in harm's way.'"

What a nice man.

Update II: Blogging Blue reports the woman in question is a former state Senate committee staffer and lobbyist.

Update: Two sources in Fond du Lac close to the recall effort say the Hopper maid has signed the legal-sized recall sheet. The maid reportedly said it's likely Hopper's soon-to-be-ex wife will also sign the recall petition.

Recall target, Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac), talks a good game about family values.

But protesters outside the Hopper house this week in Fond du Lac were met by his wife who reportedly came out and told them: Hopper no longer lives there, but with his 26-year-old mistress in Madison.

No confirmation on whether the divorcing wife signed that petition to recall Hopper who represents Wisconsin Senate District 18. [see updates at top]

Hopper has been a close ally with Gov. Scott Walker whose billionaire-funded attacks on Wisconsin families are drawing international attention and widespread condemnation.