DNR Selling LakeFront Property to Scott Walker Donor

We know Scott Walker is auctioning off state property to help close the massive deficit Walker bestowed upon Wisconsin.

Today, reports the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Walker's donors are buying.

There is no listing of this transaction or any other on the DNR's Real Estate sale site.

Reports Lee Bergquist:

A major donor to Gov. Scott Walker, has reached an agreement with the Department of Natural Resources to buy 1.75 acres of prime lakefront property in Vilas County — a deal that gives her direct lake access to another property she now owns.

The agreement calls for the DNR to sell Uihlein 765 feet of frontage on Rest Lake in the Town of Manitowish Waters for $275,000. She currently owns an adjacent 11-unit condominium complex without lake access.

[Elizabeth] Uihlein and her husband, Richard, have donated nearly $3 million to Walker in recent years. ...

The lakefront land is one of a series of large-scale property sales now underway by the DNR. They were prompted by the Republican-controlled Legislature, which in 2013 ordered the agency to put 10,000 acres up for sale by June 30, 2017. ...

The DNR has so far identified 118 properties totaling 8,300 acres for possible sale. As part of that process, field staff are called in to study the ecological significance of the land.

Last month, trout anglers criticized a DNR decision that identified more than 1,000 acres for potential sales in Langlade County that contained spring ponds with native brook trout populations.

Walker is selling out Wisconsin. If you want to reach him, Walker is likely in Iowa or South Carolina these days.

Scott Walker-GOP's Halting Milwaukee Paid Sick Leave Is Reckless Public Health

In May 2011, Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans passed legislation that imposed a uniform Scott Walker-knows-best policy nullifying Milwaukee's Paid Sick Leave ordinance.

"When Governor Walker and state legislators overrode this ordinance, they not only steamrolled local democratic will (overriding a law that passed by an overwhelming vote), but they also repealed the rights of working people to get medical treatment they need, lead healthier lives, and help safeguard the health of their families, coworkers and customers," notes Emily Osborne.

Safeguarding the public should be a public health concern; why force sick people to come to work?

As the flu, or the Enterovirus D68 are likely to be immediately problematic to Wisconsin citizens than say Ebola, consider how irresponsible as a public heath and safety issue Scott Walker's politically motivated decision to disregard the will of the people and kill Milwaukee's Paid Sick Leave law.

This is the very definition of gross criminal negligence on the part of the Scott Walker and the Republicans.

Scott Walker imposes disaster and then moves on.

Scott Walker's Targeting Cities, Towns and Villages Hurt Business

Infrastructure - Credit Doug Wallick (CC-BY-NC-SA)

Betsy Bloom of La CrosseTribune reports on the growing concern that Wisconsin municipalities have at Scott Walker and the Republican Party's insistence that Walker wants to run communities from the governor's mansion, coupled with the GOP insistence on rejecting public investments in neglected infrastructure.

"Everything we do is about jobs," said Racine Mayor John Dickert, president of the [Urban Alliance of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities], said during a news conference at Piggy’s restaurant in La Crosse.

Four Chinese investors who visited Racine last week didn’t ask about taxes but about efficient transportation, a trained workforce and the quality of life along Lake Michigan, Dickert said.

Cities must be able to provide the infrastructure, such as good roads, and public services to meet those needs, Dickert said.

Portage, Wisc Mayor Says to Scott Walker: Leave Local Control to Communities

Walker: I know what's best for your town.

At stake is local control, said the Portland, Wisconsin Mayor.  'Let that be the Portland Common Council’s decision, not the folks in Madison.'

Republican efforts to take away local control of communities continue to draw demands that Wisconsin villages, towns and cities know what it is best for homes, and not Scott Walker and the Republicans legislature.

From Portage, Wisconsin, Mayor Bill Tierney became the latest municipal official to blast Scott Walker in a letter delivered to Walker by two Wisconsin state senators.

By Lyn Jerde, Portland Daily Register

Portage Mayor Bill Tierney is asking Gov. Scott Walker to veto a provision of the 2013-15 state budget that, if enacted, would cost Portage $205,000 in property tax revenue next year.

Joining Tierney are two lawmakers who represent the Portage area, Rep. Fred Clark, D-Sauk City, and Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton.

In a letter to Walker dated Friday and signed by Tierney, Clark and Erpenbach, objections are raised to a budget provision inserted by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance that would require towns, villages and cities to offset their allowable property tax levy by the amount of new revenue collected to fund services that would otherwise be paid for with property taxes.

The Portage Common Council on June 17 voted unanimously to move ahead with the creation of a stormwater utility, funded by fees from property owners.

In 2013, Tierney said, the city budgeted $205,000 in property tax revenues for stormwater treatment. With the utility, all property owners — even government bodies, school districts and nonprofit organizations that are exempt from city property taxes — would pay fees that would cover the cost of stormwater treatment.

Tierney noted that under current rules, the Common Council could choose to reduce the amount of property tax money that the city collects to offset the fees collected. Or, it could use the $205,000 in tax revenue, now used for stormwater treatment, for other infrastructure improvements.

When Tierney found out about the provision, he said he contacted Clark’s office, only to learn that the Assembly had already passed the budget.

At stake is local control, Tierney said.

“Let that be the Common Council’s decision, not the folks in Madison,” he said.

Walker is expected to sign the 2013-15 budget no later than Monday, but he has the authority to veto parts of the budget.

The issue affects many towns, villages and cities, not just Portage, Tierney said.

The letter concludes this way:

“Local officials are elected to make decisions that best reflect the interests of the residents who put them in office. We believe that local elected officials shouldn’t have their hands tied by state mandates. They know how best to serve their communities, and in many cases they’re already implementing innovative ways to of serving their communities while protecting the taxpayer’s dollars.

“As you begin veto process, we hope you will take the time to talk with local elected officials to understand how this policy will negatively affect our local communities.”

Even if Walker does not veto the provision and it becomes law, Tierney said he thinks it is still a good idea for Portage to implement a stormwater utility because “it’s the right thing to do.”

Many of the structures that generate the most stormwater in need of treatment, he said, are large buildings that belong to entities that don’t pay property taxes, but which would be required to pay stormwater utility fees.

Tierney said he hopes, however, that municipalities such as Portage will be able to decide what to do regarding property tax revenues that have been supplanted by fees.

“I guess I’ll know on Monday,” he said, “whether the letter was effective or not.”

Wisconsin Municipalities Call for Local Control of Communities

Scott Walker and the Republican Party know best how Wisconsin communities should handle their affairs.

So Republicans believe, as their new budget continues the Party's war against local control begun in 2011.

The League of Wisconsin Municipalities delivered a letter to Scott Walker's office Friday asking for vetoes of non-fiscal items in the new budget that interfere with local control. The letter reads in part:

Wisconsin municipal officials are frustrated that the Legislature passed a state budget containing several non-fiscal items interfering with local control. The League of Wisconsin Municipalities urges you to veto the following items added to AB 40 that either preempt municipal powers or impose new and costly mandate on municipalities.

No one is holding her breath waiting for Scott Walker to discover that communities should best make community-wide public policy, and not the Republican Party.

Scott Walker's Bombs Include Obliterating Community Control

Christopher Cline's Mega Mansion in North Palm Beach
Mining mogul Cline has his eyes set on northern Wisconsin's iron ore,
but Cline will not appear in person before community boards
concerned about environmental disasters and massive pollution.
The trip to Wisconsin from Palm Beach might interfere with Cline's life.
Cline is an avid mega yacht enthusiast - northern Wisconsin is not his place.
Cline famously sold his $27-million yacht, the 161-foot Mine Games,
because Cline had a larger boat on order, so don't expect Cline to
come up before some County Board and community panels to justify
his company coming in and destroying a near-pristine environment.
The man's too busy for Wisconsin.

Scott Walker never campaigned on taking away the liberty of workers to organise.

Walker never campaigned on taking away local control of communities to set policies protecting citizens, protecting its schools, and local environments.

Walker never campaigned on taking away a women's right to choose, or closing Planned Parenthood centers serving women's health care.

But only two years into Walker's administration, these rights and many others lie in ruin, as if hit by a depleted uranium shell air strike from a corrupt administration literally targeting its own citizens in service to huge-moneyed interests.

It would be nice to hear to voices of opposition on every medium, every street corner. But the guns of opposition have gone virtually silent. For now. Citizen action is gathering and war plans are being made.

Walker won't back down—because he's so brave (ask him)—from taking away the power of communities enacting residency requirements for their local employees.

Walker and the GOP are sneaking the anti-residency provision into the state budget, against almost unanimous opposition from community mayors, village presidents, town managers and other elected municipal representatives.

As more extreme, severe-weather events occur, Walker's usurpation could have another unforeseen effect, at least an uncared-about effect.

Said Larry Arft, City Manager in Beloit, Wisconsin: "Don’t forget, public works employees are also first responders. Winter storm events, summer rain storms, wind storms, we have people on call for our utilities. 24/7 somebody has to be on call and they need to be there in a few minutes."

Not Walker's concern.

If communities start passing laws protecting their land in any capacity, how can out-of-state billionaires strip the land? What would be next, stopping fracking?

Walker is getting set to cash in on his work for billionaires and out-of-state interests who could not care less if Wisconsin tips over and falls into Lake Michigan, as long as the Christopher Clines (a pure bastard of a man hooked up with the Carlyle Group) and the Koch brothers get their hands on our resources, the Wisconsin people and our public land and waters be damned.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen Slams Judiciary Branch

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's (R-Madison) public News and Media piece at the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DoJ) webpage is typical of Van Hollen's corrupt dealings for the Republican and Tea Party.

In his news item about filing a motion to stay the decision in Madison Teachers, Inc., et al. v. Scott Walker, et al., Van Hollen makes no mention, not one word, of the Equal Protection and Wisconsin Constitution Article One violations that resulted in a summary judgement for the plaintiffs against Act 10 by Judge Juan B. Colas.

Act 10 was passed with all GOP support and no Democratic Party support.

Van Hollen is a Republican who has been caught publically lying before in his capacity as Wisconsin Attorney General on behalf of the Republican Party.

Would not such found violations—Equal Protection and Wisconsin Constitution, Article One— be of news value, putting aside that our AG is corrupt?

Of course, these violations are of news value, and a summary judgement is a high legal hurdle to reach.

But the DoJ's piece is just another propaganda sheet intended to advance a narrow partisan interest.

As Edward Fallone writes:

The conservative 'noise machine'– consisting of ersatz news media, think tank “experts,” and political campaign consultants — will no doubt seek to mold public opinion in this case. They will ignore the merits of the legal claims at issue and try to convince the public that any adverse ruling is the result of one partisan judge acting without legal authority. Of course, the consequence of such a strategy is to intimidate judges who might otherwise give legal claims against the State a fair hearing, and also to steadily undermine the public’s confidence in the legal system.

Members of the State Bar should refuse to play along with this game.

If Van Hollen were honest, he would, as in the DOJ's legal brief, present the issues at hand instead of inserting just one hyperlink on the word "decision" in the DoJ news item.

Wisconsin is treated to the GOP's spin that "real and significant financial problems faced by local governments" are victims of the Court's decision, and are being "force(d) a return to a broken system," even as national Republicans and Tea Partiers have obstructed "much-needed aid to state and local governments ... ." (Krugman. NYT)

Walker has already blasted Judge Colas as a "liberal activist judge," with no facts or evidence presented.

Of course, the print media picks up the press release and news items and repeats the spin in the first two grafs and headline, knowing fully well most readers won't go much further.

Scott Walker's War on Civil Rights Suffers Major Blow

Update: I highly recommend John Nichols' Scott Walker reduced to name-calling to defend struck-down Act 10 and Edward Fallone's piece on the reckless and hollow statements of the Walker administration to Judge Colas' ruling. Vis:

The conservative “noise machine”– consisting of ersatz news media, think tank “experts,” and political campaign consultants — will no doubt seek to mold public opinion in this case. They will ignore the merits of the legal claims at issue and try to convince the public that any adverse ruling is the result of one partisan judge acting without legal authority. Of course, the consequence of such a strategy is to intimidate judges who might otherwise give legal claims against the State a fair hearing, and also to steadily undermine the public’s confidence in the legal system.

Members of the State Bar should refuse to play along with this game. By all means, we should feel free to criticize the reasoning of Judge Colas’ opinion. His application of the precedent to the specific provisions of Act 10 is fair game for critical analysis. However, anyone who has been following the nationwide litigation concerning public employee bargaining rights must recognize that Judge Colas was correct to take the plaintiff’s constitutional arguments seriously. - Fallone

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First Latino Judge in Dane County, Juan B. Colas, delivers devastating summary judgement and opinion against the GOP— restores community control, remedies Equal Protection and Wisconsin Constitution Article One violations, among other corrective action against increasingly lawless Scott Walker administration.

Even as the Scott Walker regime continues a veritable occupation of the Capitol through its unconstitutional denial of Wisconsin citizens' freedom to assemble and protest corrupt politicians, the Walker regime was dealt a body blow late last Friday.

In Madison Teachers Inc. et al v. Scott Walker et al [Case No. 11CV3774], Judge Colas delivered a stinging rebuke against Walker's infamous Act 10 that singles out political opponents of Walker, denying free speech and free associations while dismantling the community control that villages, towns and cities have enjoyed through Wisconsin history.

Walker as usual refused to engage a legal opinion, sending a disingenuous e-mail communication to supporters reading in part "... a liberal activist judge in Madison overturned the will of the people and imposed his personal political beliefs on all of us."

Funny that Walker's "will of the people" is described by Walker in his infamous 2011 recorded conversation with the faux David Koch as being of such little concern that Walker dropped "a bomb" on the Wisconsin people.

So, does Walker take issue with the Court's jurisdiction? No.

Engage the Court's opinion? No?

Does Walker speak to the found violations of free speech, freedom of association and equal protection under the law? No.

Reads Judge Colas' opinion: "[I]n the statutes at issue, the state has imposed significant and burdensome restrictions on employees who choose to associate in a labor organization. The statues limit what local governments may offer employees who represented by a union, sole because of that association. ... "

The next year will likely see criminal federal and state charges against Walker and his political cronies for their criminal rise to power. One looks forward to the next year.