Under Pressure in Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin —Will we have a state tomorrow?

This is the question facing Wisconsin voters as they select a Democratic Party nominee for governor.

Even with strong anti-Trump and anti-Gov. Scott Walker (R) winds blowing through the Badger state, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin has a way of screwing up a Summer day.

The strongest candidate and only military veteran in the race is the progressive, Matt Flynn.

Naturally, Party insiders decided the most prudent course of action was to follow Scott Walker and launch a media campaign against Flynn. Lunacy, but not a surprise.

Other candidates for the Democratic nomination, especially Mahlon Mitchell and Paul Soglin, would likely do well against Walker, with the exception of Tony Evers from east-central Wisconsin, who would blow a general election race.

Evers is white-white, Republican-lite, and is vanishingly insignificant as a force for progressive change.

Evers of course has been pushed by the same bunch of Democratic Party geniuses who gave this state away to Scott Walker, Donald Trump, big ag and the Koch brothers.

Foxconn

Scott Walker is advertising heavily for Foxconn as a basis for his reelection.

Matt Flynn is vowing to launch the most massive industrial-policy litigation in state history to void the illegal Foxconn-Wisconsin contract.

Tony Evers vows Foxconn is here to stay.
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Voting Rights

After the election tomorrow, within weeks it is a good bet the Republican Wisconsin Dept of Justice will push the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to reverse recent legal voting rights victories, under the guise of electoral stability, clarity and integrity.

Enough of the Madison City Clerk's policy of assisting voters casting a ballot, Republicans say.

Just two years ago, early-voting lines ran blocks-long in the sole early-voting site in the city.

From 2016:

Line outside the City Clerk office during the first day of early voting in Madison. Photo by Michelle Stocker #madi… pic.twitter.com/zFYtkLPSZm

— The Capital Times (@CapTimes) September 26, 2016

Now, after the One Wisconsin Now v. Thomsen federal voting rights victory in 2016, Madison today has some 14 satellite, early-voting sites, and voters are turning out in record numbers.

Scott Walker and Republicans are not amused.

Madison, Wisconsin City Clerk: 60 Percent Turnout Expected for Aug 14 Primary Election

Madison, Wisconsin — Early voting in Madison is humming as the City Clerk has projected up to a record 60 percent turnout in the Fall Primary Election Day.

It's not an accident.

The City Clerk, Maribeth Witzel-Behl, is known for two things: Baking good cookies, and administering elections with the objective all eligible Madison voters are able to cast a ballot and have that ballot counted.

August is too hot to bake cookies.

We are preparing for voter turnout of up to 60%, based on the number of absentee ballots cast so far. pic.twitter.com/2tkTzIKtle

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) August 6, 2018

Madison Wisconsin Citizens Cast Ballots Early in Heavy Voting

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — Madison municipal government has some nerve.

Following a stated commitment to its electoral mission that eligible Madison voters are able to cast a ballot and have that ballot counted, early voters numbered well into the 1,000s in late July and early August, (In These Times).

The City of Madison had 279 in-person absentee voters on Saturday. We have issued 6,991 absentee ballots so far for the August Primary, 4,740 of which have been returned to be counted. We anticipate that turnout will be high on August 14! pic.twitter.com/qyfrhLPe3N

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) August 5, 2018

Voting-obstructionist Republicans across Wisconsin have held their tongues thus far this year as each Madisonian casting their preference at the ballot box appears to be another nail killing the Republican project to win elections by obstructing voters.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has officially promoted Wisconsin's constitutional strong affirmative right to vote as record early-voting from UW students is expected as Madison deploys its campus early-voting sites today.

In-Person Absentee Voting extends to the UW Student Activity Center, Union South, and UW Memorial Union today because #BadgersVote. Hours & locations: https://t.co/3o9TCBRkcw.

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) August 6, 2018

Significant Republican voter obstruction legislation was found to be unconstitutional in July 2016 in One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen, (U.S. District Court of the Western District of Wisconsin (Case 15-cv-324).

In May 2016 one witness testifying for the Republicans in One Wisconsin, Waukesha County Clerk Kathleen Novack, said, there is "too much access to the voters as far as opportunities" to vote in Madison and Milwaukee, (Jake's Economic TA Funhouse), (Opoien, The Capital Times).

Federal courts do not appear to agree that restricting too much voter access is a rational purpose for Republican-passed election legislation with the intent of stopping voters from casting ballots.

Political observers are waiting for the Republican Party push-back against voters, especially young and minority voters passing themselves off as real Americans.

Early Voting Soars in Madison, Wisconsin in Fall Primary

Madison, Wisconsin — An early-voting elections clerk at the Meadowridge Library reported a young man who had never voted before cast his first ballot yesterday and left the polls seemingly a satisfied customer and a happy citizen.

Accounts of contented voters are making the rounds today as Madison begins its third day of early voting, (in-person, absentee voting), expected by some observers to result in a 45-percent turnout, a record for a Fall Partisan Primary Election.

From the Madison City Clerk:

462 Madison residents voted at one of our in-person absentee voting locations today bringing the total number of in-person absentee votes cast to 1,104. Find out where and when you can cast a ballot before the Aug. 14 Primary here: https://t.co/3o9TCBRkcw

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) August 1, 2018

Gov. Scott Walker (R) and Republicans have worked to obstruct voters, especially young and minority residents, by passing anti-voting legislation in an effort to stay in power.

There is compelling evidence in the city of Madison, Scott Walker and Republicans are now on the defensive following federal voting rights litigation.

Voting rights workers expect a legal counteroffensive by Wisconsin Republicans at the state Dept of Justice with the objective of stopping voters from voting.

Everyday is anything-can-happen day among Republican-appointed judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which has federal jurisdiction for Wisconsin election law cases.

A national voting rights organization, the National Commission for Voter Justice, held a conference in Milwaukee last month in an effort to call attention to, and stop Republican voter obstruction.

Madison, Wisconsin Increased Early-Voting Is X-factor among X-factors in Gov Primary

Madison, Wisconsin — Among candidates vying for the Democratic Party nomination for governor, one thing is certain.

Noone has a clue to who is going to win the nomination to face incumbent Gov Scott Walker (R).

One X factor among many is the start of some one dozen early-voting, (in-person, absentee), sites in Madison on Monday, July 30.

In-person absentee voting for City of Madison voters expands to @madisonlibrary and Streets East on Monday, July 30. https://t.co/3o9TCBRkcw

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) July 27, 2018

More early-voting sites are expected to open soon on the UW-Madison campus.

Another X factor is the Democratic Party hacks who gave away Wisconsin to Scott Walker and Donald Trump now engaging is a smear campaign against the most effective voice against Scott Walker. That voice is candidate, Matt Flynn.

Wisconsin Democratic Party hacks can be incredibly foolish.

Though the political tides are blowing against Republicans in Wisconsin, the Party has planted defamatory press stories and run a whisper campaign against attorney Flynn for representing clients accused of criminal conduct.

The Capital Times runs an ongoing update of candidates debating the contrived and fake question on whether Flynn should have represented a criminal client and the fabricated question if Flynn should then quit the race, all in an attempt to smear Flynn.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is betting the Party-media campaign against this candidate who engaged in mandated legal advocacy for a client will be perceived negatively against Flynn.

Party followers are all over the map in the Primary of whom they favor, but a segment of Dems is leaning to the Republican-lite candidate, Tony Evers.

This campaign has been a disaster for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW). Then again so have the last eight years, the problem being Wisconsin pays for DPW stupidity.

Election Day in August 14.

Matt Flynn Challenges Scott Walker to Debate after Walker Calls for Flynn to Leave Race

Gov. Scott Walker's smear campaign against Matt Flynn
is likely to backfire after Flynn debate challenge
against Walker is declined or ignored by the debate-
adverse governor who can't think on his feet.

Madison, Wisconsin — Matt Flynn, candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for governor, today challenged Gov. Scott Walker (R) to a debate after Walker in an extraordinary communication called for Flynn to drop out the Primary race.

Flynn represented the Milwaukee Archdiocese for many years as a partner with an old law firm, and several political opponents of Flynn, including Walker, are saying the attorney Flynn is responsible for all crimes of his client, a ludicrous position that has nevertheless united some establishment political operatives from both major parties.

Let's debate on it. In the next 7 days. You can pick the location and moderator. https://t.co/iLRJNqaA04

— Matt Flynn (@ForwardWFlynn) July 25, 2018

In an unusual twist in the Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign, Walker has for months singled out Flynn for criticism prior to the Aug. 14 Primary Election Day.

Observers generally see the Democratic Party primary race as wide-open, with only three of eight candidates recently beginning to air TV spots.

Scott Walker is known for avoiding unscripted public appearances, and is seen as a policy and issue lightweight who cannot think well on his feet.

During Walker's ill-fated 2015 run for the presidency, Walker was virtually laughed out of the race before the Iowa Caucuses.

Minutes after Walker's call against Flynn, Flynn replied on Twitter that he is willing to debate Walker, going so far as volunteering that Walker gets to pick the location and debate moderator.

As a lifelong Wisconsinite, I have long been an observer of Scott Walker.

Walker is a coward and a charlatan who knows his limitations against a superior intellect and public policy expert. Hence, I predict Walker will not agree to a pre-Primary Election Day debate with Matt Flynn.

Walker is afraid of Flynn who would embarrass Walker in the general election campaign.

Statement from @ForwardWFlynn on @wisgop #WIGov press conference: pic.twitter.com/t59I2T2bwr

— Jessie Opoien (@jessieopie) July 25, 2018

Wisconsin Dem Guv Candidates Debate — Tony Evers Bashes Students, Stands Alone on Key Campaign Issues

Wisconsin candidates for the Democratic Party
nomination for governor appeared at forum at the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on July 12, 2018

Campaign Analysis

Public Schools Chief Takes GOP Positions Far to Right of Democratic Field

Madison, Wisconsin — The eight candidates for the Democratic Party nomination for governor appeared at a forum last night and made news as one candidate backed higher tuition for technical students, said Foxconn is here to stay, days after panning marijuana legalization and opposing mass pardoning of non-violent 'offenders.'

On the campaign trail, seven candidates for the nomination have blasted skyrocketing mass incarceration in Wisconsin and declining state support for college and technical schools.

Tony Evers has defied the field, dismissing calls for free tuition for technical schools and rejecting candidate calls for marijuana legalization and mass gubernatorial pardons, (Keith, Fox6Now-Milwaukee).

At last night's debate held at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Evers rejected a popular proposal that technical college students get free tuition for two years, delivering an unexpected slap.

"I think there should be some skin in the game," said Evers, suggesting tech students are not invested in their education and training under the tuition-relief proposal, (Fannon, WKOW-TV-Madison).

Earlier this week, Evers, the Superintendent of the Dept. of Public Instruction, continued his move to the political right on the issues of legalizing marijuana and mass pardoning, a tact garnering derision from candidate Matt Flynn, who called Evers "Republican-lite."

Flynn has repeatedly called for "legalizing marijuana and pardoning people who are locked up for possessing the drug," (Keith, Fox6Now-Milwaukee).

Evers comes from small-town, overwhelmingly white east-central Wisconsin, where he served as superintendent of the Oakfield School district, carrying on the provincial culture of the region, a fact Evers attempts to obscure in his campaign website, (Meet Tony Evers).

Evers also differs from Flynn in particular and rest of field broadly on Foxconn.

Reports WisPoltics from the debate:

Later, Milwaukee attorney Matt Flynn pressed Evers on the [Foxconn] package. Declaring he would 'kill the Foxconn deal,' Flynn noted Evers has no experience as a commercial litigator and suggested he was just repeating what he’d heard from others.

Evers countered it was a 'horrible deal' and 'we’re giving them way too much.' He supported reworking the contract.

'The bottom line is we have to have a "plan B",' Evers said. 'I can’t sit up here and tell the people of Wisconsin, by the way, this isn’t going to happen. They’re already there. Since they’re already there, we have to make sure the people of Wisconsin are treated fairly.'

Flynn and the rest of the field's opposition to Foxconn, mass incarceration, and strangling student debt marks a contrast from the white man from Plymouth and Oakfield.

In #WIGov Dem Debate, Matt Flynn is asked about legalizing marijuana. His answer is “yes.” And he has a message for “cowboy judges” who give jail sentences for cannabis possession: “If you convict them @ 10 in the morning, I will pardon them @ 2 in the afternoon.” @ForwardWFlynn

— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) July 13, 2018

Scott Walker Is Malignant and Not too Bright

Madison, Wisconsin — Scott Walker may be the most foolish, certainly the most malicious governor in Wisconsin history.

Walker left Marquette University in 1990, then moved to a Milwaukee suburb and was elected to the state assembly in 1993.

Walker has been living on the public dole ever since, inflicting incalculable damage to Wisconsin:

Scott Walker turned down $500M in Medicaid expansion only to propose spending $200 million more on health insurance.

Walker turned down $810M in fed stimulus for CHI>MKE railroad and now wants to spend $195M on CHI>MKE rail.

Hasn't Walker's bad business sense hurt WI enough?

— Wisconsin Resistance (@WI_Resistance) February 14, 2018

Wisconsin 2018 Gov Race—On Deer, Beer and Pizza

Pictured above is a deer sighting thought to have occurred in Waupun.

Small business and municipal police states conflict

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin— There is an old-school bar and recreational joint some four miles west of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Good Badger game-day specials, wonderful people; they even cook a hearty breakfast on Saturdays.

But places such as this independently owned oasis are not thriving like one may think as the Wisconsin Badgers consolidates our perennial status as an elite college football program.

"How's business on game day," I asked a 70-hour-a-week manager weekends back, "Looks nice, man."

"It's not like it used to be," said the gentleman. "The kids are too nervous to go out, and it's risking a lot of money for a few beers."

That's one problem with municipal police states, a new feature of Wisconsin society—really bad for small business. Cops today are dishonest, hostile and Republican in the Badger state. And despite the fact that most people still don't like assholes here, politicians criticizing police and celebrating cold beer is considered taboo here by many.

But, appeals to culture are still powerful, virtual winning tickets for political office.

Scott Walker's people know this. Democratic Party types don't.

Winning cultural appeals are something Wisconsin's evangelical, narrow-shouldered, whiny, and effeminate, (nothing wrong with that), Scott Walker understands.

Walker is a horrible cultural fit for Wisconsin, but he is also a craven and good liar.

Walker avoids unscripted public appearances, lies, and lies again, then plays dress-up in Harley gear, and using an excellent PR team cranks out message after message that work with rural and small-town Wisconsin.

Kids can shoot guns, horrors

For example, this week, Walker announced he has "signed a bill that eliminates a minimum age requirement to hunt in Wisconsin," the weekend before gun season, (WISC-TV).

In practical terms, the new law means virtually nothing. Deer hunting, (gun), season begins Saturday, Nov 18, and kids getting a buck is as normal in Wisconsin as drinking a beer when you're 15.

But the bill, Assembly Bill 455, is also brilliant politics.

I'm from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Growing up in Fondy, deer hunting and lakes being frozen in January are natural. It's the way it is and I love it.

Warm memories from the 1970s:

"Hey, Mike, Susie, (young teenager), got a buck last weekend."
—Way to gooo.

Or, "Susie caught a northern, (a fish)."
—Waaaaahl.

But I swear the Iowa transplant, Scott Walker, effectively knows more about Wisconsin culture than every single, politically inept Democratic Party muck combined, and I'm not even talking about the negative appeals to racism and resentment of those black and brown people in Milwaukee.

Walker is destroying Wisconsin. Democrats' letting him get away with it commit political malpractice, which in the age of the imbecile on the White House should be a capital offense.

I'll give you an example of cultural flat affect syndrome. During the Wisconsin 2011-12 recall campaigns, a Republican state senator from Fond du Lac was knocked off by one Jessica King of Oshkosh in 2011.

Who protects pizza and beer in Wisconsin? Anybody worth
listening to, that's who.

So, as a Fondy guy I told every Democratic Party muck including King's campaign that King would be narrowly defeated in the 2012 general election in a gerrymandered district unless King made an appeal to every Fondy and Fox Valley bar and restaurant on Main Street struggling in business, (except Joe's Fox Hot where cold beer and the best pizza anywhere make the place invulnerable to anything, thankfully).

This proposed appeal calls for the elimination of prohibition for 18-20-year-olds, an idiotic law making 100,000s old enough to die for their country but not drink a cold beer.

King, being a Wisconsin Democrat, ignored the advice and lost a close race in 2012.

Utterly, irretrievably hopeless.

In other Wisconsin legislative news this week, State Rep. Adam Jarchow, (R-Balsam Lake, Wisconsin), introduced a memo that will become a bill to lower Wisconsin's drinking age. It's a good bill, won't pass but it should.

Adam Jarchow is smart.

Jarchow's legislative initiative is in the Memo stage, LRB (Legislative Reference Bureau) 4551/1, and is quickly accumulating co-sponsors.

But do you think the Christian fundamentalist really likes slamming cold beer, or do Republicans know something that Democrats don't about Wisconsin culutre?

Here's the memo from for Jarchow's proposed bill; I'm all for it:

CO-SPONSORSHIP MEMO

TO:                  Legislative Colleagues

FROM:            Rep. Adam Jarchow
                        Rep. Rob Swearingen
                        Rep. Cindi Duchow

DATE:            Wednesday, November 8, 2017

RE:                  Co-sponsorship of LRB 4551/1 relating to: lowering the legal drinking age under certain circumstances

DEADLINE:  Friday, November 17, 2017

At 19 years old, there are very few things that you cannot do. At 19, you have legally been an adult for one year. Most importantly (and honorably) can enlist in the United States military, travel thousands of miles away to fight for our country, but are not able to enjoy an alcoholic beverage.

Today, we are circulating a bill that would allow a 19 year old person to legally drink in Wisconsin as long as it would not result in Wisconsin losing our federal highway funds. If that situation is not possible, then this bill would not go into effect.

The age of 19 was chosen in order to make sure that high school students are not drinking, thus causing unnecessary distractions while still in school. However, after that, men and women 19 years of age or older should be able to make that decision for themselves whether to drink alcohol or not. Further, countless hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars go into enforcing drinking laws in this state, especially on college campuses. Those efforts could be used for other important issues such as drug abuse and sexual assaults.

If you would like to sign on to LRB 4551/1, please email Rep.Jarchow@legis.wi.gov or call 267-2365 by Friday, November 17th at 5:00 p.m.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill lowers the legal drinking age to 19 years of age if doing so will not result in this state's loss of federal highway funds.

Under current law, the legal drinking age is the age at which a person may legally purchase, possess, and consume alcohol beverages and enter premises licensed for the retail sale of alcohol beverages unaccompanied by a parent, guardian, or spouse.  The legal drinking age in this state is currently 21 years of age. Under the federal national minimum drinking age law, a state that provides for a legal drinking age of less than 21 years is subject to withholding of 8 percent of federal highway aid annually.

This bill requires the state Department of Transportation to petition the federal

Department of Transportation for a determination as to whether lowering the legal drinking age in this state to 19 years of age will result in this state's loss of federal highway aid or other federal highway safety funds.  If no such loss of federal funds will result, the bill lowers the legal drinking age in this state to 19 years of age.

Scott Walker Doesn't Talk about Working in the Private Sector Anymore

After 25 years on the public dole, Scott Walker now believes
government creates jobs, as demonstrated in Walker's $3 billion
boondoggle to Foxconn in an unprecedented act of corruption.

Scott Walker's Life Is an Uninterrupted Feast on Public and Corporate Hand-outs

Madison, Wisconsin — As Gov. Scott Walker, (2011-present), veers into campaign mode under the fog of Friends of Scott Walker Google ads, the amassed deceit from the pathological one is an ocean of toxic racism, false witness, and reckless destruction of cherished Wisconsin institutions.

Wisconsin has never seen a pol like Walker before as the Evangelical from Iowa leads the Republican Party in a full-spectrum war against families and communities while refusing to face the people at even one unscripted public forum during Wisconsin's lost decade.

Walker likes to pose an entrepreneur, but one who for 25 years as a career politician gets his salary, health care, life insurance, pension, security, housing, and transportation all provided by the Wisconsin people.

Said Walker in 2012 during the Recall election one year after reluctantly assuming the governor's office to blaze a path for the Wisconsin people through his services: "Not because this job is that important for me because frankly my wife in some ways would love it if I would go back to the private sector and make some real money," (Blogging Blue).

Walker is now shooting for foour terms in the public job that's not important for him with hi $ six-figures in public funds.

Wrote Zach Wisniewski in 2012:

What’s truly absurd about Gov. Walker’s comment that his wife would like it if he went back to the private sector and made some real money is the fact that Scott Walker has never actually worked in the private sector. Scott Walker has been an elected official for 19 of the 44 years he’s been on planet Earth, and his only work experience as an adult consists of four years spent working full-time in marketing and fundraising at the American Red Cross, a nonprofit organization.

What’s also absurd is the fact that Scott Walker apparently thinks his six-figure salary as Governor of the State of Wisconsin isn’t 'real money,' because I know a bunch of hardworking public employees who could only wish they made six figures to do their jobs.

Lying comes easy for some career politicians, and now-a-days they're usually Republican.