Cognitive Dissidence

Walker: A Candidate At A Crossroads?

2009-12-08T00:22:00.005-06:00

Charlie Sykes, Scott Walker's unofficial campaign spokesperson, proudly announced that James Klauser has now endorsed Walker for the Republican candidate for governor.

At first, I thought it no big deal.

But as I was going through the comment thread on Syke's post, something caught my eye. There was a comment by a Calvin, who is the rabid right winger Calvin Freiburger, who wrote:

James Klauser, aka Tommy's brain, is no conservative! He has always been a RINO since his days with Tommy. They never met a project too big to cut. Scott will have a decision to make in the coming months; whether he is on the side of the Tea-baggers or the Republican establishment. These are mutually exclusive positions and if you believe they aren't then you are not a Real Conservative!

That is when I realized that Walker is quickly approaching a crossroads in his perpetual campaign for governor.

On one hand, he could follow the path of his mentors, George W. Bush and TOMMY! Thompson. He could follow through with a path that he already has been following, as I pointed out here and here. The similarities include:

Feeding the public a repeated line that had not even a kernel of truth to it, in order to cover up their inadequacies,
Cronyism,
Gross hypocrisy,
Ignoring the needs of the people in favor of hanging out with fellow elitists,
Gross mismanagement.
Hiring incompetents (see Cronyism), and
Failure to follow through with almost all promises.

On the other hand, he could follow the path of those that call themselves the "True Conservatives." These are the teabaggers, the birthers, racists and other general assorted nuts that aren't as much into conservatism as they are into feeding into reckless and paranoid rumors. He has already tied himself into this crowd as well, having attended a local tea party this past summer.

Walker might think he's going to unite the two sides, but that isn't a very savvy thing to believe. One only has to look back to the last few months and the race for Congress in New York. Doug Hoffman, the ultraconservative candidate forced out the Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, who in turn endorsed the Democratic candidate. The Democrat, Bill Owens, went on to win while the right were busy attacking each other.

If Walker wants to have a chance at winning, he will have to pick one side or the other, because the two just don't play, much less work, well together. Combine the need to be a referee for the two sides, as well as the damage control he will need to due when his 2010 budget actually kicks in and people are being hurt by the lack of services, like snow plowing or mental health services, as well as his own bumblings that he has a propensity for, and you have the perfect storm for Walker.

On second thought, I hope Walker does carry on as he is. That will make it all the easier for a responsible candidate, like Tom Barrett, gets into office in 2010.

Two Bright Rays of Hope for the Monarchs

2009-12-07T23:13:00.001-06:00

The story is at MCF.

Summary: The County Board's Committee on Economic and Community Development tabled the vote, for now. The UWM faculty senate voted down the master plan, finding it lacking.

But the fight goes on.

Sounds Familiar

2009-12-07T06:36:00.001-06:00

Infamy

2009-12-07T00:42:00.000-06:00

Sheriff Reverend Or Reverend Sheriff?

2009-12-06T22:50:00.003-06:00

One would think that a sheriff would know something about the law, and at the very least, would know about the Constitution.

But not here in Milwaukee County:

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. erred in 2006 when he forced his deputies to listen to a Christian-themed presentation, according to a unanimous ruling from a federal appeals court panel.

In doing so, Clarke violated the constitutional separation of church and state, said the appeals panel Thursday in upholding a lower court decision.

This shouldn't really surprise many people. Clarke has a long history of ignoring the law.

Zach does a good job in pointing out the obvious constitutional conflicts, and how Clarke should have handled it.

Illy-T also touches on this topic, with even more disturbing implications.

What is almost as bad as the fact that the County's top law enforcement agent not only held the Constitution is such blatant disregard, but when he lost in court, he was not satisfied and actually appealed the ruling.

In other words, he violated the constitution, then fought it in court at taxpayers' expense, and then appealed and lost again in appellate court, again at the taxpayers' expense.

Where is the supposed Citizens for Responsible Government when their is such a flagrant abuse of the Constitution, the court system, and our tax dollars? I guess they are just a bunch of hypocrites after all.

Snow Plowing Could Be Scaled Back Due To Budget Cuts

2009-12-06T22:39:00.002-06:00

Just before we are about to face the first one-two punch from Old Man Winter, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that there could be massive cut backs in snow plowing and road maintenance next year:

The money will cover plowing for this winter, but could come up short after that, Takerian said. Unless extra cash is found, the county could be forced to lay off as many as 24 of 56 full-time and 28 seasonal workers who work on state highways in mid- or late 2010, he said.

"This is a domino that's going to fall next year," Takerian said.

Fewer workers would mean longer routes for each plow operator and increase the time it takes to clear state roads in Milwaukee County, Takerian said. State roads in the county include I-43, I-94 and many major thoroughfares such as W. Brown Deer Road, Loomis Road, Forest Home Ave., Appleton Ave. and parts of Green Bay Road and Capitol Drive.

This will come into play during the next year, since this is exactly the same type of approach Scott Walker has taken in his county budgets, cutting the County's costs only to make the municipalities raise theirs to cover the slack.

And you know Walker would do the same thing if he somehow managed to stay in the race long enough to win the governor's seat. After all, he voted to do the same thing time after time as a state legislator.

He's even proposed the same thing when he talks about dismantling county government.

It's kind of ironic how he doesn't like to be on the receiving end of his own management style.

No, No Need For Health Care Reform

2009-12-06T22:36:00.002-06:00

So what if people are going broke to get their daughter needed brain surgeries? The health care is working fine. Poor people don't deserve the right to life.

Wow, He's Really Good

2009-12-06T22:24:00.004-06:00

On his twitter account, Walker put up a post on December 5th, at 10:09 saying that he was on Channel 12 news, and then was going to do some trap shooting.

Eleven minutes later, he tweets that he shot some birds.

I'm impressed. In eleven minutes, he made it out to Rochester and shot some birds.

I'd be more impressed but trap shooting is with clay targets, not real birds like the ones he shot.

Any guesses that the birds were on some game farm? He's such a sportsman. */snark*

Required Reading

2009-12-06T21:57:00.003-06:00

The Shepherd Express tries to crack open the shell surrounding CRG.

Unfortunately, they didn't get into CRG's top guy Chris Kliesmet's business dealings with Scott Walker.

Also, I would recommend Cory Liebmann, who points out the self-serving nature of CRG.

Caution Needed On County Grounds Sale

2009-12-06T21:46:00.001-06:00

Now the Monarchs are considered a threatened species. Does the County want to rush into a deal that might destroy one of the few migratory stops for them?

See MCF for the details.

Break Time's Over

2009-12-06T00:59:00.003-06:00

Just for Nevada Dan:

"[Walker] was and is a counterfeit leader"

2009-12-06T00:49:00.003-06:00

James Rowen channels his inner cognitive dissident. My favorite part:

Walker was never a philosophical or actual urbanist - -let alone a pragmatic, down-to-earth, hands-on problem-solver - - though the territory and people he represented are, in the main, urban, and in a particularly challenged environment, too.

He was and is a counterfeit leader, a political game-player, a place-holder at taxpayer expense looking to take as few risks as possible while timing his move up and calculating first and pre-eminently how every news release and utterance and semi-colon will fit into ideological templates and, someday - - sooner now rather than later - - into roughed-out ads.

Why Santa Isn't Republican

2009-12-06T00:46:00.000-06:00

Friday Funnies

2009-12-04T06:23:00.003-06:00

Let's end the week on a lighter note, shall we?

No better way to start it out than with a LOLDOG:

Then there is this, which Owen Robinson might want to consider saving up for, since he has kids that will be driving before he knows it:

And we will end up with this bit of "interesting" advertising:

I wonder which one of the last two has caused the most accidents.

Campaigns Consist of Contrasts and Supporters

2009-12-04T00:37:00.002-06:00

"Campaigns Consist of Contrasts and Base Supporters" is the title of a post done some time ago by the Walkerophiles at ScottForGov.com. Their post is a lame attempt to demonstrate that Scott Walker has picked up more endorsements, for now, that Tom Barrett. Of course, at the time they wrote that post, Walker had been campaigning for seven years compared to Barrett's two weeks.

(As a side note, I don't think it was very nice of them to point out and mock the fact that Walker is mathematically-challenged.)
But if they want to compare and contrast, let's look at the big names that are being courted by Walker and one of his many Republican rivals, Mark Neumann.

Walker has been on stage with Newt Gingrich this past summer. However, Gingrich is quickly falling out of grace with many conservatives and is being labeled as a RINO (Republican in name only). I don't know if this will really help Walker with his base.

Walker has also been trying to woo Sarah Palin, the Alaskan governor drop-out, to get her to support his campaign. Again, this is appearing to be another poor choice by Walker, as that Palin has gone over the deep end and has joined the birther movement. You can just hear the Independents hurrying away from Walker on that one.

Meanwhile, Mark Neumann was on stage with Karl Rove today at UW-Milwaukee. I, like many people, think Rove is, for lack of a better word, evil. But there is no denying that Rove also has some chops going for him. Not only was he able to master mind the election of Bush/Cheney, he even got them re-elected even after it was obvious that they were leading the country into ruin with poor fiscal policies and starting the unjust war in Iraq.

As I said, I don't think much of Rove's politics, but the fact that he was on stage with Neumann speaks volumes when compared to Walker's choices of people he seeks support from.

The Milwaukee County Pass

2009-12-04T00:34:00.001-06:00

Introducing a new way to promote tourism in Milwaukee County, bring in more people and more revenue:

The Milwaukee County Pass

Follow The Bouncing Furlough Day, Part III: Executiving Is Really, Really Hard

2009-12-03T00:20:00.003-06:00

In October, the County Board passed a resolution which issued four furlough days for county workers between then and the end of the year. But as is the norm for the county lately, they couldn't do this without bungling things up, and almost immediately started moving furlough dates around for different departments, exempting others, or granting great favors on yet others by drastically cutting their furloughs down.

Then last week, when most people were off for the Thanksgiving weekend, Walker quietly announced that he was rescinding* the third of the four furlough days. The cause was finding some "unexpected savings" in health care costs.

Today, Walker announced that he is eliminating the fourth furlough day as well. Now the savings, again in health care costs, ballooned from $3 million to $8 million. More than enough to cover John Chianelli's incompetence**.

Also noted was that Walker is also claiming that the County could see a "slight surplus" for the 2009 budget. Coincidentally, said "slight surplus" is almost exactly the cost of the two furlough days that workers did have in November.

This latest development raises many questions and concerns.

One is whether this "deficit" was just another contrived political stunt. If so, I did not authorize any of my money to be used to promote his campaign, and I want my money back. He owes me two days worth of pay.

Secondly, if there is indeed a surplus, that means he has overtaxed the county tax payers. If so, as a tax payer, I want my money back.

Third, is he really this incredibly incompetent? He started out 2009 by claiming there was a $15 million deficit. But when he illegally tried to impose an indefinite reduced work hour plan, he was unable to prove that there was even a deficit. Then in October, during the budget process, Walker found a "sudden and unforeseen deficit" which is directly attributed to one of his department heads, John Chianelli, being unable to do his duty with any hint of competence. Now he is claiming a surplus? If he can't handle the County's $1.4 billion budget, how in the world would anyone trust him to run the state's budget, which is exponentially bigger and more complex?

Something else worth noting is when Walker was bragging about again leaving many positions unfilled:

The county also has kept hundreds of vacant jobs unfilled over the past year. That also contributed to fewer health claims, said Walker.

As a county employee, I guess I should be upset about this. However, because Walker refused to fill these positions, it created many staffing shortages. This opened the door for many workers, including myself, to take advantage of overtime projects. Not only did I keep up with the loss of income due to the furloughs, I am actually coming out ahead.

On the other hand, this news should also tick of the tax payers. Due to the staff shortages, many departments needed to bring in contract workers to help pick up the stuff that needed to get done. These contract workers are former county employees that had already retired. So, in Walker calls a cost saving measure, tax payers are now paying for the pensions of these workers, as well as their lifelong free health care coverage (to which the retired workers don't have to contribute) and another salary on top of that. He would have been better off hiring new workers that at least would have been contributing to their health care costs, and only receiving one salary from the county instead of two.

Not good management at all on Walker's part.

The article also includes a quote from Beth Werve (the president of my union local), who accurately points out that while many workers are happy to not have the income loss, there were many who had planned their out of town trips with that day off. This is not only now an unnecessary inconvenience to the workers who had planned accordingly for this day off, but also for management who is now scrambling around to make sure there is adequate coverage for the now rescinded furlough day.

Again, not good management at all on Walker's part. Nor does it do anything to address the greatest deficit the county has ever faced.

*There have been some who are questioning whether Walker even has the authority to rescind the furlough days, since they were enacted by the Board, and might require another resolution by the Board to cancel them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for the cancellations to be canceled, but just found that interesting.

**Chianelli still hasn't been held responsible for his failure to perform the most basic of his duties. The responsibility for the sudden deficit then falls squarely on Walker's shoulders.

Lubar Campaigns For Benefactor

2009-12-02T23:38:00.003-06:00

Sheldon Lubar has again trotted out his tired and inane idea of demolishing the Milwaukee County government. Of course, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Scott Walker are falling all over themselves in promoting this again as well.

I pointed out some nine months ago that this was simply a dumb idea. First of all, it would require a change in state law for this to happen.

But it is also fiscally irresponsible. At a time when every other governmental body is looking to consolidate their services, either through regional cooperation, or by towns contracting with their counties to provide services like law enforcement. The thought of eliminating one umbrella government and splitting up those duties among 22 different governmental bodies (19 municipalities, the state, a regional park authority and a regional transit authority) would only guarantee that taxes would go up, services would be more cumbersome and less efficient, and it does nothing to address the "legacy costs" that already have been incurred by the County.

So why would Lubar, an undeniably successful businessman, suggest such a ludicrous idea, much less blow the dust off of it and bring it up again and again?

James Rowen thinks that it only highlights Walker's failure as County Executive.

One Wisconsin Now takes the same point of view as Rowen, but they add one interesting tidbit:

Each of these massive failures were in part the result of mismanagement or ineptitude by Scott Walker and his administration, yet Sheldon Lubar, a former president and chairman of Charlie Syke's ultra right-wing Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, is putting the blame on the board, workers and unions -- the same groups Walker has scapegoated in budget after budget, and is threatening to continue doing so if elected governor.

And we all know who hold Charlie Sykes' leash.

While I agree with James and the fine people at OWN that Walker is an undeniable failure, I don't think that is why Lubar said what he said.

He's most likely doing it to benefit his benefactor, Scott Walker.

Instead of reading only the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Steve Schultze's lovefest for Walker, I also like to read news from nonpartisan papers, like the Business Journal, who also covered this event. While they covered Lubar's harping on Milwaukee County and praising Barrett's proposal to take over MPS like Schultze did, they reported on one other thing Lubar said:

With regard to promoting economic development through university research, Lubar said the community’s one shot may be the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences. The Freshwater Sciences School represents an opportunity for UWM and the city to put its brand on an emerging technological business sector, according to Lubar.

“We have to understand that the real engines of economic development in the world are not generous giveaways by the state, or clever advertising, but the development of outstanding research institutions that persons like Chancellor Carlos Santiago are struggling to accomplish here in Milwaukee,” Lubar said.

This raised a red flag for me, besides the fact that it's ironic that Lubar would complain about "generous giveaways." Lubar is one of the people that would benefit greatly from the proposed school and other land developments (such as a five-star restaurant and a posh hotel) that they want to build on the county grounds, which Walker wants to sell at about one third of its current value. Unfortunately, it appears that Lubar's group is going to still try to ram this irresponsible plan through, regardless of the cost to the ecological wonders there.

I just wonder if Walker's going to list Lubar's speaking fee as an in-kind contribution on his next campaign finance report. Aw, who am I kidding? Walker is never honest on those things.

Sneak Preview Of The Milwaukee County Christmas Tree

2009-12-02T22:57:00.003-06:00

The official lighting ceremony won't be until later, but I have been able to get you a sneak shot of this year's Christmas tree. Be warned, Scott Walker did say that he was cutting back on things:

I could've lived without the pink slips under the tree, y'know.

Pave Over Paradise, Put Up A Parking Lot

2009-12-01T23:36:00.001-06:00

The developers, UWM and the County is doing their best to destroy the county grounds once and for all. Where are the promises they made?

The Real Tax And Spenders

2009-12-01T00:21:00.003-06:00

County Supervisor Pat Jursik has been reading too many books about conspiracy theories, and now sees them everywhere.

She is upset, because City of Milwaukee officials have also been meeting with the DOT about the Hoan Bridge, and their recommendation is to keep all viable options open as things progress. Jursik saw this as a delaying tactic and fired out an accusatory press release saying as much.

Personally, I don't see what is wrong with always keeping an eye open for better ways of doing things. This is especially true with the Hoan Bridge, since the cost of redecking it is rather high, and the one only benefit that I have seen people say is that it allows south siders the luxury of not having to face the traffic jams that every other commuter in Milwaukee County has to deal with on a day in and day out basis. There are plenty of choices to choose from, like these.

What else is interesting is what Scott Walker's own sycophants had to say about the matter. They try to take this and use it to jab at Tom Barrett, and end up their post with this:

Scott Walker has supported the coalition to save the Hoan Bridge. Sources from the Southshore area also tell me that Walker supports the extension of the arterial to the County line.

So, just like when it came to a Parks Regional Authority, a Transit Regional Authority, or the stimulus funding that the County Board forced him to use, he has no problems with being a tax and spender, as long as he has a almost plausible out that keeps him from being directly tied to it.

Can you imagine how much our taxes would go up if he were elected governor, and would always dump his responsibilities on the local governments, expecting them to pick up his slack?

Too Clever By Half

2009-11-30T23:29:00.002-06:00

Last week, Roger Bybee wrote a column for The Isthmus which highlighted some of the problems Scott Walker is going to face in this, the most recent stage of his perpetual run for governor. One of the points is Walker's hypocrisy:

As a prominent political player with a long track record, Walker faces a major paradox: persuading the public to select a candidate for governor whose anti-government views are central to his outlook. He's even recommended dissolving Milwaukee County government and spreading its duties to the city and other municipalities.

How can a person who sees government as a main part of the problem make it an integral part of the solution?

"It's like saying you want to run the Brewers, yet you hate baseball," quips former Milwaukee County Supv. Roger Quindel.

I encourage the gentle reader to read the full article. It is fairly even handed and objective, and well written.

But not all would agree. Christian Schneider took umbrage with the title, or actually, the subtitle, to be exact, of the piece. Of course, it should be noted that Schneider writes his piece under the WPRI banner, which is edited by Charlie Sykes. And we already know who holds Syke's leash.

Schneider writes (emphasis mine):

Here you have a guy in Scott Walker who clearly thinks government is broken, and there’s too much of it. Is it somehow contradictory of him to seek the governorship to rectify the problems that he sees? Isn’t that how a conservative would most rationally go about affecting change? Would he be more ideologically pure if he stood on a street corner holding a sign that says “down with combined reporting?”

The problem with Schneider's argument is that he doesn't follow the logic to the conclusion, but stops halfway.

Where Schneider states that Walker thinks the government is broken, he fails to properly note that it is people like Walker that broke it. So again, it makes no sense to put someone who breaks things, then complains about it being broken, in charge of something else he could break.

Walker On Walker

2009-11-30T00:21:00.003-06:00

Chris Walker takes on Scott Walker as a potential governor. You know Chris W. is doing well when he writes this:

But make no mistake: a state managed by Scott Walker would be a horrible disaster.

and then ends with this:

If Walker wins the gubernatorial election next fall, can we trust that he'll understand what his vetoes will entail at the state level? He's already proven that he can't be trusted with the veto powers in a county government setting. So what assurances do we have that he'll be able to handle that responsibility, much less others, as governor?

Wisconsin doesn't need an irresponsible leader running its highest office. It also doesn't need the politics of Tea Party protesters, or Reaganomics, or Sarah Palin running it either. What it needs is a leader who understands the problems that Wisconsin citizens are facing, who understands how to help people directly, not through helping corporate interests. Scott Walker is not that leader

Favre: MVP Inspirations?

2009-11-29T23:44:00.003-06:00

A couple of things about Brett Favre, who led the Vikings to a 10-1 standing by decimating da Bears.

One, he has one former critic turned fan who thinks he should be the MVP this year:

I've been extremely critical of Favre in recent years simply because I thought he was as much to blame for his ugly divorce with the Packers as GM Ted Thompson was. He also was disingenuous in his failed comeback with the Jets last season. He went from telling the Jets he was retiring to having corrective shoulder surgery to showing up at the Vikings' practice facility.
But even I can appreciate the special stamp Favre is putting on this NFL season. He deserves high praise for the way he's competed and for elevating the Vikings into serious Super Bowl contention. At 40 years old, Favre is playing better than he ever has.
And by better, I mean he's been more impressive in guiding the Vikings to a 9-1 record and control of the NFC North than when he went to back-to-back Super Bowls and won three straight MVPs as an icon in Green Bay. He's also better now than when he took Green Bay to the NFC championship in 2007.
To Favre/Green Bay fans, that probably sounds crazy, but Favre has never been this poised, this sure of himself and -- you can bet -- this motivated. The difference between the Favre we once knew and the Favre we see now is that Favre 2.0 is playing with an amazing amount of control. Throughout his career, Favre has been known as the quarterback who has tried to do too much, or tried too hard to prove he could make every throw. That anxiousness appears to be gone.

And on a different note, the Favres' blog is still sputtering along, with a recent entry by Deanna, including this picture, that makes most Packer fans want to cry:

Court Orders Society To Regress

2009-11-29T23:26:00.002-06:00

Lovely. Just lovely.

A Rock County man sentenced to two years in federal prison for shooting a deer while he was on probation for domestic violence has had his case overturned by a federal appeals court.

The case could have far-ranging impact in the gun-rights debate. For Steve Skoien, it meant he'll be home for the holidays.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled earlier this month that, in light of a major Supreme Court ruling about individual gun rights last year, prosecutors need to show that a lifetime ban on gun ownership for those convicted of domestic violence has a reasonable connection to reducing domestic gun violence. That 1996 law, the appeals court found, should not be grouped with other "presumptively legal" firearm restrictions mentioned in the 2008 Supreme Court case, known as District of Columbia vs. Heller.

The opinion by Judge Diane Sykes says that Heller's "reference to exceptions cannot be read to relieve the government of its burden of justifying laws that restrict Second Amendment rights."

Oh, this makes so much sense, since there is no proof that guns are used in domestic violence. Nope, no proof at all. Well, maybe just a little. I see this as becoming a very popular style for wedding cakes soon: