One Wisconsin Now

As the stock market continues to crash at historic rates, John McCain refuses to talk substantively about the issues that are most affecting American families. His lack of a coherent response to the economic crisis shows once again just how out of touch he is with the economic issues that concern the average American.

John McCain supports tax cuts for millionaires, but provides no relief for 100 million middle-class Americans. He has repeatedly said that the Bush tax cuts for the rich must be made permanent and even expanded. As CNNMoney.com has reported, “President Bush’s tax cuts for investment income have significantly lowered the tax burden on the richest Americans.” Unfortunately it has done next to nothing for everyone else.

McCain’s economic plans, like Bush’s, put CEOs, multibillion dollar corporations, and lobbyists before the interests of American families. His stated plans do more for the Fortune 200, who would get $45 billion in tax cuts, than they for families struggling just to get by. As a result of McCain’s policies, Big Oil would receive nearly $4 billion in tax breaks. He makes this proposal at a time when average Americans have been getting gouged at the pumps and are worrying about heating their homes this winter.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that a man has been charged for registering to vote and trying to register others after being convicted of a felony. While this specific case may not directly apply, it does bring up some very important questions that we should be asking ourselves. In Wisconsin convicted felons are not allowed to vote until after they have completed the terms of their sentence. That could mean a prison term in addition to a long extended period of supervision.

Convicted felons often have to serve very long periods of probation and/or parole after they leave prison. One of the major goals of this supervision is that they become productive and fully integrate back into society. Exactly how are they supposed to do that if they are barred from voting, one of the most basic rights/responsibilities that we have as citizens? Many of them hold down jobs, pay taxes, provide for their families but still Wisconsin law refuses their right to vote.

According to an ACLU study, 62,324 people with felony convictions in Wisconsin are not allowed to vote; however, 61% of these people are no longer incarcerated. By not allowing them to vote, we are hindering their ability to reinstate themselves as active members of the community. According to Senator Russ Feingold, “…the more doors we close on people trying to rejoin society, the more likely it is we will drive them back to the behaviors we want them to leave behind.”

Wisconsin ’s felony disfranchisement laws are more severe than those of several of its neighboring states. Michigan , Illinois , Indiana and Ohio all automatically restore voting rights upon release from incarceration. Disenfranchisement in Wisconsin also disproportionately affects African American males and other minority populations. The ACLU study found that one out of nine African Americans males are disenfranchised because of Wisconsin ’s ex-offender laws. This statistic places Wisconsin 11th in the nation for the disenfranchisement of African American voters. This is obviously unacceptable and some might even call it Jim Crow, Wisconsin style. It is a disgrace and the current law should be changed.

Earlier this year marked the first time that a sitting Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice was disciplined by her own colleagues on the court. Now, only months after Annette Ziegler received a reprimand, the state Judicial Commission has filed a complaint against Michael Gableman, the empty suit that WMC helped install on the high court in April. The Judicial Commission’s complaint centers on a sleazy ad run by Gableman that was widely condemned not only as race baiting but also as being completely false.

Specifically the Gableman ad suggested that Louis Butler, when working as a public defender, got a child molester out of prison, allowing him to commit another sex offense. As a matter of fact, the offender actually remained in prison and did not commit the subsequent crime until after he was released on parole. Gableman’s ad was a clear attempt to deceive the public by suggesting that Butler’s work somehow resulted in the offender’s release. That is simply not true and that is the reason that the Judicial Commission filed the complaint and said the following:

“By publishing the advertisement in willful violation of (the state’s judicial ethics code), Judge Gableman engaged in judicial misconduct.”

After Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen filed his frivolous lawsuit against the Government Accountability Board (GAB), he claimed that his motives were not partisan. He went on to claim that his position as John McCain co-chair played no role in the suit even though the action could help McCain by disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of legal voters in Wisconsin. After his repeated denials, the media began to learn of multiple contacts that high level Van Hollen aides had with high level Republican Party operatives about the suit. It was not long after these contacts that Van Hollen filed the lawsuit. As if we have not already seen enough evidence of Van Hollen’s judgment being clouded by rank partisanship, now we actually have audio evidence of partisan plotting at the Republican convention in St. Paul.

Wispolitics has obtained a recording of J.B. Van Hollen addressing Wisconsin delegates to the Republican National Convention. In his remarks he clearly gives the partisan bunch a small taste of what he has planned for Wisconsin voters:

“We are out there front and center everyday and you'll be hearing much more from the Department of Justice in the coming months about doing what we can to make sure that those people who have illegally and illegitimately registered to vote, don't have the opportunity on election day to show up and take away your vote by casting one that is not legal.”

Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen refused to join a civil lawsuit along with 11 other states against one of the nation's largest predatory lenders, which just netted a record-$8.4 billion settlement. Financial disclosure records show Van Hollen owned stock totaling as much as $150,000 in at least three subprime lenders.

Attorney General Van Hollen should explain to Wisconsin why he didn't join both Republican and Democratic Attorneys General in this critical lawsuit. Knowing Van Hollen has up to $150,000 in stocks of three other companies which have done major subprime lending raises serious concerns about his inaction on this case and cases which may arise in the future.

While America’s attention was riveted on hunting trophies and beautified pigs, Wall Street decided it was time to distract us with some melodrama of its own.  The recent financial meltdown was not the work of foreign enemies, though it may give them great comfort to learn how adept we have become at producing self-inflicted wounds.  All of a sudden, John McCain is a regulator who will protect us against the unrestricted free market he denies he ever advocated.  But who will protect us against John McCain and his running mate, who have replaced the now discredited financial derivative with an even better instrument of economic mass destruction, the budget neutral tax credit.

On Sunday the Wisconsin State Journal reported that Wisconsin’s largest lobbying organization, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) may be rethinking the tone of their infamous political ads. Who could ever forget the sleazy and misleading ads that they have run, most notably in their state Supreme Court efforts to install empty suit Michael Gableman while absolutely defaming then-Justice Louis Butler? Their ads at that time were found by FactCheck.org to contain many false claims and even the nonpartisan Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee said that WMC’s ads sought to deceive the public.

Perhaps the largely partisan staff that operate WMC were finally caught over-reaching with their despicable and dishonest attacks. Perhaps they didn’t think that they would eventually have to account for them. They obviously thought wrong, as WMC efforts have garnered less than flattering attention both in the state and nationwide. They have also found themselves on the receiving end of much criticism by many distinguished Wisconsinites, the latest being former UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley. Both before and after their contemptible attacks on Louis Butler, WMC also found itself losing members of its own board. Combine all of these developments with the work of WMCWatch.org, former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, progressive bloggers, and many other fed up citizens and WMC has a big problem.

My mother’s experience living in an Atria Senior Living facility is a cautionary tale for other Wisconsinites who are seeking housing and care for their elderly parents. When my father died in 2000, I moved my mother out of her apartment because she couldn’t do the stairs any longer without help. After a brief stay in a senior housing complex, it became obvious that she needed the care she would get in an assisted living facility.

She had long term care insurance, and I had heard good things about Atria from a nearby senior group. Atria looked like a great place. We took a 2 bedroom so I could stay there when I was in town. That was 2002.

John McCain and Sarah Palin have spent much of the past few weeks attacking the greedy, corrupt villains behind the collapse of our financial markets. And there truly were some pretty shady characters involved in some very questionable financial dealings. But a crisis of this magnitude never is the fault of just a few rotten apples. What McCain and Palin can't seem to grasp is that environmental factors can turn honorable people into criminals and people of questionable morality into models of probity.

Shade the truth just a bit, do this over and over again, and the possibility of weapons of mass destruction becomes a certainty. Create financial instruments that no one really understands, add a little more risk with each derivative, and all of a sudden you've inoculated the entire financial system with a virulent strain of almost worthless paper. But John McCain and Sarah Palin are as wedded to their mistaken notion of free market economics as George Bush is to his war in Iraq. Out of political necessity, McCain and Palin may try to sound like they understand the need for government referees at a free market football game, but in the end they simply can't surrender their favorite theory to some stubborn little facts.

The last eight years have been a complete and utter failure and everyone finally knows it. Senator John McCain has been a big part of the problem as he has supported the failed policies of the Bush Administration 90 percent of the time. If anyone had any doubt that that McCain would continue the same tired approach of George W. Bush, you only needed to watch his running-mate in the “debate” last night.

On a variety of issues, Sarah Palin sounded nearly identical to Bush when he debated leading up to the 2000 election. Just consider only a couple of the issues and compare Palin’s comments to that of George W. Bush:

Hey, check out this post from Media Matters:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200810020004

In reporting on new NRCC ad, Cillizza did not note GOP support for Rangel earmark Summary: In a blog post, washingtonpost.com's Chris Cillizza reported that the National Republican Congressional Committee released an ad attacking a Democratic House member who voted in favor of an earmark for "the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service," but Cillizza did not note that 89 House Republicans also voted in favor of the earmark.

J.B. Van Hollen’s frivolous lawsuit against the Government Accountability Board, (GAB) is political mischief that could complicate voting for as many as 1 million people in Wisconsin. One Wisconsin Now, the League of Women Voters, municipal clerks, the GAB itself and many others have taken a stand against J.B. Van Hollen. Now the Milwaukee chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Milwaukee Teachers Association are entering the fray.

Both organizations submitted a filing to the Dane County judge responsible for the case, arguing that Van Hollen’s checks are unreliable and could bar about 135,000 people who registered to vote in 2008 from the polls. The organizations also pointed to GAB figures that 15 percent of 53,515 registrants since August had failed the checks because of non-matches. Most of the non-matches are due to clerical errors, misspellings, a missing middle initial or an old address on a driver’s license. Even four of the six judges on the GAB board didn’t get exact matches.

Last week One Wisconsin Now filed a complaint against Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s big business lobby. The complaint was filed as a result of WMC’s lead lobbyist saying that they “actively lobbied for final passage of the UW budget” even though that activity was never reported to the Government Accountability Board as required under law. OWN’s effort to hold the powerful special interest organization accountable drew the same old laughable refrain of victimhood.

Deservedly WMC has been on the receiving end of much criticism for their increasing partisanship, undue influence, and for the toxic political atmosphere that they have created. People are increasingly beginning to hold WMC accountable and they apparently don’t like it. After OWN asked concerned citizen’s to contact WMC board members asking them to change course WMC staff howled about “harassment.” Obviously they don’t understand the concept of being held accountable to the public for their many questionable actions.

Now that WMC is again being held accountable for failing to follow the rules they once again are trying to play the role of a victim. WMC’s resident Jokeman Jim Pugh has repeated their laughable “harassment” claim rather than fully coming clean about the situation. Does WMC really expect us to believe that such a powerful special interest is a victim merely for being held accountable? If they really are serious then they are not likely to find much sympathy. They just might learn that the joke is actually on them.

The Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF) released a new report today which shows that Senator John McCain’s proposed health care plan would threaten the employer-based health benefits of 3.3 million people in Wisconsin. To make matters even worse, his plan could cause as many as 415,000 Wisconsinites to actually lose their health care coverage. These findings were consistent with the analysis that the Economic Policy Institute has done on the proposed McCain plan.

The CAPAF study is being released this week as part of a coordinated effort by Change to Win, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), One Wisconsin Now, Citizen Action Wisconsin, and Health Care for America Now (HCAN) to educate voters in Wisconsin about the impact of the McCain health care plan on millions of families already struggling under the combined impact of the banking and health care crises.

Although John McCain often rails against taxes, his health care plan would create a new one on working families by making employer-provided health benefits part of their taxable income. Not only would the plan serve as a disincentive for employers to provide health insurance, but the study also found that it would raise taxes on millions of Wisconsin families. A typical Wisconsin family could pay almost $1,500 more in taxes by 2013 if McCain imposes both income and payroll taxes on their health coverage.

With ordinary Americans increasingly struggling under the combined impact of the banking and health care crises, the Center for American Progress Action Fund is preparing to release a report detailing how the McCain health care plan would increase the burden on middle-class families in Wisconsin. The report, which will be released Wednesday at a joint press conference held by Change to Win, SEIU, Citizen Action Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, will detail the number of Wisconsinites expected to lose employer-sponsored health insurance under John McCain's health care plan. It also details the tax hike middle class families would experience over four years under John McCain's health care plan. Center for American Progress Action Fund Senior Fellow James Kvaal will join Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton, AFL-CIO Wisconsin President David Newby, and Citizen Action Wisconsin Director of Program Robert Craig, to discuss what the McCain health plan means for Wisconsin.

Who: Barbara Lawton, Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor James Kvaal, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress Action Fund David Newby, President, AFL-CIO Wisconsin Robert Craig, Director of Program, Citizen Action Wisconsin (REAL PEOPLE) With participation from Change to Win and SEIU

What: Press Conference to Release Report on Effects on McCain Health Plan on Wisconsin

When: Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 10:00 AM

Where: State Capitol, Senate Parlor Madison, WI

A state equal rights officer has found enough evidence to believe that J.B. Van Hollen’s Justice Department demoted its head of the public integrity section in retaliation. Joell Schigur’s demotion came after she dared to question a plan to provide Van Hollen with taxpayer-funded security while attending a political convention. The Wisconsin State Journal reports that her demotion came only days before her two-year probationary period was over and only months after receiving a positive review. Specifically, the equal rights officer stated that there is “probable cause” that Van Hollen’s DOJ violated state whistleblower laws by demoting Schigur after she dared to question his security plan.

This initial determination has been just the latest development in Van Hollen’s on going conflict between his partisan hires and the long-time law enforcement professionals at the Department of Justice. This conflict led to the premature retirement of universally respected Division of Criminal Investigation Administrator Jim Warren. At that time he said that he felt that his “retirement” was “shoved down his throat” by Van Hollen’s crew. During that very same month the head of the special assignments bureau, Carolyn Kelly, was suspended and later demoted. In this internal battle, Van Hollen’s partisans appeared to be winning, but this recent finding of probable cause could change the equation. If they are found to have committed wrongdoing, both Van Hollen and his underlings should be held fully accountable. Wisconsin deserves a DOJ that focuses on legitimate law enforcement and not on internal power plays by partisan hacks.

One Wisconsin Now has filed a complaint with the state’s Government Accountability Board (GAB) against Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and its seven-member special interest army for failure to report lobbying activities. In an August 20, 2008 memo authored by WMC’s chief lobbyist Jim Buchen claims “WMC actively lobbied for final passage of the UW budget,” yet no lobbying activity was reported by WMC to the GAB for the University of Wisconsin budget, as required under law.

This WMC memo was released shortly after out-going UW Chancellor John Wiley criticized them for the “toxic” political atmosphere that they have created in Wisconsin. In the memo, Buchen claims that WMC tried to influence legislation on the UW budget but it does not list the UW as a budget bill subject in which it lobbied in 2007-2008. In addition, GAB’s listing for lobbying activities for the UW budget does not include WMC as having registered any lobbying. When a lobbying entity files with the GAB they are also required by statute to list the general areas of legislative action that they are trying to influence. WMC’s own website does not indicate that it lobbies on higher education or funding the UW.

WMC may have undue influence with conservatives in the state legislature, but it still can’t ignore the same laws that every other lobbying group must follow. This situation should force WMC to finally come clean. Did they fail to follow the law, or was their chief lobbyist being dishonest when he suggested that the group tried to help the UW? WMC should be required to answer the question and be held accountable for their actions.

Although you wouldn’t know by his rhetoric recently, John McCain has always been a zealous promoter of deregulation and less government oversight. In 2003 he bluntly described himself saying, “I am a deregulator. I believe in deregulation.” [CNN, “In the Money,” 7/13/03] This has been McCain's ideology for his entire time in the U.S. Senate and he has also made it a major plank in his current campaign for president. Unfortunately lack of oversight and efforts to deregulate have led us to our current economic disaster. It seems that even John McCain has finally realized the error of his ways and is now trying to run from his own record as fast as he can.

McCain’s economic “mentor,” former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm, is known as the “father of deregulation.” With the help of some of the very same financial institutions that are failing now, Phil Gramm passed massive financial deregulation legislation in 1999. John McCain supported his “mentor”and in many ways that piece and simiilar pieces of legislation helped create today’s financial meltdown. Fortune Magazine went as far as to actually call McCain’s economic views “vintage Gramm” which is hardly a compliment at the moment. At long last, even McCain understands this and has started talking tough and about oversight and the government’s necessary role in it.