We already know that when Michael Gableman was working in Appleton as an Administrative Law Judge, that he traveled to a Republican fundraiser some 250 miles away without taking off from his state job. While he was being paid by the hardworking people of Wisconsin, he was busy traveling the state to help raise cash […]
*UPDATE* I learned after posting this item that John Torinus decided not to serve on the WJCIC after all. I am only aware of one news source that reported this change in his status and missed the development. The Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee made a few late additions to their ranks, both of which […]
Heckuva job, Scottie. That must be what Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker told himself, before rewarding himself with a $50,000 a year pay raise. Walker wouldn’t use the term “raise.” But, as Gertrude Stein would say, a raise is a raise is a raise. Walker’s announcement that if he is reelected on April 1 he […]
Today is the fifth year of the War in Iraq. People are gathering at events all over the state to demand an end to the War. Below are the details on those events: Appleton: Vigil, sponsored by Fox Valley Peace Coalition. At the corner of College and Appleton Streets. Begins at 5:30 p.m. Elm Grove: Commemoration, […]
Later this afternoon, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the War in Iraq, national security and economic experts will reflect on the true cost of the war in a press conference. The event is sponsored by the Iraq Campaign 2008 Coalition and will feature Nobel prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard professor […]
Last week the leadership in the State Assembly killed two bills that would have restored Natural Resources Board appointment authority of the DNR Secretary. They did this despite the overwhelming support for the bills by hunters, anglers, and a broad array of legislators. The Senate version of the bill passed by a strong bipartisan 21-12 […]
State Senator Mark Miller today announced a public hearing by the Senate Committee on Finance, which he chairs. The public hearing will take place in Milwaukee at 10 am on Wednesday, March 19 on the University of Wisconsin ‘ Milwaukee campus. The goal is to get input from the public on the governor’s budget adjustment […]
The One Wisconsin Institute has completed a comprehensive online library of information about Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest and arguably most influential corporate lobbying organization. At WMCWatch.org, visitors will find information about the priorities, people, corporations and contributions of WMC. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce has an enormous amount of influence on state policy. […]
The League of Women Voters says it all in this MJS editorial. “…it is shocking that proponents of voter ID are citing a report which rolled out old findings that appear to point to widespread illegal voting in Milwaukee in the 2004 election. The truth is that virtually all of the irregularities identified in the […]
As Cory pointed out, Mike Gableman’s unconscionably slimy ad about Louis Butler is a knock off of the race-bating Willie Horton ad that ran during the Bush-Dukakis race of 1988. Any thoughts on the next old inflamatory ad they’ll borrow from? Maybe this one?
Last year I went to the Online News Association conference and blogged about the experience. The highlight for me was when Jim Pugh joined a panel discussion on polling. Jim is the resident mouthpiece for Wisconsin’s corporate lobby, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC). As I reported last year, Pugh was nearly laughed out of the […]
Our wacky neighbors at Pro(foundly deluded)-life Wisconsin are either really, really against both birth control and women, or they are really, really spoiling for a new fundraising campaign. Most likely it’s both columns A & B. In an article about the celebration at the signing of the Compassion Care for Rape Victims, the Cap Times offered the following: […]
When Michael Gableman refused to sign a clean campaign pledge that simply sought to reinforce the judicial code, I wondered what he had in mind in this race for our high court. Now we know, he is intent on dragging it into the lowest gutter. Michael Gableman did not use his very first ad to […]
Next week will mark year five of the war in Iraq. According to the database at the National Priorities Project, Wisconsin taxpayers have paid $8.3 Billion for the war. With those same funds Wisconsin could have provided health care to over 5.3 Million people, retro-fit over 10 million homes with renewable electricity, or build over 500 […]
Mike Gableman has been touting his crime prosecuting prowess. While on the loathsome Vicki McKenna’s show in December (fyi — she called OWN “soulless”), Gableman said, ‘I did prosecute everything from child sexual assault cases, arson cases, white collar crime, and domestic abuse.’ But two media outlets have analyzed Gableman’s claims, which are currently being […]
After seven years of Republican-control in Washington, DC, the orgy of special interest spending, led by Bush and McCain’s abominable Iraq policy, has plunged the country into a $9 trillion debt. John McCain, the “stay the course Senator,” wants to end federal earmarks. It’s all in the timing, I suppose. I fail to recall McCain seeking a permanent ban on earmarks when his party called […]
Hispanic and Black separatists have been spearheading national debate on the issue of Black and Brown coalitions. The debate has become intense now that Barack Obama has become the democratic front runner for President of the United States. As the election season continues, separatists will develop more reasons for creating divisions between African-Americans and Latinos, […]
Milwaukee will mark the fifth anniversary of the war and occupation of Iraq with a march and rally on Saturday, March 15. Please put it on your calander. The rally starts at 1 p.m. at O’Donnell Park, at the east end of Wisconsin Avenue, near the orange sunburst sculpture. Speakers will include Rep. Gwen Moore, […]
Recently, Madison has won the bid to host an international stem cell summit that will bring in over 1000 top researchers and investors to the city. This bid will continue the state’s leadership in the stem cell industry. Hosting the event will bring international notoriety to the state’s outstanding advocacy to the issue. Wisconsin, with […]
In early debates and speeches, Michael Gableman has continually suggested that he has gone toe to toe with arsonists and other criminals. It has been very clear that Gableman and his corporate supporters are trying to make him into a crime fighting super hero. Even though the high court does not exist to lock up […]
I was writing on a blog recently and felt that I became the target of numerous personal attacks. I was surprised by this because it was a political blog discussing current issues in the Milwaukee area. However, my political leanings seems to bring out the devil in quite a few other bloggers. I wonder if […]
Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) is opposing the Senate Democrats’ economic development plan, Wisconsin Invests Now. The plan seeks to invest in Wisconsin’s infrastructure for future growth and quickly provide more well paying jobs. The good news is that the plan would be paid for by closing the corporate tax loophole known as the ‘Las […]
George Lightbourn and his minions at the right wing WPRI have been lecturing Governor Doyle and the legislature on sound budgeting. Lightbourn hardly seems to be the person to give advice on difficult budgets since he has helped cause his fair share of them. George Lightbourn was the Secretary of Administration under two Republican governors. […]
Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce has been running radio ads supporting their choice for State Supreme Court, Michael Gableman. This week they launched their first television ad backing Gableman. Using the same formula that has been successful for them in the past, the WMC ad focuses on crime and paints Gableman as some sort of crime […]
After passing through both branches of the state government, the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Bill is expected to be signed into law by Governor Jim Doyle. This law will require emergency room personnel to give information about emergency contraception to all victims of sexual assault, and dispense it if desired. Emergency contraception greatly reduces […]
New documents obtained by One Wisconsin Now raise further questions about the accuracy of Mike Gableman’s resume and his own statements at a February 29 Wispolitics.com forum that he was selected to be Burnett County judge by Governor Scott McCallum “based on my service on statewide commissions.” Documents obtained by One Wisconsin Now show as […]
This morning the Senate Committee on Health, Human Services, Insurance and Job Creation, took up a new and improved version of Healthy Wisconsin. Just like the version that passed the Senate last summer, the revised legislation guarantees every Wisconsinite the same quality health care that state legislators enjoy. The new version of Healthy Wisconsin is […]
As they say in the military, there’s always that 2 per cent that doesn’t get the word. Case in point: A number of conservative Republicans find themselves supporting — horrors! — one of the hated liberal trial lawyers for a District II Appeals Court judgeship in southeastern Wisconsin, while the GOP establishment lines up on […]
In the midst of criticizing the false claims of the Mike Gableman campaign, Newsweek’s recent article also focused on an ad from the Greater Wisconsin Committee about Gableman’s suspicious appointment. To quote: “We’ll concede that the circumstantial evidence raises questions, and we haven’t heard a convincing alternative theory for Gableman’s appointment…” Their conclusion is that […]
The distortions of Mike Gableman’s campaign have caught the attention of Newsweek and not in a good way for Burnett County’s oft-overturned jurist. The article focuses on part, the patently untrue allegation made by Gableman about the case of Richard Brown. Gableman has repeatedly claimed Brown, a registered sex offender, was let out on the […]
The tax policies of this state and this country are pouring a higher percentage of dollars into the bank accounts of those at the absolute top of the income stratosphere.
Judges never forget their ambulance chasing days. They learn they have to be scoundrels to compete. It is part of a lawyers survival. Most lawyers are pretty boys or rich kids. Lets face it the average person thinks of making money to help the family etc. We all dream of college, but finances do not […]
Wisconsin Democrats stonewalled Republican attempts to bring AJR17 (photo ID amendment) to a vote yesterday, despite the dramatic fanfare of a GOP press conference that went down in flames. But a voter ID debate of greater import is raging right now in the uppermost echelons of our nation’s government, as the Supreme Court deliberates the […]
“I was 17, Clinton was the president, I thought I’d get some money for college; I joined the National Guard.. didn’t know it was going to be the International Guard.” Next week, veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and occupations will come together in Washington, D.C. to tell the world about their experiences. Winter […]
Senate Republicans, flaunting the ridiculous rogue report put out by as-yet-to-be-identified members of the Milwaukee police bureaucracy, had hoped their press stunt Thursday calling for Voter ID would make news. Unfortunately for them, the news made was when Senator Spencer Coggs and Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker challenged them face to face. Coggs chimed in […]
Hey everyone…tune in to here Scot on a radio near you: Scot on the Eric Von Show (1290 AM Milwauke), today at 4:30 pm. You can listen online at http://www.1290wmcs.com/. Scot on WPR with Joy Cardin, 8 am tomorrow. Thanks!
Questions raised by One Wisconsin Now that as an Administrative Law Judge Mike Gableman failed to take leave while traveling over 500 miles back and forth across the state for a fundraiser for former Governor Scott McCallum appear to have been confirmed Wednesday afternoon by a Gableman campaign press release. His campaign seems to be […]
On Wednesday, February 27th, the Senate Health Committee heard testimony on SB 398, the Women’s Health and Safety Act. The bill seeks to repeal Wisconsin statute 940.04 (Wisconsin’s Criminal Abortion Ban), which, if Roe v. Wade is overturned, would outlaw nearly all forms of abortion in Wisconsin. Moreover, the law includes a penalty of up […]
One Wisconsin Now’s investigation into Michael Gableman’s record has prompted many troubling questions. Unfortunately we are only getting political spin from the Gableman campaign. OWN’s investigation into Gableman’s appointment revealed that although he was not a part of Governor McCallum’s appointment process, Gableman was allowed to leap frog over 6 local applicants to get the […]
Ya, you betcha, end the war now! They claim it’s a traditional Minnesota antiwar chant. Ya, sure, you betcha, you don’t t’ink it is? One t’ing we know for sure: Plans are well underway to protest at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul on Sept. 1-4. A big Labor Day march on Sept. 1 […]
Burnett County Judge Mike Gableman has received unwanted publicity over his supicious appointment by then Gov. Scott McCallum. Gableman, a McCallum donor and fundraiser, miraculously leapt over two announced finalists picked by McCallum’s own screening committee and was given the job — located 300 miles from where he was living at the time. Gableman has a couple different answers […]
(imagine letterhead and stuff) “As one who is four months older than Brett Favre, this announcement makes it crystal clear that I will never play professional football. The Bush economy and its negative effect on my retirement makes it unlikely I will retire anytime soon, either. Well, that and I’m not old enough.”
Responding to mounting press questions about how he merited selection as Burnett County circuit judge, Mike Gableman shifted to a totally new argument at a Friday public appearance. Trying to explain to reporters how he was able to jump over two finalists for the Burnett County slot, Gableman said, “The governor indicated because of his […]
I’m in a waiting time right now. There are times that make many people uncomfortable on a variety of levels. Silence in many instances is uncomfortable for some people and they seek to fill it. Waiting in many instances is uncomfortable for some people and they seek to do something, anything. For me, the silences […]
Senator Mark Miller, Chair of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, has announced that the committee will vote on the Great Lakes Compact today. The session is scheduled for 4pm today (or immediately following the Senate floor session if it is later than 4pm). The vote will take place at 300 Southeast, the State […]
Thank you, Scott Walker: Milwaukee’s bus system is deteriorating faster than any other transit system in the country. The Journal Sentinel reports: Milwaukee County Transit System ridership plunged to a 33-year low in 2007 – at the same time public transit ridership nationwide was on track toward a 50-year high. Reeling from repeated service cuts […]
Senator Mary Lazich is miffed at One Wisconsin Now. Recently, she offered up some mangled criticisms of Wisconsin Now’s effort to reinstate the estate tax for Wisconsin’s wealthiest, which expired earlier the year. As soon as we heard Sen. Lazich was criticizing our efforts to end the $300 million estate tax loophole for the state’s wealthiest heirs and […]
One Wisconsin Now will file a formal request with the Wisconsin Judicial Commission to investigate state Supreme Court candidate Mike Gableman for violations of the Judicial Code for intentionally misrepresenting the record of his opponent. The Gableman campaign has repeatedly misrepresented the record of his opponent in violation of the Judicial Code. OWN hopes the […]
Legislation is being held up by the Republican controlled Assembly, that would save taxpayers money, streamline election day procedures and enfranchise some 38,000 people, allowing them to vote in November. The bill would allow those that have been convicted of felonies to vote while they are still on parole or probation. Current Wisconsin law disenfranchises […]
This from our friends at Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice: Are you fed up with rich folks and corporations buying elections? Please take action! Join us Fri., Feb. 29th, from 8-10:30 AM in Downtown Milwaukee to protest the WI Manufactures & Commerce “money collection” meetings. ISSUE: Right now the WMC is in the process […]