Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Mark Belling: Milwaukee's White American

Mark Belling is not "Standing Up for Milwaukee."

In a column on Wednesday, Millions can’t solve moral bankruptcy in central city, Belling launched into a two pronged attack attacking the city's black community and ridiculing Joseph Zilber's $50 million gift to strengthen Milwaukee neighborhoods.

For starters, the right wing commentator notes money already spent combating poverty and crime in the inner city:

How many billions in welfare, charitable programs and "investment" have been poured into predominantly black neighborhoods?

Then comes this gem:

Most blacks have tuned out white America...

Belling has a Milwaukee view, or perhaps a world view that makes him incapable of understanding the problems of poverty and crime and how to fix them.

For starters he knows nothing about Zilber's gift. An examination of the announcement reveals that the approach is significantly different than traditional efforts to institute change. It is community base building, not welfare.  It is economic development, not handouts.

Secondly, while Belling realizes that moral leadership is essential to improving Milwaukee, he has no clue as to how economic and social justice play a critical role in shaping community standards in Milwaukee or any other city around the world.

Zilber's gift is a challenge to Milwaukee leadership to add additional funds to a well crafted effort.

Milwaukee business leaders have a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to the city. They can sit on the sidelines with Belling, or they can learn about the fundamental principles underlying Zilber's commitment and open their own wallets.

As for Belling, he might want to tell us what he means by his "white America."

Kevin Barrett: Someone Else's Billy Goat

My old friend, AFSCME union leader, Dode Lowe, used to have an appropriate saying for the occasional loose cannon among his members.  When confronted with a questionable individual that the union was forced to defend, Dode used to say, "He may be a billy goat, but he is our billy goat."

Those of us who defended the University of Wisconsin from narrow minded assaults this past year, often had Kevin Barrett held up to us as an example of a misguided teacher who was a waste of taxpayers' money. This is the Barrett who doubts that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center was the work of foreign terrorists, but offers suggestions that perhaps domestic operatives were responsible for the attack.

Barrett is now running for Congress, as a Libertarian in Wisconsin's Third Congressional District.  As John Nichols notes in The Capital Times column on Friday:

Barrett will shake up District 3 race

...Barrett, a convert to Islam who has argued for a number of years that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon "had nothing to do with Islam" and that "the war on terror is as phony as the latest Osama bin Laden tape."

...A Republican legislator, Whitewater state Rep. Steve Nass, condemned the university for a man critics describe as "a conspiracy nut."

...A 10-day review by UW Provost Patrick Farrell of Barrett's teaching record and his plans for the introductory class determined that Barrett would fairly represent a variety of viewpoints in his course -- and was thus fit to teach.

Those of us who believe that professors should be left alone to teach as long as they are open and fair, will continue to defend his right to espouse his bizarre world view.

On the other hand, now that Barrett has solidly aligned himself with the Libertarian Party, it gives me great comfort that everyone knows he is someone else's billy goat. It was last year that I repudiated Barrett and Ward Churchill as not being part of the political left.

The Libertarians and the conservatives can have him.

So there.

Mifflin Street Block Party - Revisited

The Mifflin Street Block Party approached and like clockwork the journalists called asking me for opinions, comparisons, and advice.  Boring.

It was sometime in the mid 1980's that I lost interest in the block party, as it lost its political content and purpose. There were some efforts in subsequent years to add some content, but face it, the block party is nothing more now than an excuse to get drunk and stupid.

As the 1990's appraoched, and I served as mayor agian, I lowered my expectations, accepted the party for what it was and just asked that behavior not be dangerous. That meant minimizing the fights, the trips to detox or the hospitals, and recognizing that the porches of one hundred year old buildings could not hold 67 pairs of stomping feet.

My age has nothing to do with this rather cynical assessment. Rather it is memories of my youth and quickly learned lessons that overconsumption of alcohol and other mind altering substances posed two undesirable outcomes: it ruined sex, and left a horrible headache.

This year, amidst the chaos of the 400 and 500 hundred blocks of Mifflin Street was the heartfelt effort of her family and friends to raise funds to honor the memory of Brittany Zimmerman.

While some students complained about the law enforcement, all I could think of was the incredible waste of money spent on the police presence. The several hundred thousand dollars spent on Mifflin Street and Halloween could pay for additional neighborhood patrols, or nursing services, or better snow removal, or a food pantry.

In the 1960's we ran up some significant overtime bills for police and sheriffs, not to mention the national guard, but it was not to party - it was political and that included the first Mifflin Street Block Party.

There is nothing wrong with a party.

The measurement of a great party is a grand time and the police not showing up.

U.S. Supreme Court Engages in Activism: Ask Scalia

One of the phoniest, opportunistic ploys in recent years is the conservative assault on an independent judiciary calling for "judicial restraint" and attacking liberal or progressive justices as "judicial activists."

Rick Esenberg of the Federalist Society, takes this up in a paper used by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce in the last judicial race, A Court Unbound? The Recent Jurisprudence of the Wisconsin Supreme Court:

Judges who seek to exercise restraint will tend to adopt techniques of construction that confine, rather than expand, their discretion...Judges practicing restraint will exhibit a sensitivity for the role of other branches of government....

Someone better get Esenberg's paper into the hands of the justices serving on the United States Supreme Court, starting with Anthony Scalia who Esenberg fondly quotes: "[a] text should not be construed strictly, and it should not be construed leniently; it should be construed reasonably, to contain all that it fairly means."

Scalia, Justice Anthony Kennedy, and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. are having a difficult time following their own admonitions when it comes time to the "Millionaire's Amendment" to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance act.

The issue is simple enough. Under the law individuals can contribute a maximum of $2,300 to a campaign. The candidate can spend as much as they like. If a wealthy candidate contributes over $350,000 of her own money, then the individual contributors of the opponent can go as high as $6,900.

Simple enough.

Now enter the reactionary justices on the Supreme Court. Hearing a case challenging the act, these conservative justices are wallowing in judicial activism.

Justices Assail 'Millionaires' Amendment'

"The campaign finance regimes we've approved up to now, the significant limitations, have had an anti-corruption rationale," Scalia said. "The only purpose of this is to level the playing field. And I am deeply suspicious of allowing elections to be conducted under a regime whereby Congress levels the playing field. That seems to be very dangerous."

and

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said he found it "a particular vice" of the amendment that it allows the opponent of a self-financing candidate to have greater ties and to receive more money from his political party. "It puts this statute in the position of preferring one kind of speech over another. And we simply do not do that," Kennedy said.

Obviously these justices are substituting their own judgment for that of the legislative body, the United States Congress.

I am waiting for the critics of Louis Butler and Shirley Abrahamson to assail Scalia and Roberts for this exercise in judicial activism.

You can hear the crickets chirping.

Free Tibet Madison Style: The Real Olympic Spirit

I will not be in Madison on Saturday, April 19, 2008,  but if I were, I would be at the State Capital for the rally to focus on Chinese oppression against the people of Tibet.  Among the sponsors are Students for a Free Tibet - UW Madison.

Until a family event sent me off to California for the weekend, I was supposed to join State Representative Joe Parisi and Wisconsin Olympian Casey FitzRandolph.  They will be apart of a different torch relay, the Human Rights Torch that is part of coordinated effort in 37 countries to publicize the incompatibility of Chinese crimes against all of its citizens, not just Tibetans, and the true spirit of the Olympics.

Casey is a great athlete, one who truly understands the nature of humanity in all aspects of life. There are too many people who like to use sports metaphors to draw lessons about life. Casey lives the best of the competitive world both on and off the ice.

We all know that the commercialism of the Olympics far overshadows the games. The athletes deserve to demonstrate their skills with honor, but are relegated to the status of doorknobs or garden rocks serving to enhance the mansion and the landscape, the corporate sponsors and their products.

My guess is that most Americans could select more official sponsors of the Olympics from a a list of hamburger, camera, and automobile companies than could identify the athletes who won medals last time in aquatics, archery, boxing, or even tennis.

Back in the day when the Internet was in its infancy, the only web page that came up when you put my name in a search engine was: The Mayor of the city of Madison, Wisconsin Proclaims March 10 1996 as "Tibetan Independence Day"

It was an honor to participate then; it is an honor now to be part of this world wide humanitarian effort. Tibetan rights and lives are more important than these games.

Someone get Casey's autograph for me. Please.

Why We Won - The Meaning of the Supreme Court Race

While Michael Gableman was elected to the Supreme Court, the long term implications of the race make it clear that the dynamic of Wisconsin politics is changing for the better.

The close outcome, with a suppressed vote, demonstrated that the influence of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) and their right wing companions, the Club for Growth Wisconsin and the Coalition for America's Families no longer have a magic bullet that guarantees they can win elections.

In addition to a number of legislative seats they own, this is the third statewide office purchased by these groups in the last two years. But the trend is moving against them.  When they defeated Kathleen Falk in the November, 2006 Attorney General race, progressive forces in this state did not have a plan to deal with the influence of the right wing issues committees. 

While Falk had name recognition, which the defeated Supreme Court candidates Linda Clifford and Justice Louis Butler lacked, her election campaign was left to fend for itself against the massive amounts of cash spent by the WMC Issues Committee.

In April of 2007, Linda Clifford, who was defamed and defeated by now tainted Justice Annette Ziegler, not only lacked Falk's name recognition but also suffered from the lack of a strategy to fend off WMC and its partners.

Louis Butler, sitting on the Supreme Court, was not in a much more advantageous position than Clifford.  Early polling indicated that his name recognition was no better than Gableman's so that he had none of the advantages associated with incumbency.

But the Butler campaign, despite lacking the name recognition of Falk, did have an advantage over the the Falk and Clifford campaigns in that a statewide wide group of bloggers, political activists, and progressive leaders were beginning to peel back the onion that is WMC.

Justice Butler, an honorable and decent man, was not re-elected, but the closeness of his race demonstrates things are changing for the better.

As Wisconsin heads into the fall elections, there are important trends and factors to consider:

• WMC, despite the three victories, has paid a price for its swagger. The internal problems involving disgruntled members is growing and worsening by the day. The Gableman victory will please the smug Right but it only creates more problems for the moderate Republicans and Democrats within the organization.
• While WMC's Jimmy Buchen spins things by pointing out that his organization was outspent by the Greater Wisconsin Committee, he knows full well that the collective spending of his organization as part of the right wing cabal crushed the pro-Butler forces. This is important to recognize for two reasons:
  • First, it means that if the overall financial playing field is leveled, progressives will be elected.
  • Secondly, it is a reminder that while we can stop some of the Wisconsin corporate money going into the WMC Issues Committee, the cabal will turn to other right wing groups who will raise the money outside of Wisconsin.
• Moderate Republicans are estranged from WMC and the leadership of the Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly. An examination of public supporters of Butler and Gableman indicates that while the incumbent received individual endorsements from the 'usual suspects,' Gableman received few personal endorsements from moderate Republican leaders thats used to line up behind Governor Tommy Thompson.
• The newspapers of this Wisconsin have had enough. An examination of the fifteen largest dailies in this state demonstrates that only one, the Beloit Daily News, endorsed Gableman. More importantly, virtually every newspaper in the state condemned WMC for its and Gableman's advertisements. (The Janesville Press Gazette, owned by a WMC board member, endorsed Justice Butler.)

As we enter the fall elections, hopefully every legislative candidate will be asked their position on legislation to expose the source of the money used to fund "issue" advertisements. Legislation is needed that will require:

• the identity of every individual donor with a business or personal address outside of Wisconsin.
• prohibit the bundling of money by out-of-state organizations. This means that money from a shadow front like the Institute for Legal Reform could not accept hundred of thousand of dollars from individual and corporations, bundle the money and report it as their own.

The wonderful thing about this country is the right of Americans to speak their minds freely. That right does not come with a promise that when using other people's money, it can be done anonymously. WMC has its right to free speech. The public has the right  to know who is speaking.

Come gather round people wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth saving
Then you'd better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone
For the times, they are a changing

-Bob Dylan

Update:  I want to thank a staff member of the Janesville Gazette for noting that I got the name of the newspspaer wrong. Thank you.

WMC Must Take Responsibility for Their Paid Advertisements

An open letter to the attorneys on the Board of Directors and the staff of the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce:

Many of us are deeply troubled by the advertisement paid for by your organization mischaracterizing the legal career of Justice Louis Butler. As you know, the Original WMC Watch program focused on the your board and staff taking responsibility for the placement and the content of these television and radio advertisements.

Now the Judicial Watch Campaign (JWC) comes to several conclusion about your ad entitled "Loophole Louie" including the following:

• WMC "falsely characterizes the court's (Wisconsin Supreme Court) ruling in this case, labeling as a "loophole" a lengthy decision based on the fact that the police in this case intentionally violated a fundamental Constitutional right guaranteed to all citizens..."
• WMC's use of the epithet "Loophole Louie..." is demeaning to the entire Wisconsin Supreme Court and our judicial system.

JWC concludes by citing Supreme Court Rule 20.8.4. This rule for attorneys, among other things, notes that:

It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to...

(c) engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation...

(g) violate the attorney's oath...

The attorney's oath states:

...I will maintain the respect due to courts of justice and judicial officers...

My personal opinion is that the conduct of the Gableman campaign, aided and abetted by WMC and other issue committees, has done more to diminish the stature of the Wisconsin judiciary and the Wisconsin Bar than any collection of offenses committed by attorneys or judges in the past fifty years.

Michael Gablelman: The People Have A Question For You

Madison, Wisconsin, March 25, 2008 Michael Gableman at 57:36 Supreme Court Debate-Butler/Gableman:

....The voters of this state would simply be far better off if all of the third party interest groups took their interests elsewhere and stopped running these ads.

That is what Michael Gableman told a state wide audience Tuesday night in a debate with Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler.

This is the same Michael Gableman who later in the debate was to call Justice Butler "disingenuous." Repeatedly.

The question for Michael Gableman is this, and keep in mind when previously asked if he had meetings with Wisconsin Manufactures & Commerce, prior to his announced candidacy, he refused to answer:

Mr Gableman, did you or anyone representing you, either directly or indirectly through intermediaries, have discussions with Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, The Club for Growth, and/or the Coalition For America's Families, or their representatives, in which you or your representatives of intermediaries were assured that in excess  of $2 million would be raised and committed to their running advertisements designed to assist in your election?

In other words, can you look at the people of Wisconsin and tell them that before you decided to run for Supreme Court Justice, you had no knowledge of a commitment by what you refer to as "third party interest groups" were going to raise this money to assist your campaign effort?

Is there a reporter in this state who can get that question before Gableman?

disingenuous: lacking in candor; also : giving a false appearance of simple frankness

liar: a person who tells lies

lie: a: an assertion of something known or believed by the speaker to be untrue with intent to deceive b: an untrue or inaccurate statement that may or may not be believed true by the speaker

candor: unreserved, honest, or sincere expression

Is it a lie or just disengenuous to ask for the money, get the commitment from the special interests and then when they run the TV ads, Gableman claims he wanta them to stop?

Superior Linens Racine County Contract Needs Airing

Superior Health Linens has contracts in Wisconsin with a number of public and private health care providers.

It once had a contract with Dane County but no more. There were allegations of unsafe working conditions and that resulted in the finding of three 'serious' OSHA violations. Then there were the problem of wages - Superior did not pay a living wage. Dane County dropped the contract in 2006 for the Badger Prairie Heath Care Center.

Now Superior is embroiled in a debate in Racine County over services related to the Ridgewood Care Center. What is curious about all of this is the conduct of certain public officials who are less than forthcoming about the contract. From the Racine Journal Times:  County's top lawyer berates supervisor over contract allegations

It’s not unusual for county staff to talk to the county board, but what was unusual Tuesday evening was Corporation Counsel Jonathan Lehman chastising Supervisor Diane Lange for her comments about a contract he reviewed.

In addition to the rather uncivil discussion there is a series of postponements and delays in reviewing the contract details. All of which makes us wonder if Diane Lange loses her re-election bid, will all of this be hidden with the rest of the dirty laundry?

Needless to say, many of Superior's employees are in low skilled jobs; some have limited knowledge about their rights as workers. Thankfully, that is changing thanks to the efforts of Unite Here  - the result of the merger between the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (my grandparents union) and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union.  As Unite Here states:

UNITE HERE boasts a diverse membership, comprised largely of immigrants and including high percentages of African-American, Latino, and Asian-American workers. The majority of UNITE HERE members are women.

WMC Tells A Gableman Joke With a Straight Face

Here is the exact quote from the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) advertisement touting the crime fighting abilities of their candidate for Justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court:

As a prosecutor, Judge Michael Gableman tackled arson, sexual assault,  domestic violence and white collar crime.

Here are the facts:

• Gableman prosecuted only one arson case. The defendant was acquitted. That is correct, Gableman failed to get a single arson conviction in his entire career as a prosecutor.
• Gablemean participated in 19 felony child abuse cases. There was one, count it on one finger, one case, that resulted in a prison sentence.

And WMC wants us to believe them on complicated public policy issues, taxation policy, and the education of children.

Here is the link to the companies that make up the WMC board of directors who approved the advertisement:

WMC Board of Directors