Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Wisconsin Bloggers: Individually and Collectively Inept, Inattentive, Incompetent

With one of the greatest blogging stories sitting right under their collective noses, Wisconsin bloggers sat on their collective behinds and allowed the mainstream media, the CBS Evening news with Katie Couric, to scoop them on the biggest stories of the departing year, the Shawano -SIST story of international intrigue:

Alleged Murder-For-Hire Rattles Small Town:Placid Midwest Town Turned Upside Down By Alleged Hit List And Secretive Group

All a reaction to news of an alleged hit list and claims by a so-called hit man, now telling his story for the first time.

"And I said, 'you want me to kill 60 people? You want me to kill the whole town of Shawano?" said Canadian businessman Bob Cameron.

Keteyian asked: "They were hiring you as a hit man?"

"Yes, they were," Cameron said.

"You're talking about the mayor, the city administrator, the city treasurer, the city attorney, the police chief, judges, investigators, fire commissioners," Keteyian asked.

"Uh huh," Cameron assented

Cameron says in late October he received $175,000 in wire transfers from people known to be part of a secretive group long run out of a house near Shawano called SIST.

Its is a story that could never be fabricated. The cast of characters are from the next great movie, a combined effort of the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino.

The mayor (Kathy Bates) tops the list of sixty potential local victims. The Canadian hitman (Martin Short) was trying to do no more than collect some unpaid bills from the local cult when asked to wipe out half the town. The cult leader (Samuel L. Jackson in a reprise of his role of Jules in Pulp Fiction) is responsible for the investment of over $15 million in local real estate.

The real estate holdings fail and the county treasurer (Johnny Depp) is now foreclosing. The sheriff (Ben Stiller) and his deputy (Owen Wilson) manage to keep the town on edge as they tail two SIST members (Mike -Wayne-Meyers and Dana -Garth- Carvey), who prowl the city streets with a camcorder filming anyone they suspect is in cahoots with the town leaders.

SIST spokesman and attorney (Johnny Depp or should that be Robert Downey Jr.?) manages to bring some semblance of reality to the entire story claiming this was all a misunderstanding.

Sanity is maintained. The FBI agent (Brad Pitt) brings calm and peace to Shawano.(Pronounced Shawn-o as in Shauno of the Dead).

All this going on in plain view. Badger bloggers are writing about Republican committee assignments in the legislature, the performing arts, and Lake Michigan.

Phooey.

                

WMC: Wisbusiness.com Covers Changes - consensus on state business climate

Mike Schramm was kind enough to remind me that the new WMC strategy is reported in wisbusiness.com by Brian E. Clark

WMC effort looks for consensus on state business climate

With Democrats soon to control the state Assembly, as well as the Senate and governor’s office, the state’s largest business lobby is shifting gears to deal with what it calls the “new political landscape."

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, which has often been at odds with Gov. Jim Doyle, is reaching out to diverse groups -- including labor -- to develop plans to stimulate the state’s slumping economy....

Milwaukee Talk Radio

Bruce Murphy nailed it in his summary of the Milwaukee talk radio tempest, Why We Went after Talk Radio:

Conservative talk radio is a different animal entirely. Both Sykes and WISN afternoon host Mark Belling, the two top rated such hosts in town, have expressly declared they are entertainers and not journalists, and have no obligation to present both sides of an issue. Their appeal arises precisely from a lack of good will toward certain segments of the community...

Following the national format used by Limbaugh and the others dating back to the 1980's, these formerly effective mouthpieces built an audience on two bases, the extreme right wing, and undecideds who were looking for intelligent political commentary to guide their decisions.

The last four years through a variety of techniques from providing an alternative progressive radio voice to public exposure of these charlatans the base diminished.

Murphy notes, relying on Dan Shelley's original article, "Secrets of Talk Radio", that the hosts of right-wing talk radio have no intention of engaging in rational dialog.

The nice thing is that the audience for Sykes and Belling is diminishing to the point where no one listens to them, except the true believers and those of us looking for an occasional chuckle or fodder for our blogs. 

November Elections 2008: The Morning After

I woke up this morning glad to have done the radio show on WTDY last night with Sly and Bill McCoshen, a Wisconsin Republican who will, hopefully, have a lot to say about the future of his party, but disappointed that I did not attend the parties where so many of my friends celebrated last night.

I was surprised at my own emotional response to the election of Barack Obama. I was more filled with wonderment about what the next four years will bring rather than joy over his election.  Perhaps it was the projections that he was going to win that took the edge off the victory.

In any case, for the first time in my lifetime, and that includes the election of JFK in 1960, or my years as mayor when Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were elected, I am truly excited about the future and the unknown possibilities for our nation and the world. The economy and the wars will prevent any immediate social change, but it is coming.

The engagement of so many young people of so many different colors in this election holds more hope for the future. Voting is the first level of civic engagement. With persistence and hard work, hopefully they will stay engaged by running for office themselves, getting involved in their children's' education, and voting in subsequent local and state elections.

• I missed the gathering of the supporters of the Madison school referendum which won by a large margin, putting to rest the myth that there is some kind of secret plot by the supporters of public education to place these measures on the ballot when turnout is low.
• The Democrats took control of the Wisconsin Assembly. Marc Pocan gets a big thank you for adopting a "50 state" strategy and finding great Democratic candidates in as many Assembly districts as possible.
• Perhaps the biggest local disappointment was the apparent defeat of outstanding Trish O'Neil in the 47th District. She was the victim of one of the nastiest television advertisements this election season.
• While Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) was defanged, it is evident that extreme right-wing money and energy was shifted to outside groups like  Coalition for America's Families, the Club for Growth and All Children Matter which continues to produce WMC-style attack ads.
• In Oshkosh, Gordon Hintz was returned for a second term to the Assembly's 54th district with 66% of the vote.  Keep an eye on him. Here is a legislator who is effective, principled, and a nice guy.
• The biggest Midwest disappointment was Al Franken's apparent loss to incumbent Republican Norm Coleman in the Minnesota US Senate race. Franken would have made a great senator and Coleman is an opportunistic jerk. Coleman has some serious ethical problems in casting future votes regarding the financial bailout which he supported, since AIG put $25 million into the US Chamber of Commerce over a five year period and then the right wing business group spent a hefty sum in his support.
• Best news from the left coast: As of this posting, it appears that same sex marriage survives in Californian. Barely.  Update 2:42 UGH
• Those who checked in here last night can see from my solitary post that it is too difficult to do live radio and  blog simultaneously.
• Congratulations to the high school students who got involved in the school referendum and and all of the electoral races even though they will not vote for a few more years.
• I suppose my nice introduction of Bill McCoshen, above, will get back to the social conservatives and doom him as an influential leader in fixing the Republican Party. With moderate business leaders estranged from their party, and Democrats in control of both houses of the legislature and the Governor's office, they have no place to go. Now is the time for the Democrats to reach out and form a coalition of labor, business, and education leaders to fix and fund education from kindergarten through college in Wisconsin.

Guilty pleasure I will pass on today - No right wing Milwaukee talk radio; I have too much work to do and it will be more fun spending the spare time chatting with friends.

Campaign Posters: Stealing Good Stuff - Truckin' on Down to the Polls

Dave Medaris, Isthmus,was sorting through his stuff and came up on an old Soglin for mayor campaign poster, Souvenir keeps on truckin'  - Rediscovering a vintage Soglin campaign poster

Laying eyes on it took me back to 1971, when I was 11 years old and going door to door, delivering Soglin campaign brochures on the near west side.,,The poster, with the counterculture icon Mr. Natural urging voters to RUSH RIGHT ON TO THE POLL — was aimed at UW students. It was authorized and paid for by the Students for Soglin Committee, 458 W. Gilman, Molly Berigan, treasurer. 

Actually the poster was from 1973 since that was the year we had the campaign office on West Gilman Street.

Yes, though the name is spelled differently, Molly is related to the Berrigan Brothers, Daniel and Philip, war resisters who did so much in the 1960's and 70's.

Dave Medaris contacted Molly Berigan as well as Genie Ogden who were two of six core members of both the 1971 and the successful 1973 campaigns. The others were Peggy Phillips who recently passed away, Dave Clarenbach, Dick Wagner, and Hank Lufler.

There were a few adults in 1971, mostly centered in Crestwood and led by Sophie Zermuehlen who was married to Don at the time and their neighbors. John Patrick Hunter was always lurking about, but kept his distance since he was a reporter for The Capital Times. Helen Vukelich was also deeply involved in 1971 as she was in 1973.

I digress.

The 1973 poster that Genie and the crew worked on with  Mr. Natural was a rip off from underground comic book author Robert Crumb.

But it was actually based on an earlier poster created by David Chandler in 1970 who worked with the crew at the Williamson Street print shop, Revolutions Per Minute (RPM).

Chandler used a bit more than Mr. Natural in his callous disregard of existing copyright laws.

 

The American eagle was lifted from the back of an infamous album* released a few years earlier.  That is not your father's olive branch clutched along side the American Flag.

While the 1970 poster designers for the aldermanic candidate were creative enough, the 1973 rip-off artists showed the greater moderation required of a more serious and mellow mayoral candidate.

I have fond memories of those campaigns. I am glad the others do too.

*Sorry, you have to figure it out for yourself - I am not providing any clues. Someone should be able to identify the album.

Poverty In Madison Public Schools and Adults Who Cannot Read

My post from Tuesday asserted that 48% of the children in the Madison Metropolitan Public Schools (MMSD) came from households in poverty. In fact, when data is gathered after the count is completed for this fall's enrollment, the figure may be over 50%.

Last year it was over 50% for the kindergarten class.

There are some very logical reasons why the poverty levels are so much higher than for the city as a whole:

• Wealthier households in the district are far more likely to send their children to private or parochial schools than are their poorer neighbors.
• Since the mid 1980's, new areas of the city were annexed into Madison but not the MMSD. Consequently the only areas of the city that has grown in population with middle income or higher wealth sends their kids to neighboring school districts. Example: Blackhawk.
• The largest population growth within the city has been among low income households.
• Households without children have higher incomes than households without children.
• There are significant areas surrounding Madison that send their children to the MMSD. While that includes the suburbs of Shorewood and Maple Bluff, their declining enrollments are more than offset with the significant low income households from the Town of Madison and portions of southern Fitchburg.

On another somewhat related subject, a blogger, who I will spare the embarrassment of identifying, took me to task.  The critic alleges that I think like Esenberg in that that children cannot be educated unless 'the parents were fixed.'

I admit I am guilty of believing that public programs can help improve parental involvement, which, in turn, improves student performance.

Parenthetically, Esenberg believes the parents are the problem but does not believe that public programming can improve parenting skills.

The critic says:

Ironically, Paul Soglin of Waxing America, in a way actually agrees with Rick Esenberg. The social programs he mentions are parent fixer not parent extender programs...

..While the family is an important determiner of a child’s success, schools, after school programs, and community centers also play central roles. 

While I do not expect the critic to read everything written on the subject here at Waxing America, let me provide the last sentence from the berated post:

It means spending money on education, health, and even some of the most effective social programs available - simple and logical - after school and summer recreation.*

Snark of the week: This business of commenting on the posts of others without reading the subject matter gives considerable weight to those who claim that our schools are failing, at least in the reading department.

*In numerous previous posts, I have argued that one of the ways that government can most effectively spend pubic money is on after-school and summer recreation programs and the arts, and I provided documentation of studies demonstrating the effectiveness of the programs. It is too late at night to look up the references.

The Empire Strikes Back: WMC and Pals at WPRI Take the Offensive

It was about a year ago that we started focusing on Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce  (WMC) and their ultra right-wing cronies in deception. Since then the powerful business lobby has not been the same.

Highly visible members quit. Key companies will not serve on the WMC board. Others have demanded reform despite the WMC success in defeating judicial candidates Linda Clifford and Justice Louis Butler along with Attorney General candidate Kathleen Falk.

Despite these victories the cost is exorbitant. WMC is racked with internal dissent, the most recent board meeting a case in point.

Many of the key businesses realize that the unfavorable publicity and backlash from the despicable ads is not worth losing sales and distressing shareholders.

Waxing America, dozens of other bloggers, One Wisconsin Now, (with their own WMC Watch) and individual citizens have incessantly pounded not only at WMC, but at the businesses that hide behind the WMC logo.

The right has decided to fight back. It is not a coincidence that last week the  Wisconsin Policy Research Institute  (WPRI) posted two of its most recent 'commentaries' on Wisopinion.com.

Deb Jordahl contributed Wisconsin State Bar History is Repeating Itself.  For those who care to wade through the 2300 word attack on the mandatory bar, an issue worth discussing, will find that the real focus is the Wisconsin Judicial Integrity Committee which was created,  "allegedly to monitor the activity of candidates and other organizations during the April 2008 State Supreme Court election."

Jordahl was accompanied to the Internet by George Lighbourn with his The New WEAC , a treacherous (to the reader) 3,500 word tome that explains that the Wisconsin Education Association Council, while changed over the past 20 years, is as dangerous as ever. While I call such transformations 'putting lipstick on the pig,'  Ligtbourn likens WEAC to the Rottweiler masquerading as a Poodle, but still a vicious junkyard dog. A communist dog at that:

As with the aftermath of the Soviet Union, the rise of the new WEAC could possibly change the face of Wisconsin politics and government in ways that no one can predict. A perceptive yard sign for today might read: Fear the Poodle.

The ultra right-wing perceives lawyers and teachers to be the villians on the left that stand between them and accomplishing the Grover Norquist goal of "shrinking government down to the size when it can be drowned in a bathtub."

Expect more from WMC and WPRI in the coming months as the fall elections approach as they attack lawyers, teachers, social workers, union members, environmentalists, and grandparents.

Expect even more from us as we stand up for America and Wisconsin.

Belling and the Small Business Times of Milwaukee - Bring Your Own Knife

This final day of the week, and the last blogging day of the month is flush with topics for commentary, but working its way to the top is the neverending rant from Milwaukee right-wing radio gossip, Mark Belling. 

Belling, for the uninitiated, chooses to feud with the Small Business Times (SBT) over the 'correct' way to comment on what is wrong with Milwaukee's business climate. Belling claims he knows it all.

For an accurate description of the third chapter see, see the latest response from SBT executive editor, Steve Jagler. Standing up against what's wrong for Milwaukee: Part III:

These are bright people sounding the alarms about the issues our region faces and offering their suggestions for progress. And SBT was happy, proud and able to serve as the conduit of their thoughts...As for Belling, I am compelled here to quote the great Mark Twain: "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." (ed note: see Mark Belling: Milwaukee's White American)

Unlike my buddy Ed Garvey who asks in his blog, fightingbob.com, "Is this a private fight, or can anyone join?" I am just going to muscle my way alongside Jalger and take another free poke at punch-drunk Belling.

First my relationship with Jagler. We disagree on a lot from school choice to taxation. Jagler is what I would call a Tommy Thompson Republican, a good companion at dinner or a ballgame, but not a reliable vote in the legislature.

Jagler and I do agree on one two things that separate us from Belling. Criticism of Milwaukee's, or Wisconsin's business climate should not be for the purpose of laying blame or 'scoring idealogical points.' Instead, analysis must be from the perspective of quality, where we attempt to learn, to plan, and to make necessary improvements.

People will not be candid, and will not participate in changing structures and institutions in a poisoned environment that lacks trust.

Jagler's motives are easy to figure. He is trying to improve Milwaukee.

Belling's are just as easy to figure. Belling is focused on right-wing ideological purity. That means drive out the RINOS. He will drive them out of the legislature and the business community.

That is why Belling not only attacks Jagler, but also Milwukee 7 (M7), healthcare providers like Aurora, and Republicans who might work for a budget compromise.

The other possible subjects for today were:

• Thursday's brewer game provided more documentation to get rid of manager Yost.
• Wednesday' Wisconsin state Journal story on taxes.
• More of the McClellan - Bush-Iraq story.
• Why the price of gasoline may be about to drop.
• Is Yost gone yet?

 

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.

Clouds Gathering Over East Washington Avenue.

There are storm clouds gathering over East Washington Avenue in Madison. That would be over 501 E. Washington, the home of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC).

There is an undercurrent to this spring's Supreme Court race that was not present in last year's judicial election or any judicial election for that matter. Ever.

There is an anger and a determination to do something about WMC. Last winter, a commentator added the identities of all the WMC board members to one of my posts.  This week Jim Bouman blogged Use economic clout to hammer the arrogant Directors of WMC:

...a list of the directors of WMC... I found the President of TDS Telecommunications listed there--David Wittwer... Hey, I send Wittwer $70 a month.

I wrote him a letter. I told him that I had nothing but appreciation for the superb service received...Then, I told Wittwer I was dumping his company ASAP...

Many of us have been hammering away at WMC for over a year. We have made it clear that the board members are responsible for the actions of the organization, and that includes the purchasing and the content of political ads that are run against fine people like Louis Butler.

Wisconsinites don't like what is happening. Jim Pugh, WMC mouthpiece, can whine all he wants about the right of WMC to express itself, but that does not inoculate the member companies against a storm that is brewing. WMC members can have free speech and they have to take responsibility for it.

Over the past week it is clear that significant numbers of Wisconsinites will remember the nature of this judicial race and who is responsible.  In fact, many hold WMC responsible for TV ads run by other right wing fanatics. WMC can protest all it wishes, but they are identified as poisoning the well and encouraging this behavior in others.

I do not know who will win the Supreme Court race. I do know that WMC must change or become as irrelevant as the knee-jerk lefties who assume that anything that is good for the Wisconsin business climate is bad for the rest of the state.