Paul Soglin: Waxing America

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.

WMC Watch

Last summer with the support and encouragement from labor and professional organizations I launched a program called WMC Watch. Since then the Soglin Consulting's WMC Watch has:

• Has met with almost one third of the member of the board of directors of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) and corresponded with other members of their board.
• Met with or spoken to almost three dozen reporters or editors from Wisconsin newspapers, radio, and television stations.
• Sent out press releases to close to forty Wisconsin media outlets using the name WMC Watch.
• Traveled almost 2000 miles around the state for these meetings and conferences.
• Blogged countless times about WMC.
• Arranged in February and March for a six city picket of the WMC anti-Louis Butler workshops.
• Met with labor, academic, and non-WMC business leaders in an effort to design strategies to weaken WMC and gain public support for more progressive public policy from the business community.

This effort will continue under the name Original WMC Watch or some similar moniker. That is so there is no confusion with a program launched today by One Wisconsin Now called WMC Watch.

It is my hope that both programs succeed, but that there not be confusion as to the activities of each program. One Wisconsin Now has put considerable effort into their program. Their new website is filled with valuable information, particularly about legislators who toe the WMC line.

WMC Reversal on Hospital "Tax" - Now They Must Apply Pressure

As reported in The Capital Times: WMC now backs hospital tax.

As Waxing America observed two weeks ago: Hospital 'Tax' Supported from Left to Right, Except WMC

...if two opponents changed their minds, resolution would be forthcoming. The first is the Republican leadership in the Wisconsin Assembly, the second is their puppetmasters, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC).

OK, we got the order wrong.  But moving on...

If adopted by the Wisconsin legislature, the assessment will bring in over $420 million in additional federal Medicaid payments to Wisconsin.

Our original WMC Watch* program raised this issue with individual members of the WMC board for the last eight months; since January 1, 2008 I spoke to a half a dozen of the WMC board members about the need for them to learn more about the plan. I asked them to look beyond the limited information provided by the WMC staff, which recommended the organization oppose this excellent plan introduced by Governor Doyle almost a year ago.

The reversal of position, which must have been difficult for WMC, has implications that go far beyond this immediate issue:

• It demonstrates that WMC board members need more information on public policy issues than the limited details they get from their own staff.
• Second, it is evident that many WMC board members make sound decisions when given access to information.
• Third, our original WMC Watch* program was correct in its premise that ratcheting up the public discussion in the Wisconsin press, blogs, and among the WMC members will continue to advance the discussion of public policy.
• Fourth, the editorials in Wisconsin newspapers had an effect in isolating WMC and causing the reversal.
• Last, while the WMC endorsement is important for passage, there is still critical work needed to gain the support of the Republican controlled Wisconsin Assembly, where the conservative leaders remain steadfast in their opposition.

Now WMC must show this new enlightened position is not just for show. We all know that if they exert the same pressure they apply when getting their way on tax issues for their members, enough Republican Assembly members will support this measure for passage.

*There is a new WMC Watch operated by One Wisconsin Now (OWN) which is not to be confused with our program - thus the sporadic reference to the "original WMC Watch."

World Cheese Champions Crowned in Madison

For those of you who prefer to eat your cheese rather than wear it as a hat, Madison just hosted the 2008 World Championship Cheese Contest. Intrepid traveler, photographer, and foodie pigiste (look it up) Nina Camic gives us the word straight from the judges' mouths in her blog The Other Side of the Ocean:

Jean-Marie Humbert is here to judge from France. I am drawn to his table because he is…expressive. A gorgonzola is placed before him. He looks at it, takes one whiff and shudders. I ask him in French what’s wrong. I don’t want to eat this! He says emphatically. It may make me sick.

- Barry Orton

Do It In the Convenience of Your Own Home: Get a Pulitzer Prize Nomination!!

I was checking Wisconsin blog sites for new, smart ways of presenting Waxing America when I peered into Charlie Sykes' world. Sykes, who promotes himself as "Wisconsin blogosphere champion with his 'Sykes Writes' blog," also notes his many accomplishments.

Those include his nomination for a Pulitzer Prize.

I decided to check to see just how Charlie received his nomination since I recalled that the matter got less than significant amounts of respect when the topic was bantered about the Internet last summer, Eat Your Heart out Charlie Sykes.

Well, I failed to learn much about Charlie's nomination but I did learn a lot about the nominating process.

Anyone can do it. You can do it from home. The kids can do it from school. Organize your congregation and do a group nomination after Sunday morning services. Need a project for the scouts? A mid-afternoon activity at the nursing home? Nominate your son-in-law. Its better than naming a star after someone and it's a lot cheaper.

Bored at work reading stupid blogs? Want to suck up to the boss?

Here is the entry form for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. Fill it in - name Charlie Sykes, your Aunt Martha, granpa Charlie, the mishpoke, or even me.

If you want to do a decent job and not embarrass yourself or your nominee, you might want to look at the Overview of Awards. and look at the criteria. But than again you are after the nomination, not the award, yourself.

In advance, here is congratulations from Waxing America.

WMC Fouls the Air, Attempts to Drown Great Lakes Compact

While it attempts to buy the Supreme Court, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) is busy drowning the proposed Great Lakes Compact, ratified by every Great Lakes state except Wisconsin three other Great Lakes states and the houses of several others.* In the Badger state, it was adopted by the Senate and is dying in the Republican-controlled Assembly, which often acts like a wholly-owned subsidiary of WMC.

Meantime, as the DNR gives us air quality alerts, WMC wants to roll back air quality standards.

Jim Rowen at The Political Environment has been on this for years. His latest post once again brings it together.  Bookmark for sure.

Statewide Air Quality Alert Extended All Day: Does The Pro-Pollution WMC Have A Solution

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has extended its weekend statewide air quality alert through this evening, which means when it rains and snows later today, that's toxic precipitation landing on your yard and poisonous particulate matter in the air that is burying itself into your lungs...

...You will recall that the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's leading business lobby, last year advocated rolling back air quality standards for southeastern Wisconsin, home to most of the state's polluting industry and vehicle traffic...

...You could also ask them why the organization is suggesting that the GOP-led state Assembly derail the Great Lakes Compact, too - - exposing the Great Lakes to whimsical and damaging exploitation through diversions without standards or controls

*Thank you Andy.

Madison Storm February 17, 2008. Blogging Unless the Power Goes

The storm moved in after midnight. It started with rain.

7:00 am No Sunday newspaper. We have great people doing the delivery but even they know not to venture out in this mess.  The street is covered with ice. I doubt we will get the cars unlocked today-they too are covered with ice. All the utility lines and tree limbs are sagging under the weight of the water and ice.

8:00 am Showered and then rinsed the bathtub and filled it with water. If the water pumping stations loses power we will have enough H2O for the dogs and cats; I plan to drink Crystal Light.

8:45 am A tree limb went down and with it the telephone line. We still have service.  The anchor in the house came out and the line is laying across the line.

8:47 am The rain turned to snow.

8:50 am Boris is out there in the snow and rain having a grand time. He is trying to carry the six foot limb that broke of the birch tree.

9:00 am Called the AT&T. The representative answered in three minutes and told me that crews would be out by Tuesday. I told her her "Tuesday if we were lucky." She smiled through the phone line and thanked me for being understanding. She said I could pick up the limb and that it was all right if I wanted to get the downed line out of the snow. I am thankful i did not get someone in the Philippines.

9:05 am It is back to rain.

9:10 am I am dressed for when hell freezes over and headed out the back door.

• Removed the downed limb.
• Put the step ladder in the yard and laid the line over it. Hooked the end of the line to the fence. Now the line is four feet off the ground.
• Moved fire wood close to the back door in case we need it later.
• The dogs want to play. Threw the ball and Frisbee for ten minutes to Boris and Roxy. Sara opened the door and told me that I was an idiot. The dogs are having a grand time. I am wet.
• Knocked icicles form the edge of the roof. I know better than to try to remove ice from tree limbs - it only breaks them.

9:35 am It appears the precipitation has stopped or slowed to a drizzle. I am going to go check the flashlights and get out some fresh batteries. Boris is still ruling over the backyard.

11:15 am It can't decide what to do. It could be a drizzle, it could be sleet, I know it isn't snow or sunshine. The dogs are having a grand time. But I have a feeling that the weight of the weather on the branches is going to start taking a toll soon.

11:45 am Another small branch, about six feet long, 3 inches in diameter, separated from a birch tree.

11:59 am Definitely a mixture of sleet and snow.

12:06 pm Definitely snow. A good day to read. Along with the campaign to expose WMC, I meant to read Judicial Elections: Robe Warriors by Zach Patton in the March, 2006 issue of Governing Magazine. Join me (this merits its own post later in the week; thanks to Jim Rosenberg @ Random Thoughts for the reminder):

The real power player on the business side is the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, which has dedicated millions of dollars in recent elections
to reshaping the state-level judiciary with business-friendly judges.
The chamber, which represents the interests of more than 3 million
businesses across the country, has reportedly spent $120 million in
just the past four years, most of it through the Institute for Legal
Reform, a tax-free affiliate. All that spending is paying off: In
2004, the chamber won every single contest in which it was involved.
Those triumphs all but guaranteed that spending by groups on both
sides of the tort overhaul debate would continue to rise. "We're going
to see more of the same for 2006, if not worse," Weiss predicts.
One reason judicial campaigns are costing so much is that they're
being waged more and more on the television screen. From 2000 to 2004,
the number of states that saw judicial TV ads quadrupled to 16,
meaning there were ads in four out of every five states in which
candidates ran head to head. Spending on TV ads in 2004 totaled $24.4
million, obliterating the previous record of $10.6 million set in
2000.

2:00 pm  No cars on our street since 9:35 am. No bicycles either. Oops.

The snow is piling up and I have no clue as to whether switching from rain to snow is better.  I think it is. Rain would have formed more ice increasing the likelihood of bringing down more trees and power lines. I think.

According to DANE 101 the Hillary Clinton event is canceled.  They think.

Sara is watching something about Yellowstone on the History Channel. Natasha is with us and will probably not go back to her dorm tonight. Alex came in from Milwaukee Friday to join Natasha in auditioning for an extra role in the Johnny Depp Dillinger film. She went back to Milwaukee last night to beat the storm.  Good move.

We have enough Crystal Light to get through Tuesday. I love the raspberry.

I have an appointment at the Labor Temple at 1:00 tomorrow followed by another across the street at Coffee Cargo. I plan to make both of them.

3:00 pm First phone call of the day since 9:00 am. It is from Hillary Clinton. At least it sounded like her.

4:00 pm Another phone call. Hillary again.

4:05 pm Another phone call. Natasha's roommate is ill and stranded in the dorm. Sara and Natasha go out and spend 15 minutes scraping the ice from the car.

5:00 pm Sara and Natasha are back from picking up the prescription and dropping it off. Sara says the roads are better where there is no plowing. The car gets traction in the snow. No snow, and it is ice. Another phone call. It is Hillary Clinton.

6:00 pm  Dinner. Sara, not too subtlety suggests that maybe I overreacted and the danger from the storm was not all that great. Sara and Natasha have been drinking the Crystal Light.  There is only enough to get us through Monday.

10:00 pm  Power is out to the west of us. I am vindicated.

The Capital Times Leads Wisconsin Journalism into 21st Century

Like most people, I was taken by surprise when The Capital Times announced that it was discontinuing publication of a daily newspaper and entering a new world - a world of on-line journalism and a two-day-a-week newspaper.

The surprise was that not in the demise of the daily newspaper. The surprise was the publishers and editors realizing that the future was on the Internet.

The die was cast a half a century ago when The Capital Times and the Wisconsin State Journal entered into a joint operating agreement to use the same press. In what appeared to be a stroke of good fortune and insight, The Capital Times won the right to publish in the afternoon.  The State Journal was 'stuck' with the morning.

In successive years, city after city, the newspapers folded. First the afternoon papers went under. Then cities with four dailies found themselves with one morning paper as television reduced the demand for competing newspapers.

For the past forty years Madison's afternoon newspaper was fighting a losing battle. Under the circumstances, it is amazing they hung in this long.

Then came the Internet.  There is an entire generation that has never read a newspaper but maybe a dozen times in their lives. But they get their news. They get it from the Internet and  television, which accelerated the demise of the dailies and is also feeling the impact.

This is a marvelous opportunity for Madison and The Capital Times. In the tradition of The Capital Times and the Progressive Magazine, there is an opportunity to not only present local news but also a continuous stream of analysis of critical state and national issues in a most timely manner.

Go for it.

Jessica McBride Endorses Waxing America

Jessica McBride, the real one not Whallah!, in an email to me on Monday December 12, 2007 said:

I think your commentary is intelligent and informed...I can appreciate how your argue the issues.

Add to this, her recent comment from her blog*

Soglin ...influential members of the liberal political intelligentsia in this state, perhaps in the top 5...frame public opinion both on the left and in the media

Why stop there. I am working on the center as well?

Intelligent, informed, influential. Go team.

Take that, the rest of you left -wing, snot-nosed, disrespectful punks.

(*you can find her on your own, but believe me, anything you need to read is here at Waxing America)