Paul Soglin: Waxing America

The Real Problem Caperton v. Massey poses to WMC and the Right Wing Fronts

Some are missing the point when it comes to understanding the implications of Caperton v. Massey. This is the recent United States Supreme Court case where the majority ruled that campaign contributions cannot undermine the impartiality of the courts.

As those who follow our successful WMC Watch program know, we focused not so much on Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce inserting itself into judicial races as much as the fact that the public does not know who is paying or who is authorizing the "Willie Horton" style ads that are the characteristic of WMC and its clones.

Writing at Shark and Shepard, Rick Esenberg notes, "WMC rarely has a personal stake in a case and, putting that aside, there were very few cases pending or imminent at the time of the election in which it could be said to have a more general interest."

True, Rick. And very little of the $2-3 million that went into the Ziegler or Gableman judicial races came from WMC, or for that matter its WIsconsin members.

But the money came from somewhere. It came from some big players. For the U.S. Supreme Court decision to have any meaning, there must be disclosure as to the source of the funds. WMC, All Children Matter, Americans for Prosperity, all will have to reveal the funders.

Reflections on Today's Milwaukee Brewer Game Part II

Two Brewer games in less than forty eight hours, two losses and no opinions changed after writing Reflections on Today's Milwaukee Brewer Game.

Tuesday's game, a 3-2 loss to Colorado, was polished off in two hours forty-five minutes. Reasonable by modern standards but way too long for a low scoring affair that featured nineteen strikeouts and only two walks.

We sat along the left field line two rows behind the tarp. The proximity to the field was great but the perspective on judging sharply hit ground-balls to the left side of the infield was poor.

Alexandra and her boyfriend Dustin agonized over the loss but it was to be expected. Two runs are not going to stand up against the Rockies, especially when you get only one baserunner in the last six innings.

Thursday's loss was the Brewers at their frustrating worst. For some reason the Brewer starting lineup did not include Cory Hart, Bill Hall, J.J. Hardy, and Mike Cameron. I can understand benching or giving a day's rest to a couple of these guys, but it is best to not surrender before the first pitch is thrown.

We sat in one of the luxury suites (Don't ask, don't tell.), which is not the way to watch a ballgame. (Does that make me ungrateful?) Next game we plan to try the right field bleachers. I am still convinced that the best seats are anything between first and third and height is not that important, though it is always more fun to sit as close to the field as possible.

Thursday's game would never end. Too bad Ryan Braun did not hit a grand slam in the seventh rather than the three run blast in the ninth.

The shabby lineup necessitated numerous pinch hitters and before the game concluded after almost four hours, 34 players were penciled onto my scorecard.

Despite Tuesday's comments, which elicited such responses as

• you're old Paul... What Noise?
• Two words: Wrigley. Field.
• So use earplugs!
• ...you sound like a grumpy old man. Grab a beer and enjoy the games.
• Two words: Madison Muskies.

I stand by everything I said, to wit:

• Television requirements will extend the games at least thirty minutes longer than necessary.
• Stadium fans will endure sensory overload as Miller Park provides them racing lights around the edge of the upper deck containing sanguine messages about the Brewers interspersed with mind bending commercials.
• The sound system will be even more offensive. The blaring stadium music and needless reminders about upcoming promotions will ruin one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. Fans will not be bale to discuss each pitch, each at bat, and the nuances of the game without difficulty. The excessive noise, and that is what it is - noise - will make the game less enjoyable.

I plan to go to plenty more games.

Follow Up: No Child Left Behind

Yesterday's post Madison Schools and No Child Left Behind Nonsense provoked a number of comments including two which need greater exposure.

Regarding my reference to the inadequacy of Town of Madison services, Dianthus asked, "Would you please name some of the resources available to city residents that are not available to town residents?"

For starters we have police services. The city of Madison continues to provide a higher level of service on the South side than does the town police department, which continues a decades long practice of relying on the city of Madison for backup -far more than the city relies on the town.

Then look at the city's supportive services through its community services budget -- the town has nothing comparable.

The second more important comment came from Stephen. It is succinct and needs no elaboration:

What is not captured in the NCLB numbers is that Lincoln is a terrific school with a caring and motivated staff. My wife works as a Bilingual Resource Specialist there, and so is very familiar with the kinds of challenges (most of them caused or compounded by poverty) her students have to face every day. Kids who live on the edge of homelessness have a lot more on their minds than readin', writin', and 'rithmetic.

NCLB is more concerned with the collection of bogus metrics unmoored from reality than with the actual education of real children. It is bureaucratic make work designed to undermine support for quality public education.

Earth-Venus smash-up possible in 3.5 billion years: study

A force known as orbital chaos may cause our Solar System to go haywire, leading to possible collision between Earth and Venus or Mars, according to a study released Wednesday.

The good news is that the likelihood of such a smash-up is small, around one-in-2500.

And even if the planets did careen into one another, it would not happen before another 3.5 billion years.

Another good reason not to worry about global warming, brushing your teeth, and listening to your parents.

And to claim that the earth is less than 17,000 years old.

Madison Schools and No Child Left Behind Nonsense

This morning's Wisconsin State Journal informs us that Two Madison elementary schools fail No Child Left Behind standards.

Leopold and Lincoln fell short of the federal law’s criteria for “adequate yearly progress” for the second year in a row, marking them as “schools identified for improvement,” or SIFI. again ...Under the sanctions, the schools will have to review their school improvement plans, offer more academic services outside of the regular school day and allow parents to transfer their child to any public school within the School District where space allows

All of which demonstrates massive failures at so many levels, but not by the schools in question.

First of all, for years the Madison District inched towards a student body with over 40% below the poverty line and now is approaching 50%. That creates challenges of educating students.

It is a national and a state-wide problem, mostly the fault of states and communities that inadequately fund education and supportive services. Madison has to now take responsibilty for the poor planning and performance of others.

Secondly the schools can only be expected to do so much. The learning environment is influenceed by major external factor. A significant number of Franklin students come from the Town of Madison not the City of Madison. The town provides far fewer resources than the city to combat poverty. 

Both schools cited are heavily impacted by households that do not have stable housing - too many of these kids are homeless.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a lousy program. The failures are well documented as well as the cheating in Bush's home state of Texas where high school students are pushed out the door so they are not counted as failures. More importantly, NCLB is based on flawed testing that does not adequately take into account poverty, the early education of the children from outside the particular school or the district, or the resources of the district.

At the local level we are caught in a horrendous dilemma. We know that inadequate shelter is a major part of the problem. In our rush to house the homeless we do not always provide the other necessary services. The expansion of poor people migrating into Madison places demands on services for transportation, childcare, health, and job training.

The principal at Lincoln, Deborah Hamilton noted:

This was not a shock. I don’t know why anyone with any sense would think that students who are in a bilingual program, and required to learn to read and write in Spanish, would be able to accomplish the same thing in English and do it in both languages in the same amount of time.

Leopold principal John Burkholder said:

Most of our parents understand our students are doing well... ( being on the  list) concerns me. For some people, that’s all they know of our school. When you sit and look at the data, it may tell a somewhat different story. But we’re working on it. We’re trying to address this and trying to bring learning up for all kids.

Meantime, Madison Memorial High School came off the list. Good for them. But it is only important because some people erroneously believe that NCLB is meaningful.

U.S. Supreme Court to WMC: You Cannot Buy Any Court

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices Annette Ziegler and Michael Gableman (Mr. Gableman: It Is Not Over Until We Say It Is Over) are on notice. So are Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, All Children Matter, and the other conduits and fronts for corporations trying to purchase justice, or injustice as the case may be.

With conservative United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy writing the majority opinion, the ability to contribute to judicial campaigns in hope of currying favor was severely restrained. In Caperton v. Massey the court noted:

Just as no man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, similar fears of bias can arise when -- without the other parties’ consent -- a man chooses the judge in his own cause

We get an excellent synopsis of the case from the New York Times editorial, Honest Justice:

The case involved some egregious ethical myopia on the part of Justice Brent Benjamin of the West Virginia Supreme Court. Justice Benjamin, who is now the state’s chief justice, twice cast the deciding vote to throw out a $50 million verdict against Massey Energy, one of the country’s biggest coal companies. He sat in judgment on the case even though Massey’s chief executive, Don Blankenship, spent an extraordinary $3 million to help Justice Benjamin get elected to the state’s top court.

To get a full understanding of the enormity of right wing organizations attempt to purchase seats on state supreme court benches, one should examine the Governing Magazine article form March, 2007, Robe Warriors,

This election year (2007) will be a watershed for state courts. Nearly 80 Supreme Court seats will be on the ballot in 30 states...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...

Here at Waxing America we have hammered away for two years through our WMC Watch program at the US Chamber of Commerce and businesses who refuse to show their faces such as Wal-mart, Home Depot, and the banks as they attempt to stop consumer, labor safety, and environmental  litigation.

The implications for Wisconsin and the other states are stunning:

• Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions where Ziegler participated may be appealed.
• In the future the purchasers of the Ziegler and Gableman seats will watch their pawns sit on the sidelines while a new majority of three out of five Wisconsin justices determine their fate.
• Most important this case opens the door to find out who funded the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) efforts at the tune of $2-3 million per judicial election.

Reflections on Today's Milwaukee Brewer Game

I will be going to the Brewers - Rockies game today and again on Thursday.  The games are yet to be played but there are a couple of things I already know:

• Television requirements will extend the games at least thirty minutes longer than necessary.
• Stadium fans will endure sensory overload as Miller Park provides them racing lights around the edge of the upper deck containing sanguine messages about the Brewers interspersed with mind bending commercials.
• The sound system will be even more offensive. The blaring stadium music and needless reminders about upcoming promotions will ruin one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. Fans will not be bale to discuss each pitch, each at bat, and the nuances of the game without difficulty. The excessive noise, and that is what it is - noise - will make the game less enjoyable.

Despite the best efforts of the owners of professional major league baseball teams to ruin the game and turn the ball park into a three ring circus, regardless of the outcome, we will enjoy the game.

They are getting close, but to date, no matter how hard they try, these promoters of chaos and deafness have not quite destroyed the game. That is a testament to the enduring quality of baseball.

If I wanted to go a melded college football game,a Las Vegas magic show,  a monster truck rally, a NASCAR race, and a rock concert, I would not be at a baseball game.

Wisconsin Budget: An Opportunity to End Partisanship 'Gotcha'

Friday on WHA radio The Week In Review, when Joy Cardin asked me if the cuts made in the budget of the Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen office were partisan, I promptly answered  "Yes."

Nothing is new; this is a decades-old flawed bipartisan Wisconsin tradition.

I recall years ago when a member of the majority party decided to punish a member of the opposing party. The majority legislator struck from the budget a small needed facility in the offender's district. The cost was so insignificant, it could not be measured in the hundredths of a percentage point.

The only people hurt were the residents of the area. They were the real victims. For decades feuds between legislators lead to the people of the state used as pawns in a 'gotcha" game. What is happening to Republican Van Hollen and his department happened to Democrats when Doyle was AG, and happened to various State Treasurers and Secretaries of State who were of the wrong political persuasion.

It is time for both parties to end this silliness.  Restoring the cuts in the Attorney General's budget is a place to start.  I was not a supporter of J. B. Van Hollen and some of his work clearly distresses me. Cutting the budget may hurt him, but the real victims are the people of the state.

While we are on the subject, both parties should confront bipartisan budget practices that hurt all of us. It is time to accurately project tax revenues, stop using one-time revenues to fund the operating budget, and stop shifting operating budget items to the capital budget so they can be funded by borrowing instead of current tax revenues.

In addition we need creative approaches to expensive problems.

A bipartisan effort to look at means of lowering the costs of incarceration is a place to start. Van Hollen and Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney know where to start: for nonviolent offenders, further expansion of early release bracelet programs and other initiatives which do not endanger public safety.

WIsconsin Partisans Resurrecting the Badger Automobile Industry

There are modest prospects that the GM Janesville plant or the Chrysler Kenosha plant could be utilized by a resurgent American automobile industry in the next year or two. General Motors is considering Janesville among a dozen sites for three small car plants. The Kenosha plant might be utilized as part of the reorganization by one of Chrysler's European partners.

Governor Doyle made it clear this week that he is fully committed to working with everyone, starting with the automobile manufacturers and every political leader regardless of political party.

While manufacturers look at taxes when making location decisions, the culture, the schools, and the business environment are more critical factors.

The business environment is a curious one. It includes a bipartisan approach to working with companies. Businesses do not like to become the political pawns of either political party. While companies enjoy attention for new products and recognition for their community involvement, they prefer to be under the radar when it comes to political controversy.

That is why WMC members ordered the organization to halt its more partisan political activities.

If the location effort gets caught in crossfire between Democrats and Republicans, kiss goodbye any hope of resurrecting automobile manufacturing in Wisconsin.

If the efforts succeed, there will be plenty of credit to go around.

UAW and Labor Unions Revisited - Bottoms Up

Yesterday's post  What the UAW Did Not Do to General Motors brought a flurry of comments from anti-union conservatives.

It is interesting how they fault unions for the responsibilities of management.

As the mayor of Madison for fourteen years I had to work with six public employee unions and three professional associations. Public employee unions have more power than private sector unions in that unwise state legislation gets them some powers that at best should be the subject of negotiations.

In that period I endured one strike by the Teamsters Union which closed the bus system and eight binding arbitrations- the city won all of them.

For starters, a strong union is in everyone's best interest. Weak labor organizations have no confidence at the bargaining table and cannot deliver when the membership votes. Weak union leaders make outrageous proposals trying to endear themselves to the membership.

Contracts are negotiated every two or three years. The outcome of those negotiations are determined by what happens between the contracts. Silly grievances, vindictive directives, and gotcha practices poison the process and do nothing to build a good relationship and a better organization.

Unions are always suspicious of any kind of management reform because often it is a "Chainsaw Al" gutting of the company. The words, "reorganization" or "transformation" are used too frequently and erroneously, so it is not surprising that labor unions are suspicious - as are most of top and middle management.

Introducing a real quality transformation, which was done in the city of Madison, takes time and commitment.

The first thing that needs to be done is to build trust. Driving out fear is the companion goal.

When the auto manufacturers received pushback to their 'improvement' programs, they failed to build the trust, and drive out the fear that plagued the companies. That is the responsibility of management. Engaging the workers, union or not, is what the managers are paid to do.

Then again, why bother when you can be a vice-president drawing a mutli-million dollar bonus for simply showing up.

The solution to any management reform, any break in a system starts at the top.

Solutions come from the bottom - the initiative starts at the top.