Tag Archives: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

January 29, 2013 · 9:46 AM

Walker starts to get cold feet on electoral scheme

The Maddow Blog

Over the weekend, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) offered cautious encouragement to Republicans hoping to rig the 2016 presidential election by changing how his state allocates electoral votes. The conservative governor didn’t explicitly endorse the idea, but Walker called it “interesting” and “worth looking at.”

Yesterday, the Wisconsin Republican was far more circumspect.

Gov. Scott Walker says he has a “real concern” about a Republican idea to change the way the state awards its electoral votes, conceding the move could make Wisconsin irrelevant in presidential campaigns. [...]

“One of our advantages is, as a swing state, candidates come here. We get to hear from the candidates,” said Walker in an interview Saturday at a conservative conference in Washington, D.C. “That’s good for voters. If we change that, that would take that away, it would largely make us irrelevant.”

That’s a far cry from what Walker was saying over the weekend, and it’s a welcome change. What’s more, it’s worth noting that the governor happens to be correct — if Wisconsin changed to a system in which electoral votes are dictated by gerrymandered district lines, the state would immediately go from key, contested battleground to campaign afterthought.

Indeed, that applies to any of the other states (Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, and Florida) where the election-rigging scheme has been discussed — candidates and their campaign teams wouldn’t have any incentive to invest time and energy in states where the outcome is predetermined.

So, does this mean Walker is against the idea?

It remains unclear — he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he’s “qualified” his comments from the weekend, and he’s “not embracing” the scheme, at least not yet.

Walker added, “The most important thing to me long-term as governor on that is what makes your voters be in play.” And if that’s true, this plan is a non-starter, since it would do the exact opposite.

This would, incidentally, put Walker at odds with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, a long-time ally of the governor who’s also from Wisconsin and who’s endorsed the scheme.

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November 20, 2011 · 12:00 AM

Cain Flubs Libya Again, Claims ‘Taliban’ Has Taken Control

One has to wonder if Herman Cain is really that stupid…

Think Progress

At a press conference in Florida today, GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain — whose foreign policy maxim is “peace through strength and clarity” — attempted to clarify his stance on Libya following his epic whiffing of a question on the country this week.

Unfortunately for the former pizza executive, he only muddled things further today. First he attempted to blame the interviewer for not being “specific” enough and for supposedly selectively editing Cain’s response. (Over five uncut minutes of his remarks are visible on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s website.) Then, Cain erroneously claimed that the Taliban has taken control in Libya:

Do I agree with siding with the opposition? Do I agree with saying that Qadhafi should go? Do I agree that they now have a country where you’ve got Taliban and Al Qaeda that’s going to be part of the government? … Do I agree with not knowing the government was going to — which part was he asking me about? I was trying to get him to be specific and he wouldn’t be specific.

Watch it:

Of course, the Taliban exists in Afghanistan and Pakistan, not Libya.

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November 14, 2011 · 6:18 PM

Herman Cain Stumbles On Libya Questions (VIDEO)

I’m not one to usually gloat, but this time I’m gloating.  Herman Cain is as dumb as a pile of bricks.

Huffington Post

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain struggled to answer a question about U.S. foreign policy toward Libya in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial board Monday.

“Okay, Libya,” said Cain, glancing up. “President Obama supported the uprising, correct? President Obama called for the removal of [Muammar] Gaddafi. Just wanted to make sure we’re talking about the same thing before I say, ‘Yes, I agreed.

No, I didn’t agree,’” said Cain.”I do not agree with the way he handled it for the following reason,” Cain started, before cutting himself off. “Nope, that’s a different one.” Cain shifted in his chair, adjusted his jacket and looked up again.”I got all this stuff twirling around in my head,” he added.

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September 16, 2011 · 6:16 PM

Gov. Scott Walker’s Office Targeted By Corruption Probe After FBI Raids Aide’s Home

There’s no surprise here.  It was just a matter of time, in my opinion…

Think Progress

New details are emerging about a potential corruption investigation into Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) and his staff after FBI agents this weekraided the home of Cindy Archer, who until last month was Walker’s deputy administration secretary.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that authorities last year launched a secret “John Doe investigation” into Walker’s time as Milwaukee County executive, looking into allegations that county staffers did political work while at work, and thus on the taxpayers’ dime. Archer, who held the county’s top staff job for the last three years of Walker’s county executive tenure before following him to the governor’s mansion, said she has done nothing wrong nor has Walker ever asked her to do anything improper.

Milwaukee County prosecutors launched the investigation around the time Walker’s then-constituent services coordinator, Darlene Wink, quit, “after admitting that she was frequently posting online comments on Journal Sentinel stories and blogs while on the county clock,” the Journal Sentinel reported:

Nearly all of her posts praised Walker or criticized his opponents.

Authorities later took her work computer and that of Tim Russell, a former Walker campaign staffer who was then working as county housing director, and executed a search warrant of Wink’s home.

Walker, who is out of the state, has yet to comment on the FBI raid and his spokesperson “said his office would have no comment on the raid or investigation.” Authorities have already requested emails and other information from Walker’s campaign, and he hired former U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic after receiving the subpoena, the AP reported.

Archer has a new job in the state government, which she has yet to begin thanks to an extended sick leave. She is a political appointee, but she held a job that used to be a civil service position. Responding to the FBI raid, Democratic Assembly Leader Peter Barcaintroduced a bill yesterday to repeal a Walker-backed change that allowed the governor to fill civil service positions with political appointees, the AP reported.

There has already been one conviction relating to Walker’s campaign. A businessman supporter of Walker was sentenced to two years’ probation in July stemming from two felony convictions that of exceeding state campaign donation limits and laundering campaign donations to Walker and other state politicians.

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August 10, 2011 · 5:27 PM

That’s Enough, Now Walker: WI Doesn’t Want More Recalls (Against Me)

TPMDC

Coming off of Tuesday’s state Senate recall elections, Democrats remain determined to recall Gov. Scott Walker next year, though they were unsuccessful in their ambitious goal of taking a majority in the state Senate. But for his part, the prospective recallee Walker says the people of Wisconsin don’t want yet another election.

“I think setting aside me, if you went around and talk to the average voter, the best thing they like about today is the ads are gone, at least outside of these two remaining Senate districts,” Walker said, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

“I’ve heard repeatedly from people who are just disgusted at all the ads, disgusted at all the money. They’re tired of seemingly year-round campaigning, and whether it’s a gubernatorial recall, any other recall, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of enthusiasm for having a whole ‘nother wave of ads and money come into the state of Wisconsin.”

Democrats had hoped to flip the Republicans’ 19-14 state Senate majority by gaining at least three seats. When the votes were counted in the six Republican incumbents’ districts, though, the Dems gained two seats for a 17-16 GOP majority, with two remaining recalls next week in districts held by Democratic incumbents.

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June 25, 2011 · 6:41 PM

Wis. Justice Prosser: No Comment On Report That I Grabbed Female Justice By The Neck

TPMMuckraker

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, a member of the court’s 4-3 conservative majority who was just re-elected to a ten-year term in a heated race that involved a recount and vote-tabulating controversies, is now reportedly being accused of physically assaulting liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley in an argument over the court’s recent decision regarding the upholding of Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-public employee union legislation.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism report:

Details of the incident, investigated jointly by Wisconsin Public Radio and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, remain sketchy. The sources spoke on the condition that they not be named, citing a need to preserve professional relationships.

They say an argument that occurred before the court’s release of a decision upholding a bill to curtail the collective bargaining rights of public employees culminated in a physical altercation in the presence of other justices. Bradley purportedly asked Prosser to leave her office, whereupon Prosser grabbed Bradley by the neck with both hands.

Justice Prosser, contacted Friday afternoon by the Center, declined to comment: “I have nothing to say about it.” He repeated this statement after the particulars of the story — including the allegation that there was physical contact between him and Bradley — were described. He did not confirm or deny any part of the reconstructed account.

Bradley also declined to comment, telling WPR, “I have nothing to say.”

The alleged incident is also said to have been reported to Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs, as well as the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, which investigates allegations of misconduct involving judges. Both of those parties declined to confirm or deny the reports to the paper.

Back in March, the state of civility on the court became an issue in Prosser re-election, when it was reported that in 2010 he had called another one of the court’s liberals, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, a “total bitch.” When this was reported in March, Prosser seemed to simultaneously back off from and stick by the comment, blaming both Abrahamson and Bradley, the latter of whom he is now accused of assaulting:

“I probably overreacted, but I think it was entirely warranted…They (Abrahamson and Justice Ann Walsh Bradley) are masters at deliberately goading people into perhaps incautious statements. This is bullying and abuse of very, very long standing.”

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June 3, 2011 · 6:09 AM

Wisconsin GOP: We could be history

This guy and  five others will be toast on July 12th!

The Rachel Maddow Blog

Wisconsin State Senator Dan Kapanke is one of six Republicans up for recall this summer. Mr. Kapanke is making headlines today for telling LaCrosse County Republicans they’ve got to hope public workers “are sleeping on July 12th – or whenever the (election) date is.”

And it’s true that stripping union rights from public workers will tend to turn those workers against you. As will voting to do that in a way that’s not clearly legal. And voting to do that after claiming it’s a fiscal matter and then, when you couldn’t get the quorum to pass it that way, claiming it’s not a fiscal matter after all.

Mr. Kapanke apparently knows this. “We could lose me,” he says on a tape posted by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “We could lose Randy Hopper in the 18th or Alberta Darling over in – wherever she is – the 8th, I believe.” He floats the idea of Republicans winning a seat or two back from Democrats, though no Democrats have yet been certified for recall. And then this: “If they gain control of the Senate, it might be over for us. Because redistricting will play a role, as you know, and we lose that power.”

Wisconsin Republicans do, in fact, have a lot to lose. They’re not helping themselves with proposals to raise taxes on the working poor and lower them for businesses — which they really, truly are proposing. As with their union-stripping bill, it’s not clear that the law allows them to do it in the way they’re trying to do it. Other than zeal to accomplish their governing goals before the recall votes, it’s not clear what’s driving them to risk an unpopular measure like raising taxes.

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March 29, 2011 · 12:50 AM

Walker Administration Announces Implementation Of Anti-Union Law, Despite Judge’s Order Against Publication

"What court order? We won't honor no stinkin' court order!"

The madness of King Scott Walker of Fitzwalkerstan!

TPMDC

The administration of Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) has begun implementing its controversial new law curtailing public employee unions, following a move on Friday declaring it be in effect, and despite a judge’s ruling that enjoined said implementation.

“It is now my legal responsibility to begin enactment of the law,” Secretary of Administration Mike Huebsch, a former Republican state Assembly Speaker, told reporters, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Huebsch said that the state will begin withholding pension and health benefits contributions from government employees’ paychecks, while also no longer automatically deducting union dues. The first paychecks to be affected will be April 21.

A week and a half ago, a judge in Dane County (Madison) blocked the law on procedural grounds, ruling that a key conference committee used to advance the bill — and to get around the state Senate Dems’ walkout from the state — had violated the state open-meetings law by failing to give proper 24-hours notice. The judge’s order “restrain[ed] and enjoin[ed] the further implementation” of the law, including the prevention of Secretary of State Doug LaFollette (D) from publishing the act in the Wisconsin State Journal, which acts as the state’s official newspaper for the purpose of giving the public official notice of new laws — the final step for the law to take effect. That decision is now going through an appeals process, which remains up in the air.    Read more…

 

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February 24, 2011 · 6:17 PM

Madison Police Chief: Scott Walker’s Koch Call ‘Troubling’

Ya think?

TPMDC

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) may have more than his own embarrassment to deal with in the wake of the prank call from from a progressive blogger claiming to be David Koch.

The police chief in Madison, Wisc. — site of the protests at the state Capitol — tells the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel the he found parts of the recorded call between Walker and “Koch” “very unsettling and troubling.”

Specifically, Chief Noble Wray says that Walker’s claim that he considered sending infiltrators into the crowd (prompted by a suggestion by “Koch,” played by blogger Ian Murphy) made him nervous.

“I would like to hear more of an explanation from Governor Walker as to what exactly was being considered, and to what degree it was discussed by his cabinet members,” Wray said. “I find it very unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers.”

Here’s what Walker told Murphy posing as Koch:

MURPHY: What we were thinking about the crowds, was planting some trouble makers?WALKER: Well, the only problem, because we thought about that, my only gut reaction to that would be, right now, the lawmakers I’ve talked to have just completely had it with them. The public is not really fond of this. The teachers union did some polling and focus groups, I think, and found out that the public turned on them the minute they closed school down for a couple days. The guys we have left are largely from out of state, and I keep dismissing it in my press comment saying, ‘eh, they’re mostly from out of state.’”
[...]
I’m saying hey, ‘we can handle this, people can protest, this is Madison, you know, full of the 60s liberals.’ Let them protest. It’s not going to affect us. And as long as we go back to our homes, and the majority of people are telling us we’re doing the right thing, let them protest all they want.

Walker has dismissed the calls, saying “I take phone calls all the time,” and claiming that he didn’t say anything different to the man he thought was a conservative super donor than he has in public.

The cops in Madison have for the most part been highly supportive of the protesters. In statement released to the Journal-Sentinel along with Wray’s comments, the department again praised the thousands gathered in and around the capitol building for their decorum.

“Crowd behavior has been exemplary, and thousands of Wisconsin citizens are to be commended for the peaceful ways in which they have expressed First Amendment rights,” the department told the paper.

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