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Tired of Attack Ad Lies?

You can stop the super pac lies

How hair-tearing, frustrating is it to watch a Walker “It is Working” ad appear on the TV in your home while knowing the information presented is barely true, half true, or an out-and-out lie. Since the Supreme Court Citizens United ruling, it seems there is nothing we can do about it.

Not so. Action can be taken to reduce the deceitful messaging of the third party attack adds.

Tell Television Stations: You Don’t Have to Air Misleading Third Party Ads

Penn’s Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FlackCheck.org Launches “Stand by Your Ad” to Fight Deception in Super PAC and Other Third Party Political Advertising

TV and radio stations are required to air political ads by candidates for such federal offices as the presidency even if their content is blatantly deceptive. Not so the messages of outside groups. Instead, broadcasters have the right to bar so called “third party” ads or insist on the accuracy of those they decide to air. Ohio stations did just that when a group called “Building a Better Ohio” offered Ohio TV stations a deceptive ad last October.

When a group called “Building a Better Ohio” offered Ohio TV stations a deceptive ad last October, a number of stations exercised their prerogative to insist on the accuracy of so-called third party ads by refusing to air it.
The ad below was recalled.

Flackcheck.org

Did you know this?

Kathleen Hall Jamieson was interviewed on Moyers and Company and talked about campaign misinformation. She revealed a fact that I didn’t know. Broadcast station managers are not required to air third party adds. You can scroll ahead to the 8:00 minute mark to hear the discussion about broadcast station managers editorial power.

Going “All Wisconsin” on attack ads

Progressives will not match the funds pouring into the Walker camp from the Koch Brothers – Americans for Prosperity and countless other out-of-state forces. They can be held to truthful portrayal of the facts.

David Koch

“We’re helping him, as we should. We’ve gotten pretty good at this over the years,” he says. “We’ve spent a lot of money in Wisconsin. We’re going to spend more.” Palm Beech Post – Koch
Angel List Wisconsin TV Stations

Stop the Lies

Flackcheck has made it easy.

Go to Flackcheck
You will find a page much like the one in the screen shot below.

1) Just pick your state and the city where your broadcast originates. (I picked Wisconsin and Milwaukee in the screen shot example)
2) Check the boxes of the broadcast stations you want to contact.
3) Send the email.
4) The address of the stations you pick will be in the recipient box. You will find the message referring to the Ohio ad. You can edit the message as you please to include the offending party – Americans for Prosperity,the title of the ad campaign It is Working, and an explanation of the offense – Job and budget information inaccurate
5) Then just copy all the information and paste it into your own email program and SEND.

Station Managers Will Get the Message

When station managers get enough messages reminding them of their responsibility for the accuracy of the messages they choose to broadcast, we may see a change in the deceit of the third party attack adds in Wisconsin.

Or Make Your Own Attack Ad

The Politics of Alienation

What could be the strategy here?

Are GOP political strategists completely incompetent? Why would they continue along the path of pounding and ramming yet another controversial legislative bomb like the mining bill, when the effort would only seem to reinforce the overly strong arm tactics that have sent moderates and even members of their own party to sign recall petitions? Or, are they dumb like a fox? Killdeer Tactics The Killdeer is a bird who builds its nest in the open, and right on the ground. You sometimes see an adult killdeer in gravel, such as along a rocky railroad easement, or on a dirt road. As you approach, the killdeer may suddenly develop a broken wing. It struggles in front a predator, as if it can barely walk, let alone fly. One or both wings drag pitifully on the ground. Ah, but when the helpless bird is nearly dinner, it flies away with all the strength and prowess of a B-52. The broken wing display is a ruse to lead the predator away from the vulnerable nest.

Tactic of Deception Deception detection between relational partners is extremely difficult, unless a partner tells a blatant or obvious lie or contradicts something the other partner knows to be true. While it is difficult to deceive a partner over a long period of time, deception often occurs in day-to-day conversations between relational partners.[1] Detecting deception is difficult because there are no known completely reliable indicators of deception. Deception, however, places a significant cognitive load on the deceiver. He or she must recall previous statements so that his or her story remains consistent and believable. As a result, deceivers often leak important information both verbally and nonverbally.Wiki battle tactics

Whose nest is more vulnerable than that of the two Scott’s Walker and Fitzgerald? Never have they been more vulnerable as the poor job numbers, budget deficits, and indictments and court rulings are landing like spit fire to the left and right. They and their “chicks” are facing a recall of historic proportions, and the clock is ticking. So, what is the deal with the mining bill? Why would Juneau Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald suddenly and dramatically scrape the senate committee, sending the bill back into the Joint Finance Committee? The move to go backward to the harsh and hated Assembly version of the bill seemed to be self defeating, since many GOP legislators had taken the position of non-support. So why?

Looking away from the nest

With John Doe indictments surrounding Walker and District Court reprimands slapping at Fitzgerald, the nest of chicks is on the ground and the cat is circling. So, off they go with the broken wing; the scrapping of the mining bill to distract activists and democrats away from the nest and away from the real prize – the recall of the major players to move them out of power, so that the damage done to Wisconsin can be healed. The mining bill is just one injury to an already critically listed patient suffering from a stroke of collective bargaining, massive voter ID contusions, and pulmonary blockage of passages from the people to is representatives.

The mining bill is a travesty. The healing intervention is to recall the tumor. Only then, will the body be on the road to a slow recovery.

Read between the lines for Scott Fitzgerald’s hints of deception in Friday’s report on Wisconsin Public Television’s “Here and Now”.

The first post under the heading “Free Wisconsin” was headlined “Sleeping Giant Awakes in Wisconsin”. It really reflects my personal waking, as from a cold sweat, trembling nightmare, except that no shaking of the head or pinching of myself could make it go away. It was real.

Thus began a daily posting of the barrage of assaults on the rules, procedures, and dignity of the government of Wisconsin in the long year of GOP control under Scott Walker. My posts are often accompanied with a photo-shop picture or two, so I picked a picture with a caption to trace the evolution of events in Wisconsin over the first six months of the past year.

The Koch lobbying office on the capital square

The REAL Koch Bros February 23rd, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern The Call was a prank….the lobbying office is REAL Judging from the cozy conversation Scott Walker had with the prankster David Koch, one might suspect that similar calls could be made from this quaint little office.

A little piece of American SOLIDARITY March 10th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern There was a demonstration in front of the Court House in Richland County, Wisconsin, America at 9:00 a.m. CST on March 10, 2010. It will never go in Wisconsin in the long run; not with these Wisconsin born and bred people of strong and tested will in opposition. I left confident of success and damn proud of Wisconsin!

A mother with her children stood bundled against the cold holding hand-made, cardboard with magic marker signs.

April 5th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern Why is it important to know who the Koch Bros are? Ask Bernie Sanders the Senator from Vermont who stood on the floor of the Senate for most of a whole day to deliver a good, old fashioned filibuster, which has become known as “The Amazing Speech”, to stop the action that would extend tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.

Who are the Koch Bros? Why should I care?

What a season of awakening and action with the result: a record breaking, recall of six (to date) Wisconsin GOP Senators facing a recall election in July!

Summer of UNREST May 1st, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern This is monumental! This is what Democracy looks like! Count them Darling, Kapanke, Olson, Hopper, Cowles, Harsdorf! All stood with Walker and when Spring came they found the ice melting beneath their feet. Final hour recall drives are still going on for the remaining two of the now infamous GOP 8!

Holy!- STEALING WISCONSIN- Sexy! May 5th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern We all suspect that the real problem in the Wisconsin recount is not likely to turn up in the recount of votes because it is quite possible that the votes being counted are already flipped! Why are we not getting to the real suspect issues: Kathy Nickolaus’ criminal history, “special software” given to her alone by the GAB (the board responsible for administrating the state-wide recount), the storage vote counting software on her private computer, the proven vulnerability of the Sequoia (Waukesha) voting system to hacking and manipulation?

Sexy Gap Opening in Ballot Bags!

The Brad Blog calls the Waukesha recount a “Dog and Pony Show”

Fraud 9 – Duct Tape (Really!) May 21st, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern They make it sound the Kloppenburg found a rip in a single ballot bag and are claiming fruad. It wasn’t one bag. It was many bags. Not only did they appear slit, torn, and lapping open the numbering would be an embarrassment to a third grader! To top it off the slit bags were repaired with duct tape!

Prosser and Activist Judges June 15th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern Justice Shirley Abrahamson accuses the majority of 4 of giving case ‘short shrift’ In hastily reaching judgment, Justice Patience D. Roggensack, Justice Annette K. Ziegler, and Justice Michael J. Gableman author an order, joined by Justice David T. Prosser, lacking a reasoned, transparent analysis and incorporating numerous errors of law and fact. This kind of order seems to open the court unnecessarily to the charge that the majority has reached a pre-determined conclusion not based on the facts and the law, which undermines the majority’s ultimate decision.

ALEC – Anti Labor Elderly Children July 15th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern How does this activity differ from legislators meeting in party caucus, or designing a party platform for legislative action? - The workings of ALEC are secret. In fact, the existence of the “council” was all but unknown until the past few months even though its influence on Wisconsin legislation can be traced back to the Thompson Administration. - The workings of ALEC have nothing to do with “we the people” or promoting the general welfare, but focus firmly on the “pursuit of happiness” for the already most privileged and wealthy top 1% of the population. The Walker Policies never seemed a match for the historical character of Wisconsin.

What if the wealthiest Americans formed a secret organization

Round and Round we go expecting different results?

Election Merry-Go-Round August 10th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern Um, Dems better look into what is going on in district 8! MSNBC “With 62% of the vote in the dem had a 52/48 advantage, then, with 63% in the dem had a 51/49 advantage, THEN with a 64% of the votes in the republican had a 51/49 advantage. THAT CANNOT BE! A 1% swing cannot suddenly give the republican 3% points IF previously a 1% swing took away only ONE % point from the democratic challenger. THIS is the “smoking gun” – that should be investigated by the Dems TODAY. It’s PROOF Nicholas sat on democratic votes. Someone needs to get a copy of the MSNBC tape and look at what i was looking at. Again, if a 1% swing at 10pm means 1,000 votes, then, 1% swing at 11pm CANNOT mean 4,000 votes!!!” Posted by Darcy Gustavsson of the Election Integrity group on face book.

Hurricane Kathy Rips Wisconsin August 25th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern A “KAT 4″ Hurricane made landfall in the City of Brookfield in Waukesha County in April, 2011 leaving 14,000 residents stripped of their votes. The massive storm caught the residents of Wisconsin completely unaware. Few warnings were posted by the Government Accountability Bureau regarding the severity of the storm that left thousands of Wisconsin Residents stripped of their freedoms and at the mercy of the devastating power of special interest groups such as Americans for Prosperity and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – the shadowy Koch Brothers, big tobacco, insurance companies, and a drug industry consortium.

Kathy Leaves Path of Destruction Across State

Give-Away Money Must Be Reclaimed ASPA

Infact, shedding Walker/Fitzgerald would put about 468 dollars in voter’s pockets!

Walker cheated Wisconsin out of $846 Million dollars while a recall election could cost $9,000,000.

FACT
One of his signature promises was a rejection of $810 million in federal stimulus dollars for high-speed rail between Milwaukee and Madison.
Huffington Post

FACT
Madison – The state will turn down $38 million in federal money that could have gone to implementing the federal health care law in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday.
JS Online

Walker has Rejected, Returned, Refused the people of Wisconsin 948 Million Dollars

If you subtract the 9 million cost of the recall election the balance is $939 million. About 2 million people voted in the 2008 gubernatorial election.

Walker cheated $468 from each voter, whether they voted for him or not.

Why Was the 948,000,000 Rejected?

The answer sends out an alarm as to the stubborn instability of the current Governor of Wisconsin. The money was rejected out of aberration of personality; a stubborn instability that puts his agenda, and his allegiance to contributors over the welfare of the people.

The answer demands a firm rejection of the Walker/Fitzgerald aberration of politics as soon as possible.

“It is a call for patriotism and a higher ideal in citizenship. The patriotic citizenry of the country must take a stand to wealth, that they conduct their business lawfully.” Robert La Follette

The Father of the Progressive Movement – Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette. Full speech from 1924 below.

The PBS Nightly News summarized the 1 million signature Recall effort with words like: “Scott Walker became the target of protest last year when he curtailed the collective bargaining rights of most public workers”.

If they were covering the landing on the moon would they say, “The event began with a successful blast off”?

It is unconscionable reporting to shove this historic, grassroots, movement for democracy in the collective bargaining box. If you believe that is the real news, you do not “get it”. You have not done your homework. You are doing a disservice to the thousands of people who are working in a glorious service to their state and country!

Wisconsin Public Television Coverage D- or F

Here and Now is the Wisconsin focused, weekly news program on Wisconsin Public Television. It is hosted by Frederica Freyberg who manages to make the most interesting events that have occurred in Wisconsin politics in years, down right boring. If she ran a pasta place she would have folded long ago for serving soft, mushy, and unpalatable noodles. When news reporting attempts to be so nonpartisan that it misses the point, it is no longer reporting. It is allowing the status-quo opinions of both sides an opportunity to broadcast views that most people already know. Watching Here and Now, is like seeing a movie for the tenth time, only as a distraction from some other nagging responsibility like cleaning the toilet.

Recently, when the recall effort was first announced, Frederica interviewed UW-Milwaukee professor of Governmental Affairs, Mordecai Lee. He expressed doubt that activists could garner the signatures to reach the threshold of 540,000 votes to recall Walker. The program video and interview is no longer available on site Here

Even though his hand on the pulse of Wisconsin turned to be ice cold, this same out-of-touch “expert” was called (or recalled) back again when he stated:

If I were a betting man, I think that we’d say that he has a slightly better chance of retaining a seat than being deposed simply because he’s an incumbent, low turnout skews Republican.

The people can only take consolation in the fact that his opinion about the recalls is equal to his opinion about the election.

Missing the Real and Historic Story

Is it partisan to recognize history in the making? Is it honest journalism to ignore the difference between a heroic grass roots effort in face of a nationally organized attempt squash the people’s voice? The collective bargaining issue was the count down and lift off on the journey to open the door of a very dark cave of covert plans to push laws through the GOP controlled Wisconsin legislature; laws that were not even the product of any Wisconsin legislator or source. While the press seems stuck on “union”, the workings and influence of American Legislative Exchange Counsel (ALEC) is ignored. ALEC is the source of much more than union busting, it is the documented source of fringe right wing efforts that threaten the environment, voting rights, health care, education and the rules of the legislature itself.

This is the REAL story – High Time It Be Told

20,600 Signatures Collected
Only 16,742 needed to trigger a Recall Election.

Lori never planned to become a one-woman political committee. A freelance photographer and writer originally from St. Louis but now a resident of Fort Atkinson became the David to take on Goliath. She is not funded by big union, out-of-state-money but only by a deep beating heart for democracy. Against all odds she orchestrated the successful recall of Senator Scott Fitzgerald!

NPR – Frederica Freyburg – Scott Walker and Scott Fitzgerald Please Watch the Video Above.

You are not facing big union organization or out-of-state money. You are facing your constituents. You are hearing the voices of the people of Wisconsin who you failed to listen to over the past long, hard, year.

The Progressive roots of Fighting Bob La Follette are sending new shoots from Ashland to Prairie Du Chein and sprouting all along the Wisconsin River and the Door County Peninsula.
The Collective Bargain is made of thousands of people joining together to keep and make their government representative. To frame this message in the script of ALEC and the GOP is reprehensible, shallow, and will be diminished by the new spirit of progressive action.

Republicans Have NO Grass Roots and Are Sinking in the Dry Sands of Failed Political Strategy

You notice what is missing in this round of recalls? The Republican’s have been unable to launch even one effective recall effort against a single Democrat. Why?

In mid October Scott Fitzgerald said he would would consider trying to recall nearly all of the Democrats who are eligible. He called Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma) the most vulnerable and said Sen. Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) was a likely target. Even though a recall attempt failed last round, he raised the possibility of, once again, going after Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona). Oh, and Republicans tried to recall Lassa this year but did not garner enough signatures.
WSJ October Article

So, what happened?

Last Summer Republicans tried to recall Senator Dave Hansen (30th District), Jim Holperin, (Conover), and Bob Wirch, (Kenosha) – and failed on all three counts. While Democrats ousted Dan Kapanke (32nd District) and Randy Hopper (18 District). You may remember how they hired people from out of state to canvass for recall signatures with disastrous results.
Link for complete breakdown of races in last Summer’s Recall

Today, Democrats are believed to hold enough signatures to trigger recall elections for Senators Pam Galloway of Wausau, Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls and Van Wanggaard of Racine, and against all odds, Scott Fitzgerald himself! Not to mention, the historic recall of the sitting Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker!

If They Can’t Buy It Republicans Can’t Get It

Walker isn’t making his appeal to the people of Wisconsin, he finds his constituents in the deep pockets of wealthy conservatives just about everywhere else:

Walker Addresses Koch-funded Policy Group

Walker was scheduled to address the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a right-wing policy shop, funded by the Koch Brothers and central to promoting the agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in the state.
Walker’s Texas Rangers – PR Watch

Walker and Fitzgerald have millions of out-of-state dollars pouring in to a point where they owe taxpayers $500,000 in fines accrued for failure to report all the donations! How many times have you seen Walker on your TV telling us how effective he has been? Yes. They have a lot of money.They do not have heart. They have no active volunteers or boots on the ground. A answer to a question has been playing out in Wisconsin over the past year – So, where does democracy thrive? In campaign bank accounts or the hearts, hands, and daily lives of the people?

Yet, Walker and Fitzgerald are so out of touch with the people, that they seem to really believe all of the action of protest is being funded, orchestrated, and organized by big union money. As the NEO GOP strategy blows up in their faces, the song of the Tin Man of the Wizard of Oz is haunting their dreams – “If I only had a heart”.

I Can’t Give You A Heart – But…

The patriotic determination of progressive activists in Wisconsin is consistent, heart-warming, and filled with the spontaneous creative spirit of democracy. People like
Lori Compas.

Lori never planned to become a one-woman political committee. A freelance photographer and writer originally from St. Louis but now a resident of Fort Atkinson to become the David to take on Goliath. She is not funded by big union, out-of-state-money but only by a deep beating heart for democracy. Against all odds she orchestrated the successful recall of Senator Scott Fitzgerald!

Scott Walker and Scott Fitzgerald Please Watch the Video Above. You are not facing big union organization or out-of-state money. You are facing your constituents. You are hearing the voices of the people of Wisconsin who you failed to listen to over the past long, hard, year.

Scott Walker won the 2008 Governor’s election with 1,128,941 votes or 52.3%
Tom Barrett lost the 2008 Governor’s election with 1,004,303 votes or 46.5%

Rumor trended on twitter #wisconsin last night -1,500,000 signatures collected to force a recall election

The First Lie

124,638 votes difference or a 6% margin is hardly a mandate, yet Walker turned Wisconsin inside-out and upside-down championing an ultra-conservative agenda, the specifics of which were never mentioned in his campaign.

Just a year ago, few people were privileged to the workings of a secret conservative legislative agenda being covertly implemented in several states including New Jersey, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The national consortium with no real roots or connection to the people of any of these states, is now known as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC was formed with the specific intent to gain control of state houses and to write legislation to be passed by Scott Walker and Scott and Jeff Fitzgerald to further changes in state law in favor the most ultra conservative goals of wealthy and privileged Americans.

Big money has always been a factor in state politics. However ALEC, in the hands of Walker and the Fitzgerald brothers represents a new and insidious threat to working families and children of Wisconsin and U.S.. Never before has such an attack been specifically orchestrated and launched on the people through their own local and state government.

Have you noticed that republicans are no longer republicans?

This De-republicanism is most obvious in national politics and especially in the primaries and the U.S. Congress. The primaries are divided between Romney and non-Romney, with the non-Romney candidates representing the fringe conservative agenda of the Koch Brothers and ALEC. The House of Representatives is split in just the same way as most recently exposed in the attempt to hold the vote for the tax break legislation before the holiday break, when Rep Hank Johnson of North Carolina spoke on the House floor after the vote:

It happened on the shortest day of the year. The Koch Bros. usurp the power of the House, the Senate, the President and the People of the United States.

The video begins with a cut from the bogus,chummy phone call to Scott Walker from David Koch last February.

The Koch Brothers Ended Up in Control of Congress – AND WISCONSIN

Scott Walker and the Fitzgerald Brothers are working to DE-republicanisation of Wisconsin as are their counterparts on the campaign trail and the Congress. These men actually represent a third force, or a third party hiding behind the republican party. Democrats can work with Republicans, they have for years. Progressives can work with Democrats. This new power grab of De-republicanism is a threat to all parties and to all people, and represents a covert take over of all political interests and a re-interpretation of the Constitution according to the untested philosophies of Ayn Rand, Austrian economic theory, and objectivism as legislated by ALEC through the mouths of Scott Walker, Jeff and Scott Fitzgerald, plus other de-repulicanized members of the Wisconsin Legislature.

A Walker/Fitzgerald Forced Recall is a VICTORY to be Celebrated!

All politics is local. The forced recall of Walker is Wisconsin’s local, grass-roots, bi-partisan reaction to ALEC, the Koch Brothers, and the fight to prove – Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey – the United States Is Not For Sale.

This IS What Democracy Looks Like

Dan Kapanke is one of the former senators from Wisconsin. He was recalled from office in an special election last summer. Kapanke appeared angry, shocked, and bothered that he should face a recall election. He held the composure rather like a bear awaken from hibernation on a cold January night.

A few weeks ago, it was thought to be ill advised to attempt a recall against Scott Fitzgerald. After all, Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) has served District 13 – an area encompassing Dodge, Jefferson, and a small corner of Dane County – for 17 years. Yet today, Fitzgerald has that same “Kapanke” lean and hungry look. It is today, and against all odds, that more than 16,000 signatures have been gathered or the number required to trigger a recall election.

Fitzgerald is now running scared. We know what happens when he gets insecure. He begins to use his position and power to work to change the rules in his favor.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says petition circulators hoping to recall him from office have been given too much time to gather signatures.

Fitzgerald on Thursday filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Board, saying the 60-day window for signature collection ends Friday at 5 p.m.
Article 3YBay

The deadline had been believed to be Tuesday Jan 17th, until the angry bear was awaken from hibernation.

How Did It Happen? How was Fitzgerald Pushed to the Edge? It’s an inspiring David and Goliath Story

Lori Compas never planned to become a one-woman political committee. A freelance photographer and writer originally from St. Louis but now a resident of Fort Atkinson to become the David to take on Goliath.

Lori inspired hundreds of people to join her in a canvas for signatures to recall Walker’s henchman, the Speaker of the Senate – Scott Fitzgerald. One of those people is a young woman who has become an inspiration to the whole recall effort Jenna Pope. Jenna has singly and solely filed some 500 signatures in the recall effort.

Below is a message from the “Fitzgerald Recall Office:

“Mere passive citizenship is not enough. Men must be aggressive for what is right to protect the government from those who are aggressive for what is wrong.” – Robert La Follette

“Please come help out these next few days and help push us over the top!” – Jenna Pope

The adage, “The hurrier I go the behinder I get”, falls in the face the GOP legislature (I hope you enjoy that image as much as I do)

It is true. Due to the rush and radical method used by the Fitzgerald Brothers to draw the new voting districts in Wisconsin, some vote districts were designated as part of Africa.

“We’re not only changing and moving districts, we’re changing the system beneath it,” said Julie Glancey, the Sheboygan County clerk. “We had many, many voters who showed up (on the computer map) on the coast of Africa and we had to drag them back to the state of Wisconsin and put them where they belonged.”
Article JSOnline

In the Rush to Shove Bill after Bill Down the Legislative Funnel – Oh What a Mess!

Have you noticed how nearly every legislative action by Scott and Jeff Fitzgerald over the past year has been accomplished with the stealth and hurry of a cat burglar? Of course, when you are stealing cookies from the jar, you do so with a look over your shoulder and a quick lift and snatch. The Fitzgerald Brothers have shared that same stealthy and fearful attitude in their vote-cookie-thieving leadership of the legislature; scheduling meetings with the most limited notice and in the dark of night, and always in a rush to get to the vote. So, what are they afraid of?

Eventually, thieves make a mistake and the cookie jar tumbles off the top shelf with a horrible mess of broken crockery and crumbs. That is exactly what has happened in their “Great Voting District Caper”.

Oh What a Mess They Made of Wisconsin

The result of the Fitzgerald methods goes beyond political shuffling and into sheer incompetence. All they needed was Kathy Nickolaus to draw the vote district lines to seal the deal of such a sheer unfathomable result. Headline – 14,000 Votes Found in Zimbabwe!

In decades past, new district lines were fashioned through the thoughtful insight of the people who actually lived in each local district. Town Boards, Village and City officials had first mark in drawing of new maps. Of course, that was not good enough for the Fitzgeralds. They were out to do it their way, with full control, so that lines could be drawn to benefit their own agenda and make it easier for Republicans to get elected. To do this they used taxpayers money, from a broke state, to hire attorneys from Michael Best Law firm to draw the maps using Census Bureau geographic data, which is accurate to about 50 meters or in other cases 1500 miles!

Beside the chaos that has been visited on county clerks, the district line ramming is now under legal question in the district courts as the Fitzgerald duo attempt to hide the means of their methods from the public.

In Case You Wondered – Why a Recall?

Even many life long Republicans see through the ruse. Many GOP voters have no greater tolerance for sheer incompetency and waste of money than anyone else. The drawing of vote district lines is just one example of a full year of legislative stealth and hurry resulting in incompetent laws and waste of taxpayers money.

Without going way back to Walker’s poor to insane handling of the collective bargaining issue, just two weeks ago Scott Walker’s campaign and the head of the Wisconsin Republican Party sued the Government Accountability Board, saying the board’s current process for reviewing signatures on recall petitions is unconstitutional and asking the judge to order it to be more aggressive in its review. Walker picked a judge from, where else?, Kathy Nickolaus country; Judge Mac Davis. His words in granting Walker relief serves to underscore the stealth and hurry of nearly every legislative action of the GOP since last February:

“This is the kind of case in which speediness is especially critical,” Davis said
Allowing the recall groups to intervene could open the door for other citizens to demand a place at the table, and that could lead to “chaos”.
Waukesha Judge Rule

Five more days remain to sign a petition to recall Scotts Walker and Fitzgerald to end the mess that is being made of Wisconsin.