Author Archives: capper

After 126 Years, Have We Forgotten?

Posted by on May 5, 2012 Comments Off

Do you remember Frank Kunkel? How about Frank Nowarczyk? John Marsh or Robert Erdman? Johann Zazka? Martin Jankowiak? Not even Michael Ruchalski?

Do you remember the call “Eight hours for labor, eight hours for rest, eight hours for recreation?”

The names are those of the seven of the nine people killed in 1886 in Bay View, Wisconsin for demanding eight hour work days.

First, a little history.

In 1886, there was a nationwide movement for eight hour work days instead of the 10, 12 or even 16 hour days, which were the norm. The movement was to culminate on May 1, 1886, with all workers not receiving 8 hour work days to go on a general strike.

In Milwaukee, the strikers grew to 1,500 in numbers. They had shut down every company but one – the North Chicago Railroad Rolling Mills Steel Foundry in Bay View.

Governor Rusk had called out the National Guard, at the behest of the well-moneyed business owners to break the strike.

By May 4, things were getting very dicey:

After this incident, the strikers left the Guard alone and they proceeded into the Mills joining the other units called. The strikers then asked the supervisors to wire their headquarters in Chicago to start negotiations on an eight hour work day. They agreed but the answer from Chicago was fast and short “No”.

At this point no one in the crowd knew about the ugly events unfolding in Chicago, where police had killed striking workers, and a bomb killed a police officer in Haymarket Square and wounded several others.

Governor Rusk was under considerable pressure from employers to stop the strike. Employers were saying that they would turn the entire society upside down and use the bombing in Haymarket Square as their proof that a revolution is under way.

Rusk called the Mills and told Captain Treaumer of the Lincoln Guard “if the strikers try to enter the mill, shoot to kill.” Captain Treaumer then ordered his men to pick out a man, concentrate and kill him when the order is given. The strikers spent the night in open fields nearby while the Militia camps stayed at the Mills with sentries posted. During the night the sentries were shooting at anything that moved. A Navy tug brought provisions for the guard.

May 5
Around nine in the morning the strikers gathered again chanting “eight hours,” a reporter who slept with them reported that it was odd that this was a group with no real leadership, but everyone was united in one single purpose.

The crowd approached the mill and faced the militia who were ready to fire. Before Treaumer knew the crowd’s real intentions he ordered halt, but the strikers, who were about two hundred yards away, did not hear him.

He ordered the militia to fire. The crowd was in chaos as people fled the scene. The Milwaukee Journal reported that six were dead and at least eight more were expected to die within twenty four hours.

Meanwhile, some strikers called for revenge on the militia but to no avail. For several days afterwards a few strikers were still marching throughout the city but no one would join them. The dead included a thirteen year old boy who tagged along with the crowd wondering what was going on and a retired worker who lived in Bay View. He was struck down by a stray bullet, as he was getting water and was not part of the strike.

Eventually, the strikers went back to work, but their spirits were not broken. Within two years, Milwaukee elected its first socialist mayor and things started to improve.

But now, 126 years later, we are under very different, yet at the same time, very similar situations.

We have a governor that heeds the moneyed corporate bosses over the people. We have a government that is willing to take away basic worker rights like the eight hour day, gender equality, race equality and have been working diligently to demonize and dehumanize professions such as teachers and nurses, who should be treated with the highest of esteem. [cont'd.]

Likewise, we have had not just thousands, not just tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites from all walks of life converge on the Capitol to protest this usurping of democracy and of our rights.

Fortunately for us, we also have some more history between 1886 and now that gives us an option other than violence to deal with this corruption of our government. Thanks to Fighting Bob LaFollette and other Progressives, we have the recall. As the erudite Professor Edward Fallone explains:

The broad nature of the recall power reflects its role as the intended remedy for a broken democracy. A desire to reform the democratic process in America lay at the core of the Progressive Movement in America. Progressives wanted to strengthen the control of the people over the levers of government, while reducing the influence of the special interests, and the recall power was one way of accomplishing this goal.

Farmer reminds us that the term “Progressive” was an umbrella designation that included persons with many diverse motivations: Protestants demanding social justice for the poor, religious moralists opposed to alcohol consumption, and “good government” political reformers. (Farmer, pp. 4-5). Many contemporary critics like to attack the Progressives for their economic policies. However, only some Progressives focused on economic reforms. The uniting thread among the various factions within the Progressive Movement was the view that government in the United States had become systematically corrupt. Their common remedy was to install mechanisms into the very structure of government that would increase the role of popular democracy.

Progressives exalted the federal and state constitutions, with their delegations of authority to elected legislators and executives, as the only legitimate vehicle for making and enforcing the law. However, when they looked at how the constitutionally created organs of government were actually being operated during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries – as opposed to how they were designed to operate — they saw that the real power of government was being exercised behind the scenes, and not by the people’s elected representatives. Legislative policy choices were being made in back rooms, out of the public eye, by political party bosses and corporate interests. Ready-made legislation was often brought to the floor of the legislature for quick approval, before the public was informed of the content of the bill or given an opportunity to comment. While lobbyists had a seat at the table, ordinary citizens were left with no power to influence policy. [This secretive union of corporate lobbyists and political interests, and the exclusion of public participation in the drafting of legislation, is echoed in the current day activities of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)].

And we are about to exercise that power to exorcise our government to shed the corruption that has infested it in the likes of the corporate controlled Scott Walker, Rebecca Kleefisch and four more Republican Senators.

But to do so, we have to start this Tuesday with the primary to see who the champion of the people is going to be. We have four fine people in Kathleen Falk, Kathleen Vinehout, Tom Barrett and Doug LaFollette.

It is our onus and our privilege to pick the person who will work to restore the rights taken from us and to make the state whole again.

During the protests and after, we all hailed Fighting Bob because he dared to stand up to the special corporate interests. He dubbed the Capitol Building the “People’s House,” a term we echoed all these decades later.

We praised him and continue to praise him because he had the guts to take it to them and gave them hell for what they’ve done.

Likewise, every year we gather in Bay View to honor the workers who sacrificed their very lives for the eight hour day, something we take for granted. They, like LaFollette did decades later, took it to the robber barons and the corporate raiders of our government, carrying banners which read, “The workmen do not beg, they demand.”

Do we dare turn our backs on the memories of these workers or of LaFollette by choosing someone who will not take it to the corrupt and greedy oligarchs and plutocrats of our time? Will we be afraid to not beg, but demand, that all of our rights be restored? Will we let the transformation of the People’s House to the Corporations’ Boardroom be completed?

I, for one, say, “Hell NO!”

I will not dishonor those brave workers. I will not dishonor LaFollette. I will not dishonor the hundreds of thousands of people that sacrificed the comfort of their own homes, their safety and their freedom by protesting at the Capitol and then going out in all sorts of weather to gather the signatures that were required to get us where we’re at today.

That is why I’m supporting Kathleen Falk.

She is the only one that has clearly stated that she will not settle for half-measures in getting back what was stolen and making the state whole again. She is also the only one that said that she will not beg or ask for this to happen, but will demand it, just like those workers so long ago. She is the only one that has shown that she is willing to stand up to those who would harm us and take it to them, as LaFollette did.

I will be voting for Kathleen Falk on May 8th. So will my wife. We hope you will join us in honoring all these heroes from past to present and the sacrifices they made and vote for Falk as well.

How can we do any less and still respect ourselves?

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Walkergate: Are We Going to See a World’s Record?

Posted by on May 3, 2012 Comments Off

A couple, three weeks ago, the news broke that Scott Walker was already going deep into his own pockets for a change and owed a considerable amount of money to his attorneys. I guess cooperation doesn’t come cheap anymore.

Now Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel pretty much confirmed the news again, but then added a few twists.

One twist was that Walker found enough people, or one of his big donors, that agreed to allow $60,000 to be transferred to his legal cooperation fund.

That’s not too surprising. Not only is he trying to keep himself out of prison, but he is reportedly paying to keep one of his top county staff/campaigners, Kelly Rindfleisch, free as well. And her attorney, Franklyn Gimbel, and his appeals motions, don’t come cheap either.

Another twist is that his campaign, which hired former US Attorney Steve Biskupic, has brought in more than $170,000 for the law firm he works for, Michael Best & Friedrich. Walker’s campaign is claiming that the bulk of it went to fight the recall, which so far consisted of getting the taxpayers, as opposed to his campaign, to fund the challenge of signatures.

That leaves about $52,000 left which the campaign labels as going for “compliance issues.” That’s a whole lotta complying going on.

But take note of the tone that his spokeswoman, Ciara Matthews, takes when questioned:

Walker campaign spokeswoman Ciara Matthews declined Tuesday to identify the governor’s donors who authorized using their money in this way.

“Governor Walker’s disclosures have been made in accordance with, and as required by, the law,” she said.

[...]

Matthews declined Tuesday to be more specific about the recent payments to Biskupic’s firm.

“Again, as I have told you before, the campaign contracts with Michael Best & Friedrich for legal services to handle various compliance issues on our behalf,” Matthews said.

Apparently, the media savvy spokeswoman isn’t so savvy after all. Otherwise, she’s have realized that obfuscating to the media is only going to make them dig deeper and find the things that Team Walker doesn’t want us to know.

If one takes the defensive song and dance from Team Walker, the increasing shrillness of squawkers like Charlie Sykes and the propagandists, one could start believing that we may get to see something for the Guinness Book of World Records.

The listing would be the most expensive pair of handcuffs:

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Walker Returns to the Scene of the Crime, Mocks His Victims

Posted by on May 2, 2012 Comments Off

On Monday morning, just a week before the recall primary, Scott Walker, with his entourage of Lt. Governor Becky Kleefisch and Workforce Development Secretary Reggie Newson, comes traipsing to Milwaukee to take a shot at potential recall opponent Mayor Tom Barrett by announcing a scheme he dubbed “Transform Milwaukee.”

To make a long story short, Walker wants to take credit for taking WHEDA funding and use it for what it’s meant to be used for.

Excuse me, but for anyone who is familiar with the history of Milwaukee, both the county and the city, for the past ten years, this is like Walker bragging about cleaning up the milk he spilled.

But first, let’s look at what he’s claiming now.

If we’re to believe Walker, he’s been secretly planning to revitalize Milwaukee for the past year, even though he never met with Mayor Barrett until last month and has never met with Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele. (But he did allegedly meet with Milwaukee County Supervisor Johnny Thomas about the time he was being investigated and charged for taking a bribe in a separate John Doe investigation. Maybe they held their discussion while waiting to be interviewed by the Milwaukee County District Attorney?)

And, as I pointed out above, the fact that this plan has been going on for over a year now, and he is only announcing it now is more than highly suspicious. It’s blatant politicking. (I warned about this happening, but alas, no one heeded my alarms.)

But what really burns me is his record on the things he claims he wants to do now. Walker said that this grand scheme of his is to accomplish certain things, although he isn’t very specific on the when or how he plans to go about this:

  1. Create jobs
  2. Take care of foreclosed and vacant properties
  3. Economic Development
  4. Create bioswales and other structures to address flooding problems
  5. Improve the intermodal transportation structure

Sounds great, right? Well, until you look at his track record on these points, it might.

As governor, Walker has had the dubious honor of leading Wisconsin to be the only state in the nation to have statistically significant job losses for the past year. For seven of the last nine months, Wisconsin has been hemorrhaging jobs, all due directly to Walker’s failed policies.Ironically, the 30th Street Corridor, the spot that Walker is proposing to be the beneficiary of his newly found largesse also happens to be the home of Talgo, the train manufacturing company that Walker is personally forcing to leave the state. [cont'd.]

Even when he was county executive, Walker was a failure at creating jobs. So much so that in 2007, then Governor Jim Doyle had to take the Private Industry Council, which was supposed to help train and find employment for Milwaukee’s poor and minorities, away from Walker and give it to Mayor Tom Barrett.

To add to Walker’s miserable record as county executive, he continuously pared down the transit system. By 2008, he already cut out 20% of the bus services, which left more than 40,000 jobs inaccessible to people reliant on the transit system. As governor, he slashed the funding for the Milwaukee County Transit System by even more. A 2011 study done by the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee issued this warning:

“Particularly in the current economic climate, a substantial reduction of transit service to regional employers would create further difficulties for a regional economy that is already showing few signs of life.”

They further advocated for a dedicated funding source for the transit system, which is the only one in the only major transit system in the nation without one, like the dedicated sales tax, which was approved by the voters but Walker actively fought against:

Finally, we join others in urging state and local policymakers to pass the necessary legislation to create a dedicated local funding source for transit in Milwaukee County. The chronic budget shortfalls experienced by MCTS in recent years are due in no small part to the competition MCTS faces every year for a share of county property tax revenues. This arrangement, highly unusual for a large transit system like MCTS, is no longer sustainable. A proposal for a county sales tax to replace property tax funding for transit was approved by Milwaukee County voters in an advisory referendum in 2008. State and local policymakers should respect the preferences of voters and act soon to establish a permanent, dedicated funding source for transit that would help put MCTS on more solid financial footing.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that Walker laid off over 20% of Milwaukee County’s workforce in his time as county executive. Most of these layoffs came in housekeeping, security and the parks. Furthering his long history of pay for play, he gave out contracts to Edward Aprahamian, Wackenhut and Kujawa Enterprises, Inc., respectively. And yeah, all three of these have donated to Walker’s campaign.

Foreclosed and Vacant Properties

In the past week, the City of Milwaukee has come out with the new reassessments of properties. Reflecting the dire economic conditions in the state, many people had their homes drop by as much as $30,000. This put many people – too many – upside down on their mortgages. I feel confident in saying that I doubt that these properties which Walker is aiming at fared no better and probably took even bigger blows in their value.

This would make them prime targets for commercial realtors. And I’m sure that it’s a mere coincidence that the Commercial Association of REALTORS Wisconsin were big supporters of Walker and played heavily in his gubernatorial campaign. Just as I’m sure it’s purely coincidental that the Wisconsin Realtors Association has already endorsed Walker in the upcoming recall election.

Economic Development

This is almost as much of a joke as the job creation bit.

As Milwaukee County Executive, Walker first used the economic development positions as political appointment slots for his unqualified campaign workers, who failed miserably:

Walker’s last two choices to lead the county economic development office, Bob Dennik and Tim Russell, came from his campaign and lacked depth in the development business, Clark said. Dennik left the post this week to become an executive with a Pewaukee construction company. Russell is now Walker’s community relations director.

“Walker chooses folks who don’t have (the necessary) experience,” she said. Dennik came under repeated fire from the board the last two years over disappointing land sales results that put the county budget in a jam. He didn’t return several phone calls seeking comment.

Only about $226,000 of the $7.2 million in budgeted land sales revenue for this year has materialized, contributing to a projected multimillion-dollar, year-end deficit. The land-sales budgets have been off $1 million or more in four of the last seven years, county figures show.

In his 2009 budget, in the height of the recession, Walker eliminated the economic development office altogether.

Of course, what can one expect from the person who said that a plan to develop and promote Milwaukee County and the surrounding area to be akin to putting “lipstick on a pig.”

Perhaps his newly found devotion has to do with all the left over Koch-o Brown lipstick he had from his invitation-only croquet fundraiser.

Bioswales

Walker claims that he wants to use some of the funding to construct bioswales and work on the infrastructure to control flooding. The funny thing is he didn’t appear that worried about flooding in his last year as county executive, when he vetoed a resolution which would prevent Waukesha County from dumping 10.9 million gallons of their sewer water into Milwaukee County rivers. These rivers already had a problem with flooding, especially during the spring rains and snow melt.

Of course, Milwaukee home owners aren’t as affluent as Waukesha County residents or as commercial realtors, so their plights hold little influence for Walker.

Intermodal Transportation Structure

In his press release, Walker stated that he wanted to direct resourced to “an established intermodal transportation infrastructure to ensure the efficient transportation of Milwaukee products to national and global markets utilizing the water, air, rail and highway systems.”

How Walker proposes to do this should be interesting.

His attack on the working people of Wisconsin has already damaged the economy that the once primary airline is all but pulling out of Milwaukee’s General Mitchell Airport.

And his myopic approach to rail already killed any chance of high speed rail, and all the jobs that come with it, from ever coming to Wisconsin.

And with his inane attack on mass transit, as noted above, he’s put Milwaukee’s transit system in a death spiral. Even if there were jobs, people would not have a way to get to them.

But I’m sure that this won’t keep Walker from claiming he’s got to widen the entire interstate in the region, since he does have the road builders to pay back for their more than generous support.

Besides the hypocrisy of Walker’s sudden conversion into actually giving a damn about the people of Milwaukee, something he’s done for the past ten years, it’s downright insulting knowing that he as no intention of following through with any of this. Just like when Walker and his Republican cohorts in the state legislature tried to ram through the corporate-written mining bill, this has nothing to do with jobs.

This stunt was nothing but a cynical piece of political game-playing. Like all of his “job creating” proposals, this is nothing more than a smoke and mirrors act while he doles out more taxpayer money to his wealthy friends and campaign contributors, while letting those who would cling onto his false promises sit and rot.

It’s one thing to continuously attack a group of people because of greed and misguided – OK, insane – ideology. But then to come back and dangle a phony life preserver in front of the people he’s thrown overboard is indescribably cruel.

For that alone he deserves to be recalled.

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The Three Amigos: Scott Walker, Chris Christie and John Doe

Posted by on May 1, 2012 Comments Off

Chris Christy and Friend Scott Walker
Image courtesy of Politiscoop

So, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is coming to Wisconsin on Tuesday to stump for his old pal, Scott Walker.

An occurrence like this is pure blogger fodder. One could point out how both Christie and Walker are experts at driving jobs out of their respective states as they drive said states into the ground. One could point out the jobs and the revenue they chased out due to their siderodromophobia (fear of trains). One could also talk about how their austerity ideology is really hurting local governments and destroying everyone’s quality of life. Or, in a stretch, one could point out how neither of them seems to be around when their constituents need them the most, like in weather-related disasters.

Heck, one could even bring up the question if Walker’s campaign is violating the law with an illegal raffle.

But instead of any of those, I just wanted to point out that Walker will be welcoming Christie by covering him with the stain of Walkergate, the John Doe investigation into the illegal campaigning and other criminal acts by Walker, his campaign and his former and current staffers.

To start out with, the first notice I received of Christie’s pending visit was from his campaign. But just not from the campaign, but from Andrea Boom:

Andrea Boom is the Finance Director for Friends of Scott Walker, his campaign. But Ms. Boom is also so much more than that.

Ms. Boom is also BFF with Kelly Rindfleisch, the former Deputy Chief of Staff for Walker while he was Milwaukee County Executive. Rindfleisch is currently facing four charges of illegally campaigning for Walker and his choice of Lieutenant Governors, Brett Davis, while on the tax payers dime. According to transcripts released during Rindfleisch’s hearings, it appears that Rindfleisch might have been instrumental in getting Boom her current job.

But as I always say, when it comes to Walker, there’s more. There’s always more.

A tipster cued me in that Walker and Christie will be having, besides their two fundraising dinners, a photo op right here in Milwaukee. And not just anywhere in Milwaukee either:

KEI is short for Kujawa Enterprises, Incorporated. Its Executive Vice President is Chris Kujawa. Kujawa and Walker go way back, with Kujawa being a long time donor to Walker’s campaigns. In return, Walker would hold his showboating events at Kujawa’s business and steer Milwaukee County contracts to them.

But there is more to Kujawa than the apparent pay for play stuff. Just like Boom, Kujawa is also entangled with Walkergate.  [cont'd]

In 2007, Kujawa was running for Milwaukee County Supervisor, with Walker’s endorsement. Involved with his campaign was Brian Pierick and Tim Russell. Pierick, who was listed as Kujawa’s treasurer, has been charged with child enticement, which stemmed as an offshoot of the Walkergate investigations. However, it was Russell, who was also working in then Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s administration at the time, that was actually handling the money.

And I do mean handling.

Russell, the long time Walker aide, good friend and confidante has been charged with embezzling from Kujawa’s campaign as well as another politician’s campaign and a veterans fund. (Kujawa’s name is sprinkled throughout the criminal complaint against Russell, but the meaty stuff starts on page 24 and includes a note written on KEI letterhead on page 26.)

It’s a curiosity that any rational mind would consider an endorsement from the vulgar Christie to be a positive thing in the first place. But then for Walker to thank him for his support by covering him in the stench and slime of his own corruption is truly baffling. These Republicans sure are odd ducks, aren’t they?

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Scott Walker: Double the Hypocrisy, Double the Dumb!

Posted by on April 30, 2012 Comments Off

Last Wednesday was Denim Day, an international campaign to raise awareness of sexual assault and rape. The campaign was in reaction to the Italian Supreme Court’s ruling overturning a rape conviction based on the fact that the victim of the rape was wearing tight denim jeans.

In his usual vainglorious, hypocritical way, Scott Walker pretended to commemorate the day and National Victims Rights Week by signing into law a bill called the Wisconsin Crime Victim Rights Preservation Act. The law is designed to protect victims who were maltreated by public officials and stems from the behaviors of Republican Calumet District Attorney Kenneth Kratz, who was sexting a victim of domestic violence and trying to seduce her.

But there was one problem for Walker though. He forgot to pay for it:

One prosecutor, though, accuses the Walker administration of posturing on the topic. Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco says it comes at the same time the state has cut funding for the victim/witness advocate programs around the state.

“This critical program, mandated by state statute to be provided by county government, and which provides safety, security and services to victims and witnesses of crimes, has had its state reimbursement fund cut by some $400,000, leaving counties holding the bag without the means to obtain the necessary funds to cover that gap,” DeCecco stated, referring to the ACT 10 prohibition against any county’s raising property taxes.

“Once again,” DeCecco said, “county budgets providing state-mandated essential services are nothing but pawns in an administration’s game of hypocrisy.”

DeCecco noted that when the state’s victim/witness law took effect in 1979, counties were reimbursed 90% of their costs. Now, he said, the rate has dropped to about 40% even while the size and costs of the programs have grown.

The hypocrisy gets worse when one takes into account that Walker also started a legalized cronyism program, spending more than three quarters of a million dollars, almost twice what he took from the victim witness programs, to reward cronies and lackeys.

But Walker’s hypocrisy grows even more due to the fact that as Milwaukee County Executive he was constantly blaming his budget woes on unfunded mandates and even promised to end such things when he was running for governor.

And for the added twist of the knife, Walker also cut funding to sexual assault programs by 42.5%, a trick I’m sure he learned from Sarah Palin.

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Let the County Grounds Serve as the Symbol for Scott Walker’s Legacy

Posted by on April 29, 2012 Comments Off

When David introduced me to you kind folks, he pointed out my personal blog, Cognitive Dissidence. What he didn’t mention, and probably didn’t know, is that I am also the Chair for a grassroots movement, Milwaukee County First, which we started three years ago to fight against the disaster Scott Walker was making of Milwaukee County and to work on restoring our county to its previous position as a leader in the state and in the country.

The following is the most recent article from MCF’s website:

In the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa, there is an area that is commonly referred to as the “county grounds.”

It is a vast area of land, parts of which is leased to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and Froedtert Hospital (which was once the county-owned Doyne’s Hospital until sold off decades ago). The county grounds also is home to the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division, the delapidated county greenhouses, and a business park.

The county grounds also contains two rare treasures – the Monarch Trail and the Eschweiler Buildings.

The Monarch Trail is part of the last undeveloped and ungroomed natural space in Milwaukee County. It contains one of the rare places in the country which acts as an oasis for the Monarch Butterflies. Due to the unique form of the county grounds – including a large sequoia tree – and an abundance of milkweed, the Monarch butterflies’ food, the area is a spot where the Monarchs gather every year in their annual migration from the north to their wintering homes in Mexico and Central America.

The Eschweiler Buildings are a cluster of buildings which were built in the early 1900s, originally the home of an agricultural school:

In 1910, Milwaukee County’s rural population was the second largest in the state. For this reason, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors established a high school of agriculture and domestic economy, one of the state’s first ventures into technical education. Graduates would meet University of Wisconsin entrance requirements and would also gain education in improved methods of farming and in homemaking skills.

Alexander C. Eschweiler designed the school’s buildings including a residence hall and buildings for dairy, poultry and horticulture studies. When the school opened in 1912, Milwaukee County residents were admitted free, and non-residents paid tuition of $27 per month. The Milwaukee Taxpayer League reported in 1916, however, that the cost of the school was not justified by its small enrollment. World War I veterans increased the student body for a time, but by 1928, the county’s rural population had decreased and the school was closed. A total of 215 students had graduated from the school in two, three and four year programs.

Since the time that the school was closed, the buildings have been used for a variety of purposes, with perhaps the most notorious was serving as a Tuberculosis Sanitarium for the county.

Most recently, the buildings housed various businesses, educational groups and government services. [cont'd.]

In 1978, the buildings were designated as a historical landmark.

A couple of decades ago, there had been talk about handing the county grounds over to land developers, but this was met with a strong resistance from the people of Milwaukee County and the idea was stopped dead in its tracks. In the face of the groundswell of support for the county grounds, Milwaukee County and the City of Wauwatosa both pledged to preserve the land and its historic buildings and unique environmental treasure.

When Scott Walker was swept into the office of Milwaukee County Executive, ironically as a result of a recall election, he had also promised to preserve these treasures, saying that if he were to do anything, it would be to work at having the area designated as a state park.

But as is all too often the case with Walker, what he says and what he does are two vastly different things.

Instead of filling positions in the important Economic Development Division with competent people that would be able to attract businesses to Milwaukee County, he instead filled it with campaign staffers like Robert Dennik and Tim Russell. (Yes, that is the same Tim Russell that has been arrested and charged as a result of the ongoing Walkergate investigations.)

One of the many bad things that happened from Walker’s poor decision making is that as businesses and agencies moved out of the county grounds, none moved in to take their place.

By 2006, the buildings stood empty.

The empty buildings quickly started succumbing to the weather, aided by the fact that Walker’s austerity measures prevented from the county from taking any preservation or preventative measures, or even allowing the utilities to stay on. He refused even in the face of a letter written my then Wauwatosa Mayor Theresa Estness, which reminded him of his promise to split the cost of sealing the buildings in an effort to preserve them.

You can see pictures of the damage from the weather, the neglect and vandalism that has occurred over the years here and here.

Then, not satisfied with intentional neglect, and with a new conservative mayor in Wauwatosa, Jill Didier, Walker decided to break his promise completely and started courting the necessary authorities to allow the grounds to be sold to land developers.

The pretense was that they would build a new school there, as an extension of the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, even though the land is all the way across the county from the UWM campus. Furthermore, to build a school that would take up only a few acres, he wanted to sell 89 acres of pristine land, including the Monarch Trail and the Eschweiler Buildings.

There was a large and vocal protest against this move. The students and the faculty didn’t want a building so far from campus. The environmentalists were outraged at the damage it would cause not only to the Monarch Trail but to the waterways and natural area surrounding this. Urban advocates argued that there were many more appropriate places to build the school.

But Walker, as he did throughout his time as county executive and as he is doing as governor, ignored the will of the people and focused on the will of the wealthy land developers who also were supporting his campaign.

The people turned to the Milwaukee County Board, but they only saw the money that could be used to partially fill the holes that Walker intentionally left in his county budget (which he is continuing to do as governor).

Likewise the Mayor of Wauwatosa, aided by the land developers, sold a false bill of goods to the Common Council.

The end result was that the land was indeed sold to the land developers, who have had problems coming up with the cash for the purchase price of the land, even though it was very much below the actual worth of the land. The taxpayers are stuck with a $12 million TIF that was completely avoidable and ill-advised.

Oh, the powers that be, from Walker to the Board to the Common Council to the developers themselves, promised that the Monarch Trail would be preserved and that the Eschweiler Buildings would be restored and converted into apartments.

But those also proved to be lies.

The developers have already encroached upon the Monarch Trail, invading space that is supposed to be protected areas. There have been reports of large swatches of milkweed plants being mowed down.

Adding to these atrocities is the design of the “Innovation Park,” as they call it, is that the design of the layout of buildings and parking lots will drive all the natural wildlife out of the area into the neighborhoods and roads surrounding the area. There will be literally hundreds of animals killed by the loss of their habitat.

And even if the Monarch Trail remains untouched, which seems unlikely, the stopping point of the butterflies might be lost due to the disturbances and the change of the landscape which is what draws the butterflies there in the first place.

It has also recently been reported that, due to the years of neglect, the promise of preserving the Eschweiler Buildings probably will not be kept. The land developers turned around and immediately tried to sell the buildings to another private firm which would convert the buildings. This firm is now claiming that it’s too expensive to save all the buildings:

UWM officials have been negotiating a sale of the Eschweiler buildings to Mandel Group Inc., which wants to convert them into apartments. But after receiving cost estimates from four different firms, Mandel executives believe restoring all the buildings may not be financially feasible, said Robert Monnat, the firm’s chief operating officer.

“Our goal, our passion, is to do everything we can to save those buildings,” Monnat said.

But, he said, the structures have deterio rated significantly after several years of being empty.

“We’re not in a position to commit financial hara-kiri to save buildings that, if they had been caught earlier, something could have been done with them,” Monnat said.

Mandel executives have been in talks with city officials and others in Wauwatosa about the buildings. The firm hasn’t yet reached a purchase agreement with the UWM foundation, nor has it submitted a development proposal to the city.

“The possibility of taking down some of those buildings is in the air,” said Common Council President Dennis McBride. “It’s an unhappy discussion.”

It should be noted that the news report is inaccurate in the sense that no one is negotiations with UWM officials. The UWM Foundation, which is the name taken by the consortium of wealthy land developers, has absolutely nothing to do with the University of Wisconsin system.

But these failures to keep their promises, which Milwaukee County First has been warning of for years, is deserving of being the symbol of Scott Walker’s reign, both as Milwaukee County Executive or as governor. This sad tale has all the trademarks that Walker is known for:

  • Lying about his real intent regarding something,
  • His willful ignoring of the will of the people,
  • His behavior of favoring the wealthy over the common good,
  • His cynical manipulation of people to reach his own ends,
  • His complete and utter disregard for the history of Wisconsin (which is not his home state),
  • His complete and utter disregard for the environment, and
  • The high price of his austerity ideology, which are hidden until it’s too late.

May this sad tale also reflect the need of the people to get involved with the actions of their government, on all levels, and stay alert to the goings on so that future tragedies like this may be averted.

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Paul Ryan Is No Ageist!

Posted by on April 29, 2012 Comments Off

As the gentle reader knows, even though he himself had benefited greatly from Social Security, Paul Ryan wants to privatize it so that all the money goes to his supportive Wall Street friends. Maybe he feels that this is the way to get them to buy the next rounds of $350 wine.

Likewise, he also wants to gut Medicaid and Medicare, again so that wealth that the tax payers have invested in can be redistributed among the fat cats of Wall Street and big business.

This is nothing new to anyone who’s been paying the least bit of attention and doesn’t get their information solely from Faux News or talk radio.

But what does make it even more outrageous is that he still wants to do so in the face of a new study which finds that more than 10% of people over the age of 65 is living in poverty and that this number is growing every year. The study also found that minorities and single women are also more likely to be below the poverty level.

But it’s not just the elderly that Ryan is targeting.

He toed the line for the Koch Brothers and voted against preventing student loans from doubling. As his opponent for the fall election, Rob Zerban, points out, this is a really, really bad thing:

“Doubling the student loan interest rate and saddling our young people with an extra $1,000.00 in costs each year, at a time when families are already struggling to make sure their children have the opportunity for higher education, is a recipe for disaster.

“I personally know how important these programs are – they are the reason I was able to attend school and become a job creator that Paul Ryan and his Washington Republican buddies tout. I was able to live my version of the American Dream because our country made a modest investment in me through Pell Grants and Stafford Loans.

“We as a county can never compete in the global economy if we continually put up barriers for young people to thrive in whatever future they choose. Paul Ryan’s budget does absolutely nothing to help Americans succeed – it is simply yet another giveaway for the oil & gas companies, Wall Street and corporations who fund his campaigns on the backs of our working families.”

So, as you can see, Paul Ryan is no ageist – he hates the old and the young equally. In fact, he’s no bigot at all either since he shows the same callous disregard for women, men, minorities, even his own constituents.

Or could it simply be that he is having emotional pangs about having to break up with his long-time fantasy girl?

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Scott Walker’s Billion Dollar Buffoonery

Posted by on April 25, 2012 Comments Off

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, facing a historic recall in just six weeks, is getting pretty nervous, if one judges this by the size of his lies.

Walker came out on Monday and made a bold statement that he saved Wisconsin taxpayers $1 billion, mainly through his union busting Act 10. But a careful look at this claim reveals Walker both exaggerated or invented the savings while balancing his budget on the backs of the poor, adding teachers and public servants to the unemployed, imposing a de facto tax on public employees, claiming credit for declining property values, and increasing fees while he claimed to be cutting taxes.

Even the pro-Walker news sources had a hard time with reporting that without jeopardizing the little bit of their remaining credibility (emphasis mine):

Gov. Scott Walker said Monday that his policies had saved Wisconsin taxpayers more than $1 billion so far – savings largely achieved by the Republican governor and lawmakers repealing most public workers’ union bargaining and effectively lowering their compensation.

Much of those savings – more than three-quarters of a billion dollars – could be verified, such as state and local workers picking up more of the tab for their health care and pension. But the figures also included a significant amount of savings for local governments that could not be verified.

As is the case of almost all of Walker’s such grandiose claims, it started crumbling almost immediately.

For example, Walker claimed that property taxes dropped like a rock. Funny, my property tax went up by 4.5%. But I digress.

But there is something else funny about this claim. He is saying that the average property value dropped by 0.4%,. What he doesn’t mention is that the average home fell about 2.2% in value for the purposes of property taxes. The translates to a $3,500 drop in value, which would be – wait for it – $11 in tax savings. But at the same time, the Wisconsin property tax levy went up 2.2%.

To make things even more dubious for Walker’s claims, it’s also been reported that an increase in lottery ticket sales accounted for another $4 drop in property taxes.

Walker math makes fuzzy math look clear.

Meanwhile, Walker’s budget did raise taxes on the poorest of the poor:

Last summer, the state Legislature reduced the amount of money low- income families can receive in tax credits by $56.2 million.

That places Wisconsin among only a handful of states that will effectively raise taxes on their poorest residents in 2012, according to a recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit think tank.

“At a time when low-wage workers are already struggling, this makes it that much more difficult (for them) to feed their families and pay their utility bills,” said Jon Peacock with the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, an advocacy group that opposed the changes

When the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau crunched the numbers for Walker’s budget, they found that there was a small dip in taxes. But they also found there was a huge spike in fees:

In summary, the changes included in the Joint Finance Committee’s budget would decrease net taxes by $23,572,000 ($5,135,000 in 2011-12 and -$28,707,000 in 2012-13) and would increase net fees by $111,340,800 ($37,248,900 in 2011-12 and $74,091,900 in 2012-13).

Another problem quickly sprung up for Walker’s claim regarding any savings. The numbers he was using apparently were picked out of the air and had nothing to do with reality: [cont'd]

Gov. Scott Walker and other Republican lawmakers announced Monday that their controversial budget bill curtailing most collective bargaining rights for public workers has thus far saved Wisconsin taxpayers more than $1 billion — though their estimates appear somewhat inflated in Sheboygan County.

The $1 billion figure includes an estimated $1.3 million in savings in the City of Sheboygan, where city officials said the money saved under the budget bill was far less, totaling $420,000.

City Administrator Jim Amodeo said the governor’s estimate assumes Sheboygan employees weren’t previously paying any money toward their health insurance when in fact most were paying 8 to 10 percent.

“The savings wasn’t everything the governor’s office said it would be,” Amodeo said.

Other parts of the state were also noticing that Walker’s numbers weren’t matching the ones they actually had to deal with in their budgets. The most telling aspect of Walker’s ideological attack on the working people was clearly laid out by Onalaska Mayor Mike Giese:

Giese said, “Time will tell” whether doing away with most aspects of collective bargaining for union employees will save the city any money in the future. But Giese said the approach Walker has taken to dealing with public employees may end up costing taxpayers in unforeseen ways because experienced employees will leave for greener pastures.

“I feel very strongly that the cost associated with turnover in an organization is surprisingly high. Tenure in the job really does provide increased efficiency,” Giese said. “The pennies we gain aren’t going to offset the dollars we lose in lack of stability and tranquility within our workforce.”

Indeed, that was shown by a recent report from the state’s Department of Public Instruction that shows just how severe a hit the school systems are taking:

The larger than usual cuts to school staff for the 2011-12 school year support projections from the Department of Workforce Development last fall. The majority of staff cuts, more than 60 percent, were among teachers.

• Statewide, 311 of 424 school districts, or 73 percent of districts, reported cutting teachers this year.
• Overall, public schools in Wisconsin are employing 1,446 fewer teachers this year than they did in the 2010-11 school year. This represents a 2.4 percent loss in full-time equivalent (FTE) teaching staff at a time when student enrollment is stable.
• The largest cuts statewide were to school librarians and career and technical education, special education, and reading teachers. For the current school year, there are 414 fewer elementary teachers in public schools, which is a staffing cut of about 2 percent statewide.

An even greater blow to Walker’s claims of prosperity came out on Tuesday, when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that Wisconsin suffered the greatest percentage loss of jobs over the last year, most of which came from the public sector:

Wisconsin saw the largest percentage decrease in employment in the nation during the 12 months ending in March, a new report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said.
During that time period, while 27 states and the District of Columbia saw significant job increases, only Wisconsin saw “statistically significant” job losses, the report said.

From March 2011 to March 2012, the state lost 23,900 jobs, for the country’s largest percentage decrease, at 0.9 percent.

Of the 23,900 jobs lost in Wisconsin in that period, 17,900 were from the public sector and 6,000 were from the private sector, according to the BLS.

Wisconsin also had the third-worst employment losses for March compared to the previous month, with 4,500 fewer jobs than it had in February, the report said. Only Ohio and New Jersey were worse, with 9,500 and 8,600 fewer jobs, respectively.

Laughably, Walker tried to focus on the fact that there was a decrease in unemployment. But economists have already pointed out that this only shows that a great number of unemployed Wisconsinites have just simply given up looking for work.

Also supporting Griese’s statement is the fact that the state’s corrections system is so dangerously understaffed that they’ve had to ask the state legislature to authorize another $1.2 million dollars just to cover the overtime overruns.

Now, I realize that all of these facts and figures might not persuade die-hard Walker backers that his claim of saving a billion dollars from the union busting is that much baloney.

But perhaps, just maybe, if someone they know and love and respect says that the union busting saves the state no money, then they might believe it. So, as the last bit of irrefutable proof, I present the one person who should know better than anyone that Walker’s claims are that much poppycock, testify to that fact, under oath, before a congressional panel one year ago:


Now, if they’re not going to believe Walker when he says it’s not going to save any money, who are they gonna believe?

In case you missed it, the key part of the transcript can be found here, including the offer of evidence that Act 10 was a non-fiscal bill and thus had no impact on the budget.

You know the infamous quote by Joseph Goebbels that goes: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Well, I think Walker just proved that there are limits to even that.

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Walkergate: Will John Doe Be Voting in the Recall?

Posted by on April 23, 2012 Comments Off

With the election for the recall of Scott Walker, Becky Kleefisch and four Republican senators just a scant six weeks away, people are keeping a much closer eye on the ongoing investigations and trials stemming from Walkergate.

While it’s pretty safe to presume that more shoes will be dropping from the investigation, there’s no reliable way to forecast when and from where these shoes might drop. The scandal itself has so many branches – from pay to play to illegal campaigning to illegal campaign donations – and so many players, that only Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm knows. And despite the efforts of the right to besmirch him, the fact is Chisholm’s not talking.

That leaves us with the five ongoing Walkergate trials to see if something might come from them. And out of the five, two of them are only really worth a passing mention in regards to having any significant impact on the recall elections. Another case has great potential, but probably won’t impact the election. The last two are really worth watching.

One would think that Brian Pierick, who was charged with child enticement as a tangent to the Walkergate investigation, would make a delightful tool against Walker. But Pierick doesn’t really have a direct tie to Walker like the other defendants do. Furthermore, his next hearing isn’t until after the election, so his case won’t have any real impact.

The other case that will have minimal impact is that of Kevin Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh has been charged with embezzling from a fund meant for veterans and their families. However, outside of Walker’s questionable decision to appoint Kavanaugh to the veterans affairs board even though he had doubts about Kavanaugh, there isn’t a very strong link to Walker.

The charges against Kelly Rindfleisch hold great potential to harm Walker. She has been accused of working for the campaigns for Walker as well as the person he wanted to be his lieutenant governor, Brett Davis, while working for Walker when he was county executive for Milwaukee County. Judging by her own words, that amount of campaign work, which included fund raising, was quite excessive, adding up to thousands of hours. The damage to Walker will only be worsened by the fact that he is the sole person responsible for her hiring and her promotion to his inner office at the county executive’s suite.

However, despite the potential this case has, it is doubtful any of it will be seen before the elections. Rindfleisch’s attorney, Franklyn Gimbel, has been pushing for a change of venue, saying that the case should be heard in Columbia County*, which he claims is where she lives. (Keep in mind that she signed papers stating that she would be a Milwaukee resident and was staying at the home of another Walker crony, Jim Villa.) Gimbel’s motion had been denied and he has since filed an appeal. [cont'd.]

Because of the appeal, as well as the fact that the regular court date isn’t until after the elections, it is doubtful that this case would have much impact. The only chance is if Gimbel files something unusual with his defense motions on May 18.

Tim Russell’s case also should prove to be very damaging to Walker. Russell was not only one of Walker’s top lieutenants, they’ve been very close friends for decades. While Russell has been charged with only embezzlement from the veteran’s fund, he is named in each of the other criminal petitions. Russell had his fingers in all of the operations of Walker’s caucus scandal-type of illegal campaigning, from overseeing the online campaigning and fund raising to helping campaign while Walker took his Harley ride all over the state.

A lot of people expressed concern when Russell’s newest attorney (his third in the past four months), filed motions to dismiss the charges. They questioned whether it was a stalling tactic. In response, I noted that defense motions were due on April 16, so these motions were basically in response to that deadline. I consulted with Tom Foley, one of the best legal analysts I know, and he confirmed that it was pretty much a standard motion, containing challenges to the sufficiency of the complaint and arguments over the definitions and whether Russell’s behaviors rise to the level of those definitions.

By happenstance, Russell’s final pretrial hearing is June 4, the day before the recall election. This could be significant since the DA’s office has been presumably putting pressure on Russell to enter some sort of plea bargain and turn witness against Walker and others that have been involved with the Walkergate scandal. This could lead to new charges being issued and new information being made available if he should decide to stand with Walker. And if he would turn state witness, he would be a treasure trove of information. But the timing would be key as to whether it would have any significant impact on the election.

Which leaves us with the case of Darlene Wink. She, like Rindfleisch, was charged with illegal campaigning. However, unlike the others so far, she has already pled guilty as part of a plea bargain. As part of the bargain, she agreed to be a witness against the other people and to aid in the investigation, including talking about the destruction of digital evidence. Shortly after this bargain was offered to her, the DA found a mystery dumpster full of papers, which very well might be files that went missing went Walker left Milwaukee County to become governor.

The sentencing hearing for Wink is scheduled for May 15. If she hasn’t been forthcoming enough with the investigators, the hearing could be delayed. Again, it might be interesting to see what comes of what she shared with the investigators and if the investigators make this information public in a timely fashion with regards to the elections.

So, will John Doe have a say in the upcoming recall election? It’s hard to say. It depends on the course of the Walkergate investigation and related trials. But if a shoe or several shoes do drop in the next six weeks, I have a feeling their going to be mighty big ones.

The one thing I can say with confidence is that Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm is not paying attention to the timing of the elections. He’ll bring matters forward when his case his strong enough for his satisfaction and not a minute sooner.

Unfortunately, the Walker’s malfeasance has given us enough reasons to recall him without needing his corruption on top of the heap.

*For those that are unaware, Wisconsin has a most peculiar law that allows public officials charged with misconduct in office or campaign violations to have their trials in their home counties as opposed to the county in which the alleged crimes occurred. They passed this to allow them to get a more friendly jury instead of one that would go strictly by the law.

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Walkergate: Spinning Out of Control

Posted by on April 20, 2012 Comments Off

Even though I’ve had some extensive experience with Scott Walker, having to deal with his prevarications and obfuscations for the past ten years, there are times where I’ll hear or see something that will stop me in my tracks and just gape in amazement of how much he tries to warp things to fit into his own skewed sense of reality.

This report by Kay Nolan, reporting for WisPolitics.com, provided me with one of these rare occasions:

Gov. Scott Walker continued to deflect questions Wednesday about when he first hired criminal defense attorneys in connection with an ongoing John Doe investigation.

And while Walker couldn’t say he was specifically barred from answering that question, he said Milwaukee County DA John Chisholm had asked him in general not to comment on the long-running probe that has snared former aides.

“He specifically asked me not to comment, period. I don’t think it’s very qualified. He’s asked me not to comment because it makes it difficult for him,” Walker told reporters in Oconomowoc, where he announced a WHEDA grant that will allow an empty former middle school to be converted into apartments.

Walker’s appearance was the first since media reports on his financial disclosure statement showed he owed at least $55,000 in defense attorney fees as of the end of 2011. Walker announced in February that he had hired attorneys.

Asked when Chisholm first made the no-comment request, Walker said, “I don’t have the date, I didn’t write it down on a piece of paper.” Asked if it happened last year, Walker answered, “Yes,” but quickly added that further comment would “violate what he asked me to do.”

Oy,he spins so much in just those few quotes that it’s enough to make you cross your eyes trying to follow his line of reasoning.

The key thing to take away from that jumbled hash of spinning is that Walker is now admitting that at some unidentified time last year he was directed by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm not to discuss the case.

Just to give Walker the benefit of the doubt, let us say that Chisholm told him to follow the secrecy order of the Walkergate investigations on December 31, 2011. That would mean that in no time in 2012 should he be discussing the investigation, right? Well, not in Walker’s world.

On January 5, 2012, upon the heels of the arrest and charging of one of his top aides and closest friends, Tim Russell, and two others, Brian Pierick and Kevin Kavanaugh (who was another one of Walker’s political appointees), Walker said that he was “extremely disappointed” over the charges. But he didn’t stop there. He also denied having had any contact with the DA’s office, except when he sent his then Chief of Staff to see the DA to initiate the investigation: [cont'd.]

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Scott Walker’s Job Numbers Go Kaboom!

Posted by on April 20, 2012 Comments Off

Oh, this would be just too funny if it wasn’t so sickening and outrageous.

First, we have the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) telling us that there’s gonna be a whole helluva lot of hiring going on in 2012. Of course, they said the same thing over and over in 2011, and the state lost 45,000 jobs last year. In fact, thanks directly to Walker, Wisconsin lost more jobs than any other state in the nation last year.

The recent release of the March jobs numbers show that WMC’s and Walker’s claims are of the same sort of hogwash. After two months of woeful gain in jobs, which still left the state in more jobs lost than gained, Walker reached pre-recall stride by chasing out another 4,500 jobs.

And if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the actual press release announcing the jobs numbers, which is where Walker tried to bury that bad news, you’ll find that the reported jobs gained in January was inflated by 7,300. Instead of gaining more than 12,000 jobs as Walker claimed, the state gained only 5,200 jobs, just over the amount of jobs he chased off in March.

Team Walker tried to bury that bid of news by boasting about how the unemployment rate dropped by a whole whopping one tenth of one percentage point, but we already knows what that means…it means that more people have given up on trying to find work in Fitzwalkerstan.

Ironically, Walker was just in Illinois, telling anyone who would listen that Illinois is doing everything wrong:

Walker spoke to Illinois business groups on Tuesday to defend his record. He said that unlike Illinois leaders, he has put Wisconsin on sound financial footing without raising taxes or worsening unemployment.

Walker told reporters the event was a campaign stop meant to show voters that his ouster could mean Illinois-style problems will hit Wisconsin.

But like everything else Walker says, this blew up in his face. Illinois gained 9,100 jobs in March. On top of that, even with their tax hike, they still have the fifth lowest effective tax rate in the nation. Plus, their workers earn an average of 12% more than Wisconsin workers.

Yeah, we should have those problems. More jobs which pay better and a lower tax rate – Oh, the humanity!!

On top of the whole jobs thing, Walker will also have to spend the next six weeks in trying to explain the fact that more than two thousand of the jobs lost are teachers pushed out the door in the past year, as a direct result of his slashing the budget for educating our children.

All of this makes me wonder which one Walker’s starting to fear the most – answering to John Doe or answering to the voters.

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