Badger Blogger

This weeks Carnival of the Badger is up at The Fraud Files. Go see what some of Wisconsin’s Bloggers are talking about.

Mark Belling has mentioned this a few times, but so far, no other media outlet has touched this story. Most of the construction trade unions are boycotting the Milwaukee Labor Day Parade. They are angry that the Milwaukee County Labor Council is including advocates for illegal immigrants in the parade.

Labor Day is a holiday to celebrate the American Worker, and the Milwaukee Labor Council is more concerned with pleasing illegal immigrants… What a huge slap in the face to the American workers! I don’t blame them for being angry.

Listen to Belling’s coverage (41 seconds)

Seems like news to me, why hasn’t this been in the Journal Sentinel?

Wow, what a shock! Well, maybe not…

The Capitol Times: DMV workers miss court appearance

Arrest warrants were issued Tuesday for two Division of Motor Vehicles employees who failed to show up for court appearances after being charged this month with selling state driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

Dane County Circuit Court Commissioner Todd Meurer issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Vicente Rea, 35, after he failed to show up for a bail hearing. Rea is charged with 38 counts of misconduct in public office for allegedly taking payoffs to issue driver’s licenses for people, many using fake names.

I love this comment:
Attorneys for both said they had no idea where their clients have gone and said they have not talked to them.

Gee-whiz, I could come up with an idea or two of their whereabouts. It involves a river…

I don’t think it surprises anyone, but Alderman Michael McLiar was proven to be the father of the baby of the woman that he didn’t have a romantic relationship with.

Lawyers are asking District Attorney E. Michael McCann(t) to issue perjury charges against the alderman formerly known as Michael Jackson… or something. Yes, I laughed at the thought of McCann issuing charges too.

JS Online: Test proves Ald. McGee fathered child

A paternity test proves that Ald. Michael McGee fathered the child of his former mistress, the woman’s attorneys said this afternoon.

The results of the test by Laboratory Corp. of America, or LabCorp, were presented at a press conference by attorneys Michael Maxell and Russell Jones, who are representing Kimley Rucker in her paternity case against McGee.

The attorneys are also asking Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann to issue perjury charges against the alderman for his testimony last May. Then, at a hearing before Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Clare L. Fiorenza, McGee testified he had sex with Rucker only one time, in August 2005.

Rucker’s daughter was born July 8. When taking normal gestation periods into account, the presumed conception for Rucker’s baby is between Sept. 19 and Nov. 18, 2005, proving McGee’s testimony was false, the attorneys said in a letter to McCann.

McGee was not immediately available for comment this afternoon.

Good!

JS Online: DayWatch

Donovan Riley, who dropped out of the race for a state Senate seat after allegations arose that he voted twice in the same election in 2000, was charged today by Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher with voter fraud.

Riley is scheduled to make his initial appearance in Waukesha County Circuit Court on Sept. 11 a single count of felony election fraud-voting more than once.

Another hat tip to Mark Belling on this one. Harley Davidson will be asking it’s Milwaukee workers for contract concessions in return for an expansion in the Milwaukee plants. I didn’t get the full details and it apparently hasn’t been reported anywhere else, but from what I understand, Harley will be expanding somewhere in the country, but they are saying that this expansion will not be at the Milwaukee plants if the current wage and benefits packages stay as they are.

I’ll try to snag the audio of this when the podcast is up, it was just a very short tip.

Update: Audio added

Listen to Mark Belling’s coverage. (1:04)

Democratic Hypocrisy at it’s best! A group that raises money for Democratic Congressional candidates uses a company that pays it’s workers subminimum wage to talk to people about… raising the minimum wage.

Isthmus: Democrats for Worker Exploitation

National Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hires firm that pays subminimum wages to push for a higher minimum wage

A group that raises money for Democratic Congressional candidates uses a canvassing company that pays some workers submimium wage, in apparent violation of Wisconsin state law, to talk about the need to raise the federal minimum wage, Isthmus newspaper has learned.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), based in Washington, D.C., has hired Grassroots Campaigns, a Boston-based for-profit company with operations in 18 U.S. cities, to conduct canvassing on its behalf. The DCCC’s “New Direction for American” agenda, which provides the talkiing points canvassers are taught to use to solicit contributions, includes a call to “Raise the minimum wage.”

Talk about a bunch of hypocrites. They rail to raise the minimum wage, but they themselves will not even pay the current minimum… Just imagine what would be said if it was a group working for the Republicans.

Hat tip: Mark Belling

Outstanding, go read it all. I will have more tonight, also Alderman Donovan will; be in Charlie Sykes’ radio show and I will have more on that also.

JS Online:Alderman calls for anti-crime plan

Orville Seymer, a property manager in Milwaukee for 18 years who has been active in the group Citizens for Responsible Government, said he is so fed up with the lack of police presence that he is selling all of his rental spaces and moving to Waukesha.

“They say if you call a building inspector about a neighbor’s garage that’s deteriorating you’ll get a building inspector lickety-split. But if you call the police for a shooting or armed robbery sometimes it takes an hour or two hours,” Seymer, of Franklin, said Wednesday at a news conference on the city’s south side.

Ald. Bob Donovan, chair of the Common Council’s Public Safety Committee, fears more “good people” will join Seymer in his exodus from the city unless something is done to make Milwaukee safer.

Donovan announced the beginning of his “Enough is Enough” petition drive at at the intersection of S. 28th St. and W. National Ave. Wednesday.

The petition demands that Mayor Tom Barrett, the Common Council and the Milwaukee Police Department devise and implement a comprehensive plan to combat crime.

“More citizens have died on the streets of Milwaukee in the last eight months than all of the Wisconsin soldiers killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war,” said Donovan, who was flanked by about 40 residents.

Last night, another little girl was murdered as she sat on her porch with her mother, only a block or two from where I grew up on 40th & Silver Spring. Growing up, I couldn’t imagine that it wasn’t a safe place for children to play. We were out riding our bikes around the neighborhood, roaming between friends houses, all of the things kids use to be able to do. But now, a 13 year old girl can’t even sit on her porch.

What will be the reaction to this, yet another child that met her end at the hand of violence? So far, it is a quick mention on the news. Four sentences in the paper. Maybe a community leader will call a press conference or a columnist will write a few paragraphs and say this must end, but we have heard it all before. After the press conference, it may be mentioned in the media for a day or so, but no one will actually take any action to end violence in our streets.

This is a chance for those that wish to be the next District Attorney of Milwaukee, to lay out their plans to take back our streets from the violent thugs, will they take the opportunity? I have my doubts, but I hope I am wrong.

Along with the 13 year old girl murdered, two others were also shot, a 15 year old boy was shot in the arm, and a 21 year old man was shot in a drive by shooting.

Are we getting to a point where we don’t even notice this violence? I hope not, but with a paper that hardly mentions violence on or streets, and when they do, it is buried in the Regional News In Brief, many are I fear, becoming desensitized to crime on our streets. We need to work together to change this before it is to late!

JS Online: DayWatch

A 13-year-old girl was killed and two others wounded in separate shootings over the span of an hour last night, Milwaukee Police said today.

The girl was in the 5300 block of N. 39th St. around 10:50 p.m. when shots rang out, according to the police. She was struck once - police aren’t saying where at this time - and died a short time later at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Police are attempting to identify a suspect and had no one in custody this morning.

In the other shootings:

A 15-year-old boy suffered a gunshot wound to the arm around 11:20 p.m. in the 2700 block of N. 19th St. He was treated at Children’s Hospital and is expected to be released today.

A 22-year-old man was in stable condition at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital after being shot in the neck around 11:50 p.m. at N. 10th St. and W. Atkinson. The man told police he was walking down the street when a car passed. Words were exchanged, and shots fired.

UPDATE: Victim identified
The paper has the identity of the 13 year old girl that was murdered. Such a shame that her life, so full of promise, has been snuffed out before she had a chance to really live. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Candace Moss.

The Wisconsin Blogosphere’s candidate for everything has something to get off of his chest, go lend him an ear.

I’m not a big fan of Senator John Glenn, but John Glenn, the man, is one that you would do well to have your children aspire to. This exchange is outstanding.

This exchange between Senators Glenn and Metzenbaum is worth reading. Pretty impressive impromptu speech! Next time someone accuses you or any veteran of not having a “job” because you’re in the military, quote Sen Glenn.

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Howard Metzenbaum to John Glenn:

Metzenbaum: “How can you run for Senate when you’ve never held a ‘job’?”

Glenn: “I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps. I was through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on 12 different occasions.

“I was in the space program. It wasn’t my checkbook, it was my life that was on the line. This was not a 9-to-5 job where I took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank.

“I ask you to go with me, as I went the other day to a Veterans Hospital, and look those men with their mangled bodies in the eye and tell them they didn’t hold a job.

“You go with me to any Gold Star mother, and you look her in the eye and tell her that her son did not hold a job.

“You go with me to the space program, and you go as I have gone to the widows and the orphans of Ed White and Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee, and you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their dad didn’t hold a job.

“You go with me on Memorial Day coming up, and you stand on Arlington National Cemetery — where I have more friends than I like to remember — and you watch those waving flags, and you stand there, and you think about this nation, and you tell me that those people didn’t have a job.

“I tell you, Howard Metzenbaum, you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that there were some men — SOME MEN — who held a job. And they required a dedication to purpose and a love of country and a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself.

“And their self-sacrifice is what has made this country possible.

“I HAVE HELD A JOB, HOWARD!”

Hat tip to Kurt, Lakeshore Laments.

The MSM has got to cringe when they see things like this outstanding video from Aish.com or the latest from the Katie Couric and Rosie O’Donnell. If they aren’t careful, that may have to stop doctoring photos.

The Wisconsin Crime Lab has allowed a convicted child sex offender to stay free for over a year, leaving him able to victimize more children, because it has taken over a year to analyze his computers hard drive.

Paul Bucher: Crime Lab Delay in Oshkosh Child Pornography Case Inexcusable

The newest crime lab delay allowed the convicted child sex offender to remain on the streets for more than a year while the evidence to charge him with new crimes sat in his computer. The man, Randall S. Werdin, was charged Tuesday with 43 felony counts for possession of child pornography in Winnebago County Circuit Court.

The case highlights how the crime lab backlog is affecting more than DNA processing, Bucher said. Delays in computer forensics are also occurring throughout the state, hampering law enforcement investigations into Internet sexual predators and adding additional urgency to the need to fix the backlog, he said. Many local cops are considering giving up on the crime lab for computer forensic analysis altogether.

Democrats have been in charge of the DOJ for years and things keep getting worse. It is time for a change!

What a joke! The State Elections Board changed rules and made them retroactive, and now are hammering Mark Green with it, this is ridiculous. I heard just a little of Jeff Wagner’s radio show as this decision came out and I agree with him that Green should challenge this in court, because he is assured to win!

JS Online: Board tells Green to return PAC money
The state Elections Board today told Republican gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Mark Green to return $467,844 in donations from political action committees not registered in Wisconsin - money Green had transferred from his federal campaign fund in 2005.On several 5-2 votes, the board upheld a complaint from the non-profit Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which said the Green campaign’s transfer of almost $1.3 million from his federal fund to a state fund violated several campaign-finance laws.

Four Democrats on the board were joined by a Libertarian in voting against Green. Two Republicans on the board sided with Green.

When Green transferred the money, it was totally legal, and it was the same thing that now Mayor, then Congressmen Tom Barrett did when he ran for Governor a few years ago. The only difference… Mark Green is a Republican.

The board votes reversed a 2001 decision that allowed Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who was then a member of the House running for governor, to convert about $327,000 from his federal to his state account to help finance his campaign for governor.

A complaint over Barrett’s transfer of the $327,000 filed by the campaign of Jim Doyle, the then-attorney general who won the election, was dismissed by the board in 2001.

After the votes, Millis said the actions were “just unfair” because they reversed 28 years of traditions that allowed candidates for federal and state office to move money from one account to another.

Owen has more coverage: Elections Board Gets it Wrong

This ruling has done one thing, it has hardened my support for Mark Green! Everyone knows that I have had issues with Green, and my support has been more passive, but NO MORE! Thank You to the Jim Doyle loaded Wisconsin Elections Board!

UPDATE: Reaction

Mark Green Campaign: “Today’s decision is emblematic of the corruption that has invaded state government under Jim Doyle. Under Jim Doyle government decisions are made to benefit his campaign interests - while the taxpayers get the short end of the stick.

“Jim Doyle’s allies on the State Election Board defied their own attorney’s legal advice, state law and basic principles of fairness in their effort to help the struggling campaign of Governor Doyle. The Election’s Board action is literally trying to change 25 years of rules two months before Election Day - to affect only Mark Green.

Senator Michael. G. Ellis: “Mark Green did nothing wrong,” Ellis said. “He was treated unfairly by a partisan decision in the middle of a partisan election.”

“The fact is, Mark Green conducted all his affairs legally according to the relevant laws that were in effect at the time,” said Ellis. “The Board’s own legal analysis prepared by its nonpartisan legal counsel says as much. Instead, acting along partisan lines, the Board in effect overruled its own counsel to make this decision.”

Republican Party of Wisconsin: “With one partisan vote, the State Elections Board is ignoring decades of precedent and the advice of their own legal counsel.

In 2002, the State Elections Board unanimously allowed Democrat Tom Barrett to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars in PAC money to his state account. The fact that they have singled out Mark Green and not demanded that Tom Barrett return his cash shows how vindictive Doyle’s appointees to the Elections Board has become.

Mark Green has followed the letter of the law that has been in place since 1977. Meanwhile, Jim Doyle has sold the state of Wisconsin to the highest bidder and has more than $2 million in campaign cash from dubious sources including $20,250 in tainted Travelgate cash. Doyle’s administration remains under investigation by federal and state authorities.

Today’s decision is further proof that Jim Doyle’s campaign is flailing and can’t compete with the grassroots campaign of Mark Green without trying to retroactively change the rules.

This is latest in a long line of rulings by the State Elections Board that shows just how far are willing to go to get Jim Doyle re-elected - even if it means ignoring federal and state election law.”

The investigation into the Milwaukee Public Museum and the financial mess they have been going through, is coming to an end. The paper ran a story yesterday: JS Online:Museum money moves reviewed.

Tracy, from The FRAUDfiles Blog looks deeper in to the issue, and she has some thoughts on the District Attorneys actions… or shall we say, inaction on this issue.

Still nothing done in the Milwaukee Public Museum scandal

She asks some questions that I would like answered, but I doubt we will even know the whole truth.