Badger Blogger

Another good one from Spivak & Bice, this time on Tribal money flowing into the Doyle campaign. Doyle doesn’t even seem to make an attempt at looking clean anymore. He isn’t just taking money from Wisconsin’s tribe anymore, he is raking in huge amounts from out of state tribes

JS Online: Doyle isn’t leaving donations to chance
In 2002, now-Gov. Jim Doyle didn’t receive a huge helping hand from casino-rich tribes until some $700,000 in soft money made its way to state Democratic coffers days before the election.

This time around, the guv isn’t waiting. He’s already been out there mining Indian Country for several months.

Back in May, Doyle raked in 20 grand from Mohegan tribal officials who would manage the humongous casino that the Menominee tribe wants to open in Kenosha. Those contributions were part of the nearly $150,000 that Doyle collected this year from folks involved in the effort to turn Dairyland Greyhound Park into a casino.

A new Doyle campaign filing shows the Mohegans got something for their money:

Bambi is still fighting.

News Talk 1130 WISN
First on News/Talk 1130 WISN…”Bambi” has filed a federal lawsuit against the staffers at the State Crime Lab and the Milwaukee County DA’s office. Laurie Bembenek says she was framed when she was convicted of murdering her husband’s ex-wife in 1981. Ira Robbins, her private investigator, says evidence and files were tampered with. She continues to try to clear her name through DNA evidence. Bembenek is seeking 90 million dollars in damages.

Speaker John Gard is forming a task force to look into the possibility of a Bird Flu outbreak in Wisconsin.

Better preparing Wisconsin for an Avian Bird Flu outbreak will be the goal of a new task force created by Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo). On Monday, Speaker Gard created a bi-partisan task force to gather information, evaluate preparedness and make recommendations to help the state deal with a potential outbreak.

If you would like to read the full press release, I have a copy here (.doc)

Personally, I’m not big on this sort of thing, preparing for bad things is a good idea, but…

This is a scary thought, I agree with the Journal Sentinel Editorial Board.

JS Online: Editorial: Demolish Courthouse Annex
Time is running out for Milwaukee County and the County Board to get rid of a building badly in need of repair.

As we said in an editorial in July, the Courthouse Annex needs to go, and, for the sake of taxpayers, county supervisors must act quickly before the window of opportunity closes, in all likelihood this week.

The state has given the county until Friday to decide whether to raze the annex as part of the reconstruction of the Marquette Interchange. Because it is perched over three northbound lanes of I-43, if the annex is going to go - and it should - the time to tear it down is now, while construction of the interchange beneath the building is under way.

In short, the building is a mess. Over the years, pieces of concrete have fallen from the exterior, and, because of asbestos problems, the building is partly vacant.

But there is an added incentive to ripping it down now - a big one. As the result of negotiations between county and state officials, the state is willing to use about $5.2 million in revenue from the sale of land in the former Park East Freeway corridor to cover the full cost of demolition.

This building needs to go, and now is the time!

Check Scott Walker’s post contrasting his way of governing with Diamond Jim Doyle’s way. He calls it Trick or Treat

We in Wisconsin have a great opportunity to make a difference in the Judge Alito nomination. Wisconsin actually has two members of Congress on the Judiciary Committee, so Wisconsin’s senators are in a powerful position.

Now is the time to contact Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold, tell them (politely) that you expect them to approve the nomination of Alito. A President that has been twice elected deserves to have his qualified nominee approved, just like Presidents in the past. Qualifications, not politics should decide the decision of a Supreme Court nominee.

Phone calls are the most effective way to contact them, you can find the phone numbers for all of their offices here:
Senator Herb Kohl
Senator Russ Feingold

It only takes a few minutes, and pressure on politicians does work, so make those calls!

President Bush has heard our call loud and clear! This morning he has nominated an unquestionably qualified judge to be the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court!

Mr. President, we are ready, willing and oh so able to fight this fight! We have been asking for it since the elections in which you promised to nominate people in the mold of Scalia & Thomas. Well Done Mr. President!

I am joining with Blogs For Bush and their Confirm Alito Coalition.

It doesn’t help with the Governor knows he needs vote fraud to win.

JS Online: Progress slow in voting reforms
A year after Wisconsin’s problem-plagued 2004 presidential election - one that revealed breakdowns at nearly every level - officials have laid out a host of solutions, but few of them have been adopted, even though another high-turnout election is 12 months away.

And a statewide voter list, billed as something that will vastly improve the process, is behind schedule and expected to miss the Jan. 1 federal deadline to be in place.

Meanwhile, a state-federal probe into voter fraud in Milwaukee is continuing, even as Democrats fight Republican efforts to require a photo ID.

That battle has become the focal point in the Legislature, though both sides acknowledge that other reforms are needed to fix a battered system, in which voter confidence has been shaken.

Detroit has massive vote fraud using absentee ballots, sounds familiar, doesn’t it Wisconsin?

Absentee ballots tainted? - 10/30/05
A Detroit News investigation raises serious questions about the handling of absentee ballots under Detroit City Clerk Jackie Currie as the city prepares to choose a mayor, City Council and school board Nov. 8.

Currie has been accused of irregular election practices in several lawsuits, and a review of election results, property records and databases of registered voters uncovered procedures that experts and other election officials described as questionable.

Among findings by News reporters were ballots cast by people registered to vote at abandoned and long-demolished buildings; a master voter list with 380,000 incorrect names and addresses — including people who have died or moved out of the city; and a practice of hand-delivering ballots from senior citizens and disabled voters that were filled out in private meetings with Currie’s paid election workers.

If the mayoral race came down to a close vote demanding a recount of absentee ballots, the result could be chaotic.

But the most poignant findings were stories from those in nursing homes who had recently voted absentee.

Among them is Charles B. Allen, a resident at the Passion Caring Home for the Elderly who stared blankly one day last week when asked to name the mayor of Detroit. He’s never heard of Kwame Kilpatrick and can’t recall whether he voted in August.

“I just don’t know,” Allen said. Six years ago, a Wayne County probate judge declared the 87-year-old legally incapacitated due to dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Wisconsin has had this type of vote fraud, remember Governor Doyle’s staffers were going to day cares for the developmentally disabled and “helping” then fill out absentee ballots? And these are people that have had their voting privileges stripped by a judge because of their disability.

It’s a long article, but worth the read.

Someone better tell Dan Deibert to be careful, he just might become addicted to Blogging

I forget what way to change it…. Fall Back, Spring Ahead… right? Well, figure it out

It’s a good idea to check the battery in your smoke detector too.

Bravo Belling! Mark has taken up a topic that I have hit on (1 | 2 | 3) several times in the past two weeks, the new high tech sign boards for the Milwaukee Brewers that the tax payers are getting stuck paying for. Bellings column is dead on!

Time to rewrite lease at Miller Park
Miller Park is the gift to the Milwaukee Brewers that keeps on giving. Apparently not content with a taxpayer-built, state-of-the-art stadium that has turned the franchise from a money loser to highly profitable, the Brewers are demanding that the stadium be upgraded with bells and whistles the Brewers will use to make even more revenue. The supposed representative of the taxpayers, the stadium board, seems content to roll over and give the Brewers whatever they want.

Go read it all.

Spivak & Bice have been talking about the fiasco that was the Michael McGee Jr. bus trip to hell. You remember this trip, right? The one where he called two high school girls along for the trip lesbians and they had to watch raciest videos and McGee bragged that he should have kicked the ass of a State Senator that asked for an apology after McGee called off duty cops “sick faggots”. This was also a time when he called the District Attorney a Dumb Ass…And he is an elected representative!

McGee wasn’t through after his well thought out response to Spivak & Bice where he called them punks and liers, now he has his flacks holding a press conference McGee style, the press wasn’t allowed to ask questions and the only press that seems to have known about it ahead of time was the McGee supporters at the Milwaukee Community Journal.

JS Online: McGee’s stony silence is deafening
Call it the Couple Dozen More Movement.

About 30 supporters of Ald. Michael McGee gathered across the street from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday to tell us what they thought of the column we wrote listing many of the complaints voiced by two high school girls who went with McGee on a crowded bus trip to the Millions More Movement in Washington, D.C., earlier this month.

Go check the whole thing, it’s very enlightening.

With all of the bad press that out Police Officers get, I always enjoy pointing out good news from our Heroes in Blue

JS Online: Sergeant saves two men from burning car
Unconscious pair likely would have died, officials say

Trzcinski, 30, a nine-year veteran who was promoted to sergeant just a week ago and was on patrol alone, called for assistance. He jumped out of his squad car, ran to the burning car and repeatedly slammed his baton against the driver’s side window, but to no effect.

With the situation growing more dire, Trzcinski scrambled to find a way into the car.

He managed to peel back some mangled metal around the door and squeeze his arm in.

He unlocked the door and pulled out the 24-year-old man who was driving.

He raced to the passenger side. With two officers now on hand to assist, they pulled out a 21-year-old man.

Go read the whole thing and thank God we have people like this looking out for us.

Check out Scott Walker’s post on Jim Doyle’s use of his veto pen to reward WEAC.