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Please contact Robert Doeckel at (608) 217-0194 or robert AT onewisconsinnow.org.
Despite Republican Attorney General JB Van Hollen’s multi-year claim of widespread voter fraud in Wisconsin, the state’s top elected Republican has been able to document just 11 potentially-improper votes cast out of 3 million Wisconsinites who went to the polls in November 2008.
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s long record of failed leadership, mismanagement and skewed priorities are featured on a new interactive and multi-media website www.ScottWalkerFailureFiles.com, researched and produced by One Wisconsin Now.
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s gubernatorial campaign failed to report the required employer information of donors giving him over $120,000 – the second time in a year he has filed a report with this level of inaccuracy. Under chapter 11.60(1) of the Wisconsin Statutes, each violation can result in a $500 civil forfeiture, which could top well over $165,000 in Walker’s case.
Madison — Milwaukee County Executive County Scott Walker, who has said he will reduce the state’s expected $2.5 billion budget deficit by offering $3 billion in tax cuts, loopholes and shifts that will primarily benefit the rich and big business, apparently knows even less about the state’s constitutional amendment process. Walker said today as governor, he would “sign an amendment that will protect funds” like patients’ compensation fund despite the governor having no legal role in the state’s constitutional amendment process.
Madison — Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker still refuses to say how he will finance a budget-busting $3-billion tax cut and shift scheme that would slash funds from education, health care, and police and fire protection — even after the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau says the state deficit is an even-larger $2.5 billion for the next biennium.
Madison – Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker has promised to reveal his plans in the coming days to reduce the state government payroll, but if his Milwaukee County record is any indication of his plans, taxpayers will be socked with higher costs and compromised safety.
Madison – Milwaukee County Executive County Scott Walker has added more than $1 billion to the price tag of his tax cuts, tax loopholes and tax shifts, which combined with the state’s $2-billion-plus deficit, would require more than $5 billion in drastic cuts to education, health care and police and fire protection – threatening the quality of life for communities in every corner of Wisconsin.
Tax documents obtained from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue by One Wisconsin Now show Oshkosh Tea Party enthusiast and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson and his spouse have reported an estimated $12.2 million in income over the last 15 years. This would appear to either contradict claims by his campaign he will spend between $10-15 million in personal funds, or indicate Johnson has somehow shielded vast sums of money from his tax liability.
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s self-appointed tax and spend team in the state legislature, Republicans Robin Vos and Alberta Darling, both called for more General Purpose Revenue funding than requested by Gov. Jim Doyle in state budgets in the past several years.
One Wisconsin Now released the following statement on Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s latest pension gimmick in light of his office’s refusal to honor an open records request from April, filed by One Wisconsin Now. One Wisconsin Now requested records of the full pension benefits that Walker is scheduled to receive from Milwaukee County:
Today’s Wisconsin Right to Life PAC endorsement of Ron Johnson shows WRTL is clearly more interested in shilling for the Republican Party rather than intellectual honesty. Please find below a re-send of One WI Now’s release from last week detailing US Senate candidate Ron Johnson’s opposition to Wisconsin Right to Life’s extreme agenda — and Dave Westlake’s support of it.
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker refuses to detail how he will pay for his nearly $2 billion in tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the rich and big business. But he said late last week that wage and benefit cuts for state workers are one way to close the state’s $2 billion-plus projected state deficit. In order to finance both the tax cuts and close the deficit, Walker would need to cut state worker pay and benefits by 42 percent, or slash 29,000 state jobs.
Madison — Wisconsin Right to Life head Barbara Lyons recently told her members she was “salivating” over the Republican U.S. Senate Ron Johnson. In just the last week, Johnson has said he would support exceptions for rape and incest, which the anti-choice WRTL opposes. Johnson’s GOP primary opponent, Dave Westlake, has public opposed exceptions for rape and incest.
Madison – Attendees at this weekend’s Democratic Party of Wisconsin convention will be given the chance to sign a One Wisconsin Now petition, in which participants can offer their support either for responsible budgeting that focuses on the state’s critical priorities, or give their support to exploding the deficit with unpaid tax cuts that benefit the rich and big business. Republican Party of Wisconsin officials had One Wisconsin Now staff ejected from the sidewalk outside of last month’s state convention as they tried to get signers at its event in Milwaukee.
Madison – Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann have refused to detail how they will pay for three tax cuts for the rich and big business, which would cost the middle class $1 billion over the first two years. One Wisconsin Now has released a new video, available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9q8CyhS-Pw designed to get Walker and Neumann to “Break the Silence” and show how they will pay for these tax cut schemes.
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s failed leadership and the disastrous outcome is the subject of an online video produced by One Wisconsin Now as part of its “Scott Walker Failure Files” timeline and information warehouse.
Madison — The first television advertisement for Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s campaign for governor paid for by the Republican Party of Wisconsin not only is full of distortions and exaggerations, but also ignores the impact of his policies which have been disastrous for Milwaukee, a fact-check conducted by One Wisconsin Now concludes.
Madison – The Republican Party of Wisconsin’s formal endorsement of Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker has come almost to the day of the anniversary of the passage of the second Bush tax cut that helped hand over nearly $1 trillion of federal money to the top one percent of income earners. Walker’s central campaign scheme is a $2-billion Bush-style tax cut plan for the rich and big business that he refuses to say how he will pay to finance.
Madison – Milwaukee County Scott Walker’s mismanagement of the County Mental Health Complex is under even more scrutiny after tragic reports of yet another patient sexual assault, this time at the hands of a security guard hired as part of Walker’s failed effort to privatize county services.
Madison – Attendees at Friday’s first night of the Republican Party of Convention will be given the chance to sign a One Wisconsin Now petition in which participants can offer their support for responsible budgeting that focuses on the state’s critical priorities, or for exploding the deficit with unpaid tax cuts that benefit the rich and big business.
Madison – After spending $2,000 in California at a Hollywood bondage club earlier this year, the Republican National Committee has yet to unveil its adult entertainment budget for Milwaukee, site of next week’s Republican Party of Wisconsin annual convention.
Madison — Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s latest campaign ad is riddled with falsehoods, distortions and half-truths about his disastrous record for Milwaukee County, according to a fact check of the ad conducted by One Wisconsin Now.
Madison — Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s pandering flip flop on the racist Arizona immigration law has One Wisconsin Now asking whether a similar strategy could get him to answer the question he has refused to answer: How will Scott Walker pay for his $2 billion tax giveaway to benefit the rich and big business? Walker flipped his position from a weekend Associated Press story after his Facebook page was riddled with criticisms by tea party types.
Madison – Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker will be riding across the state on a thinly-disguised campaign junket paid for by AirTran Airways just as the county is negotiating with them, and other airlines, for a new lease at General Mitchell International Airport. This is the first master lease renegotiation in 25 years. A report from Walker’s interim Director of Transportation and Public Works on the new master lease agreement for the airlines was the subject of a closed session county board committee meeting Wednesday of this week.
Madison — A special interest group that calls itself a partner of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) will begin spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on television starting Friday to promote Scott Walker in the Republican primary for governor.
Madison – Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s eight years of failed leadership are highlighted in an interactive timeline documenting his misdeeds, mismanagement and incompetence created by One Wisconsin Now and available at www.ScottWalkerFailureFiles.com.
Madison – Former GOP U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann has found a willing advocate in former divisive GOP Assembly Speaker and twice-failed congressional candidate, John Gard, for his irresponsible tax plan that would slash income taxes only for the top one percent of income earners and reopen the corporate loophole for bankers and big business. Gard, a former business lobbyist who surrendered his license just hours ago, has endorsed Neumann’s campaign for governor.
Madison – Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s dwindling credibility on job creation was dealt another blow Thursday, when he implied Harley-Davidson will cut jobs due to closing of the “Las Vegas” financial loophole. The motorcycle maker has pointedly said the ending of the controversial tax shelter has had “nothing to do with our work-force reductions.”
Madison — Attorney General JB Van Hollen’s campaign received a $10,000 campaign contribution from the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), the same group his Deputy Attorney General consulted with days before seeking legal permission to file a Republican-concocted lawsuit to prevent enactment of the federal health reform act.
Madison — The top deputy to Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen sought direction from a $57 million Republican campaign committee that supports Republican attorneys general leading up to the Wisconsin Department of Justice attempt to file a partisan lawsuit against the federal health reform act, according to a handful of records obtained by One Wisconsin Now.
Madison — One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements calling on former Gov. Doyle Commerce Secretary Dick Leinenkugel to oppose regressive taxation plans for Wisconsin as the state continues to work through the national economic collapse due to the failed policies of the Bush administration and the Republican Congress.
Madison – In a partisan effort to use the taxpayer-financed resources of the Wisconsin Department of Justice to derail the Wisconsin Voter Protection Act, Attorney General JB Van Hollen issued an opinion opposing the common sense bill because it allows electronic signatures from the driver’s licenses and state-issued photo identifications for use in voter registration. Just last month, Van Hollen praised passage of a bill allowing the use of electronic signatures for law enforcement personnel, citing the need to adapt to “current technology.”
Madison – Citizens from across Wisconsin have joined One Wisconsin Now in sending a decisive message to the Tea Party and conservative elected officials who want less investment in the middle class and less support for children and working families: “I AM My Brother’s Keeper.” One Wisconsin Now will display responses of its members who participated in a statewide online survey about why America works on a mobile billboard at the state capitol Thursday.
Madison – Citizens from across Wisconsin have joined One Wisconsin Now in sending a decisive message to the Tea Party and conservative elected officials who want less investment in the middle class and less support for children and working families: “I AM My Brother’s Keeper.” One Wisconsin Now will display responses of its members who participated in a statewide online survey about why America works on a mobile billboard at the state capitol Thursday.
Madison – Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s budget-busting tax giveaway to the rich and big business is under a new assault after Walker offered cutting seniors, people with disabilities and working families and children from health care coverage as a way to pay for his much-maligned plan to double Wisconsin’s projected $2-billion state budget deficit with a series of tax breaks that mostly benefit corporations and high-income people.
Madison –With the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance and the Tax Foundation likely to spend Monday touting the state’s mythic “Tax Freedom Day,” One Wisconsin Now’s WISTAX Watch is urging the public and the media to review its report showing both the flaws of the Tax Foundation numbers and the connections between WISTAX and the Tax Foundation and Americans for Prosperity. The big oil, health industry-funded AFP has the led the “Tea Party” efforts around the country to oppose the policies of President Obama.
Wisconsin Attorney General has yet to fulfill a One Wisconsin Now open records request for communications his office had with members of the state legislature and interests inside and outside of Wisconsin in the weeks leading up to his attempt to file a partisan lawsuit to block implementation of the historic health insurance reform bill passed by Congress in March.
Madison – Citizens from across Wisconsin who are weary of the anger, divisiveness and misinformation of the Republican-led Tea Party movement can send a message on April 15 about “Why America Works” through a mobile billboard contest launched this week by One Wisconsin Now.
Madison – Citizens from every corner of Wisconsin spoke loud and clear in favor of the Wisconsin Voter Protection Act before a Joint Committee today, sending over 1,600 petitions circulated by progressive organizations including One Wisconsin Now and representing all 132 Senate and Assembly districts.
Madison – Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen’s failing attempt to block health insurance reform through a partisan Republican lawsuit is in direct contrast to repeated criticisms Van Hollen made against former-Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager during his 2006 campaign. Van Hollen went so far as to file open records requests about several federal actions to detail the cost of the suits and document his opposition on a now-defunct website LeaveNoSpecialInterestBehind.com.
Madison — One Wisconsin Now has filed two open records requests with the Wisconsin Department of Justice seeking copies of all correspondence to and from Republican Attorney General JB Van Hollen and DOJ staff with individuals inside and outside of Wisconsin urging Van Hollen to file a Republican-orchestrated frivolous lawsuit brought by attorneys general from 13 states around the country to block the federal Affordable Health Care for America Act signed into law Tuesday by President Obama.
Madison – Contrary to calls for fiscal restraint in his latest television advertisement, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker voted to increase state spending 84 percent as a member of the state Assembly and has proposed 35 percent in increases to county spending since 2002. Walker voted for $200 billion in total state budget spending, which led to a then-record $3 billion state budget deficit.
Madison – One Wisconsin Now released the following statements following the passage of the historic health insurance reform bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Madison – Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s hollow criticism of the Talgo bidding process, which was not awarded to the company of his $13,000 donor and 2006 gubernatorial co-chair, is even more hypocritical given that Walker voted to create the no-bid statute in the 1997 state budget, according to One Wisconsin Now.
Madison — Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s criticism related to the Talgo company comes just two weeks after the company owned by a top Walker campaign donor and finance co-chair of his failed 2006 gubernatorial campaign did not receive a contract from the Spanish train maker.
The controversial polling project between the conservative, pro-corporate Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Ken Goldstein, will continue to generate suspect and manipulated polling information, according to news reports this weekend.
Madison – The “T Wall Properties Master Limited Partnership” business listed on Madison developer Terrence Wall’s Senate candidate financial disclosure report has paid no net state income taxes in the last 10 years, according to records from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue obtained by One Wisconsin Now.
Madison – Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker is claiming he will create “250,000 jobs” in Wisconsin, which if done would essentially reduce the unemployment rate to zero. The lowest recorded unemployment rate in recent Wisconsin history is 2.4 percent in 1999.
Madison – At Tuesday’s Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce lobbying luncheon Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker will likely find support from the corporate lobby for his $2-billion, budget-busting, deficit-doubling plan for tax breaks that mostly benefit corporations and the wealthiest Wisconsinites. What is less likely, is that Walker will explain which drastic cuts he would make to pay for this failed fiscal strategy, according to One Wisconsin Now.
Madison – Unlike the millions of Americans whose incomes were adversely affected by the collapsing economy due to the failed policies of George W. Bush, former Gov. Tommy Thompson appears to have earned more in 2008 than any previous year, according to figures obtained by One Wisconsin Now from the state Department of Revenue.
Madison – One Wisconsin Now released the following statements from Executive Director Scot Ross on the one-year anniversary of the successful America Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). ARRA has provided $2.76 billion to Wisconsin for job creation, schools, transportation, health care, energy and public safety among other critical needs. Over 44,000 Wisconsin jobs have been created, retained and funded through the Recovery Act funds, which some elected officials, most prominently Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, called for Wisconsin to reject.
Madison – Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s call for Wisconsin to reject federal Recovery Act funds for critical job creation and railway infrastructure needs reflects Walker’s long-time failure on transit issues, which have led to among other things, the nation’s highest transit fees for already-struggling Milwaukee County residents.
Madison – One Wisconsin Now’s WISTAX Watch is asking the conservative Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance to explain why its latest report focusing on fee increases in cities and villages ignores county governments. The state is in the midst of a gubernatorial campaign between Milwaukee’s conservative county executive, Scott Walker and Milwaukee’s mayor, Tom Barrett.
Madison – Newly-minted Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce chair Thomas Howatt, Chief Executive Officer of Wausau Paper Corporation, has yet to issue public thanks to Democrats controlling the state legislature and the U.S. Congress who enacted policies to both provide his company with $2.6 million in Recovery Act funds and coinciding with the company’s best fourth-quarter earnings in a decade.
Madison – One Wisconsin Now has launched WISTAXWatch.org, a comprehensive website providing historical information, board donations, affiliations and extensive analysis of the conservative agenda of the allegedly non-ideological Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.
Madison — Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker has strongly opposed measures to provide more Wisconsin children, pregnant mothers and uninsured adults have affordable health care, at the same time taking more than $120,000 in campaign contributions from the health care industry in just the last six months alone.
Madison – Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker wants to double Wisconsin’s projected $2-billion state budget deficit with a series of tax breaks that mostly benefit corporations and high-income people.
Madison – A University of Wisconsin polling project downplayed opposition to private school vouchers after a conservative think tank paying for the polling raised political concerns, documents obtained by One Wisconsin Now show.
If Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker is interested in providing an honest assessment in his 2010 “state of the county” address, it will be a long apology to the people of Milwaukee County for his failed leadership, skewed priorities and playing politics with county operations.
As Milwaukee County Executive, Scott Walker proposed budgets to increase spending 35 percent, far ahead of the more modest spending plans of Gov. Jim Doyle and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, according to an analysis by One Wisconsin Now.
Madison – Progress made by the United States Congress on health insurance reforms called for by President Barack Obama has activated Wisconsin’s two leading conservative organizations, which both released curiously-timed “studies” to deflect blame for skyrocketing health costs from the health insurance industries.
Madison – Preserving voter rights, ensuring timely access to the polls and modernizing voter registration are critical to protecting democracy across Wisconsin was the consensus at the second annual Protect Wisconsin’s Vote Education Summit, held in the Madison Tuesday.
Madison – A call for reform of Milwaukee Public Schools by Wisconsin Assembly Reps. Brett Davis (R-Monroe) and Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa), ignores recent anti-MPS votes by the duo, including the 2007-09 Assembly Republican budget which would have slashed a plan to give $15 million to Milwaukee Public Schools and an additional $85 million to schools across Wisconsin.
Madison – One Wisconsin Now has launched a petition drive in the Green Bay listening area calling for WTAQ-AM to add a progressive voice to its endless line-up of ultra-right wing programming. The action comes in response to a recent incident involving a WTAQ host and an unsubstantiated attack on the Lieutenant Governor, which underscored the absence of a progressive counterpoint voice on the station.
Madison – Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s recent call for limits on critical BadgerCare health benefits for low-income or displaced workers and repeated criticism of state spending raises concerns he may favor cuts to BadgerCare programs that cover children and expectant mothers.
Madison – Republican multi-millionaire Terrence Wall claims in this month’s In Business magazine that Franklin D. Roosevelt was responsible for the Great Depression, despite Roosevelt taking office over three years after the Depression began and enacting policies which lowered the unemployment rate from 25 percent in 1933 to 10 percent by 1937, saving the U.S. from economic collapse.
Madison – Wall Land Investment, LLC, one of multi-millionaire Madison developer Terrence Wall’s companies, has reclassified $2 million in prime Dane County commercial real estate into “agriculture” property, which allows the company to eliminate $34,000 in local property taxes. Wall is already under criticism for using a Delaware post “office” box to possibly avoid paying Wisconsin business tax.
The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board could be opening Wisconsin’s doors to an avalanche of future illegal campaign activity after settling for a miniscule fine of $500 from All Children Matter, ignoring evidence the group possibly funneled Wisconsin corporate contributions through a Virginia political action committee in violation of Wisconsin campaign finance law.
Madison – The Delaware address of the “principal office” of T. Wall Properties, LLC, a business owned by Wisconsin developer Terrence Wall, is the same address the New York Times said is used specifically “to help corporations avoid paying taxes in other states.”
Madison – The latest “Republican Rally for Failure” hosted by the self-identified “teabaggers” is scheduled for Saturday in West Allis. The “Failure Rally” will feature numerous incendiary speakers, including fact-challenged Michelle Malkin, who will join other partisans to try and defeat the agenda of President Barack Obama.
According to a weekend story broken by Wisconsin State Journal, a newly-hired staff member of MacIver, former television reporter Bill Osmulski, interviewed two prominent Democratic elected officials by making them believe he was still working in his capacity as a former local news reporter, not as a paid staff member of a conservative, ideological-biased advocacy organization. (Full story is attached at the end of this memo for review.)
Madison – U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) of Janesville has yet to condemn the racist remarks of fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins from Kansas, who cited Ryan as a potential “great white hope” to defeat the agenda of President Barack Obama.
“Tonight’s ‘Republican Rally for Failure’ is central in the Republican strategy, bankrolled by Republican interests, to defeat the Democratic President at any cost. They don’t care about lying to us. They don’t care if our health care costs keep skyrocketing. They don’t care if Americans die due to lack of health care coverage – they just want President Obama to fail.”
One Wisconsin Now launched an update and redesigned version of its WMC Watch – a comprehensive watchdog website of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. Located at www.WMCWatch.org, the site includes new contributions, revenue and expenditure totals, as well as additional research and analysis of the influence of Wisconsin’s most powerful pro-corporate lobby.
Madison — One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross issued the following statements following Attorney General JB Van Hollen’s flip-flop on the right of the legislature to authorize basic legal protections, such as hospital visitation rights, for domestic partners.
“Attorney General JB Van Hollen is a right-wing legal activist who uses his taxpayer-financed office to serve his partisan political agenda. This abrupt flip flop on domestic partner benefits that he insisted during his campaign for Attorney General were legal, is the latest abuse of his office which includes his partisan lawsuit filed for the Republican Party of Wisconsin to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters in 2008. Candidate Van Hollen promised that domestic partner protections were legal. Candidate Van Hollen promised he’d defend the state of Wisconsin. Attorney General Van Hollen has broken both of those promises.”
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s gubernatorial campaign failed to report the required employer information of top donors who gave him over $172,000 – a violation affecting one of every six dollars he took in his first finance period. Under chapter 11.60(1) of the Wisconsin Statutes, each violation can result in a $500 civil forfeiture, which could top well over $150,000 in Walker’s case.
Madison – U.S. Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI6) might find himself the victim of health insurance industry financed “teabagger” protests after video of him supporting a public option for health care reform, and rejecting the argument of so-called “birthers” was released today by One Wisconsin Now.
Madison – Architects of the 2006 same-sex marriage ban who insisted it would not impact legal protections for domestic partners have reversed their position and filed a lawsuit challenging recently enacted basic legal protections like hospital visitation and inheritance to those in domestic partnerships.
Madison — The awarding of ultra-conservative Rep. Leah Vukmir with the American Legislative Exchange Council’s “Legislator of the Year” reflects her embrace of extremist policies which increase pollution, hurt workers and prevent access to affordable health care for all.
Madison – A discredited report being circulated by Scott Jensen’s MacIver Institute is calling for $800 billion in new deficit spending to end the estate tax for anyone with an estate in excess of $3.5 million.
Madison – A One Wisconsin Now analysis of the political giving of the announced officials of the Wisconsin Business Council shows that conservatives and Republicans netted 77 percent of member giving, contradicting charges made by Rep. Robin Vos (R-Caledonia) the new organization is a liberal front group.
Madison — Constituents from across the congressional districts of U.S. Reps. Ron Kind, Steve Kagen, and Tom Petri have signed a petition urging him to both strengthen and vote in favor of critical legislation on the House floor Friday to transform the economy into one harnessing the power of green technology.
Madison — Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) has launched a newspaper ad campaign which argues the solution to the state’s $6.6 billion budget deficit is tax cuts for the rich — the same economic plan enacted by George W. Bush and Congressional Republicans, which caused the nationwide economic crisis that plunged 47 states into deficit.
Madison – After months of insisting the state budget crisis was smaller than official estimates, the conservative Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance has turned silent in light of decreased revenue collections putting the budget deficit at $6.6 billion.
Madison – Despite representing the three cities in Wisconsin with the highest unemployment rates, Rep. Paul Ryan has offered a GOP budget plan to continue the reckless Bush economic policies of tax cuts for the rich, privatization and ignoring investment in American infrastructure.
Madison – The judicial ethics of Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick are under fire after breaking his own clean campaign pledge by attacking Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson in a television advertisement with several dubious claims.
Madison – Rose Fernandez, described in a recent newspaper article as “a nurse by training who has never held an education job,” received $1,350 in contributions from top personnel at the Virginia-based K12, Inc., the for-profit company expected to reap $5 million in Wisconsin taxpayer funds to administer virtual schools – a number which would grow if Fernandez is able to expand the program as Secretary of the Department of Public Instruction.
Madison – A painstaking analysis by One Wisconsin Now of more than 4,000 decisions made by the Wisconsin Supreme Court during the current term of Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson proves Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick has misrepresented Abrahamson’s record. A full accounting of her decision making shows the Chief Justice has supported the state’s position in cases involving crime and public safety 90 percent of the time.
Madison – Jefferson County Circuit Judge Randy Koschnick has heard 1,830 cases involving 19 lawyers who made contributions to his prior judicial campaign, including 35 cases which are currently open.
Madison – Rose Fernandez, former head of the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual Schools Families, is part of a network involving lobbyists, non-profit organizations, elected officials and even the law-breaking All Children Matter, seeking to give for-profit companies like the Virginia-based K12, Inc. Wisconsin education tax dollars. An interactive website detailing this network and its in-state and out-of-state players is available at FernandezFiveMillion.com, compiled by One Wisconsin Now.
Madison – U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Janesville) has tried to sell himself as a neo-budget hawk, but this directly contradicts the eight consecutive federal budgets he voted for which increased federal spending by $1 trillion annually, according to One Wisconsin Now.
Madison – Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance President Todd Berry’s upcoming appearance with top state Republican elected officials at a right wing organizations’ anti-fair taxation summit is yet another example of the conservative agenda of the Taxpayers Alliance, according to One Wisconsin Now, a statewide liberal advocacy organization.
Madison – Architects of the 2006 same-sex marriage ban who insisted it would not impact legal protections for domestic partners have reversed their position now that Governor Jim Doyle wants to give certain basic legal protections like hospital visitation and inheritance to those in domestic partnerships.
Madison – Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick had a higher reversal rate in 2008 than three quarters of all other circuit court judges and since 2000 more than one in four of his decisions were overturned, according to data released by the Wisconsin Law Journal.
Madison – One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross issued the following statements on the Assembly Republicans budget gimmicks announcement.
“For 14 years, Republicans used one iron fist to rule the Assembly and used the other to grab as much special interest cash as they could carry. Assembly Republicans used our tax dollars to enrich their donors and reduce the rights of workers, the ability of schools to finance education and prevent real health care reform from passage. With leaders like Scott Walker and Scott Jensen, they stretched Wisconsin’s finances beyond the breaking point. Following these Assembly Republicans further down the path of failure would be an enormous mistake to say the least.”
Madison – As Wisconsin banks have taken over $2.4 billion in taxpayer-financed Troubled Asset Relief Program bailout funds, two of the state’s largest banking lobby associations have joined with Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce to fight efforts to close the $75 million-a-year ‘Las Vegas Loophole,’ which helps companies dodge Wisconsin taxes by opening up a post office box in a state without corporate income tax.
Madison – Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick’s criticism of the Wisconsin Supreme Court for overruling him on evidence in the murder trial of Matthew J. Knapp, conveniently ignores that Koschnick ruled in the same case to exclude an essential piece of evidence which subsequently convicted Knapp – two pairs of the murderer’s shoes stained with the victim’s blood. The Supreme Court overruled Koschnick and allowed prosecutors to use the bloody shoes to convict Knapp.
Madison – Complaints by the Big Oil-funded American for Prosperity about taxes are a smokescreen to prevent Wisconsin lawmakers from enacting a windfall tax on the excessive profits gained by the oil industry by gouging consumers with record-setting gas prices.
