DAILY WISCONSIN

WISGOP

Budget, Cronyism, State Government, WISGOP

Republican State Budget: No Help For One Million Student Loan Borrowers, But a Special Favor For One Electric Car Enthusiast

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported on the inclusion of the “Kapenga Kickback”: “A last-minute budget provision to make it easier to sell cars made by Tesla is aimed at winning the crucial vote of Sen. Chris Kapenga, who has pushed for the measure in the past and owns a business that sells Tesla parts and salvaged electric vehicles.

Budget, Gov. Evers, Speaker Vos, State Government, WisDems, WISGOP

Word on the Street

The new Democratic governor, Tony Evers, has put together a two-year budget proposal that virtually every newspaper article declares DOA (dead on arrival) because of opposition in the Republican controlled legislature.  There is even talk that the GOP will try to supplant his budget by amending the old one.

That’s not the word you hear on the street. What may have been true for eight years under GOP’s departed governor Scott Walker is undergoing the crashing sounds of change.  Many in both parties now realize that Evers is not the extreme partisan the GOP tried to paint (in fact, several Democrats don’t find him extreme enough). Several of his proposals have considerable majority clout behind them, given past actions from all sides of the electorate.

Via DOM’S DOMAIN POLITICS: EVERS AND GOP FIGHTING FOR WISCONSIN’S POLITICAL SOUL.

WISGOP

From the Top, For the Top 

[WISGOP] Vice Chairman Andrew Hitt will take on Courtney’s duties until a new chairman is selected by the party’s executive committee. A meeting to pick a new chairman hasn’t been set, party spokesman Charles Nichols said.

So the new chair will be selected by the executive committee…not elected by the party membership at large (or at least via delegates at the convention).

Given how they select their leadership, is it any wonder why the Republicans ‘run’ government they way they do?

Source: Wisconsin GOP Doesn’t Trust Anyone To Vote | Blogging Blue

Legislature, Pollution, Speaker Vos, Water, WISGOP

Stacked

Now, to the question of the day:

Do you expect genuine, comprehensive action from Vos’ hand-picked, Republican-heavy task force if there are five appointees who signed that letter for the federal waiver from phosphorous-pollution rules – –  including the Vis-Designated chairman, among its 13 GOP members?

Matching up the task force membership, here, with the signatories to the water waiver letter here – – and props to the Wisconsin State Journal for publishing the names in a sidebar – –  find these overlapping Vos appointees:

GOP State Reps Robert Brooks, Mary Fetzkowski, Andre Jacque, Travis Tranel and chairman Tod Novak.

Those five alone outnumber the task force’s three Democrats.

You could call that the implications of divided government.

Or you could call out special-interest water carrying when you see it, like this 2016 summary wherein Vos and his GOP allies make their appearances :

Via Vos water task force stars Republicans weak on pollution @ The Political Environment.

Ethics, Gov. Walker, TrumpRussia, WISGOP

All Roads Lead Back to Maple Bluff

If these allegations from CREW [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] are true, and if it you put it together with Walker campaigners that have ties to Cambridge Analytica, it sure seems possible that WisGOP was illegally working with organizations like Cambridge that are supposed to be operating independently from candidates and parties in both 2014 and 2016. And if Walker and WisGOP were not reporting those expenses, that’s a major campaign law violation.The Cambridge connections make the $1.1 million that Ukrainian oligarch and Putin buddy Len Blavatnik gave to Walker’s epic fail of a presidential campaign interesting, doesn’t it? It also makes me wonder what favors may have been returned to these outside groups from the Governor, Legislature, and other WisGOPs in return for all of this “research”?

Via Jake’s Wisconsin Funhouse: Some Trump/Russia links, snooping is leading back to Wisconsin.

GOP, Gov. Walker, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Cruz

Any assistance Walker can render Cruz is in line with Walker’s stated goal last fall of defeating Donald Trump.As recently as March 7th, The Daily Caller was reporting that Walker was weighing whether to endorse a candidate before the Republican Primary. Walker also told The Daily Caller, “And I think for the candidates I might be inclined to endorse, nobody would be surprised in that, I haven’t endorsed, [but] I’m probably handily more aligned politically with the two senators — Cruz and Rubio, but I’m not going to make an endorsement one over the other.”

Via Wigderson: Scott Walker Needs To Endorse Ted Cruz @ Right Wisconsin.

Gov. Walker, Politics, WISGOP

Talkin’ Up a Third Term

NEENAH – As his former presidential rivals crisscrossed Iowa for caucuses Monday, Gov. Scott Walker stoked the fire on whether he would seek a third term as Wisconsin’s governor.While Walker said he is considering a run for a third term, which would begin in January 2019, count him out for a fourth: “My wife says if I thought about a fourth term, she’d slit my throat,” he said Monday at a private event at the Neenah Club….

Via Walker hints at run for third term in Neenah visit @ Appleton Post Crescent.

Foreign Affairs, Russ Feingold, Sen. Johnson, WISGOP

WISGOP: Feingold’s Foreign Policy is Dangerous

Senator —

November 30, 2015

Senator Russ Feingold’s Foreign Policy is Dangerous and Out of Touch

[Madison, Wis.] – As global threats to America and its allies overseas continue to grow, Wisconsin needs a leader who puts the safety of the country before radical ideology. Ron Johnson is leading the charge and fighting to do everything necessary to keep Wisconsinites safe from harm. At the same time, Senator Russ Feingold is doubling down on his radical ideology and praising Barack Obama’s poor handling of crises around the world.

“Senator Feingold’s only solution to our national security threats is the formation of another government-run committee, and he couldn’t be more out of touch with the threats we face each day,” said Pat Garrett, spokesman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin. “Ron Johnson continues to bring people together behind commonsense solutions to keep our country safe, meanwhile Feingold clings to a rigid foreign policy that isn’t working and has America leading from behind.”

 

Via Senator Russ Feingold’s Foreign Policy is Dangerous and Out of Touch @ Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Open Government, Public Records, WISGOP

Pot, Kettle

The latest criticism is that GAB staff used Gmail accounts, rather than their official state email accounts, to communicate with prosecutors during the Walker investigation.

At a hearing last week, Rep. David Craig (R-Big Bend) grilled GAB Director Kevin Kennedy over the agency’s use of Gmail during the John Doe investigation, claiming that private email was subject to hacking and suggesting that the Department of Justice needed to look into the GAB’s actions.

Yet documents obtained through records requests show that Rep. Craig uses a private Hotmail account for official business, including for correspondence with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos also hammered the GAB over its use of Gmail. When asked about his own use of private email, Vos said that he uses his state email account “in 99.9 percent of the cases,” adding, “our policy is we tell people to utilize legislative email when conducting official business. That’s the policy that we practice.”

But documents obtained through public records requests tell another story….

Via Hypocrisy Alert: Speaker Vos and Rep. Craig Use Private Email, Too @ PR Watch.