More Trouble For Sheridan

Speaker Sheridan is becoming a one man tabloid.

Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan is not living in the district he represents but plans to return as soon as possible, a spokeswoman said Friday.

The change in addresses is the result of a pending divorce between Sheridan and his wife, spokeswoman Rebekah Sweeney said.

“He is absent with the intent to return as soon as possible,” she said.

State law requires a lawmaker to live in the Assembly district he or she represents. A government accountability board spokesperson said the law permits a temporary absence as long as the lawmaker intends to move back into the district.

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Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Friday that Sheridan intends to file an amended campaign finance report to include more detail about travel reimbursements.

The newspaper reported that Sheridan spent more than $5,000 on campaign travel over the final six months of 2009 but did not disclose whom the payments went to, as required by law.

Legislators and other candidates for office are required to report what hotels and airlines received payments, said Reid Magney, spokesman for the Government Accountability Board, which oversees the state’s election laws.

Sheridan used his campaign account to reimburse himself 20 times in the second half of last year, for a total of $7,963.

Snarlin’ Marlin Lies About CCAP Complaints

Color me shocked 

Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids,  wants to restrict the popular service, known as CCAP, to only records of people who have been convicted of crimes, not those that are only pending or have been dismissed or ended in acquittals.. He said he sought the changes because hundreds of people had told him tales of how information from CCAP prevented them from renting homes or getting jobs.

But Schneider fessed up after the Associated Press requested copies of all complaints he had received about CCAP. The total, over four years, was 59—and only 22 were from people who had had criminal charges dismissed.

Grinding to a Halt

That’s what will happen with this summit.

The focus of Monday’s White House Asian carp summit is to stop the giant, ecosystem-ravaging fish from slipping in the Great Lakes’ back door - the Chicago canal system that links the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico.

But the governors who called for the summit don’t just want to talk about carp; they want the Obama administration to tackle the larger issue of invasive species in the Great Lakes, which have become an ecological stew teeming with at least 185 foreign organisms.

Originally it was intended to discuss a specific issue.  The whole summit was a bit farcical and for show, but at least it would draw lines on that issue.  Now they want it to be a wide-ranging discussion that must cover dozens - if not hundreds - of issues.  What does that mean?  The original reason for the summit - whether or not to close Chicago’s canal in order to stop the Asian Carp from entering Lake Michigan - will be lost in the shuffle or become a bargaining item for one of the other issues on the table. 

Three to one odds that absolutely nothing substantial happens to stop the carp.