AGs Unite!

Good.

Texas attorney general Greg Abbott Facebooks: “I am organizing a conference call tonight for AGs across the country. We will discuss our litigation strategy about the healthcare bill. I will update you on Facebook after the conference call.”

One more reason to elect a Republican to Wisconsin’s governor’s mansion in November.  Wisconsin’s AG can’t participate in this without being told to do so by the governor or either house of the legislature.  That’s not going to happen as long as the Democrats control all of the levers.

Hours Away

We are literally hours away from changing our country for the worse forever.  With the apparent decision of Stupak and his cohorts that killing babies is really OK, the House Democrats look poised to shove through a health care bill that is opposed by a majority of the nation and will not receive a single Republican vote.  It will fundamentally change our relationship with our government and there is no going back. 

I’ve said in the past that I think we will see violent revolution in our nation within my lifetime.  If this passes, I will be certain.

West Bend School District responds to Questions

In response to a lengthy letter from Gordon Goggin to school board member Lynn Corazzi, Superintendent Pat Herdrich has responded.  I’m not going to go through the whole thing, because, frankly, I have other things to do like watch the Bristol race, but I wanted to post it for all to see.  I do have a few comments, however. 

First, I continue to be frustrated when the Superintendent or other school administrators respond to citizen questions put to board members.  Yes, the board members may need to ask some questions of the administration to get facts before answering, but the board member is still responsible for responding to the query.  As a citizen, I don’t care as much about what Dr. Herdrich thinks about these things as much as a I do a board member who happens to be up for election in a few weeks.  This is particularly galling when Mr. Goggin is asking Corazzi to defend a statement that he allegedly made in public at a meeting and Dr. Herdrich responds with, “I cannot offer a first-hand response. However, Lynn Corazzi confirmed that this comment reflected one of several observations he made about working within a Fortune 50 company, and was in no way related to any financial management practices at the West Bend Public School District.”  Seriously?  Corrazi can’t reply for himself?  If Dr. Herdrich his spokesperson now?  What does Corazzi think about all of these things?  I can’t tell you.  I haven’t seen his response. 

Second, it does certainly appear that Mr. Goggin has leaped to some false conclusions, but that doesn’t make the questions invalid.  Dr. Herdrich spends a lot of time rightly detailing the various responses to Mr. Goggin’s questions - or at least the various exchanges that may not constitute an actual response.  She also spends some time telling him the accrued costs of replying to him (over a grand if you buy that) and explaining all of the reasons why the district had not responded to all of his questions.  While all of this information is perhaps interesting and truthful, it is exactly the kind of attitude that has continued to damage the district’s reputation regarding openness and transparency. 

You can read through the responses.  In some cases, Mr. Goggin appears to be wrong.  In other cases, he’s on target.  And, as usual, in some cases the district dodged the question.

Sex Offender Registry Applies to Other Crimes

This doesn’t make any sense to me. 

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court on Friday upheld the requirement that a man convicted of a crime with no sexual component still must register as a sex offender.

James W. Smith was convicted in Brown County in 2001 of false imprisonment of a minor for making the victim ride with him while he attempted to collect a drug debt from the victim’s friend. Both he and the victim were 17 at the time.

Under Wisconsin’s original 1993 statute, only those convicted of first- or second-degree sexual assault were required to register. In 1996, the law was expanded to require registration by those convicted of other crimes, including kidnapping or false imprisonment of a child.

[...]

Writing for the majority, Justice Annette Ziegler found that the requirement, stated clearly in the statute, is rationally related to a legitimate government interest - protecting children and assisting law enforcement. Despite its name, the sex offender registry’s goal is not to identify those convicted of sexual crimes.

More than 41 other states require sex offender registration for those convicted of kidnapping or false imprisonment of a minor, even when there is no sexual element involved, according to the opinion.

Ziegler wrote that in many cases, people who kidnap children do have a sexual motivation.

In a dissent joined by Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote that by failing to define the sex registry statute’s purpose clearly, the majority abdicated its obligation to provide meaningful review. Under the majority view, Bradley wrote, anyone convicted of just about any crime should register if the broad purpose of the sex offender registry is protect the public and assist law enforcement.

As a matter of law, I suspect that Ziegler is correct.  The statute says what the statute says.  As a matter of policy, I agree with Bradley.  This is moving down a path where anyone convicted of any crime has to register with the government.  That’s an intolerable level of oppression. 

Furthermore, by including other crimes in the sex offender registry, it dilutes the meaning of the registry.  For example, if a parent in a custody battle takes his or her kid and is captured, that person is now a registered sex offender?  The whole point of the sex offender registry was to make people, including law enforcement, aware of these predators in our midst.  The guy who ran off with his own kid (much like the 18-year-old dude who slept with his 17-year-old girlfriend) isn’t a threat in a neighborhood. 

I think the court got the ruling correct, but it does highlight the fact that the legislature needs to reevaluate the sex offender registry and how it is used.

Government Healthcare Working For You

Lest you think that somehow denial of services will go away when you’re in a government plan.

For nearly a decade, Paula Oertel’s brain tumor was kept at bay by a drug that was not approved to treat her condition.

Then Oertel did something she never imagined would jeopardize her good health. She moved. Less than 30 miles - from one county in Wisconsin to another.

The move triggered a review of her health insurance from Medicare, which eventually led to a loss of coverage, including the drug. And the tumor returned within four months.

Lazy Management Results in Massive Embezzlement

We see this time and time again...

It was a family operation, where top bosses mingled with workers on the assembly floor, where the chief executive juggled five major titles at once, where the board of directors barely changed in 20-plus years.

And where the company’s vice president of finance could move around millions of dollars without approval from above.

In this unquestioning environment, authorities say, then-Koss Corp. executive Sujata “Sue” Sachdeva was able to spend more than $31 million in Koss funds on a lavish lifestyle and extravagant shopping sprees.

“It’s a small company. You have to trust people,” said Tracy Malone, one of the two aides to Sachdeva fired by Koss Corp. in January, the month after the alleged fraud was uncovered. Julie Mulvaney, the other veteran aide who was fired, declined to comment.

If you manage a company at any level, you HAVE to ask the hard questions and verify what you are being told.  That doesn’t mean that you have to do everyone’s job, but a little verification goes a long way.