Ruling on GAB Vacated By Appeals Court

Interetsing.

A state Court of Appeals Friday reversed a lower-court order that the Government Accountability Board must seek out duplicate and obviously fictitious recall petition signatures.

The 4th District panel ruled that Waukesha County Circuit Judge Mac Davis should have allowed pro-recall groups to intervene in the lawsuit brought by Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign.

“We conclude that the recall committees are entitled to intervene as a matter of right,” the court said, adding later in the decision that “it cannot be seriously disputed that the recall committees have an interest in the procedures that will be used to review their recall petitions and strike names.”

The decision ordered Davis to reconsider all “later rulings that were made without the participation of the intervenors” — including the Jan. 5 ruling that GAB enact additional procedures to ferret out invalid signatures.

Notice that the court didn’t dipute the actual ruling. They merely said that the recall committees should have been allowed to participate. I suspect that we’ll come to the same conclusion even after listening to the recall folks bloviate for a while.

Kramer Carries

I would do the same thing.

Bill Kramer of Waukesha is speaker pro tem of the Assembly. He controls debate and can order spectators out of the chamber.

He says he obtained a permit to carry a concealed weapon in November and has at times carried a Glock 26 on the Assembly floor.

He says he feels he needs the weapon given the toxic atmosphere at the state Capitol. Bands of protesters still angry over Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s contentious collective bargaining law have spent the past year harassing GOP legislators.

Although… I’m not a huge fan of Glocks.

Odd FoodShare Spending

Well, that does seem odd.

The Legislative Audit Bureau reports Friday that a portion of recipients on the Wisconsin FoodShare program spent almost $33 million outside the state last year.

Program participants are legally allowed to purchase food anywhere in the country. But the report shows some FoodShare cards were used for purchases in Wisconsin on the same day the card’s account number was manually entered for purchases in another state.

Magna Carta Goes on Display

Very cool.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A 715-year old copy of Magna Carta will soon return to public view at the National Archives after a conservation effort removed old patches and repaired weak spots in the English declaration of human rights that inspired the United States’ founding documents.

The National Archives unveiled the medieval document Thursday in a specially humidified glass and metal case. It is the only original Magna Carta in the United States and will return to public display Feb. 17.

A $13.5 million gift from philanthropist David Rubenstein funded the conservation, the custom-built case and a new gallery being renovated to host Magna Carta. Rubenstein bought the historic document at auction in 2007 for $21.3 million and sent it to the National Archives on a long-term loan.

Rubenstein, a co-founder of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group, said he sought the document previously owned by Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot because he wanted to keep it from leaving the country.

Girl Has Six Organ Transplant

Wow.

HOLLIS, Maine (AP) — A 9-year-old Maine girl is home from a Boston hospital healthy, active and with high hopes — and a new stomach, liver, spleen, small intestine, pancreas, and part of an esophagus to replace the ones that were being choked by a huge tumor.

It’s believed to be the first-ever transplant of an esophagus and the largest number of organs transplanted at one time in New England.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Busted for Taking Bribe

Ouch.

A Milwaukee County Board supervisor was charged Thursday with misconduct in public office and accepting a bribe for allegedly pocketing $500 in exchange for ensuring a vote on a county contract, according to a criminal complaint filed by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm.

John L. Thomas Jr., 43, was charged with two felony counts as a result of an investigation by Chisholm’s office aided by Patrick Farley, director of the Milwaukee County Department of Administrative Services. In addition to serving on the Milwaukee County Board, Thomas is a candidate for Milwaukee city comptroller.

Waterproof your Phone

This is cool, I hope it works. Courtesy of Wisconsin’s own Bill Weir.

The Chicago Way

The Democrats are looking to Chicago to help them in Wisconsin. That explains a lot.

On Thursday, Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman Michael Tate and pollster Paul Maslin will headline an event at Adelstein and Liston’s office, where they’ll talk about the recall effort. (The invitation says it’s not a fundraiser.) The firm landed the recall-related business because of their relationship with Tate.

[...]

Two other Chicago-based political consulting firms are involved in the Wisconsin recall battle. David Axelrod’s former consulting firm, AKPD Message and Media, is working for Kathleen Falk, a former Dane County executive, who is running for governor against Walker. And Evanston-based Strategy Group worked on the direct-mail efforts for the 2011 state Senate recalls.

Goons Fight Tickets

If they really did try to grab the lady, they should have been charged with assault.

RACINE — All 17 protesters ticketed last month for allegedly picketing outside of a Racine home during a political fundraiser for state Rep. Robin Vos are fighting the local ordinance violations on constitutional grounds, their attorney said Wednesday.

Seventeen protesters, who live in Racine County and other locales in Wisconsin, were cited Jan. 5 with picketing of residences for protesting in a residential area, according to police reports. The group was accused of picketing outside the home of Fred Young in the 3200 block of Michigan Boulevard. A fundraiser was occurring inside for Vos, R-Rochester.

[...]

Young said several party guests told him “they had been accosted by the picketers” outside his residence, police reports stated.

“Some (guests) were elderly and visibly traumatized by the confrontation,” the report stated. That included a 75-year-old Racine County woman, who “was trembling and near tears,” according to the report. “One (protester) kept trying to grab her and force her to have a photograph taken with the group. She said they were mocking her.”

Indiana Now Right-to-Work

Welcome to the 21st Century, Indiana!

Gov. Mitch Daniels signed “right to work” bill this afternoon without ceremony making Indiana the 23rd state in the nation with the law,

And to the union folks in Indiana whining about the change—if the services your union provides are as valuable as you say they are, you’ve got nothing to worry about.

Interesting

The most interesting part of this ad is Obama’s statement that he doesn’t know why the woman’s husband is having trouble getting placed. Not “getting a job.” Not “getting hired.” “Getting placed.” For someone to get placed, someone else must place them. It reveals Obama’s perspective on working Americans.

Inside Information

This struck me as a little odd. As part of a puff piece about folks behind United Wisconsin, there was this tidbit:

But, sensing a political opportunity fueled by the John Doe criminal investigation…

Bear in mind that they are talking about a meeting they had in September or October of last year - long before the John Doe investigation issued any charges. Given how badly, and illegally, the John Doe investigation leaked, did they have some inside information? Did the DA collude with them on the timing of the charges? Given that the rationale behind the recall is their opposition to Walker’s governance, why would the John Doe investigation matter? Did they adjust their timing because they knew last fall that charges would be issued in January?

Perhaps somebody should look into if the Milwaukee DA was illegally leaking information to recall supporters.

Concealed Carry Compromise

I know that y’all never thought I’d do this, but… I’ve compromised on concealed carry.  Twice.

First, I’ve settled on carrying my 1911 in readiness condition 3 instead of the favored condition 1. In know… I know… It requires the Israeli Draw and my primary carry weapon has two safties, but I just prefer to keep a round out of the chamber.

Second, I experimented with a holster that carries an extra magazine and have settled on a simpler model without the extra magazine. The one with the extra magazine is fine for OWB, but it’s just a bit too bulky for IWB. So if I ever need to use my weapon, I probably won’t be able to reload. That’s why I’ll just have to practice more to make sure I don’t need that many shots.

Life is full of compromises.

Coggs Staffer Alleges Criminal Behavior By Staff

Well, well...

A former aide to Spencer Coggs has filed a complaint with the GAB charging the Dem state senator hired a Capitol staffer largely to work on his lt. guv campaign and had other employees in his office attend to personal family matters, including helping his wife’s business.

Jana Williams, who Coggs terminated last January, alleges in the complaint that Enis Ragland’s “support and interest” in the senator’s 2010 lt. guv campaign was evident from the time he was hired just months before Coggs announced in December 2009.

But Coggs, D-Milwaukee, denied the allegations in an interview with WisPolitics.com and said he has not been contacted by the Government Accountability Board about the allegations. He was aware a complaint had been filed against Ragland, who was hired eight months before Coggs announced for lt. guv, according to Senate records. But Coggs said he had not been told he was involved and disputed the allegations that any of his staffers did anything improper.

You you know what’s (not at all) shocking about this allegation?

Jana Williams said she first raised the allegations with the GAB in November 2010 after she was notified she would be fired.

According to the Milwaukee DA, this is felony behavior. Yet it was alleged over a year ago and nobody has done anything about it? Oh yeah, I forgot… these are Democrats. Only Republicans get charged with this kind of stuff.

Doing Doors With Bill

Bill has done tremendous work on the Washington County Board. We need more like him.

Four years ago, when I first ran for the County Board, transparency in government was one of my key issues. I have worked very hard to force county government to share information and started a website several years ago just for that purpose. I just launched a new website, http://www.CountySupervisorBill.com to fo,cus more on current issues and respond better to constituents’ questions. I think government should be by, of, and for the people and I am proud to be working for folks to make it that way.