Revisiting Oswald, Scot Ross, and Judge Koschnick

In Friday's Waukesha Freeman, Scot Ross of the organization with the Fascist-sounding name, One Wisconsin Now, attempts to take issue with my January 22nd Waukesha Freeman column, “Supremely different.” In that column I argue,

The concern should be less about Koschnick’s defense of a criminal {Ted Oswald} as a defense attorney than whether Koschnick would be a liberal jurist who would invent law as Abrahamson did in the Knapp case. It is clear that he would not, and perhaps that is why the prosecutor in the Oswald case, former Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher, has endorsed Koschnick.

Ross, trudges out the old charge, hypocrisy, and summons forth a terribly incomplete and out of context quote from a blog post I wrote during the Gableman campaign.

On the subject of public defenders running for judge, the full quote:

I think it's fair to remind the voters that Butler was a public defender. Here's an ugly little secret. People don't like defense lawyers unless they need one. Then they're thanking whatever deity is at hand. Now, I like defense lawyers. I like all lawyers unless they're sitting on committees trying to control an election or, even worse, sitting on an election board. But I'm the exception. Most people root for the prosecution. Why do you think Law and Order is so popular? Do you think it would still be so popular if the public defenders ran circles around Arthur Branch?

If being a public defender was popular with the public, there would be more of them on the public payroll and they would be paid more.

I even think it's fair to run an ad that reminds the voters what kind of people the public defender defended as part of his career path. Heck, if I were Darrin Schmitz (Gableman's campaign manager), I'd pull out the whole portfolio and ask at what point did Butler no longer want to be a public defender. After this murderer? After this rapist?

If you don't like it, don't choose becoming a public defender as a career path.

Ironically, the quote comes from a post criticizing Butler’s opponent. Clearly I don’t have a philosophical objection to public defenders becoming a judge, or even a Supreme Court Justice. The comment was an understanding and explanation of the campaign tactic.

It also does not contradict what I wrote in the column, where I discuss the Oswald case at length.

When Koschnick was still a public defender, he was assigned Waukesha’s most notorious murderer, Ted Oswald. Oswald, along with his father, was convicted of killing Waukesha police Capt. James Lutz as he fled a bank robbery in 1994.

Writing in The Freeman, Belling accused Koschnick of trying to help Oswald "get away with murdering a cop" by claiming Oswald was controlled by his father. Left-wing blogs and One Wisconsin Now agree the case should hurt Koschnick, arguing it’s hypocritical for the judge to run a "tough on crime" campaign.

It’s a little more complicated than either would make the issue.

Koschnick was assigned the case, and his defense was designed to get his client convicted of a lesser charge, second-degree murder. The penalty would have been 60 years instead of life in prison. A far cry from arguing Oswald should "get away with murdering a cop."

Sorry to disappoint Ross, but since I did not “go apoplectic” over Butler, I can hardly be expected to “go apoplectic” over Koschnick, especially when it was clear from my column that Koschnick was assigned the case and the prosecutor in the case has endorsed him.

Why the unwarranted hypocrisy charge? Because it’s a way of saying, “Ignore this person. He’s a hypocrite.” Hypocrisy is the ultimate crime enhancer, and the punishment is ostracizing. Sleeping with a teenage girl is criminal. The rock star that sings about sleeping with hundreds of women continues to sell more song downloads. The televangelist is driven from the public stage in shame. Ross is hoping to silence conservative critics of his favored candidate, Justice Abrahamson.

It’s the only tack Ross has. Ross cannot defend Abrahamson from the charge of judicial activism. In discussing the Knapp case, Ross would rather focus on the “bloody shoes” than on how it took two tries to resolve the “bloody shirt” evidence. How Abrahamson was overturned by the US Supreme Court, only to invent another way of suppressing the evidence, one not mentioned in her earlier ruling. How Abrahamson was just throwing reasons up to justify her previously staked-out position, the very definition of judicial activism. If Ross tried to explain it, the public would turn against his candidate.

Politics makes strange bedfellows, and in this case Ross finds himself in bed with Mark Belling. (I hope Belling doesn’t catch an unexplainable rash.) Belling’s position on the Oswald case and Koschnick’s past as a public defender is understandable, even if I don’t agree. But surely Ross and his allies are not suddenly critical of the idea that a public defender could ever graduate to the bench, or perhaps become a Supreme Court Justice? Then why bring the Oswald case up repeatedly? To what end is Ross pursuing, except to force the connection in the minds of the voters?

But then, that would be hypocritical of Ross, no?

Standing up for birthday cake

Happy Birthday Mark Belling!

Mark is a 2001 Marconi award recipient for best medium-market radio personality, a three-time Milwaukee Press Club winner for best radio editorial, has twice won the Radio-Television News Directors Association award for best investigative reporting in the Midwest, and was a 1986 finalist for "Journalist of the Year" in Illinois as awarded by United Press International. Belling also was named one of the Top 100 Heavy Talkers -- the most influential talk show hosts in America -- by Talkers Magazine, an industry publication.

The pride of Kaukauna, Wisconsin, is 52 years old today.

Pardon me boy, but is that the Tim Sheehy choo-choo?

And that, my friends, is why I don't write my own headlines at the Waukesha Freeman.

I take on the silly idea that trains are the future, partially in response to MMAC President Tim Sheehy's column in last Saturday's Waukesha Freeman.

I'm sure Sheehy's friends all congratulated him on taking on big, bad, talk radio's Mark Belling. Woo, scary. As if it takes courage to repeat the CW talking points.

But I actually took Sheehy at his word, and I find the whole argument for a train ridiculous.

If the desire is to move from an origin point to an end point, and probably return, then transportation must be focused on that goal. Putting down fixed rails and requiring passengers to move along those points (regardless of the passengers’ desire) defeats the purpose of transportation.

Tim Sheehy’s desire for some sort of rail connecting Kenosha to Milwaukee is supposedly to service 360,000 jobs within three miles of the proposed stations. Even taking Sheehy at his word, three miles is a large distance for most people to traverse by foot, especially in bad weather. Sheehy’s choo-choo train will only require still more public expenditures at every point along the rails to complete the transportation from point to point.

Sheehy also fails to mention just how many people filling those jobs live within a realistic distance of the train. Which of Sheehy’s tax-sucking ideas can we expect to get people to the trains, and then from the trains to the employers, and then back to the trains, and then back to their homes? The proposed sales tax increase in Milwaukee County? The proposed state expenditures for the KRM line? (Read: money from Waukesha taxpayers.) More hotel and rental car taxes?

How would increasing tax burdens for what will likely be bottomless pits of mass transit desires improve the living condition of taxpayers and the conditions for doing business in southeastern Wisconsin?

On the other hand, how many hundreds of thousands of jobs are within a few feet of the nearest road built for automobiles? Roads that, despite MMAC’s supposed efforts, will suffer because the governor has raided the transportation fund. Roads that we have already committed to building and maintaining. Roads that are still the most efficient way man has devised of moving people, goods and services from point to point.

MMAC should expend its energies organizing car pools and private buses rather than figuring out new ways to raise taxes.

Water hazard

"Um, Governor Doyle? I think the sandtraps are filling with water."

WISN's Mark Belling confirmed with Governor Doyle's spokesman on the air that while the flood waters were rising yesterday the governor was out playing golf with contributors who coughed up a minimum $1,250/head.

I hope those annoying emergency phone calls didn't disrupt his game or disturb any of the players in his foursome.

"Trouble maker that he is"

Heh. Well, I try.

Just another reason why the Waukesha Freeman is well worth the 50 cents.

(For those of you just catching up, part 1, part 2, part 3.)

Movies and omelets cancelled this morning

First I want to thank Mark Belling for the nice complement*.

I had a nice conversation this afternoon with Jeff Christensen, Communications Director of the Waukesha Democratic Party. Christensen informed me the planned program for the breakfast was actually cancelled a week ago because some (but not all) were uncomfortable with the topic. Then he told me the Oconomowoc Democrats are not actually an official organization, but that the county and the state party post "progressive" groups' events as a matter of course.

(Update! 6/8/08 I probably should have been clearer that the Oconomowoc Dems did not tell the county party the agenda had changed.)

Christensen also told me that the county party is reconsidering their policy regarding listing "progressive" groups' events if they are controversial.

Christensen told me that the reason the breakfast was cancelled because of the scrutiny the meeting received. He also told me that a number of people called the restaurant and a few of the local Democrats to complain, some rudely. I told him, of course, that I would clearly not encourage the rude phone calls. I also told him that had Rick Congdon returned my call or answered my e-mail that this story would have ended much earlier. He and I agreed that I would contact him directly if I had any questions in the future.

Of course, it still doesn't change the fact that nobody with the Democratic Party at the state or the county saw anything wrong with promoting the event until Mark Belling mentioned my blog post on the air, and that this reveals a significant segment of the county party (unofficial affiliation or not) believe in 9/11 conspiracies.

(* And thanks to Dave at Carrick Bend and anyone else who did for sending the tip to Belling)

Sure played a mean pinball

Mark Belling of WISN-AM 1130 is reporting that we may yet witness the return of Tommy! Not the musical, the governor.

A Thompson comeback would be death for Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s own hopes of running for governor and the mere talk of a Tommy run would be enough to dry up Walker’s fundraising (which has to begin NOW). While the Thompson era was the Wisconsin Republican equivalent of the Lombardi glory years, Walker represents the party’s future, not its past. Walker’s anti-tax message is a political winner for a Republican Party that has lost its way and sometimes its will. Walker is young, attractive, smart and ready. As beloved as Thompson is by state Republicans, his potential comeback brings to mind the old cliché about there being no third acts in American politics.

Like the vain woman who envied the corpse at a funeral, Thompson's Hamlet act was nearly as destructive to Mark Green in 2006 as the state elections board. Tommy! should declare now or get out of the way.

King of all he surveys

Jessica McBride makes a great point about last night's Michigan primary:

There were fewer independents voting in the GOP primary in Michigan than voted in New Hampshire. McCain has yet to show he can appeal to enough Republicans to win the primary. Then, again, he's showing he can appeal to enough independents to win the presidency.

Mark Belling on WISN-AM compared Senator John McCain to Bob Dole in 1996. That's a huge underestimation of McCain. I don't like Senator McCain's views on many, many issues, but even I concede he has a knack for appealing to independents and Democrats. The problem for McCain is that his appeal is based largely on the reasons conservatives like me dislike him.

Pulling back the curtain

Fr. Mich of Good Shepherd Parish of Menomonee Falls pens a letter to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in support of a lawsuit to overturn the ban on gay marriage - never mind that it is contrary to what he is supposed to teach as church doctrine on any given Sunday. Fr. Mich's objection to the result of the collective wisdom of his parishioners, the Church, and the citizens of Wisconsin, is that the result had the taint of being favorable to the majority.

As a child in what was then called civics class, I was taught that our form of government is exceptional because it protects the rights of a minority against the will of the majority. It was indicative that some of the rhetoric promoting the marriage amendment in Wisconsin stated the exact opposite - let the people of Wisconsin decide - in other words, let the people of Wisconsin decide on the rights of a minority by submitting those rights to a majority vote in the amendment process.

Never mind that the supposed "right" of homosexuals (the minority in question) to marry has no precedent and, as the governor himself pointed out, had no standing under the pre-existing law. The constitutional amendment was made necessary by the threat of judicial activism, in Wisconsin or elsewhere. Ironically, it is that type of judicial activism in overturning a state constitutional amendment Fr. Mich would approve, even if such judicial activism should run counter to what he was likely taught as a child in civics class.

We might tease the good father that perhaps he should concern himself with another aspect of the law where the rights of the minority are threatened by the majority. A majority of the state legislature would trammel the conscientious objections of Catholics and others that believe in life beginning at conception, and require all hospitals and medical practitioners to provide "emergency contraception" to victims of rape, regardless of whether the required drug also acts as an abortifacient. However, we suspect the cause of life doesn't tickle Fr. Mich's conscience.

So we'll comment instead on Fr. Mich's arrogance, that he knows better than the teachings of the Pope, centuries of tradition, and the teachings of his faith (such as it is), that he willingly disobeys his ordination vows. Perhaps his time would be better spent composing his confessions rather than letters to the newspaper.

I bet on the Washington Generals too

Each year I make a set of predictions, some tongue in cheek, and every year I prove to only be slightly better than sportswriters predicting the outcomes of NFL games. A quick glance at this year’s scorecard will show I made better predictions than in the past. Comments in italics.

1. Governor Doyle will get one or two Assembly Republicans to join his administration. Okay, I blew this one. Maybe now that the budget is over.
2. The QEO will be lifted. If there is one trend, I seriously underestimated the resolve of the Assembly Republicans.
3. Revenue caps on schools and local governments will be loosened, but not eliminated. And if you have any loose change left, they’ll take that, too.
4. Shared revenue will be cut further, except for counties. Depends where you are. However, not enough for me to count this as correct.
5. The ethanol mandate will pass. Ethanol less hip and trendy.
6. The State Assembly will not pass a conservative budget with tax cuts to challenge the Democrats. How about a tax freeze? Huebsch successfully isolated the State Senate and fought Doyle to a standstill. Nurse Robson sent packing. Not a bad job. Who’da thunk it?
7. Charlie Sykes will make up his mind on the Gay Marriage Ban. Charlie? Charlie?
8. Republicans will attempt to feed more misinformation to bloggers and get caught and called on it. I’ll have to check Boots and Sabers.
9. I will lose weight. I would do the Polar Bear plunge but I’m afraid of being rolled back out to sea.
10. Senator Feingold will support a Bush nominee that will get little support from the rest of the Democrats in the US Senate. I guess not. Must be someone else’s turn to be a maverick.
11. Senator Kohl will ask a coherent question at a nomination hearing. He will even read it like he wrote it rather than sound like he's just reading what a staffer puts in front of him. Always next year.
12. Milk at Senator Kohl's milk barn at the state fair will not go up in price. Lines are longer. What could Feingold give away?
13. Senator Feingold will call for the President to either be censured or impeached. Nothing will come of it. Sun rose, sun set.
14. Congressman Steve Kagen will again say something completely insulting to a minority group; it will be ignored by the media. No such luck. He just insults our intelligence.
15. Taxes will go up. Yup.
16. Governor Tommy Thompson will drop out of the race for president. If Huckabee wins the nomination, I’m going to take back anything I ever said bad about Tommy Thompson. Well, not everything.
17. WISN's Mark Belling will give credit to a blogger by name - once. What’s a blahg? I think he did a couple of times, more than that if you count Victor Davis Hanson.
18. A serious scandal will involve the Doyle Administration, but no link will be found to Doyle directly. It’s been a quiet year in the state contracts department, but Dennis Troha fits the bill.
19. Former Waukesha District Attorney Paul Bucher will appear on at least one local Sunday morning talk show. Close, Sunday evening with Jessica McBride.
20. The Wigderson Library & Pub will serve free drinks one evening for no reason. Look, if you missed it, it ain’t our fault.
21. The New Berlin School Board will remain in the hands of conservatives. I’m still waiting for MacArthur military academy.
22. County Executive Dan Vrakas will easily win re-election. Pretty much what you want in a County Executive. Quiet, efficient, low maintenance costs, possible candidate for governor (whoops!)…
23. There will be serious violence at a local festival in the city of Milwaukee. I plan on going to Juneteenth Day in 2008 – for breakfast.
24. There will be loud demands for Milwaukee Police Chief Nan Haggerty's resignation. Quitter.
25. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will set records for fundraising for a mayoral race. Compared to his opponents…
26. Annette Ziegler will win the race for state supreme court. And the Left has been trying to undo the election ever since.

27. The state legislature will raise the tax on cigarettes with bipartisan support. If only tobacco could be converted to fuel.

Want to comment? Know a lawyer?

Rick: Your cash is good at the bar.
Banker: What? Do you know who I am?
Rick: I do. You're lucky the bar's open to you.

I've commented before on "anonymous" commenters, and just how anonymous they are. Let me repeat my advice. Don't post anything you wouldn't want everyone to know who wrote it.

I poke occasional fun at Owen Robinson's blog Boots and Sabers but let me say I'm not sure I would have handled the request by the police to see a commenter's IP address any differently.

Part of my thought is it isn't my responsibility, or the responsibility of any blogger, to bear the financial burden of legal representation for something someone else wrote. You may think it's a first amendment issue. I think it's a pocketbook issue, and mine's rather empty. (Maybe if y'all bought a few more coffee mugs I might feel differently about your "rights".)

I admit I don't have a set policy, and probably never will. If I like you, I might shoot you a quick e-mail to lawyer up ("cheezit, it's the cops!"). But understand that even if I decided to send the police away empty-handed, they will probably get your information soon anyway. They could subpoena me directly or they could go to Haloscan, my comment and trackback service.

I will say that I doubt I would pull any comment down just because the police requested it. If I've seen it and decided to leave it, somebody is going to have to convince me with some really good reasons to pull a comment down. I admit I'm faster on the trigger than some bloggers to pull something down because of concerns about libel, but that's all the more reason to defend the ones I leave up.

If I don't like you, I'll probably roll over for the cops faster than Jamie Lee Curtis on the witness stand in A Fish Called Wanda.

"I stick my neck out for nobody."

That having been said, can we look at the comment that launched a thousand squad cars for a moment?

“Looking at those teacher salary numbers in West Bend made me sick. $60,000 for a part time job were you ‘work’ maybe 5 hours per day and sit in the teachers lounge and smoke the rest of the time. Thanks God we won on the referendum. But whining here doesn't stop the problem. We've got to get in back of the kids who have had enough of lazy, no good teachers and are fighting back. Kids like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold members of the Young Republicans club at Columbine. They knew how to deal with the overpaid teacher union thugs. One shot at a time! Too bad the liberals rip them; they were heroes and should be remembered that way.”

I probably would've pulled the comment down and demanded the commenter provide evidence Harris and Klebold were Young Republicans. Or I would've pulled it down as an incitement to violence. or, or, or. Provided I wasn't in a tree stand with Owen or (more likely) in a hot tub in the Wisconsin Dells.

His second comment hardly mitigates the first,

I am NOT advcting shootng teachrs. I agree with Mark belling when he said that theese kids were pushed into doing this by the stupid union teachrs at Colmbine. belling said that to bad only one teachr got it and lots of kids. shuld have been the other way. belling hates teachrs I like belling

I would've yanked it down, too, as it clearly libels WISN-AM's Mark Belling. The teacher who left the comment at Owen Robinson's blog could soon be getting a call from Belling's attorney Matt Flynn.

But neither comment was specifically threatening to anyone. While I seriously wonder at the mental state of a teacher and a union president that would be so stupid, I cannot believe that the law is such that he could be prosecuted for leaving those comments. It's going to be an interesting case to follow.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

James Wigderson, evil mastermind

From today's Sound Off column in the Waukesha Freeman:

Wisconsin Covenant
The reader’s Sound Off column on Tuesday regarding the Wisconsin Covenant is way off base. Belling, Wigderson, and Robinson are not against students getting an
education, as the reader tries to twist. Nobody of sound faculty and wit would be against expediting education. The compunction here is that having students sign a pledge (covenant) where there is no program, policy, funding or even a guarantee that they will actually earn enrollment if they meet their end of the deal is disingenuous and frankly just another example of the string of outright lies from this administration (yes we have a balanced budget, elect me! Oops, it’s a deficit I wont raise your taxes! Ooh, sorry about that. Here’s a real property tax freeze, wait, um, no, not so much. Embryonic stem cell research has made an actual contribution to disease control, Oh no. Hey Michael, help me out here! Etc., etc.) Getting kids to put their signatures on a program that doesn’t exist is patently wrong. Even if you believe it will seal the deal on a program you wish to implement in the future, it is still a scam. They deserve an actual reward for their efforts.

How did I end up with only second billing?

Meanwhile, le affaire Illusory Tenant has yielded some kind words from other quarters. Tim Rock wrote,

I like James. He has a wonderful wife, cute kids, a beautiful mother and an always interesting father who keeps sending me the weirdest stuff imaginable via e-mail (keep it up, Bill ... I do look at every one of them). James' politics are diametrically opposed to mine, but we can talk. Sometimes it gets a little hot. Most often, though, humor defuses the tense situations and we come to an understanding.

After that he went into some irrelevant rambling off the topic of how wonderful I am. Lefty blogger "Capper" also weighs in on the weighty one,

James is a fairly intelligent person, with a good sense of humor.

I stopped reading after that because it wasn't important.

But Grumps of the Happy Circumstance thinks he sees a pattern. Elliott of From Where I Sit advertised for a "mortal enemy" in blogging. Grumps responded in the comments,

Let’s think this through. The great Criminal Masterminds, Moriarty, Kobayashi, merely sat back and, through the power of their will and their knowledge of other’s failings, led networks of minions to do their bidding, often without their minion’s knowledge or assent.

I think we’re all being manipulated already and I nearly have the evidence to prove it. If something should happen to me there is a file folder in my sock drawer that points straight to this Cheddarspherical genius.

Yes.

I’m talking about….

Wiggy.

You'll never prove it, Grumps! Nobody will ever believe you! They'll think you're mad! MAD! Hahahahahaha! And I'll control the Cheddarsphere! All of it! All the ad revenue will be mine! MINE!

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

The Belling, Wigderson and Robinson show

Lest you think all I hear is the adulation, someone dropped a dime to complain. In today's Waukesha Freeman Sound Off section:

I can’t wait this week for Mark Belling, James Wigderson and the other tax crusaders when it comes to their response regarding the Wisconsin Covenant. I’ve been forced to read The Freeman waste space on Belling and Wigderson and Owen Robinson in the last few weeks as they got on their soap boxes and preached how it was pure evil for Gov. Jim Doyle to promise Wisconsin’s students that they could go to college if they got good grades. The way Belling and Robinson put it, Doyle was a cross between the king of socialism and the prince of darkness in how he and his administration encouraged children to sign up for the Wisconsin Covenant. After all, Mr. Belling and Mr. Wigderson and Mr. Robinson, nothing is more evil than offering someone the chance to receive a college degree, right?

Wait, what’s that? The budget compromise your Republican Assembly agreed to included the Wisconsin Covenant? Is that right? Freeman editorial writers, does that mean we have to live under the curse of having an educated populace? What will become of us, Mr. Robinson, now that we are encouraging our schoolchildren to work hard, get good grades and strive to succeed in college?

It’s heartening to hear that Rep. Mike Huebsch and his fellow Republicans in the state Assembly are capable of ignoring the wild screeches of people like Robinson and Wigderson. It reinforces my faith that our elected officials can ... actually come together to accomplish something that benefits our next generation. If only the state Assembly Republicans would now move on and tell the likes of Robinson, Wigderson and Belling that they compromised on the Wisconsin Covenant because educating our children comes before these writers’ fool beliefs that the ideal state involves paying no taxes at all.

For the record, I'm writing on something else this week as five columns in a row on the state budget is a little much even for me. I'm not sure what the other members of the posse are doing. Maybe the next time we're just hanging out at Victor's thinking of new ways to deprive the masses of an education (WEAC still has us beat) we'll draw straws to decide who gets to write the column to explain there is no funding, even under the budget likely to be passed today, for the Wisconsin Covenant program. Nobody knows where the money is coming from and how much the program will cost. It was also rather unseemly of the governor to run around the state to sign up children for a program that did not exist yet (and, as of this writing, might not be created). Some would argue, okay I would argue, it was downright dishonest. But that's to be expected from the current governor.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

Have book, will travel

WTMJ's Charlie Sykes is making the rounds promoting his latest book, 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education (you can read my review here). His most recent stop was to Marquette Law School, live-blogged by Marquette Professor John McAdams. Here's a little bit of radio stuff I found interesting in McAdams' report:

How about the "standing up for what's right" slogan. Goes back to the Ament pension scandal. Belling had the slogan "standing up for Milwaukee." Sykes viewed Belling as "soft" on the issue, and adopted the slogan to express that he was standing up for the right thing. But of course it also means "standing up for the political right," which Sykes also happily embraces.

McAdams also notes in an update the law school has the audio up already of Sykes' lecture. Charlie's next stop is the Schwartz bookstore in Brookfield Monday evening starting at 7:00 PM.


Find classic movies at Amazon.com

Van Hollen on the inactive list

What does it say about a potential Republican candidate for governor when his biggest defender is Democratic political consultant Bill Christofferson?

J.B. Van Hollen, who took office in January, has come under fire for failing to prosecute -- or at least dirty up --the Democratic governor, Jim Doyle. The wingnuts are also unhappy about opinions he's issued on abortion and affirmative action issues.

Christofferson then points to an editorial by Madison's other liberal newspaper, The Wisconsin State Journal, as more evidence of Van Hollen's "even-handedness":

Sometimes you can tell that a politician is doing his job because he's not in the headlines very often.

Such is the case with Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, whose low-key, by-the-book approach so far is a welcome change from the turbulent tenure of his predecessor, Peg Lautenschlager.

Van Hollen, a Republican, has made a string of wise decisions since taking office in January. He also has shown he's not the far-right ideologue or partisan opportunist that some had feared.

That he is not in the headlines as much as his predecessor Peg Lautenschlager probably stems from a rational decision not to swerve into a ditch with a state car while driving drunk.

It's understandable why the Wisconsin State Journal and Bill Christofferson might like the new JB Van Hollen.

After all, Van Hollen could've decided that the change in make-up in the US Supreme Court meant that there's a reasonable probability Wisconsin's ban on partial birth abortions would stand. Or he could have simply said the courts were wrong in this matter, but that it was unlikely the courts would agree with him in the short term. Either answer would have shown more intellectual vigor than Van Hollen has demonstrated so far.

The same answers could have been given in the question of racial preferences being used for admission to UW System universities. One could argue, as WISN's Mark Belling did, that Van Hollen was even behind current case law in the matter given a Supreme Court case ruling this last term.

If Van Hollen is unwilling to challenge the legal status quo, he'll have yielded the courts to the political left as much as if he had decided to not challenge Democrat Kathleen Falk in the general election.

As for Christofferson's pet project, protecting Governor Jim Doyle, Van Hollen never showed much interest in pursuing government corruption cases when he was the federal prosecutor for Western Wisconsin. Why should he start now? Christofferson can actually bet on Van Hollen being less interested in possible public corruption than his predecessor, Peg Lautenschlager.

Republicans should have already noted by now the broken campaign promises of JB Van Hollen: asking for an increase in his budget, similar harassment of business and farms, no initiatives yet on illegal immigration. Unfortunately, he gives his party little hope for improvement.

But he does give the Democrats hope they can re-claim his office while keeping the governor's mansion in 2010. Meanwhile Van Hollen can accumulate a nice scrap book.

Remove him from office

There was some discussion on Eric Von's show on WMCS-AM during the "Backstory" segment about whether or not Michael McGee Jr should be removed from his committee assignments during the investigations, prosecution and sentencing to come. Former Crazy Shepherd columnist Dave Berkman argued that McGee Jr is innocent until proven guilty, and that he was uncomfortable at any level of government of removing an elected official from their chairmanships and committee assignments until they've been proven guilty.

While it's nice to hear such a reasoned and stirring defense of former House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R) by Berkman, I find myself reluctantly agreeing with Rick Esenberg who patiently explained why someone should be removed from those positions as a matter of prudence while the investigation proceeds. He compared the McGee Jr situation to a cop who is assigned desk duty after shooting someone while the investigation proceeds. Whether or not it is likely the shooting is wrongful, you still don't want the police officer on the street making decisions about using their gun while their judgement in that area is being investigated. Similarly, you don't want a politician in the position of being able to use the power that he is accused of abusing until trust is restored.

I want to take this a step further. Mark Belling reminded his audience today that McGee Jr still gets paid while the investigations continue (ht: Patrick at Badger Blogger) and that if he holds out until April 2008 McGee Jr will be vested in his pension.

Let me remind you what McGee Jr's lawyer said in court,

McGee's attorney, Glen Givens, said prosecutors are confused about street language and at worst the trio were guilty of planning a battery, which is a misdemeanor.

So McGee Jr's defense is that he was engaged in a conspiracy of violence, just an amount of violence not rising to the felony level. So we're no longer talking about whether or not McGee Jr is guilty. Instead the questions left are the severity of the crimes, their cataloging and his sentence.

There's not any reason for him to remain in office a moment longer than it takes for the Milwaukee Common Council to remove him.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has already asked McGee Jr to resign. Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines Jr is calling for a thorough review of "all license applications and other city business under way in McGee's district."

It's time to step it up and remove McGee Jr from office, and it's already past time for the city leadership to take the necessary steps to start the process.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

Continuing the McBride story

This is the e-mail sent to a WTMJ-AM listener:

I appreciate your thoughts and comments. I would like to just clarify a couple of things. Jessica was not fired because of a certain ideology. She wasn’t even dismissed over the Eugene Kane piece she aired, although I believe it was an inappropriate attempt at comedy. We decided to move up a decision we had made weeks ago (The addition of the Dennis Miller Show) rather than see Jessica and the station have to endure the negative publicity while she remained on the air for a few short days. WTMJ has a great tradition of allowing our talk show hosts to say what they believe. We also have a great record of standing behind our people when it gets “a little hot in the kitchen”. I’m sorry you feel we didn’t do that this time.

I can respect your decision to take your listening, viewing and reading anywhere you choose……I just thought it was important to represent our position clearly. Thanks again.

Jon Schweitzer
Sr.VP/GM
Journal Broadcast Group

"I'm sorry you feel we didn't do that this time"? Okay, WTMJ-AM fired her. But Schweitzer shouldn't think he can pretend McBride's firing and the timing of it had nothing to do with the Kane bit. Does he think WTMJ-AM listeners are stupid? Incapable of reading?

Schweitzer told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tim Cuprisin that it hastened her firing, and he even says in the e-mail they let McBride go early "rather than see Jessica and the station have to endure the negative publicity while she remained on the air for a few short days."

WTMJ has a great tradition of allowing our talk show hosts to say what they believe. We also have a great record of standing behind our people when it gets “a little hot in the kitchen”.

Clearly that tradition just took a hit when they pulled down the radio bit in question and fired McBride

But even more disturbing than Schweitzer's dissembling on the issue was the revelation today on WISN-AM by Mark Belling that WTMJ-AM asked Jessica McBride to back off from talking about politics as much as she did and talk about more "life-style issues". I'm waiting for outraged leftys and feminists to march on WTMJ-AM and demand to know why the same request wasn't made of the male on-air personalities. I thought we were past the days when the women on-air personalities are asked to do "lifestyle" stories instead of real commentary. I guess I was wrong.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

Finding Rosebud

Of course, you can get the complete update on Anna Nicole Smith from People Magazine. We've learned,

Anna Nicole Smith's 5-month-old daughter Dannielynn Hope is being cared for at the Bahamas home that Smith and companion Howard K. Stern shared together, PEOPLE has learned.

Smith lawyer Ron Rale said Friday that Dannielynn is now in the care of Stern's mother and sister. (Stern is listed on Dannielynn's birth certificate as her father.)

and:

Dannielynn, who was born Sept. 7, was previously being cared for by the mother of Shane Gibson, a high-ranking Bahamian official and close friend of Smith's.

Also in the Bahamas Friday: Anna Nicole's mother, Virgie Arthur, who was spotted at police headquarters in Nassau, TV's Extra reported. (Earlier Friday, Arthur told ABC's Good Morning America that she blamed drugs for her daughter's death.)

Arthur went to the Bahamas to locate Dannielynn because she "feared for her granddaughter's safety," the Nassau Guardian newspaper reported. Arthur went to the Ministry of Social Services, and ultimately ended up at police headquarters and met briefly with Reginald Ferguson, assistant commissioner of the Royal Bahamian Police.

"I don't know what her expectations were, but I had to advise her to seek legal counsel to find out what course of action she can take," Ferguson told the Associated Press.

Why do I get the feeling Dannielynn Smith will grow up like this child?

Well, we've done more research and we've unearthed some more suspects as the possible father of Anna Nicole Smith's child:

Buy Wisconsin Stuff Now!

More like tepid

On Belling & Company this week, Joel McNally gave as his "hot tip" that former Waukesha DA Paul Bucher is one of the attorneys for ViAnna Jordan and the effort to recall Michael McGee, Jr. Of course, I reported it on my website back on January 2nd. No big feat on my part, his wife announced it on the radio!

Next week's hot Joel McNally tip: the 1960s are over.


Buy Waukesha Stuff Now!

27 for 2007

I make the following predictions in no particular order.

1. Governor Doyle will get one or two Assembly Republicans to join his administration.
2. The QEO will be lifted.
3. Revenue caps on schools and local governments will be loosened, but not eliminated.
4. Shared revenue will be cut further, except for counties.
5. The ethanol mandate will pass.
6. The State Assembly will not pass a conservative budget with tax cuts to challenge the Democrats.
7. Charlie Sykes will make up his mind on the Gay Marriage Ban.
8. Republicans will attempt to feed more misinformation to bloggers and get caught and called on it.
9. I will lose weight.
10. Senator Feingold will support a Bush nominee that will get little support from the rest of the Democrats in the US Senate.
11. Senator Kohl will ask a coherent question at a nomination hearing. He will even read it like he wrote it rather than sound like he's just reading what a staffer puts in front of him.
12. Milk at Senator Kohl's milk barn at the state fair will not go up in price.
13. Senator Feingold will call for the President to either be censured or impeached. Nothing will come of it.
14. Congressman Steve Kagen will again say something completely insulting to a minority group; it will be ignored by the media.
15. Taxes will go up.
16. Governor Tommy Thompson will drop out of the race for president.
17. WISN's Mark Belling will give credit to a blogger by name - once.
18. A serious scandal will involve the Doyle Administration, but no link will be found to Doyle directly.
19. Former Waukesha District Attorney Paul Bucher will appear on at least one local Sunday morning talk show.
20. The Wigderson Library & Pub will serve free drinks one evening for no reason.
21. The New Berlin School Board will remain in the hands of conservatives.
22. County Executive Dan Vrakas will easily win re-election.
23. There will be serious violence at a local festival in the city of Milwaukee.
24. There will be loud demands for Milwaukee Police Chief Nan Haggerty's resignation.
25. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will set records for fundraising for a mayoral race.
26. Annette Ziegler will win the race for state supreme court.
27. The state legislature will raise the tax on cigarettes with bipartisan support.