The sound and fury of the Pridemore affair

State Representative Don Pridemore and his staff are in a little hot water because of a press release they issued attacking Tony Evers, candidate for state superintendent of public instruction. The press release was sent out using a state e-mail address and on the state assembly office letterhead, and it listed the representative’s toll-free state office phone number.

The press release read:

Madison- State Representative Don Pridemore(R-Hartford) issued the following statement regarding Tony Evers.

“One thing we can all agree on is that Wisconsin needs to change the way we educate our children. We need to continue programs that are working and re-evaluate or discontinue programs that are not. We need to have fresh ideas and a new outlook on what is important in our state’s educational system. We cannot continue to throw good money after bad and we need to offer more choices to parents and families in this state.

Tony Evers clearly represents four more years of the same failed policies that has our education system in Wisconsin wasting more and more taxpayer dollars, without any significant increase in the results. When former State Representative Sue Jeskewitz called for an audit of the SAGE program, Tony Evers was there to say NO WAY! The SAGE program is costing the taxpayers of Wisconsin just short of 224 million dollars per biennium. Imagine spending that kind of money without knowing where it is going or how effective the program has been in improving the education of our children.

Tony Evers is calling for the repeal of the qualified economic offer QEO that teachers now enjoy. The QEO simply states that if school districts offer less than a 3.8% increase in wages and benefits for teachers, the union can demand arbitration. Tony Evers supports removing the QEO and revenue limits, leaving school boards, taxpayers and teachers to fight over contracts each budget cycle, further alienating teachers from their communities. That is a short sighted approach that caters to the WEAC agenda and shows a lack of leadership and independence.

Furthermore, being in the pocket of WEAC the most powerful lobby group in the state (which by the way uses your tax dollars from teacher salaries to run ads against any candidate they don’t agree with) will assure us that Tony Evers will oppose every idea or program that does not increase WEAC’s monopoly on education. WEAC is a teachers union and that union represents the interests of school teachers and school teachers only. Despite WEAC’s million dollar advertizing blitz trying to claim “every kid deserves a great school”, WEAC has repeatedly rejected any idea that does not maintain their selfish interests.

These issues alone make Tony Evers a bad choice to lead Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction into the future.

Missing from the press release was any expressed advocacy that someone should vote for Evers’ opponent, Rose Fernandez. No mention was made of her at all, and the reader is left to make their own conclusions. While it may not have been the brightest thing in the world to do, I think it would be hard to call this illegal.

After all, if we were to send to little GAB prison every politician who took a pot shot at another politician in a press release, Governor Doyle would have to open the prison doors just so the Senate and the Assembly could have quorums.

There is a certain irony, of course, that draws our attention to the matter. It wasn’t that long ago that Representative Pridemore explored the idea of further tightening the restrictions on free speech in this state by requiring all organizations that engage in issue advocacy to identify their donors. This in turn prompted reaction by Wisconsin Right to Life, followed by the Pridemore paranoia that WRTL was going to recruit the Bucher Boogeyman to run against Pridemore in a primary. Perhaps after examination under the microscope of the GAB, Representative Pridemore will be that much more reluctant to see more state control of free speech in the future. One can only hope.

Interesting, too, who filed the complaint against Pridemore. I have learned it was filed by Democratic Attorney Mike Maistelman, the favorite Democratic go-to for this kind of work. Maistelman confirmed for me that he was hired by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin for this matter, even though it is a non-partisan race.

Well, non-partisan in the sense that the office is non-partisan. And the candidate not involved in this affair, Rose Fernandez, is certainly non-partisan, attracting support from independents, Democrats, Republicans, WEAC union members, and people of every background.

You may remember in the primary the Republican establishment candidate, Van Mobley, was easily trounced despite a large war chest and endorsements by several leading Republicans.

That leaves the Democrats, and if there was any doubt left as to who is beholden to the Democrats and the WEAC leadership, it was erased when the Democratic Party of Wisconsin filed this complaint on behalf of Tony Evers. They are determined to drag this dog of a candidate across the finish line and continue their stranglehold over this government body.

One wonders how this worked. When WEAC decided not to get their hands dirty and told the Democrats, “Jump!” did Alec Loftus even ask, “How high?” Or did the Democrats just scurry over their keyboards and Blackberries to obey? I have this vision of hunch-backed half-witted gophers answering to the beck and call of the WEAC Dr. Frankenstein. “Yes, masters, we hear and obey.”

And putting Loftus out there to be shocked, shocked that politics might be going on in the Capitol Dome is a bit rich, given his father’s confessions in print of activity that would make Chuck Chvala blush.

At least it gives the liberal bloggers a chance to yell, “We found one! We found one!” Good thing the DPW was there to help. If only it were nearly as serious as the case the Democrats, the liberal bloggers and their friends in the media did not want to talk about.

But since my opinion on this matter was so eagerly desired (such enthusiasm from my fans), we're sure liberal bloggers one and all will read my words of wisdom and readily agree that the Democratic complaint really is sound and fury signifying nothing.

Belling wrong on Koschnick candidacy

I think I got called a phony tonight on the radio. On today's program, WISN's Mark Belling once again claimed that State Supreme Court candidate Judge Randy Koschnick is not a candidate who can criticize judicial activism because of his past as a defense attorney, specifically as Ted Oswald's attorney. More, Belling takes umbrage at being criticized for his position, and calls conservatives that disagree with him "hypocritical phonies."

As the only conservative columnist to criticize Belling's position in print (hey, we're a small group), I should probably take it personally. Nah. Here's what I wrote in last week's Waukesha Freeman:

When WISN’s Mark Belling and the left-wing organization One Wisconsin Now are of the same opinion, there may be something wrong with the equation.

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."

The concern should be less about Koschnick’s defense of a criminal 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.

I'm not sure why this has become such an issue for Belling except to take him at his word. He doesn't like defense attorneys, and he doesn't want a defense attorney that defended a cop killer sitting on the bench. Fine, but it's a prejudice and not statement of legal philosophy. Belling owes it to his audience to explain why he's allowing his prejudices to affect his judgement rather than claim philosophical consistency while tarring his fellow conservatives as hypocrites.

Are the Buchers banned from filing lawsuits?

Paul and Jessica Bucher are suing a West Bend hotel because their daughter burned her hands by putting them on the glass shielding a gas fireplace. Their daughter was burned sufficiently that she had to receive emergency treatment and continued medical treatment because of the burns. I'm surprised this is receiving press coverage at all. However, it now seems everyone has an opinion on the matter, regardless of how uninformed it may be.

Not to pick on Owen Robinson (although, that is what we do around here), but I begin to wonder if some people even know anything about fireplaces. After noting that he and Mrs. Robinson were supposedly there when it happened, the only insight he offers is,

It really stinks that their child burned her hands, but I don’t think the hotel is to blame. It’s a fireplace. There isn’t any way to keep it from being hot other than turning it off. This was a tragic accident. Nothing more.

1) I have a wood fireplace with glass doors in my own home. Despite the heat generated by the fires I've made, I cannot recall anytime the glass doors were hot enough to send a child to the emergency room.

2) The fireplace in question is a gas fireplace. If there's a chance the darn thing is too hot, someone could just adjust the gas accordingly just like a gas grill in the backyard.

I'm tempted to bring in the personal injury attorney that I know as an expert, but I don't think I can afford his consulting fee. Since I don't see any other personal injury attorney experts out there writing on this, let me just note that nobody knows what is really going on. And given that this is likely to be settled in mediation, probably none of us will. I could ask the Buchers, and there's a chance they would tell me, but it's none of my business. Yours either, really.

But some of the commenters over at Boots & Sabers seemed to be of the opinion that conservatives like the Buchers should not be allowed to file lawsuits because supposedly conservatives don't believe in lawsuits. I would take the argument seriously except I think it was not advanced seriously at all. Instead it was the result of animus towards the Buchers.

And since the Buchers are not seeking special treament in this case or behaving in any manner contrary to their own expectations of the limits of the legal system, I would suggest their critics find something else to get in a tizzy about.

De-caf edition of Idiot Politician of the Week

With the introduction of the Friday afternoon cocktail, pinch-hitting for the Jo Egelhoff on Thursdays, and column writing on Tuesdays, we’re moving the Idiot Politician of the Week to Saturdays. Lucky for us, the move snagged us a last-minute entry this week. On any given week, the idiot politicians are thicker than mosquitoes in July. This week we seem to already be in summer re-runs, and we’re only in May.

Badger Blogger has been tracking the idiotic behavior of State Representative Jason Fields (D-Milwaukee). Fields, you may recall, was arrested not that long ago for driving under the influence. What made it ironic was Fields’ participation in the effort to get Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk to run against then-incumbent Peg Lautenschlager in the Democratic Primary for State Attorney General. Fields avoided the “Idiot Politician of the Week” prize by promising to accept the consequences of his actions.

Fast-forward a few weeks, and Fields has suddenly found Alan Eisenberg. Fields entered a plea of “not guilty” and then claimed it was a miscommunication with his attorney. Meanwhile, Fields found himself in sympathy with someone from the Hmong community who was stopped for drunk driving and then decided to resist arrest. As Bruce at Badger Blogger put it so well, Fields decided to side with someone who was seen on video resisting arrest over the police officers that protect his neighborhood. But Fields knows his natural constituency: ethnic drunk drivers.

Speaking of public drinkers, I’d pick on Senator Hillary Clinton for not being able to get coffee from a coffee machine, but until I have my first cup of the day I’m pretty helpless myself. Besides, remember the good old days when you could just get a cup of coffee? When your choices were black, cream, sugar? No, but we are going to pick on the Senator for choosing a product that clearly exploits the poor campesinos in a way that’s harmful to the environment. After being befuddled by a coffee maker, the Senator should have announced loudly, “There’s no Fair-Trade, environmentally friendly, high-tariff coffee option on this machine! I bet this stuff got into the country because of NAFTA, which my opponent secretly supports!”

Back to Wisconsin, State Representative Don Pridemore (R) once again demonstrates a skin thin enough to be translucent. Rather than let the matter drop, the state representative again lashes out at the McBride-Bucher-WRTL-Robinson cabal determined to challenge him in a primary election all because he might be opposed to anonymous political speech. You see, it’s the Democrats driving him to paranoia. Meanwhile, he knows that McBride and her husband have stolen the frozen strawberries and if he’s given just a little more time he can prove it. There’s a duplicate key to his office. He knows that because of the WRTL robocalls to his district. But he’s outsmarted them, you see. Even if they’re anonymously whispering behind his back. And please ignore the ball bearings in his hand.

The runner-up Idiot Politician of the Week is Racine Mayor Gary Becker. Becker found himself the featured speaker at the May 1st rally for illegal aliens sponsored by the dubious Voces De La Frontera. Becker is obviously not nearly as clever as the mayor of Racine’s northern neighbor. Mayor Barrett showed up, shook a few hands, and um, er, had a “previous engagement” to attend rather than be seen supporting calls for general amnesty for every illegal alien. Nope, Becker stuck it out among the sombreros, Mexican flags and Spanish chants. You know, all those great indicators of how even illegal immigrants are assimilating into our culture.

But this week’s Idiot Politician of the Week is Baltimore City Councilman James Kraft. Kraft took the prize when he declared that the choice between paper and plastic at the grocery store is the choice between freedom and The Holocaust. (ht: Fred Dooley)

A broad slate of environmental proposals that would ban plastic bags from city grocery stores and add a 10-cent deposit for all types of bottles purchased in Baltimore came under fire Thursday at a citywide hearing.

The measures, sponsored by City Councilman James Kraft, include banning plastic bags and Styrofoam cups, and adding a 10-cent deposit for plastic and glass bottles of soda and beer — all part of an aggressive green agenda touted by Kraft, solidifying his reputation as the council’s environmental crusader.

Painting the proposed laws in broad strokes, Kraft likened his efforts as similar to confronting the threat of Nazi Germany prior to World War II.

“We don’t want to be criticized by future generations for not doing enough now as were those who dealt with the Germans then,” Kraft said at a hearing in the headquarters of the Living Classrooms in Fells Point.

Perhaps the councilman might consider breathing into a paper bag rather than mandating them at the grocery store. His penchant for hyperventilating may have already led to hypoxia, the resulting brain damage causing him to become our Idiot Politician of the Week. His prize will be delivered after we finish invading Poland.

McBride clubs Pridemore one more time

Jessica McBride has the last word on State Rep. Don Pridemore's understanding of the First Amendment.

In response to the robocalls, Pridemore whipped out a press release that, in disclosure, mentioned my husband. Flailing at an imaginary electoral strawman, Pridemore raised speculation that my husband is going to run against him and speculated that it couldn’t be a coincidence that Wisconsin Right to Life was putting out robocalls. Huh? My first thought upon seeing it was: Paul’s running? (Just kidding).

The speculation derived from a blogger who admits she was completely making it up. The best line came from Freeman columnist James Wigderson, who opined that he’d like to see my husband in the state Assembly because “after the first meeting he’d probably demand mandatory Breathalyzer checks for his colleagues.“

Good grief, now Pridemore’s really going to be engaged in conspiracy theories. “His wife wrote a column about me!” the next press release will say. It’s called freedom of speech.

Meanwhile, my husband, who has not considered running for state Assembly (but, thanks, Representative Pridemore for the idea), was working on some legal case blissfully unaware of it all.

Pridemore also took off after Wisconsin Right to Life, stating the group should be “ashamed” of itself. Pridemore insisted that he’s 100 percent pro life. That’s not the point. The group’s upset that there’s evidence he’s not 100 percent for free speech. Under fire, he tried to recast his actions as an attempt to assure voters “retain their rights” if Democrats try to appoint judges.

The way to assure voters retain their rights is to vote against Democratic attempts to appoint judges.

He continued: “The Democrats clearly cannot face the simple fact that their bought-and-paid-for WEAC candidate Louis Butler was defeated in this past election.”

That’s true. So why was Pridemore acting upset too?

Pridemore also stated, “I have told Wisconsin Right to Life that I have no intention of going forward with a bill that would require third party advocacy groups to list their donors, yet in today’s press release they insinuate exact (sic) that.”

Actually, it was an earlier press release from Don Pridemore that insinuated exactly that, one it took him a long time to publicly correct.

It announced: “State Representative Don Pridemore has called for interest group and third-party donor records to be made available to the public. ‘I’ve been considering this legislation for quite some time now, but in the wake of the judicial elections on April 1, it has become even more imperative.’”

Why was it so imperative if the bought-and-paid for WEAC candidate lost?

On Friday, Pridemore whipped out yet another press release, insisting that any reference to third-party donors has been removed from draft legislation, which he called “flexible.”

To me the funniest part of the story is that Paul Bucher was completely unaware that all of this was going on.

By the way, what does anyone think the over-under on the Breathalyzer failure rate is?

It must be true. I read it on the internet.

Controversies come, controversies go. And I'm rather skeptical about most of what I read. Here was this morning's controversy:

April 17, 2008 - Yale senior, Aliza Shvarts ,artificially inseminated herself several times in order to have multiple abortions for her "art" project.

The April 17th edition of Yale Daily News reports that senior Aliza Shvarts' "art" show is slated to begin next Tuesday, on April 29th. It features a documentation of a nine-month process in which Shvarts artificially inseminated herself multiple times and used abortifacients to induce multiple abortions while filming the process. The exhibit will display the videos of her abortions as well as blood samples from the process. According to Shvarts, the goal of her art exhibit is to "spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body."

Pretty horrific. However, the truth shall be known, and I find myself in full agreement with the statement from Yale regarding the questions raised had the story been true:

Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art. Her art project includes visual representations, a press release and other narrative materials. She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body.

She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art.

Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns.

This is why I'm a slow blogger sometimes. It's a lesson politicians can learn, too.

State Representative Don Pridemore found himself the target of some criticism today from Wisconsin Right to Life and others for supporting a law that would require political independent expenditure groups to fully disclose their donors. No word yet on when Pridemore will introduce a bill to ban The Federalist Papers from public libraries.

Coincidentally, this happened the same day Cindy Kilkenny had hypoxic visions in a vacuum of former Waukesha DA Paul Bucher challenging Don Pridemore in the September primary. Pridemore, in a rather thin-skinned response to Wisconsin Right to Life, indulges his paranoia as well.

The timing of this attack coincides with increased speculation that Paul Bucher may run for the 99th District Assembly seat this fall. Is this really a coincidence, though? We must remember that this is the same Paul Bucher who was visibly upset when Representative Pridemore chose not to endorse Bill Gleisner’s candidacy for the Court of Appeals—a candidacy which in many ways depended upon publicizing Gleisner’s pro-life record and contributions.

Of course, a little time and patience would have revealed that Bucher had no intention of taking on Pridemore. Maybe a little embarrassment from his temper tantrum will teach Pridemore not to speculate without knowing anything, too.

Um, no, not likely

Put any prediction of Paul Bucher taking on State Representative Don Pridemore in the primary at the very low end of probabilities.

However, the thought of Paul Bucher sitting in the Republican Assembly Caucus does strike me as pretty funny. After the first meeting he'd probably demand mandatory breathalyzer checks for his colleagues.

And considering Pridemore's support of legislation that would curtail our first amendment freedoms, maybe he should have a primary opponent. But we can safely bet that it wouldn't be Paul Bucher.

Since Cindy Kilkenny* admits she made it up from thin air, we'll just move on to the next bit of blog rumor fun.


* They killed Kenny!

Gratuitous and stupid

Owen Robinson's appearance on Sunday Insight with Charlie Sykes must have been a last-minute invitation. He was clearly not prepared when he gave his "loser of the week." To name Paul Bucher because Bucher has been open supporter of William Gleisner's was gratuitous and stupid and clearly not thought out.

I'm trying to give Robinson the benefit of the doubt.

Robinson's excuse was that he was tired of other conservatives tip-toeing around the Gleisner race because of Paul Bucher. Robinson must've been out the country when the host of the show he was on took several swipes at the Gleisner campaign last week, as did Mark Belling further down the dial.

The following supporters of Gleisner must've been on Robinson's list, too.

State Representative Scott Newcomer

State Representative Rich Zipperer

Daniel Vrakas, Waukesha County Executive

What a bunch of liberals, right?

Here's the rest of the list of the losers.

I don't know if Gleisner is going to win. I strongly suspect the issue of Gleisner's mental health is probably going to kill his chances.

But to say Paul Bucher is a "loser" because of his support for another candidate is just ignorant and shows a lack of preparedness for Charlie Sykes' show. As I said, I'm trying to give Robinson the benefit of the doubt. Otherwise I'd have to believe Robinson's remark goes back to his stupid conflict with the Bucher campaign two years ago. In that case Robinson's little swipe was not only gratuitous and stupid, but childish, too.

Oh, and if Robinson's choice for State Supreme Court turns out not to be the "law and order" candidate Robinson touted on Sunday Insight, will he name himself the "loser of the week?"

I'm so confused

Paul Bucher (among others) is endorsing Bill Gleisner and Rick Esenberg (among others) is endorsing Judge Neubauer.

I think I need some liberals to help me with this. Who are Mike Maistelman and Mike Plaisted supporting?

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.

The Ballad of Jessica and Paul

Jessica McBride and Paul Bucher are on the air, or at least the internet, with a weekly "blog radio" program. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tim Cuprisin is reminded of John and Yoko, but can't get his mind out of bed.

Caught the early plane back to London.
Fifty acorns tied in a sack.
The men from the press said, "We wish you success,
It's good to have the both of you back".

Now the lawyers get involved

Attorney Paul Bucher has submitted an open records request to dig into the matter of the Sheboygan Police investigating a local blogger posting a link on her website to the police department.

GATZKE & RUPPELT, S.C.
15730 W. National Avenue New Berlin WI 53151 PH: 262-814-1700 FAX: 262-814-1799 On line at www.grlaw.info
Chief David E. Kirk
Chief of Police – City of Sheboygan
828 Center Street
Sheboygan, WI 53081

Re: Reisinger, Jennifer

Dear Chief Kirk:

Please be advised that this firm has been retained to represent the interests of Jennifer Reisinger. It is my understanding that the City of Sheboygan Police Department has undertaken an investigation relative to the linking of the City of Sheboygan Police Department website to Ms. Reisinger’s website. I am unsure if the investigation has been focused on Ms. Reisinger or is being focused on a member to the Police Department for allowing Ms. Reisinger to produce this link. However, I
believe that aspect of this matter to be irrelevant.

Please accept this correspondence as a request, pursuant to the Wisconsin Open Records Law, for copies of all documentation, correspondence, investigative reports, emails and any other recordings or documentation, in any format, as they may relate to Ms. Jennifer Reisinger and/or the issue dealing with the directive ordering her to remove her link to the City of Sheboygan Police Department.

I also understand that an investigation had been conducted by Officer Johnson of your Department.

Please also accept this request, pursuant to the Wisconsin Open Records Law, for a complete copy of that report, in whatever format, as soon as possible. As you can imagine, focusing the resources of government on an individual, simply for linking to a public website, is unheard of. This appears to be a request at the directive of the Mayor, possibly for improper purposes or with ulterior motive. That remains to be seen. At this point, however, this firm will be conducting an aggressive investigation, in an attempt to determine the responsible party in this action and the motive behind this directive. Your cooperation in this regard will be much appreciated.
Thank you for your courtesies.
Very truly yours,
GATZKE & RUPPELT, S.C.
Paul E. Bucher
Attorney at Law
PEB/sac
Cc: Ms. Jennifer Reisinger

A similar letter was sent to the city attorney:

Please be advised that this firm has been retained to represent the interests of Jennifer Reisinger. I have reviewed as much of the material relative to this matter as possible. It appears that your office sent a legal directive to our client, ordering her to take certain actions relative to the link of a public site to her business website. It is my understanding that this “order” was at the request of the City of Sheboygan and/or the Mayor.

I am contacting you to inform you that Ms. Reisinger will not be removing any such link to any public site at anytime. If you can enlighten me as to the legal basis you believe you may utilize to order a citizen to remove a public link to a public site, I would be happy to examine same. At this point, however, this directive certainly does not pass muster. Obviously, something is not correct, as the Mayor has taken it upon himself to utilize the substantial powers of the government and focus them upon one individual who is utilizing her First Amendment rights.

And finally, a similar letter was sent to the mayor:

Please accept this letter as a request, pursuant to the Wisconsin Open Records Law, for copies of any and all documentation, correspondence, emails, recordings and any other types of communication, in whatever format, that may exist relative to Ms. Reisinger and/or the directive issued to Ms. Reisinger to remove any link on her website to the City of Sheboygan Police Department.

It is my understanding that under your directive, the City Attorney forwarded correspondence to Ms. Reisinger, ordering her to remove the link. As a courtesy, she initially removed the link, but after seeking advice of counsel, has reinstated the link. I am curious as to your legal basis to order the government of the City of Sheboygan to focus its resources on Ms. Reisinger, by ordering her to remove this link. I am not exactly sure what the City of Sheboygan finds objectionable in this link, but I assure you that no legal basis exists for the City of Sheboygan to take this action. We will pursue all legal remedies available to Ms. Reisinger in this matter. Again, copies of the above requested documents are being made pursuant to the Wisconsin Open Records Law and a reply is required within a reasonable time.

I'm not sure what Reisinger hopes to accomplish as I think all the major questions have been answered but it will be interesting to see what the open records requests turn up.

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Journal Sentinel catches up with what everybody else knows

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting former Waukesha District Attorney Paul Bucher is thinking about running for state Supreme Court against incumbent Louis Butler. (In other breaking news, actor and former Senator Fred Thompson is thinking about running for President.)

The article mentions the money issue. Bucher will not run unless the money is there. He also won't run if there is going to be an expensive and competitive primary. There will not be a re-enactment of the attorney general race.

Democrats get away with election board tampering

Waukesha District Attorney Brad Schimel disappointed Republicans today when he announced he would not pursue charges against several members of the state election board and attorney Mike Maistelman for violating the state's open meetings law. Schimel's predecessor, Paul Bucher, disagrees strongly. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, Bucher strongly disagreed.

He said he had sent Schimel a long memo about the evidence and would volunteer to pursue the case as a special prosecutor if asked.

"I think this case, more than any other I've ever seen, screams for an open meetings violation," said Bucher, now in private practice. "If this case doesn't require an open meetings violation, there isn't another on the face of the planet that does."

Bucher conceded that winning the case would be challenging, but said "the egregious nature of the violation" requires prosecution. He dismissed criticisms that he had played politics with his statements before the election.

In his statement, Schimel argued that the case was not provable.

Sean at the American Mind reminds us this case went beyond the simple communication Schimel describes.

Realize Maistelman didn’t engage in simple lobbying. He told board members why they needed to stick it to Mark Green and why it was good politics to do so. The most infamous e-mail deals with the latter:

“Even if this ends up in Court it is a PR victory for us since it makes Green spend money and have to defend the use of his Washington DC dirty money,” Maistelman said in a 9:31 a.m. e-mail one day before the vote. He sent the message to Carl Holborn and Kerry Dwyer, board members appointed by Democratic leaders of the Legislature.

Ironically, Maistelman and the Democrats on the state elections board are escaping prosecution at the same time Democrats on the national level are pushing for more openess in government. It's also "Sunshine Week," an annual attempt by members of the media to bring more openess in government. Unfortunately when a case like this comes along that tampers with the safeguards of the electoral process and still there is no prosecution, all we have done is encourage politicians at every level to believe there is no penalty when they are caught violating the law. This certainly qualifies as one of the lowest moments in the history of Wisconsin state politics.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Maistelman was unwilling to comment, deferring all questions to the Doyle Administration. Maistelman is a reader of this blog and has commented here before, so we'll see if he has something to say.

Note: This is not the first example of a disagreement between Schimel and Bucher since Bucher's retirement.

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Happy Valentine's Day

The Waukesha Freeman had a nice set of interviews in the newspaper today about "power couples in Waukesha County. Featured were Jessica McBride & Paul Bucher, Dan and Jenifer Finley, Scott and Julianne Newcomer, Ted and Barbara Brzenk, and Jennifer and Brian Dorow.