Big bust in Dane County

No, not the breast-feeding bill in the state senate, a drug bust.

Members of the Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force intercepted a shipment of 70 pounds of marijuana as it arrived in Sun Prairie late last week, and that in turn led them to more marijuana in an east Madison apartment building, according to search warrant documents filed in court Tuesday.

According to the court filings, members of the task force were present Friday when a bus from Mexico arrived in Sun Prairie and watched as a man and a woman got off the bus and carried four duffel bags to the rear of a pickup truck waiting nearby.

The search warrant documents say the two individuals consented to a search of the duffel bags just as Madison Police Officer Denise Markham arrived with her drug-sniffing dog, Sadie. The dog indicated two of the bags had controlled substances in them, and the bags were searched and found to contain 35 pounds of marijuana each.

Any of them know State Representative Jeff Wood?

Falk opponent has speech reviewed by WMC agent

If there's a lesson here, it's double-check your Word documents before you send them out.

Later that same day, Mistele sent the text of her speech to media and others, as a word document, from her personal email.

If you save this word file to desktop and check "Properties," then "Summary," an interesting thing happens: The listed title of the document comes up as "PUGH."

Pugh who? Jim Pugh, the spokesman for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the "nonpartisan" big-business lobby that backs mainly Republican candidates?

That's the fact, Jack.

"Here's the situation," explains Mistele campaign manager Jon Horne. "When Nancy was drafting her announcement, she considered input from Jim Pugh, who is a personal friend of Nancy's and has no position in our campaign. Nancy writes her own speeches, and her announcement was no exception."

Fine in a Republican primary, not so good when running for Dane County executive.

(Ht: Critical Badger)

Tag-teaming Kathleen Falk

Dave Blaska notes that Verona mayor Jon Hochkammer may join Nancy Mistele in campaign to unseat Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.

He is currently serving his second term as mayor of Verona, one of the fastest and smartest-growing communities in Dane County. He joined the Verona City Council in 1997. Just Monday night, he finished another municipal budget — cops, streets, infrastructure — the stuff the county execs do. He already has county government experience, but in Manitowoc, as a member of its county board from 1984 to 1991, ending as its chairman and de facto chief executive.

In the 1990s he was State Senate sergeant of arms under both Democrat(ic) and Republican regimes.

He is currently employed by the Wisconsin Counties Association. That is the only reason he has not already announced; he would have to take a leave of absence to make the plunge. So, there remains a chance he will not make the race. A small chance.

Blaska predicts the two candidates, Mistele and Hochkammer, will make a formidable combination against Falk.

The combination of Hochkammer and Mistele is the good cop/bad cop dynamic duo that will bring The Kathleen down. And good lord is she vulnerable. The hometown girl lost 2 to 1 to Peg Lautenschlager here in Dane County two years ago in the Democrat(ic) primary for attorney general. There is Falk fatigue — perhaps inevitable for anyone who has served 12 years.

As the mayor of Verona, it will be insteresting if Hochkammer can overcome the whole Capulet-Montague murder-suicide controversy.

Amendment preserving traditional definition of marriage passes court challenge

Judge Richard Neiss of Dane County rejected a lawsuit claiming the referendum amending the constitution to ban same-sex marriage was itself unconstitutional.

UW-Oshkosh instructor William McConkey challenged the amendment, arguing Wisconsin statutes limit referendums on constitutional amendments to a single question. McConkey’s attorneys argued that the marriage amendment asked voters to respond to two separate questions: how marriage should be defined in Wisconsin and whether marriage benefits should be allocated to unmarried people.

But Judge Richard G. Neiss ruled that the separate propositions on the ballot were constitutional because they addressed the same general legislative purpose.

“These propositions clearly relate to the same subject matter and further the same purpose,” Neiss said.

Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Vollen was quick to claim credit. Here's the press release:

Van Hollen Successfully Defends The Constitutionality Of The Legislature's Presentation To Voters Of Marriage Amendment Ballot Question

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 30, 2008

Madison - Ruling from the bench today, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard G. Niess upheld Wisconsin 's Marriage Amendment in the case McConkey v. Van Hollen. The decision dismisses a legal challenge questioning whether or not Wisconsin 's marriage amendment had been properly placed before the voters.

"I'm pleased that we were able to prevail today and that the Court adopted our arguments," said Van Hollen. "We argued that the marriage amendment was properly submitted. Today's ruling defeats a legal challenge that was aimed at undermining the will of Wisconsin voters."

At issue before the Court was whether the marriage amendment as submitted to the voters during the November 2006 elections met the State Constitution's requirements for amending the Constitution. Judge Niess found that the marriage amendment ballot question did not violate the constitutional requirement that each ballot question contain only one amendment. Judge Niess found that the question was a single amendment because that the propositions contained in the text related to the same subject matter and were designed to accomplish the same general purpose.

"As Wisconsin 's Attorney General, I am committed to vigorously defending the state's constitution," said Van Hollen. "In this case, the Legislature acted well within its constitutional discretion in forming the ballot question."

Assistant Attorney General Thomas Balistreri represented the state in this case.

We'll see if some of Van Hollen's liberal defenders will be quick to jump to his defense in this case.

The Kathleen's troubles

As a conservative writer in Madison, Dave Blaska must be more lonely that the Maytag repair man. Dave is right on it this week tracking the falling fortunes of "The Kathleen" and speculates on the possible challengers to Dane County Executive Falk.

Against a backdrop of the degradation of our public spaces by chronic vagrancy, the murders of Joel Marino and Brittany Zimmermann -- in their homes! -- have taken the issue simultaneously to the ground zero of leftist downtown Madison and to the wider county government. People are getting a crash course in why Dane County government matters. They are also learning why the world's greatest park system and all the beautiful lakes and rain gardens are for naught if people don't feel safe.

Who dreamed that, caught up in the glare would be one Kathleen Falk. Jeff Mayers' WisPolitics stock report, published in the Sunday newspaper, has The Kathleen's political stock falling faster than a subprime mortgage derivative.

The question now is whether the controversy will be enough to scare up an opponent or two for her expected re-election campaign next year. Insiders also say her statewide future... is downright dark now. Think of the attack ad material from this case, they note.

Did someone say "attack ad"? You have come to the right place, my pretty. What time is it boys and girls? TIME TO GO NEGATIVE!

It's 3 a.m. The telephone rings. Another public safety crisis. A woman with a pageboy haircut picks up the phone. And hangs up. "Something about life and death," she yawns. "Not lakes and trees."

Yes, it is Kathleen's turn to face the voters in April 2009. She can point to doubling the amount of greenspace -- much of it marshland -- purchased in her 12 years in office for a pretty penny. But will anyone this side of Brett Hulsey really care? Not to diminish the political clout held by the enviros -- they remain the single strongest political force. More powerful than the unions or the Democrat(ic) party.

But her Hillary Clinton-like knifing of Peg Lautenschlager in the A.G.'s race still rankles the Ed Garvey/Hugo Chavez wing of the party. And what does she have to show for it? J.B. Van Hollen.

God bless America!

The Abominable Snowstorm

You may want to get up a little early tomorrow to check the school closings. Some schools have already announced they are closed tomorrow. The lovely Doreen from Waukesha drove past our son's school tonight and it still hasn't been plowed out.

Meanwhile, Channel 4 News in Milwaukee is reporting Governor Jim Doyle has called out the National Guard to assist in Dane and Rock Counties. Wait until the denizens of Dane County learn the National Guard will actually use salt on the roads. The Guard better bring along the tanks.