tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138Wed, 23 May 2012 17:52:43 +0000http://blog.wisdc.org/noreply@blogger.com (David)Blogger467125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-3488793800534887334Tue, 22 May 2012 15:46:00 +00002012-05-22T10:51:00.474-05:00Sunday's Wisconsin State Journal featured a front-page story based on the newspaper's analysis of political fundraising in Wisconsin from the beginning of 2011 through late April of this year. After poring over close to $87 million in contributions to candidates and political committees that have been reported to state election authorities, the State Journal concluded that "despite rhetoric, the http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/05/missing-pieces-distort-recall-money.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-8502892399339489754Tue, 08 May 2012 17:08:00 +00002012-05-08T12:08:06.146-05:00Hardly any of the innovative energy in the political world is put to work solving real problems. That's because politicians and their handlers are spending almost all of their time thinking up ways to raise campaign money. Sometimes it's creative, most often it's crass. You've heard of pay to play. Now it looks like it's pay to pee. Hey, if you can spare a hundred bucks for the big rally there'llhttp://blog.wisdc.org/2012/05/when-you-gotta-go-you-gotta-give.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-4212111849269930352Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:30:00 +00002012-04-26T09:50:49.058-05:00As duly noted, the Democrats find themselves impaled on the horns of a dilemma. They still see themselves as working-class champions, but they've lost the rural working poor who now faithfully vote Republican. If they do more than pay lip service to these workers' plight, they alienate their donors (who, truth be told, look an awful lot like Republican donors). But if they don't take concrete http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/04/why-gops-rich-poor-alliance-is-fragile.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-7937430646673439071Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:09:00 +00002012-04-24T15:13:29.413-05:00Let me start by saying that joining a union in the workplace is a basic human right. That's not just my opinion, it is a statement of fact. That right is found in Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, approved by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948 with the United States voting yes. Unions have fallen on hard times in recent years in America, and their http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/04/why-unions-and-democrats-have-lost.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-3581302053941491283Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:56:00 +00002012-04-17T12:27:42.045-05:00A political action committee was fined by the state for collecting $170,000 in excessive donations that were used to finance contributions to Governor Scott Walker’s recall campaign, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has learned.The Government Accountability Board fined the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce PAC $500 in February and ordered it to get back $170,000 of the $175,000 in http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/04/biz-pac-fined-for-excessive.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Buelow)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-6985855491545587278Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:30:00 +00002012-03-28T10:29:41.897-05:00Turns out Kathleen Falk, a Democrat who wants to face Republican Governor Scott Walker in a likely recall election, plans on hitting up special interests for campaign cash at a Chicago fundraiser Friday.This, after Falk's campaign and other Democrats have criticized Walker for crisscrossing the country in recent months to raise millions of dollars from outside Wisconsin.Falk campaign aide Scot http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/03/falk-heads-outside-wisconsin-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Buelow)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-5255892414132853234Fri, 16 Mar 2012 18:10:00 +00002012-03-16T13:23:53.188-05:00The head of the state Democratic Party was in California Thursday raising money from wealthy special interests for Republican Governor Scott Walker's likely recall election.At the Democratic “happy hour” event attendees met Wisconsin Dem Party chief Mike Tate and members of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party to talk about and contribute towards the recall.The California fundraiser was a day http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/03/dems-go-west-for-recall-cash.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Buelow)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-5604292365204570581Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:40:00 +00002012-03-15T12:53:14.575-05:00Republican Governor Scott Walker reportedly raised $200,000 over lunch Wednesday in Palm Beach, Florida where a mining baron who wanted to start a northern Wisconsin iron mine lives.As the story goes, Walker stopped by a meeting of the Palm Beach Town Council to congratulate them for their stand to cut employee pensions and other benefits.He later attended a luncheon fundraiser organized by Town http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/03/walker-draws-200k-over-lunch-in-palm.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Buelow)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-2719743883660919483Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:21:00 +00002012-03-14T11:02:47.749-05:00Yesterday the Democracy Campaign asked the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether three groups should keep their tax-exempt status in light of frank admissions that they are working to keep Governor Scott Walker in office.The three groups – Americans for Prosperity Foundation, the MacIver Institute for Public Policy and the Heartland Institute – enjoy tax-exempt, nonprofit status http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/03/will-irs-notice-angry-badgers-with.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-2664575652546215627Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:18:00 +00002012-03-05T12:20:20.248-06:00Fifteen wealthy contributors who support expanding the state’s school choice program gave $443,550 to Republican Governor Scott Walker and legislative Republicans between mid-October and mid-January when legislative action to curb the program’s expansion stalled, a Democracy Campaign review found.Campaign reports show 11 school choice backers gave Walker $417,000, including two contributions of http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/03/deals-deal-until-donations-pour-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Buelow)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-302100063948415457Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:42:00 +00002012-03-01T10:30:10.989-06:00In Washington Irving's 19th Century tale, a colonial villager of Dutch descent by the name of Rip Van Winkle wanders up into the mountains of New York with his dog and his gun and comes upon some men of odd appearance playing ninepins. He drinks some of their liquor and falls asleep. When he wakes up, his dog is nowhere to be seen, his gun is rusted, his joints are stiff and his clothes ragged, http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/02/rip-van-winkling-us-to-death.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-7340634927957262658Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:45:00 +00002012-02-14T11:20:42.062-06:00Employees and political action committees of four banks involved in a $25 billion settlement for mortgage foreclosure and service abuses contributed $45,674 to state candidates, including $5,765 to Republican Governor Scott Walker, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.Wisconsin will receive $140 million from the national settlement meant for payments to consumers, refinancing benefits, http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/02/banks-in-foreclosure-settlement-gave.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Buelow)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-5720427388598162755Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:44:00 +00002012-02-09T13:54:12.454-06:00If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, the Democratic establishment must be quite fond of Grover Norquist's tactics. Norquist is best known for the rigid anti-tax pledge he's managed to get almost all Republican members of Congress to sign.It's hard to see how Norquist's pledge has actually helped taxpayers. It's easy to see how it has hurt them. It has paralyzed Congress on the http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/02/flattering-grover-norquist.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-83141164355523172Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:01:00 +00002012-02-01T09:30:39.886-06:00Republican State Senator Mary Lazich demanded full and immediate disclosure of people who signed the recall petitions against the governor, but she isn't so keen about public disclosure and transparency when it comes to thousands of special interest campaign contributors to her campaign and other state officeholders.Lazich recently slammed the state Government Accountability Board for not http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/02/senator-was-against-disclosure-before.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Buelow)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-4782297712125034444Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:54:00 +00002012-01-27T13:01:52.363-06:00Four Republican senators targeted for recall later this year collectively raised $260,434 in five weeks, thanks mostly to a small band of wealthy special interest donors, including Milwaukee’s chamber of commerce which gave three of them $10,000 each. The senators were targeted for recall because of their support for a successful plan by GOP Governor Scott Walker that slashed public employee http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/01/senate-recall-targets-attract-big.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Buelow)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-7799515095792314513Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:05:00 +00002012-01-13T13:10:21.154-06:00Wisconsin's legislature will soon decide whether to reopen part of the northwoods to iron ore mining. Much has been written and said about the proposed new mine in the Penokee-Gogebic Range, but not much attention has been paid to the man behind the project and the sprawling global conglomerate he is connected to.The Democracy Campaign first started noticing large campaign contributions from http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/01/man-behind-mine.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-8044939473094866563Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:03:00 +00002012-01-11T13:31:40.446-06:00People in politics have a funny idea of right and wrong. If my side does it, it's right. If the other side does it, it's wrong.In Wisconsin there used to be a bipartisan consensus on – and adherence to – high ethical standards in politics and government. No more. A cancerous form of moral relativism has now taken hold across the political spectrum.We have a Supreme Court justice who has ignored http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/01/age-of-ethical-flexibility.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-6936211985910983254Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:26:00 +00002012-01-05T16:53:15.397-06:00This is going to sound funny coming from someone who spends nearly every waking hour tracking political money in Wisconsin and shining light on the legal bribery that is the trademark of today's politics.The truth that campaign finance disclosure provides won't set us free.Don't get me wrong. Disclosure is important. Hell, it's more than important. It's absolutely essential. And there should be http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/01/disclosure-isnt-enough.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-987275447091048163Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:31:00 +00002011-12-19T12:20:07.123-06:00I can't be the only one who has noticed that those who most vigorously defend and promote the dominance of the One Percent's money in elections also claim to want smaller government.One of the more perplexing ironies in modern politics, if you ask me. I say that because the system of legal bribery they favor makes the limited government they profess to desire a pipe dream.Politicians who are http://blog.wisdc.org/2011/12/why-true-conservatives-should-demand.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-6629467250982877680Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:28:00 +00002011-12-13T12:13:34.524-06:00Yesterday a federal appeals court struck down a decades-old Wisconsin law limiting what individuals can give in a year to political action committees to $10,000. Reinforcing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case and extending the high court's money-is-speech doctrine, the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the longstanding $10,000 limit violated the free speech http://blog.wisdc.org/2011/12/blessing-wink-and-nod.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-2503305934759405447Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:33:00 +00002011-12-08T11:57:36.107-06:00I was asked in recent weeks to write an assessment of Wisconsin's campaign finance disclosure laws and their enforcement for a six-state review being done by the Midwest Democracy Network. Here's what I had to say about the agency responsible for enforcing our state's election and campaign finance laws:"The Government Accountability Board has distinguished itself with an even-handed and http://blog.wisdc.org/2011/12/playing-games-with-clean-government.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-6017241827476700558Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:15:00 +00002011-12-02T13:50:57.024-06:00The Walker Administration's new Capitol access policy is designed to make people pay to peaceably assemble, petition their government and exercise free speech.In a word, unconstitutional.This is the only permit you need to enter the Capitol.http://blog.wisdc.org/2011/12/paying-for-first-amendment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-854865329523697151Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:04:00 +00002011-12-01T11:24:22.675-06:00Without coming right out and saying so, Wisconsin State Journal columnist Chris Rickert's column in this morning's paper raises the question of whether restrictions should be placed on the constitutional right to recall public officials in Wisconsin.Rickert laments that "a man who's done nothing worse than employ conservative principles to balance the state budget is facing recall." This echoes http://blog.wisdc.org/2011/12/whats-recallable-offense.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-5913435823621911795Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:18:00 +00002011-11-29T14:32:13.268-06:00In this age of political disillusionment, the greatest threat to the republic is not rampant corruption itself, but rather the widespread feelings of powerlessness in the face of that corruption.You hear it time and again from citizens of every stripe. In one manner of speaking or another, they are saying the same thing. What can one person possibly do considering what we're up against? How can http://blog.wisdc.org/2011/11/what-one-person-can-do.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13568138.post-8513324052370628590Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:45:00 +00002011-11-22T11:00:44.218-06:00Six weeks ago today the Democracy Campaign filed an open records request with the state Government Accountability Board seeking documentation of any enforcement action relating to the law requiring disclosure of the occupation and employer of campaign donors who give more than $100. We are still waiting for the information we seek.The law requiring disclosure of contributors' employment http://blog.wisdc.org/2011/11/and-we-wait.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mike McCabe)4