The People vs. Scott Walker

Arizona's SB1070 was a piece of ALEC draft legislation.
In that state, it was introduced by state senator Russell Pearce, who is facing a recall election this fall over the issue.

Certain monied interests who purchase our politicians also have themselves an organization (American Legislative Exchange Council) to draft and disseminate legislation to their benefit to their representatives around the country. After all, what good is buying a lawmaker if you don't get any laws as a return on your investment?

The various measures revoking collective bargaining rights were based on ALEC draft legislation. So is the voter identification law that passed in Wisconsin and is being attempted in other states. And the immigration bills in Arizona and elsewhere. It's far from limited to those examples.

So they buy these legislators with their deep pocket campaign contributions, and they don't go to work for we the people. We the people only pay our legislators a fraction of the favors they have to sell to actually get elected. Quite frankly, I have trouble calling them legislators. They don't actually write any laws themselves. ALEC (in most cases an out-of-state special interest) gives them their bills and their marching orders, and the ALEC stooges earn their keep with the greater of their two paymasters. What was introduced by Walker in Wisconsin wasn't even bad policy written by the people of this state, and that especially disturbs me. When a student turns in someone else's work as their own, we call it plagiarism... when an elected representative does the same, it's politics as usual.

This has not only become entrenched within our political system, but it's gaining ground. It's legally defining corporations as people, it's the rolling back of campaign finance reform laws, it's anonymous front groups and their shady attack ads, and the unrestricted flow of money to political candidates. They have made politics in America a game which only the wealthiest can afford to play, to the detriment of a Congress which more adequately reflects and benefits its constituents.

First Lady Hillary Clinton, though she sounded paranoid and partisan at the time, hit the nail on the head when she described this as a "vast right-wing conspiracy." I personally would prefer to consider it a vast corporatist conspiracy or a vast fascist conspiracy, but I distrust it just the same.

I think it's about time to relay the tale of my trip up to the Northwoods on the 15th-17th.


I had been expecting to be around the field office in Madison for GOTV from 12:30 through the end of calling (~8pm) on Monday 15th/Tuesday 16th. That changed when I woke up Monday morning to see I'd missed a call from Nick, the DPW outreach coordinator in charge of our office. He asked if I was willing & able to travel up north for the final election in support of Wisconsin 14 Sen. Jim Holperin. I worked out a shift swap at work to free me of my Tuesday 9pm shift, packed a bag, and was on my way to the office. I got there a little after 1pm since I was awaiting word from my coworker.

We had a whole crew there ready and waiting. There were five of us from our office traveling up with a couple lower-level DPW staffers - and we were later joined by two more from the victorious campaign in La Crosse, whom I had already met on my trip delivering campaign stuff there. Nick's grandfather had a cabin up in Eagle River (population 1500) and nine of us stayed there.

The fact that the party was willing to redirect Nick from our office to the field had some of us worried. We had gained two seats the Tuesday before, and to lose one after all that was not an option. It was especially worrisome because the Republican challenger was Tea Party darling Kim Simac. I should've made a post earlier about her, because she was the challenger we least wanted to see unseat a Democratic senator.
Kim Simac founded a Northwoods Tea Party group. In the days leading up to the election, Simac had admitted that she could not name a single piece of upcoming legislation which she either supported or opposed. Her occupation is training horses, but she is also a children's book author. Here is one of her best-known children's books.

(Printed in China, no less...)
Most bizarre is her marital history. Simac and her first husband filed for divorce on the same day as a couple they were friends with... Simac & her ex-husband then both married one of the members of the other couple, in a spouse swap which she downplayed as "one of those quirky American stories."
Enough about Kim Simac for now, though.

The drive to Eagle River was 4+ hours, slightly longer than it would have taken to get to the Twin Cities. For reference, I am talking about the upper ring finger on my blue fist avatar here. DGP & Cassie called dibs on riding with me, in part because mine was the smoker-friendly vehicle in the convoy, and probably also in part to them not wanting to be stuck with the more proper party people.

Along the way, we acquired provisions for the ensuing few days, since we had already arrived too late for campaigning purposes. Our night was spent around a campfire, grilling brats and drinking. We polished off a bottle of Jameson plus however many beers on Election Eve.
I was last in line for sleeping arrangements that night, as I had an air mattress and sleeping bag in my trunk. I wound up having to use it. I learned by morning that my air mattress has a leak, because I could feel myself touching the floor when 6:30am rolled around. One thing we didn't foresee was the lack of towels - we only had two in the whole place, so I had to take sloppy seconds on a used towel in combination with my used clothes and a blow dryer.

Once everyone was ready, we made the commute to Rhinelander. With a population of about eight thousand, Rhinelander is one of the larger cities in the Northwoods.
Let me put it this way: Wisconsin has 72 counties and 33 state senate districts, divided (roughly) equally by population. Sen. Holperin's Northwoods district covers eleven or twelve counties, some of which even had county seats which were unincorporated.
It was about 45 miles to commute from Eagle River to Rhinelander, where we worked Election Day. On the way out of Nick's cabin, he made the guys in the group bring along Northwoods camouflage - flannel shirts and beer/NASCAR/Packers caps. Somewhere out there, there's an excellent set of before/after photos of some of us city slickers getting into our Northwoods camouflage.

We canvassed Rhinelander most of the afternoon. I did three turfs totaling about 150 doors. I know I had packets of 57, 46 and something else, so I'm pretty sure I hit 150 doors that day. The time of day we were canvassing, most people were still at work. The vast majority of my results were Not Home, and most of the people I did speak with had already voted. There were still votes to be won, though, and I at least found a few.

One thing about Rhinelander... that town has a fixation on a century-old local legend. Once upon a time, one of the locals claimed he had anesthetized and captured a creature which he called the hodag. The hodag was a hoax, as time would tell, but at the time the hoax was presented as real - in the form of a mechanical contraption resembling one in dimly-lit tents at circus sideshows.
To this day, Rhinelander is all about the hodag. Their school mascot is a hodag. There's a gas station called the Monster Mart with a hodag on its sign. In downtown Rhinelander, there are a handful of hodag statues.


My canvassing neighborhood was in the area of Hodag Park.


Here I am with one of the hodag statues.

Back at Holperin HQ on lunch break, I noticed that Bowzer from Sha Na Na had been there before us:


There was also a letter from a child to Sen. Holperin posted on the wall:

"Dear Mr. Holperin, I hope that you will win the reelection. You are my favorite senator. Enclosed is $1 and a peridot stone."

So we canvassed Rhinelander all afternoon. It got to the point where I saw this door frame which was worth documenting:

There were five different pieces of Holperin literature in this door frame. I had to share it on Twitter.
The orange one is touting Sen. Holperin's endorsement by the NRA. I'm fine with the Second Amendment, but I'm just not a firearm afficianado myself so handing those out felt a bit odd.

Another thing I overheard from the woman in charge of Holperin HQ was that Sen. Glenn Grothman, one of two eligible Republican senators who was not recalled, was doing visibility (in other words, simply holding a sign on a street corner) in Antigo about three hours before the polls closed.
This was worth sharing with Twitter as well, for a number of reasons:
1. He's Glenn Grothman, one of the state senators most despised among the resistance. (He's the one who called us "slobs" during the occupation of the capitol.)
2. It's Antigo, population ~8K.
3. He's doing visibility in Antigo - hell, that someone's doing visibility in Antigo.
4. He's a state senator, it's Election Day and three hours before polls close... and the place he's most useful is on a street corner with a sign? Any schmuck can do that.

By around 4:30pm, our group had all joined up for the first time since initially heading out to canvass. Considering how many passes had been made at Rhinelander doors, and in the absence of other orders from above, Nick ordered everyone back to the cabin in Eagle River. Nick took about half the group to a nearby lake. I stayed back with the "take a nap" contingency. It was just one 90min cycle, but it was a very good nap.

By 7pm, with polls closing at 8pm, the nappers had awoken and were awaiting the others. They came back with a fantastic story. Apparently on their drive back, about a quarter-mile from the cabin, the others had - for whatever reason - spotted Kim Simac standing alone in a field near her campaign party venue an hour before polls closed along the same county highway our cabin was on.

Once the others returned, we got back into our respective carpools. DGP, Cassie & I were sent to Three Lakes to observe an official count shortly after polls closed. This was when I checked in on this thread on election night. Once that discrepancy was cleared up, we headed back to Rhinelander for the results party.

When the polls closed, I was surprised to check the #WIrecall Twitter hashtag. Of the three Top Tweets, I had #s 1 & 2. I can understand why "five different pieces of Holperin lit in one door" got traction, but what surprised me was that "Grothman doing visibility in Antigo" was the overall top tweet on the topic. Coming in third behind mine was a GOTV tweet from AFL-CIO.

As we were driving down, results were trickling in - both for the Holperin/Simac race where we were and the Wirch/Steitz race in the southeast corner of the state. DGP & Cassie were getting worried when early results were favoring Steitz, and getting somewhat panicked that we'd had a bait and switch - that the GOP had focused more heavily on taking out Sen. Wirch while we'd believed Holperin was more vulnerable. I told them not to worry, because early returns favor rural (Republican-leaning) areas and that once the city of Kenosha reported things would be alright. They were. Once Kenosha reported, Wirch was declared the winner before we arrived at the party. By sixteen points.

The Holperin-Simac race was too close to call by the time we arrived. I had a lucky chance run-in with Holperin's predecessor, Robert Breske, whom I recognized as a regular at my favorite Madison dive bar in my college days. I chatted with him a bit circling the room.
Eventually, the Associated Press declared Holperin the winner. (Wirch won 58-42; Holperin won 55-45.) He's not known for being verbose, but he gave a good speech to assembled supporters:

At one point though, during a pause in Holperin's speech, chants of "RECALL WALKER!" broke out for nearly a full minute. (I was later told by Zach, whom we'd left behind to handle the office, that DPW higher-ups down in Madison cringed when this happened.)
Interesting thing about Sen. Holperin... he is the first state legislator in the nation's history to have faced - not to mention survived - two recall elections. His first recall came when he was in the Assembly in the 1990s, when he supported a Republican governor on Native American spearfishing rights. This time around, he was facing recall for opposing a different Republican governor...

After the speech, I ran into Bowzer. Up in the Northwoods, he seemed to get more celebrity treatment than he did down in Madison. He had people anxious to see him, and was autographing plenty of photos for them. Otherwise, he seemed in a rush to find Sen. Holperin.

I also had a chance encounter with one of my fellow #WIunion Twitter friends along the way. I saw a woman browsing Twitter on a tablet PC who looked curiously like a mutual follower I'd seen tweeting from the Holperin event. I pulled her profile up on my phone, held it over her tablet and introduced myself in asking whether it was her. It was, she was there with her son-in-law, and we all had a good talk for five or ten minutes. It's a small world, and online we follow a lot of the same people, but she'd never actually met most of the Addicts and/or big participants on our hashtag. She was particularly curious about the Democracy Addicts - both the group itself and its members she's been following but never met. She's interested in putting together a Northwoods DA franchise herself. Interesting.
That talk would've continued, but at this point all of us Democratic Party people were off to a nearby bar and I had to wish them a rushed goodbye.

At two nearby bars, the Democratic Party people and the We Are Wisconsin people were having victory celebrations. Almost immediately upon entering the bar, I was greeted by another face from my past. It was a former UW classmate I kinda-sorta knew whom I hadn't seen in four years since our International Law class. Again, small world. I caught up with him and made the rounds. Alcohol was flowing freely at this point, and rightfully so: we had just gone 5-4 for the series of these recalls.

I'm sure you're all dying to know, and I can assure you...

...there most definitely was a hodag at the bar.

Also, a bit of Northwoods humor spotted in the restroom:

There were three jokes posted on the wall alongside this.
One about a man in the desert stumbling upon an IRS genie whose third wish was to be needed by women wherever he went; she turned him into a tampon because "when the government's involved, there's always a string attached."
A second joke featured a welfare mother with fifteen kids - they all had the same first name, and she told them apart by their last name.
The third joke attempted to make the point that Muslims commit suicide because the rules of their religion make for a crappy life.
That's just how they roll in the Northwoods, I guess.
I don't necessarily condone it, but someone stole the Muslim suicide bomber joke as a souvenir.

The DPW party & We Are Wisconsin party convened at the other bar, the one the We Are WI people were occupying. It had more room, and our bar seemed to want to wind down. With the election over, we could finally get along. Campaign finance regulations kept the groups from communicating/collaborating while the campaigns were active. This was good because Nick's girlfriend, Emily, actually was in the same position as Nick in the WeAreWI office. She wasn't allowed to enter our office during the campaign, for example. I'm sure that arrangement made for some relationship issues during the campaign. So I finally got to meet and talk with Nick's better half I'd been hearing about.

Drinks were still flowing freely. As last call neared, the DPW senate campaign staffer bought a round of 40-50 shots for everyone there. I myself was one of the designated drivers, and I had about six in me at this point. (As a TA from Ohio I once had proclaimed, "In Wisconsin, drunk driving is like an Olympic sport.") Bowzer showed up near the end as well.

At bartime, as everyone was filing out, there was one particularly intoxicated individual on the sidewalk leaning against the building who could barely stand up. He was wearing a We Are Wisconsin shirt, so us Democrats wouldn't claim him, and the WeAreWI people said he wasn't with them. One of our DPW staffers & I helped him to his feet and helped him be on his way. Bowzer was on his way out shortly after that, and though he was also staying in Eagle River politely refused an invitation to come continue drinking with us.

Once they both were gone, I learned the full back story. Apparently, an hour before the polls closed, Bowzer had gone into a bar looking for people who hadn't voted. He found this guy at the bar, took him to the polls, and then brought him to the results party. The guy, who was in a bar at 7pm on a weekday in the first place, hung around drinking with the politicos until he was on the sidewalk at bartime. That certainly explains why Bowzer had this different demeanor about him at the victory barhop, like a dog who was locked inside and went on the carpet and knew it was wrong but had no other choice. I still think it's hilarious. Go Bowzer.

We all drove back to the cabin in Eagle River. Campfire & conversation. Booze & brats. I sported the Forward cheesehead that night. It was the first time that anyone in the office, aside from DGP, had ever seen it. When my wearing it was inquired about, I simply said "I need this right now."

We got up in the morning feeling the effects of our victory celebration. Nick threw everything we had left (two dozen eggs, cheese, bratwurst, corn & more) into a massive omelet while the rest of us got ready and cleaned up. We left Eagle River shortly before noon, stopping at the Rhinelander HQ to help shut down & pick up items destined for Madison, and got back into Madison around 5pm.

After dropping off the election materials at DPW HQ and taking Cassie & DGP home, I pretty much went straight to Democracy Addicts.
I was exhausted by that point, and still had to work until 1am, but sacrificing that nap was worth it for a reception that was something like a conquering hero's welcome.

Would you invite Fred Phelps to be in the lead float of a gay pride parade?

Friday for finally spelling the name of my state correctly.

LOL!

Go Wisconsin and go Mr Forward! We got a small break today here when a judge granted an injunction to halt the Immigration Bill from going into law. We'll see how that goes....

Describe to us an illegal immigrant, please.

How do I know one when I see one?

WOW is all I can say WOW!!!

How do you tell if a person is driving on a suspened or revoked license? How can you tell if a person has a weapon on him or not? I am unsure what you are really trying to say? Is it since we can't tell if a person is illegal or not by looking at them then it shouldn't be a crime.??

@ bama you certainly aren't comparing todays modern society with that of the 1800's?? certainly times have changed. The gov't didn't have these vast entitlement programs they have today. These programs are funded by american citizens. So YES I am in the very position to determine who should and shouldn't have access to my tax dollars.

MY tax dollars should be going towards programs that help americans. If we send money over seas then fine but here in america money should be spent to help americans. Not fund illegals who then send the money back home to their country

I agree immigration has made our nation great. However at this point in time we certainyl can't accept that the entire world can come to america illegally and american citizens should have the money to pay.

We need Legal immigration. What gives any group outside the US the right to decide they can just come to america and zap it's resources. American's should be able to chose from japanese, european, spanish, african, ect immigrants. We shouldnt be forced to accept millions of unskilled labor from one nation like Mexico

In the end why would you target people for the way they look?? an illegal can be from any race ect? You target them based on the failure to produce the needed documents

The definition of illegal has nothing to do with race but about being in a nation without the proper paperwork. Illegal immigration is taken very serious by ALL modern nations accept the US

So just b/c u can't tell if a person is dangerous just by looking at them doesn't mean the cops don't have the right to arrest them. Ted bundy looked like a nice guy. I guess the police didn't have the right to arrest them

What exactly does a serial killer look like LOL

Umm that is how it works now, the Alabama law among other things lets police put you in jail without a crime being committed if they suspect you are an illegal immigrant. There are a lot of other issues involved, but this was my point. Not to mention it makes it illegal for you to give a car ride or any aide to someone without documentation. Something tells me though that the Canadians here illegally wont face as many problems as the mexicans though.

Personally I think the whole system needs a big overhaul with a lot more immigration allowed than we have now, along with a path to citizenship for people already here, and especially we need to get the DREAM act passed for kids who grew up here.

Updates:

The mayor of Wausau is feeling pressure from the right about allowing labor groups to exclude Republican officials from the Labor Day parade, and is considering to provide stage setup, police escort and general security costs.
Personally, I think lines are crossed in forcing a private organization into forced association with a group with which they differ. I think there's some relevant precedents supporting this view.
Notably:
Boy Scouts of America vs. Dale, which decided that BSA did not have to include openly gay individuals in its membership.
Hurley vs. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston, which determined that a private group organizing a St. Patrick's Day parade was not required to allow the participation of an Irish-American LGBTQ group.


Protests took to the skies last week, as United Wisconsin held a Democracy Dive to raise funds for the Walker recall:

United Wisconsin is a group that, as far as I can tell, focuses on gathering signatures on recall petitions. They're currently behind a campaign to pledge in advance to sign to recall Walker. I don't think I saw them involved in the actual campaigning over the summer myself, which kind of irritates me. (Some of the participants in the video kind of irritate me too, to be honest.) Nevertheless, they put on the event and it seemed worthy of sharing.


Now that collective bargaining rights have been revoked, school boards have been implementing new faculty handbooks which have been somewhat controversial on local levels. Teachers complain that they have been allowed no consultation or input, and feel that the rules implemented limit their time with students, extend working hours while also eliminating preparation periods, reduce sick leave, and that rulebooks are more restrictive and further-reaching than previous ones.
This was most recently seen at a school board meeting in New Berlin this week, which was apparently quite contentious.
I have a feeling the onset of the school year under the new rules is only going to get rockier.


Last Thursday, there was a protest at the capitol on the day that state workers began to feel the effects of the bill on their paychecks. I was at work myself and unable to attend. I'm told there were 2-3K present for that rally. The rally marched into the capitol, which ran into the problem of the building closing at 6pm. Capitol police asked people to leave. Thirteen refused, and were arrested.
One of these thirteen was my officemate DGP. He filled me in on what happened (outside of media reports) while we were closing up the office yesterday. I found out he was one of the thirteen and said "Let me guess..." and rattled off half a dozen names which were all correct.



This week's clip of Scott Walker's adoring public. This time, he appears at a private Catholic school in Milwaukee. On the eve of his appearance, someone put superglue in the locks of the building. No perpetrator was identified, but it's possible (maybe even probable) it was a Walker opponent. I can't condone vandalism to make one's point.


Labor Day is next Monday. Should be an interesting one here in Wisconsin. There is a big LaborFest planned for Milwaukee, and I'm sure something will be taking place in Madison.
Tom Morello is playing in Madison that night. Eddie Vedder has also been outspoken on the left in the past, and Pearl Jam will be playing in the state on Saturday & Sunday. I wouldn't be surprised to see him make an appearance somewhere.

I don't personally agree with the exclusionary policies those decisions support, but I do respect the right of a private organization sponsoring an event to determine with whom they are able to associate.
Assuming such decisions are not in violation of existing discrimination statutes, of course. What's in those statutes is a somewhat different discussion.

^ wow you missed the point. You need proof to even GET a driver's license. Most people are forced to show a birth cert, a SS card and a piece of mail ect.

So make the laws tougher on obtaining a a drivers license in regards to needed documents and then when somebody shows a police office a drivers license then they can feel confident that the person has been screened as a citizen ect

So no need to have a passport with you. Simply carry the ID and make a birth cert a requirement which I believe already is

Another sad fact illegals stealing american citizen identities and producing false documents.

I do agree a cop should have no right to mess with people if they are acting in a legal manner. If you do something to catch their attention such as a busted tail light ect..then they must show a valid ID. Otherwise get depoorted

I see we are wearing our reality blinders again today. Do you really believe it makes sense to send a 17 year old who grew up in Iowa through no decision of his own back to Mexico City? Or should we offer that person a path through military service, or GETTING THEIR OWN" 4 year degree? In which of these scenarios do you think the US wins and becomes a stronger better nation?


The fact of the matter is that every one on here breaks the law probably at least once a week. Maybe it is minor like speeding or driving home a little tipsy, or maybe it is a corn habit, possibly you buy from Amazon and do not voluntarily pay remit your sales tax to the state as required by law in most places. Are those people bank robbers as well? Should the cops go ahead and put you in jail if you can not prove you paid the tax on your new T-Pain cd, until you are able to?

There are 15 million illegal immigrants in this country, driving them further underground and marginalizing them is not really going to accomplish much policy wise. Or maybe we should set up special camps were we can send anyone with the wrong colored skin or accent so that we can concentrate them in one place. Possibly we could also get all Hispanics who have been checked out little flags that they will have to wear on their shirts if they leave their neighborhoods and go out in public. That way we will know who is and is not an illegal.

A couple other updates:

From Michigan:
Efforts to recall Gov. Rick Snyder announced they are halfway to their goal. State law there provides for a floating 90-day window to collect the required number of signatures. It is too late for the measure to make the November ballot, but if successful Snyder will face a recall election in February 2012.
Also, the emergency financial manager laws enacted by the Snyder administration are being used against the city of Flint. These laws allow the governor to replace local officials and bodies with appointees of his choosing, including corporations.


Back here on the home front, an interesting development related to elections happened the other day...

Kevin Kennedy is currently head of the Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections in the state.

He was previously director of the Department of Elections. His tenure there was marked by a somewhat scandalous contract with a company, Accenture, to establish/operate an elections database in the state. This happened in 2005. In passing that contract, Kennedy signed a contract with Accenture before the proper board got to vote on it. Within that contract were provisions that said Accenture would retain all rights to their software code - meaning that the state could not be able to independently assess or verify the accuracy & efficiency of the system. It would also have left Wisconsin with no other option but to start all over again, should the state have decided to use a firm other than Accenture.

This deal was terminated with a settlement in 2007. The database was being created slower and more costlier than expected, and provisions in that contract were in violation of federal elections law. Accenture handed over what they had, paid the state some money to avoid litigation, and were out of the picture.

This week, appearing at a panel's Q&A, some citizens in the movement had some questions for him. He answered, and it was learned that the Department of Administration was handed the responsibility of maintaining the state's elections system. Behind the office of the governor, the DOA is one of the larger and more influential state agencies. The DOA is headed by Mike Huebsch, former Republican Assemblyman, who was appointed by Scott Walker. Huebsch resigned his seat to take this position, and a Democrat won his seat in a special election earlier this spring. Until this time, Huebsch was the state chair of - surprise! - ALEC before Sen. Fitzgerald assumed the position.

The DOA hires a private entity, of which Kennedy would not name any companies or individuals involved, to operate the database and tabulation of elections in this state. He further stated that neither the GAB nor the DOA employed anyone with the ability to read such code. In other words, the state of Wisconsin is not in the business of ensuring honest, accurate and verifiable results in Wisconsin elections. I think it is worth noting here that Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus has a history of writing such code herself.

I suspect open records requests and/or investigations will be demanded as a result.