31st Senate district candidate Ed Thompson (R-Tomah) has been diagnosed with cancer. Thompson’s policy preferences range from quite reasonable to completely abhorrent, but I respect the man for speaking his mind.
Plus I got a personal grudge against cancer so I’d like to see him whip it. He’s an old boxer after all. Good luck Ed.
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Government subsidized multimillionaire Ron Johnson is officially the Republican nominee for US Senate. Johnson was endorsed by the RPW in May after two weeks of campaigning, because he’s got a lot of money, and has pledged to spend $15 million of his fortune, or “all of it” to win.
To fight back, Feingold’s campaign is launching the 15 for 15 Cheddarbomb, matching Johnson’s $15 million with the grassroots support of 15,000 individual donors. Got a few bucks? Click on the thermometer below. A lot has been accomplished in the last couple years, and we can’t afford to let RoJo$ roll it back.
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And it didn’t help him much. Mark Neumann won in the City by 40 votes. The AP just called the race for Walker however.
Walker’s speech Sunday was typical empty rhetoric and lies. He talked about “balancing the budget” but not the $400 million in unfunded pension obligations.
He said he was the first Republican Milwaukee County Executive in 50 years, but didn’t mention that position is nonpartisan.
These kids look enthused to be there.
I counted 20 supporters before Walker’s Brown Bag Bus of BS showed up. That’s 30 less than the 50 signs lining the courthouse lawn.
I suppose the campaign had plenty of extra signs. I’d be embarrassed to put a cardboard monument to failure in my lawn too.
These boots are too funny not to include. The only way Scott Walker is BA material…get it?
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Following Dan Kapanke’s most recent ethics violation he wrote a piece in the La Crosse Tribune amounting to, “aw shucks, no big deal guys, it won’t happen again.”
Should we believe him this time?
Last year it took a lawsuit from the DPW to expose a state-funded staffer for Kapanke omitted relevant emails when responding to an open record request. The emails were used to plan what amounted to a campaign event. Another state-funded Kapanke staffer helped plan the event, later marking the days as vacation, another violation.
Following the suit, Kapanke promised to pay back the cost to the state. He said he would make his first payment before the end of 2009. That didn’t happen.
In 2006 another state-funded aide to Kapanke was caught politicking on taxpayer time, using a state copy machine to reproduce campaign documents belonging to a Democrat.
The Loggers Foundation was specifically set up to avoid conflicts of interest between businesses lobbying the legislature and Kapanke. The idea was, if Kapanke didn’t personally benefit from the businesses advertising money, there was no harm in them advertising with the Loggers. Kapanke himself said “”I don’t see any problem, as long as the money is not going to benefit me.”
That money clearly went to benefit Kapanke, who is now running interference in an attempt to distract from his long history of ethical violations.
Kapanke accuses Ron Kind of “mudslinging” when bringing up the wrongdoing. Will he accuse the GAB of mudslinging if the agency fines him for this clear violation?
Remember, Kapanke admitted taking twice the amount of money from the foundation than the original complaint specified, $32,000, only after being caught.
Just another “honest” mistake?
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A defense of Ron Johnson’s amateur candidacy blames the gaffes, from sunspots to the practices of his subsidized business, on Johnson’s relatively recent entrance into the race. The “outsider, politics-as-unusual” image is supposed to be an asset to Johnson. It is not.
At this point in an election, a candidate should know the ropes. A candidate should talk to the press. Ron Johnson does not.
At this point we should have clear information about Johnson’s policy positions. Instead Ron Johnson for Senate, Inc. has been spending big money on campaign ads touting nothing but fluff.
Republican primary opponent Dave Westlake compares Johnson’s uninspired candidacy to “refusing to show up to the [job] interview” and takes a well-earned shot at the anointed (R), saying “strong candidates welcome debate.”
Remember, Dave Westlake has been running since last summer. When the Democrats had yet to field a big-name gubernatorial candidate last fall, the Republican Party of Wisconsin attacked, as if a year before an election was the deadline to get on the ballot.
Last fall was six months before Ron Johnson’s political entrance at a Madison Tea Party, and seven months before he announced a Senate run.
The GOP picked Ron Johnson as the Party’s candidate out of nowhere this May because he’s rich. Their decision, but he cannot continue to play the “outsider” card and avoid substance until election day.
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In November, but now too. For DFA hero. Click the link to see (for some reason) a younger Russ Feingold.
Which brings me to a little thing I like about Russ — he’s not using a ten year old photo on his new lit. The gray hair is there.
Also, the time to golf is growing shorter…regular blogging will return soon.
Filed under Politics
