Smoking Gun on Democratic Maneuvers
By: Tom Wolff, Freedom Weekly Senior Editor - March 7, 2012
A court document submitted in the current federal court case on “redistricting” revealed some startling information about Democratic strategy. The court record is a copy of an email sent by Rich Judge, chief of staff for Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D) to his boss. In it, he lists off the “Talking Points” for Assembly Democrats regarding the redistricting legislation being debated at the time. He also lists off the Democrats to be contacted, and who is responsible to explain the talking points.
A couple of points need to be addressed regarding this document (shown here with privacy redactions):
1. The talking points make clear that ”WE WILL NOT BE PASSING A MAP”, even before the Republican legislative map had been presented. This is damning proof that the Democrats had no interest in working with Republicans, never attempted to draw their own version for negotiations, and would only position themselves to oppose anything that was brought forth.
2. The Democratic strategy all along was to accuse Republicans of “an abuse of power, calling the maps unconstitutional, and securing a political advantage,” again before the maps were ever presented.
3. The obvious call for confidentiality in their strategy strikes at the heart of their argument against the Republicans, and shows a hypocrisy that shows no end. “Please make sure there is no discussion of what Democrats might do with anyone – especially the press”. This is exactly the accusation Democrats leveled against the Majority party, again to score political advantage.
4. The glaring fact of the use of personal emails between legislative staff and their boss is particularly damning evidence for caucus strategy, and suggests that some Democrats will cloak their legislative business to avoid open records requests.
As the federal case was being tried, the three judge panel demanded that legislators produce emails and records showing any discussion of the redistricting process. These documents have been splashed all over by the press, to damage the credibility of Republicans. I wonder what the media will have to say about this Barca email, and whether it will be as newsworthy.
Redistricting Act 43 and Act 44 are currently under judicial review, and a verdict should be announced within the next week. Considering that the basic requirement for a “redistricted” map is “relative equality in population, giving each voter in each district equal voting power (one person, one vote),” the new legislative maps should pass constitutional muster.
Attorney for the plaintiffs Peter Earle was quoted during the trial saying ”It was initiated in secret, hidden from the public”, as he referred to the Republican led redistricting effort. What is the difference between the Republicans actions and the Democrats?
And finally, Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, said during the trial that the emails were revealing, and that: "It undermines the credibility of their testimony.” I wonder what the Minority Leader has to say now, when the shoe is on the other foot. Hopefully, an “Open Records Request” for those personal emails that has been submitted will tell us more.
GAB is anything but Accountable
For weeks now, the Government Accountability Board has been in the news, and not in a positive light. The GAB has been embroiled in the very contentious recall drives, as the arbiter of how the process must work. This “watchdog” agency was set up and tasked with bringing integrity and common sense back into our state elections. But the Director and its five Judge panel are all Jim Doyle appointees, and their actions reflect none of the virtue of their original intent.
Over the past few weeks, the GAB has made news of its own, as it makes and interprets the laws regarding recall elections and petition drives. The most brazen rule was their plan to only check and see if each signature included the requisite information (address and date) on the petitions submitted by recall organizers. This plan was due to the GAB’s assumption that all signatures on the recall petitions are otherwise presumed to be valid and lawfully obtained.
When asked if that meant obvious fictitious names like Adolf Hitler and Mickey Mouse were OK, the GAB said “Yes”. The law doesn’t require the GAB to look at names, so that would not be an area of focus. Additionally, their plan would not spot duplicate signatures, or check if the signer was old enough to meet the qualifications.
Supervisor Dimitrijevic violating campaign finance laws
Milwaukee - March 6 2012 A Milwaukee County resident has filed three verified affidavits of complaint with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office, alleging Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic and her committees; Citizen’s for Marina Dimitrijevic and Next Generation Milwaukee PAC have violated over six separate campaign finance laws. Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic, through her committees failed to file at least three required reports, has filed a report containing false and misleading information, and has been illegally coordinating campaign activities between Citizen’s for Marina Dimitrijevic and Next Generation Milwaukee PAC since December 2010.
Jason Auerbach filed the three separate affidavits in February as he came across the information in public campaign finance reports. According to Jason, “I felt ethically responsible to report the information I had found out about my district’s elected official.”
Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic’s Next Generation Milwaukee PAC financially supported candidates in the 2011 spring primary and 2011 spring elections. Next Generation Milwaukee PAC also financially supported candidates in the 2012 spring primary. Next Generation Milwaukee PAC failed to file any pre-election campaign finance reports as required by Wisconsin campaign finance laws.
Read more: Supervisor Dimitrijevic violating campaign finance laws
