Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The Hate Right: Suburban Style

This is going to get complex, so pay close attention.

About a week ago, I wrote a post about the hypocrisy of the local right wing media in the way they approached former MPD Chief Arthur Jones and the way they treat Sheriff David Clarke. In the comments thread of this post, an anonymous commenter, for whatever reason, posted something about Paul Bucher with a link to this post. (Sidenote: There's been a lot of this going on lately. If you have something you think I should write about, email me directly. Or, drop the anonymous and email me, and just maybe, you too can join Whallah!)

The post in question relates to a letter written by Paul Bucher to Kevin Fischer. Paul was telling Kevin to stop trashing his client, or something to that effect. What caught my eye, was Fischer's bio:

Kevin Fischer is an award-winning veteran broadcaster who has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for nearly three decades. Kevin, who is a legislative aide to state Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, “INTERchange,” on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, in Franklin.
Seeing that he is part of the local media, I went and did some reading. His site seems pretty typical of the usual foaming-at-the-mouth type of conservative (including some ridiculous post about how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was really a conservative). Pretty much like Fred at RDW (in fact, I found out later that Fred links to Fischer on occassion).

After a few minutes, it became obvious that Fischer had some kind of anger towards another community blogger at the Franklin NOW paper's website. This other blogger is a young man named Greg Kowalski, who actually posts about Franklin stories and about environmental issues.

As I perused Mr. Kowalski's site, I came across this post, dated January 3rd, that also deals with some of the wonderful comments of the hate right. Mr. Kowalski lists several of the nasty comments he has gotten from the hate right, but was is even more interesting is the comment thread of this post. In this thread, Fischer, and another right wing blogger, Janet Evans, (who apparently takes pride in living up to her post's name, Unglued) go absolutey bonkers in their vile, vitriolic, and way over the line attacks on Mr. Kowalski.

Go ahead, read the comments thread (the January 3rd link). I'll wait.

**************

Welcome back. Pretty twisted stuff, eh?

And I'm not the only one that caught on to how disgusting it is. Another community blogger, Linda Richter of New Berlin, saw this and wrote her post, asking State Senator Mary Lazich to step in and publicly rebuke Fischer, who is her legislative aide, as she rebuked others for what she deemed to be inappropriate language. I could find no indication that Senator Lazich has done so, which apparently means she condones these sort of attacks.

Nor has McIlheran or Sykes condemned these attacks, which is not surprising. But keep this in mind the next time one of them is whining about the hate left being so mean to them.

On a side note: These two characters, Fischer and Evans, also went after another, private blogger, in the comments section of one of Fischer's posts. The comments got so bad that Fischer was forced to take them down. (I have them, but won't post them. What you've already read is bad enough.)

I won't go into asking Senator Lazich to rein in her aide, out of respect to the First Amendment, but I do question why the Journal Sentinel, which is the parent company to NOW Community Papers, is allowing this sort of crap on their web pages. Do they condone this sort of thing? Oh, wait. I temporarily forgot about Sykes and McIlheran. I guess they do condone this sort of thing.

And if Fischer and Evans don't like getting called out on their boorish behaviors, well, that's just too bad for them.

Finally, I, the King of the Left Hate, hereby do knight Mr. Kowalski, dubbing him Sir Gregory the Green Knight, and welcome him to the Royal Court.

34 comments:

  1. Thursday January 3rd was a Thursday after the paid holidays. Was Mr. Fischer blogging on Wisconsin State payroll time or his own? Was he using Wisconsin equipment for his blogging or his own?

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  2. zMy King, do you also know that Mr. Fischer is a regular guest host of the Mark Belling show? He fills in fairly often now since Mark booted Attorney Jim Gatze for writing an email to a vice president of the New Berlin School Board.

    http://badgerblogger.com/?p=4169

    It's a small world after all it's a small small world.

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  3. Forsooth, truly I did know. That is why he is fair game for Whallah! He is but no more than a miscreant squawking with the rest of the gaggle.

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  4. Actually, I have an open records request into Sen. Mary Lazich to determine how much Mr. Fischer, state paid aid, has been posting from his state computer. I'll be following up at fairlyconservative.com

    Fisher (as in I only use other's stuff), Bellering and Psyches have no place in my world as a Republican. I just as soon scoot them off the map.

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  5. Cindy, isn't that the same thing Chvala and Burke got busted for?

    Isn't that the same general issue in the new trial for Mr. Jensen that our dear friend McBride says should be moved to Waukesaha county?

    Mr. Fischer always informs the Belling audience that he isn't getting paid by the State while he does the fill in shows. This would not be like the sick pay issue where employees are salaried and get paid whether they work or not would it?

    Good luck with your open records request. I expect it will be rejected because it involves an employees personnel records.


    Mr. Belling has a lot of experience with open records issues. Maybe he could help you.

    The in the Sheboygan - Mayor web site contoroversy, his name escapes me, that wrote

    a request under the Wisconsin Open Records Law for “copies of all documentation, correspondence, letters and communication, in whatever format, as they relate to Jennifer Reisinger and any matter relating to her website”.

    Maybe someone here could help you with the name.

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  6. Has anyone ever put in a public records request to figure out whether McBride was doing campaign work for Bucher while on state time? Or put in an Open Records request for her uwm e-mails? I heard that she was warned about it by her department head at one point, so she probably got smart, but I'm sure they show the same thing, sharpening the partisan ax on the public's dime.

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  7. Dear Columnist Jessica McBride:

    We are wondering if you received a reply to your letter to District Attorney Brad Schimel?

    We would particularly be interested to learn if you received a reply to the following question:

    However, it’s my job to write about the goings-on in Waukesha County. So, I must ask: What’s going on?

    What’s going on in Waukesha County is a question that has baffled many of us for years. Maybe now that you have raised the issue in a major publication, some answers will be forthcoming.

    Maybe if Mr. Schimel doesn’t fully answer your questions, you could consider the following thoughts.

    We’re not sure how many Wisconsin residents, especially in outlying areas, actually read the Freeman because of its limited geographic scope of reporting. Maybe publishing the letter on your blog would raise the level of consciousness in those remote areas.

    Another thought might be asking the Wisconsin State Journal to investigate the question. I’m not exactly what a muckraker is but apparently their reporter Dee Hall is one.

    I’m sure as time progresses the collective wisdom of the blogosphere will come up with some additional suggestions.

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  8. You all forget the first law of being a republican is that the law does not apply to us.

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  9. Maybe it's a twofer: Brad should be investigated by the guy that kicked Bucker's ass to become AG, and then she can complain about both of them, and how the Journal Sentinel isn't covering it and how if only she had a radio show, she'd be able to tell people what's truly going on. Girlfriend's got a messianic complex. She's ready for her closeup. (I thought it was going to take a few more years to get to this point, but I didn't count on her screwing up her radio show so quickly.)

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  10. lol@"jim panzee"

    Great handle.

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  11. Nice work Capper...keep it coming!

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  12. Good work Cindy, and good luck with your records request.

    It is great to see someone from the other side of the political spectrum fighting the good fight.

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  13. Wow. I started to go through McBrides blog just to read the funny comments after reading Cindy and anon's posts. Then I realized that anon is probably right. If she was righting this stuff on UWM's computers or on work time, people have gone been prosecuted for doing similar things. The campaign postings are incredible. Over 25 pages so far just taking the partial posts where they refer to Paul.

    Might make a good research project for an investigative journalism class.

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  14. Capper

    Is that story real? Talk about your unintended consequences. Maybe you should be an investigative reporter. Or are you already.

    Someone sends you a mysterious link and you bust a ultra conservative. Yikes I almost typen somethin politically incorrect.

    Good job. Keep keeping them honest. Fat chance eh?

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  15. She was talking about suing someone else for libel?

    With the list of potentially libelous statements on her blog, the victims might be able to get a class action certified.

    Good thing she used a grammatical modifier in this sentence.

    Was his Florida strategy one of the biggest campaign blunders in presidential political history?

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  16. Ms. Kilkenny,

    Thank you for visiting and thank you for the glad tidings that you bring us. I, for one, believe that the right and left can coexist, if people leave the bullying and the adolescent antics out of it.

    You have my utmost respect.

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  17. Anony 8:59 pm-

    Yes the story is true. I read each and every comment, and as I stated in the posting, I saw who Fischer was, and poked around a little, asking a question here and there of trusted allies and friends, and my sagacious advisors.

    That is what led me to the above findings. I must say though, I did not bust anyone out. I found a story I found interesting and wrote about it. The true hero in this story would be Ms. Kilkenny, and her ability to stand up for the proper thing.

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  18. Just more examples of why you shouldn't drink and blog (12 am?). Mr. Fisher could be Fred's and Pete's older brother. The resemblence is amazing.

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  19. Well, well...

    I'm just very happy to know that I wasn't the only one out there who shared my concerns about this.

    I won't even bother going into too much detail, especially since the "pinnacle" of the radicals' hate occurred on the blog entry you linked. Let's just say, this has been going on...and on...and on...since late April of 2007.

    I'm sure plenty of my readers are pleased to see other bloggers take this matter of name-calling and immaturity by radical bloggers as serious as me.

    So, with that said, thank you all!

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  20. Investigate McBride's activities at UWM, dating back to her appointment. She's doing hack work on our tax dime. Request her e-mails. Request the computer profile for her computer at school. Overlay the work she did for her husband's disastrous campaign with the time she was supposed to be on the clock. She's dirty. Ask the department head at the time what he knew. He's dirty.

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  21. I'm making popcorn...this is fascinating to watch unfold.

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  22. I used to get into it with Fischer, but now I ignore him.

    The best thing for "our side" is to let him hang himself repeatedly. If Kevin Fischer didn't exist, we'd have to invent him; he's the living caricature of the self-interested, dogma-spouting right wing blow hard.

    Also, he refuses to ENGAGE on any issue. When the going gets rough for his ideology, he just starts thrashing around and calling people names. Not at all a "thoughtful conservative." It's hard to believe he's an adult, frankly, based on the language and tone he uses.

    And, he's demonstrated dishonesty to me personally, which I cannot abide. All in the "game," I guess.

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  23. anon 11:14

    The problem could be that when someone is salaried i.e. she gets $55K to teach the classes she teaches. Who says when she is or is not working?

    This is probably less clear cut than her husband accumulating $150+k in sick benefits.

    The only potential yardstick that would not be as questionable is if she was working at her office on school equipment posting campaign rhetoric for her husband.

    She probably would be here to defend herself except as she told us in her Lake Effect interview, she doesn't read liberal blogs (this is also on her blog. she waits for her many friends to advise her of libelous postings or comments.

    She is a woman, she is 37, she is a mother, she is a conservative, she grew up up north in a small town before there were conservatives and the news was the world's largest tomato and whatever Tom Brokaw said.

    But please leave my family out of it and don't discuss personal items.

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  24. Her partisan work on public time and using public equipment is still worth investigating, since it's something that UWM internally has already looked at. That created its own paper trail. (Is Whallah! breaking news? (And I dare you right-wingers to forward this on for legal action to Mrs. Bucher: Even she would know that truth is the best defense in a libel lawsuit.))

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  25. anon 1:56

    Would that be in the purview of the new ethic board?

    E-mail: ethics@ethics.state.wi.us

    visit us on the web: http://ethics.state.wi.us

    I know they don't have jurisdiction over attorneys, but state employees may fall under their jurisdiction.

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  26. Ms. Kilkenny,

    Any chance you would consider the open record request for McBride. If you would show me the way, I will do it myself. Is there any special forms or cost?

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  27. There shouldn't be a cost to search McBride's records (and make sure the search is termed broadly) because it's in the public interest. McBride considers herself a public figure, so that hurdle is gone. And she is a public employee. The costs for the search should be waived as being in the public interest.

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  28. This should help get you started:

    http://www.wisfoic.org/index.html

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  29. I have established a delicate truce with Ms. McBride after she published the lie that I had bipolar disorder in one of her paid columns.

    Lets let it hold for now.

    (Cow, I get stripped by the far-right and the left, does that make me special or something?)

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  30. I assume Ms. Kilkenny has no problem with others pursuing the matter? Thanks for the web site url. I found online an open records request demand penned by ...Ta Da ... Mr. McBride. iS that rich? With a little tweaking it should work well. Hmmm one more question. Any idea where the proper place or person to reeive it is?

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  31. http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/Univ_Rel/records.htm

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  32. As of this hour, it's still a free country. Let me know how it goes.

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  33. Crikey, I go to work this morning just glad that it was Friday. Come home and go out for a fish fry with my beautiful queen, mrs. capper. Then come back home, turn on the computer and there is a storm of comments flying around.

    Regarding McBride and the allegations against her...If you're going to post those accusations on this site, back them up and put your name (or pseudonym) to it. There are 33 comments on this post and 19 of them are anonymous. It does become rather confusing to even me, especially when I am full and sleepy. If you do not wish to do so, then email me with it. I am always willing to give feedback.

    Now where did I put my royal roll of Rolaids?...

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