Fighting To Maintain Their Title

As we approach the day that the statewide smoking ban is implemented, State Senator Mary Lazich, or more likely, her overpaid glorified secretary, Kevin Fischer, put up a blog post pushing for the use of e-cigarettes.

That would be the same e-cigarettes that consists of a scary chemical cocktail in itself, as the impeccable and multi-talented Emily Mills points out:

What are e-cigarettes? Well, their manufacturers would like you to know them simply as the "tar-free and safe alternative to smoking" and not ask any further questions. They are tar and tobacco-free, yes, but what they do contain doesn't exactly make them all fuzzy bunnies and lollipops. There's artificial flavoring, vaporized nicotine and, as it turns out, a few other chemicals like diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze.

That's why the FDA is (rightly) trying to impose tougher regulations on the product, though they're being met with considerable resistance. Some folks want to see e-cigs regulated as tobacco products, others as a drug or device, and the manufacturers seem intent on keeping their cylindrical cash cows free of any pesky oversight or regulation at all.

Ironically, the Lazich/Fischer post comes out just before the release of a study stating that smoking causes 8,000 deaths statewide each year. Apparently the Lazich/Fischer team wants to maintain or even improve those numbers. For the common good, no doubt.

Either that, or they are just trying to stay on top of their game and maintain their title of Worst Legislator and Worst Legislative Aide.

Right Wing Anti-Transit Positions Harmful To Tax Payers

We all know how Charlie Sykes nearly pops a vein in his forehead when it comes to transit issues. Likewise, the paper version of Sykes, Preview McIlheran, also will try anything to spin things in an anti-transit way.

Greg Kowalski, of Metro Milwaukee Today fame, points out the fallacy of their position of looking out for the tax payer as he points out the flawed reasoning in a post written by Kevin Fischer State Senator Mary Lazich:

It goes to show that if there is a will, there certainly can be a way. State Senator Lazich refuses to acknowledge the will, and automatically goes to the claim that there will never be a way due to “few riders” and the “failure to reduce congestion and pollution”. Indeed, senator. So in the meantime, Lazich and her pals in the legislature enjoyed spending $1.9 billion of your tax dollars to reconstruct and add two additional lanes on I-94 from the I-894 interchange to the Illinois State Line. Furthermore, the state plans to spend upwards of $1.1 billion of your tax dollars on highway improvements in the Fox Cities, as well as upwards of $1 billion of your tax dollars to reconstruct the Zoo Interchange. Also, don’t forget the $810 million of your tax dollars already spent on reconstructing the Marquette Interchange downtown.

Add those numbers up, folks. $4.81 BILLION of your tax dollars spent on freeways, $3 BILLION of which is in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. In the meantime, Lazich is having a hoot over a regional transit authority collecting funds to construct a $300 million commuter rail line, and conservative talk radio hosts have a bird over a $50 million downtown streetcar system and $100 million in bus rapid transit ideas. If you put the KRM, the streetcar, and BOTH Walker’s and Barrett’s bus rapid transit ideas in action, it would be roughly $550 million - which would only be a little over 1/4 what the total cost is for the I-94 project currently underway.

That alone places doubt in Lazich’s anger and points, and raises questions as to the true motives of why other means of transportation aren’t wanted by some conservative leaders and talkers.

Remember this whenever the right wing says that they are looking for the tax payer, because they're not.

In Which Kevin Contemplates His Future...

[Because] some of our country's good-for-nothing bums are too chicken to rob
us at gunpoint. That would be members of Congress and the executive branch. How come we keep electing politicians who will tax the bejeezus out of us?
Especially Democrats? At least Republicans are smart enough to lie about
it."

How does Lazich keep getting re-elected if she does all of that?

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Kevin Fischer is truly the epitome of hypocrisy.

For example, when Fischer decides to spout off on the CRG's attempt at attention seeking by calling for a recall of Governor Doyle, he adds this little line at the end (emphasis mine):

Conservatives can politely, respectfully disagree on a recall, but they are in unison that Doyle has to go, whether it is now or next year. I prefer sooner than later.

This one sentence pegs the hypocrisy meter, since ol' Fischer knows nothing about the words respect.

Just in the comment thread in this section, he belittles fellow conservative, and fellow Franklinite, Fred Keller.

Then in the comment section of another post, he insults both his former friend Keller, but also on his nemesis, Greg Kowalkski:

Fred:

I'm merely providing a public service, posting an informative article about how unsafe some dog leashes are.

I see you graduated from the Greg Kowalski School of Spelling.

It is even more ironic when one considers the fact that Fischer is a master of the copy and paste himself.

Unfortunately for Fischer, Keller is not one to take it laying down, but takes it to Fischer with a post of his own, calling for Fischer's job:

As a constituent of State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), I call upon her to fire her Legislative Aide Kevin Fischer.

Like all who live in this great country of ours, Kevin Fischer has the right to free speech and – like me – should not be bashful about exercising this Constitutional right. However, when exercising this right, one should be prepared to take responsibility for one’s speech.

[...]

Kevin Fischer has a very long and well-documented history of showing utter contempt and outright disrespect for Sen. Lazich’s constituents in Franklin. For her part, Sen. Lazich seems incapable of, or simply unwilling to, appropriately deal with her underling’s immature behavior and caustic personal attacks on constituents in Franklin.

Franklin voters need to hold Sen. Lazich accountable for Fischer’s vitriol – on and off “the clock.”

Frequent readers of FranklinNOW are all too familiar with the venom Fischer regularly spews forth on his firebrand blog “This Just In…” It’s time for Sen. Lazich to send Kevin Fischer packing. If she chooses not to, then come election time, voters should send Mary Lazich packing.

As far as I am concerned, let Lazich keep Fischer. He does have the right to say what he wants, how he wants, when it is on his own time. But given the fact that Lazich has admitted that Fischer writers her blogspots for her, as well as his own, let her receive whatever consequences she gets for keeping him on.

It's not the first time I've heard of conservatives in Franklin also calling for her ouster. The longer she keeps him on board, and keeps him so closely tied to her, the more likely her ouster will be.

Deep Fried Fischer

I almost feel sorry for Kevin Fischer.

The man must be feeling an incredible amount of stress right now.

He has a baby on the way, that should be do anytime now.

He and his boss have been named the worst legislator and secretary in the state capitol.

To top it off, his abrasive personality has alienated all of his former friends and allies. This is evidence by the spat going on between Fischer and Fred Keller, and Fischer and Janet Evans. These spats are so far out of it, I couldn't do it any real justice, but the Chief already has, so I don't have to.

To add to his stress, he has his old young nemesis, Greg Kowalksi, making observations of the problems here and here. Even members of the community are fed up with the Fumbling Fisher and his bumbling boss, as evidence by this comment thread.

Yup, I think Fischer is being deep fried in a high pressure cooker. Why? Cause he is starting to crack like a nut. He has recommended the writing of a woman who would take away your civil rights to vote, if you happen to be poor. He thinks that he can hold Governor Doyle responsible for something that he said five years ago, before the fiscal crisis that his party led us to. Meanwhile, Fischer cannot be consistent for more than five minutes.

The most frightening, is this bit of psychosis:

Frightening to watch someone lose the little bit of mental acuity they once had, isn't it?

New Guest Blogger On Whallah!

We have a very special guest blogger joining Whallah! for one post and one post only, and this is it. Gentle readers, I would like to present none other than that star of TV, radio and blog, Kevin Fischer:



Ladies and gentlemen, that was Kevin Fischer, with his Whallah! treatment of his and Senator Lazich's popularity plunge.

Thank you, Kevin.

Worst Legislator and Legislative Aide

From Bruce Murphy. editor of Milwaukee Magazine:

Garnering the third-most votes for worst legislator was Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin). “Literally nuts,” pronounced one GOP activist. “There may be no legislator taken less seriously.”

That rating becomes all the more interesting when you consider that Lazich’s aide is Kevin Fischer, an outspoken windbag who does a blog on FranklinNOW.com, has guest hosted on WISN-AM 1130 and is a regular pundit for Milwaukee Public Television’s InterChange program.

Fischer’s grating style has even annoyed some of his fellow conservatives. Fairly Conservative blogger Cindy Kilkenny calls Fischer a bully. As Milwaukee Magazine Pressroom columnist Erik Gunn has written, Kilkenny has been on a campaign to prove Fischer has been working on his blog on state time. She hasn’t gotten the public records she requested from Lazich’s office and is now threatening to contact the attorney general.

Lazich told Milwaukee Magazine she doesn’t tolerate “nastiness” from her staff, but Fischer said Lazich has never counseled him to tone down his often intemperate style.

All told, there may be no combination of legislator and legislative aide who are taken less seriously in the capitol than Mary Lazich and Kevin Fischer. They work together for a reason.

The Chief noticed the quote. But I think we've all recognized the truth behind it.

Although, I think if Lazich lost Fischer, she could easily move up to fifth or sixth worst legislator.

I Thought He Was On Vacation

Fischer told us he was going to be gone this week, but apparently he's still doing his blogging for state Senator Mary Lazich.

The Chief explains all.

Fischer's Next Job: Public Relations Specialist

The other day, Fischer puts up a post blasting away at anonymous commenters on the Internet. While the example he used does indeed show how mean people can be, one cannot help but wonder what his true intentions were when he wrote this.

In the comments thread of this post, we see a Mr. Zippy, who rightfully points out that some of the forefathers of this great country of ours wrote the Federalist Papers under the alias of Publius.

Fischer then does the only thing he apparently knows. He resorts to whining and name-calling. He bemoans how "mean" people have been to him. He seems to have forgotten that the reason he even came to our attention was because he was being a bully to a young blogger, and was doing this same sort of name-calling that he is complaining about, and then some. His attacks were of a personal nature. His misbehaviors are so egregious that he has even been called on it in Milwaukee Magazine, not just once, but twice.

Because of his boorish behaviors, he came under more and more scrutiny. Since then, we have found out that he is ethically-challenged and has bilked tax payers of their hard earned money.

But the real irony is in his complaints of people choosing to be anonymous, or using a pseudonym, like our founding fathers used the moniker of Publius. Many people have written about the right to remain anonymous and/or to use a pseudonym. Greater minds and writers, from the left's Jay Bullock to the right's Owen Robinson to a Great King have all written in support of this constitutional right. Needless to say, all of these people are better writers and deeper thinkers than Fischer could hope to be, which might explain his anger, his bitterness, and his petulance.

This is all just leading up to his hypocrisy on the issue, since his boss, state Senator Mary Lazich, has already told us that he does her writing for her blog. This means, dear reader, that he too writes under a pseudonym. Yet he complains about others who choose to do so.

But despite his misogynist tendencies, his ethical lapses, his megalomania, and his churlish and childish name-calling, Fischer does have one redeeming quality. He reads Whallah! You see, when he complains about having his writing skills unfavorably compared to those of a fetid mouse turd, it came from this here post.

Update On L'Affaire De Fischer

A couple of months ago, Whallah! introduced the gentle reader to Kevin Fischer. Fischer, if you may remember, is the reprobate that tried to intimidate FranklinNow blogger, Greg Kowalski.

This produced a ripple effect through the cheddarshpere, including the question of did he do his blogging on state time and if he did the blogging for his boss, state Senator Mary Lazich.

Michael Mathias at Pundit Nation, has kept up his own research and has received a response from Lazich about how much work Fischer does for her (emphasis mine):

State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) permits her legislative aide Kevin Fischer to prepare and post blog entries that appear under her name at the Journal Communications' Now sites as part of his duties as a state employee, but she prohibits Fischer from doing any work on his own blog at the Franklin Now site.

Lazich confirmed this arrangement in an e-mail to me following concerns raised about Fischer's personal attacks on bloggers and readers leaving comments at his site (some of whom were Lazich’s constituents) as well as concerns I raised about whether it was appropriate for Journal Communications to give both Lazich and Fischer such a prominent platform for their political operation.

That's all fine and dandy, but her response raises one question in my mind: How does she enforce her prohibition? Given how much production levels drop around the country during this season of March Madness, how can she be sure he is not up to shenanigans in her office?

Fischer Probably Likes This Idea

Our friend and royal environmentalist, James Rowen, tells us of a brilliant scheme by Republican State Senator Mary Lazich. She wants to set up a search engine so that taxpayers can see where every payment of $100 or more goes to. I can't even imagine how much that system would cost to get it up and running, fix the errors, and then maintain it.

The kicker is James' last paragraph of his post:

About the only good thing about her idea is that certain legislative staffers and their bosses wouldn't have to answer all those pesky questions about state spending from constituents, leaving more free time to blog and chit-chat about politics and do lots of other cool stuff at the State Capitol.

Now, I wonder what would make James think anything like that is going on in Lazich's office?

Lines in the Sand

I hope that Sir Zachary the Blue Knight does not mind, but I also wish to add my two cents worth to the question of "Where's The Line?"

It has long been a peeve of mine that people like Sykes are able to give their pet politicians like Scott Walker and David Clarke (yes, Clarke is a politician, cuz he sure isn't worth squat as an enforcer of the law) a platform that includes free air time on his show and on his blog. It seems highly unfair that anyone running against these people doesn't receive the same kind of consideration from TMJ. But then again, since when has TMJ been know to be anything more than a shill for the conservative agenda anyway?

Oh, I know the usual arguments from the right. It's not a news show, it's entertainment. Sykes is just expressing his opinions. We need to counter the liberal MSM (wherever that might be is beyond me). All they are doing is trying to rationalize their misbehaviors.

But do these arguments hold water when the squawker is also a state employee? Especially when said employee is working for a state senator, who just so happens to be up for re-election in the fall?

As Zach pointed out, Fischer has now made the "big announcement" that he is going to be back on the air at WISN. (Given his sexist posts, he would be a good match for WISN, as I previously pointed out.)

I would like to point out that Sir James, librarian and barkeep extraordinaire, has a very reasonable and balanced post with some very good points. James also questioned whether this meant that Fischer would be leaving his postion as state Senator Mary Lazich's aide.

In the comments section, Fischer replied that he was not, and took what I thought was an unfair swipe at James, lumping him in, for the second time, with us low down dirty liberals.

James, the gentleman that he is, ignored the swipe, but did respond with some excellent points and questions. James comment is so good, that I will post it here, in its entirety:

Perhaps Kevin given your public role in a state senator's office it would be more responsible not to keep secret your "expanded role" with Clear Channel.

That said, do you think it's appropriate for a "News Talk" radio station to have as one of it's on-air personalities someone who works for the state legislature in a political role? When you were a practicing journalist, what would your reaction have been?

What is your view of a newspaper depending on politicians and their staff for content that they sell to the public? Do you not see the potential for conflict in both cases?

I realize it's not your problem. It's the problem of Journal Communications and Clear Channel. But unless your expanded role at WISN is cleaning the floors, your own journalism background should make you uncomfortable with the arrangements they have made.

james wigderson Homepage 02.18.08 - 9:13 pm #

Again, I have to ask, especially given Fischer's role at Lazich's aide, even if it is perfectly legal, is it ethical? Of course, I would say no, but I'm just biased towards fairness.