Walker Calls On Squawkers To Help Fight Against Jobs

One Wisconsin Now, along with a slew of other pro-Wisconsin agencies, have been pushing for Walker to see the light and reverse his refusal on high speed rail and all the jobs it would be bring to the state.

Apparently, these agencies are having an overwhelming effect on Team Walker, and Walker has done every other time he gets himself in trouble, he goes crying to squawk radio.

Vicki McKenna has responded to Walker's mewls for help, according to a good find by OWN:

The transition office of Republican Gov.-elect Scott Walker appears to be working with right wing radio host Vicki McKenna to manufacture opposition to the Midwest high speed rail project for Wisconsin, according to an email from, McKenna’s corporate account, obtained by One Wisconsin Now.

“For all Scott Walker’s bluster about ‘widespread’ opposition to high speed rail in Wisconsin, his taxpayer-financed transition office is desperate to manufacture a paper trail of opposition,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director. “With a multi-billion dollar deficit, Walker’s use of taxpayer resources to manufacture public relations opposition to high speed rail seems about as inappropriate as sending 13,000 jobs and $810 million in rail fund to Illinois, California or North Carolina.”

In the email obtained by One Wisconsin Now, Clear Channel’s right wing radio host Vicki McKenna begs supporters to contact the Walker transition office and register opposition to high speed rail. The email appears to be sent from McKenna’s Clear Channel email address and includes not only her contact and fax number at WIBA-AM in Madison, but identifies her as a WIBA and WISN-AM Milwaukee employee.

And here is the email in question.

Which one will it be Walker? Your pride or our jobs?

Piss Off A Squawker And Vote!

From One Wisconsin Now:



Charlie Sykes spent an untold amount of time whining about this video today. The funny thing is he kept saying that it should how much the left hates his listeners. Odd thing is, the video never said one peep about hate. In fact, the only hate was coming from the right. They just hate the left (probably for being correct all the time) and they hate that us lower class of folks have the right to vote as well.

McIlheran Should Return His AFP Award

Last year, Americans for Prosperity rewarded Patrick McIlheran with their "Defenders of the American Dream" Award. He needs to give it back, unless they mean the American Dream is to deny minorities and young people their voters' rights.

It has been revealed by One Wisconsin Now that Americans for Prosperity has been in cahoots with the Republican Party and some Tea Party Groups to conspire to commit the illegal act of voter caging.

Voter caging is an illegal method to try to suppress voters' rights and is usually aimed at college students and minorities:

Usually, caging occurs when an official-looking, non-forwardable piece of mail is sent to a group of registered voters, often to minorities and students. The parties involved in caging then compile a list of voters whose mail was returned as undeliverable. On Election Day, these organizations will use the undeliverable mail to challenge voters at the polls, utilizing law enforcement and attorneys to support their challenges.

The goal of caging is two-fold. First, is to force as many voters as possible to cast provisional ballots, which require voters to follow-up the day after an election for the ballot to be counted. Historically, about 35% of all provisional ballots are never counted. Additionally, voters whose registration is challenged at the polling place are unlikely to have the required material to complete an Election Day registration, meaning the voter will be turned away at the polls.

The second goal is to create long lines at the polling place as the caging operation challenges voter after voter. Many people cannot afford to sit in line to vote for hours on end. Long lines discourage voters and many simply leave without casting a ballot.

Via OWN, you can read the conspirators' outline of how they were going to do this and the transcript of the tape of Tim Dake of the Grandsons of Liberty talking about this plot.

Even McIlheran's own Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who tried to minimize the reality of this grave injustice, ends up showing Dake, Reince Priebus of the WISGOP and Mark Block of the AFP tripping themselves up in one contradiction after another.

So now will P-Mac give his award back and stand of for voters' rights? Of course not. He probably won't even acknowledge this exposure of wrong doing.

Yeah, We've Had Them For Years

Saw this story on the twitter:

A growing number of conservative groups are bankrolling startup news organizations around the country, aggressively covering government and politics at a time when newspapers are cutting back their statehouse bureaus.

The phenomenon troubles some longtime journalists and media watchdogs, who worry about political biases and hidden agendas.

The news outlets have sprouted in larger numbers in recent months to fill a void created by the downsizing of traditional statehouse coverage and to win over readers, including those from the tea party movement who don't trust the local paper or the TV news.

"Our state Capitol used to be bustling with the media," said Matthew Brouillette, president of the Harrisburg, Pa.-based Commonwealth Foundation, whose news outlet, the Pennsylvania Independent, went live in January. "Now, you can swing a dead cat and not hit anybody in the state Capitol newsroom."

The news outlets usually receive their money from right-leaning, free-market organizations. Idahoreporter.com, for example, is funded by the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a think tank that has barraged local governments with public records requests since last year in an effort to expose waste.

Similar news operations are now in place in Washington state, Michigan, South Carolina, Montana, Wyoming, Florida, West Virginia, Arizona, Missouri, Maryland, Nebraska, Illinois, Texas, Tennessee, Ohio and elsewhere.

This is not exactly breaking news here, folks.

For years we've had the Bradley Foundation-sponsored WPRI (Wonks Promoting Republican Ideology), that has none other than Charlie Sykes as editor/contributor/panderer. WPRI has already been busted out as being an amazingly unreliable source of information, thanks to the hard work of the people at One Wisconsin Now.

Another phony set up is the MacGuyver Institute (for the Chronically Impaired) who's claim to fame is to take some duct tape, a bendy straw and a paperclip and come up with a costume that they are a respectable news source. Of course, again thanks to OWN, we know better about them as well.

And yet a lowly, unsupported blogspot like Whallah! is more reliable than these two facades put together.

Save Wisconsin's Vote

We already know of the low-handed ways that the desperately flailing Republican party is willing to stoop to win the upcoming elections, whether it be by hook or by crook. This includes, but in now way is limited to, Camp McCain mailing out fraudulent absentee ballots to Democrats on a statewide basis.

The fine folks at One Wisconsin Now have created a way for us to demand that Team Spuds is held accountable for their shenanigans:

Media are reporting Wisconsinites have received absentee ballot applications from the John McCain for President campaign with incorrect return addresses, which would likely prevent registration and processing from being completed.

The easy solution would seem to be: check the records, inform people who received an incorrect application and make sure no one is disenfranchised.

Unfortunately, the McCain campaign has been unwilling to provide the exact number and refuses to be interviewed about the scope of the problem. A top Republican Party of Wisconsin official said “hundreds of thousands” of absentee ballot application have been mailed by the McCain campaign.

Fair and clean elections are a critical issue for the state of Wisconsin and protecting the right to vote is essential to our Democracy.

Unfortunately, the McCain campaign has been unwilling to provide the exact number and refuses to be interviewed about the scope of the problem. A top Republican Party of Wisconsin official said “hundreds of thousands” of absentee ballot application have been mailed by the McCain campaign.

Act now and sign the petition to the newly-created Election Task Force and the Government Accountability Board below calling for an immediate investigation of the mailing. They must get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.

They also have a tool available for filing a complaint for those that have already received one of the bogus petitions. Both are available here. Click on it and sign it now.

Cross posted at Cog Dis.

MJS Does FOX

FOX News likes to pretend that they are fair and balanced. They maintain this facade even though everyone knows it to be a joke.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is stealing a page from FOX's playbook.

In today's Regional Briefs, the have the following blurb:

Policy Research Institute offers alerts

Thiensville - The Thiensville-based Wisconsin Policy Research Institute is offering a new feature through its Web site that provides notification electronically when a new report or commentary from the institute becomes available.

For details, see www.wpri.org.

The nonprofit institute was established in 1987 to study public policy issues affecting Wisconsin.

Funny thing is, the supposedly liberal-leaning MJS is giving free publicity to a conservative think tank, but I don't recall a single mention of One Wisconsin Now, nor of that fine group when they started up their WMC Watch.

Just remember this, gentle reader: You can't always trust the local paper. And you can never trust those that label it as liberal.