One Wisconsin Now

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that a man has been charged for registering to vote and trying to register others after being convicted of a felony. While this specific case may not directly apply, it does bring up some very important questions that we should be asking ourselves. In Wisconsin convicted felons are not allowed to vote until after they have completed the terms of their sentence. That could mean a prison term in addition to a long extended period of supervision.

Convicted felons often have to serve very long periods of probation and/or parole after they leave prison. One of the major goals of this supervision is that they become productive and fully integrate back into society. Exactly how are they supposed to do that if they are barred from voting, one of the most basic rights/responsibilities that we have as citizens? Many of them hold down jobs, pay taxes, provide for their families but still Wisconsin law refuses their right to vote.

According to an ACLU study, 62,324 people with felony convictions in Wisconsin are not allowed to vote; however, 61% of these people are no longer incarcerated. By not allowing them to vote, we are hindering their ability to reinstate themselves as active members of the community. According to Senator Russ Feingold, “…the more doors we close on people trying to rejoin society, the more likely it is we will drive them back to the behaviors we want them to leave behind.”

Wisconsin ’s felony disfranchisement laws are more severe than those of several of its neighboring states. Michigan , Illinois , Indiana and Ohio all automatically restore voting rights upon release from incarceration. Disenfranchisement in Wisconsin also disproportionately affects African American males and other minority populations. The ACLU study found that one out of nine African Americans males are disenfranchised because of Wisconsin ’s ex-offender laws. This statistic places Wisconsin 11th in the nation for the disenfranchisement of African American voters. This is obviously unacceptable and some might even call it Jim Crow, Wisconsin style. It is a disgrace and the current law should be changed.

J.B. Van Hollen’s frivolous lawsuit against the Government Accountability Board, (GAB) is political mischief that could complicate voting for as many as 1 million people in Wisconsin. One Wisconsin Now, the League of Women Voters, municipal clerks, the GAB itself and many others have taken a stand against J.B. Van Hollen. Now the Milwaukee chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Milwaukee Teachers Association are entering the fray.

Both organizations submitted a filing to the Dane County judge responsible for the case, arguing that Van Hollen’s checks are unreliable and could bar about 135,000 people who registered to vote in 2008 from the polls. The organizations also pointed to GAB figures that 15 percent of 53,515 registrants since August had failed the checks because of non-matches. Most of the non-matches are due to clerical errors, misspellings, a missing middle initial or an old address on a driver’s license. Even four of the six judges on the GAB board didn’t get exact matches.

J.B. Van Hollen’s frivolous lawsuit against the Government Accountability Board, could disenfranchise up to 1 million legitimate voters in November. Much of that could happen because of very minor discrepancies such as a middle initial, clerical error or an old address appearing on a driver’s license. Even four of the six judges that make up the GAB board found that their own personal information did not totally match.

To drive the point home even more, Michael Horne blogging at Milwaukee World, checked voting records to see if J.B. Van Hollen himself could fall victim to his own partisan mischief. Horne finds some of the following:

...I don't think he'd pass his own test. JOHN BYRON VANHOLLEN is the same guy as JOHN B VAN HOLLEN, who once lived at 816 Chalfont Drive, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, when he served as United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. But a search of "J. B. Van Hollen" (with or without the space) would not turn up his name in the state register of voters, even though he uses the initials and the space as his legal designation in court documents and when he ran for election, and in his official biography in the Wisconsin Blue Book…

And, once you find out his first name is John, things don't get much better, since when he was registered in Sun Prairie on November 5th, 2002, he went by JOHN B VAN HOLLEN, [no middle name, and a space between "Van" and "Hollen"]… Oh, by the way, it appears that Van Hollen registered at the polls, since he also voted on November 5th, 2002, on the spot, according to records. Apparently Van Hollen likes the convenience of registering at the polls -- I wonder what sort of ID he had to produce when he registered in Waunakee on September 14th, 2004 -- also an election day! That's when he signed up as JOHN BYRON VANHOLLEN -- adding a middle name, and merging his two last names into one. How perfect is that?

I wonder if someone will put him on a list and challenge his right to vote at the polls?

JB Van Hollen, the Republican Attorney General who also coincidentally serves as the co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign, was on Wisconsin Public Radio today talking about his partisan lawsuit to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters in predominately Wisconsin's cities.

Over and over again Van Hollen referred those opposing his partisan lawsuit, such as the non-partisan League of Women Voters, the Governmental Accountability Board and its six retired judges, as well as disability and voter rights groups as his "opponents."

It looks like Republican Party efforts to prevent people from voting were dealt a serious blow with news that four of six of the member of the state’s Government Accountability Board failed when their names were process through a new voter identification test.

Why is this news? Because the Republican Party has been trying to get GAB to put in place additional barriers to Wisconsinites having their vote counted.

After weeks of silence, Guzmán is meeting criticism of his campaign by finally speaking to the press, and accusing one of his opponents, incumbent Democratic State Rep. Pedro Colón (Eighth Assembly District, Milwaukee), of being "anti-catholic" for his vote for the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill, signed into law by Gov. Doyle in March.

The Government Accountability Board is weighing in on a proposed rule change which, according to the non-partisan League of Women Voters, would disenfranchise voters and cause ending chaos at polling places across Wisconsin.

Wisconsin League Executive Director outlined the serious problems with the proposed rule being considered by GAB today. The rule places additional unnecessary burden on people who simply wish to cast their legal ballot and exercise their constitutional right to vote in Wisconsin. Among her critical points:

Update: Readers can contact the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (MJS) on this matter at: Letters to the Editor http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=766191

Milwaukee, Wisconsin—Donna Ganong is a 70-year-old widow running a corner tavern on Milwaukee's near-south side.

In early July, Mrs. Ganong tried to help a crying, hungry dog in an alley, and the Milwaukee police fined her $350 for her trouble.

Located at the corner of 1400 West Orchard Street and South 14th Street, Ganong’s Corner, has seen its share of life, though the neighborhood bar is not much of a blip on the Milwaukee radar screen.

Apparently the people don't matter all that much to the Milwaukee police either.

Two weeks ago, Jesse Helms began what will hopefully be a long and unimpeded period of not existing.

Elizabeth Dole, who succeeded Helms after his welcomed retirement, ascended to his seat after a long career of executive appointments and wrecking Bob Dole's first marriage.

Yesterday in the Senate, she tried to name an AIDS/HIV prevention bill after Helms. Helms would be the same hate-filled, racist who, when trying to block funding for the Ryan White AIDS bill, blamed victims of the disease for their  "deliberate, disgusting and revolting conduct"

Mrs. Dole has some bad, bad karma coming her way for this repulsive pandering. Nothing as pathetic as, say, having to watch her husband shill erection pills on television, but something like that.

CINCINNATI -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called for sweeping educational reforms today in a speech before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, an association which he said "means more to me than any other," despite his historic opposition to many of its policies.

McCain, who has received an F grade from the NAACP for his votes in each of the past four Congresses, acknowledged that he might not win the votes of the group's members in his race against Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill. McCain skipped the NAACP's convention last year -- he apologized for that today, saying he "was a bit distracted at the time dealing with what reporters uncharitably described as an implosion in my campaign" -- and in 1996 he advised then-GOP Sen. Robert J. Dole of Kansas not to attend it on the grounds that he would face a hostile audience. Today, accompanied by Maryland's former lieutenant governor Michael Steele, who is African American, McCain said he would seek the organization's support for his presidential bid.

Update: Daniel Bice has the audio of a Tom Reynolds phone call to state Rep. Christine Sinicki (D-Milwaukee, 20), “a veteran Milwaukee Democrat, (who) has a direct and personal interest in what Reynolds was doing, so she signed up - using a fake name - with Clean Sweep Wisconsin.”

This is the link is to the audio of the Reynolds phone call, and the URL is: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=770314

Transcription of the Reynolds call, in part, follows:

“… In Milwaukee here, we are working on a full slate of 12 candidates; eight on the north side, and four on the south side. And we are at eight or nine candidates right now. ... We have a candidate against Sinicki and a candidate against Staskunas. And we're still working on Zepnick and Colón….”

An anti-Catholic-Reynolds ally in Colón’s district? That likely will not play especially well there; though it’s a fair bet that Reynolds’ brand of politics and hate will not play well anywhere in the Milwaukee area. See the Milwaukee-area Democratic State Reps chart at the end of this post.
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What does a rightwing candidate recruited by a notorious anti-Catholic, Tom Reynolds, say if his/her name is on the ballot challenging Milwaukee-area Assembly Democrats in the September primary?

As little as possible.

And he/she hides from the public, staying in the shadows, an odd posture for candidates for public office, though consistent with the past odd behavior of former state senator Reynolds who reportedly had asked of prospective staff whether they were virgins.

The first candidates for Tom Reynolds' (R-Outer Reaches) Clean Sweep Wisconsin's project to run some 12 candidates against Milwuakee-area Democratic incumbents in the Democratic primary are now public.

The Reynolds' folks are: Phil Landowski (running against state Rep. Christine Sinicki (D-Milwaukee)) and Josh Hoisington (running against Tony Staskunas (D-West Allis), West Allis being Reynolds' home turf), reports Daniel Bice in yesterday's Journal-Sentinel.

U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms (R-What's Wrong With You Sick, Frothing Morons?) is finally dead. Happy birthday, U.S. of A.

Helms was a hate-slathered cretin, whose campaigns and governing showed American democracy at its worst. "White people, wake up before it is too late. Do you want Negroes working beside you, your wife and your daughters, in your mills and factories? Frank Graham favors mingling of the races," thundered just one of many Helms' attacks over the decades.

Conservatives are saddened by the news. "Ol' 27 percent" George W. Bush was soiling his White House crying towel, calling Helms "kind," "decent" and "humble."

And while he had some admirers in Wisconsin, most notably Supreme Court Justice-Elect Mike Gableman's ad-writing team, Helms was a racist thug and the world mourns, simply because it took him so, so long to exit the world he befouled for over eight decades.

For my dough, I'm hoping Wonkette Editor Ken Layne has penned in "Jesse Helms: American Garbage," what will be a waterfall of appropriate tributes.

Feel free to add even better ones to the comment portion of this blog. Helms deserves it for all he did to people of color, gays, the poor and this nation's sense of decency. 

The following text (in two e-mails) below was received from timkisting@aol.com, commenting on a brief analysis (SC Decision Striking Down Gun Control Is Fine with This Progressive) on the Supreme Court decision, District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290), that was picked up in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Sunday.

Well, let's hope this guy, timkisting@aol.com, doesn't own a gun.

The ad hominem attempt (below among many) to insult by raising the possibility of my being a "fag" merits a reply: Being gay is okay. As is working for the people residing in "Milwaukee's ghetto population".

Having looked all over my house for my missing driver’s license, it was clear that I needed to make a trip out to the DMV in Madison to get a replacement—a perfect chance to spell out what goes into a trip to the DMV, like thousands of Wisconsinites will have to do if state leggies and “voter ID” advocates Jeff “Poll Tax” Stone and Joe “Can’t Prove a Voter Fraud Case” Liebham had their way and passed a ridiculous voter ID law in Wisconsin.

The DMV office in Madison I went to is open from 8:30-4:15 MWF, and from 10-5:45 Tuesday and Thursday – not exactly convenient for a 9-6 working man. But hey if I want to vote, I need an ID, right Jeff? So I bit the bullet and took off from work at 3 pm on Thursday. So I’m already being charged for my right to vote – losing at least 3 hours of work time, and using 3 hours of my vacation time. So far, total estimated cost: $50.

On “normal” days, I walk to work. But today, since I need my car to get to the far-east side DMV, I had to pay to park - $6 more.