One Wisconsin Now

How comical is that the Wisconsin representative to the so-called “Palin Truth Squad” is Margaret Farrow?

The “Squad” presumably will criticize anyone who brings up Sarah Palin’s ethics scandal, truth bending, right-wing extremism and revisionist history. Or those who point out that Palin refuses to talk to reporters and won’t answer questions.

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.

Tomorrow U.S. Senator John McCain will be coming to Wisconsin and holding a women-only town hall. John McCain’s record of rubber stamping Bush policies in the U.S. Senate has been a disaster for not only women but for entire country.

John McCain actually skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would have restored workers ability to pursue pay discrimination claims in court. When a 14-year-old girl asked him about this at a town hall meeting, he told her that protections for equal pay wouldn’t do “anything to help the rights of women.” On the same topic McCain has commented that women simply need “education and training” instead of equal pay protection.

John McCain also is a full supporter of unfair trade deals that has led to the loss of countless jobs. Obviously many of those jobs were held by women, they would probably not judge kindly McCain’s record on the economy.

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.

Upon sitting out the vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) remarked that what women really need is “education and training.” Puzzling, because in 2007 Sen. McCain avoided the vote on the America COMPETES Act and voted against the College Cost Reduction Act. The America COMPETES Act promotes education in engineering, technology, and science—fields not typically pursued by women—and was supported by the American Association of University Women (AAUW). The AAUW also supported the College Cost Reduction Act—which aimed to increase Pell grant awards to restore the grant’s purchasing power and reduce subsidized student loan interest—given the fact that “because women are more likely to borrow money for college than men are and will earn less on average after graduation, female graduates are more likely to struggle with their loan debt.”

It is no secret that anti-choice groups have long used radical tactics to oppose abortion. This year, we saw young children outfitted in "I survived the American Holocaust" tee shirts in legislative hearings in the Wisconsin capitol. Last July, we watched in horror as a group of "pro-lifers" staged, in front of a Milwaukee abortion clinic, a celebratory reenactment of the murder of a Florida abortion provider and his escort by Paul Hill.  In short, their campaigns and demonstrations have grown increasingly extreme and more inappropriate as of late.

Continuing in this vein, Pro-Life Wisconsin is holding prayer vigils across the state on June 7, the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Griswold v. Connecticut. For non-history buffs, this 1965 Supreme Court decision struck down a Connecticut law outlawing contraception for married couples. Since the legalization of contraception, birth control has become commonplace in our society. In fact, 98% of American women use contraception at some point during their lifetime. Despite birth control’s popularity and safety, Pro-Life Wisconsin is joining other anti-choice groups on June 7 to protest outside family planning clinics that prescribe and dispense contraception to low income women. The name of their oh-so-subtle campaign? "Protest the Pill Day '08: The Pill Kills Babies".

Yes, you read that correctly. No longer satisfied with attacking a woman’s right to choose abortion, Pro-Life Wisconsin is now attacking the millions of women who use contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

The Wisconsin Right to Life Political Action Committee announced its endorsement of John McCain today.

Here's what Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin has to say about John McCain's record:

For the past 25 years, John McCain has consistently voted against women's health. From opposing funding for family planning programs to voting against requiring insurance coverage of birth control, McCain has taken extreme positions. He has voted against women's health and has not supported legislation that would help reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion. This has earned him a 0% rating from Planned Parenthood.

Read the truth about McCain's record from PPAWI.org.

Hey Scott,

Thanks so much for explaining to me what’s wrong with Milwaukee County in your latest mailer. You know the one I’m talking about, with the little blond girl on the front, in a police uniform with a badge that reads “City of Toyland.” Now, it all makes sense to me—you’re not playing around—the women must go.

This mailer is really a trifecta perfecta. In this one picture, you clearly explained that:

• Your female opponent is weak

• Any female candidate running for office is weak

• Women are unfit to work in law enforcement

Yep, it’s a scary world when little girls are in charge of policing the big city. I mean, according to you, girls like Lena Taylor would do silly stuff, like keep our teens out of prison and work to keep guns off the streets. But man, do I feel more confident when I open it and see the real law enforcement—men, predominantly white, of course. Whew! Doesn’t everyone know that males are best equipped for serious jobs, like law enforcement and County Executive? Maybe all females are too “soft on crime” to effectively enforce the law and keep our streets safe.

Our wacky neighbors at Pro(foundly deluded)-life Wisconsin are either really, really against both birth control and women, or they are really, really spoiling for a new fundraising campaign.

Most likely it's both columns A & B.

In an article about the celebration at the signing of the Compassion Care for Rape Victims, the Cap Times offered the following:

Pro-Life Wisconsin, which opposes abortion and says all forms of hormonal contraceptives cause abortions, said today it would likely challenge the law in court.

"We are not lying down," lobbyist Matt Sande said. "The law is unconstitutional. It ought to be challenged and we're working on it."

It's hard to take them seriously when you actually read their statements out loud. What's P-LW's next argument, that menstruation kills babies?

The Planned Parenthood Action Fund launched a multimedia campaign in Wisconsin today to educate voters about Sen. John McCain’s troubling anti-health care voting record. The ad campaign, which features online spots on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Web site highlights how this supposedly independent thinker is in lockstep with the most extreme fringes of the Republican Party. Sen. McCain has voted consistently against women’s health, and he supports overturning the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Roe v. Wade.

As Sen. McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee for president, his record and rhetoric on abortion and birth control access will come under further scrutiny. As NPR reported last week, many Republican voters incorrectly believe that Sen. McCain supports abortion rights. However, Sen. McCain’s voting record and statements put him out of the mainstream of voters.

“Sen. McCain believes government has the right to interfere with the most personal and often the most difficult decisions affecting a woman's health,” said Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “Most Americans believe just the opposite and, as more voters realize Sen. McCain’s ardent anti-choice position, this will be an issue for him in the general election.”

According to a recent Quinnipiac Poll (August 2007), 62 percent of voters support Roe v. Wade, with 64 percent of independent voters supporting Roe v. Wade. In the same poll, by a 20-point margin, voters believe abortion should be legal (57–37); among independent voters, that margin increases to 26 points (59–33). In Wisconsin, 75 percent do not want abortion to be illegal, according to a May 2007 Mellman poll of 600 likely voters.

Wisconsin also has a Criminal Abortion Statute (Wis. Stat. § 940.04) remaining on its books. If Roe v. Wade were to be overturned under a McCain Administration, Wisconsin physicians who perform abortions could be charged with a felony, fined up to $50,000 and imprisoned for up to 15 years. Women who seek abortions could be charged with a felony, fined up to $10,000 and imprisoned for up to 3 ½ years.

“The more voters learn about Sen. McCain’s anti-women’s health record, the more resistance he will face from the majority of voters, especially among moderate Republicans and independents here in Wisconsin who support Roe v. Wade and affordable access to family planning,” said Lisa Boyce, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin (PPAWI).

Sen. McCain has received a zero percent rating from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the lowest rating in the U.S. Senate. He opposed commonsense measures to avoid unintended pregnancies and thus reduce the need for abortion. He opposed ending the “global gag rule,” an anti-family planning restriction that reduces access to contraception and abortion services and information in poorer countries.