One Wisconsin Now

This document is to provide additional information on the New York tax assssors case that has some similarities to what happened here in Wisconsin. This document contains editted excerpts from newspaper articles. I chopped out sections that I felt weren't necessary for you to read, because the information doesn't apply to the matter at hand and/or it was redundant to earlier excerpts. I've included references back to the original articles, in case you want to satisfy yourself whether I've editted them unfairly. .

Document URL: Link Copyright New York Times Company Jan 8, 2003 For the last year, New York's powerful real estate industry has been crackling with tension as federal investigators have pressed for the names of any property owners who may have knowingly benefited from a long-running bribery scandal. That possibility all but evaporated late Monday afternoon. Albert Schussler, 85, the man indicted last February as the ringleader of the bribery scheme -- and the one person who investigators thought could tell exactly how the scheme worked and who benefited -- died after a severe stroke. In the scandal, city assessors lowered the tax bills for many of Mr. Schussler's clients, the owners of some of New York's most valuable skyscrapers, hotels and apartment houses. So far, 15 assessors have pleaded guilty to bribery charges related to the allegations against Mr. Schussler. For investigators at the United States attorney's office and the city's Department of Investigation, who have tried to break a case against corruption in the city's Finance Department for at least 14 years, Mr. Schussler's death was frustrating.   Read More »

Apparently Mark Green has trouble reading and understanding. This is one child that clearly got left behind. The contribution law is pretty clear on out-of-state contributions from non-registered groups. Mark took the money. In what may be the lamest defense since Willie Sutton robbed banks (I did it cuz thats where they keep the money), Green claims he can't give it back cuz he spent it. Oh my! There WAS a wizard behind that curtain! Can you imagine defending THAT in court? "Sorry your honor, I did rob that gas station but I already spent the loot so I can't go to jail." He then has the cojones to say (after this rather large ethical blunder) that the Ethics board is biased. Umm...duh. Biased against breaking the law Mark. Biased against ethical violations Mark. What a sorry, sorry tale.

The Bush Administration and some Republicans in Congress have started using the new buzzword "fascism."  This is a loaded term that has been both overused and misused. Since we will be hearing this term a lot as Bush and Company tour the country, we should try to understand what the word "fascism" really means and if the Administration is using it correctly. Below are listed several definitions and descriptions of the word.  Feel free to post any others in the comments section.   Read More »

Yesterday the state Elections Board ruled that Mark Green must give back money that he received from PACs that were not registered in Wisconsin.  Green's campaign has given the same tired excuse that they have spent the money, so they cannot return it.  This was the same excuse given when Green was asked to rid himself of the dirty money that he received from indicted Congressman Tom DeLay.    Read More »

Forum was great!

Earlier this week another right wing organization gave Wisconsin schools a bad grade.  The Fordham Foundation said that our education standards are lacking and are not specific enough.  The interesting and often unknown point to be made here is that these standards were developed at least in part by another right wing organization at the behest of then Republican Governor Tommy Thompson.  Rather than having local educators develop the standards, Thompson decided to have the right wing Hudson Institute develop the model academic standards.  Also helping form the standards for Wisconsin was conservative commentator William Bennett, while in residency at Hudson. 

How ironic that an out of state right wing organization is now criticizing standards that were influenced by another out of state right wing organization.

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Well, Dubya is at it again. He is attempting to slide through the Senate a number of district Court judges who have an ultra-conservative bent. Somehow, his twisted logic makes him believe that no one will notice if he does this when the Senate is about to adjourn. Wrong answer. Filibuster these dingbats until their little auasi-judiciao minds tire of saying "yes George." Outrageous - as usual. Of course, while dubya is out playing games and still acting as if Saddam was a prime terrorist, more young americans die needlessly. Vietnam redux?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a story on the release of a report by the Milwaukee 7, a seven-county organization created to help make the metropolitan region more competitive economically.  The most important thing to Milwaukee's manufacturing sector, according to the report, is ensuring an ample supply of skilled workers.  The second most important factor in improving Milwaukee's business climate is lowering health care costs.     Read More »

The Racine Journal Times is asking "Did Mac's bumpers break the law?"  It is referring to recent news that Racine County Executive William McReynolds, while County Sheriff, was an owner of a company that sold products to the Sheriff's Department.  McReynolds has tried to say that he had nothing to do with his department buying products from his private company.  Apparently we are to believe that it just happened by accident.  Sure, and I have a bridge to sell you.    Read More »

Tom Reynolds and the zealots that surround him must be very fearful of their Democratic opponent James Sullivan.  First they falsely accused him of double voting in 1996, an assertion that was debunked back in 2000.  Then Tom ran from a debate with Sullivan last week. Now even though one of their false accusations has totally been discredited, Reynolds and Company have come up with a new one.  They now claim that Sullivan double voted in 1998.  Apparently if you cannot beat an opponent on the issues, you are forced to resort to dirty tricks and repeated deception.    Read More »

Who do you know wants to buy a car?" There is hardly anyone in southeastern Wisconsin who hasn't heard that question.(excerpted from the evsauto webpage)- That's because auto dealer Ernie von Schledorn asked it in his tv commercials and made it famous.Who do you know wants to believe the numbers discussed below? You can also ask the question as "Who do you know wants to buy a house?" because people are purchasing houses in some communities, at prices based in part on these calculations.*Warning- to fully understand this blog you need some understanding of a branch of mathematics known as multiple regresion analysis, please consult your local math expert.

Does a newspaper article contain evidence of violating the proper procedures for multiple regression analysis mathematics? According to multiple regression mathematical procedure was a review of generated values due to take place well before tax assessments were mailed out? Was that review supposed to lead to an inspection/review in the field of suspicious generated values, both high and low? If this procedure was violated does it rise to the level of a crime? Does it mean the output is flawed? Is it so flawed as to be unreliable? Were the property values properly assessed and taxed? What does it mean if they weren't? Is the one million overassessment just the visible tip of a much larger "iceberg" of problems? "Who do you know wants to buy a house, based on these numbers?" Other communities that Everson worked on include Bayside, Cudahy, Kenosha, Marshfield, Stevens Point, and West Bend. Are their records as bad?

Hypothetically- If one doctor offered you a facelift for $120k, and the next lowest bidder was $100k more at $220k, would you be nervous about buying that one at $120k? Would it make you want to check references? The images are 5 pages from the state issued assessors manual to help you decide if you think the proper procedure was followed.
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A Wisconsin group has recently filed as a 527 with the IRS.  According to the Federal Elections Commission, groups that file under section 527 of the tax code are operated primarily for the purpose of influencing the selection, nomination or appointment of any individual to any public office. 

 This particular group is the Wisconsin Concealed Carry Movement.  You know, these are the folks that want to pretend that we are back in the old west.  Seeing everybody packing heat seems to be their passion. 

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Although Paul Bucher has been the District Attorney in Waukesha County for some time now, it seems that he has been sleeping on the job.  Apparently he does not know who sentences a defendant after they are convicted of a crime.  Confused Bucher must be getting pretty desperate because he apparently thinks that Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk doubles as a judge.    Read More »

We keep hearing George W. Bush claim that the economy is doing so well and some of us keep asking, for whom?  Fresh evidence is showing that it certainly is not such a great economy for the Average Joe. 

New reports are showing that high energy prices mixed with sagging home values are pinching the main driver of our economy, the middle class.  Retailers and economists are saying that many Americans are waiting to buy big ticket items and cutting back on extras.  They are putting off home improvements, dining out less and otherwise tightening their budgets.

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The Racine Journal Times is reporting that Racine County Executive William McReynolds may have been up to some funny business when he was county sheriff.  Citing documents posted on an organization's website, the RJT states the following:

"While County Executive William McReynolds was sheriff, the Racine County Sheriff's Department bought at least $5,840 in products from a company McReynolds partly owned."

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In an effort to hide his extreme policies, Congressman Mark Green failed to fill out a survey by the ultra extreme Pro-Life Wisconsin.  The group said that they can only endorse candidates that have filled out such surveys.  At the time it seemed clear that although he is joined at the heart with them, he likely did not complete their survey for PR reasons.  An endorsement from them would rightly feed into the claim of him being way too extreme for Wisconsin.    Read More »

WISN Radio continues to air programs that have repeatedly made use of racial stereotypes and highly inappropriate language. The latest two examples were both from the nationally syndicated Rush Limbaugh radio program. 

On the August 23^rd broadcast of the show, Rush Limbaugh was commenting on a new season of the CBS reality TV program Survivor, in which contestants are reportedly divided into competing "tribes" by ethnicity.  In that context Limbaugh began to "handicap" which tribes would be most dominant using offensive ethnic language and stereotypes.

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J.B. Van Hollen filed charges against State Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager with the state Ethics Board regarding the disbursement of funds from a legal settlement.  Van Hollen and the right wing of the blogosphere got all bent out of shape because part of this settlement went to Wisconsin Citizen Action.  Even though WCA was party to the lawsuit and the court signed off on the disbursement to them, Van Hollen and Company disagree with the groups positions and wanted to challenge the disbursement.   After giving J.B. Van Hollen's case against Attorney General Lautenschlager a fair hearing, the entire non-partisan Ethics Board voted unanimously to dismiss Van Hollen's false charges.    Read More »

Of course I would want equality, civil rights, civil liberties, privcy, peace and social justice, security of my nation and my employment/earnings. I want a clean environment and I am willing to conserve to achieve it. I am also willing to pay to build and maintain a good infrastructure. I expect good, ethical government. I agree that a reform of our electoral system would be desirable. It worries me that good health care is becoming unafordable to many. Education is certainly high on my priority list.
There, I have paid the prefunctory lip service to the current litany of politically correct catch phrases that are employed (by all the body politic) to convince me that a vote for Sen. Herb or Town Chairwoman Patricia will provide solutions to settle these thorny ploblems altogether - right now - with little or no cost to me.
My question now is: How clean is clean? Equal to what? How just? How private? Who's ethics? How good? How soon? How much?
It's time to define our terms!   Read More »

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign revealed Tuesday that political action committees not registered in Wisconsin gave $467,844 to Congressman Mark Green.  WDC correctly states that Green should be barred from using this money in the governors race.  WDC executive director Mike McCabe said that "more than 90% of the PAC donations" that Green moved from the federal to state accounts were made by PACs that could not legally operate in Wisconsin.  The group found that 27 of the 165 PACs involved gave $5,000 or more to Green.  WDC wrote a letter to members of the state Elections Board about the apparent violation.    Read More »