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Sunday, February 11, 2018

Red State Groups Drive Deep Into Janesville City Hall ...Meh


Heres' an extremely alarming development to report that will sure not only be ignored by Janesville "community" pages, but supported in silence by their administrators.

Scheduled for a vote at the next Janesville city council meeting is a resolution to "update" the city's economic development "Comprehensive Plan," with language and new policy directives from none other than Gov. Scott Walker's local donor clubs, Forward Janesville, Rock County Alliance and the Rock County 5.0.

You might remember the roles those groups played in supporting Walker's attacks on Wisconsin's middle-class from the documentary, "As goes Janesville" and from articles posted at this blog. All three groups are ideologically tied to one another to form a large steaming quivering political octopus with tentacles wrapped around every office of local government.

One group is no more egregious than the other with the exception that Rock County 5.0 is the group of Scott Walker's "Divide and Conquer" fame. Its chair-person, Diane Hendricks, has donated in excess of $500,000 to Walker's efforts to turn Wisconsin red while the other groups have members deeply embedded in local, city and county offices promoting red state policies.

Forward Janesville for instance, lobbied state legislators heavily with an agenda that shifts millions away from local roads annually, cut state shared revenue for Wisconsin communities and schools, but promoted special tax cuts and credits for themselves while the group also endorses every local tax hike referendum imaginable. The Janesville city council unanimously endorsed!

Forward Janesville, boasting the largest membership of the axis, had their legislative agenda first endorsed by the Janesville city council just prior to Walker winning election in 2010. So these groups enjoy nearly unanimous support among local elected officials. It's a sad commentary for sure. But many residents also in Janesville support these groups. Obviously, I don't.

As expected, this latest story on red state penetration deep into Janesville government is reframed by the groups media enabler, the Janesville Gazette, as an innocent "update" to the city's 19-year-old economic development strategy. Never mind the fact the city's Comprehensive plan was renewed and updated in 2009. Who would care to know that, right? Anyways, you can read the Gazette's faux news report here, but just so you know, they have a pay wall.

Of course Janesville's City Manager, Mark Freitag, recommends the council approve the new policy directives since he was hand-picked for the job by a Forward Janesville heavy committee. The Janesville city council is expected to fully comply and approve the resolution. That's how it works here.

OK. So here's the skinny:
Until the people of Janesville empower themselves with a mayor, democratic district representation and completely revamp policies in city hall, it doesn't matter who we elect to the city council under the current system. Although Janesville has several individuals right now on the council with major conflicts of interest, I don't blame any of them personally for their obvious deceptions and subservience to these nefarious groups. They really have no choice. None of them do.

Afterall, Janesville voters installed them into office and once approved by the council, the "update" will revise the framework for more red state control by these self-important unelected groups. IT WILL BE "City Council policy."

That means any future council members falling out of line or in disagreement with their agenda will be reminded of city policy and thoroughly reprimanded by peers and the city's propaganda media network. Again, that's just the way it works here.

Besides, we're a red state now.

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