Anonymous Column - "Pass It On" #6

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"Pass it on" is the new title replacing "Community Quotes" for my version of the Janesville Gazette's Sound Off anonymous column.

On Wage Growth In Janesville/Beloit Area
✦ Just to give you an idea on how things are in Wisconsin, wages grew 4.6% in the Janesville/Beloit metro area and that is listed as one of the top growth rates in the state, while state spending grew 15% during roughly the same period under Gov. Scott Walker. So Walker's state spending grew three times greater than that of wage growth in the state's fastest wage growth community! That can't be good news. Keep in mind that the wage growth statistic is heavily weighted in skyrocketing executive and CEO salaries. Yet even with the area's positive wage growth, Janesville/Beloit wages remain at about 10% below the national average.

✦ Locals are boasting about higher wage growth in the Janesville/Beloit metro area in a state that has seen the largest Middle-Class decline of any state and with no end in sight. Ummm ...OK. I guess any little bit of news about higher wages is great news anywhere in Wisconsin, a state whose governor recently restricted prevailing wage laws and doesn't see a purpose for the minimum wage. Savor the moment.

✦ Keep in mind this wage growth comes after the area hitting rock bottom soon after GM pulled out. Because of those circumstances, the wage growth rate statistically is not a good indicator to rely on for the area's economy, unless you're in the political propaganda business.

On Corporate Welfare For Milwaukee Bucks Arena
✦ I received a strange phone call the other day. The guy on the phone said there is $419 million, maybe more, waiting for me in my name and all I have to do is wire him 250 million dollars right now to expedite the money. He warned, "if you don't act right now, you could lose $419 million." I said, "Hey wait minute, is this a scam?" He said "no, this is Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin."

On Democrats Getting Rolled In The Bucks Arena Deal:
✦ What an embarrassment for Wisconsin Democrats. No strategy, vision or caucus unity to win the hearts and minds of Wisconsin voters. They missed a golden opportunity to push back against republicans legislative agenda when they gave them the Bucks deal for nothing.

✦ Dems should have asked for full repeal of two non-budget items passed during the 2015 budget sessions and demanded one major budget item serving the Wisconsin Idea in exchange for their votes in the Bucks deal. Call it log-rolling. Call it anything you want, but the legislature is for deliberations and that was the time to deliberate. If the GOP refused the amendments as expected, the majority-GOP legislature would have owned the Bucks leaving the state. But Dems are scared, detached and lack messaging.

✦ Very telling that no legislator spoke up against the corrupt Bucks deal despite some Dems voting against it. Voters want fighters in the legislature, not silent sheep.

✦ Wisconsin Democrats 5-point strategy for fighting the GOP/ALEC red state agenda:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.


✦ Whoever advised Wisconsin Democratic party and caucus leaders on the Bucks arena, the Republican party thanks you.

✦ Some folks think Wisconsin Republicans have overreached and will begin losing some state seats in the coming elections. Nonsense! If Democrats couldn't repeal some of the GOP's overreaching in exchange for the Bucks deal, how and why should voters?

✦ When the GOP pulled the Bucks arena out of the state budget, they gave state democrats a rare opportunity to show fight and principled leadership on what they stand for. They deflated ...miserably. Opportunities like that for a minority party in a gerrymandered state come along only once every 4-5 years. The column at the Lacrosse Tribune nailed it, democrats will be in the minority for a long time.

On Walker's Failed Budget Reforms
✦ GOP policies over the last four years in Wisconsin placed greater burdens on the middle class (see this) and working poor, while cutting tax obligations for the wealthy and political elite. When tax policy is your growth policy under those "tough love" conditions, and if eight percent revenue growth over the previous year is true, that means much more is being taken out of the pockets of those that have proportionately the least. In the long run, that will chill demand and is a recipe for greater wealth disparity and future economic decline.

✦ With an 8% increase in revenue, why did we hear "everything is on the table" from republicans to balance the state budget? If only local governments and school districts had the luxury of extra revenue like the central state statists apparently have, local budgets would be a breeze.

✦ Poor Art Laffer, his name betrays him.

On Uptick in City Spending For Propaganda
✦ Several years ago, the Janesville city council cut spending on the city's newsletter resulting in fewer publications. That was done to save money. But now I see the city found some new money and is paying the Janesville Gazette to publish city hall ads on their Web Site and in the newspaper. In addition, the crony-fund Janesville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau is posting ads in the local Janesville Gazette, when those ads should be in Rockford, Chicago, Madison, Milwaukee and points beyond.

✦ I've noticed a sharp uptick of city taxpayer-paid ads in the Gazette lately. Those ads don't come cheap. Something must be in the works between the Gazette and the city. Watch for even more favorable pro-city government editorials and possibly a campaign by the Gazette to help the city ram through higher taxes and fees since your wages are on the increase. You watch my back, I'll wash yours. They'll win journalism awards for it.

✦ Shocker: The Gazette recently gave the city a "thumbs up" for rising tourism ad spending. LOL

On Downtown Janesville ARISE:
✦ See if I have this straight. The local business donor wing of Paul Ryan' and Scott Walker's political booster club want a progressive community for their own back yard, warn of a death spiral if we don't raise taxes and developed a downtown plan that is absolutely worthless unless it is heavily dependent on government for the long-term, and they call their proposal, 'ARISE.'

✦ We can always count on small government conservatives to call their government dependent community growth plan 'ARISE.' Government IS the great provider.

✦ Remember kids, instead of the local private sector growing their business expansions on the profit incentive of well-managed supply-and-demand economics, the only supply they gravitate first to are our tax dollars to provide the incentive to grow their business expansions. They're the circular people.

On County Sheriff Seeks Extra Money For Beloit Patrols:
✦ Wait a minute, Janesville gets five times less state aid per capita than the $457 collected by Beloit, yet Beloit needs $225K extra than budgeted to pay for police patrols. What is Beloit spending their windfall of state aid on? Hendricks Developments?

✦ Hell no. Wisconsin is a red state now. That means everyone buys a gun and protects themselves.

✦ By the way, where is Diane Hendricks on this? If she can throw $5M to Scott Walker for robbing the middle-class, she should be able to give some chump change back to the community.

✦ Take the $225,000 out of former city manager Arft's pension annuity since he's over-collecting from a system he complained that had higher wage and benefit standards for too many decades.

✦ The City of Beloit should ask Scott Walker for the extra money to pay the county. Walker’s budget spends 15% more than drunken-sailor Doyle’s last budget. The state can easily afford it.

Jackson St. Bridge Opening Ceremony:
✦ Finally a nice gesture from someone in the city administration to have Bill McCoy cut the ribbon for the new Jackson Street bridge. For years, McCoy and his supporters have been treated like trash by city hall apparatchiks and the media lynch mob. So it took someone with at least a partial brain to get past the built-in hate to understand that his efforts deserve recognition. A rare moment for Janesville authorities.

ADDITIONAL:

RNR - Pass It On #5 "Community Quotes"

Anonymous Column - "Pass It On" Monterey Dam Edition

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"Pass it on" is a Rock Netroots "anonymous" feature of unique comments, thoughts and observations on current local topics and politics.

UPDATED: March 26, 2017 (4:35 PM)

On The Monterey Dam:

✦ I haven't heard all that much about the Monterey Dam from family or neighbors. In fact, I thought the city made the decision on it already. It's a shame that we have to buy the biased Gazette to get a story on it.

✦ Been hearing some Janesville folks make the claim that removing the Monterey Dam from the Rock River is "what's best for the city." Who exactly knows what is "best" for the city and which priority is everyone willing to accept to make that distinction? If saving money is always the top priority, good luck with that. May as well dismantle everything our taxes pay for.

✦ Repair the dam!

✦ Tear out the dam!

✦ Save the dam. Tear out the city!

✦ Wow. The Janesville kleptocracy is throwing everything they have at those hoping to save the dam. They even enlisted kids from civil "engineering" class at Craig HS to opine their opposition to the dam. Why doesn't the city and its media enabler Gazette do that for all the important decisions? Let the kids from all of Janesville schools vote on it. It'll be the closest thing to democracy Janesville has seen in 90 years.

✦ Unfortunately, the kids from Craig HS went the red state tea party route on the dam. They oppose saving the dam for sentimental reasons. Primarily the sentiment they expect to have in the future by parting with money to pay for inevitable maintenance again down the road. Was it civil engineering class or rightwing engineering? Sad!

✦ Interesting how important it is to so many in Janesville that the river be allowed to return "back to nature." They certainly made the case for tearing out the Centerway Dam. Indianford too!

✦ Tear out the city! Nature!

✦ City officials said the river will drop only five inches through downtown without the dam. Yet, I haven't heard if that determination was made with or without the new height rule for Indianford. They need to come clean and clarify that projection.

✦ What's the consensus when they officially raise the Indianford locks five inches higher for the first time ever and then remove Monterey? Janesville, Home of the Mud Pull Nationals?

✦ It's great that a Janesville resident is willing to donate $200,000 to save Monterey Dam should the city decide to keep it. A very generous offer indeed. But he could have structured it as an incentive to challenge the ARISE rubes to open the downtown TIF account for matching funds up to $200K. That would have made it $400K. It's not called a slush fund for nothing. But could'a, should'a, would'a. Too late now.

✦ One council member made a great case to buy a new dam. She said if the city makes the repairs, it would only be fixing the most deteriorated portion of the dam and compared it to making repairs on an old car, delaying the vehicle's inevitable demise and adding new expenses in the process.

✦ Has anyone thought that the Monterey and Centerway dams have both a functional and symbiotic relationship with Indianford? The downstream dams provide a step up to keep access open and water levels stable near major drop-offs in the river's floor during normal/low water conditions. Together, the dams work like a water ladder.

✦ A city able to afford shorting itself by giving away a million dollars a year in downtown property tax revenue for the next 27 years should easily afford to fix what some call a large brick in the river. No?

✦ Removing dams throughout the watershed improves public safety in downstream communities, providing benefits to residents and public infrastructure. The return of migratory fish is an indicator of the environmental benefits of dam removal.

Looking at you, Indianford.

✦ The decision to leave it or remove it is financially driven. The DNR said fix it or remove it. All the pseudo river experts make me laugh. If you really do want what you define as a healthy free-flowing river why is no one discussing removing both dams in Janesville? Does the Sustainable Janesville Committee and Craig HS only want the south side of Janesville to have a healthy river?

Anonymous Column - "Pass It On" #14

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On Paul Ryan's CNN Fake Town Hall:
✦ Ryan wants to censor the internet. When asked about the rise in hateful rhetoric and white supremacy, he blamed the internet and said everyone should deny them the ability to post their views even it means new laws to improve it. Apparently, Ryan is blaming the gun.

✦ Paul Ryan on war in Afghanistan: "No timelines. Spend until we win."

On war on poverty: "This has gone on too long. Can't sustain this spending."

✦ CNN doesn't help itself with the public's perception of fake news by hosting a scripted interview with a self-promoting high-speed charlatan like Paul Ryan.

On Foxconn:
✦ Wisconsin taxpayers are being forced to GIVE $3 BILLION to one company, Foxconn, a $136 billion corporation. Make Taiwan Great Again!

✦ So you think Foxconn chose Wisconsin for its good policy, economy, environment and collaboration? Oh please.

✦ For all the talk from the party of personal responsibility, will Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan deliver federal dollars for the Foxconn debacle? Since they claimed credit for bringing Foxconn into Wisconsin, they should take some responsibility by paying for it.

✦ The federal government expects to gain the most in income taxes collected from Foxconn workers in Wisconsin, so why doesn't Speaker Ryan write a $3B grant or earmark for the project ...since he said it was such a "game-changer" for the state. Put some "skin in the game."

✦ For real - Paul Ryan said he worked directly with Trump to get his Foxconn plant in WI. Make no mistake, IT IS an unfunded big government mandate on the state of Wisconsin.

✦ The "incentive" package offered to Foxconn by Gov. Walker and state republicans reminds me of the typical Janesville trickle-down publicly funded economic development "incentive" package - but on steroids.

✦Gee, Wasn't it Barack Obama they told everyone to be afraid of because he will transform America into a government-run economy?

✦ I would not doubt if members of the Rock County 5.0, Rock County bureaucrats and Janesville's corporate welfare director played a large role helping Walker write the deal for Foxconn. Their motto is something like this: If residents don't accept increased tax obligations, the economy could death spiral. If anything, Foxconn is a major new draw (and unnecessary) on Wisconsin's public funds. It's fiscal conservatism at its finest.

✦ Healthcare marketplace for Wisconsin residents? Not a chance in Hell. Gov't-run marketplace for Foxconn robots? Yep! Funny how that works.

✦ Democrats at the state level shouldn't be surprised at Foxconn's absence during the hearings. If you follow economic development in Janesville, you know that most recipients of local public funds and lucrative TIF contracts, often transferring millions to "connected" individuals, rarely show up at the public hearings. We're used to it here in Janesville.

✦ Anyone else notice that Foxconn CEO or company officials are not flying around Wisconsin to lobby communities for the $3B they demand for their company? They don't have to when they have the taxpayer paid governor of the state as their chief lobbyist.

✦ That reminds me again why wealthy developers and other well-connected individuals in Janesville rarely show at city hall for their public hearings. They don't have to when they have taxpayer paid city bureaucrats as their chief lobbyists. It's all part of the swamp system. Only the scale is smaller locally.

✦ Democrats and other opponents make a mistake when they complain that Foxconn has a history of not following through, yet warn of long-term environmental damage, fewer jobs due to automation and escalating state debt, if they do.

✦ Walker boasts Foxconn will spend $10 billion in Wisconsin. I doubt they'll spend even 1/3 of that and what they do spend - how much of it will go directly into Wisconsin pockets? Not much when you consider Foxconn has its own "not-Wisconsin" global supply chain, construction, maintenance and workforce departments.

✦ Foxconn will do to Wisconsin manufacturing what Wal-Mart has done to mom and pop retail businesses in small town U.S.A.

✦ Funny how Walker brags about Foxconn supplying 13,000 $54K annual jobs when only $30K qualifies for taxpayers money. If it's not in writing, it's meaningless political hype. Oh, and it's not in writing.

✦ It was expected that state representatives of the area Foxconn plans to build in would vote for it. Peter Barca was right to say politics is local. In Janesville, no political candidate or incumbent ever objects to the local trickle-down publicly funded corporate welfare or calls it what it is. In fact, they support it in Janesville.

✦ When Walker said the deal was not re-negotiable, he explained why proposing amendments are an exercise in futility and the hearings are little more than theatrical skits to pacify the public.

✦Weird. Republicans said Democrats are playing divisive party politics by objecting to Foxconn, yet republicans rejected every one of Democrats' 22 amendments. The amendments were excellent by the way.

On second Milton School District referendum:
✦ So they haven’t learned their lesson? People do not want a new fieldhouse and new high school. They’re just playing games, smoke and mirrors. We will come back out and vote it down again, and they will just be wasting our taxpayer money.

✦ Rumor has it that the first Milton School Referendum was deliberately made unreasonably high to guarantee its failure. That in turn set the stage for wider acceptance of a referendum anything smaller.

Anonymous Column - "Pass It On" #7

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On State Supreme Court Candidate Rebecca Bradley:
✦ Any outrage from the right-wing smear machine in Janesville about Supreme Court candidate Rebecca Bradley dating a client she was representing in a child custody case when she was still legally married? Doesn't that make her unfit for office? Remember what they did to Rep. Mike Sheridan when he was dating a lobbyist? Or do they go wild-ass only when it’s a democrat?

On Incentives and Government:
✦ Interesting. Scott Walker supporters and other corporatist pawns think government capital and tax credits to employers create jobs because regardless of demand, they are certain it provides businesses with the "incentive" to hire extra workers to maintain an overcapacity for the demand they don't have.

On Paul Ryan Becoming House Speaker:
✦ I haven’t seen the establishment pull that hard for an empty suit since Scott Walker. And by establishment, I mean the Republican and Democratic wings of the establishment party.

✦ I saw the billboard on Center Ave. in Janesville a while back asking Paul Ryan to support the same family leave benefits he receives as a public official for everyone else. I'd like to see what Scott Walker thinks about public officials (the haves) receiving more generous benefits than the taxpayers, the have nots. It would make for good politics.

On End Times:
✦ Paul Ryan is Speaker of the House, Donald Trump is the GOP's front-runner for president and the Janesville Gazette wins journalism awards.

On Walker’s Presidential Campaign Decline:
✦ Insiders said Walker “was on three sides of every two sided issue.” LOL. That’s Koch's side, Adelson's side and Hendricks side. The two sided issue is more for them and less for everybody else.

On SHINE:
✦ I read somewhere how great it is for SHINE to depend on government for more than half of its start-up costs, but workers expecting good wages are "pathological government-dependent caterwaulers." Now if that don't beat all.

✦ Wow. Three-quarters of the venture capital raised so far by private-for-profit SHINE comes from the taxpayers and in pops Paul Ryan to take the accolades. Doesn't that figure?

On Donald Trump:
✦ The public is angry and I do think Donald Trump is an object being thrown at the system to break it.

✦ Career politicians from both sides of the aisle need not wonder each day why more and more voters gravitate toward Donald Trump and drift away from the same old double-talking deception from standard establishment politicians.

✦ Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are polar opposites in principle and personality, but voters are gravitating to them for the same reasons. The biggest difference between the clownish lout Trump and the serious dedicated Sanders is Trump supporters think he will break the system while Sanders works to restore the trust.

✦ Both parties are responsible for the rise of Trump. They think their respective supporters (on the left and right) are passionate about hot button issues simply to beat up opponents. When it comes time to finally take action on those issues, the parties are like, "you really didn't think we would actually do something about those things, did you? Stop acting like 60's grade hippie idealists. It's time to unite now for the good." THAT is why so many believe they've been had by the establishment and are now willing to take a wrecking ball to the system.

On Our Red State:
✦ Lots of people saw Scott Walker on the national presidential stage for the first time and saw a very small man, and I don't mean in physical stature.

✦ People have recently asked me again, how in the world did such a small empty man defeat the unions so handily? My response: Never underestimate the power of government. But also the national right-wing GOP heavens and hell opened up for Walker in what was an operation equal to that of a presidential campaign. It easily overwhelmed a committed Wisconsin constituency.

✦ Why are some people upset Wisconsin roads rank among the worst in the nation? If you wanted blue state roads, you would have voted for Tom Barrett or Mary Burke and elected responsible legislators. Our road conditions are a sure sign Diane Hendricks won. We're in red state condition now.

On Referendums:
✦ Did you know that since the election of Scott Walker in 2010, Rock County/Janesville area Walker boosters, the Janesville Gazette, Forward Janesville and the Beloit Chamber, have supported every local tax hike and tax hike referendum proposed. Every one of them.

✦ Voters are getting wise to the referendum game. If taxing referendums come from a government body like a school district, city council, county or state - they are being rejected more and more.

✦ So your city or school district can't make the bills and they request tax hike referendums every other year and you blame it on state legislators for capping local spending to growth? It's a problem for sure since the state doesn't follow the same rule, but if you're silent on TIF District agreements handing all of the revenue from future new growth back to wealth-class special interests, you deserve to pay more and more. Scott Walker wins.

✦ We elect officials to carry out the fiduciary duty of raising revenue to meet expenses for the budget. If they can't meet that minimum requirement or pawn those duties back onto the electorate through referendum, they should resign from their job.

On Janesville Downtown Improvements:
✦ The city of Janesville spent over $3M and barricaded Main St. for months in 2015. But has anyone else noticed how little press the downtown renovations received in the Janesville Gazette after it was completed? I can’t blame them. It’s a total embarrassment for the money.

✦ Whoa! I was just driving through Janesville Main street trying to soak in the $3.2M the city spent to renovate downtown. What I saw were some sloped sidewalks, some new street lights and painted, yes …painted fake brick walkways across the intersections. I realize they did some underground work but maybe I missed something. If I didn’t, please tell me there is an investigation into this and somebody will be charged with fraud – soon.

✦ Janesville has a new website, but city officials should produce an itemized account of every penny spent and where every penny came from including each job description for the recent downtown Main St. improvements. I don’t see $3.2M there.

On proposed Downtown TIF District:
✦ I read somewhere Janesville's director of economic development said "they're putting their money where their mouth is." Who is "they" and whose money is being put into whose mouth?

✦ Janesville residents don't have a mayor or district representation fighting for improvement dollars for their neighborhoods. Instead, unelected special interests dictate priorities and policy. As long as Janesville taxpayers allow that to continue, they deserve to be robbed daily.

On City Manager Blames Employee Raises For Budget Shortfall:
✦If the City can't afford cost of living adjustments, the fault is on the administration for failing to meet the minimum standards of running a local government. It is shameful for Mark Freitag to blame employees, the buck should stop with him.

✦ In his state-of-the-city speech, Freitag boasted about all the growth coming from TIF District agreements, then warned that the next city budget will begin with an $850K shortfall. He later blamed city employee payroll raises of one and two percent for the budget shortfall. Shorter: When your economic development growth policies can't cover those minimal raises, you've failed epically.

✦ Look deeper and you will find it was the city council who approved TIF Districts giving away most of the city's future revenue growth to developers and city hall insiders, and the city council again approving raises for city workers. Municipal budgets don't work that way. Don't forget school districts also lose out on revenue growth with TIF Districts. Janesville desperately needs a new form of government - top to bottom. Electing new council members and expecting different results is more of the same ad nauseam.

Anonymous Column - "Pass It On" #12

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On Paul Ryan Leaks
✦ Wow. Paul Ryan said the conversation never took place. But when told that a recording exists, he suddenly remembered and said they were just joking. So much for Paul Ryan's honesty. Not that he ever had much, but whatever little he did have ...is now in the toilet.

✦ So Paul Ryan is terrified of more recordings of his "family jokes" being leaked to the public. LOL. Just LOL.

✦ Paul Ryan was never a leader. He is following President Trump’s strategy by focusing on the leakers instead of worrying about what their constituents think of them as a person. No integrity. No honor.

✦ Paul Ryan "Pride of Janesville?" Give me a break. Not Paul Ryan. But Janesville. Janesville voted for him. Janesville owns it.

✦ Seriously, why should Ryan worry about what the alt-right, progressives, democrats or the Left in his district say or think of him? He heard it all before. He'll win in 2018 by an even larger margin than in 2016. Ryan's response was dead on when asked if republicans will lose seats because of his failures or Trump ...blah, blah ...blah. Perfect!

On Janesville Bike Paths Going To The Dogs
✦ No. Too many dog owners are irresponsible. I cannot take my two large dogs, who are leashed, on a walk without running into dogs who are unleashed. And, when I walk the trails, with my sister, we spend most of the walk dodging piles of dog crap left by rude dog owners who are too lazy to clean up after their dogs. I wish dogs were never allowed on the trails.

✦ There is shit all over the trails …with the ordinance. Imagine how it will be without it. Don’t let those trails go to the dogs.

✦ Dogs are members of the family. And all members of the family should be allowed to join in on walks. Banning dogs is like banning children from a park. They both have teeth and poop like everyone else. Does everyone clean up after their kids? Or themselves? NO! But the respectable ones do! Can you imagine if children were banned from parks? Is that crazy to think? Then so is banning dogs!

✦ Dogs in Janesville have no rights!! We need a constitutional convention so dogs have a place to really call their own to walk!!!!

✦ I enjoy walking my dogs on the trail as it helps me feel safe. When I walk them in residential neighborhoods without sidewalks I don't feel safe.

✦ I think the ordinance needs to change... I'm a single parent to a 9 month old. I don't have the luxury of leaving her home to walk the dogs on a dog trail where strollers can't go. I've tried carrying my daughter while walking my dogs, with poop bags, at the same time throwing a ball, holding my keys, texting on my cell phone (yes I need my phone you never know when an accident can happen) its not easy at all, and then I have to deal with joggers or bicyclists disrespecting my airspace??

✦ I have used the unfenced dog run area east of Palmer Park. I have seen people who drive there, open the car doors, and just let their dogs out to do their business. Then, they call the dogs back and leave.

✦ I have used the bike paths in Janesville on weekends during the summer for the past ten years and have been charged by loose dogs including dogs on leashes at least once each year. Last year, a large dog (possibly in defense of his owner) on a leash lunged at me as I was passing on my bike. Another was loose chasing me for almost a hundred feet before giving up. If the city council approves of this idiotic idea, I will tell all my friends and family to stay off Janesville bike paths if they value their safety. They've gone to the dogs.

✦ Yes! Let the dogs out!

✦ If the city council thinks mingling dogs with bicyclists, runners, joggers and walkers on the bike paths is OK, then they need to allow bicyclists, joggers and small children inside fenced dog parks and other areas designated for dogs. Enough of this dog privilege.

✦ Dogs don’t pay the taxes. So? The people do and taxpayers should not be restricted in places they pay to maintain since we now think law and order limits our freedom. Let's have chaos.

✦ We need to get max. use of our dog parks as well! Make new rules and let bicyclists, joggers, kids sports teams use dog parks with the dogs! We’re one big happy family!

✦ I do not go on the trail until the ban is in effect. As an older person who has a balance disorder, I can not take the risk of being knocked over or tripped by a dog on a flexi leash. I also use either a Service Dog to assist walking, and at times I use a personal mobility device. Please reconsider allowing pets in the trail. With all the parks the city has, perhaps more dog parks are needed that are fence enclosed.

✦ And there will ALWAYS be the inconsiderate socialist on a bicycle who thinks he owns the bike paths.

✦ We need more council members like Doug Marklein to finally bring an end to all those Doyle-era progressive regulations previous councils imposed on Janesville taxpayers. Janesville is turning red. Get used to it.

✦ Please...don't ruin the enjoyment of the trail for bikers, walkers and others out just for some fresh air!!!!

✦ Those communists using our bike paths without paying need to be taught a lesson. Especially the girlie men jogging and wearing shorts with their butts hanging out.. Sic the dogs on them to remind them this is murica and not communist China.

✦ No! Just no! I am deathly afraid of large breed dogs, but I like to ride my bike in the summertime for enjoyment, and for exercise.

✦ Freedom loving Americans need to take Janesville back, and beginning with the bike paths is a good start. Go for it Marklein. You are our only hope!

✦ Please Councilman Marklein, make this happen!!!!!!!!!

✦ I am a responsible bicyclist & I would love to be able to ride my bike in areas designated for dogs. Just saying.

✦ It's the city's responsibility to provide dog owners ample space and freedom for their dogs.

On Expanding the City Council To Nine Members
✦ The only way the Council should increase in size if Councilors are elected by District of the City, and in that case you'd probably need eleven split as follows: three each from the south and west sides and five from the east side.

✦ The majority in Janesville want democratic district representation on the city council but are afraid to talk to Marklein about it because his mind is already made up against it.

✦ It's best to stay with the "at-large" feature of the current council. Going to 9 members isn't a bad idea because it will help Forward Janesville tighten their grip on the city.

✦ If we want the council to act as one, why not just have one elected councilor?

✦ I don't get it. Marklein claims to want to avoid the possibility of electing a majority of candidates that agrees on a single issue, but wants them to focus on the city as one.

✦ Thank God we have Doug Marklein on the council bringing reform to city hall and not some democrat liberal activist trying to impose their will on the rest of us.

✦ Councilman Marklein is consistently looking towards the future. This is another excellent proposal that will help prevent elected city council members from firing the city manager just because they disagree with him or don't like his performance. Besides, the city manager should not be held accountable to elected officials or voters. He (or she) is little more than a mercenary under contract accountable only to the special interests that hired him. In Janesville's case, the city manager is accountable only to Forward Janesville. They hired him.

✦ It's great to see Doug Marklein finally take control of the city council. He'll run city hall right.

✦ So more than half of Janesville is NOT represented on the city council and the leader of the smaller half wants to tighten his grip on power? Why not? Janesville's west and south sides are economically and politically isolated while area progressives are protesting some pipeline ...somewhere.

On Hendricks 10,000 sf. Mansion Not On Property Tax Rolls
✦ People need to get a life and stop looking at what other people are paying in property taxes. It's none of your damn business what your neighbor is paying. Take care of your own tax bill and let others do the same.

✦ Gov. Walker and state republicans should shut down public access to local property tax assessment records. People are using them to disparage good citizens and divide communities.

✦ So what if her mansion is not listed on the property tax rolls? If your house (improvement) was not included on your property tax bill, would you report the discrepancy? Hell no. Leave Hendricks alone. You people are just jealous.

✦ The reporter of the Hendricks property tax story should get his facts straight and skip the insinuations. HEADER: On the Map Yet Off the Tax Rolls. WRONG! Ms. Hendricks property is assessed and she is paying property taxes. If you’ve got a problem (and there is ANY merit to it) it is with Accurate Appraisal and one would think you would be dealing with a higher up in that firm than their office manager as your contact. This is a classic example of cheap shot blogging without the need to be accountable for the truth.

✦ This huge error in assessment value and possible local government collusion and malfeasance, deliberate or not, happened in the Janesville Gazette's backyard. Expect a complete Gazette black-out on this.

✦ Why didn’t the Janesville Gazette uncover this assessment discrepancy years ago? Kudos to the Urban Milwaukee investigative journalist for keeping his report on this as politically neutral as possible considering the hyper-partisan nature of Ms. Hendricks and her defenders.

✦ Yes to knowingly undervalue your property is fraud and demonstrates a significant lapse of a person’s moral values. Let's see who got screwed, or cheated or is it stolen from. For starters the people of the Town that the property is located in, The Town of Rock, and then the people of Rock County and then either the people of either the Beloit or Janesville School District and the people of the Technical District and finally all the people of the Wisconsin because of the State Tax that is part of the Property Tax.

✦ Hendricks property is under Rock County Board Louis Peer's supervision. What does he know about any of this? Note: Peer led the fight to strip Jenifer Keach of the county coroner office post. Coincidence? (UPDATE: Late addition from the mailbox)

✦ A look at what didn't happen this week: An investigative report by the Janesville Gazette uncovering a potentially large error in the property tax assessment of a highly visible high value area property.

Anonymous Column - "Pass It On" #15

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On The City's Failed Leaf Pick-Up
✦ Last year's leaf pick-up (2016) was bad and should have been a warning for city officials to keep a closer eye on Mother Nature this year. Instead, they failed twice as bad this year. If you can't get a simple roadside leaf pick-up scheduled right, you shouldn't be paid to do it wrong.

✦ How much money did City Manager Mark Freitag save Janesville taxpayers with his failed leaf pick up? Where is our refund?

✦ So, some in Janesville are saying the city leaf pick-up is a luxury and people shouldn't depend on government to do it for them? We pay for it. If you can't get it right, pay it back.

✦ How much money does our city manager get paid? $150K? And he can't schedule leaf pick-up in a timely efficient manner?

✦ We're a red state now. If we want less government and fewer regulations but allow those in government who can't get it right to keep their jobs, we deserve to be ripped off. Might as well return to burning leaves at the curb. Let's burn tires too and save us those disposal fees.

✦ Why doesn’t the city schedule snow plowing, say, Monday, Wednesday and Friday and ignore what Mother Nature is doing just like they do with the current leaf pickup?

✦ I just saw that Janesville City Manager Mark Freitag's top budget priority is "tax to the max." Vote him out!! Oh wait. I forgot that Janesville taxpayers can't vote him out. He was appointed by Forward Janesville "tax to the max" elitists. He works for them.

On WalkerConn
✦ Giving $3 BIL of taxpayer $$ to FOREIGN Corp to build $10 BIL plant... why not keep the $3B and let them build just a $7 BIL plant?

✦ About that $10 billion Foxconn plant. It's expected to be assessed at $1.4B and THAT'S a high estimate. Oh, and the $7B in annual spending has been downgraded to $4.6 billion - and THAT has been downgraded to $1.4B. Funny how those numbers match.

✦ Foxconn costs keep climbing. Along with $3 bil cash incentives and $252 mil for I-94, now we have $134 million in state $ for new highways, $140 million in higher electric rates, and hundreds of millions in local subsidies.

On Paul Ryans' "retirement"
✦ The "Paul Ryan is leaving" stories are not stories but planted market research....why are publications buying it and dutifully running it?

✦ Paul Ryan floating retirement at this time is pure genius.

✦ I don't think Ryan got the response he was looking for when he floated retirement. He expected people to come to his defense or lament "we always lose the good ones first." Instead he got "good riddance." He just might have to retire.

✦ If you want to know more about Paul Ryan's future, ask the Koch brothers and Diane Hendricks. He works for them.

✦ So the local rumor mill has Ryan building a home outside of the district, west of Janesville. Like that is supposed to mean something?

✦ I always thought Paul Ryan wanting to tax cut the rich, destroy Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid were hysterical ruminations from leftists and other haters to smear the congressman. My apologies.

✦Paul Ryan can retire now or in 2018, but he will always be the guy who enabled Trump's worst behavior, lied about health care and taxes, and coddled racist clowns like Steve King to maintain power.

On Wisconsin's Budget Surplus
✦ Did you know that Gov. Walker recently boasted about a budget surplus of $597 MILLION?? Where are our rebate checks?

On Janesville's Privileged Elite
✦ Sheriff Spoden blurred the lines between his duties as sheriff and being a father. Most parents would have done the same. The state said Spoden did nothing illegal, but the Janesville Gazette still slammed him for being, "if not criminal." Give me a break. I never thought it possible, but I fear the Gazette hasn't reached their bottom yet.

✦ When Rock County Sheriff Spoden misspoke, he accidentally reported on the treatment area elites expect from public officials and law enforcement. This is what they're angry about most.

✦ Sure, the County Sheriff chose some poor words suggesting an investigation was unnecessary because "the kids come from good families." But in the era of Trump, speaking your mind is supposed to be the honest way even when it's offensive. Ask Trump's supporters.

✦ Make no mistake. Area elites in Janesville are the people who defend the city's broken manager/council government. In fact, they think electing people from wards for city council in a representative democracy is forced diversity.

✦ Anybody get the names of the adults or address of the home where the underage drinking pool party took place? No? Why not? Special treatment? But just have a drinking party on a porch in the Fourth Ward involving a serious injury and clicky Janesville facebook pages will post names, mugshots and gang signs.

✦ Let's not kid ourselves. Janesville is not different than most other towns. Not just with law enforcement either, but in city hall and the local media. People of wealth, particularly its native business community and city hall insiders are a protected class treated far differently than those living in the central, south and west sides of the city.

✦ The Janesville Gazette was unusually quick to condemn Sheriff Spoden for blurring the lines between his duty as a father and sheriff, but to practically reference his actions as "criminal" is beyond the pale especially for a newspaper that endorsed Scott Walker three times.

✦ Funny. When Janesville City Manager Mark Freitag called those around him who failed to reach the height of elitism he attained, "chumps," few took notice.

✦ According to the Gazette article, the Rock County DA admits to having a personal problem prosecuting the three teens from good families who were truthful about what happened when so many were not. Hmmm. No worries about the good ol' boys club taking a hit. It is firmly intact.

✦ The privileged in Janesville have got to go. They think they're above the law. Money buys privilege and privilege begats power.

✦ Shut up already. There are no "privileged" people in Janesville. Well, except for members of Forward Janesville and the Paul Ryan klan.

On JanesvilleCon
✦ Remember when Janesville residents voted against a property tax hike referendum to pay for additional road maintenance? Soon afterwards, the city council thumbed their noses at the people and doubled the wheel tax anyways.

✦ Then the city manager mismanaged us into a $850K budget deficit and asked for immediate public discussions - only to drop the subject completely for the next six months.

✦ Because at the time, the city administration and council were foisting a TIF District on downtown properties that would carve out about $1M annual from a general fund facing an immediate $850K deficit.

✦ Only until after the TIF District was approved did the city manager and Janesville Gazette return with reminders about the $850K deficit which by then had grown to $950K.

✦ To balance the $950K deficit, the city council then approved $2.3M in registration fees, utility rate and permit fee hikes.

✦ For the next year, the city manager boasted how his policies helped double the city's tax base growth in a one year period, policies that resulted in raising the city's property tax rate even higher.

✦ In the meantime, the administration struggled to find $60K to help fund the county's animal shelter and can't manage a single softball field while they plan a $500K remodel of council chambers and consider building a new ice arena for a well-connected city hall insider's failed sports business.

✦ That's the JanesvilleCon ...so far, in a nutshell.

On Republican's Tax Reform Bill
✦ I see their "tax reform" bill more like a swamp renewal and stock buy-back. Congress ran out of things to sell, so now they have all those loopholes, exemptions and subsidies to re-offer in exchange for massive donations from those willing to buy. Starts the entire "best democracy money can buy" process all over again.

Anonymous Column - "Pass It On" #8

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On Janesville Gazette Endorsements:
✦ Kloppenburg easily deserved everyone's endorsement and vote on Tuesday, but the Janesville Gazette's endorsement for her was a complete farce. If the Wisconsin Supreme Court was tied at 3 liberals and 3 conservatives, I guarantee you they would have endorsed Rebecca Bradley without a blink. You can take that to the bank.

✦ Make no mistake, the GOP-heavy Janesville Gazette endorsed JoAnne Kloppenburg to appease their Democratic and Progressive customer base. It's a calculated shift, win or lose, to appear less partisan to their critics. Plus, they can afford that now with conservatives holding a majority stranglehold on every branch of state government.

✦ In the recent past, the Janesville Gazette endorsed pro-WMC conservatives Ann Ziegler, Michael Gableman over Butler, the unhinged David Prosser over Kloppenburg and Rock County Judge James Daley over incumbent Ann Walsh Bradley, with the newspaper calling opponents either partisans, special interests or too liberal. Now they endorse Kloppenburg the second time around?? I would like to think their endorsement was sincere for her honesty and Constitutional acumen, but they only do what's best for business.

✦ The Gazette's endorsements for the Janesville city council should surprise nobody if you're paying attention to the local Forward Janesville Gazette agenda. Liberals, pragmatists and progressive oriented candidates are being used by the same people who installed the single-party ruled conservative-run central state control. Local progressives and the progressive platform in particular are being co-opted. Wake up!

✦ Does anyone wonder why conservative incumbents and candidates for Janesville city council are NOT endorsed by the Gazette lately? If you're a fiscal conservative running for city government - the conservative newspaper doesn't want you in there. Would anyone like to guess why?

On Trump:
✦ I crack up when I hear somebody say, “I will vote for Trump because he speaks his mind. Since when does speaking your mind make you presidential material? My drunk uncle always speaks his mind. Maybe he should run since he makes as much sense as Trump.

✦ If Janesville officials really wanted to prevent residents from protesting the billionaire Trump, all they had to do was write up a TIF agreement giving Trump 10 acres of green fertile land and a million dollars for free. They never protest that in Janesville.

✦ Trump seemed genuinely surprised by his supporters negative reaction to Paul Ryan. But state party republicans say Ryan is very popular with them. Apparently, the House leader of the gerrymandered GOP-majority Congress with an 11% approval rating is a big hit with the establishment. The party also thinks conservatives who want to primary Ryan have been played.

✦ Americans For Prosperity, the Club For Growth and Scott Walker thank the folks protesting in Janesville against Trump and for helping Ted Cruz win the GOP primary and keep their red state wealth redistribution agenda on course.

On "What Is This?":
✦ OK. Menards vowed not to build a new store in Ohio until Obama is gone from the White House. Deficit spending local governments all around the country are giving away land and cash to wealthy developers and corporations. After North Carolina passed new anti-LGBT laws, Bruce Springsteen canceled his upcoming concert in Greensboro. Is there one name for all this?

On Why JoAnne Kloppenburg lost:
✦ Without union blue fist protesters to scapegoat and kick around, Wisconsin right-wing radio needed a backlash target to ignite enthusiasm among their kool-aid drinking base. They found that target in Donald Trump.

✦ If this was not a presidential primary but instead a regular state ballot with Kloppenburg and Bradley at the top of the ticket - Kloppenburg would have won.

✦ Hate prevails again when the only reason to vote for a candidate is not an endorsement for that candidate or about issues or positions, but a personalized tactical vote to make sure the other guy does not win. Sad state of affairs for many Wisconsin voters who have become not much more than pawns for a political cult.

✦ Once the republican party realized they could stop Donald Trump, they only needed their "non-partisan" media tools and interest groups to disseminate that message into a "grassroots" movement. The Right has extensive operations in Wisconsin just for that purpose. It gave their base a mission to turn out for and they proceeded to vote down ticket as well.

On The Pepper Spray Altercation At The Janesville Trump Protest:
✦ The 15 year old girl may have genuinely thought that she was inappropriately touched, but it would have to be more visible and certainly more deliberate than what the videos showed. Still, she was within her rights to lash out verbally, but stepped out of bounds the moment she threw a punch. In her favor was the natural defense of striking back at a perceived groper, but it was still wrong.

✦ They still haven't caught the creep who walked up to the girl and pepper sprayed her? Thank God he wasn't spraying gasoline or acid on her face. That young man has some serious issues. He should be charged with felony assault.

On Koch Brothers Story Planning Paul Ryan Nomination:
✦ Consider the possibility that the latest meme dropped by Koch Industry operatives publicly announcing Koch's private intentions to get Paul Ryan nominated is a ploy to cause public backlash. The Kochs know their endorsements and exposure to the process are radioactive. Consider that they want Paul Ryan to stay right where he is for now.

Readers Accuse Gazette Of Liberal Bias

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There really has been a lot going on all over the political spectrum that at times I can’t keep up and remain focused on just the local stuff. But every now and then our local newspaper, the Janesville Gazette gets accused of being a liberal left-wing publication which of course, is just too good to pass up.

JG Sound Off Excerpt:
On Scooter Libby case: Anyone who criticized Bill Clinton’s 140 pardons of his brother, Marc Rich, drug dealers, etc. has the right to criticize Bush. -- anonymous

Clinton pardoned lots of people who were convicted of wrongdoing on their own dime and by their own accord. I don’t know how many people Clinton pardoned were convicted of crimes he ordered them to carry out while he was in office. Possibly none. But apparently there was something wrong with the callers statement because the next week the same caller we assume, complained about the Gazette’s editing.

JG Sound Off Excerpt:
On Sound Off Editing:Your triage or cannibalism approach to my Scooter Libby comments is disturbing. My documented facts regarding Clinton’s pardons versus Bush’s was perfectly in line. The Gazette’s true liberal colors are showing, aren’t they? -- anonymous

HAH! For one thing, phone-calling in what now may have been a running list of names and reasons for being pardoned is truly comical. But calling the Gazette liberal because they cut your thesis short to fit in their rant column is just knock-down hysterical.

Look, here’s the deal. You are free to send your documented Bush/Clinton pardon facts and figures essay here where it will appear on the internet unedited forever. Sending it to the Gazette won’t do you much good, they agree with you. It’s us stupid liberals and lefties that need enlightenment. This is not a challenge, it’s an invitation. Just too funny, I can’t help myself.

Today, another Gazette reader sent a letter claiming that the Gazette’s description of illegal immigrants as “hard working and fearful” in a recent article places them in the same category as the New York Times or the ACLU. The illegal immigrant dilemma is one of very few issues that actually transcends partisan and idealogical lines. Most Neo-Cons including Bush have called illegals “hardworking people who just want to work,” while some democrats feel illegals would not be so easily taken advantaged by the corporate neo-cons if they were just made legal. Partisans from both sides of the aisle would like to send illegals back to where they came from as a matter of national security. As far as I'm concerned, this issue is dead because there is no consensus. Playing nice to take further advantage of exploited people does not qualify a person or a newspaper as standing up for civil rights. Accusing the Gazette of standing up for human dignity under these circumstances is just preposterous.