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.
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