Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D, WI) attacks black woman over VA whistle-blowing.

Stimulus:

A former staffer for U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin has filed an ethics complaint accusing the Madison Democrat of engaging in a political coverup by firing the aide.

[snip]

[Marquette] Baylor turned down a severance deal that contained a confidentiality clause.

Response:

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s PR Machine went into hyper-drive Monday following news of a potentially damning ethics complaint filed against the Madison Democrat by a former aide that Baldwin sacked in what the deputy has charged is a “political cover-up.’

Continue reading Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D, WI) attacks black woman over VA whistle-blowing.

Wait. What is Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D, Wisconsin) so worried about?

Yeah. Calling in the high-powered lawyer isn’t a sign of anything wrong.  Nope, not at all.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is finally speaking out about her decision to fire a staffer over the problems at the troubled Tomah VA Medical Center.

Or at least her nationally renowned Democratic attorney [Marc Elias] has issued a statement defending the move last month to oust Marquette Baylor, ex-deputy state director for Baldwin and chief of her Milwaukee office.

[snip]

Baldwin’s office sat for months on an inspection report that found officials at the Tomah medical center were prescribing high amounts of opiate pain pills to patients. She began calling for a federal investigation only after news reports ran in January showing that as many as three vets died after receiving treatment at Tomah.

Continue reading Wait. What is Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D, Wisconsin) so worried about?

Partner of Mark Pocan (D CAND, WI-02) sent threatening texts to attacked Kyle Wood (staffer to R-CAND). [UPDATE: Story Recanted]

[FURTHER UPDATE: Media Trackers retracts, apologizes for putting out the story. My apologies to Mr. Frank for my reaction; it was obviously uncalled for.]

[UPDATE: The police are now reporting that the staffer’s story has been recanted. Absent any evidence to the contrary, this would include the alleged text messages: I look forward with some interest to whether that, at least, can be verified. And yes, you may safely assume that I do not appreciate people lying to the police about things like this. – Moe Lane]

OK, remember the Kyle Wood incident from last week?  Short version is, Kyle Wood is a staffer for Chad Lee, the Republican candidate for WI-02, which is Tammy Baldwin’s current district.  Chad is opposed by Mark Pocan.  Tammy Baldwin happens to be gay.  Mark Pocan happens to be gay.  Kyle Wood happens to be gay.  And Kyle Wood was assaulted in his home last week, allegedly for being a gay Republican who was out of the closet and supporting a straight Republican running in a Democratic district.  This is a real story: the cops are looking for “Male, white, mid-20s, 6′-6’2″, curly brown hair, broad nose, with a muscular build.”

Now, let’s meet Philip Frank.

[picture removed]

Continue reading Partner of Mark Pocan (D CAND, WI-02) sent threatening texts to attacked Kyle Wood (staffer to R-CAND). [UPDATE: Story Recanted]

#rsrh Rasmussen 52/36 Thompson/Baldwin.

Assuming that the poll is correct – or even correct enough – sixteen points is… a pretty comfortable lead.  What may be more of interest is that Rep. Baldwin only gets about 42%-44% against the other Republican candidates; she’s effectively tied with all of them.  This is not good news for the Democrats; they are simply not prepared for an election battlespace where they have to pump money and energy into Wisconsin.

Particularly since these results don’t exist in a vacuum. If Wisconsin is really as in-play as its numbers suggest (and Rasmussen is showing a trend in the WI Presidential race that suggests that it is), then… what about the other states in the area?  The Midwest was exceptionally blue in 2008; but since then the Democratic party’s taken, as they say, an arrow in the knee.  Has everybody calibrated accordingly?

#rsrh Tammy Baldwin (D, WI) to run for WI-SEN?

For those who have forgotten, Herb Kohl…

Kohl.  Herb Kohl.  The senior Senator from Wisconsin?  Yes, Wisconsin has two Senators.  I know, I know: you’d never realize it from the news or anything, but they actually had more than one.  It’s a constitutional requirement, in fact.

…at any rate, Kohl is retiring in ’12 (or at least, won’t be showing up for work anymore), which means that the seat he occupies is of interest for the first time in decades.  Russ Feingold was assumed to be the front-runner for it, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that Feingold losing to Ron Johnson has snapped the former’s political will like a rotten branch, so there’s an opportunity for the ambitious.  It’s sort of what like what happens when a tree falls in a dense forest; the sudden influx of sunlight can cause rapid growth among the stunted saplings that had hitherto been denied the res0urces needed to thrive*.  One such sapling is Rep. Tammy Baldwin, who is apparently on the cusp of running. Continue reading #rsrh Tammy Baldwin (D, WI) to run for WI-SEN?