wisconsin – Page 14

Where are the adult Wisconsin Democrats?

Because somebody in the Wisconsin Democratic party needs to be the adult in the David Prosser/JoAnne Kloppenburg state Supreme Court recount, here. This nonsense has gone on long enough: three weeks and a quarter-million taxpayer dollars later, it has – not ‘become’ obvious that Prosser has won. It’s been obvious since they certified the results. What’s more properly ‘become’ obvious is that the Kloppenburg camp has decided to simply wait until the recount is over, then challenge the results in court on the grounds of ~~a Democrat lost~~/ ~~they don’t like the results~~/democracy. Which is why the Democrats are doing things like disenfranchising nuns; it’s all about the narrative that they hope to present, at this point.

As to why the Democrats need to find some adults, fast… it’s for their own self-preservation, really. Shark & Shepherd gives the reason: even postulating that a successful challenge to and overthrow of legitimate election* results occurs (which neither he or I think is likely), the consequences to the Democratic party of Wisconsin would be disastrous. Continue reading Where are the adult Wisconsin Democrats?

#rsrh Herb Kohl (D, WI) cuts and runs.

I don’t have anything else to add to Dan McLaughlin’s excellent summation of the situation except that title, mind you – but I enjoy writing titles like that too much to simply pass it up because I’m running behind this morning. So. Kohl’s out.

This should be an interesting race, by the way, if only because the Democrats have the potential to actually nominate somebody who’s, well, interesting. And I’m with Ed Morrissey: Feingold’s not really a good option for the Democrats. He’d be better off trying to topple Walker in 2014. Note 2014: judging from the way things are going for Wisconsin right now, a recall next year is dead on arrival. In fact, I’m starting to wonder if any WI state senators are going to get recalled.

Huh. Guess I did have at least a little to add.

Election reform bill passes WI state house.

Wisconsin’s voter ID bill passed, 60-35; it now goes to the Senate, to be worked on next week. The bill will require that voters show picture ID before voting: what really has Democrats in a tizzy about this is that to be valid a student ID will need “current address, birth date, signature and expiration date.” This effectively removes all Wisconsin student IDs from consideration… and if they start adding that information it will become abundantly clear, very quickly, that a lot of students are not going through the hassle of changing their legal address every year to reflect their attending college. Which is another way of saying that a lot of students are voting in districts that they’re not actually supposed to be voting in.

This is the real issue for Democratic party bigwigs, methinks – and for all that they pretend that it’s a minority voter issue. The reality is, people will bend over backward to make sure that the urban poor get ID to keep from being disenfranchised: this country takes voting seriously; it’s the right thing to do; and – if the first two reasons aren’t enough – the federal government will come down like a hammer from orbit on anybody trying anything different. But students being told that they can’t vote in Madison because they actually live in Sheboygan? Yeah, that’s going to get less sympathy. – even if the Democratic party would rather have that vote count in Madison. Continue reading Election reform bill passes WI state house.

#rsrh Quick update on Prosser/Kloppenburg recount.

That’s the Wisconsin Supreme Court race that was supposed to be a stunning repudiation of Governor Scott Walker’s (R) reforms, right up to the moment that David Prosser won.

Anyway, they’re down to recounting one county – which Prosser won, handily – and the number hasn’t remotely changed enough to justify Kloppenburg continuing on with the recount. Then again, it’s not Kloppenburg’s money – just the Wisconsin taxpayers’ – so expect her to keep letting the Democratic party erode away her respectability, dignity, and good name for the benefit of Big Labor.

I’d feel bad, except it’s not like anybody threatened her or anything. Labor unions reserve that sort of thing for teenagers trapped in their houses.

This is what WI Democrats look like.

Yes, they are going to regret their arrogant use of the original line.

I apologize in advance for the foul language that the Democratic shill for Big Labor – or Big Labor lackey for Democrats, if that makes any difference at this point – in the video below used while verbally attacking a fourteen year old girl (Tricia Willoughby); but it’s important that people see what the Republican party, the Tea Party movement, and conservatives in general are up against. Here is said shill/lackey, in all his glory:

For those without video access: it shows an angry, middle-aged, probably union and certainly uncouth… person… screaming abuse and at least one unimaginative obscenity at Ms. Willoughby as she spoke at a Madison Tax Day Tea Party event. “Spoiled brat” was the mildest thing that the… person… called her, in between demands that she either go to her room, or get a job. While there is a certain irony in watching the aforementioned Big Labor/Democratic shill/lackey publicly demand that Ms. Willoughby violate child labor laws, there are two things that need to be noted here. One, this is not what democracy in Wisconsin looks like – but as the title notes, this is increasingly what Democrats in Wisconsin look like. Continue reading This is what WI Democrats look like.

Petitions stolen from Recall Dave Hansen (D) office?

This is not what democracy looks like.

Allegedly, the burglars were after the petitions gathered to recall Dave Hansen, who was one of the Wisconsin Democratic senators who fled the state rather than participate in the democratic process. Which – if this was in fact done by Democratic party operatives or sympathizers – would merely demonstrate that Hansen is in fact fairly representative of his party, at that.

The good news is that the recall folks say that they still have enough signatures, so it should have no insurmountable effect on the recall process, but you can expect that local Democrats will try to wring as much advantage out of any disruption as possible. Whether or not the Democrats were actually involved – and if this story checks out, the Wisconsin Democratic party leadership will heartily regret it if any member traceable back to their party was actually involved; this is felony territory. Serious felony territory.

H/T: @diggrbiii.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Please note that in fact this is still an ‘alleged’ crime (although the news that the recall folks have enough signatures anyway argues that it in fact happened).

It is over. David Prosser won his Supreme Court race.

Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board has received the full number of certified results by county in last week’s state Supreme Court race between David Prosser and Joanne Kloppenburg. With all counties in, Prosser leads by 7,316 votes: this margin is enough to permit a free recount by the state on the defeated Kloppenburg’s behalf, but 7,316 votes is a difference that is not only far beyond the likelihood of being reversed by a fair recount; it is also beyond what political scientists call ‘the margin of fraud.’ Simply put: Kloppenburg can waste Wisconsin’s money, if her Democratic/Big Labor bosses wish it, but it won’t make a difference anyway.

I fully expect that the Activist Left will wish to ride this one out to the bitter end – which is entertaining, primarily because it will cause them more long term angst and disappointment than anything that I could do. Or possibly even be allowed to do without risking serious long-term harm to my basic ethical state. Continue reading It is over. David Prosser won his Supreme Court race.

No, the Milwaukee DA press conference has nothing to do with Prosser.

This is a preemptive post: the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board and the DA’s office for Milwaukee County is will be having a joint press conference Monday afternoon at 2 PM local time about a “significant investigation.” Given that the DA for Milwaukee County is a Democrat – and given that the election results for Milwaukee County have not yet been certified – there has already been some speculation that this investigation is related to last week’s re-election of Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser. However, at least one local news reporter has already confirmed with the Wisconsin GAB that the announcement is not related to last week’s race.

I mention all of this primarily because this story otherwise looks like precisely the sort of vague, information-free bare-bones notification of an event that the Internet can force-bloom into a beautiful Orchid of Hysteria; and it’d be nice if more of those got nipped in the bud…

Moe Lane (crosspost) Continue reading No, the Milwaukee DA press conference has nothing to do with Prosser.

I think David Prosser has won his WI Supreme Court race.

At least, for him to lose it at this point will be actually be a bit of a surprise. The numbers don’t seem to be there for his opponent.

First, let’s look at the total votes cast in Milwaukee and Outagamie counties (the two remaining to be canvassed), as of right now. Prosser’s current vote margin: 7,310.

	Milwaukee	%	Outagamie	%	Combined	%
Prosser	98,933	43%	24,775	57%	123,708	46%
Kloppenburg	128,644	57%	18,885	43%	147,529	54%
	227,577		43,660		271,237

Assuming that there’s simply no sudden appearance of 7,311 Kloppenburg ballots – and I invite any Democratic election fraud enthusiasts to try; I enjoy watching perp walks – the Democrats will need a net shift of those ballots for the same amount. That would mean a net 3 percentage point shift towards the Democrats… which is a lot, in this context. To put it another way: 7,310 votes is (in my opinion) outside of the margin of fraud. Continue reading I think David Prosser has won his WI Supreme Court race.

#rsrh Nate Silver wastes his time…

…in his latest performance of his shtick (using pretty numbers and graphs to tell people things that they already knew). In this case, Silver’s explaining that no, Waukesha County didn’t create 14,000 votes out of nowhere. Which you already knew, because you saw the press conference where this was already explained, complete with the Democratic canvassing board representative who signed off on it.

But it’s still a waste of time, because Silver’s usual customer base doesn’t want to hear it. They’ll much prefer to be told that their pretty shiny Quest Object was stolen away from them by the nasty Republicans, oh yes; that way they can still be right. Not being right is bad. And actually losing that election after they too-hastily declared victory makes them look foolish, which is worse.

So… no sale, Silver, I’m betting.