Mark Twain had a great line about Richard Wagner’s music being “better than it sounds.” Our political system is better than you would guess from listening to politicians.
Author Archives: Bill Lueders
Posted inMoney & Politics Column, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Spring cleaning turns up news nuggets ranging from guns to schnapps
The columnist is cleaning off his desk, emptying his inbox. Here are a few unused news nuggets that seem a shame to throw away.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Have John Doe probes trashed rule of law in Wisconsin?
Conservative commentators have embraced the narrative put forth by critics of the two John Doe probes involving Walker and others. Wisconsin is being defamed as a place where unethical law enforcers driven by naked political partisanship have run amok.
Posted inGovernment
State makes filing fraud complaints ‘as easy as possible’
Two new state portals generate about 300 tips a month, said DHS spokeswoman Claire Yunker. The department, in response to a records request, released the complaints it received for a single month.
Posted inGovernment, Health & Welfare, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Wisconsin FoodShare fraud crackdown questioned
In 2011, Walker’s first year as governor, 102 people were suspended from the FoodShare program for violating program rules, according to DHS. That number has increased each year, to 1,184 in 2014.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Groups let Gov. Scott Walker’s backers give unlimited sums
Walker’s committee, Our American Revival, can raise and spend unlimited sums. At least two donors have given Walker $100,000 or more, according to press accounts. Had they so desired, these donors could have given $100 million.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Advocate Mike McCabe launches new movement for the ‘politically homeless’
What McCabe wants to build is not a third party, which he jokes is a lock to come in third. His concept, similar to progressive movements in the past and the tea party movement of recent years, is to create a “first party” — one that demands change from within the existing political structure.
Posted inCruel and Unusual?, Justice & Safety, Open records
Wisconsin prison guard fired for harassing inmates
An internal investigation found that DOC Sgt. Thomas J. Lukas engaged in “demeaning and harassing behavior” toward inmates at Fox Lake Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison in Dodge County. This included an email he sent to another guard making a reference to inmate Antron Kent and another inmate that was determined to be “sexual in nature and inappropriate.”
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Did judge fail to report outside income?
Outagamie County Circuit Court Judge Mark McGinnis’ Statements of Economic Interests do not appear to list police training session income from the city of Appleton for years in which other records show he was receiving substantial sums.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Goals clash as Wisconsin prepares to rewrite campaign finance law
Chapter 11 of the state statutes, governing campaign financing, clearly needs a rewrite. Court rulings have blown huge holes in the law, which dates to 1974. One lawyer called the result “a confusing mess.” But there is vast disagreement over what changes should be made.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Deer disease keeps worsening in Wisconsin, as predicted
Thirteen years after CWD was first discovered in Wisconsin, a state wildlife expert says many hunters “just want things to go back to normal.” That’s not likely to happen. A far more plausible scenario is that the disease will continue to spread, infecting and killing deer, until the number of animals available for hunters is seriously depleted.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Do policymakers care what people think? It depends
Gov. Scott Walker proclaimed the right-to-work bill a victory for workers’ rights. Yet precious few workers turned out to show their support for the freedom he and other Republicans delivered, using language taken almost verbatim from a corporate-funded national conservative group.