Posts Tagged ‘Campaigns and Elections’

Verify the Recall Organizers Are Prepared to Go to Court Over GAB Ruling

MacIver News Service | February 8, 2012

[Madison, Wisc...] Citizen volunteers are entering signatures from recall petitions into a massive, searchable database at the rate of 2.7 every second–hoping to uncover any evidence of fraud. However, all that work could go to waste if the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board gets its way.

On Wednesday, GAB staff told the Board it was decided internally that it will not accept any evidence of fraud from individuals or third-party groups. Only the official election campaigns of those officials being recalled may participate in reviewing the hundreds of thousands of signatures on the petitions.

Verify the Recall's Brown

Yet, groups like Verify the Recall, which has over 13,000 volunteers working to verify the signatures, are not allowed to coordinate their activities with political campaigns, since it could violate their non-profit tax status.

Verify the Recall, however, is not throwing in the towel. The independent effort, a project of two Wisconsin Tea Party groups, is working on a court challenge to the GAB’s decision, demanding that citizens be allowed to participate in the review process.

“The whole concept of recall is for citizens to hold their government accountable, and that’s what we’re doing too,” Ross Brown, Verify the Recall organizer, told the MacIver News Service on Wednesday. “The truth is the truth. It doesn’t matter where it comes from.”

In addition to Governor Walker, the Lt. Governor and four Republican Senators are also being recalled. The total cost of these elections could exceed $18 million. So far Verify the Recall has reviewed all the senator recall petitions, and believes it has found enough evidence to prevent at least one of the elections.

Brown feels confident his group will be able to force the GAB to accept the evidence it’s found.

“We’ve done our homework prior to getting to this point,” Brown said. “We are moving full steam ahead.”

Based on public reports, citizens not affiliated with either the recall organization or those targeted for recall this spring have found scores of problems with the petitions, but Wiscosnin’s elections watchdogs have ruled they will not consider any of their evidence.

The Verify the Recall project had three goals:

• To conduct a comprehensive review of recall petition data

• To uphold the integrity of election processes

• To publicly present all findings

On Tuesday, the Government Accountability Board ruled that the only evidence of fraud they will consider must be contained in the challenges offered by Governor Scott Walker or the four Republican state senators against whom recall petitions were filed last month. The GAB will not investigate or consider independently submitted evidence of fraud.

“Staff believes the Board should only rely on information that is developed by the staff in its petition reveiw, submitted by the officeholders in a challenge or the petitioners in response to determine the sufficiencey of recall petitions,” wrote GAB Executive Director and General Counsel Kevin Kennedy in a memo to GAB members Tuesday.

The GAB discussion on the petition review criteria and process focused on their minimum statutory requirements.

The organizers of Verify the Recall say they are prepared to go to court to see to it that the GAB does more.

Share
Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Breaking news, News | February 8, 2012 | | 11 Comments

GAB Decides to Ignore All Independently-Provided Evidence of Recall Petition Fraud

MacIver News Service | February 7, 2012

[Madison, Wisc...] Citizens not affiliated with either the recall organizations or the office holders targeted for recall this spring have found scores of problems with the petitions, but Wisconsin’s elections watchdogs have decided they will not consider any of their evidence.

GAB Meeting Feb 7, 2012

GAB Director and General Counsel Kevin Kennedy said there is no process in place for accepting information from outside groups and individuals. Governor Scott Walker and the four Republican state senators against whom recall petitions were filed last month are the only parties that can contest the validity of signatures, according to Kennedy.

The GAB will not investigate or consider independently-submitted evidence of recall petition fraud. This includes circumstances wherein individuals might notify the board that their own name and forged signature were submitted.

According to the GAB, anyone concerned that their signature was fraudulently included on a recall petition, therefore, must notify not the GAB, but rather the target of the recall. In addition, they must do so by the challenge deadline if they want that signature reviewed  and ultimately, possibly, struck.

“Staff believes the Board should only rely on information that is developed by the staff in its petition review, submitted by the officeholders in a challenge or the petitioners in response to determine the sufficiency of recall petitions,” wrote GAB Executive Director and General Counsel Kevin Kennedy in a memo to GAB members Tuesday.

The GAB discussion on the petition review criteria and process focused on their minimum statutory requirements. However nothing in state statutes prohibits the GAB from considering independently-gathered evidence of fraud.

“Given the unprecedented nature of these recall efforts it would be improper to change procedures in the midst of our review,” Kennedy wrote.

The four Republican state senators have until Thursday to challenge signatures. Governor Walker’s challenges are due Feb. 27 and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch has until March 5 since she received copies of the petitions seeking her recall a week after Walker.

The GAB has until March 19 to verify all of the petitions.

MacIver News’ Bill Osmulski has more in this video report:

Share
Tags: , , , ,
Posted in News | February 7, 2012 | | 18 Comments

So, What Became of the GAB’s Searchable Recall Petition Database?

MacIver News Service | February 2, 2012

[Madison, Wisc...] The top official at the Government Accountability Board says the GAB  decided not to buy software to transfer handwritten recall petitions into a searchable database, because it’s too expensive.  However, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported more than two weeks ago that the state already bought the software for $100,000.

The Wisconsin Eye public affairs network asked GAB executive director Kevin Kennedy Wednesday about the decision not to create a searchable database that would be available to the public.  Kennedy said they didn’t have the manpower or the money.

“The type of software you would need to convert these PDF files is very expensive,” Kennedy said. “When we do our duplicate review we might have a searchable database but it will be limited only to names.”

So, did they spend money on software that can create a database from scanned handwritten documents?

On January 21, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the GAB will be “relying on newly purchased software that can convert handwritten names into entries in six searchable databases.”

Do they have the software, or not? Are they using it, or not?  If the software can read the printed names and signatures, why can’t it convert the addresses as well?

Why has the GAB chosen not to put  a searchable database online?

Do they have any internal work product that would be useful to independent efforts to validate the signatures?

The MacIver News Service contacted the GAB on Thursday. It has not yet received a response.

Share
Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in News | February 2, 2012 | | 7 Comments

Stunner: Walker Recall Petitions NOT Available for Online Review

MacIver News Service | January 30, 2012

[Madison, Wisc…] The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board has not posted scanned copies of the Governor Walker recall petitions online despite promises to the citizens of Wisconsin that they would do so.

GAB staff delivered copies of the scans to the Governor’s campaign late last week. The campaign, with the assistance of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, began reviewing the petitions at satellite offices across the state this weekend.

Once they scanned documents, they were going to make them public, having issued an alert to all media earlier in the day. The revelation was the top of many radio broadcasts Monday.

Such a public disclosure would have allowed the volunteers at the independent VerifytheRecall.com to also begin their effort.

But early this evening the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported GAB staff was going back on their promise, citing alleged privacy concerns by some who signed the public documents.

This is the latest development in a series of back and forth decisions by the GAB that promises more legal challenges ahead.

And it could thwart a massive effort by Tea Party groups to conduct an independent review of the petitions.

“Never before have regular citizens organized in this way to this scale in a nonpartisan sense to uphold the integrity of Wisconsin’s elections,” said Ross Brown,  Founder and President of the Tea Party Group, We the People of the Republic and co-organizer of the Verify The Recall effort before the GAB’s surprise announcement was made. “Our volunteers are anxious to start and committed to the effort.”

Brown said approximately 87 percent of the more than 11,000 volunteers who signed up at his website are from Wisconsin, although they do have volunteers from all but one of the 50 states.

“Verify the Recall has written a new play in the citizens’ playbook as to how we can preserve our clean and honest elections,” Brown said.

With Monday night’s revelation that the GAB was refusing to comply with their earlier public pronouncements, the Verify the Recall process could be in jeopardy.

As previously reported, the GAB had originally intended to only provide a cursory review of the signatures, having interpreted the statutes to put more of the verification onus on the recall targets. They had no intention of putting the signatures online.

In the days after the Senate petitions were placed online, social media sites and talk radio were filled with claims of problems with the petitions.

In late December, Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) received a memo from the nonpartisan Legislative Council, which explained the GAB was proactively choosing not to create a database and was not prohibited from doing so.

“The statutes do not impose explicit barriers to the creation of a GAB database that contains the names and addresses of individuals who sign recall petitions or to public availability of the database,” said Katie Bender-Olson, Staff Attorney with the Wisconsin Legislative Council in a memo to the Speaker “To the contrary, the statute enumerating the powers and duties of GAB may support the agency’s authority to create a recall signature database and make it accessible to the public.”

“The A in GAB stands for accountability,” said Speaker Fitzgerald at the time “I would hope this memo encourages them to provide the public with a nonpartisan source of important data that could help root out possible duplicate signatures and fraud.”

The memo continued, “There do not appear to be any specific statutory obstacles to the creation or availability of such a database,” Bender-Olson wrote. “Further, the GAB itself appears to believe that the creation of a recall signature database and the public availability of recall petition signature information are permissible.”

State Republican Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Stephan Thompson had earlier filed suit against the GAB requiring more aggressive verification procedures by the GAB. Waukesha Circuit Court Judge Mac Davis ruled this month that the GAB needed to check for duplicates and obvious fake names.

In the wake of Judge Davis’ ruling, and negative publicity surrounding their own comments regarding the potential validity of signatures of Mickey Mouse and Hitler, the GAB decided to scan the petitions, begin a more vigorous review and place the scanned copies of all petitions online.

On Monday morning they announced the signatures would be available later in the day. As the day went on, the information remained absent from their website.

In addition to the recruiting volunteers to data enter signatures, Brown’s group created a ‘no sign’ list, for which individuals could sign up to be notified if their names fraudulently appeared on the Walker recall petitions.

“Over 50,000 Wisconsinites have protected their name and address against fraudulent petition use by signing up for our “No Sign Registration List,” Brown told MacIver News Service.  “Individuals have also submitted the names of their deceased family members and underage children on this list. Verify the Recall will notify anyone who signs up for this list if their name and/or address is found anywhere on a recall petition.”

Without access to the petitions to create a searchable database, the ‘No sign’ list project would also not be able to be completed.

The MacIver News Service will have more on this story as it develops.

___

Recall petitions were to be posted online at the GAB Website.

Verify the Recall, the project of We The People of the Republic and the Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty can be found online here.

Share
Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in News | January 30, 2012 | | 37 Comments

Gov. Walker Delivers State of the State Address

MacIver News Service | January 25, 2012

[Madison, Wisc…] Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker delivered his annual State of the State address Wednesday night before a polarized state legislature and with a potential recall looming.

“When I addressed you in the chamber last January, Wisconsin had suffered through three years of 150,000 of our fellow citizens losing their jobs,” Walker said. “The unemployment rate was 7.5%. And after years of tax increases and budget tricks, Wisconsin faced one of the largest budget deficits in the country.”

Walker boasted about the progress made in the last year.

“Tonight I’m happy to report that after three years of losing 150,000 jobs Wisconsin actually added thousands of new jobs in 2011,” said Walker. “New business formations are up by over two percent and our unemployment rate is down from a year ago. In fact, Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is much better than our neighbors to the south in Illinois.”

The governor outlined three priorities for his Administration

  • Helping the people of Wisconsin create more jobs
  • Keeping a balanced budget
  • Improving education for our kids by working together

“Last year, we passed some of the most aggressive pro-jobs legislation in the country,” Walker said. “And we did it with the help from lawmakers in both parties because these aren’t Republican or Democrat jobs, they’re Wisconsin jobs.”

Walker used the occasion to again push for passage of a bill to modernize Wisconsin’s mining laws and regulations.

“There is another tremendous opportunity for job growth,” he said. “We can pass legislation that will streamline the process for safe and environmentally sound mining. The proposed project in northwestern Wisconsin could provide at least 700 jobs at the mine and thousands across the state.”

Walker’s optimistic tone was belied by the fact that Big Labor and the Democratic party attempted to recall six Republican senators in 2011. They failed to gain the senate majority, defeating only two of them.

In 2012, four GOP Senators, the Lt. Governor and the Governor himself may be facing recall elections, depending on the certification of signatures pending before the Government Accountability Board.

Walker’s speech ignored the pending elections, although his speech highlighted past success as much as it laid out a vision of the future.

“[F]rugality in government leads to freedom and prosperity for our people,” Walker said, quoting from the Wisconsin Constitution. “I believe our founders had it right.”

Walker went on to promote his ‘brown bag’ frugality.

“Think about it, when I spoke here last January, Wiscosnin faced a $3.6 billion deficit,” Walker said. “In the past, state government took more than a billion dollars away from building safe roads and bridges, illegally raided the fund to support malpractice victims and ignored a payment to Minnesota for tax reciprocity. And one-time federal stimulus money was used for ongoing costs—all of thse practices left us with a more than $3 billion hole to fill last year.”

Walker then drew distinctions between the approach Wisconsin took with those of other states who also faced budget crunches.

“Some, like Illinois, raised taxes, but that only made matters worse,” Walekr said. “Other states used massive layoffs to balance their budgets; we avoided that in Wisconsin.”

He continued, “Some states cut core services like Medicaid. But in Wisconsin, we added some $1.2 billion to Medicaid and our reforms allow us to expand FamilyCare (our long-term care program for seniors) all across the state.

Walker did not ignore the controversial changes to public labor union bargaining that has spurred and financed the recall efforts.

“Just as important as saving money, our reforms help government work well in places where it does have a legitimate role, like education,” he said. “For example, before our reforms, school districts often had to buy their helath insurance from one company which cost them millions of dollars.”

Since the passage of ACT 10, several districts have been able to save money by putting their health insurance out for competitive bidding.

“[O]ur reforms now allow local school districts to staff based on merit and pay based on performance,” said the Governor. “That means we can put the best and brightest in our classrooms, and we can keep them there.”

The governor told of a superintendent of a small school district in Wisconsin who praised his labor reforms and told him “now I get to go back to my office and focus on curriculum instead of grievances.”

Governor Walker then made a direct appeal to Wisconsin’s public employees.

“Tonight, I want to again thank the many teachers and public servants across the state of Wisconsin,” he said. “We appreciate your hard work serving the public. And we are glad that Wisconsin avoided the massive layoffs of government employees experienced in other states.”

Walker used the final quarter of his speech to highlight three education reform efforts that, after a year of discussion and consensus building, will be in the hands of the legislature this spring.

He promoted his Read to Lead, school and school district accountability plans.

“[State School Superintendent] Dr. Evers and I have been working with a diverse group of individuals to develop our plan to let parents, teachers and communities know which schools are performing well so that we can replicate their success,” Walker said. “And we do need to know which schools are failing,” so we can help them.

Whether or not the legislature is able to pass these and other measures like the mining bill in such a caustic atmosphere poisoned by the threat of ongoing recall elections remains to be seen.

One early test, the State Assembly is scheduled to take up the mining proposal on Thursday.

“In just one year, Republicans fixed a $3 billion deficit, cut new debt in half, held the line on taxes and improved our business climate in nearly every ranking,” said State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau). “On the other hand, the Democrats spent the last year protesting, recalling and playing politics with our business climate.”

Fitzgerald continued to express pessimistic tone.

“They know that recalls are bad for Wisconsin, but they’re pushing them anyway. For the Democrats, the state of our state won’t ever be good enough unless they’re in the driver’s seat,” said Fitzgerald. “But Wisconsin needs jobs, not politics.”

Full text of remarks, as prepared for delivery: SOSText

Ed: We will update this story to include more reactions in the hours ahead.

Share
Tags: , , ,
Posted in News | January 25, 2012 | | 3 Comments

High Error Rate in Milwaukee County Election Day Registrations Found

MacIver News Service | January 11, 2012

[Milwaukee, Wisc] A shocking new report by a Wisconsin Tea Party group raises serious questions about the diligence of poll workers in Milwaukee County.

The group, Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty, found errors on more than one third of all Election Day Registration forms completed for the April 5, 2011 election in Milwaukee County.

“We discovered 3,739 forms with errors,” said Larry Gamble, the groups’ spokesperson. “That 33.7% error rate is high enough to question the entire election process and raises doubts about having the accuracy and accountability required to properly manage elections.”

The study was performed by members of the self-described  pro-Constitution group between May and December, 2011.

The group did not examine existing registrations, early absentee and in-person, early absentee voting documents.

The report was released more than nine months after the election due to the volume of forms and the cost associated with properly redacting identifiable personal information.

The report indicates that of the 11,107 forms examined, 3,739 or 33.7% contained errors of some type. In 1,425 cases the election Registrar failed to annotate Proof of Residency of the voter.

Only one voter completing an Election Day Registration was required to cast a provisional ballot, the report notes.

“We were told this is the first time anyone has done this kind of post-election analysis in the County,” Gamble told MacIver News. “it just floored me to discover they don’t conduct routine quality control checks like this after the election.”

Some of the examples highlighted in the report include:

  • In the City of Milwaukee, Dist 1, a voter used only a magazine subscription invoice as proof of residence, then vouched for someone else’s residency.
  • 1,021 Election Day Registration forms in City of Milwaukee had the proof of residency left blank.
  • In Greenfield, a voter used their Ohio driver’s license and a passport as proof that they lived in Wisconsin. That same person then corroborated for someone else with the same last name and at the same address, who also only a had passport.
  • A voter used a Traffic Citation from the State of Illinois to prove Wisconsin Residency.
  • Several citizens moved to Milwaukee County and registered to vote using out of state drivers licenses for proof of residency. There is nothing on the registration form to indicate the Poll Worker saw anything else to substantiate the residency requirements.
  • Three individuals used hotel receipts to substantiate their proof of residency. Two also provided out of state drivers licenses and a third person used their military identification card to register and vote.
  • A citizen registered once using their WI Drivers License then returned to the polling location some time later and registered a second time using a utility bill. In both cases, this person voted. It was not caught by the municipality during their review of forms to update the state Voter Registration System. However, we turned this information over to the Milwaukee County District Attorney office.
  • Numerous citizens completed their voter registration forms and there was no indication that the Poll Worker verified the eligibility or identity of the person registering to vote.
  • Numerous corroborators failed to list their address on the registration form as required.

The researchers also found that more than 94 percent of all Election Day Registrants possessed an official photo identification, which although not a requirement in 2011, will be a requirement of voters from now on thanks to a new law passed last year.

The Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty is a nonpartisan 501(c)4 non-profit organization.

Share
Tags:
Posted in News | January 11, 2012 | | 19 Comments

Statewide Recall Costs Could Top $9 Million, GAB Says

MacIver News Service | January 6, 2012

[Madison, Wisc…] If there is a statewide recall election this year, it could cost Wisconsin taxpayers more than $9 million according to a new report issued Friday.

State Representative Robin Vos (R-Rochester) requested the information from the Government Accountability Board. The GAB memo was sent to Vos this afternoon.

“It’s about time taxpayers learned the cost of these unnecessary recall elections,” said Vos.”The citizens of Wisconsin should have known the estimated cost on local governments before a single petition was circulated.”

The figures released does not account for possible primary elections which would drive up the costs significantly by the millions.

“Is this how they want their valuable taxpayer dollars spent?” asked Vos. “At time when local government budgets are very tight, this will have a dramatic impact on the dollars that pay for our streets to be plowed and our neighborhoods to be protected by police and fire departments.”

To obtain the results, GAB staff solicited municipal and county election officials via an online survey. All 72 counties and more than 92 percent of the 1,850 municipalities in Wisconsin responded to the survey.

“The cost of the recalls is more than the funding for 12 state agencies,” said State Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills). “Every dollar of taxpayer money wasted on this recall is a dollar that can’t be invested in job creation, tax relief or hiring new teachers.”

Vos and Darling are co-chairs of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance.

“There have been very few successful gubernatorial recall elections in the history of our country. I have no doubt in my mind that this one will be unsuccessful as well,” said Vos. “The real results of the statewide recall election will be a financial drain on our local governments and an emotional drain on our electorate. The recalls are not healthy for our state.”

Vos is the author of a proposed constitutional amendment that would require petitioners give a specific reason – such as a criminal conviction or ethics violation – before mounting a recall effort.

“I’m currently working toward ending such a waste of taxpayer dollars,” Vos said. “While my efforts will not impact any recall election this year, we must seriously consider preventing any recalls in our state’s future.”

See the GAB memo to Rep. Vos.

Share
Tags: , ,
Posted in News | January 6, 2012 | | 3 Comments

Records Show Few People Actually Complained About Waukesha School Board Member’s Participation in Political Ad

MacIver News Service | December 29, 2011

[Waukesha, Wisc...] Despite the media attention it received, less than two dozen people contacted Waukesha School Board to complain about a member’s appearance in a political ad, the MacIver News Service has learned

Only 22 people contacted the Waukesha School Board and District about a board member’s appearance in a Governor Walker ad, and many of them were not Waukesha residents according to information gleaned from an open records request filed by the MacIver News Service.

The ad featured a woman named “Karin,” who was identified as a “School Board Member.” She talked about how changes to collective bargaining helped her district balance its budget.

Gov. Walker Television Commercial

Critics later discovered the person in the ad was Karin Rajnicek, a member of the Waukesha School Board. Some of her fellow board members publicly revealed their displeasure with Rajnicek’s participation in the Walker campaign.

On November 29, the school board’s policy committee discussed the ad. The committee consists of Rajnicek and her fellow board members Ellen Langill, and Barbara Brzenk.

Langill demanded a public apology from Rajnicek for breaking a Waukesha School Board policy (Number 8300) that states board members may not represent the school board without permission. Rajnicek did not apologize.

At the time of that meeting, the district had received ten to 12 complaints.  (Two complaints did not include any identifying information or date). Only four were from Waukesha residents, and three of them were former teachers or education professionals. One of the complaints was from a lawyer in San Francisco.

“You’re a joke.  Do you feel better now that you got paid OFF a hefty, hefty sum to appear in a bogus, misinformation campaign ad for a sociopath, totally irresponsible, environmentally-decimating governor who’s about to be recalled?”  Dana Hanaman, the San Francisco attorney wrote. “Soon YOU won’t have any clean water to drink or air to breathe, and your children WILL be dumber than rocks and without any jobs. BEWARE. Just remember…what comes around, goes around.”

Rajnicek notes she was not compensated to appear in the commercial.

A person named Jay Mielke wrote, “You are a WALKER TOOL.”

Patty Barrett, a Waukesha resident, wrote “as a newly elected board member, I believe you had no business presenting yourself as such an expert on the financial situation of our district.”

Eileen Potts Dawson, from Madison, wrote, “It feels like a betrayal for your board to remain silent if there are some of you who know that what she states in the ad does not reflect what has happened.”

“School board members are suppose to be impartial and work for the school district,” Amy Bedessem, from Pardeeville, wrote the superintendent’s office. “How have the cuts helped your school? Why is she still on this board? Her ad is misleading and is creating a bad name for Waukesha Schools. Please do something about this woman.”

In an interview with the MacIver News Service, Rajnicek noted that nowhere in the ad was she identified as speaking for the district and that in all subsequent media releases from the Walker campaign, it was to be made clear that she was offering her personal opinion only.

After the November 29 meeting and the subsequent media attention it received, the District only received emails from another ten people about the ad and seven of them supported Rajnicek. Six of the emails were from Waukesha residents; of those, four supported Rajnicek and two criticized her.

Robert Kohl, Waukesha resident, wrote “As a citizen and a taxpayer of Waukesha school district, I will not tolerate the constant drumbeat of harassment that seems to greet anyone who supports Gov. Walker.”

Chad Vendette, Waukesha resident, wrote “They may think you do not speak for them, but I can assure you Ms. Rajnicek, you DO speak for us, the Taxpayers of Waukesha County.”

Kurt Burie, another Waukesha resident, wrote “Based on your attempt to admonish Mrs. Rajnicek for her support of Gov. Walker, I will assume that you are against the collective bargaining reforms so I will not be voting for you in the next election.”

Of all the 22 people who contacted the district about the ad ,only ten were from Waukesha. Fifteen of the letters were critical of Rajnicek, seven of those were from teachers/educators.

In November the Waukesha Patch reported “Langill and Brzenk said after the meeting that they, along with other board members, have received calls, letters and emails about Rajnicek’s appearance in the video.”

Langill did not produce any evidence that she was contacted by anyone about the ad, in spite of the legal implications of the open records request. That may not be surprising because, unlike most of her fellow board members, her email address is not listed on the district’s website.  She did not return a phone call from the MNS seeking to clarify her comments.

We will update this story as events warrant.

The transcript of the ad:

Karin, School Board Member:  We were worried when the state budget was going to mean less money for our school district, and we have 25 schools.  But Governor Walker gave us options that reduced our biggest costs so that we could put more money back into our classrooms.”

Gov. Walker:  ”I’m committed to working together to create more jobs, to improve our schools, and to protect our seniors.  You know, Wisconsin’s best days are yet to come.  It won’t happen overnight, but we are on our way.”

Share
Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in News | December 29, 2011 | | 4 Comments

MacIver Responds to PolitiFact

“As you may have noticed, PolitiFact tried to take the MacIver News Service to task over our reporting of a recent meeting of the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB). Specifically, they rated as “Mostly False” our report on the recall signature submission, review, challenge and certification processes as outlined at a GAB hearing earlier this week. Despite PolitiFact’s subjective analysis, I stand by our story.

“Go ahead, watch the video and decide for yourself. As you will clearly see, the Mickey Mouse/Hitler signature acceptance question was posed by a member of the GAB and answered by GAB staff at their hearing on December 13th. The GAB staff clearly states that as long as signatures are accompanied by the proper date and a plausible Wisconsin address, they are deemed acceptable, pending the outcome of any possible challenge. All we did was record the sequence and broadcast it to the world.

“The GAB explained that unless a successful challenge is mounted, all signatures, including those such as those of Mickey Mouse or Hitler, which are accompanied by an accurate date and a plausible Wisconsin address, WOULD be accepted if admitted by the recallers.

“I find it disappointing that the paper would specifically criticize our reporting, even though the AP and scores of other media outlets ran a similar story. Yet they ignored the underlying fundamental question; how can the GAB, the government agency entrusted to protect the sanctity of Wisconsin elections, not automatically strike obviously fraudulent signatures like Adolph Hitler or Mickey Mouse? It defies common sense–and judging by the intense reaction our story has generated, it has touched a nerve. Many Wisconsinites are asking if one of their most fundamental rights, their ability to cast a vote just like every other citizen in an orderly election free of manipulation, is in jeopardy.

“One organization has already promoted the notion it is ok to sign a petition more than once. WISN Channel 12 TV in Milwaukee broadcast an interview with a gentleman who said he signed “probably eighty times.” The GAB has said Adolph Hitler with a plausible Wisconsin address will be presumed valid.

“This would be truly comical if it weren’t so important.

“I stand by our reporting and our story. While the paper and the GAB may choose to ignore the problem, the MacIver News Service will continue to pursue the issue election fraud and report what we find.”

Brett Healy, President
The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy

See the original text story, here.

Watch the original video:

Read the PolitiFact opinion piece, here.

Share
Tags: , , ,
Posted in mi perspectives | December 19, 2011 | | 6 Comments

Nonpartisan? When headline refers to Republican Senator as ‘Crazy,’ GAB Staffer Tweets “OMG! Headline winner…”

MacIver News Service | December 16, 2011

GAB's Buerger

[Madison, Wisc...] The same employee who admitted the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board would deem all recall signatures valid, even if they were signed Mickey Mouse or Adolf Hitler, has engaged in online activity that could lead some to question his impartiality.

David Buerger, an elections specialist with the GAB used his Twitter account to praise a blog posting wherein Republican State Senator Mary Lazich was called “Crazy Mary.”

“OMG! Headline winner…” Buerger tweeted last month, and then included a link to the blog post.

Just this week Buerger linked to a story about the two-year long investigation by the Democratic District Attorney in Milwaukee that may or may not involve the activities of Scott Walker’s Milwaukee County Executive staff.

“Ruh-roh… John Doe investigation on the move: ”

Last night, the Maciver Institute, whose twitter handle is @MacIverWisc, retweeted Buerger’s questionable missives.  This brought an immediate reaction from the elections specialist.

Buerger, who uses the Twitter handle @buergd, later blocked the MacIver Institute fro accessing his twitter feed. He does note in his twitter profile that, “My opinions are my own (not G.A.B. official).”

When concerns were raised over the screening process of the 50 temporary workers the  intends to hire to process the recall petitions, it was Buerger who assured GAB Board members that temporary workers would be vetted by GAB staff to make sure concealed zealots would not be hired.

Buerger can be seen in this video report MacIver News filed earlier this week after the GAB’s most recent hearing:

Share
Tags: , ,
Posted in News | December 16, 2011 | | 7 Comments
« Older Entries
  • Print
  • Email This Post Email This Post
  • Share

Recent Posts


MacIver on facebook @MacIverWisc on twitter MacIver Youtube channel subscribe