The freak show will continue, but it’s over.
About the only people who will keep propping up the freak of the week against Romney will be the press corps(e) because they hate Mitt Romney, and because it sells newspapers.
Seriously though, why does the mainstream political media sound like a bunch of junior high school girls slamming other girls over their shoe choices.
Republican lawmakers said Tuesday they believe they have no power to make changes to election maps they approved last summer, inserting new questions into fast-changing litigation over those maps.
A trial over those maps began with a surprise Tuesday, when the presiding judge told the attorneys to confer with top legislative leaders and others to consider redrawing the maps taking into account legal challenges from Democrats and Latinos.
After a day of consultation, an attorney for the state told the three federal judges that top Republicans were willing to consider making changes to the maps but believed a 1954 opinion by the state Supreme Court prevented them from doing so. The attorney, Dan Kelly, said the state’s high court had found lawmakers can make changes to the maps just once a decade.
Two groups suing the state disagree and say the Legislature still has the ability to make changes.
Tuesday’s developments left numerous questions in place – including when the trial may continue in earnest. The presiding judge told the attorneys to be available Wednesday to return to court with 45 minutes notice, but made clear the court may rule only on the relatively narrow issue of the extent to which an attorney for the Legislature would have to later testify.
The panel – which includes two judges appointed by Republican presidents and one appointed by a Democratic president – has repeatedly criticized Republican lawmakers in written orders for their secretive process for drawing the maps.
On Tuesday, presiding Judge J.P. Stadtmueller did the same shortly after hearing that attorneys for the legislators had released a new batch of emails Friday that they had not previously disclosed they had. The release of emails came a day after the court had ordered the lawmakers’ attorneys to make public a separate group of emails.
“The facts are the facts and what has occurred here is beyond the pale in terms of lack of transparency (and) secrecy,” Stadtmueller said. “Appearances are everything and Wisconsin has prided itself one generation after another on openness and fairness in doing the right thing. And to be frank we have seen everything but that in the way this case has proceeded.”
Almost all lawmakers signed secrecy agreements about the maps and they tried repeatedly to prevent their aides from having to testify or produce documents. Those attempts were unsuccessful, and last month the panel ordered the Republicans’ attorneys to pay the other side $17,500 for filing frivolous motions.
Here’s a hint to the Republicans in the WI legislature and their attorneys: When the judges demand the testimony of one your counsels, and fine your attorneys 17½ grand, your prospects are not good.
When you have pissed off the judges this much, Clarence Darrow couldn’t help you.
So, Mitt Romney won by a couple of hundred votes, and the Maine Republican Party said that this was the end of the matter.
The problem was that there were a number of (Ron Paul trending) town caucuses in Maine that were not counted, as well as all of Washington County, which delayed the vote because of a snow storm.
So, after a rising crescendo of coverage of the irregularities, they are now apparently conducting a recount, as well as allowing Washington County to conduct its vote tomorrow:
The Maine Republican Party has reversed course and will recommend that delayed caucus results from Washington County be included in its final presidential poll tally. The party also is reconfirming results from local caucuses in the wake of the recent controversy over how its presidential caucuses were handled.
“The results of the Washington County caucus will be reviewed at the March 10 Republican State Committee meeting,” Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster said in a prepared statement approved by the state party’s executive committee.
Note that March 10 is after Super Tuesday, so the effect of a Romney “win” turning into a loss won’t hit the media narrative until after he’s probably made his nomination a near mathematical lock.
This has happened twice now, so I think that the tinfoil hat explanation is gaining credence.
And it’s looking to be a blowout, with a 15%+ margin, and nearly half of all the votes.
It comes down to a few things:
And, of course, he had a money and organization advantage.
The only question now is just how crazy this makes Newt.
I fully expect Newt’s head explode in the next few debates.
The good news is that some of his former staffers are facing more charges:
A new round of criminal charges is coming soon against at least a couple of Gov. Scott Walker’s former county staffers for doing extensive campaign activity while on the taxpayers’ dime, sources say.
The charges – which should be filed by District Attorney John Chisholm’s office in the next week or two – will be part of the long-running John Doe investigation of Walker’s aides and associates during his tenure as Milwaukee County executive.
Already, the probe has led to multiple felony charges against Walker’s onetime deputy chief of staff, Tim Russell, and former county veterans official Kevin Kavanaugh. They are accused of taking more than $60,000 in donations intended for Operation Freedom, an annual event at the county zoo for veterans and their families.
Russell’s domestic partner, Brian Pierick, was also hit with two felony counts for child enticement.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that under Wisconsin law, until a date is set for the recall election, Walker has no limits to his fund raising, and the Koch suckers have been showering him with money:
The Walker campaign announced on Tuesday that he raised $4.5 million in just the period from December 11 through Jan 17, and has over $2.6 million on hand. In all, he has raised $12 million since January 1, 2011.
“Governor Walker’s message of moving Wisconsin forward continues to resonate with voters,” said communications director Ciara Matthews. “It is this message, and the success of the governor’s reforms, that have inspired people to contribute to his campaign in overwhelming numbers. These donations will allow us to fight back against this baseless recall and ensure Governor Walker can continue to lay the foundation for a more successful Wisconsin and keep government working on the side of taxpayers.”
The press release notes that the donations came from a total of 21,443 contributions, including 16,406 of contributions of $50 or less. But under the surface, it becomes clear that Walker has been taking advantage of a key aspect of the state fundraising law for recalls — that until the election is officially triggered, the targeted incumbent can bring in unlimited donations.
That’s a f%$# load of money. It’s like $2½ for each man, woman, and child in the badger state.
The optimist in me hopes that the money wont matter. The pessimist in me …………
Warren and Brown are jockeying back and forth on the best method of keeping outside groups out of their race. Here’s a novel concept: Both candidates could just buy up all the television air time themselves. After all, based on their ludicrous fundraising pace, it looks like they’ll be able to afford it.
—Reid Wilson upon observing that Elizabeth Warren had a 24-hour money bomb that raised over $1 million
They turned in the petitions for his recall. They needed 540,208, and were hoping for about 750K.
They got more than one million!
That’s more than ¼ of all registered voters.
The wind is blowing in from Wisconsin, and I smell toast ………… My bad that’s Scott Walker, who smells a lot like toast right now.
BTW, it’s not just Walker”
Democrats and union members also collected about 850,000 signatures to recall Republican Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and 20,600 names to recall [Republican] Senator [Leader] Scott Fitzgerald, about 4,200 more than necessary. Also targeted are Senators Pam Galloway, Terry Moulton and Van Wanggaard.
So, where was the Governor when this was all going on? He was in New York, raising money with Maurice “Hank” Greenberg at a $2500 a plate fundraiser.
Why was he raising large chunks of out of state cash from one of the prime architects of the AIG fiasco, whose bailout continues to cost taxpayers billions of dollars?
Why because those pesky lefties are flooding Wisconsin with masses of out of state dirty money.
Who says irony is dead?
On the Congressional side.
First, in Maryland’s 4th district, Donna Edwards will be running unopposed in the primary, former PG County States Attorney (DA) Glenn Ivey declined to run, which basically means that she will be reelected.
The primary was actually a matter of some concern, because the redistricting moved a lot of Montgomery County was moved out, and a lot Anne Arundel county moved in.
Because AA county is more Republican, it meant that PG County, and the (largely corrupt) PG County machine had a lot more influence over any primary contest, and Edwards is not a their friend, having taken down their golden boy, the then-incumbent Al Wynn in 2008.
Not only is she honest, but she is an unabashed liberal, so 2 snaps up.
Additionally, in the Massachusetts Senate race, Elizabeth Warren out-raised Scott Brown in 2011, $8.9 million for the year and $5.7 million for the quarter as versus $8.7 million and $3.2 million, though Brown still has about twice her cash on hand, $12.8 million versus $6 million.
Considering the fact that Brown is Wall Street’s favorite Senate candidate, this is surprising, and welcome, news.
First, it looks like they will deliver something like ¾ of a million signatures to recall him, about a 50% buffer, some time next week.
What’s more it looks like a major scandal is brewing, we could see major revelations just in time for the recall elections.
First, we have 3 of his aids accused of embezzling from a veterans charity, and one of them was tied to his room mate’s trolling for child sex.
And finally, his 2010 campaign is charged with over 1,000 violations of campaign finance law, and faces over $½ million dollars in fines.
Pass the popcorn.
Basically, Huntsman needed to come in 2nd place, and he’s a distant third:
Mitt Romney swept to victory in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, turning back a ferocious assault from rivals who sought to disqualify him in the eyes of conservatives, in a contest that failed to anoint a strong opponent to slow his march to the Republican nomination.
Mr. Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, won by a double-digit margin, a validation of his strategy to use his neighboring state to cement his standing as the front-runner. The candidates who had hoped to use the primary to emerge as his leading rival fared poorly, leaving a fractured Republican opposition.
“Tonight we celebrate. Tomorrow we go back to work,” said Mr. Romney, who strode into his victory party at Southern New Hampshire University less than 30 minutes after the final polls closed to present himself as the candidate to beat for the Republican nomination.
Representative Ron Paul of Texas, whose candidacy has never concerned Mr. Romney, finished second. Former Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. of Utah, who staked his entire campaign here, placed a distant third but pledged to fight on.
A week after winning the Iowa caucuses by just eight votes, Mr. Romney pieced together a coalition of moderate and conservative voters. The margin was more comfortable than commanding, but he will benefit handsomely by having five rivals still competing against one another to emerge as his main opponent as the race moves to South Carolina.
So, it’s now Mitt’s race to lose:
What will be fun is watching Newt going after Mitt for being a successful capitalist while the Frothy Mixture and Perry compete for the Neanderthal vote, which is big in the Palmetto State ‘Phant primary.
The only question now is whether Perry of Santorum gets outed in an airport bathroom first.
That’s one Elizabeth Warren, and she looks like she is enjoying herself.
This is a big change from Martha Coakley’s infamous quote, “As opposed to standing outside Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?”
It’s why she’s leading Scott Brown by 7% in the polls right now.
I’m just hoping that she can sustain the inevitable assault from the ‘Phant slime machine.
They are still tabulating votes in Iowa, and it’s too close to call between Romney and Santorum,with Paul being a close 3rd:
Returns from 1,703 of 1,774 precincts showed Santorum with 24.6 percent, Romney with 24.5 percent and Paul with 21.3 percent. Santorum had 29,046 votes, Romney 28,928 and Paul 25,121.
It’s pretty clear that, no matter how it turns out, Mitt wins this.
Rick “The Frothy Mixture” Santorum has no funds and no organization, and he won’t play well in New Hampshire, and Ron Paul is … Ron Paul, so it’s now Mitt’s race to lose, regardless of how the next few thousand votes break.
Romney needed to lose, and lose big for someone to be in a real position to challenge him.
Then again, considering my record of prognostication…………
Senator Ben Nelson (DINO-Nebraska) is retiring.
This man has been a cancer on the Democratic caucus in the Senate for two terms, all while being adored by the morally bankrupt Washington punditocracy.
That being said, all is not well, as there is even more intense wankeritude in the wings, “Bob Kerrey, a former Democratic senator from Nebraska, had also been mentioned on political blogs as a possible candidate if Nelson retired.”
Blah.
With over a month to go to gather signatures to recall him, the petition drive has already collected 97% of the signatures required:
Organizers of an effort to kick Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker out of office said Thursday they’ve collected nearly enough signatures to force a recall election, though their financial backing is far behind the Republican governor’s fundraising.
The state Democratic Party, unions and disgruntled citizens started organizing amid growing anger over Walker’s polarizing measure approved in March that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for public workers. Now, the United Wisconsin coalition reports that it collected 507,533 in 28 days; the group must submit 540,208 signatures by Jan. 17 to force the recall.
“The people of Wisconsin have said enough is enough,” Democratic Party chairman Mike Tate said.
But the coalition and Democrats have raised roughly $1.4 million since July, compared to the $5.1 million that Walker raised over the same period, according to reports from both sides Thursday.
Of course, Walker’s response is to try to tie it up in the courts, and he and the ‘Phants in the legislature are trying to replace the nonpartisan Government Accountability Board with lapdogs as well.
Oh, and did I mention that state senate leader is attempting to make signing a recall petition a possible cause for a felony investigation as well? (2nd link)
You know, I think that the protestations of Walker and his bully-boys that the voters will reject the idea of recalling them are ringing awfully hollow.
Rob Zerban. (see Matthew Saroff’s Act Blue Page)
He’s running against everyone’s favorite Randroid nutjob, Paul “Let’s voucherize Medicare” Ryan, and a recent poll seems to show that he is vulnerable:
A prominent Democratic pollster is making the case that the party should invest in a challenge to Rep. Paul Ryan, the architect of the conservative House budget plan.
Pollster Paul Maslin’s survey of 405 likely voters “shows that challenger Rob Zerban is well-positioned to give incumbent Paul Ryan the toughest fight of his career, with a very good chance to upset him,” Maslin wrote in a memo.
A serious campaign against Ryan is a tempting prospects for Democrats hoping to restore the third-rail status of the major entitlement programs Ryan would dramatically alter; it would be a massively expensive effort on both sides in a state, Wisconsin, that has been the center of the ideological combat of the last year.
The survey found the district, the Wisconsin First, evenly divided on partisan issues — both President Obama and Governor Scott Walker have even approval and disapproval ratings
According to the memo, the late October and early November poll found a deep dislike of Congress in general that is spilling over onto Ryan
Here’s hoping that he raises some good money, because if the Democratic Party apparatus, particularly the DNC under Tim Kaine, is true to form, they aren’t going to support him at all, but will instead blow their money on conservadems on solidly Democratic districts.
First, in an exercise of profound wankitude, Scott Walker is attempting to charge people a lot of money to protest against him:
Gov. Scott Walker’s administration could hold demonstrators at the Capitol liable for the cost of extra police or cleanup and repairs after protests, under a new policy unveiled Thursday.
The rules, which several legal experts said raised serious free speech concerns, seemed likely to add to the controversy that has simmered all year over demonstrations in the state’s seat of government.
The policy, which also requires permits for events at the statehouse and other state buildings, took effect Thursday and will be phased in by Dec. 16. Walker administration officials contend the policy simply clarifies existing rules.
State law already says public officials may issue permits for the use of state facilities, and applicants “shall be liable to the state . . . for any expense arising out of any such use and for such sum as the managing authority may charge for such use.”
But Edward Fallone, an associate professor at Marquette University Law School, said the possibility of charging demonstrators for police costs might be problematic because some groups might not be able to afford to pay.
“I’m a little skeptical about charging people to express their First Amendment opinion,” he said. “You can’t really put a price tag on the First Amendment.”
Well, it seems like Scott Walker does think that you can put a price tag on the First Amendment.
In somewhat less depressing news, there has been the first arrest made in the so called “John Doe” investigation, a realtor who refused to testify, because his grant of immunity would not be secret, even though the court proceedings were.
So it appears that he was more concerned about someone getting to him, and his family, than he was of the prosecutor.
The weird thing is that this is supposed to be an investigation of some of Scott’s staffers … wait for it … making politically motivated blog comments while on the state clock.
I don’t know what is going on here, but I do know that you don’t haul witnesses before a grand jury with a gag order, and you don’t arrest them for lack of cooperation, over a case of some staffers politicking on the job.
Here’s hoping that we start seeing indictments in the middle of the recall campaign.
Also, in the “there are a few good guys out there, but here is one, department,” the ACLU is suing Scotty over his voter suppression efforts:
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the State of Wisconsin on Tuesday over a new law requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification, charging that the measure violates the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit says that the state is infringing on some citizens’ right to vote and to be treated equally under the law and amounts to a kind of poll tax on voters who lack the documents needed to get an approved ID.
Republican lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker, who is named in the lawsuit along with a long list of other state officials, have said they believe the measure will withstand a court challenge.
The action came Tuesday ahead of a scheduled speech by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in which he vowed to enforce civil rights protections amid a flurry of voter ID laws recently passed around the country. The Wisconsin lawsuit was filed in federal court in Milwaukee by the national ACLU and its Wisconsin affiliate and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty on behalf of a group of senior citizens, minorities and homeless residents.
“This lawsuit is the opening act in what will be a long struggle to undo the damage done to the right to vote by strict photo ID laws and other voter suppression measures,” said Jon Sherman, an attorney with the ACLU Voting Rights Project.
With a 5-4 advantage of conservatives in the Supreme court, and the fact that all 5 are political hacks, I don’t think that the Supreme court will end up doing the non-corrupt thing, but at least we should see an injunction for the next election cycle or two.
This referring to the conviction of “Bad Hair Bob” Erhlich’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign manager of attempted vote fraud:
Paul E. Schurick, the 2010 campaign manager for former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., was convicted Tuesday by a Baltimore jury of four counts stemming from a robocall that prosecutors said was intended to suppress the black vote.
The call, which Schurick acknowledged authorizing, was placed on Election Day to 112,000 voters in Baltimore and Prince George’s County, the state’s two largest majority-African American jurisdictions. Recipients were told by an unidentified woman that they could “relax” because Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) had been successful.
The guilty verdict not only sullied the three-decade career of one of Maryland’s best-known political operatives, it also served as a major embarrassment for Ehrlich, the state’s only Republican governor in a generation.
Although prosecutors have never suggested that Ehrlich approved the calls, he is pushing a new book that draws anecdotes from his four years in Annapolis and contends his failed comeback bid last year was “swamped” by the black vote.
The jury convicted Schurick — who got his start in politics working for Democrats — of trying to influence votes through fraud, failing to identify the source of the call as required by law and two counts of conspiracy to commit those crimes.
Schurick’s defense argued during the week-long trial that he relied on the judgment of a campaign consultant hired to reach out to black voters, who said the calls would make use of “reverse psychology” and motivate potential Ehrlich supporters to go to the polls.
This is where it gets interesting, because now that prosecutors have gotten a conviction, people are going to start thinking about rolling over.
While I think that prosecutors are probably right when they say that, “prosecutors have never suggested that Ehrlich approved the calls,” after all, when you break the law, you make sure that the candidate has no direct knowledge of it.
That being said, I think that he had to know that the central pillar of his campaign was suppressing the black vote, and he had to know that, and I’m hoping that this come out at trial.
He is citing redistricting as the reason for this:
US Representative Barney Frank, the state’s highest-profile congressman and one of the nation’s leading liberal voices after being among its first openly gay elected officials, announced today that he will not seek reelection next year.
The Newton Democrat faced the prospect of a bruising reelection campaign next year after surviving a brutal battle in 2010. He also would have run in an altered district that retained his Newton stronghold but encompassed more conservative towns like Walpole.
The PV on the new district was about +10 PV for the Dems, as opposed to about +18 PV in the old one, so the idea of a “bruising” reelection campaign is a joke.
I will take him at his word, that redistricting was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but I also think that it is also an indication of the fact that he does not believe that Democrats will take back the house in 2012, and I also get the sense that he is sick and tired of fighting the Obama administration over financial regulation, where his own admittedly weak tea is watered down.
I’ll miss him.
The Arizona Supreme court has overturned the removal of the head of the Arizona independent redistricting panel:
The Arizona Supreme Court on Thursday rebuffed Gov. Jan Brewer’s efforts to remake the state panel that draws political maps by reinstating the chairwoman Brewer recently ousted.
The court ruled that Brewer’s letter removing Colleen Mathis from the panel fell short in showing “substantial neglect of duty” or “gross misconduct,” as state law requires, the Arizona Republic reported. A Brewer spokesman told the paper that the Republican governor “strongly disagrees” with the decision and was considering her next step.
The once-a-decade map-making, though somewhat technical and arcane, can help cement a political party’s grasp on power for several election cycles. While redistricting often results in political battles, the one unfolding in Arizona has been particularly brutal.
In 2000, Arizona voters approved a ballot measure that made redistricting the responsibility of a panel composed of two Democrats, two Republicans and an independent chair, which was supposed to tamp down partisan warfare. (This year, California’s political lines were drawn for the first time by a similar independent panel.)
What the court basically said was that the governor had to actually show neglect of duty or misconduct, and not just because “I said so.”
The head of the panel, as per the law, has to be an independent, and it appears that the ‘Phants objections consist of the fact that she is married to a Democrat, and that the proposals for a map are too “fair and balanced.”
I have not doubt that the Republicans will take a 2nd bite at this apple, and probably a 3rd bite as the apple, as they attempt to trump up charges that can pass a court’s smell test.
I think that we are going to see court drawn districts in Arizona.
I’m not sure if the Banksters have signed off on a disinformation, disruption, and infiltration program against Occupy Wall Street, but a a prominent Washington lobbying firm is trying to sell it to them:
A well-known Washington lobbying firm with links to the financial industry has proposed an $850,000 plan to take on Occupy Wall Street and politicians who might express sympathy for the protests, according to a memo obtained by the MSNBC program “Up w/ Chris Hayes.”
The proposal was written on the letterhead of the lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford and addressed to one of CLGC’s clients, the American Bankers Association.
CLGC’s memo proposes that the ABA pay CLGC $850,000 to conduct “opposition research” on Occupy Wall Street in order to construct “negative narratives” about the protests and allied politicians. The memo also asserts that Democratic victories in 2012 would be detrimental for Wall Street and targets specific races in which it says Wall Street would benefit by electing Republicans instead.
According to the memo, if Democrats embrace OWS, “This would mean more than just short-term political discomfort for Wall Street. … It has the potential to have very long-lasting political, policy and financial impacts on the companies in the center of the bullseye.”
The memo also suggests that Democratic victories in 2012 should not be the ABA’s biggest concern. “… (T)he bigger concern,” the memo says, “should be that Republicans will no longer defend Wall Street companies.”
It’s amusing, but it’s not time for a happy dance.
The thing to remember, and Chris Hayes is clear on this in the vid, is that this memo is just one pitch at creating a CoIntelPro type program, even if the American Bankers Association turned down this proposal.
There are dozens, if not hundreds of similar proposals in the works, and people who are trying to find someone obscenely rich mother f%$#er to bankroll them, so you have to figure that there are similar programs in process.
We are, after all, juxtaposing unconscionable levels of wealth with a sense of entitlement, and that’s a toxic brew.