Boots & Sabers

The blogging will continue until morale improves...

Category: Politics – Wisconsin

Leftist criminal justice policies are killing us

Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News earlier this week. Sorry about the lack of posting this week. It’s been a busy time.

Eight minutes into a routine traffic stop for a suspected drunk driver, the suspect pulled out a gun and killed St. Croix County Sheriff’s Deputy Katie Leising. The 29-year-old new mother was the fourth officer murdered while on duty this year. At only five months into the year, it is already the deadliest year for police officers in 25 years.

 

The circumstances of Deputy Leising’s murder were eerily similar to the other three officers who were murdered this year. The suspect she was investigating was a multiple felon. Convicted for kidnapping and criminal sexual misconduct in 2015 in Minnesota, and with a long criminal record, he served just four years in prison before being released. With a history of violence and perhaps fearing another arrest, the suspect murdered Deputy Leising.

 

In April, Officers Emily Breidenbach and Hunter Scheel of the Chetek and Cameron Police Departments, respectively, confronted a suspect with an open warrant in a traffic stop. The suspect had a history of domestic violence and opened fire on the officers. Both of the officers were killed.

 

In February, Milwaukee Police Officer Peter Jerving was working with other officers to apprehend a robbery suspect. When they caught up to the suspect after a chase on foot, the suspect opened fire and killed officer Jerving. The suspect had a history of criminal behavior. In fact, the very week he killed officer Jerving, he had been sentenced for two counts of hit-and-run. He was sentenced to a scant four months, but the sentence was suspended meaning that he did not have to serve any time unless he violated his probation.

 

What’s going on? The increasing violence against law enforcement officers is a symptom of two sickening societal trends being driven by the political left.

 

The first trend is the intentional softening of our criminal justice system. With callous disregard for the victims of crime, the left has made a concerted effort in recent years to drive soft-on-crime policies while putting in place prosecutors, judges, and police leadership who use their positions to coddle criminals at every opportunity.

 

The left is so proud of their pro-crime positions that they are not shy about telling people. Gov. Tony Evers has a stated policy goal of halving the state’s prison population. The only way to do that is to let some criminals out early while preventing more from going in. Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform, the euphemism liberals use for soft-on-criminal policies. Chisholm’s “bail reform” initiative, which allows violent offenders to bail out of jail for little or no money, has led to criminals committing more crimes when they should have reasonably been in jail.

 

In each of the three incidents that led to the deaths of four officers this year, the murderers should have been in jail. We used to know that locking up violent criminals was the surest path to reducing crime. The left wants us to forget that fact, but the evidence is clear.

 

The second trend is the cultural contempt for police that the left is advocating. Every time there is a police-involved shooting, leftist politicians activists leap to blame the police and attack them with accusations of racism or misconduct before the guns have even cooled.

 

The left pushed the defund-the-police movement using rhetoric that the police were so fundamentally corrupt that they could not be reformed. They must be defunded and disbanded instead.

 

When leftist rioters burn down our cities, attack people, and occupy neighborhoods, leftist politicians and activists side with the rioters and prevent the police from keeping order.

 

Even with our children, the left teaches that police are inherently bad and corrupt. In the wake of the BLM movement, the Milwaukee Public Schools ejected all Milwaukee police officers from their schools and are boisterously rejecting Republican calls to let them return. How are Milwaukee’s public school kids supposed to respect police officers when they are being taught that the police are violent bigots?

 

The overall increase in crime driven by leftist policies, prosecutors and judges coupled with the leftist anti-police rhetoric is having the intended effect. More police officers are being murdered by violent criminals who no longer respect the police and should have been in jail anyway. The story of leftist rule is being written in blue and red.

More Rail in Wisconsin Could… Could Attract 250,000 New Passesngers

But at what cost?

MADISON – State transportation officials who want to expand Amtrak rail to Wisconsin’s population centers of Madison, Green Bay, Waukesha County and other communities project the move could attract about 250,000 new passengers to the trains within a decade and an additional 1.6 million by 2050.

 

The state Department of Transportation this week released a long-term plan for Wisconsin’s rail lines that includes the department’s vision for rail service in Wisconsin over the next three decades, including proposals to extend passenger rail to 11 new communities in Wisconsin that would connect the state’s capital and Milwaukee.

The first assumption that they don’t even bother to explain is that increasing rail passengers is a good thing. Is it? At best, it’s neutral, isn’t it? So some people who might prefer to take a train from Green Bay to Madison can do so instead of driving. So?

And what will that cost? Look at California… it ain’t cheap. So let’s say it will cost $20 Billion (probably low) to expand the passenger rail service so that someone can take a train from Wausau to Madison in 4 hours instead of driving it in 2. So we should spend $80,000 per ride to build that out?

Can we just accept that we like our cars and want to use our government resources to be used to make the roads better and stop making cars more expensive?

More spending is not the solution for bad governance

Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News earlier this week:

After lengthy, private discussions with legislative Democrats and local leaders, including the Democratic leaders of Milwaukee, the Republican leaders of the Legislature have released a comprehensive and intricate plan to reshape the state’s shared revenue program for decades to come. While the reasons for the effort are laudable, it perpetuates a political arrangement in which everybody wins except the taxpayers. It is a bill with fundamental flaws that should be rejected.

 

Shared revenue is a rather ridiculous Wisconsin state scheme where the state collects a bunch of sales and income taxes and then distributes much of it back to local governments with an archaic formula that nobody likes. This column has long advocated the abolishment of shared revenue in exchange for something far simpler, but there is too much power wrapped up in the distribution of shared revenue for its abolishment to be considered. This bill is a good example of that power being wielded.

 

The primary objectives of the Republicans’ bill, Assembly Bill 245, are threefold. First, it would provide the largest increase in shared revenue in decades in exchange for municipalities spending that money on law enforcement and first responders.

 

Second, it would allow the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County to ask the voters to raise the sales tax to pay for their unfunded pension liabilities in exchange for making all future employees join the well-managed state retirement system. Third, it would provide a huge incentive program for local governments who innovate by consolidating or combining services.

 

There are some other things in the bill that are good, like barring local health officials from closing businesses for more than 14 days without approval by elected governments, and allowing local governments a say when the state Stewardship Program decides to buy a slew of land and remove it from the tax rolls, but the grand bargain is more money if local governments do what elected state leaders want them to do.

 

The first bargain is that local government can get more money if they spend that money on law enforcement and first responders.

 

The problem with that bargain is that not every community needs more law enforcement. Some communities are declining in population or have overstaffed law enforcement agencies. The goal of this provision is to push back on the defund-the-police movement that has infected our liberal communities, but the solution in this bill would just have state taxpayers pumping money into local communities to pay for services that they have rejected.

 

The second bargain would allow Milwaukee city and County to ask the taxpayers to jack up sales taxes to pay for their unfunded pension liabilities. The problem the state legislators are trying to fix is that the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County have grossly mismanaged their pension obligations to the point that they are underfunded by $1.14 billion and $331 million, respectively. These pension obligations are malignant and starving the rest of their budgets of funding for vital services. The bargain would force these governments to stop making the problem worse by having new employees join the Wisconsin Retirement System and raise sales taxes to pay for the pensions.

 

The problem is that it is already within these local officials’ power to fix the problem by having new employees join the WRS. They have chosen not to do so. The proposed solution would result in a huge tax increase on city and county residents with absolutely no increased benefit to them. Once again, the taxpayers would bear the burden of decades of political mismanagement.

 

The third bargain would create a $300 million slush fund for local governments to do what they should already be doing — looking for ways to consolidate and economize services for the benefit of their citizens. Some local governments have already been progressive in this regard, but the additional money would only go to the laggards. Furthermore, if consolidating and economizing a government service results in efficiencies, why would the taxpayers pay more money for it?

 

Republican legislators are attempting to force local government leaders to do the things that they should already be doing by incentivizing them with more money to spend. This is a government solution, for government, by government. Experience tells us that the restrictions and covenants will eventually be eroded or circumvented, but the spending will remain forevermore. There is nothing so eternal as a government spending program.

 

Necessity is the mother of invention. As long as the state taxpayers keep bailing out the bad decisions of local government leaders, they will continue to make bad decisions.

More spending is not the solution for bad governance

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part:

After lengthy, private discussions with legislative Democrats and local leaders, including the Democratic leaders of Milwaukee, the Republican leaders of the Legislature have released a comprehensive and intricate plan to reshape the state’s shared revenue program for decades to come. While the reasons for the effort are laudable, it perpetuates a political arrangement in which everybody wins except the taxpayers. It is a bill with fundamental flaws that should be rejected.

 

Shared revenue is a rather ridiculous Wisconsin state scheme where the state collects a bunch of sales and income taxes and then distributes much of it back to local governments with an archaic formula that nobody likes. This column has long advocated the abolishment of shared revenue in exchange for something far simpler, but there is too much power wrapped up in the distribution of shared revenue for its abolishment to be considered. This bill is a good example of that power being wielded.

 

The primary objectives of the Republicans’ bill, Assembly Bill 245, are threefold. First, it would provide the largest increase in shared revenue in decades in exchange for municipalities spending that money on law enforcement and first responders.

 

Second, it would allow the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County to ask the voters to raise the sales tax to pay for their unfunded pension liabilities in exchange for making all future employees join the well-managed state retirement system. Third, it would provide a huge incentive program for local governments who innovate by consolidating or combining services.

 

There are some other things in the bill that are good, like barring local health officials from closing businesses for more than 14 days without approval by elected governments, and allowing local governments a say when the state Stewardship Program decides to buy a slew of land and remove it from the tax rolls, but the grand bargain is more money if local governments do what elected state leaders want them to do.

 

[…]

 

Republican legislators are attempting to force local government leaders to do the things that they should already be doing by incentivizing them with more money to spend. This is a government solution, for government, by government. Experience tells us that the restrictions and covenants will eventually be eroded or circumvented, but the spending will remain forevermore. There is nothing so eternal as a government spending program.

Republicans Set Conditions for Increased Funding

I part ways with the Republicans on this one. The data is clear that more money will not result in better educational outcomes – especially in MPS. Don’t give them any more money. The leftist educrats will drop or circumvent the requirements as soon as they can, but the increased spending is eternal. Starve the beast.

Furthermore, whether or not a district uses police, private security, arms staff, or other security measures seems to me to be a strictly local concern.

State lawmakers could force Milwaukee Public Schools to have at least 25 Milwaukee police officers stationed in its buildings under a provision tucked into a sweeping bill that could increase funding for local governments.

 

The district had cut its last contracts with Milwaukee police in summer 2020, as racial justice protests landed outside MPS offices. School board members have stood by that decision, but lawmakers could go over their heads.

 

While previous attempts by lawmakers to require school districts to hire police officers have been subject to veto by the governor, this one could be harder for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to block if he wants to pass the whole bundle of proposals in the same bill. Evers’ spokesperson has not replied to questions from the Journal Sentinel about the plan.

 

Evers would not be allowed to use his partial-veto power on this bill if it lands on his desk, according to Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Director Richard Champagne. On bills that spend public funds, Evers is allowed to use a partial veto, crossing out only certain parts of it. But Champagne said this bill does not qualify as an appropriations bill, and Evers would only be allowed to veto it in full.

 

The bill, released by state Assembly leaders Tuesday, could still change as it moves through the Legislature. It includes a range of other measures, including allowing the city of Milwaukee to levy a sales tax if approved by referendum.

 

[…]

 

MPS stopped using school resource officers in its buildings in 2016 in response to complaints about police unnecessarily citing and arresting students for incidents that could have been handled as disciplinary matters by the district. In 2020, it also ended contracts with police to patrol outside buildings and events.

Underly undermines education

Here is my full column that ran earlier in the week in the Washington County Daily News:

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly has finally found something to get vocal about. It’s not about the fact that only about 9.1% of Milwaukee government schools kids are proficient or better at math. It’s not about the fact that only 5.1% of Kenosha government schools kids are proficient or better at language arts. No, those immoral and abysmal failures escape Underly’s notice. But the fact that some kids in the Waukesha government school district are not singing “Rainbowland” by Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton has drawn her full wrath. Underly’s priorities are clear and wrong.

 

The root of the issue is that the Waukesha School District is policy 2240. I invite readers to go to the Waukesha School District’s website and read the actual policy. The policy is simply that controversial issues should only be addressed in an age-appropriate, educational manner. Teachers should only express opinions on controversial issues in the context of instruction and make it clear that it is their opinion. The goal of the policy is to keep classrooms focused on education and not indoctrination. Note that the policy is not specific to liberal or conservative issues, but any issue that elicits controversy. Last month, a first-grade teacher wanted her students to sing “Rainbowland” for a concert. Instead, the kids will sing “Rainbow Connection.” The district administration insisted on the change under policy 2240 because “Rainbowland” is considered to be controversial. The song was released in 2017 by Miley Cyrus, and despite being a pretty terrible song, it has become something of a symbol for the LGBTQ+ political movement. To avoid the introduction of controversial adult issues at what is supposed to be an innocuous grade school concert, the administration made the change against the teacher’s wishes.

 

Into this intensely local issue, state Superintendent Underly inserted herself and the full weight of the DPI. Without the courtesy of engaging in an actual discussion by calling the Waukesha superintendent, Underly sent a strongly worded letter to the district in her full capacity as state superintendent. She accused the district of “causing undue harm to students and staff” and urged the district to reverse their policy. Underly has made it clear that she wants controversial issues to be infused into every part of the school day at the arbitrary discretion of individual teachers.

 

Understand that if those same teachers were infusing biblical teachings or gun rights into every day, then Underly’s stance would be different. But since those teachers want to indoctrinate kids with critical race theory, gender ideology, and Marxism, Underly wants to enforce unfettered access to kids under the banner of inclusivity. Leftist activists like Underly never seem to consider how ferociously exclusive they are to people with whom they disagree.

 

This is the trick by which leftists have been using our schools increasingly as indoctrination centers. Through activists posing as teachers and staff, they push the latest leftist ideology into our schools through every crevasse. With flags on the walls and off-topic rants, they program kids to accept their world view as the only normal. Then, when challenged by parents who disagree, they gaslight and accuse parents of being controversial and oppressive. It is a proven tactic by leftist cry-bullies.

 

In Waukesha, the citizenry, through their elected school board, has decided that they want their teachers to spend their time teaching. Their policy does not prohibit the discussion of controversial subjects but relegates them to the appropriate educational context. The district’s recently approved Parental Rights and Transparency policy reaffirms this commitment to education and inclusivity and leaves the teaching of values and religion to parents.

 

The good folks of Waukesha are making it clear that they want their government schools to spend their valuable time teaching core subjects and skills instead of wading into the latest cultural controversy. Government schools are only required to teach 1,137 hours per school year for grades seven through 12 — less for other grades. That’s less than 13% of a child’s time. Kids can spend the other 87% of their time engaging in cultural warfare, but for that 13%, Waukesha wants their kids to learn something.

 

Under Superintendent Underly’s watch, like that of her predecessor, the performance of government schools to educate kids has been in decline. Our kids are falling increasingly behind and are less equipped to be successful adults than their parents were. Despite this, Underly is choosing to spend her finite time and considerable resources bullying school districts to allow leftist teachers to use their classrooms to indoctrinate the next generation.

 

Time is our most finite resource and the way people choose to use their time tells you everything you need to know. The Waukesha School District is using their finite classroom time to teach. Superintendent Underly is using her time for leftist activism.

Underly undermines education

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part:

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly has finally found something to get vocal about. It’s not about the fact that only about 9.1% of Milwaukee government schools kids are proficient or better at math. It’s not about the fact that only 5.1% of Kenosha government schools kids are proficient or better at language arts. No, those immoral and abysmal failures escape Underly’s notice. But the fact that some kids in the Waukesha government school district are not singing “Rainbowland” by Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton has drawn her full wrath. Underly’s priorities are clear and wrong.

 

[…]

 

Understand that if those same teachers were infusing biblical teachings or gun rights into every day, then Underly’s stance would be different. But since those teachers want to indoctrinate kids with critical race theory, gender ideology, and Marxism, Underly wants to enforce unfettered access to kids under the banner of inclusivity. Leftist activists like Underly never seem to consider how ferociously exclusive they are to people with whom they disagree.

 

This is the trick by which leftists have been using our schools increasingly as indoctrination centers. Through activists posing as teachers and staff, they push the latest leftist ideology into our schools through every crevasse. With flags on the walls and off-topic rants, they program kids to accept their world view as the only normal. Then, when challenged by parents who disagree, they gaslight and accuse parents of being controversial and oppressive. It is a proven tactic by leftist cry-bullies.

 

In Waukesha, the citizenry, through their elected school board, has decided that they want their teachers to spend their time teaching. Their policy does not prohibit the discussion of controversial subjects but relegates them to the appropriate educational context. The district’s recently approved Parental Rights and Transparency policy reaffirms this commitment to education and inclusivity and leaves the teaching of values and religion to parents.

 

The good folks of Waukesha are making it clear that they want their government schools to spend their valuable time teaching core subjects and skills instead of wading into the latest cultural controversy. Government schools are only required to teach 1,137 hours per school year for grades seven through 12 — less for other grades. That’s less than 13% of a child’s time. Kids can spend the other 87% of their time engaging in cultural warfare, but for that 13%, Waukesha wants their kids to learn something.

 

Under Superintendent Underly’s watch, like that of her predecessor, the performance of government schools to educate kids has been in decline. Our kids are falling increasingly behind and are less equipped to be successful adults than their parents were. Despite this, Underly is choosing to spend her finite time and considerable resources bullying school districts to allow leftist teachers to use their classrooms to indoctrinate the next generation.

Selling Samaritan

Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News last week:

At the end of a very long and thoughtful process, the Washington County Board has voted to try to sell the Samaritan Campus to a private buyer. They believe that such a sale is the best solution for the residents and the taxpayers. It was not an easy choice.

 

Samaritan is Washington County’s long-term care facility for elderly citizens. It is largely funded by reimbursements from federal and state programs, like Medicaid, but as a county-run facility, any shortages must be covered by county taxpayers. For many years, this was not much of an issue as the facility was able to remain mostly solvent. Like so many other things, the pandemic broke the financial model.

 

Just like all other long-term care facilities, Samaritan is facing severe staffing challenges. It is a national problem. The increasing cost of paying for staff is outstripping the increases in funding. Even with paying higher wages and retention incentive programs, the facility remains understaffed and has a high staff turnover rate. The issue is driven by demographics where there are simply too few people willing to do the hard work of care givers. It is so severe that at least one other Wisconsin county is recruiting caregivers from the Philippines to fill the need.

 

This problem has put Samaritan over $4 million in the hole since the pandemic began. That is $4 million that county taxpayers are obligated to cover. In addition, the facility itself needs significant work. The building is sturdy, but it is old and needs to be renovated, if not replaced, to meet the needs of residents for years to come. Accumulating the information from two study committees and two financial analyses by Wipfli, the County Board considered three options: renovate, replace, or sell Samaritan. There was a fourth option to simply close Samaritan, but there was little appetite for that option and County Executive Josh Shoemann had promised to veto any closure. Replacing Samaritan was an expensive choice. At an estimated cost of $31 million, it would fix the issues with the facility, but still did not address the underlying staffing issues. Renovating Samaritan was less expensive at $15 million, but also did not fix the underlying issues. Also, the $15 million estimate was suspect. Whenever one starts to pull back the walls of an old building, costs tend to pile up. Selling Samaritan would not cost anything, but it is also unknown how much a private company would pay the county for the facility. The county still owes about $3.5 million on it, so hopefully any sale price would at least pay off that debt. Whoever buys it would purchase an old building in need of work and still have the staffing issues to manage. On the positive side, the building has a lot of unused space that could be used for private residents or other uses to improve the financial viability of the facility.

 

In the end, the decision was really about whether or not the county, and the county taxpayers, want to be in the business of running a long-term care facility. At one time there were over 100 county-run long-term facilities in Wisconsin. Now there are only 35. The private sector fills this care needs of elderly folks throughout the state and can leverage economies of scale that a single county cannot match.

 

For Washington County to continue to run Samaritan, they would need to figure out how to make the math work. They could try something like building out a private care facility in the unused space to subsidize the deficits, but that would put the county government in direct competition with several private care facilities in the county. Or the County Board could just accept that Samaritan would run at a loss and the county taxpayers would have to cover the difference in perpetuity. At a cost ranging into the tens of millions of dollars, this would be an expensive obligation that draws funds from other county obligations.

 

By voting to sell Samaritan, the County Board is seeking to protect county taxpayers from significant financial obligations while allowing a private company to bring significant resources to bear on behalf of the residents. All things considered, the County Board made the best choice.

 

I commend the County Board, the county executive, and all of the people who worked on a solution. Throughout the process, the focus remained on doing what they truly thought was in the best interests of the residents of Samaritan while, secondarily, protecting the taxpayers’ interests. That was the correct prioritization.

Evers’ Disgraced Parole Commission Director Charged with Felony

I think 96% or more of these “violence blah blah” positions are just BS do-nothing jobs created to facilitate graft. Tip of the ol’ hat to Dan O’Donnell.

Racine Alderman John Tate II, who was forced last year to resign as Governor Evers’ Parole Commission director, has been charged with a felony for allegedly using his position to approve a new $100,000-per-year job that he himself then took. The Racine County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday filed a charge of Private interest in a Public Contract While Working in a Public Capacity, a Class I felony punishable by a maximum sentence of more than three years in prison.

 

According to a criminal complaint obtained exclusively by “The Dan O’Donnell Show,” Tate used his position as Racine’s Common Council President and member of the Finance and Personnel Committee to approve a grant creating a new city position of Violence Interruption Coordinator. The position, which was described as helping “to facilitate the process of creating a Racine version of a ‘Blueprint for Peace'” and would pay between $78,520.00 and $101,004.80 annually. There were 20 applicants for the position, which was advertised only from September 8-22, and Tate was one of only three to interview for the position.

 

On October 11, Tate accepted a positiion as the City of Madison’s Independent Police Monitor, but two days later the City of Racine offered him the position of Violence Interruption Coordinator. Tate used his new position in Madison as leverage with Racine and negotiated an annual salary of $101,698.05 (more than the advertised salary range for the position), four weeks of paid vacation, and offered an opportunity to take advantage of a $10,000 forgivable home loan program for City of Racine employees.

Selling Samaritan

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. I think the decision regarding Samaritan was a tough one, but they got it right.

In the end, the decision was really about whether or not the county, and the county taxpayers, want to be in the business of running a long-term care facility. At one time there were over 100 county-run long-term facilities in Wisconsin. Now there are only 35. The private sector fills this care needs of elderly folks throughout the state and can leverage economies of scale that a single county cannot match.

 

For Washington County to continue to run Samaritan, they would need to figure out how to make the math work. They could try something like building out a private care facility in the unused space to subsidize the deficits, but that would put the county government in direct competition with several private care facilities in the county. Or the County Board could just accept that Samaritan would run at a loss and the county taxpayers would have to cover the difference in perpetuity. At a cost ranging into the tens of millions of dollars, this would be an expensive obligation that draws funds from other county obligations.

 

By voting to sell Samaritan, the County Board is seeking to protect county taxpayers from significant financial obligations while allowing a private company to bring significant resources to bear on behalf of the residents. All things considered, the County Board made the best choice.

County to Sell Samaritan Campus

Tough choice.

WASHINGTON COUNTY — The Washington County Board of Supervisors voted 13-8 to authorize Washington County to sell Samaritan Campus during their meeting in the Herbert J. Tennies Government Center on Wednesday night.

 

[…]

 

According to the Ad Hoc committee’s recommendation, their first choice was to renovate Samaritan, the second choice was to replace Samaritan with a new facility, the third choice was to sell Samaritan and the fourth ranked choice was to close (closing was not an option put before the board on Wednesday night).

 

Carroll presented updated cash flow, income and nursing bed demand projections with the board after Roback’s presentation.

 

According to Carroll, the cash flow projections from Wipfli showed Samaritan Campus operating with a positive cash flow balance at a projected average of about $670,000 per year over five years.

 

The bedding analysis showed that with Samaritan Campus operating at 48 skilled nursing facility (SNF) beds, which it would if renovation by the county had been approved, the county would be under-bedded, when combining all SNFs in the county, in 5 to 10 years due to increases in the 74-85-year-old population (a 9.9% increase) and 85 and up population (a 31.6% increase) in the county over that time, showing an increase in demand for nursing beds is coming. At the current SNF bed number for Samaritan, which is 131, the county would be over-bedded by about 50 beds in 5 to 10 years, according to Wipfli.

 

Whoever purchases the bed licenses for Samaritan from Washington County will have the option to continue to purchase all 131 licensed beds.

 

[…]

 

“The reason [I am voting in favor of selling Samaritan] is because I do believe it will take care of everyone [at Samaritan,]” said Kelling. “You are our obligation, we are here for you and we will take care of you. I don’t like when people have been using scare tactics against you saying that you will end up in the street. Legally that is not possible, and morally I would not stand for it.”

I wrote a few months ago about how intolerable it is that this decision has been put off for so long. We’ve known about the issues at Samaritan for years and the County Board has been kicking the can down the road. I’m glad that they have made a decision.

For the decision itself, I think it is the right one. Taxpayers can continue to fund the residents’ care without having to own and operate the means of providing that care. While renovating the campus would have been a fix for the next few years, the taxpayers would still own a facility that will need ongoing maintenance and care down the road. I’d much prefer that taxpayers’ dollars be focused on resident care instead of maintaining facilities.

I do think that the supervisors approached the issue with compassion. There were no easy or perfect choices, but they had to do something. Some direction is better than no direction.

Now they just have to find a buyer…

Democrat machine is a well-tuned juggernaut

Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News earlier this week.

There’s no need to sugarcoat it. The Supreme Court election result last week will have terrible consequences that are generational in scale. It has been 15 years since the Wisconsin Supreme Court had a leftist majority, and the leftists of today are far, far more radical than those of the past. We knew that this election was important, which is why it became the most expensive judicial campaign ever waged in the history of our nation. While the consequences will surely be the subject of future columns, we should first understand the past.

 

Although Supreme Court races are officially nonpartisan, they are really completely partisan. The increasing polarization of the two major parties has made the battleground for judicial races a bloody mess of ideological carnage instead of the staid legal philosophical debates of the past. Furthermore, the more leftist forces in our nation have put a concerted effort into electing radicals in judicial and prosecutor races in the last few years as a means to advance their ideology through the judicial branch when they fail in the legislative branch. Against this backdrop, Wisconsin’s Democrats were vocal and unapologetic about supporting Janet Protasiewicz. On the other side, the state Republicans were vocal and unapologetic about supporting Daniel Kelly. There was the faintest whisper to acknowledge the official nonpartisan nature of the race, but it was drowned out by the shouts of partisanship. As campaigners, Protasiewicz ran a campaign appealing to the political issues that strike an emotional chord with leftist voters. She continually implied, and sometimes outright stated, that she would be the deciding vote on issues like abortion, Act 10, political redistricting, and the like. Lost was any indication that she would respect the separation of powers and the role of the court. That was purposeful and it worked. Emotional political issues drive enthusiasm and turnout far more than a dry discussion of constitutional niceties. I wish that it were not so, but it is.

 

Daniel Kelly, on the other hand, ran a campaign that would have worked in the previous decade. It focused on a dry discussion of constitutional niceties and the appropriate role of a justice of the Supreme Court. While correct, it left his supporters in a rear-guard action trying to generate excitement with cries of what will be lost with an activist leftist court.

 

Beyond the candidates and their individual campaign strategies, the respective political parties waged entirely different battles. Truly, hats off to Ben Wikler, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. He is an organizational, messaging, and fundraising powerhouse. He has a knack for nationalizing state races to attract national money and for maintaining intramural discipline during primaries.

 

The Democrats also have an electoral structural advantage in that their voters are more concentrated. This makes it easier to concentrate resources to drive turnout. For example, the turnout in Dane County in recent years — a county whose voters vote 80% or more for leftists — has been phenomenal. Only 36% of Protasiewicz’s vote total came from Dane and Milwaukee Counties. By contrast, the top two counties for Kelly were just 19.3% of his vote total.

 

The Democrats have also been tremendous at turning out their key voting groups like college students. For example, the dorms at the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse are in two wards. Turnout was over 54% in those wards last week compared to less than 20% in the previous spring election.

 

The Democrats have also taken full advantage of campaign finance and election laws. They funneled over $10 million to Protasiewicz’s campaign through the Democratic Party while Kelly eschewed any Republican Party money. The Democrats push hard for mail-in voting, early voting, ballot harvesting, and any other means to get people to vote who otherwise would not. Meanwhile, Republicans bicker over the appropriateness of these means and continue to lose elections.

 

Anecdotally, I also saw a marked difference in how each side was reaching out to voters. I received at least five texts from leftists for every one from righties urging me to vote or pushing an issue. Online, the ads were 10 to one in favor of leftists. Meanwhile, I received several mailers from righty groups and none from leftists. Democrats are putting their resources into reaching voters where they are while Republicans are spending their money and time on the campaign tactics of 2004.

 

Republicans have lost 14 of the last 17 statewide elections. On the issues, Wisconsin remains very evenly divided as evidenced by statewide referendum results, national election results, and general polling. But Republicans are getting blown out in statewide elections because of antiquated campaign strategies, bad candidates, intraparty squabbling, and terrible leadership. Wisconsin will continue to trend toward Illinois until the Republicans figure out how to match the Democrats’ campaigning prowess.

Democrat machine is a well-tuned juggernaut

I suppose that I’ll pile on in the aftermath of the election last week. My column in the Washington County Daily News not only highlights some of the Righties’ failures, but also the phenomenal machine that the Democrats have built. Republicans are still fighting the last war as the Democrats are winning this one. Here’s a part:

Beyond the candidates and their individual campaign strategies, the respective political parties waged entirely different battles. Truly, hats off to Ben Wikler, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. He is an organizational, messaging, and fundraising powerhouse. He has a knack for nationalizing state races to attract national money and for maintaining intramural discipline during primaries.

 

The Democrats also have an electoral structural advantage in that their voters are more concentrated. This makes it easier to concentrate resources to drive turnout. For example, the turnout in Dane County in recent years — a county whose voters vote 80% or more for leftists — has been phenomenal. Only 36% of Protasiewicz’s vote total came from Dane and Milwaukee Counties. By contrast, the top two counties for Kelly were just 19.3% of his vote total.

 

The Democrats have also been tremendous at turning out their key voting groups like college students. For example, the dorms at the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse are in two wards. Turnout was over 54% in those wards last week compared to less than 20% in the previous spring election.

 

The Democrats have also taken full advantage of campaign finance and election laws. They funneled over $10 million to Protasiewicz’s campaign through the Democratic Party while Kelly eschewed any Republican Party money. The Democrats push hard for mail-in voting, early voting, ballot harvesting, and any other means to get people to vote who otherwise would not. Meanwhile, Republicans bicker over the appropriateness of these means and continue to lose elections.

Anecdotally, I also saw a marked difference in how each side was reaching out to voters. I received at least five texts from leftists for every one from righties urging me to vote or pushing an issue. Online, the ads were 10 to one in favor of leftists. Meanwhile, I received several mailers from righty groups and none from leftists. Democrats are putting their resources into reaching voters where they are while Republicans are spending their money and time on the campaign tactics of 2004.

 

Allowing Teachers to Arm Themselves is the Way

It’ll never make it into law, but it is the correct policy.

Rep. Scott Allen of Waukesha and Sen. Cory Tomczyk of Mosinee on Monday released a bill that would create an exception to the state’s law banning firearms on school grounds if the person holds a concealed carry license, is employed by the school, and the school board has adopted a policy that allows employees who are licensees to possess a firearm.

 

The proposal also waives for teachers the fees associated with obtaining a concealed carry license.

 

“School shootings are tragedies we hate to see. The reality is that schools are often soft targets for those looking to do harm. The knowledge that no one on the premise has the firepower to stop them emboldens bad actors,” Allen and Tomczyk wrote in a co-sponsorship memo to colleagues seeking support.

Everything is on the table in Wisconsin Supreme Court election

Here is my full column for the Washington County Daily News that ran earlier this week.

Early voting for the spring election is in full swing and the future of Wisconsin sits on the razor’s edge. If Daniel Kelly is elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the court will retain its slight lean to the left with changeling Justice Brian Hagedorn siding with the court’s liberal bloc more often than not on 4-3 rulings. If Janet Protasiewicz is elected, then expect the court’s new majority liberal activist bloc to abandon any pretense of government restraint and run roughshod over citizens’ rights.

 

It is regrettable that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has had to serve as the last bastion of defense against government overreach, but that has increasingly been its role as government officials progressively don the mantle of a ruling class. In just the last few years, the court has often (not often enough) stood athwart the path of government tyranny. During the pandemic, Gov. Tony Evers went to extraordinary lengths to exert government control over our lives. Even after it was clear that the virus was not nearly as lethal as originally thought and was primarily a threat to the elderly and immunocompromised, Evers sought to extend his personal arbitrary rule over our lives by suspending regular order with perpetual emergency health orders.

 

Under the threat of using the violent power of government, Evers illegally extended his emergency dictatorial orders to force citizens to stay in their homes, close their businesses, restrain their freedom of movement, force everyone to wear masks, and close their schools. In a ruling that should have been unanimous, only four of the court’s seven justices ruled that Evers had violated the law and returned the state to constitutional rule and the rule of law. How much more damage would Evers’ have illegally wrought had the court not stepped in?

 

With all of the other overreaches, we scarcely remember that Governor Evers also tried to suspend Wisconsinites’ right to self-governance. Just three years ago, Evers ordered that Wisconsin indefinitely delay the April election, thus denying citizens the right to elect their leaders in a despotic abandonment of democracy. Again, the Wisconsin Supreme Court had to act to ensure that the election would be held and that democracy would not be suspended by the orders of a single man.

 

Governor Evers’ attempts to enact dictatorial rule to the cheers of elected Democrats is the most dramatic recent example of the Supreme Court protecting citizens from government overreach, but there are dozens of other examples.

 

For decades, Wisconsinites have trembled at the regulatory despotism of the Department of Natural Resources.

 

Whether hunting, fishing, farming, or simply trying to enjoy a lake cottage, the DNR has long stretched its statutory mandates into private lives and properties. The Supreme Court has stepped in a number of times to check the DNR’s overreaches.

 

Last decade, the DNR tried to extend its public-trust jurisdiction to include non-navigable waters and land and to use “scenic beauty” as a benchmark for regulation. This overreach would have the DNR exercising authority over virtually all private property and able to base regulations on the agency’s aesthetic preferences. In 2013, the court ruled that the DNR did not have this authority.

 

Similarly, the DNR attempted to use its regulatory power to unilaterally change pier permits even after a pier had been installed. This had the impact of forcing homeowners to spend thousands of dollars to comply with arbitrary and shifting regulations. In 2019, the court ruled that the DNR was overreaching again and is not allowed to issue ex-post-facto regulations.

 

Wisconsin’s leftists have be unrestrained in their glee for using the court to unbind the overreaching claws of government by electing Protasiewicz to the high court.

 

Everything is on the table. Unrestrained tax increases by invalidating Act 10. Making it easier to cheat in elections by striking down voter ID. Disarming citizens by ignoring Second Amendment rights. Unleashing regulatory agencies like the DNR or Department of Transportation by allowing them to interpret their own authority. Liberating criminals at the expense of victims. Democratic gerrymandering on the scale of Illinois. Crushing business with regulations in the name of equity. Forced unionization by striking down right to work. Unrestrained indoctrination and abuse of parental rights through our government schools.

 

It is all on the table.

 

The question to be decided next week is whether Wisconsin will try to continue on the messy road of representative government and constitutional restraint, or whether it will take the road of arbitrary rule of unrestrained government by judicial decree.

 

Vote for Daniel Kelly. Vote for the continuation of this grand experiment in self-governance.

 

Everything is on the table in Wisconsin Supreme Court election

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part:

 

Early voting for the spring election is in full swing and the future of Wisconsin sits on the razor’s edge. If Daniel Kelly is elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the court will retain its slight lean to the left with changeling Justice Brian Hagedorn siding with the court’s liberal bloc more often than not on 4-3 rulings. If Janet Protasiewicz is elected, then expect the court’s new majority liberal activist bloc to abandon any pretense of government restraint and run roughshod over citizens’ rights.

 

It is regrettable that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has had to serve as the last bastion of defense against government overreach, but that has increasingly been its role as government officials progressively don the mantle of a ruling class. In just the last few years, the court has often (not often enough) stood athwart the path of government tyranny. During the pandemic, Gov. Tony Evers went to extraordinary lengths to exert government control over our lives. Even after it was clear that the virus was not nearly as lethal as originally thought and was primarily a threat to the elderly and immunocompromised, Evers sought to extend his personal arbitrary rule over our lives by suspending regular order with perpetual emergency health orders.

 

Under the threat of using the violent power of government, Evers illegally extended his emergency dictatorial orders to force citizens to stay in their homes, close their businesses, restrain their freedom of movement, force everyone to wear masks, and close their schools. In a ruling that should have been unanimous, only four of the court’s seven justices ruled that Evers had violated the law and returned the state to constitutional rule and the rule of law. How much more damage would Evers’ have illegally wrought had the court not stepped in?

 

With all of the other overreaches, we scarcely remember that Governor Evers also tried to suspend Wisconsinites’ right to self-governance. Just three years ago, Evers ordered that Wisconsin indefinitely delay the April election, thus denying citizens the right to elect their leaders in a despotic abandonment of democracy. Again, the Wisconsin Supreme Court had to act to ensure that the election would be held and that democ racy would not be suspended by the orders of a single man.

 

Governor Evers’ attempts to enact dictatorial rule to the cheers of elected Democrats is the most dramatic recent example of the Supreme Court protecting citizens from government overreach, but there are dozens of other examples.

An activist court is a dangerous court

Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News last week:

The election on April 4 presents an unambiguous choice for voters about the future of Wisconsin. Daniel Kelly would keep the Wisconsin Supreme Court on its constitutionally humble and conservative path. Janet Protasiewicz has already trumpeted the kind of activism she would wage to turn the high court into a political weapon for leftist causes. As we have seen in other states, leftists do not have any qualms about muscling political victories through the courts when their ideas fail to win public support at the ballot box.

 

In recent weeks we have learned that Protasiewicz is not just the ardent activist who protested against Act 10 and giddily shares how she will tip the scales of justice when her “values” demand it. Not only have we learned that her long judicial record is one of callous disregard for victims of violent crime as she coddled felons. We also learned from Wisconsin Right Now’s reporting that she allegedly abused her first husband, who was over thirty years older than she, and that two witnesses have come forward who heard her regularly use racial slurs when she was a Milwaukee prosecutor.

 

The optimist in me hopes that some of Wisconsin’s leftists would feel the twang of guilt about voting for someone with such deep character flaws, but the realist in me understands that they are more interested in outcomes even if the vessel that delivers them is cracked. They will vote for Protasiewicz in droves. The rest of this column, therefore, is directed at conservatives who need to understand the gravity of the election and get off their duffs to vote.

 

The thing about judicial activists is that nothing is safe. Policies that were correctly adjudicated long ago by the court and considered settled will be resurfaced by activists to get a different outcome. Protasiewicz has already said that she considers Act 10 to be unconstitutional and Wisconsin’s electoral maps rigged, so expect those to be overturned by a Protasiewicz-led court. That will just be the start of an avalanche of legal activism to roll back important policies.

 

During Gov. Scott Walker’s administration, Wisconsin made giant strides to being Wisconsin closer to the Founders’ guarantees in the Second Amendment. The Legislature passed Wisconsin’s first concealed carry law to allow law-abiding citizens to exercise their Second Amendment protection to “keep and bear arms.” The Legislature further protected citizens by enacting the castle doctrine, a simple, but important, law that presumes that someone is under imminent threat if a thug forcibly enters their home, vehicle, or business.

 

As is their compulsion, leftists sued to overturn both concealed carry and castle doctrine policies when they lost the policy debate at the ballot box. Both policies were upheld by the courts. According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, over 700,000 Wisconsinites have been issued concealed carry permits since 2011. If Protasiewicz is elected, we can expect those hundreds of thousands of licenses to be canceled. And no, it does not matter what the law or Constitution actually says. Judicial activists care not for the constraints of law. That is the point.

 

One thing that the pandemic reminded us is that in times of trouble, our government schools will choose institutional interests over the welfare of children every time. Given the decades of declining performance, increasing violence, and curricular malfeasance, this bureaucratic colonialism should have been obvious, but their collective response to the pandemic has crystalized their priorities.

 

Wisconsin’s school choice programs have been offering children an alternative path to getting a quality education and a successful future. When Gov. Tommy Thompson pioneered school choice in Milwaukee, the leftist institutional interests fought back in court. After a heated legal battle, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutionally permissible for religious schools to participate in the Milwaukee School Choice program. The U.S. Supreme Court later declined to hear a challenge to the law, thus ending the legal challenge. The vote on the Wisconsin Supreme Court was decided by a single vote. Had one justice ruled the other way, generations of Wisconsin’s children would still be trapped in failing schools and doomed to navigating life without a quality education.

 

Since that Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling in 1998, the Legislature has steadily expanded Wisconsin’s school choice programs to benefit hundreds of thousands of children throughout the state. Should Protasiewicz be elected, expect those monied interests who want to build barbed-wire fences to keep our children in their failed institutions to relaunch their legal challenges to school choice knowing that a Protasiewicz-led court will rule in their favor. Janet Protasiewicz is telling anyone who will listen how she will vote on issues brought before the court and how she considers it her duty to put her finger on the scales of justice when the law says otherwise. Listen to her. In this, she is telling the truth.

LTE: Vote Dan Kelly and Russ Jones

From the inbox.

The April 4th election is our chance to put two excellent jurists on the judicial bench upholding our U.S. and Wisconsin Constitutions, applying the law as written, and protecting our rights and freedoms.

 

Dan Kelly is a man of honor and integrity. He served with distinction on the Wisconsin Supreme Court 2016-2020. He made the difference in helping end the illegal lockdowns of us during the CCP Virus “pandemic” by ruling that the executive branch could not keep renewing its 60-day “emergency measures.” Remember those horrible months? Businesses closed (many never reopened), schools and churches were shut, people were forced to wear do-no-good masks, etc. Dan Kelly fought for us and our freedoms. He did not go along with Big Government’s tyrannical suppression of our precious rights and freedoms.

 

By contrast, his opponent vows judicial activism (i.e., inserting her own political values in place of actual law). Putting her thumb on the scale of justice is wrong, dangerous, and can be deadly.

 

Like Justice Kelly, Russ Jones is a constitutional conservative – he honors and follows the law as written. Unlike his compromised opponent, Russ did not sign the Walker recall and was not appointed by Evers. Attorney Jones is an award-winning litigator, with over 250 jury trials during 20 years of service. He has the highest standards of personal conduct and will apply the law fairly and impartially. His honesty and dedication to the rule of law will make him an outstanding circuit court judge.

 

Dan Kelly has earned my total support for election to our Wisconsin Supreme Court. Russ Jones is the best choice for Washington County Circuit Court Judge. Please join me in proudly voting for Dan Kelly and Russ Jones on April 4th. Ask all your adult family members, friends, neighbors, and colleagues to do so, too.

 

Sincerely signed,

 

Bart Williams

An activist court is a dangerous court

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part:

The election on April 4 presents an unambiguous choice for voters about the future of Wisconsin. Daniel Kelly would keep the Wisconsin Supreme Court on its constitutionally humble and conservative path. Janet Protasiewicz has already trumpeted the kind of activism she would wage to turn the high court into a political weapon for leftist causes. As we have seen in other states, leftists do not have any qualms about muscling political victories through the courts when their ideas fail to win public support at the ballot box.

 

In recent weeks we have learned that Protasiewicz is not just the ardent activist who protested against Act 10 and giddily shares how she will tip the scales of justice when her “values” demand it. Not only have we learned that her long judicial record is one of callous disregard for victims of violent crime as she coddled felons. We also learned from Wisconsin Right Now’s reporting that she allegedly abused her first husband, who was over thirty years older than she, and that two witnesses have come forward who heard her regularly use racial slurs when she was a Milwaukee prosecutor.

 

The optimist in me hopes that some of Wisconsin’s leftists would feel the twang of guilt about voting for someone with such deep character flaws, but the realist in me understands that they are more interested in outcomes even if the vessel that delivers them is cracked. They will vote for Protasiewicz in droves. The rest of this column, therefore, is directed at conservatives who need to understand the gravity of the election and get off their duffs to vote.

 

The thing about judicial activists is that nothing is safe. Policies that were correctly adjudicated long ago by the court and considered settled will be resurfaced by activists to get a different outcome. Protasiewicz has already said that she considers Act 10 to be unconstitutional and Wisconsin’s electoral maps rigged, so expect those to be overturned by a Protasiewicz-led court. That will just be the start of an avalanche of legal activism to roll back important policies.

 

[…]

 

One thing that the pandemic reminded us is that in times of trouble, our government schools will choose institutional interests over the welfare of children every time. Given the decades of declining performance, increasing violence, and curricular malfeasance, this bureaucratic colonialism should have been obvious, but their collective response to the pandemic has crystalized their priorities.

 

Wisconsin’s school choice programs have been offering children an alternative path to getting a quality education and a successful future. When Gov. Tommy Thompson pioneered school choice in Milwaukee, the leftist institutional interests fought back in court. After a heated legal battle, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutionally permissible for religious schools to participate in the Milwaukee School Choice program. The U.S. Supreme Court later declined to hear a challenge to the law, thus ending the legal challenge. The vote on the Wisconsin Supreme Court was decided by a single vote. Had one justice ruled the other way, generations of Wisconsin’s children would still be trapped in failing schools and doomed to navigating life without a quality education.

 

Since that Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling in 1998, the Legislature has steadily expanded Wisconsin’s school choice programs to benefit hundreds of thousands of children throughout the state. Should Protasiewicz be elected, expect those monied interests who want to build barbed-wire fences to keep our children in their failed institutions to relaunch their legal challenges to school choice knowing that a Protasiewicz-led court will rule in their favor. Janet Protasiewicz is telling anyone who will listen how she will vote on issues brought before the court and how she considers it her duty to put her finger on the scales of justice when the law says otherwise. Listen to her. In this, she is telling the truth.

Protasiewicz Remains Silent on Multiple Allegations of Using Racial Slurs

From Wisconsin Right Now. It seems that Wisconsin’s Democrats are returning to their roots when their party championed the use of the “N” word. Spare me your lectures on bigotry… your silence says everything.

Two people who knew Janet Protasiewicz – her former stepson AND a long-time self-described liberal family friend of her ex-husband – told Wisconsin Right Now in recorded interviews that they heard Protasiewicz use racial slurs when she was a prosecutor in Children’s Court. Both men, Jonathan Ehr and Michael Madden, told Wisconsin Right Now that they personally heard Protasiewicz use the “N word” to refer to blacks.

 

Madden, Protasiewicz’s then stepson, said in a videotaped interview that she used the “N word” to refer to blacks who were involved in court cases while she served as a prosecutor in Milwaukee County Children’s Court, including the parents of black children and blacks accused of crimes.

 

We asked Protasiewicz’s campaign for comment at 10 p.m. on March 15. She has not responded. She has not denied using racial slurs despite being given an opportunity to do so.

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