Unbelievable quotes from yet another unbelievable WI day

With Wisconsin's Supreme Court giving the go-ahead for the gutting of collective bargaining, there were plenty of unbelievable things popping out of the mouths of those in Madison on Tuesday.

"We conclude," reads the majority decision of the State Supreme Court's ruling on the collective bargaining bill, "that the Legislature did not violate the Wisconsin Constitution by the process it used." 
Rep. Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said, "The majority of the Supreme Court is essentially saying that the Legislature is above the law."  And Barca's right.  Lower courts (including that which is presided over by Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi) were presented with evidence and had already said, "Yeah, you broke the open meetings law."  And for those that purport Sumi was merely advancing her own agenda, why would she have said the same bill could be passed immediately--with no questions--if the Republicans just posted the meeting properly and took another vote?  Or why would she have dismissed other cases against the bill's passage?

Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald (Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald's kid brother) said, "We didn't violate any rules.  We upheld the Constitution all the way through..." 
Maybe the Supreme Court agrees with you, Representative, but certainly Republicans violated the spirit of the law. Even the Walker-backing Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said in an earlier editorial that the Republican argument to the Supreme Court was "bizarre"--that even locked doors with but one member of the public as witness constituted an open meeting.  As was the meeting decried by the Walker-backing Wisconsin State Journal.

Alberta Darling weighed in with her latest version of "Here's why I should be recalled," by laying the mess in Madison on Sumi and not the Republicans: "(Sumi) stepped all over the people of Wisconsin.  You think of all the chaos and discord that's gone on in this Capitol as the result of her decision...To me, it was despicable."
Um, excuse me, Senator?  The chaos was called by Sumi's action? Not by Republicans stripping collective bargaining? Not by Republicans cutting funding to schools and social programs? Not by Republicans courting business in Wisconsin at the expense of its people?

Perhaps the most remarkable came in the written declaration of Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, pointedly directed at her majority-voting colleagues: (from JS Online):
... the majority has "reached a predetermined conclusion not based on the facts and the law, which undermines the majority's ultimate decision."  The majority justices "make their own findings of fact, mischaracterize the parties' arguments, misinterpret statutes, minimize (if not eliminate) Wisconsin constitutional guarantees, and misstate case law, appearing to silently overrule case law dating back to at least 1891."
In other words, she's accusing her colleagues of neglecting the proper execution of their duties--very strong words from the State's Chief Justice.  I'm guessing she wouldn't have uttered those words unless she had sound basis to do so.  For even more of Abrahamson's criticism, visit the Wisconsin State Journal article here.

Unbelievable.  And we're only six months into Walker's regime. Hopefully, it's halfway over.

Brother, can you spare a job?

Thanks to Daniel Bice's piece in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today, Wisconsinites are aghast at the $81,500 job given to Brian Deschane, son of the leader of one of Walker's biggest PAC contributors, Wisconsin Builders Association. (1)

It's not just the favoritism causing the buzz, either.  At least when the father of Walker's pals, the Fabulous Fitzgerald Boys, got the top post at the State Patrol, he had credentials. (2) 

Walker's latest controversy, however, has a less-than-stellar resume for managing a department overseeing environmental and regulatory matters:  little management experience, no college degree, and two drunk driving convictions (the most recent in 2008). (1)   You can see what is reported to be Deschane's actual LinkedIn resume here (thanks to sally305 for the tip).  NOTE: This link no longer works (4/8/11).  Hopefully our Deschane friend, now resigned from all government posts, will still be able to secure employment without it...

And the fun won't stop with Deschane.  Walker's budget repair, according to the Journal Sentinel "would make existing civil-service positions into 37 new political appointments...That would allow Walker and agency secretaries to hire and fire employees in those positions at will." (3)

So to appease Walker's big-money donors, he can offer positions such as Deschane's and at least 37 more? 

That won't be nearly enough.


ADDENDUM: The very next day, Walker "took action" after getting caught with his pants down regarding cronyism--he "demoted" Deschane to a $62,000/year job. Walker demotes son of campaign contributor, JS Online, 4/5/11  http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/119283094.html


(1) No degree, little experience pay off big, JS Online, 4/3/11, http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/119159584.html
(2) Top lawmakers' father Stephen Fitzgerald to lead State Patrol, WI State Journal, 2/8/11 http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_5dbcb93c-3394-11e0-8091-001cc4c03286.html
(3) Walker gives himself more power..., JS Online,3/17/11 http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/118217614.html