Republican Sanfelippo blames Democrats for partisan opposition to School Choice and ICE that he added to bill!??

The lack of Republican self-awareness is almost comical if it wasn't so divisive and nonsensical.

One Party Authority Know-it-alls: Whatever happened to "local control?" While Republican Rep. Robin Vos still uses the idea of "local control" when it's convenient, he boldly brags about his big-government vision of Wisconsin. How can you lose? Vos seems totally unaware of the contradiction:



What's that you say, Democrats don't like School Choice and the heavy hand of ICE? Without a shred of self-awareness, Republican Rep. Joe Sanfelippo's arrogance went off the Richter scale when he blamed Democrats for playing politics on a bill he knew they would oppose after he included choice schools and ICE notification to sexual assault kit testing reform. No apparent reason why he couldn't drop them off the bill. He kept saying it would be the Democrat's fault for killing the bill over school choice and ICE. Conservative voters falling for this rank stupidity? From Capitol City Sunday on WKOW:

Attorney General Josh Kaul and Rep. Joe Sanfelippo (R-West Allis) debate the issue (of) untested sexual assault kits. But now the issue is taking a turn which could halt progress on finding justice for victims in their final weeks of the session.

Walker Lame Duck Legacy costing taxpayers, twisting Government into one party pretzel!

So, this is "fiscally conservative" policy GOP voters just can't get enough of...really?

"Small government" conservatives, including business owners, rural farmers, and think tank freeloaders, actually love the convoluted multi-tentacled regulations Scott Walker, Robin Vos, and Scott Fitzgerald created stripping the Attorney Generals office of their power. It will now cost taxpayer money to maneuver through a politically motivated maze creating more litigation.

Kaul

JS: The episode is the latest in a saga of confusion for lawmakers as they try to navigate new laws that give the Legislature more power over litigation handled by AG Josh Kaul. Lawmakers and Kaul can't agree on how to share sensitive legal information, and more than a dozen lawsuits involving millions of dollars languish as the dispute continues. 

With the likely loss of Wisconsin settlement money from ongoing lawsuits, costing the state millions, where are all those "fiscally conservative" voters now? 

Here's what "streamlining" government bureaucracy looks like, according to Wisconsin Republican politicians, point by mind-boggling point. Remember, this was once the AG's job, resulting in no news headlines, no controversy:

1. Republican leaders of the Legislature's finance committee hired an attorney at taxpayer expense, $290 an hour, Thursday to sign a secrecy agreement in an effort to end a standoff with Attorney General Josh Kaul ... (to) resolve the dispute triggered by new laws requiring the Democratic attorney general to get legislators' permission to settle lawsuits. 

2. Legal analysis by the head of the Legislature's research bureau suggested only a new law could require lawmakers to keep such information private. And the nondisclosure agreement proposed by the GOP leaders wouldn't apply to any of the committee's members anyway because none of them signed it individually. 

3. Lawmakers this week refused to sign such agreements requested by Kaul, who said he needed assurances of confidentiality to avoid consequences for taxpayers as he seeks to resolve litigation involving the state. 

4. Darling and Nygren signed a contract with Andrew Phillips of the Milwaukee law firm von Briesen that says the nondisclosure agreement binds the committee and its members, even though Phillips is the only person who signed it. 

5. "They can't do that," said Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach. "This attorney they've hired does not represent the views of us.""This is the first I'm hearing about it," Democratic Rep. Evan Goyke said. They said they were baffled by the notion that an attorney they didn't know they had could contend he had the power to limit what they could tell the public. 

6. Rick Champagne, the director of the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau, wrote in a memo that a confidentiality agreement signed by an attorney did not apply to individual lawmakers.

"I cannot find any authority that would require a member of the Legislature who serves on a committee to keep confidential any information delivered in closed session unless the information was required by state or federal law to be kept confidential or was information that the member had agreed to keep confidential under a confidentiality agreement signed by the member."  

Hanging in the balance; millions of dollars the state could use, especially against the opioid crisis affecting a lot of rural area Republican voters:

The action comes a day after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported more than a dozen lawsuits involving state taxpayers are languishing because the Wisconsin politicians can't agree on how to resolve them under the new Republican law that curbs the power of the Democratic attorney general. The impasse comes as billions of dollars are on the table for states — including Wisconsin — suing over the opioid crisis.

A proposed deal to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits against OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma over the company's role in the nation's opioid crisis was pushed back Thursday just as Kaul told lawmakers the tight timeline to resolve the latest dispute was no longer in place. Purdue Pharma is facing pushback from some attorneys general who say the proposed settlement of up to $12 billion isn't enough, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Who can forget this taxpayer paid for fiasco...actual government censorship. Who's silencing political speech again?

Attorneys for a liberal group will be paid $200,000 by taxpayers because Republican lawmakers blocked the group on Twitter. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that state officials agreed Thursday to pay the legal bills for One Wisconsin Now's attorneys. A federal judge ruled in January that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Rep. John Nygren, both Republicans, had infringed on the group's First Amendment rights. U.S. District Judge William Conley concluded the three lawmakers had acted unconstitutionally by blocking the group on Twitter "because of its prior speech or identity."

Bumbling AG Schimel can't win 20 state ACA lawsuit based on facts!

Bumbling Brad Schimel is your typical Republican Attorney General, leading the way with "bubble world" talking points that take precedence over real-world facts, especially when it comes to health care:

Schimel is leading a 20-state lawsuit aiming to "undo the harmful effects" of Obamacare, according to the state Department of Justice. Schimel filed the suit in February. If Attorney General Brad Schimel is successful in his lawsuit ... Democratic Attorney General candidate Josh Kaul said “That suit is not in the interest of Wisconsinites. It’s wrong.”

Kaul is right of course. Yet Republican AG Brad Schimel considers it a "harmful effect" covering 195,000 more Wisconsinites with healthcare insurance?

195,000 people gained insurance in Wisconsin between 2013 and 2015, which helped bring the uninsured rate down to 5.7%, from 9.4 percent ... a nearly 40% drop

Kidsforward

First, it's TrumpCare now! TRUMPCARE: The ACA's changes under Trump have forced even deep red states like Wisconsin to spend even more money to try and save it.

Walker, an avowed opponent of Obamacare, signed a bill into law that will position the state to receive $150 million in federal dollars to help shore up its healthcare marketplace ... set up a $200 million reinsurance fund, 75 percent of which would be paid for by the federal government.

Trump Party Republicans created this problem, a problem Schimel is now...criticizing? Well, thanks for the help. You can't make this stuff up:

“Obamacare causes premiums to rise and coverage to fall, forcing Wisconsin and other states to take extreme, costly measures to protect their citizens’ health and pocketbooks.” Schimel said that Obamacare has ... cost the state jobs. 

AG Dummy Can't Stop Digging...:

"Josh Kaul may not have known this since he was living on the East and West Coasts, but prior to Obamacare, Wisconsin had among the lowest rate of uninsured people in the nation because of a vibrant free market and a successful high risk pool that provided options for those with pre-existing and serious medical conditions," he said in an email.

Wisconsin's low uninsured rated was the result of a Democratic policy allowing BadgerCare coverage for everyone up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). Both Walker and Schimel want to take credit for the resulting Wisconsin ranking on coverage. Nope, can't do that. Walker then cut eligibility in half, from 200 percent to 100 percent, leaving those with no discretionary income to buy into the ACA Exchanges.

Wait, Schimel's concept of "successful high-risk pool's" is pure fantasy. Losing $6.9 million in one year is considered a success?

Wisconsin's high-risk pool insured about 21,000 people, with critics saying high prices kept tens or hundreds of thousands of others from accessing it. Those applying for the program had to wait six months before they were allowed into it and a lifetime cap of $2 million. Health Insurance Risk Sharing Plan lost $6.9 million in 2011, roughly a third of which was offset by a federal grant, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The same year, programs in the 35 states lost a total of at least $272 million.

The "harmful effects" Schimel trashed Josh Kaul with have numbers and are pictured here, on the left side of the graph. And Schimel is leading a 20 state lawsuit to repeal the ACA with examples like this?

Dumb Ron Johnson on Health Care: "I think it’s probably more of a privilege." And the privileged have health care, as shown below in the light areas. This was what it was like before the Affordable Care Act, the apparent golden age of the uninsured:

Here's the full Johnson quote, where he paraphrases Rand Paul, which is even crazier. Bottom line: Having a right to health care doesn't force doctors into servitude since they'll already have some form of payment system under universal health care. Seriously, does anyone know a doctor who doesn't want to treat patients?  Johnson's take is sick and inhumane, there's no other way to describe it:

“I think it’s probably more of a privilege. Do you consider food a right? Do you consider clothing a right? Do you consider shelter a right? What we have as rights is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Past that point, we have the right to freedom. Past that point everything else is a limited resource that we have to use our opportunities given to us to afford those things.

“Sen. Rand Paul talked about this on the floor of the Senate. He’s a doctor. He said the minute you consider health care a right, well, who’s going to satisfy that right? And those people who have the skills to satisfy that right, what does that make them if they’re forced to provide you with that rightful product or service?”

AG Brad Schimel Love's Hate Group...for their vision of "better love in the world!!"

The days when Republicans can be a part of any hate group, militia or anti-American conservative think tank without any consequence are over. 

To start, AG Brad Schimel is a bumbling incompetent. Proof? Can you hate gay marriage but still want "better love in the world"? Schimel says yes:

Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel defended his appearance at a West Coast conference put on by the Alliance Defending Freedom, saying the conservative Christian law firm that opposes gay marriage is trying to build “better love in the world.”

Huh? To Schimel, this group might hate homosexuality and want to throw them all in prison...but if they love heterosexuals, what's the beef? 

Still, Schimel may try, but can't explain his way out of attending an "extremist organizations" conference. 

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights advocacy group, has classified ADF as an extremist organization that supports criminalizing homosexuality and believes a “homosexual agenda” seeks to undermine the family and Christianity. (In) a book ADF founder Alan Sears co-wrote and published in 2003 ... refers to the “homosexual agenda” as the principal threat to religious freedom. More recently, ADF helped write a Mississippi law that lets government workers and private business people cite religious beliefs to deny services to LGBT people.

To Schimel, his social experience at the conference meant more to him than anything this ugly bigotted group plans for the country. And despite the group's actual classification as a hate group, Schimel was filled with love...:

(Schimel told) WTMJ-AM radio that ADF isn’t a hate group. “I’ve never gone to a conference where there was frankly so much love. This is a Christian organization, kind of an alliance of Catholics and evangelicals, getting together to focus on issues about how we build better love in the world.”

Democrat Josh Kaul, Schimel’s opponent, said this about Schimel's wonderful conference experience.

Bumbling AG Brad Schimel vs challenger Josh Kaul a toss up, but it really shouldn't be!!!

Scott Walker lapdog AG Brad Schimel is suddenly springing into action...wonder why? He's up for reelection, and just like Walker, he's noticed a few problems that suddenly need attention.

 

First, Schimel probably saw this news...

Of the 30 elected AG seats that are up this cycle ... we consider nine to be "in play," meaning they are rated tossup ... the open AG offices in Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nevada and Ohio, plus the seat held by a Republican incumbent in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin AG Brad Schimel (R): Schimel faces Democrat Josh Kaul, a former federal prosecutor and first-time candidate who is the son of former Wisconsin AG Peg Lautenschlager. Both Schimel and Kaul should have enough money to be competitive. Wisconsin is one of the most politically polarized states. If the Democrats do as well as they did in a recent special election race -- one considered an early referendum on Trump's presidency -- this could be a strong pickup opportunity.

Schimel's Growing Opioid Epidemic: Once upon a time in Wisconsin...:

 From 2001 to 2007, heroin deaths were constant around 27 deaths per year.

Under Schimel's utter incompetence, we've seen the opioid epidemic fester, doubling the number of overdose victims in Wisconsin. "In 2016, 827 people died from opioid overdoses in Wisconsin." Not even a dent. For a guy ready to sue the the government on behalf of Scott Walker's pet projects, he hasn't found the time to take on profit driven Big Pharma, no matter how the Democrats plead:

Democratic state Rep. Lisa Subeck (said), “We are calling on Attorney General Schimel to stop dragging his feet and finally join the two-thirds of Wisconsin counties, seven states and other jurisdictions throughout the country by filing a lawsuit on behalf of the people of Wisconsin to hold the pharmaceutical companies accountable for their role in creating the opioid epidemic.”

Schimel only Now is going after Abusive Care Givers: ...in a small but well publicized way:

Schimel announces project aiming to stop caregiver abuse of elderly: Attorney General Brad Schimel announced the beginning of the Safe Seniors Camera Program Tuesday. The pilot program allows the Department of Justice to provide participants with a camera and memory card for up to 30 days. They are then required, on a daily basis, to save any recordings and notify a local law enforcement agency of any recordings that the resident believes may depict illegal conduct.

Schimel Suddenly Getting to Sexual Assault Kit Backlog: Guess who's now got a fire under his ass to clear the backlog?

Wisconsin DOJ Contracts With 2 More Labs To Test Sexual Assault Kits: The Joyful Heart Foundation has been pushing states to analyze untested kits in hopes of developing DNA profiles for serial offenders. Nearly 4,000 Wisconsin kits have been designated for testing. Analysis has been completed on 862 kits so far. 1,300 Kits To Be Tested By Labs By The End Of 2018. 

Schimel said a month ago:

Schimel said, "We feel confident with what we've put in place that by this time next year, we'll have all the kits tested."

But on May 17, 2017, Schimel discovered...

More confusion ensued when Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel was asked if it was true that only 60 kits have been tested so far. Koremenos said a private lab had tested 50 kits and the state crime lab had tested an additional 13, but Schimel said Tuesday that he didn’t know where those numbers came from. Skwierawski had to walk Schimel through the numbers.