How Walker's "hectic schedule" prevents him from governing

15 March 2012

Dear Scott Walker,

Even on the most beautiful day of the year (my daughter played beach outside - eating ice cream in her shorts and t-shirt), you have managed to remind me, yet again, that there is no low so low you won't go there.

I learned a few new things about you today.  I learned that you, in the delusion of all delusions, actually really do believe that you are some kind of businessgod.  I mean, we all know that you are famous for your "CEO of Wisconsin" posturing, and your claims to having run this state as if it were your own company.  But we also all know that you have never actually worked in the private sector, and have zero actual experience running anything other than a campaign.  For someone who hates government, you sure can't get enough of it.

That's why it was so absurd when I heard this clip from a radio interview:

Really?  Charlie Sykes makes the alpha male in you come out so strong that you lie about what your wife would like and make a bogus claim about "going back" to something you never had?  You are just too much.

But as if that delusion isn't bad enough, what really bugs me here is that you don't think the $144,423 we pay you each year is "real money."  And that you freely admit that "this job" is not "that important" to you because it's not making you quite as rich as you (and, allegedly, your wife) would like to be.

How far out of touch with reality can you get?  Do you have any idea how many employed, responsible, hard-working people in Wisconsin would be thrilled to make half of your salary?  Do you have any idea how painful it is for us to hear you disrespect your own office by implying it's just a stepping-stone on your corporate career path?

Maybe you think that if you keep selling yourself as Mr. Business Guv your big-money sponsors will be on-hand when you leave office to offer you some cushy job.  And maybe they will (assuming you leave because you got voted out, instead of Blagojevitched out to the private sector that is our privatized prison system).  But I have news for you: in the real business world, you don't get to spend your time jetting around not working and still collect your salary.  You don't get to avoid your bosses and your underlings both and still get credit for their work.  You don't get to pretend that you're saving the company money when everyone can see you're pulling it into a black hole of debt and dishonor.

Because this wasn't the only thing I learned about you today.  I also learned something I've been dying to learn all year: what you've really been up to.  Because even for someone who follows your goings on very closely, this is almost impossible to find out. Even though your deputy communication director just responded to it by publishing the most audacious piece of propaganda ever to come our of your office ("Walker administration committed to openness"), yesterday the Wisconsin Legislature was "awarded" the biggest possible badge of shame for lack of transparency in government: the Black Hole Award for withholding information from the public, appropriately granted during "Sunshine Week."  Your entire administration has been shrouded in secrecy, half-truths and outright lies. And unlike most public officials, you guard your public schedule like the crown jewels; no one ever really knows where you're going to be or where you might have just been. We just know you're mainly out of state fundraising from Thursday to Monday.  But Tuesdays and Wednesdays might find you in Wisconsin.  Just depends.  Turns out the only way to get your office to reveal your whereabouts is to file an Open Records request for that public information, and One Wisconsin Now did just that.  The results are staggering, even to someone like me who knew you're hardly ever "working" like we pay you $144,423 a year to do.  Here's what they found:

On our dime, on our clock, you have spent nearly every possible moment on "personal time."   Pretty cushy benefits for a state worker.

This hits home in a painful way for a few reasons:

First, because as a taxpayer it makes me absolutely furious that we are paying you so handsomely to both not do your job AND to joke about how paltry you find the pay.

Second, because your abuse of power is an insult to everyone everywhere making an honest living, but most explicitly to your fellow state workers, for whom, in the wake of losing their right to negotiate their own working conditions, this is just a stab in an open wound. I'm thinking of a wonderful teacher at my son's school whose infant son was born prematurely, but had to come back to work while he was still in the hospital so that she could save her maternity leave for when the baby comes home. I'm thinking of a friend of a friend who works at a university and has insurance, but was so worried she couldn't afford her deductible or additional costs that she refused medical treatment after getting into an accident that totaled her car.  I'm thinking of the semester I was working three different state jobs - none of which offered insurance we could afford - and my family still qualified for BadgerCare. None of us could opt out of our work.  None of us could afford to live the way you do. Even when I was on BadgerCare, I was not getting a "handout" the way you are.  I was making much-needed and life-saving use of a program I myself was actively paying into (a system, by the way, that finally received the worst of your decimating blows just today).  But none of us would ever dream or dare of exploiting the system the way you do,  filling your pockets with our money but in exchange for little to no work. How dare you ask state workers to give up their "cushy benefits" and take cuts to their pay while you can't even be bothered to come to work.  What a sick double standard.  What a message you are sending the the workers of this state whom you ask to make "shared sacrifices" at every turn.  What have you given up, Governor Walker, besides your dignity?

Finally, though, this news has just left me reeling, because I read it only hours after receiving an email from your office informing me that because of your "rather hectic schedule" you regretfully cannot accept the invitation our grassroots group sent you to meet with local constituents.  We had invited you, as we are inviting all the other potential candidates, to speak to our group of concerned citizens and other members of our community in an open forum, and we thought this invitation would provide a rare chance for actual dialogue and conversation with your constituents.  Unfortunately, however, you don't have time for dialogue with your constituents, because your "hectic schedule" apparently demands you leave the state at every opportunity to take advantage of fundraising opportunities, spending nearly every moment we are paying you to work to work on raising money.

You cannot find one hour to meet with your constituents. Your scheduler offered very polite and "sincere regrets."  But you don't have an hour to spare. In the entire span of your term, I cannot remember one time when you met with the people in an arena that was not completely staged, scripted, or purely intended to raise funds.  So it shouldn't come as a surprise that you could not spare even one hour for us to answer a few questions about the decisions you've made since you were elected and the way you've governed this state.

According to the public records obtained by One Wisconsin Now, you spent one hour working for us in January.  One hour. At a salary of $144,423, that means we payed you $12,035.25 for one hour of work.  If that's not "real money," I don't know what is.  Maybe you and your wife want a house bigger than our mansion.  Might I suggest you move to one.  The sooner the better if you don't mind.

In the meantime, I guess I'll just be thankful that the GAB has finally confirmed my appointment to meet with you.  So it looks I'll see you on June 5th, then.  At the ballot box, assuming your hectic schedule allows. I'm looking forward to it.

Until then,

Heather DuBois Bourenane
Taxpayer, parent and citizen standing in outrage over your refused to meet with or otherwise acknowledge your constituents.

UPDATE 3/16/2012.  I just learned that while Governor Walker does not have time to meet with the taxpayers of his own state, he found time this week to not only attend a fundraiser at someone's personal residence, but to "drop in" on a town council meeting and actually take the floor to brag about himself and his union-busting "reforms."  But not here in Wisconsin. That was in FLORIDA.  Maybe if our group raised $200,000, we could meet his apparent engagement fee and have a chance to talk to him, too. Too bad the voice of out-of-state money is much more valuable and persuasive than the voices of Wisconsin taxpayers.

Scott Fitzgerald Requests Citizen Assistance in Ensuring He Is Legally Recalled

Open Letters from Sarah Niemann Hammer, Julie Wells and John Clark

Republican Senate Majority leader Scott Fitzgerald was so shocked to find himself the victim of an outrageously successful recall effort that he leaped at the earliest opportunity to make the public petition records "extra" public by posting a searchable pdf of the signatures on his campaign website. He calls on citizens to "verify" that their names are "not on the signature list" to recall him and asks that they contact his staff (by emailing contact@votefitzgerald.com) if they are.

This generous request presents an opportunity for the 20,000+ citizens in Senate District 13 to verify that their names do, indeed, appear on the recall petitions that were submitted to the GAB and to thank the good Senator for providing this public opportunity to ensure that he is lawfully recalled.

One such citizen, a recall organizer who has already been the target of harassment and attacks of vandalism, took advantage of this opportunity to thank Senator Fitzgerald:

Dear Senator Fitzgerald and staff,

I appreciate that like other Republican Senators facing recall you have posted a searchable pdf on your website so that people can "verify" if their name is on the petition.

I'm sure you would like to know that sincerely hardworking citizens such as myself are less than amused that you've chosen to take time and resources to make this public record information "extra" public by making it searchable.

Being the recipient of 4 flat tires during the recall efforts did not deter me from working tirelessly to successfully expose who you truly are; that is a senator who does not have the interests of his constituents in his best interest, and this "scare tactic" will not deter the more than 20,000 concerned citizens of SD-13 who signed your recall petition and feel as I do.

Perhaps instead of wasting tax payers resources, such as the more than $18,000 in per diems you used for food and gas to travel an hour to and from work last year, you could use your remaining time in office to finally put the interest of the people in your senate district above the interests of yourself, for once.

Yes, I signed AND circulated petitions to recall Senator Scott Fitzgerald,

 Sarah Niemann Hammer

And this one from Julie Wells, the woman who filed the papers with the Government Accountability Board to recall Scott Walker, who happens to also be a constituent of Senate District 13:

Dear Senator Fitz, 

I want to thank you for the opportunity to be sure my signature is still on the petition I signed to recall you. I would have liked it a lot better however, had you listened to the concern of these voters and redacted the addresses. As you know there are a lot of people in this state who do not see anything wrong with harassment and intimidation of other people who do not agree with them. I hope none of them take it a step further and actually harm anyone. I circulated petitions and had more than one person concerned that they could lose their job if their boss found out. Did you think about the battered women living in shelters for fear they may be killed if found? I think not. I would have felt more trusting of you had you chosen not to put the addresses online. Your supporters could verify that their name is not on the petition without the address. Did you do this as a way to intimidate? One can only wonder. This just proves that you still do not think about ALL the people you were elected to represent, only those that blindly follow you. I have already received my first intimidating email about the recall. I will be forwarding all that I receive to you so that you might get the true picture of what life is like on the outside. Thank you for reinforcing my reasons and my desire to recall you!

- Julie Wells

This letter comes from another SD13 resident, who thanks the Senator for helping the recall effort by posting this volunteer database and doing all the data entry work (I'm wondering myself if this shouldn't earn the Senator one of the coveted "I HELPED RECALL FITZ" buttons):

Dear Senator Scott Fitzgerald,

Thank you Senator Fitzgerald for posting a searchable data base on recall petitions. You just saved the wonderful volunteers who along with myself, worked so hard to recall you, a lot of work in our own data base, to help find more volunteers to work in the election campaign against you. 

I was also concerned for myself that in all the hard work, that I may have forgotten to sign. Now I see that I did indeed sign the petition to recall you, so I thank you again. I also was so happy to see a couple of my friends that are swing voters had also signed the petition, this made me even more confident that the recall effort will succeed. 

Senator Fitzgerald, your attack on the hard working people of Wisconsin and misrepresentation of the constituents of Senate Distract 13 is heading in the right direction, your Recall.  Senator Fitzgerald your pink slip is coming.

Sincerely,
John Clark

Thanks to Sarah, Julie and John for sharing their wonderfully open letters! Readers in the other senate districts might also consider taking the opportunity to verify that their names are being counted in the petitions:

• In Senate District 21, you can check the petitions here and send your thanks to Van Wanggaard here or call (262) 930-6503.
• In Senate District 29, you can check the petitions here and send your thanks Pam Galloway here or call (715) 305-4331. 
• The website of Senate District 23 incumbent Terry Moulton seems to be stuck in some kind of fundraising-only phase, but you can send your thoughts to the Senator at Sen.Moulton@legis.wisconsin.gov.
• And, again, those in Senate District 13 can find their names in the petitions here and send their thanks to Scott Fitzgerald here or by calling (608) 257-8035.

Walker's "revised" update: less math, more lies?

7 January 2012

Dear Scott Walker,

Thanks for taking my advice!  I see that you did, indeed, send a revised "E-Update" [below] to (some of) your constituents yesterday!  Not entirely sure why I didn't receive this update at the email address to which you sent the last one, but I hope that I remain on your mailing list.  If it is your policy to remove concerned constituents from this list, I fear we have a serious problem.  And if it is your policy to send different "versions" of your updates to different "lists," I fear we have even more serious problems.

I wanted to clarify, though, that when I recommended you send "a revised or redacted" version of the update, I didn't mean you should send one in which the same errors (or "lies," depending on your perspective), were just slightly more ambiguous and misleading.  In the original email, your figures were so blatantly off that a cursory glance made obvious that you seemed to be just making up the numbers you cited. This revised email is actually worse, as it just provides unverified generalizations that belie the facts of the damage you have done to our state.  Most glaring are the sections on job creation and property taxes. Property taxes are up significantly even as property values decrease all over the state, and your bad math on this issue has been repeatedly exposed over the past year, with experts assessing that the average Wisconsinite will continue to see property taxes increase over the next two years.  Wisconsin now leads the nation in job loss and lack of economic growth, as the chart below makes glaringly obvious. As the rest of the nation begins to see real economic growth under collaboration with President Obama's job plan, Wisconsin stands out like a sore thumb and continues to suffer under your all-tax-cuts, no-jobs, nothing-to-negotiate policy:

Source: http://img2.ymlp225.net/kroyster_philadelphiafed_1.jpg

I am also concerned, since it's obvious that you have launched your recall campaign full force, that these "updates" consitute a very thinly veiled attempt to use taxpayer funds to distribute campaign propaganda. Since it took a full year of being in office to start considering it "one of [your] most important duties...to provide [us] directly with updates" and this timing just happens to coincide with your recall campaign, I suspect a misuse of your office that violates campaign laws.  I hope that you will take seriously your responsibility in providing accurate information in the future and not use taxpayer funds to campaign for reelection through "free advertising" in the form of electronic "updates" that simply repeat worn talking points from your campaign ads.

I am also concerned that, having changed the law this year to allow the State to file in a district of your choosing, you now plan to misappropriate the funds you have raised during the recall period.  The letter of the law [SS 11.26 (13)(m)] is very clear on this issue: the whole reason you're allowed this period of unlimited fundraising is to finance the legal fees associated with the costs of signature verification for the recall petitions, which the recall Statutes make clear is the burden of the incumbent.   Given the Waukesha judge's ruling this week, this burden would be shifted to the taxpayer.  I trust that you intend to offer the funds you have raised for this purpose since November to the GAB, since you are so clearly concerned with not imposing unnecessary expenses on the taxpayers of Wisconsin.  I am also concerned that your decision to "change the rules midstream," as has been succinctly critiqued by law professor Edward Fallone, reflects an agenda that has, from the start, been about gaining access to these unlimited funds more than justice.  This would explain why you chose to change the law about where you can file a lawsuit rather than the Statute you found unfair, and also why a Republican false-start on the recall petition filing gave you an extended fundraising period.  Given the continuing John Doe investigation and your history of connections to campaign fraud and embezzlement charges (as evidenced most recently in the felony charges against three of your associates, including your long-time campaign aide and Milwaukee County GOP Treasurer Timothy Russell), I find this lack of transparency extremely troubling. I request that in your next update you disclose what you will do with the "unlimited" funds you've raised since Nov. 5, 2011, which the law demands be used for the purpose of legal challenges you've just claimed you should not be responsible for.  If you accept the judge's ruling, you should offer those funds to the State to be used for their intended purpose.

Sincerely,
Heather DuBois Bourenane
Sun Prairie

Date: 01/06/12 04:19 PM

From: GovWalkerNewsletter@wisconsin.gov

E-update from the Desk of Governor Scott Walker

One of the most important duties I have serving as your Governor is to provide you directly with updates related to the operation of our state government.  In an effort to improve communication, periodically I will be sending out an e-update to provide you with more information about what is going on in state government.  Please feel free to share this update with your family, friends, and others who may be interested in state government operations.

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Read for the Future

Making sure Wisconsin students know how to read by the fourth grade is critical to their education and success in the future.  We need to make sure we are not failing them.

There is no skill more important than reading.  Yet, over the past two decades, students in other states have been improving their reading achievement on national measures faster than students in Wisconsin.  The results from the 2011 NAEP reading assessment for 4^th grade students show that while Wisconsin once ranked among the very top states in the nation, we now rank somewhere in the middle of the pack.  The literacy skills a child acquires in the early years of life provide the foundation for all later learning, and research has demonstrated that a child who is reading on grade level by the end of third grade is far more likely to graduate from high school than a student who is not.

In an effort to dramatically improve reading outcomes in Wisconsin, I convened the Read to Lead Task Force in the Spring of 2011.  We reviewed the state of reading in Wisconsin and developed a plan for improvement.  The impressive team of teachers, legislators from both political parties, researchers, and advocates worked together to reach a consensus on ways to ensure all of Wisconsin's children learn to read before they reach fourth grade.  Specifically I was happy to partner with State Superintendent Dr. Tony Evers, State Senator Luther Olsen, and Representative Steve Kestell.

The recommendations of the Read to Lead Task Force focus on improvements and changes in teacher preparation and professional development; screening, assessment and intervention; early childhood; accountability; and family involvement.  They include:

• Implementing early literacy screening for all kindergarteners in Wisconsin to identify and intervene with struggling students as soon as they enter school;
• Implementing improvements to teacher preparation programs around early reading, including a new, more rigorous exam for reading educators;
• Requiring that the professional development plans for all new elementary educators explicitly focus on literacy, and require focused professional development educators whose students continually struggle to improve their performance;
• Providing new, aggressive professional development opportunities to enhance the skills of current reading educators, including a new online professional development portal at http://www.readwisconsin.net and an annual reading conference for elementary principals and district reading specialists; and
• Creating a new public/private partnership to engage Wisconsin philanthropic groups and businesses around the goal of ensuring every child can read by the end of third grade.  

The Task Force's recommendations also focus on how the state will hold our institutions accountable for improving reading results.  Specifically:

• Wisconsin's new educator effectiveness system, released in November 2011, will require a portion of every educator's evaluation to be based on growth in statewide reading scores;
• Wisconsin's new school and district accountability system, still under development, will place additional weight on third grade reading performance to underscore the importance of reading on grade level at that critical year; and
• Schools and districts underperforming in reading will be required to implement targeted improvements, including a science-based reading program.

I am proud of the work of this non-partisan Task Force.  Working together I believe we have developed an important plan to improve reading in Wisconsin, laying the foundation for our students to excel.

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One Year on the Job

Over the course of the first year serving as your Governor I made a number of promises aimed at improving our state.  Unlike many office holders who often make promises that they do not keep, I followed through on a number of important initiatives aimed at reforming government and leaving our kids and grandkids with a state better off than the one we received.  Below is a listing of the major promises I took action on during my first year on the job. 

• I promised to balance Wisconsin's $3.6 billion budget deficit without increasing taxes or requiring massive public employee layoffs. On June 26th signed into law the 2011-13 budget. This balanced budget makes tough choices while providing a path to recovery and prosperity for our state and our people. Through honest budgeting, we are providing an alternative to the reckless tricks and gimmicks of the past.  Just as any parent would dread leaving their kids in debt, it is the dream of every mother and father to leave their children a little better off, and that's what our budget will do.
  
• I promised to call the Legislature into Special Session to pass pro-growth legislation aimed at helping employers create jobs.  Earlier this year I signed legislation into law improving Wisconsin's litigation climate, improving the state's regulatory process, creating the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, creating a tax credit for employers that create jobs, and making health savings accounts tax deductible.  In these challenging economic times while Illinois is raising taxes, we are lowering them.  On my first day in office I called a Special Session of the legislature, not in order to raise taxes, but to open Wisconsin for business.  I am pleased to sign into law bills that provide tax relief to small businesses, create a job-friendly legal environment, lessen the regulations that stifle growth, and expand tax credits for companies that relocate here and grow here.
  
• I promised to help the private sector create 250,000 new jobs by 2015.  After 3 years of net private sector job losses totaling 150,000, in the first 11 months of 2011 Wisconsin had a net increase of thousands of new jobs.  Because of the hard work done so far to improve Wisconsin's business climate, employers are willing to grow and invest in our state.  That is good for middle class working families and it is good for Wisconsin.  We are on our way to creating 250,000 jobs by 2015, but there is more work to be done in order to meet and surpass that goal.
  
• I promised to pay off the debts and fund raids of the past.  Working with the Legislature we were able to pay off $800 million in unpaid bills, including $235 million to the Patient's Compensation Fund and $58 million owed to the state of Minnesota.  These are huge steps toward restoring confidence in our state's ability to manage its finances.  The era of illegal fund raids, job killing tax increases, one time money being used for ongoing operations, and massive budget deficits has ended.  Paying off outstanding bills, operating under a balanced budget, and working on bipartisan, pro-growth initiatives sends a clear message to job creators that Wisconsin is open for business.
  
• I promised to take politics out of the woods.  Last year I appointed a Whitetail Deer Trustee and held a roundtable to listen to the concerns of hunters.  The Deer Trustee will provide an independent evaluation, study Wisconsin's deer management practices, and make recommendations.  It is vitally important that hunters, sportsmen and women, and conservationists trust the state to be a partner in helping to effectively sustain our deer populations.  The Deer Trustee will help ensure they have confidence in Wisconsin's deer herd management practices.
  
• I promised to freeze property taxes.  The budget signed into law and reforms are saving taxpayers hundreds of dollars.  For the first time in six years the school portion of the property tax levy went down one percent on average across the whole state.  Our reforms are protecting taxpayers while keeping our schools great.  Taxpayers are seeing their levies go down for the first time in six years, while our schools continue to meet the needs of Wisconsin students.

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It has been a pleasure communicating with you.  It is an honor to serve as your Governor and represent the residents of Wisconsin.

 

Sincerely,

Governor Scott Walker

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Onward Christian Soldiers: Kim Simac's Northwoods Crusade (review)

(revised 8/14/2011 to correct the misattribution identified in the comments below. Apologies for the original error. hdb)

Kimberly Jo Simac is on a crusade.  

The Tea Party candidate for the Wisconsin recall election in District 12, where incumbent Jim Holperin risks losing his State Senate seat on August 16, Simac raises horses and writes books. To date, she has written four books for children (with a fifth due out in early 2012), as part of her "I Can Be a Star" series that began, interestingly, with two books about hockey: When I Grow Up, I'm Going to Be a Hockey Star! ("For all who dream of playing hockey!") and its sequel, Girls Play Hockey Too! ("For girls who dream of playing hockey!"). The next three books in the series, though, take "being a star" to the next level, readying children for the (apparently likely) event that they will have to defend their country against threats to God's plan for America.

Simac's books are sold here.

American Soldier Proud and Free (2007), self-published by Simac's own company, Great Northern Adventure Co. (a riding club and equestrian facility) in Eagle River, WI and printed in China, reads like an entry in a 5th grade poetry contest: full of cliché, false and clumsy rhymes and a meter so embarrassingly disjointed that the book is almost impossible to read aloud. The awkwardness of the text is rivaled (perhaps even surpassed) by the amateurish crayon illustrations by "self taught artist" Donna Goeddaeus. These drawings seem to have been purposefully rendered as childish as the poetry to lend the book some continuity, an argument which finds further evidence in the unfortunate choice of the world's most painful-to-read font, the dreaded Kristen ITC, typeset so huge that the book could easily be placed in Large Print section of library shelves. And if you disregard the content (as I hope to demonstrate below that you should), the highest compliment I can pay to this book is that all of these things together do contribute to the reader's impression that the narrator, an elementary school-aged boy, actually wrote and illustrated this book.

But, alas, a child did not write this book, and as tempting as it is to expand this critique, Kim Simac's book doesn't really warrant a literary analysis, because it's not literature. It's propaganda.

The book, on the surface, seems an innocent enough celebration of patriotism. It's dedicated "To all who love America..." It opens and closes with reverent respect to the boy's grandpa, who "served for you and me. So that all of us here could have freedom guaranteed" (see what I mean about the rhyme?).  The boy goes to school, admires the flag, recites the Pledge:

We say the "Pledge of Allegiance."
I hold my hand
over my heart.
The words
"liberty and justice for all"
are one of the best parts.

He plays army with his friends ("I have to stand guard and be ready, should my enemies pay me a call") and says his prayers at night, asking God "to keep the world a happy place where all children can be safe to play."

But, completely devoid of plot, the book amounts to nothing more than catalog of reasons to fear for the safety of national security, and thinly veiled innuendo that all of the things of value in being American are threatened by some unnamed and mysterious forces. Call it jingoism lite.

In his favorite class, history, for example, our narrator learns

How soldiers gave their lives
to set others free.
How brave men changed
the world so God's
plan could be.

At the 4th of July parade, he stands on the curb, holding a balloon that says "God Bless America."  His father informs him that "there may come a time when we may have to say... "This land belongs to you and me, and it might take a war to keep it that way!" The illustration for this page shows a family of at the breakfast table, watching television, the twin towers engulfed in smoke.

God's plan? Mysterious people trying to take our land? The need for war? All of the Tea Party rhetoric of American exceptionalism, isolationism, and anti-intellectualism is neatly woven into the fabric of this book and its illustrations, dangerously normalizing a perspective that ensures a new generation of blindly jingoistic thinking, fear and suspicion. 

There's a famous expression that's usually attributed to the 1935 novel, It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis: "When fascism comes to America it wil be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." While this quote isn't actually in that text, it sums up the argument Lewis makes in his novel. For all their talk of limited government, Tea Party politics confirms precisely the sort of threat Lewis predicted: a religious agenda of irrational, reactionary politics with a decidedly anti-intellectual bent that severely limits individual freedoms in its attempt to forcibly impose and enforce the illusory "freedoms" it resolutely self-defines. A less-quoted line from Lewis' book exposes this threat even further:

I am convinced that everything that is worth while in the world has been accomplished by the free, inquiring, critical spirit, and that the preservation of this spirit is more important than any social system whatsoever. But the men of ritual and the men of barbarism are capable of shutting up the men of science and of silencing them forever.

This is the danger of not taking "innocent" books like Simac's seriously. Her crusade is based on purely ideological aims - she recently admitted she can't name a single piece of legislation in the works in Wisconsin that she either opposes or supports. She doesn't trust ("believe in") science. She fears public schools. She thinks God loves America more than any other country. She is on record comparing public schools to Nazis, and in October of 2010, she posted the following on her blog: 

The scary comparisons of the indoctrination tactics of our youth today and those of the Hitler Regime of past.

I am done raising my kids but if I was a young parent today I would take my kids out of the public school system today. At what point will we stop talking about the comparisons to what is occurring today and what actually happened by the regime of the Nazi's in the past?... Take the commercial that Glenn Beck showed from British Progressives that explains to little children that if they do not listen to their teachers recommendations on subjects such as carbon emissions, they could have their heads blown off. Add to that Kindergarten Sex Ed classes and I really wonder how it is American parents smile and kiss their children good bye every morning and in good conscience hand their most precious resource over to the hands of such questionable people. 

"Such questionable people?" Nazi regime? These can't be the same people teaching the boy in the book that "God's plan" demands the military defense of America at any cost? 

To be fair, let's listen to Simac's defense of this quote (and, ironically, its removal from her website):

"That posting was talking about how we need to be careful about how the world is changing. About how we need to be careful about what it is we are putting into our schools. And we are being careful. We do need to have parent involvement and to make sure that we all work together to make sure that our American values are protected, and defended. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

Our American values. There you have it. For Simac, and the Tea Party that supports her, it all boils down to "our American values."  But what is implied here is that "our" values are not shared by all Americans, and  - worse - that "others" (foreigners, teachers, minorities, Democrats, Hollywood types, Unitarian Universalists, etc) possess "values" which are a direct threat to their very way of life. 

On the website advertising her book, American Soldiers is described as a book which "relays the importance of protecting America's freedoms and our fragile way of life."  Our fragile way of life. Simac, and her Tea Party supporters, believe they are more patriotic than the rest of us. They believe they are more religious than the rest of us. They believe that God is on their side, and against the rest of us. They say things like "love it or leave it" to people who disagree with them on policy points. This is not a patriotic view. It is an insular, reactionary, divisive, and, ultimately, fallacious view that is dangerous to all of us, but particularly catastrophic to our children.

The fourth book in Simac's series, With a Rifle by My Side: A Second Amendment Lesson (2010), won the  Christian Small Publishers Association's  2011 Book of the Year award for books ages 4-8. The fact that it won this award speaks volumes, considering the eligibility standards for the CSPA award:

Books must be Christian in nature, promote the Christian faith, and intended for the Christian marketplace. The Christian marketplace is defined as the marketplace that is served by CBA member retail stores (mainly individuals who maintain Catholic or Protestant beliefs and doctrines).

While it's somewhat of a relief to know that this book is not on the shelves of local libraries (and worth noting that the autographed Madison Public Libraries copy I received of American Soldier was donated by the Eagle River Rotary Club "In appreciation to those who have served to protect our great country"), I am still waiting for it to arrive via interlibrary loan and haven't had opportunity to review it yet. I look forward to receiving it, so that I can get some answers as to the mysterious connection Simac must make within its pages to connect gun ownership and use to "promoting the Christian faith," and learn how exactly she positions the second amendment within the parameters of "Catholic or Protestant beliefs and doctrines." My guess is that she does so by continuing the Manifest Destiny myth she promotes in American Soldier: God wants me to live in America. God wants me to have a gun. America is a Christian nation which must be protected from outsiders at all costs. But that's just speculation.  I'll reserve judgment until I read the book. Maybe it's good. My hopes are not particularly high, though. Simac publishes her books through her own company because, in her words, "I couldn't find a publisher." There's good reason for that.

The fifth book in her series, When Life Began for Me, will be published in 2012.  Simac describes the books as follows on The Great Northern Adventure Company website:

"When Life Began for Me" is a book about life and when it actually begins. This book will support the pro-life movement and work to teach young children that though we have a special day we were born on, each life actually begins at a much earlier time. Simac hopes to provide youngsters true knowledge about conception so that it may be drawn upon later in life.

Still think Simac's not pushing an agenda in her "literature"?  If Simac thinks propaganda like this is the best way to reach children, it's no wonder she sees public schools as "Nazi" indoctrination camps. Indoctrination is the only "education" she understands.

Kim Simac sells Tea Party propaganda to children, pure and simple. She wraps it up in an American flag and calls it patriotism. Despite their friendly and childish veneer, her books breed fear, isolationism, xenophobia and encourage a profound misreading of the Founding Fathers' vision of a secular state where all have equal rights, freedoms and opportunities. Kim Simac does not believe in the separation of church and state. She does not believe in equal opportunity. She does not believe that all Americans are entitled to equal rights. She does not support the Wisconsin Idea of education as the pinnacle of our intellectual freedoms. She, like her Tea Party cohort, has hijacked the very idea of patriotism and corrupted it into a jingoistic mess of anti-American talking points, which she force-feeds on children through her propagandist books. Ironically, in an attempt to counter what she sees as a threat in public education and the loss of "values," Simac's books represent the very thing she fears.

American Soldier Proud and Free closes with the words "I believe America is something worth fighting for." It is my recommendation that parents who agree with this statement do not let their kids anywhere near Kim Simac's books unless they want to use them to teach kids a lesson about intolerance, distrust and fear-mongering. Kim Simac may be a Tea Party star at the moment, but her "You Can Be a Star" series is little more than a crusade to impose a very narrow, very restrictive, very un-American agenda on our children. And yet she ironically dedicates her book to "all who love America." If you're one of these people, and you live in Wisconsin's District 12, I highly recommend you vote for Jim Holperin on August 16. 

Don't believe what you've read here? Or just can't get enough of Kimberly Jo Simac? Watch this video to hear Simac discuss her lack of understanding of the U.S. Constitution, her disbelief in the separation of church and state, her thoughts on the 2nd Amendment, and her theory that homeschooling is the best way to avoid the dangers of free-thinking that come with attendance in public schools. (This video is Part C of a 3-part series. Check out the rest on YouTube)

Editor's note: Readers may be interested to know that Kim Simac's children's book about gun ownership may have impressed the CSPA, but the National Rifle Assocation has endorsed Jim Holperin for Senate, giving him an A rating and citing his "strong and vocal support of our right to keep and bear arms”
Jim Holperin has also received the endorsement of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association: "The Wisconsin Professional Police Association (WPPA) announced its endorsement of Jim Holperin in his reelection campaign to represent the 12th State Senate District. The WPPA’s board of directors, which is comprised of active law enforcement officers from all across the state, overwhelmingly chose to support Holperin after closely evaluating his record against that of his challenger, Kim Simac." 

Dear Scott Walker: CHECK YOUR EMAIL!

10 August 2011

Dear Scott Walker,

Sorry I haven't written for a while - I was so focused on the recall elections (hooray! historic victory! can you believe it?!)  and trying to expose your collusion with special interests against the interests of the people you claim to represent that I didn't really have time to write. But when I saw what you said this morning to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, I knew I had to write today to remind you of something very important: CHECK YOUR EMAIL!  

It seems you haven't been getting my messages or something.  At first I got all excited - thinking you were talking about ME when I read that you said "I've heard repeatedly from people who are just disgusted" but then I read on. You weren't talking about me. You were talking about some other "people" you've allegedly heard from:

I’ve heard repeatedly from people who are just disgusted at all the (campaign) ads, disgusted at all the money. They’re tired of seemingly year round campaigning and whether it’s a gubernatorial recall, any other recall, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of enthusiasm for having a whole another [sic? or did you really just say "a whole another?"  How embarrassing! You're so inarticulate!  Don't you wish you'd stuck in college long enough to take that speech course?!] wave of ads and money come into the state of Wisconsin.

Which is an odd thing to say, considering how many times I've written you to say otherwise, and how many times you've written right back, promising to "keep my specific comments in mind."  But just in case you overlooked my many, many previous messages, or forgot some of my specific comments, let me just make this crystal clear for you:

• I am disgusted at your abuse of power and your refusal to listen to, acknowledge, or engage in conversation with,your constituents.
• I am tired of special-interests funding campaign ads and outside influences buying elections in Wisconsin. And I am absolutely disgusted by the shameful display of hubris you have the nerve to put forth today in suggesting that you actually care about how much money is spent in these elections - after keeping silent when your own party wasted $400,000 of taxpayer money trying to run fake Democrats in the primaries. Equally disgusting is the pinnacle of hypocrisy which was the American Foundation for Children's press release today.  This Michigan-based special interest group poured an obscene amount of funds (at least half a million dollars just on tv ads) into these campaigns in an effort to secure their place at the legislative table - a space they've clearly already bought through Alberta Darling - and then had the nerve to claim that these results were "a rebuke of divisive, special interest-sponsored recall efforts." Given that workers' rights and public schools are the "special interests" that your party opposes, it is absolutely baffling to me that you garner a single vote.  These divisive statements only cement my resolve to both expose the dangers of these collusions with special interest groups like the AFC, hell-bent on privatizing our public education system and destroying the middle and working class for good.
• I do have a "whole lot of enthusiasm" for another recall. In fact, I have so much enthusiasm about seeing you recalled that I am almost giddy with excitement about it. 

Picking up two seats in the Senate yesterday was great. But getting a partisan majority was never my own personal aim. Sure, it would've been nice. But these recalls weren't about getting the majority. They were about getting justice. They were about calling out the corrupt politicians who sided with you and your big-money policy pushers over the interests of this state and were willing to sacrifice the rights of public workers and the future of public education in a power-hungry frenzy of partisan greed. They were about standing up and saying NO! to your selling of our state to the highest bidder, and showing the rest of the country that there is hope for democracy yet. And we did all that. So good for us. 

"Ask not for whom the red balloon tolls. It tolls for thee."  Photo source

But that was not my goal. My goal is to recall you. That has been my goal from day one and if anything, yesterday's result only strengthens my resolve to see you out of office as quickly as possible. I'm just one person, I know. Alone I can't do much. But I'm doing my part to make it happen, and at the very least, I have made my views known - to you and to anyone else who cares to listen.  I just wish you would care to listen. Because you keep saying you can't hear us.  But here I am. Here we are. Check your email. You'll find all the details in there. And read carefully. Listen very closely, because here is what we're saying: We want to recall you. We have "a whole lot of enthusiasm" about recalling you. It's going to happen.

Unless of course, you resign. Which I highly recommend.

In dissent,

Heather DuBois Bourenane

Taxpayer, voter and person whose voice you have heard, but ignored, for many, many months

P.S. I almost forgot to mention how absolutely unconscionable I found your signing into law the most divisive, partisan redistricting maps imaginable yesterday - on the day of the elections, an hour before the deadline, and behind closed doors. What a sneaky, slimy, cowardly move. How do you sleep at night? Seriously. How do you sleep? Representative Brett Hulsey got it exactly right today. He said "Governor Walker and the GOP leaders complaining about recall elections today is like arsonists complaining about the fire, smoke and damage they created with their highly partisan attacks on Wisconsin’s families and freedom."

This one is for you: How do you sleep at night, anyway?

This one is for us: We didn't start this. But we'll end it. 

When you're recalled and we can put things right.

Breaking News: Scott Walker accidentally says something true (again!)

“I believe if given the facts they’re going to make good decisions. 

Sometimes they’re going to be decisions that side with me, 

sometimes they’re going to be with others, 

but I’m going to respect their decision."

- Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on the upcoming recall elections, in a rare moment of truth, 

after being publicly shamed by his constituents at the opening of the Wisconsin State Fair

5 August 2011

Dear Scott Walker,

I could not be more thrilled to learn that, for the second time in your career as most hated governor in America, you have said something true!  Congratulations!  And THANK YOU for acknowledging that now that people are informed, they will do the right thing and recall of the Republicans who betrayed their constituents by voting along with your education and job-killing budget and taking away the rights of the people they represent. It must feel so liberating to be honest, after all that lying and pandering and misleading and betrayal and deceit!  I'll never forget the first time you said something true, and now that it's happened again, I feel like anything is possible.

I like your new look. Human. It suits you. Source

I'd also like to congratulate you in staying in character for so long, which must be really hard to do. I was surprised to learn from your second accidental truth that the word "respect" is actually in your lexicon after all, which makes it all the more remarkable to me that you are able to maintain your public persona and walk through your days as if you are not - literally - being followed at every step by the taxpayers with whom you refuse to communicate. How do you ignore us so well? How can you pretend that people are not shouting "SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!" at you every time you speak beyond closed doors or invite-only events? How do you smile and wave and pretend we do not exist?  I tried pretending you don't exist, too, for a while, but it only lasted one pay period, because when I got my check I couldn't help but remember that, alas, you do exist, as evidenced in your palpable presence in the hole that was once the money I need to survive and support my family.  So I congratulate you, and sincerely, on being able to pull off your act in the face of such resistance. Shy of Cheney and Rumsfeld, I can't think of any greater political instance of public douchebaggery. Your critics (*myself included) can say what they want, but we've got to hand it to you on this one: you are consistent and you pull off your public smuggery better than almost anyone. In fact, this photo is the first I've ever seen of you where you actually look concerned, or worried, or capable of sincere emotional response to external stimuli. I like it! You should act human more often!

Your lack of public displays of humanity aside, though, I like to think that your recent accidental truth is evidence that maybe you are hearing us. And maybe you are waking up to the reality that the recall elections are looking pretty good for those who have been "given the facts" about how seriously your "business model" is failing this state.  Because it sounds to me like you're getting ready to deal with the very likely prospect of not owning the Senate anymore. Who knows? Maybe it's all talk.  Or maybe one day I'll even hear you say you're ready to start a dialogue with your constituents, too. Or maybe the time for that has come and gone. It does seem kind of a waste, what with your own recall so close at hand. Maybe next time, if you ever say anything true again. My guess it that day will be at your farewell ceremony: "It was an honor to serve the people who paid for me to hijack this state and I have no regrets..."   I plan to be there in person. And I promise not to interrupt, so everyone can hear your speech. Look for me! Maybe we can chat after, assuming you'll lift your moratorium on communicating with dissidents once you're no longer an elected official.

In closing, I'd like to quote you - yes you - and your brave words the first time you said something true:

"People are ready to move on."

Yes, we are. We're already moving on. Forward! Toward retrieving democracy from your partisan stronghold and getting the people their voice back. Toward your recall, or your resignation, whichever comes first. Because here's something else that's true about these recalls: they're all about you. They're about your abuse of power, your bullying and your strong-arming of your own party into cheating the people of Wisconsin out of its proud tradition of bipartisan collaboration and its ability to maintain essential social programs and excellent schools while balancing its budget and ensuring workers' rights. You can't just hijack that history and try to make it your own. Like soon-to-be-ex Senator Alberta Darling prophetically said this week, "elections have consequences."  I hope you'll enjoy them. I know I will, once we clean up the mess you've made of our state.

Thanks again for the refreshing departure from your usual lies!

Yours sincerely,

Heather DuBois Bourenane
Wisconsin taxpayer, parent, and impatient demander of your resignation

Scenes from the opening of the Wisconsin State Fair, in which Walker is shouted down in protest of his refusal to communicate with his constituents. Video by Shit Scott Walker Is Doing To My State.

Stop Scott Walker. Save Wisconsin. Save America.

Wisconsin Recalls: It's (Also) About Saving Our Schools

An open letter to anyone who cares about public education, and to anyone who thinks the Wisconsin recall elections are just about public employees and collective bargaining.

3 August 2011

Dear friends,

You may have noticed, in the past few weeks, a couple of events coming out of Wisconsin news: The first is that our recall elections are coming up, and on August 9 and 16 the people will vote to see which of our recalled Senators will remain in office.  Up for recall are both Republican and Democratic legislators, and the stakes are high around the state as the balance of power could potentially shift in our Republican-run regime. The second thing you might have heard about is our participation at the Save Our Schools event in Washington, DC, which had a large Wisconsin contingent. These two events are not unrelated.  Public schools are under attack, and the recall elections might be our last chance for a while to fight for them. I ask that you take a few minutes to consider the evidence and the potential impact of these elections on policies that directly effect our children, and their schools.

Exhibit A: Alberta Darling, the Republican Senator from District 8 who famously admitted that she does not listen to public testimony during the budget hearings because (1) people had "already spoken" on this issue "at the ballot box" (a lie in the extreme, when you consider that Scott Walker did NOT campaign on his education-killing budget), (2) the people who testified didn't matter because they weren't "taxpayers" (since taxpayers would be working at that time - the time she purposely selected to limit potential testimony) and (3) the hoards of people testifying against the bill were irrelevant to her, because they didn't represent the "silent majority" of Wisconsin citizens who were too busy or too lazy to speak up in support of the budget.  That Alberta Darling, you should know, is being sued for her violation of the Open Records Law in refusing to produce her correspondence and appointments with out-of-state groups like the American Federation for Children, who have poured over $500,000 into Wisconsin recall ads and contributed to the campaigns of Republican legislators across the state. Other legislators have complied with similar requests. Why won't Darling produce these records? What is she trying to hide? Exhibit B might provide some answers to that question.

Exhibit B: The influence of ALEC and the AFC on Wisconsin's trickle-down education legislation.

If you've been following the news about Wisconsin, you know that one of the things Wisconsin citizens are most angry about is the draconian, unnecessary cuts to public education - over $1.7 billion (!) in cuts to our schools, which are forced now to balance budgets by forcing teachers into early retirement and cutting programs that are essential to our most at-risk students. These cuts, however, don't come in vacuum. While Walker repeatedly claims these cuts are just mandatory hits that show how we all have to "tighten our belts," not all belts in Wisconsin are getting tighter. These cuts come hand-in-hand with corporate tax breaks, a 15% increase to road construction and to other areas that benefit funders of Walker's campaign, as well as increased funding to charter schools - including the use of public funds to provide vouchers for rich children to attend private schools, legislation that comes to us directly from the coffers of one of Wisconsin's major campaign contributors: Amway/Prince mogul Betsy DeVos and her astroturfing front-group, American Federation for Children, a group which has a national aim to privatize public education.  Michigan-based Betsy DeVos is perhaps most famous for her openness in acknowledging that she expects a "return" on her political investments - "buying influence," she calls it - a return that her Wisconsin investments, Scott Walker, Scott and Jeff Fitzgerald (the brothers who serve as heads of the Wisconsin Senate and House), Senator Alberta Darling, Representative Robin Vos (the current WI head of ALEC), and others (including some Democrats) are apparently more than willing to provide. It's also worth noting that Scott Jensen, the former Wisconsin Assembly Speaker who was convicted of felony charges of abuse of office, sits on the AFC board as "Senior Advisor" to its "Governmental Affairs Team." The conservative group The Presidential Coalition, an offshoot of Citizens United, has spent $300,000 in ads supporting Republican Luther Olsen in his race against Fred Clark in District 14. Ethics violations have been filed against tax-dodger Kim Simac, who's challenging incumbent Jim Holperin (D) in District 12, for failing to included the "paid by" on her tv ads. While both sides have raised significant funds at the grassroots and local level, the number of out-of-state special interest groups pouring money into keeping the Wisconsin Senate Republican is directly linked to the national movement to privatize public schools, a fact that voters should not overlook when entering the ballot boxes in the upcoming weeks. What return do they expect on their "investments"? Is the quality of your child's education a price you are willing to pay for it?

Exhibit C: Scott Walker, national pawn poster boy for "school choice." 

Code for privatizing public education, "school choice" legislation slowly defunds public schools as it builds up programs to fund private education.  With millions of dollars pouring into these efforts, our own Scott Walker has become the national model for the shameless exploitation of public funds in the name of "education." When he signed into law the voucher bill that conservative news outlet Newsmax glowingly called "the largest expansion to the state’s school choice programs in history," Betsy DeVos sang his praises: “Governor Walker and state legislators pledged to put Wisconsin’s children first, and today that important pledge has become law. We encourage governors and state legislators across the nation to be equally bold in fighting for the creation and expansion of school choice programs.” Claiming to represent minorities and low-income interests, the AFC garners misleading "support" from conservative front groups like School Choice Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Council of Religious & Independent Schools, Hispanics for School Choice, and Democrats for Education Reform, all of which have similar goals of using public funds to support private education with the elimination of income caps, district regulations, teacher accreditation, testing and curriculum requirements, and the legal requisite of citizen input and transparency.  In short, the privatization and deregulation of public education, which can be more simply and accurately referred to as the destruction of public education as we know it. And Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is marching at the forefront of this movement, proudly presenting the keynote address at the AFC's annual national conference in Washington, D.C. this spring. Dean Pagani sums up Walker's speech perfectly:

The keynote speech at the AFC summit was given by Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, who has become the symbol of the taxpayer battle against public employee unions. His remarks however did not dwell on the labor/management aspect of the choice movement. Instead, Walker made a direct connection between school choice and economic expansion. More than half a dozen times during his remarks he came back to the idea that statistics in his state show the more choice has expanded the more the economic strength of the state has “expanded on a parallel track.”

Walker and those who supported his education-killing budget know exactly what's at stake here. They are willing to sacrifice the good of our schools and the quality of public education for the benefit of the few, and the already-affluent. They do not have my children's interests in mind, and unless you're rich, they don't care about your kids, either.   This is why we need to recall Scott Walker, Alberta Darling, and every other Wisconsin legislator who supported this bill. They all ran on a pro-education platforms, and have since done everything in their power to defund public education in favor of a privatized, tax-payer funded private school system.  Ironically, they continue to depict outraged Wisconsin citizens as 'out-of-state' dissidents or union thugs, while they meet behind closed doors with members of ALEC and the AFC, selling our kids to the highest bidder and asking us to pay the price.

I ask that you join me in sharing with your friends and neighbors in Wisconsin the importance of these recall elections - to us, and to the rest of the country as they watch these elections unfold. People need to know what is really at stake here. It's not just about unions. It's not about money, or partisan politics, or collective bargaining. It's about all that, and more. It's about transparency. It's about voter rights, worker rights, human rights. It's about protecting our state from national policy-pushers whose policies will only benefit the few. It's about protecting our schools.  It's about our kids.  And my kids are not for sale, and their education isn't either. How about yours?

Sincerely,
Heather DuBois Bourenane
Wisconsin taxpayer, parent, and supporter of public education

Scott Walker's keynote address at the AFC national policy summit. "National policy," eh? What about states' rights and local governance?  Who do you want deciding on the curriculum at your kids' school? If you want to remain a part of this process, these recall elections matter more than you realize. When public schools are privatized, citizen input and publicly elected school boards are a thing of the past.  The Wisconsin legislators who voted in blind partisan support of Walker's policies have abandoned our schools and the communities they serve. That is why I'm working to see them recalled. They have broken their promises and sold out our kids. It's about the children.  It's about the schools.

UPDATE: On Aug. 3, 2011, a day after a lawsuit was filed against her for withholding public information in violation of the Open Records Law, Alberta Darling produced the requested information regarding her relationship with the American Foundation for Children, currently pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into her campaign.  See more here and see the emails, which clearly show the AFC's hand in authoring the Wisconsin legislation, here.