Blogging Blue

Watchdog Milwaukee has done the Milwaukee area a great service by exposing those trying to ruin the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s name and integrity. It seems Tom Reynolds’ PAC organization, Clean Sweep Wisconsin, has chosen to take the route of planting candidates in Democratic districts and then run them as Democratic “challengers” to the incumbents. For those of you who don’t know who Tom Reynolds is, he was a former Republican State Senator and was quite controversial before being tossed out by his district for a Democrat, State Senator Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa).

It seems Wisconsinites are getting more than their fair share of unnecessary, sleazy campaigns. It wasn’t too long ago when we had a tug-of-war being fought over the TV for our Supreme Court seat. This, however, brings the entire 2008 campaign season to a new low. It’s shameful and outright disturbing that individuals would go to such lengths to unseat Democrats in November.

Members of Clean Sweep Wisconsin should be ashamed of themselves if they knew about this and understood what they were supporting with their contributions. If some contributors didn’t realize this level of trash was going to occur, I’d suggest that they’d ask for their contribution(s) back. To support something like this only shows off a negative characteristic of someone’s inner being.

As for the candidates who chosen to take on this role of being FAKE, I have no kind words for you. To run on a Party platform only to eliminate the true Party candidate is appalling and shouldn’t be acceptable by any means. If you don’t share in the views of the Party in question, you should run either as an independent or as a member of the opposing Party (Republicans). Period.

I agree with Watchdog Milwaukee in asking the Milwaukee County Democratic Party to NOT endorse these wolves in sheep’s clothing. Furthermore, any Democrat in those districts should be informed of the deception(s) right away so they don’t fall for Reynolds’ dirty tactics.

The individuals listed by Watchdog Milwaukee as FAKE are:

State Assembly District 8: Jose Guzman

State Assembly District 10: Charisha Allen

State Assembly District 15: Josh Hoisington

State Assembly District 16: David D. King

State Assembly District 17: Samantha H. Bady

State Assembly District 20: Philip Landowski

H/T: Fairly Conservative & Watchdog Milwaukee

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So says Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn. Compared with the first half of last year, violent crime has decreased 19.4% in the City of Milwaukee, most notably in the following categories:

• Homicide, 33 in 2008, compared with 48 in 2007.
• Rape, 88 in 2008, compared with 124 in 2007.
• Robbery, 1,392 in 2008, compared with 1,607 in 2007.
• Aggravated assault, 1,703 in 2008, compared with 2,210 in 2007.

What’s most notable to me about the numbers released by Flynn is the fact that crime is down in Milwaukee even during the summer, when crime rates typically increase. As someone who works in Milwaukee and spends a lot of time in many of the worst neighborhoods the city has to offer, I’ve noticed a difference on Milwaukee’s streets, and while Milwaukee’s worst neighborhoods still don’t feel totally safe, they don’t feel quite as dangerous as they used to.

And now I know some folks might say they don’t feel like Milwaukee’s much safer now than it was last year, but a nearly 20% drop in violent crime rates is damn good, and it’s something to be proud of. Some folks will always consider Milwaukee to be unsafe and dangerous, no matter what, but I think these most recent numbers bode well for Milwaukee.

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What’s your definition of a riot?

I know my definition includes any of the following:

• Bottles or other hard objects being thrown
• Police in riot gear using tear gas or other crowd control measures
• Fires being set and looting occurring

However, according to the folks over at the Daily Scoff, this is what constitutes a riot:

Now call me crazy, but I don’t consider that a riot. Now this is a riot:

Like I said, call me crazy, but I don’t see how the first picture could even remotely be construed as being a “riot.”

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This has nothing to do with politics, but Playboy came out with a list of the top ten best hamburgers in America, and apparently Solly’s in Glendale made the list.

Now I’ve been to a lot of burger joints in the Milwaukee area - including Solly’s - and I don’t think Solly’s is even close to being the best in town, much less one of the ten best in the United States. For my money, I’d eat at Kopp’s or Bella’s Fat Cat before I’d eat at Solly’s, simply because I find Solly’s burgers to be overly greasy - to the point of being unappetizing.

I’ve got my favorites; what about all three of you who visit BloggingBlue?

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Perhaps the most surprising of all last night’s results - at least to me - came from Milwaukee’s Sixth Aldermanic District, where incumbent Michael McGee fought off eight challengers to garner 32% of the vote in last night’s primary. Finishing a close second was Milele Coggs, setting up a showdown between the two on April 1st. My quote of the night comes from Dorothy Carter, a McGee supporter:

I think he’s a nice person, and I think he’s been railroaded. I don’t think he can do as good of a job in prison. But I think if he’d been a white man, he’d already been out of jail.

That’s the only explanation I can come up with as to why McGee got 32% of the vote from behind bars: folks in his district believe he’s been railroaded and will ultimately be exonerated. Despite his “strong” showing yesterday, I don’t see McGee winning on April 1st, because I see all those folks whose votes were split by the eight challengers to McGee will start to coalesce behind Milele Coggs.

In many respects, Michael McGee is like a bad rash that won’t go away, but hopefully on April 1st the citizens of the Sixth Aldermanic District will finally put some ointment on that rash.

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