Blogging Blue

As reported first by Xoff, David Clarke’s apparently changed his tune in a big way when it comes to allowing folks here in Wisconsin to carry concealed weapons. Back in 2003, Clarke supported a ban on concealed weapons, going so far as to urge Governor Jim Doyle to veto a measure that would have lifted the ban. Back when he supported keeping the ban in place, Clarke cited concerns about the safety of his deputies and what would happen if there were a “flood” of dangerous weapons to Milwaukee’s streets. As recently as last fall, in his campaign to be re-elected as Milwaukee County Sheriff, Clarke remained opposed to overturning Wisconsin’s ban on carrying concealed weapons. Sheriff Clarke’s flip-flop came to light in an email he sent to Charlie Sykes blasting Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Governor Jim Doyle, and State Senator Spencer Coggs, among others, for all that ails Milwaukee’s inner city. What I’m left to wonder is if Sheriff Clarke, as an elected official and Milwaukee’s “top cop” is willing to accept any blame for the state of the City.

Obviously this is just a prelude to David Clarke running for mayor, but I can’t help but wonder what accomplishments David Clarke has as sheriff that make him a better candidate for mayor than Tom Barrett. What’s he done to distinguish himself, besides kissing the collective asses of the local right wing radio nuts?

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My new favorite Republican lawmaker (as if I have many) is Republican State Senator Carol Roessler of Oshkosh. Senator Roessler is the first Republican to “fly the coop,” breaking with Assembly Republicans on spending cuts they want to make in state prisons and in the reserve fund used to give state employees pay raises. Senator Roessler’s break from the Republican Party line makes a state employee like yours truly very happy.

Senator Roessler said Senate Republicans should not agree to the Assembly GOP’s plan to hire private companies to provide medical care for inmates, to not hire 50 new prison guards and to abolish the jobs of 40 jobs of prison unit managers. Considering Senator Roessler’s district includes Oshkosh Correctional Institution and a number of other correctional centers, it’s nice to see she came down on the side of so many of her constituents in rejecting a budget that would have had a negative impact on many state employees.

Hopefully this is just the first Republican defection, because there has to come a point where Republicans finally realize no matter how hard they fight they’re not going to win the budget battle. Sure, they may win a few small victories here and there, but they’re not going to win the larger fight, especially not with Governor Jim Doyle wielding the famed “Frankenstein Veto”.

Click here to see the text of Senator Roessler’s letter to Republican Senate leader Scott Fitzgerald

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The MJS is reporting Governor Jim Doyle will propose closing the so-called “gun show loophole” as part of an anti-crime package he will present to the Legislature for consideration this fall. Here’s a list of the rest of Governor Doyle’s proposals:

• Allowing Wisconsin to contribute information to a national database that help increase monitoring of individuals who have been civilly committed or prohibited by a court from using a firearm. This would prevent people from traveling to a state where their background is unavailable to purchase a firearm and coming back to Wisconsin to commit a crime, Doyle said.
• Rolling back a 1995 law that erased all local ordinances related to firearms. Doyle said denied municipalities and counties from enacting any new laws that would be more restrictive than state statutes.
• Tracking guns used in multiple crimes by requiring ballistic fingerprinting, matching the marks made by a bullet when fired from a gun with marks on the inside of the barrel of the gun. He said that would create a trail for law enforcement to track down both guns and criminals.
• Prohibiting possession or purchase of a gun by anyone who has been convicted of a misdemeanor that involved a firearm.
• Banning the sale of handguns to people under 21, except for licensed purposes or weapons passed down through families, such as hunting heirlooms.

Of course, I expect the gun crazy conservatives will be all over this news like flies on dung, and no doubt they’ll scream about how Jim Doyle wants to take away guns so no one has them except criminals. There’ll be much gnashing of conservative teeth, and I imagine hilarity will ensue as wingnut bloggers all over the Cheddarsphere spin their tales of doom and gloom. Personally, I think a lot of the measures proposed by Governor Doyle make a heck of a lot of sense, and I can’t help but wonder what took so long to propose them.

EDIT: It didn’t take long for the wingnuts over at Badger Blogger to start frothing at the mouth over Doyle’s plan. Go take a look…hilarity is ensuing!

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Earlier today Governor Jim Doyle was cleared of any wrongdoing in the 2005 sale of the Kewaunee nuclear power plant. The sale of that plant became the subject of an investigation after it was revealed utility company executives had given more than $43,000 to Doyle’s re-election campaign just prior to the approval of the sale by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. Shortly after the revelations came to light, former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager opened an investigation into whether Governor Doyle’s office improperly influenced the Public Service Commission in its deliberations about the proposed sale of the Kewaunee power plant. This investigation became the subject of more than one attack ad against Governor Doyle during the gubernatorial race in 2006, with some citing the investigation - along with the prosecution of high-ranking state employee Georgia Thompson - serving as proof of how corrupt the Doyle administration supposedly was. Georgia Thompson’s federal conviction has since been overturned, and now we have this decision by the Wisconsin Department of Justice that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the Governor in the sale of the Kewaunee nuclear power plant.

In a statement released by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen cleared Governor Doyle of any wrongdoing, saying:

“After a thorough investigation, we have not found any evidence linking campaign donations to Governor Doyle to the PSC decision to approve the sale of the Kewaunee nuclear power plant. Nor did we find any evidence that the governor’s office improperly influenced the PSC decision in any way.”

I give Attorney General Van Hollen credit for doing his job and seeing this investigation through to completion, as well as for his unwillingness to make a case out of nothing.

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