Earlier today Republican attorney Jonathan Steitz announced his candidacy for the 22nd State Senate district seat currently held by Democratic State Sen. Bob Wirch. The press release announcing Steitz’s candidacy noted Steitz previously owned his own event management and production company, but curiously the press release did not mention the state tax warrants levied against Steitz.
Then again, the press release didn’t say Steitz was a successful businessman.
The Repugnants can not get a credible opponent to run against Bob Wirch because everyone knows Bob is a great State Senator. No one can win against Senator Wirch becausea tireless senator who makes housecalls on his constituents 52 weeks a year. I(f you enter his office you will see a plaque given to him by the local Democratic party for his “most doors knocked by a Senator EVER”.
Um Zach, did you read further down in the CCAP record? He paid the tax warrant off in 2004, after he was informed of it in 2003.
Since the warrant is no longer active, there’s not really a story here.
Got any traffic violations on this guy you want to do a post on to further embarrass yourself this evening?
Um Kevin, I did read the entire thing…..the fact that he paid the tax warrant off doesn’t negate the fact that it took the state issuing a tax warrant for him to pay the taxes in the first place.
Considering he’s an attorney, I’d expect Steitz to be a little more lawful when it comes to abiding by tax laws, but perhaps you don’t expect the same from lawyers.
He didn’t have his JD or MBA at the time. So there goes your logic down the drain…Maybe you should be more diligent in your fact checking.
It’s a character thing….I wouldn’t expect you to understand.
What’s more, Steitz is not only an attorney; he’s also an M.B.A. How the hell does someone with a J.D. and an M.B.A. not know how to pay his taxes in a timely manner?
Um…Zach I apologize for accidentally “liking” one of this intellectual giant’s comments above. Apparently I can’t “undo”.
Binversie,
It was your side of the aisle that described Rob Zerbans failure to register a vehicle, a traffic violation, as a skeleton in the closet.
Super Id
May 6, 2011 at 11:56 pm · Reply
Zerban’s off to a great start. Starting off with a citation for illegally operating an unregistered vehicle last year. You would think if the dems really wanted to beat Ryan they would pick a guy with no skeletons in his closet.
Got any other comments you want to post to further embarrass yourself this evening?
and if you lookeven FARTHER down the page Mr. Binversie, you will note that the judgement in fact has NOT been satisfied. A big fat $0.000 is in the colunm that says ‘amount paid. It demands ‘full satisfaction’ but has yet to see a dime of it.
Actually Jennifer, as I read it the warrant was satisfied in full, but that doesn’t negate my point that he should have never let it get to the point of a tax warrant.
Indeed, Zach, you should leave the rat#@#%ing to the professionals. They know how to dig up the real dirt, like defense attorneys who represent defendants accused of committing crimes.
didnt scooter the felon jensen spend $150,000 to let everyone in LaCrosse know that Steve Doyle paid his taxes one day late?
This post seems to assume that there will be a recall of Wirch, isnt the Wirch recall organizers the ones who used dead people’s signatures? Pure class!
The GAB certified 17,544 signatures against Wirch today. Of the 4,000 signatures the Democrats challenged, only about 500 were actually deemed invalid.
Steve, I had not heard that about Zerban, and I live in Kenosha. I don’t think what Zerban did was newsworthy and I don’t think this is newsworthy. People should focus less on this kind of stuff and more on actual issues at hand.
“I don’t think this is newsworthy.”
That’s the great thing about blogs; we print all the news that’s not fit to print.
“everyone knows Bob is a great State Senator.”
I’ve yet to see any evidence this is remotely true.
When Wirch came back from hiding in Illinois, he made three points in his statement. !) He worked at the American Brass which had a Union. Therefore Unions are good. Or something. The problem is, the Brass was a private union and not a public union. Does he even know what the details of the bill were about? 2) The Catholic papal supports a union. This is a ridiculous distortion and I see the Democrats repeating it. You are only fooling yourselves. I find the separation of church and state hypocrisy from the left particularly egregious here. And lastly, 3) the United Nations says we should have Unions. Is this the best he can do?
Wirch is screwed and the Democrats know it. That is why they have been reduced to desperately digging for dirt on Jonathan. The best part is that these types of tactics (character assassination, threats, and disruption) are on the radar of the public right now. Please continue to think it will help the Democrats.
Are you guys as excited to ask Wirch about the Democrats boycotts against business as we are? What about all those ridiculous raises the higher ups in the teachers unions got; while lower level teachers are laid off? Not to mention all the physical perks like heated flooring in offices. Then there is the Wea Trust union insurance conflict that led to more teacher layoffs. The lowly regular teachers are royally pissed at this, if you don’t know.
We’re going to have fun with the facts. Are you?
B, public and private unions are two different entities, but clearly the whole notion of solidarity is lost on a union hater like you.
I was born in Kenosha and have lived there almost my entire life, and I cannot tell you one good thing Bob Wirch has ever done. The man is entirely bought, paid for and brainwashed by Big Labor. That is why in Kenosha, the garbage men and the bus drivers make more than the average college graduate.
Unemployed since the auto industry left Kenosha? Thank your union.
Dedicated teacher fired from Kenosha Unified? Thank your union.
Bob Wirch is a disgrace. He should have left with the Brass.
Mark, just so we’re clear – are you blaming Bob Wirch for job losses that have occurred in his district?
If so, will you also apply blame to Rep. Paul Ryan for all the jobs that have been lost in his district (which roughly mirrors Wirch’s) during Ryan’s time in Congress?
The organized labor movement was behind most of the human rights advancements in America across the entire twentieth century, Mark. That’s a fact. A fact.
You’re the one who wrote above that you wanted to talk about issues, and then all you do is spew a vague smear campaign against organized labor and Bob Wirch.
You don’t cite a single vote he made an any issue, you don’t challenge a policy position he may have publicly taken on an issue, nothing. Just a vague smear job against the labor movement.
You don’t know what you’re talking about.
Since 1999, there has been only one year in which Bob Wirch did not receive a 100% rating for his voting record from the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.
If I didn’t challenge a policy position he has publicly taken on an issue, it is because he goes out of his way to avoid publicly talking about issues. That is why he would never dare to debate Steitz.
In a recent interview on the “Ed Show” Bob Wirch said that revoking Collective Bargaining “rights” would make the workers “second class citizens.” Does that mean that Wirch considers all of his constituents who are not government workers to already be “second class citizens?” That was the first time I had ever heard Wirch make ANY public statement and I found it vile and insulting to those of us in the private sector.
So in other words, your main issue with Bob Wirch is that he happens to support labor unions, while you clearly don’t.
Yeah, I can understand how you’d have a problem with someone who supports a 40 hour work week, limits on child labor, weekends off, etc., etc.
I’m from way up north and I don’t know Bob Wirch, but it sounds to me like he thinks workers should have a voice on the job, public or private. I can’t see what’s vile or insulting about that. I agree with him 101%.
Jobs don’t leave because of unions – jobs leave because corporations move them to countries with no worker or environmental protections. That way they can pay child workers $2 for a 12 hour day and not worry about things like pollution and contamination. And meanwhile their republican friends let them – and give them more tax breaks. So don’t blame the unions. Blame Paul Ryan and his friends.
Dear Senator Wirch,
In respect to the recent union backed boycott list of businesses (posted on the District 22 Democrat web site), do you represent the workers that would be negatively affected by losses to said business? Yes or no. If yes, do you denounce any boycotts of businesses that would affect those whom you represent?
The Governor Walker agenda includes a goal to bring jobs to Wisconsin. Senator Wirch, do you support bringing jobs to Wisconsin and your district? What are you doing to bring in those jobs?
Senator Wirch, How do you explain the lavish perks and salaries that upper end union representatives (and connected individuals) have received, while lower end workers have not enjoyed such “benefits” or have been laid off? Should the “rich” union officials be a part of the “shared sacrifice” in your opinion? For example. One person received an 80K salary raise, and a $40K benefit raise, from 2007 to 2011. This was in the local paper recently. Talk about an awkward fact that many now know. Ouch.
Senator Wirch, In 2005 Fifty teachers were laid off in your district when the unions refused to allow the Unified to renegotiate to a competitively priced insurance plan (which would provide equal coverage with no change in staffing). If it were up to you, would you support the teachers that were about to be laid off or the union controlled insurance (WEA trust)? You have to pick one. Which will it be? The little guy or the big one?
Do you see where we are today Senator and why we have problems? What are your solutions Senator? Whom do you represent? The district individuals or the unions? Is it fair to call you a rubber stamp?
Jonathan Steitz is right. This will be a referendum on Wirch. Attacks on Steitz won’t help Wirch and will further help motivate the base behind Steitz.
Steitz for Senate!
“How do you explain the lavish perks and salaries that upper end union representatives…”
Compared to the multi-million dollar salaries and benefits of corporate CEOs. Like the CEO at Harley who got a raise this past year after raking the union over the coals for concessions?
btw: We can ask Gov. Walker and the entire majority in Madison: where are the jobs?
I do not know which union officials you speak of, but their wages do not compare to the CEO’s of Big Oil and Banks who received billions of dollars in salaries and stocks this past year. This is where Paul Ryan comes in. He was not a wealthy man when he went to congress after Peter Barca. How does he consider himself one of the “elite” now?
Why aren’t we talking about making legislator Ryan vote more responsibly? Have you taken alook at his votes last week? 9 times his votes were extreme. Who does he represent? Even his colleagues are starting to question his agenda.
Ryan is creating a country of haves and have nots. You sound like you are a willing participant.
Good Luck to you!
I think I will put up a little bit of a fight. Working for more of my life than not – I want my money back from Social Security and I want free Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and the opportunity to pay for Medicare Parts B and D. I don’t want a $6,000 voucher. He never did explain how they would use the extra money that is withdrawn automatically from our paychecks if his program were implemented.
Don’t you wonder what his plans are for these billions of dollars, while the rest of us will be filing bankruptcy because $6,000 doesn’t even pay for a broken leg!
Mr.B
I can’t find a union backed boycott list on the ” District 22 Democrat website”.
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/w3asp/contact/legislatorpages.aspx?house=senate&district=22
Maybe the “B” stands for Bullshit?
The boycott list was yanked offline when Charlie Sykes took up the story. I still have the screenshot around somewhere I think. That webpage you linked to is not what Mr B was referring to.
As for businesses moving out of the country, would you propose that we make laws telling people what they can or can’t do with their private business? The ONLY reason anyone ever goes into business is for that nasty “P-word” that progressives hate so much…PROFIT. Nobody ever opened a business so that they could protect the environment and overpay unskilled workers. Why should an auto worker on an assembly line be paid $35/hour plus benefits to tighten a screw? Throw in work slowdowns and strikes and it is no wonder companies are doing business overseas and moving to Right to Work states. More power to them.
Then what in the hell is Mr.B referring to? You “think” you still have the screenshot hanging around somewhere? You guys supposedly had evidence of Wirch backing a union boycott of local businesses but you can’t produce it? Either put the link up or put a cork in it.
We already have laws telling private businesses what they can or can’t do, Mark, and so does every other civilized nation on earth. Workplace safety, pollution controls, laws prohibiting exploitation of workers, etc.
And every union in the world supports the long term profitability of the companies they work with, or their fortunes will sink along with the companies.
Snap out of it, man. Once again, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
So we already have laws on workplace safety, and prohibiting exploitation of workers…why do we need Labor Unions then? Sure, in the early 1900s Unions did some good things, now all they do is exploit businesses and funnel money into the Democratic party. Why should someone be forced to join the teacher’s union in order to teach? That is insane. Labor is a commodity, just like gold or oil or anything else. If people want to earn a good wage, maybe they should get some marketable skills that make them deserve a good wage.
Uneducated “workers” and their unions have destroyed Kenosha, it is a crumbling city with a bar on every corner. Fat, unemployed auto workers getting drunk and complaining about how their Union drove the auto industry out of Kenosha. I live here, you don’t comrade Carlson. Perhaps YOU do not know what YOU are talking about.
1. Do you want laws on workplace safety in the US?
2. Do you want workers exploitation to return to your workplace?
3. Teachers are not unionized in parochial schools. It is their choice where they teach.
4. Most larger corporations donate to both parties.
5. Out of 5.7 million citizens in Wisconsin how many do you think are card carrying democrats?
Many union workers are highly educated i.e. physicians, lawyers, nurses, teachers etc. What are you implying that only people without college degrees make-up the bulk of unions?
6. Many union workers in Kenosha who lost their jobs were highly educated. The union workers took many cuts in pay and benefits to sustain their jobs and what happened? The engine plant still went to Mexico where they have very few labor laws. Blame Paul Ryan not your neighbor.
7. How do you know that these “fat” unemployed union workers don’t have an illness and that their weight is part of that illness? A little judgmental here?
Please take a moment today and thank God that you are employed and have an opportunity to complain about those who are less fortunate. You posted at 10:34A either you are retired, unemployed, or abusing your employer’s equipment by posting on a blog. If you get caught at work doing this without a union you will be fired. At least, with a union you have a chance of keeping your job.
You have been listening to rhetoric and not educating yourself. Do something for you today and find facts to support your claims in this post.
Mark,
I don’t understand what ” comrade” Carlson refers to. Are you calling me a communist? Can you elaborate, or do you prefer anonymous comments with vague slurs?
Sorry, Steve, I’m pretty sure that all he was just given down at Wingnut Central was “The Mindless Insult Manual”.
He probably isn’t prepared to actually back it up with facts, rational thought, logic, civility, [fill-in-the-blank].
Don’t hold your breath waiting for an answer to your question. Just assume he “prefer[s] anonymous comments with vague slurs”, and let it go at that. I’m pretty sure that Manual actually uses those very words. “Use anonymous comments with vague slurs whenever possible”.
What is the Right’s fascination with “communists”, anyway? They must just MISS the Cold War a lot, with its communist witch hunts, bomb shelters, Birchers prattling on about communist conspiracies like fluoride in the water and a chicken in every pot, I mean, a communist under every rock. It’s just bizarre, pathological.
Comrade Carlson?! Jeez, you’re just a decent guy trying to stand up for what he believes in, who wants America to be everything that it should be. How much more American, how much more patriotic, does it get than that?
People like Mark hurt this country in a fundamental way. The tragic irony is that, despite their collective claim that they are “patriots”, they just don’t get that.
I don’t support public unions because a Kenosha garbage man’s base salary is 50-60k. What insensitive does that give anyone to go to college? I guess I could have just partied during highschool not gone to college and make more than the ones that worked hard and got a degree. Instead of holding up signs that said shame they should have held up signs that said “we’re sorry we have been ripping you off for so long.”
Many of your sanitary engineers have college degrees. What makes you think they don’t? These positions cover during snow operations and some of their income is overtime so that you can get to work after it snows.
Are you unhappy with your garbage services? If so, why are you posting it on a blog. Call the Department of Public Works and explain your concern.
Venting is only helpful in the right format. If Walker had run on the platform to strip women’s health, collective bargaining, and striping counties, municipalities, and schools of valuable resources than the voters would have had a clear choice. Since he did not – it is alot of people’s perspective that he wasn’t honest during his campaign.
Based on your analogy of secondary education, with this budget fewer students will be able to afford college.
Where are the 250,000 jobs the Guv has promised the residents of the State of Wisconsin? In what industry?
Do us all a favor and be part of the solution!
Thanks, Zuma B.
I do want to clarify that I don’t consider the word communist a slur. There are good communists in the world, but I’m not one of them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Norway
It seems, however, that it’s the ultimate slur to a guy like Mark. Maybe McCarthy is his last name?