Orwell Comes to Manitowoc - Why I Cannot Support Jim Brey

The following is an email I sent to the Manitowoc County Democratic committee.  The specific origins of this message are less important than the fact that I have come under tremendous political pressure to drop my objections to the presence of Jim Brey in the Democratic Party and accept him as the best deal I can make to represent my values.  I do not.

[Member of the committee],

It is possible to back and forth endlessly on this subject.  Allow me to explain in a broader sense why I cannot participate in supporting Mr. Brey.

I suggest that everyone read Orwell's essay, "Notes on Nationalism".  As a professor of American History I would think it would be of particular interest to Chairman Trask.  In that essay Orwell said the following:

"By ‘nationalism’ I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labelled ‘good’ or ‘bad’. But secondly — and this is much more important — I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognising no other duty than that of advancing its interests.

[...]

The nationalist does not go on the principle of simply ganging up with the strongest side. On the contrary, having picked his side, he persuades himself that it is the strongest, and is able to stick to his belief even when the facts are overwhelmingly against him. Nationalism is power-hunger tempered by self-deception. Every nationalist is capable of the most flagrant dishonesty, but he is also — since he is conscious of serving something bigger than himself — unshakeably certain of being in the right."

see: http://orwell.ru/library/essays/nationalism/english/e_nat

If you believe I am saying that I support Mr. Tittl, let me state without hesitation, that I do NOT.  He is himself a nationalist which is what the TEA Party is, a nationalist movement in its truest form.  But, in supporting Mr. Brey we are no longer Democrats.  We have become nationalists ourselves.

As someone very much closer to the historical events Mr. Orwell is noted for criticizing it should come as no surprise that I take his warnings very seriously.  I refuse to participate in the self deception that supporting the likes of Mr. Brey in any way advances the cause of true Democratic values which are my sole concern.  As Ron so aptly put it, "My values are my priority".

I would hope that you could respect that and take seriously my campaign to support and defend those values which I always believed we had in common as Democrats.

Bernie

Romney and Walker's Rotten Fruit

An Arab proverb states, “And tomorrow there will be apricots!” It expresses cynicism in the hollow promises of politicians.

According to Mitt Romney's new TV ad “It's not working for Wisconsin....” and promises 240,000 new jobs. The choice of that slogan is strangely confusing since it is the reverse of Governor Walker's own slogan which claims that it “is working”. Just exactly what is (or is not) working seems to depend upon what the meaning of “it” is.

Is “it” the stimulus? Can't be that because Walker sent that program packing.

“It” cannot be the billions Walker yanked from public schools and local governments because that's budget cutting and budget cutting is good according to Romney & Ryan.

What quarter million jobs are we talking about? Are they the same jobs promised by Walker?

Or are they in compensation for the quarter million jobs we are on pace to lose in Walker's term?

“It” seems to mean that Wisconsin has somehow been held back by national policy. More likely “it” means that the nation is being held back by massive job losses in states like Wisconsin and New Jersey that swallowed the bitter fruit of Republican austerity.

In the 1930's John Stienbeck wrote of people starving while picking the fruit they could not afford to buy and surpluses were dumped in ditches. The great lie that threatens to starve us is the hollow promise that prosperity will be delivered by a new crop of growers who will hire more pickers if they can just be made to work a little cheaper and live a little meaner. But there are no apricots or anything else coming. The fruit of our labor has all been dumped in the ditch of corporate interests.

Tax Credits and the Reality of Job Creation

This is a letter to the editor I wrote back in July and published at www.htrnews.com
I dont have the original link but Im posting it here now in order to preface some other new material on the issue of tax credits as a tool to stimulate the economy and why they do not work...

We were told we were broke. No money for schools, for cities, recycling, public works much less public employees. Amid a blizzard of misinformation and bogus budget numbers we were convinced to give up billions in state aids on the promise that teachers and public servants were the cause of it all and someone had to pay.

What it paid for was a massive tax credit program that has extended hundreds of millions to corporations promising to create jobs for cash. Plexus Corp in Appleton was given fifteen million to supposedly create 350 jobs at a cost of nearly $43,000 per job. Kohls department stores got another 62 million and they are just the latest.

Prosperity was just around the corner. All Manitowc had to do was suffer an 11% increase in the school tax. Valders now much the same with Chilton not far behind. The cities took the same hits. Then lay off dozens. Hundreds district wide.

This week Plexus announced the layoff (not hire) of 116. In making the announcement a company spokesman said that they “...made the layoffs in response to a decrease in customer orders.” Wait? Weren't we told that investment creates jobs? That tax cuts drive investment? Did we misunderstand?

It seems that customers create jobs. So says Ginger Jones, CFO of Plexus Corp. Tax credits not so much.

Unemployed public workers make poor customers. No less so the workers at Plexus who will not receive their first week's unemployment because that was cut too. So it is for the other 13,000 who lost their jobs in June. But Plexus got its 15 million and no doubt the board will reward Ms. Jones well. The employees at Kohl's hope she is a big customer there. The unemployed shop at Wal Mart.

You may also find this link interesting...
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/crs-study-taxes-economic-growth.php?ref=fpa

YOU are NOT Competitive! (but we are)

When a conservative talks to you about being competitive it would be wise to look over your shoulder and make certain that he is not talking to someone else because the meaning of the word changes depending upon who they are referring to.

When the subjects are CEOs and top managers they say that these people need high salaries because we need to attract the best people to be competitive.

When the wages of ordinary workers are discussed those wages must be kept low in order to remain competitive.

So it goes with Gov. Scott Walker...

State gives bonuses despite budget deficit

Walker establishes merit raises

MADISON — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker established a program that has given hundreds of thousands of dollars in merit raises and bonuses to some state workers even as he preached cost-cutting and pushed through a law reducing most public workers' pay and eliminating their union rights.

An analysis of data The Associated Press obtained through an open records request showed Wisconsin agencies have handed out more than $765,000 in bonuses and merit raises this year to nearly 220 employees.

The awards are meant to reward stellar performance. But they come as the state faces a $143 million shortfall and after thousands of state workers took pay cuts through provisions in the collective bargaining law requiring them to contribute more to their pensions and health care.

See original

Support Dale Schultz

The following is a letter to the editor of the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter I submitted earlier today.

Dear editor:

All too often these days politicians see their their self interest as being entwined with their party's ideology. There is the party line and it must be toed regardless of the facts. When things go wrong the blame is for the other guy even when the party overreaches and does or tries to do something so outrageous that it breaks all civil notion of public interest. Compromise is for that other guy.

Before the Legislature is Assembly Bill 486. This mining bill commits such outrages as forcing the DNR to issue the permit even if the department knows that the mine will endanger public health or safety, explicitly orders them to ignore groundwater contamination, allows the draw down of lakes and rivers from not only the mining area but anywhere in the entire region with no limits. Toxic waste can be dumped in wetlands at will. This is not specific to the Ashland site but any mine anywhere in the state now or in the future. And worse, the Walker administration will raid 40% of local impact fund to shore up their creaking budget.

Republican Senator Dale Schultz has had enough. Citing what he calls the “golden rule of this state's treasured land ethic” he has bucked his own party's land grab for Gogebic mining. Perhaps he truly believes in that ethic or perhaps he has listened to his constituents who oppose the bill by 2 to 1. It doesn't matter. That is what politicians should do and Schultz deserves the credit. But he is under tremendous pressure. He needs other Republicans to join him and we can help. Call your representatives and tell them to Support the Schultz Jauch compromise. If they refuse, ask them why compromise is a bad thing and who they see as partisan.

BREAKING! Ziegelbauer Tells the Truth! - almost

In a February 19th interview with 25th Assembly district Bob Ziegelbauer he is asked if he lost his committee chair because of his vote on abortion (as he formerly claimed).
At the time I criticized that excuse for being a misdirection.  He had in fact been fired because he was a no show for committee meetings and votes.

It seems his story has changed just a bit.  In the interview he states the following:

CT: Before you left the Democrats, they stripped you of your committee chairmanship over abortion issues?

BZ: Well yeah, it was because I didn't vote on a couple procedural motions that are supposed to be required voting -- back to that "you have to vote with us" deal. When I did that I understood fairly well that that could be the result, so I didn't go off stomping mad or anything. It was a very civilized transaction -- the speaker told me this is why and I'm taking your chairmanship and basically all I could say is OK because he had the power to do it.

Read more: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/politiscope/madison-politiscope-q-a-rep-bob-ziegelbauer-remembers-a-more/article_a087e7cc-5a77-11e1-a905-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=story#ixzz1nnLZeYCB

In fact the story has changed several times.  In this version he claimed it was because of a vote that he "took".

By Stacy Forster of the Journal Sentinel

Sept. 18, 2009 | Madison – Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer (D-Manitowoc) was replaced as chairman of the Assembly’s Committee on Ways and Means because of a vote he took on a state budget amendment, the nine-term lawmaker said Friday.

“It’s discipline, I was fired,” said Ziegelbauer, who frequently votes differently from the rest of his Democratic colleagues.

He said Sheridan told him the decision was made because of his vote on an amendment offered by abortion opponents during the budget debate. Ziegelbauer voted with those who wanted to overrule a decision by the body’s chairman to not consider the amendment.

The amendment from Rep. Dan LeMahieu (R-Cascade) would have prohibited state Medicaid funds from going to hospitals that perform second- and third-trimester abortions.

http://www.jsonline.com/newswatch/59758147.html?newsWatchDate=12-20-2011

Pants on fire?
But was it then or is it now?

Ziegelbauer Should Look in the Mirror

The following is a reprint from my letter to the editor at htrnews.com
http://www.htrnews.com/article/20111221/MAN0602/112210621/Letter-Ziegelbauer-should-look-mirror?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|s

It is in response to Mr. Ziegelbauer's despicable behavior with respect to Mayor Nickels and the fiscal troubles at the City of Manitowoc and the Walker Act 10 legislation he supported that added to the pain.

The situation at the City of Manitowoc is not good but it was made much worse by a raft of politicians who created the perfect fiscal and political storm. On the surface much of it is due to a lack of intestinal fortitude by the previous administration to fess up and properly apply TIF payments to debt in order to artificially holding down taxes. Certain members of the City Council who then foolishly tried to staunch the problem by refusing to staff the one position of finance director that could have dealt with the problem effectively.

Now comes County Executive Robert Ziegelbauer to wag his well worn finger in the face of the Mayor for raising taxes to cover it. Only that same Assemblyman Ziegelbauer has that same finger knuckle deep in the pie for his enthusiastic support for Walker's tax shifting budget that made the situation much worse. Beyond that his own work as finance director helped bring the city to its knees with crumbling buildings, leaking roofs and failing bridges. Much of the debt incurred under Crawford can be traced to the disgraceful neglect that he fostered in those dark days.

His own tenure as County Executive has been clouded with questionable finances, nepotism, cronyism, gutting critical departments, evaporating reserve funds and hard assets with nothing to show for it but a string of his own tax increases that belie his anti-tax rhetoric. It would seem his finger needs to find another subject, preferably the one in his own mirror.



See also the HTR editoral also taking him to task.

Editorial: Personal criticism counterproductive

http://www.htrnews.com/article/20111221/MAN0601/112210620/Editorial-Personal-criticism-counterproductive?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|s