Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Let's start with a basic assumption. Voters have a right to know who is trying to influence elections.

Table showing Troha family contributions. Accompanies blog post.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Justice is supposed to be colorblind. But Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser clearly can see red. His recent announcement of the hiring of a Republican operative to run his campaign for reelection caused a bit of a stir because Prosser sure made it sound like he sees Scott Walker and the Fitzgerald brothers as teammates.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

That's some mirror most Americans are looking at.

Thursday, December 09, 2010

There's no forever in politics. So politically speaking, permanence is a relative term. But a generation or even a decade feels like forever.

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

"Common practice here in D.C. looks an awful lot like plain old corruption everywhere else in the country."

– John Feehery, lobbyist and former
aide to ex-Republican House leader Tom DeLay

Thursday, December 02, 2010

lib·er·al
From the Latin liberalis meaning "freedom," liber meaning "free." Showing or characterized by broad-mindedness; not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox or authoritarian attitudes, views or dogmas; tolerant of the ideas and behaviors of others; open to new ideas for progress, favoring proposals for reform; free from prejudice or bigotry, tolerant; generous, tending to give freely; willing to give unstintingly; favoring equal rights and civil liberties.

Monday, November 22, 2010

It's said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The owner and some executives of a company that wants to develop an open-pit iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin have begun laying the groundwork for their project - making their first ever campaign contributions in Wisconsin.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

I learned yesterday that Larry Hansen has passed away.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

I about fell out of my chair this morning while reading a Milwaukee Journal Sentinelstory about a report issued by the state Government Accountability Board on outside interest group spending in this year's state elections.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Just ran across two eye-popping numbers that speak volumes about our country's direction. $22.6 million and $1.1 trillion.

Thursday, November 04, 2010

You are an independent. Part of the biggest bloc of voters in America. So why then do you feel so alone, so powerless? You hate Democrats. And you hate Republicans. You vote for one side and end up feeling snookered. So you vote for the other side the next time. Snookered again. And again. What next?

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

One thing's sure about yesterday's election results. They will be overanalyzed and misinterpreted by the media pundits and a clueless political class. We'll hear endless talk of historic political realignment. We'll be told voters moved sharply to the right just as we were told the electorate had shifted dramatically to the left in 2006 and 2008, bringing about historic political realignment.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Those who've taken to calling themselves tea partiers are fond of saying that the solution to our nation's problems is to get back to following the Constitution. Good advice. Trouble is, as John Nichols aptly pointed out in a recent column, the constitutional principles to which they profess fidelity often are unrecognizable to the rest of us and would be equally unfamiliar to the framers themselves.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

By our latest count, there are 43 different interest groups spending money like crazy to influence the outcome of state-level elections in Wisconsin this year. Eleven of the 43 are disclosing their donors while three-quarters of them are able to keep their funding sources a secret. The ones structured in a way that allows them to conceal their donors are doing the vast majority of the spending, so the public is being kept in the dark about the origins of most of the money being spent by outside groups.

Monday, October 25, 2010

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been truth-testing this season's political ads and, as one of the newspaper's columnists observed last week, there hasn't been much truth to be found.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Used to be that politicians were always on the lookout for a crowd, any opportunity to meet and greet potential voters. And time was when those same politicians were constantly tugging at the shirtsleeves of the news reporters, pining for a chance to share a story or a pithy quip that might make it into the papers.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The state Government Accountability Board issued a statement yesterday voicing concerns about a mailing sent by an outfit calling itself RGA Wisconsin 2010 PAC. The mailing is part attack ad targeting Democratic governor candidate Tom Barrett and part absentee ballot application, already filled out for the voter and pre-addressed to the voter's local election clerk. Included are voter birthdates and telephone numbers. Some receiving the mailings are unsettled by the breach of privacy, others are downright freaked out.

Thursday, October 07, 2010

Doesn't matter who you talk to. Neighbor. Co-worker. Stranger on a street corner. Ask them about political ads on TV. Here's what you hear: "Can't stand 'em." "Don't watch them." "Never pay any attention to that garbage." "I change the channel as soon as I see one."

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

No doubt about it, most Americans can't stand the Democrats. And with Democrats currently controlling both houses of Congress and the White House (not to mention both houses of the legislature and the governor's office here in Wisconsin), most in the political class are figuring lots of them are going to be sent packing in November.

Monday, September 27, 2010

The Internet is remaking our world in too many ways to keep track of. Facebook and other social networking sites are reshaping the way we interact with each other. E-mail and all the various forms of instant messaging have laid a major hurt on the U.S. Postal Service. Sites like Craigslist have made conventional classified advertising all but obsolete, delivering a crushing financial blow to the newspaper industry.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

No keen powers of observation are required to see the parallels between the 19th Century Gilded Age and the times we live in. I recently called ours a Stilted Age where a privileged few have once again been lifted above the pain and suffering inflicted on the masses. Eerie similarities abound. Differences too, of course. We are not on the tail end of an Industrial Revolution or reexperiencing post-Reconstruction upheaval. No, we have economic convulsions of our very own, with our post-Industrial world morphing into Not-Quite-Sure-What.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Happy Constitution Day. It seems strange to set aside a single day to celebrate it. Honoring it properly means exercising the rights it spells out day in and day out, while taking responsibility for safeguarding its blessings on an ongoing basis, and working to change it if necessary.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

In case you weren't able to make it to this year's Fighting Bob Fest, here's video of my remarks.