Just days ahead of a scheduled jury trial, state Rep. Bill Kramer (R-Town of Waukesha) Thursday pleaded no contest to reduced charges of two misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree sexual assault. Kramer entered the plea during what was to have been a status conference on the case, stemming from felony sexual assault charges filed in March against the former No. 2 lawmaker in the Assembly.

Assistant District Attorney Debra Blasius said her office will recommend three years of probation, with a variety of conditions, including nine months in jail with work-release privileges.

Kramer, 49, will not have to register as a sex offender, but must undergo a sex offender assessment and any recommended treatment. Sentencing is set for Nov. 25 before Reserve Judge Neal Nettesheim.

By avoiding a felony conviction, Kramer will be able to serve the remainder of his term in the Assembly, which ends in January. He is not seeking re-election this fall.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who is locked in a dead-heat for reelection on November 4, has been dogged throughout his tenure by secret criminal investigations that so far have led to 15 felony indictments of six of his closest aides and associates.

This week, new documents released on a judge’s orders show that Walker, while he was Milwaukee County executive, helped his longtime campaign treasurer get inside information for a bid to lease office space to the county.

In the emails, John Hiller, a real-estate broker and Walker’s treasurer, seeks and receives inside information on a bidding process that he hoped would give him access to public money. “Would you be open to pulling aging out of the RFP [Request for Proposals],” Hiller writes to Walker.

“Yes,” Walker replies.

Scott Walker keeps doubling down on his claim that he turned a $3.6 billion budget deficit into a surplus, but in the current budget Wisconsin has a deficit of $396 million. [1] Independent fact-checkers rated Scott Walker's claim that Wisconsin has a surplus heading into the next budget as "False." [2] Wisconsin faces a massive $1.8 billion deficit in the next biennium - a figure which is expected to grow even higher as agency budget requests are considered. [3]

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Immediately upon taking office, Scott Walker passed a draconian budget that drastically cut critical government services, raised taxes on working-class families, and gave huge tax breaks to big businesses and those at the very top. Walker’s fiscally irresponsible policies include a lopsided income tax cut which puts individuals making $21,760 a year in the same tax bracket as someone making $239,600.

In addition, Walker issued tax increases aimed at putting the squeeze on nearly 140,000 working class families to the tune of $69.8 million, while dishing out $610 million in tax breaks to businesses over his term.

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As other states enjoy surpluses thanks to the nationwide economic recovery that has come after the recession, Wisconsin is slated to be one of the few with a deficit headed into the next budget. [4]

What happens if an elected official (a sitting U.S. Senator no less) held an event and ten people showed up?

I don’t know, but I suppose you could ask Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson’s first visit to the Viterbo University campus provided students with an introductory course on conservative politics.

The Wisconsin Republican spoke to a gathering of about 10 Viterbo students Thursday afternoon.

Not a single day during his first term has gone by where Scott Walker hasn't been involved in a criminal corruption probe.

The first John Doe investigation resulted in convictions for six of Walker’s top aides and long-time associates for crimes, committed on his watch, ranging from felony misconduct in public office to theft of charity funds. Four Walker aides received prison sentences. [2]

Documents related to the first John Doe shined light on a group, referred to as the “inner circle” by top Walker-aide Cindy Archer, comprised of Scott Walker and top advisers to both his campaign and County administration. The group coordinated every single day to keep the county executive's office "in sync" with the campaign’s "image." [3]

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During the course of the first John Doe investigation five prosecutors, both Republicans and Democrats, found evidence sufficient to commence further investigation into illegal campaign activity between Walker’s campaign and independent right-wing groups, otherwise known as the second John Doe investigation.

A special prosecutor alleged that Walker was at the center of a nationwide “criminal scheme” to illegally coordinate with approximately 29 outside special interest groups like Wisconsin Club for Growth. [5]

Join Mary and President Clinton for a Rally in Milwaukee

President Bill Clinton is coming to Milwaukee on Friday, October 24. Doors for the event will open at 11:00 AM

Location:

Hyatt Regency Milwaukee
333 W. Kilbourn Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53203

This is a free, ticketed event. RSVP now for ticket details and pick-up information.

Scott Walker’s Economic Disaster Corporation was supposed to be the state’s flagship jobs agency, but as Wisconsin ranks dead last – 10th out of 10 states – in the Midwest on job creation since 2011, WEDC is better known for creating scandals rather than jobs.

A series of scathing audits in 2012 show Walker’s Economic Disaster Corporation lost track of $56 million worth of taxpayer funded loans. [1] Audits also found that the agency lacked basic internal accounting controls and estimated that it would not collect about $19 million in loans. [2]

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It only took 24 hours for the second CEO at WEDC to abandon the sinking ship. Walker gave the job to a political ally who previously served on the board at Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and who donated to Walker’s campaigns in 2010 and 2012. [3]

John Gillespie, hired to serve as WEDC’s Public Information Officer as part of a plan to improve the scandal-plagued agency’s damaged reputation, owes $36,047 in back taxes to the State of Wisconsin and another $7,770 for improperly received unemployment insurance compensation benefits. [4]

In May of last year, an audit from the non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau found Walker’s WEDC routinely violated state law. From July 2011 to December 2012, Walker’s Economic Disaster Corporation never kept track of job creation efforts for a group of companies who received award money, which prevented the agency from informing the state legislature with accurate information on their efforts to create jobs. Under state law, WEDC is required to track award money and present accurate information to legislators on job creation efforts. [5]

Lawyers for the state Democratic Party filed a lawsuit Tuesday to try to obtain videotapes of five prosecutor training sessions conducted by Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel, the Republican candidate for attorney general. Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess has set a hearing for 10 a.m. Wednesday on the party's petition for a writ of mandamus to compel the release of the videos. Schimel is running against Jefferson County District Attorney Susan Happ, a Democrat.

"What an odd fishing expedition," Johnny Koremenos, Schimel's campaign manager, said in response to the lawsuit. Countered Michael Bauer, the attorney for the Democratic Party: "If there's nothing to hide in these videos, why doesn't Schimel ask his friends at (the Department of Justice) to release them or release them himself?"

In September, a Democratic Party researcher filed an open records request with the state Department of Justice seeking all materials related to five presentations Schimel had done over the years at State Prosecutors Education and Training conferences. DOJ organizes and oversees these sessions. The party contends these videos of Schimel's talks may contain questionable material.

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In the Democratic Party's lawsuit, Bauer argued that it was Schimel who may have compromised the privacy of the crime victims by disclosing their identities at the training sessions. Bauer noted that Potter said his office couldn't provide a redacted version of one video because Schimel mentioned a victim's name so often. Bauer, a former top-level DOJ staffer under Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, is asking for the release of the two videos and a court order directing DOJ officials to try to locate material from the other three training sessions. The party is seeking punitive damages, plus attorney's fees.

Earlier this week Heba Mohammad, a resident of the city of Green Bay, sent this email to Alderman Chris Wery, a Republican who represents Green Bay’s 8th Aldermanic district on the Green Bay Common Council.



As shown in the email, Mohammad clearly articulated a valid concern about the ability of some voters in Green Bay to get to the polls to cast their votes on November 4, and she asked for Ald. Wery’s help in addressing the issue. In response, Wery sent this email to Mohammad.



As you can see, Ald. Wery’s response quickly transitions from an acknowledgment of the reason for her initial contact into an interrogation of her affiliation with the Muslim Student Association at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Ald. Wery then demanded assurances that Mohammad and the MSA did not support militant Islamic ideology or Sharia law and asked her to condemn Sharia law, militant Islamic ideology, and Hamas, as if Mohammad’s being a Muslim somehow made those condemnations necessary.

Here’s Mohammad’s pitch-perfect response to Ald. Wery’s email.