8th Assembly District Turmoil: Incumbent Allegedly Fires False Accusations!
As shared with the Milwaukee Drum there is turmoil brewing in the 8th Assembly District race between JoCasta Zamarripa (D/Inc) and Write-In Candidate Laura Manriquez (D).
Taken from Wikipedia:
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Zamarripa graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 2005. She was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 2010. Previously, she had worked as an educator and community outreach coordinator at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.
In a July 2012 interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, she announced that she is bisexual. She is one of three openly LGBT members of the Wisconsin Legislature, alongside Sen. Tim Carpenter (D–Milwaukee) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D–Madison).
Manriquez has been an outspoken activist of the community for many years and just recently lost her son to a drive by hit and run accident. She decided that she wanted to be part of active change in her community and felt her community has not been represented as well as it can be. She decided to run for her son, for her people, and againast politricks as usual in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
So What the Fuss?
Wisconsin Assembly Leader Scott Suder (R) endorsed Manriquez saying she has experience in bipartisan work and would be a good fit in the state legislature. Upset over the endorsement, Representative Zamarripa fired back accusing Manriquez of being anti-LGBT and forming partnerships with “ultra-partisan tea party” leaders of the Republican Party. Insert WW here….How you get “anti” anything from endorsements and talking community issues I don’t know, but if I missed something I am sure I will hear about it! Anyway back to the drama…
Manriquez says that it is unfortunate that my opponent is making her sexual orientation an issue in this campaign. It is also disturbing that Zamarripa would rather use harsh labels and inaccurate statements to further divide our community and our state.
Again Insert WW here…doesn’t this sound familiar? Like attacking a certain chicken selling restaurant and their ability to have their own values and beliefs? A kind of politricks again….use a group and make it sound like someone is beating up on the group when they are not? This tactic does not work well. I thought we all had learned that by now?But again maybe I missed something here. Anyway….
Manriquez continued to say, “The recall is over. Governor Scott Walker won. It serves our community no benefit or purpose to have a representative continue to label and demonize the other side now that power is secure in their hands. The time for diplomacy is now! Labeling the majority leader as an ‘ultra-partisan tea party’ legislator serves no purpose”.
Manriquez stated that she can make things happen for the 8th Assembly District. She has the experience and negotiating skills needed to bring home “our fair share” of the pie.
Working to secure our share of state resources and working to unite our state is good for Wisconsin, good for the 8th Assembly District and good for our city stated Manriquez.
I am certain that drastic change is needed in Wisconsin Politics. How politicians work and how well they work together is a new frontier but one desperately needed!
I agree with Manriquez, the time for bipartisan work is now and the name calling and below-the-belt attacks are tiresome and overdone. I do not think sexual preference is something most people care about over more important things such as jobs, education, and healthcare reform. Why it continues to be made an issue when so many people are without jobs and life/family sustaining benefits puzzles me.
At the time of press I did not get any word back from the Zamarripa camp regarding the press release and comments from the Manriquez camp. They are more than welcome to contact me to share their position or add to this discussion. I know during campaining it is hard to connect so I am not faulting anyone for that.
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Information about the candidates can be found here:
Some may have seen the discussion between Rebecca Kleefisch and Mahlon Mitchell a couple of weeks ago. Mr. Mitchell denied signing boycott letters that kept some businesses leery of doing business with Wisconsin. The letters were found with his John Hancock on them. Why he chose to lie, he never did explain, nor apologize.
Now we find he went on national TV and again said some things that were uninformed and disingenuous.
On last Thursday’s ON THE RECORD at 10pm/ET, Wisconsin lieutenant governor candidate Mahlon Mitchell made the following comment about ABC Supply Co. owner Diane Hendricks: “Well, I think you got to look at people like Diane Hendricks, who’s one of Scott Walker’s buddy billionaires, who paid no corporate tax last year and is worth over $2.8 billion. So I think if you look at the tax breaks and loopholes that we have in our state, if we were to fill some of those loopholes, I would imagine you’d find more than $3.6 billion to balance the budget.”
ABC Supply’s tax director Scott Bianchini sent us this statement in response to Mitchell’s remarks:
Statement regarding Diane Hendricks and ABC Supply’s Income Taxes:
Mahlon Mitchell recently said the following: “Well, I think you got to look at people like Diane Hendricks, who’s one of Scott Walker’s buddy billionaires, who paid no corporate tax last year and is worth over $2.8 billion.”
ABC Supply has paid $1,078,000 in estimated corporate income taxes to Wisconsin for 2011. ABC operates nationwide and pays income taxes to many other states where ABC has a larger business presence such as California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois. ABC has paid many millions of dollars in corporate income taxes to these states and others as well as federal corporate income taxes. In support of the Wisconsin taxes, I have attached substantiation for ABC Supply’s estimated payments for 2011 Wisconsin corporate income taxes. These payments total $1,078,000.
ABC Supply’s 2011 Wisconsin corporate income tax return has yet to be filed. Like many other taxpayers, ABC extended the filing date of their 2011 Wisconsin tax return from March 15, 2012 to September 17, 2012. Therefore, neither the State of Wisconsin nor Mahlon Mitchell has any data yet regarding ABC Supply’s 2011 corporate income tax return as it has yet to be filed. However, once it’s filed, it will become a matter of public record that for 2011 ABC Supply paid over $1 million of corporate Wisconsin income taxes.
Finally, Mr. Mitchell refers to Diane Hendricks paying corporate income taxes. Individuals don’t pay corporate taxes, only corporations pay corporate taxes.
Mr. Mitchell’s statements are inaccurate and uninformed in every respect.
Wisconsin Democrats turn out to support anything but Collective Bargaining & Unions.
Last night MilwaukeeMayor Tom Barrett defeated union backed Kathleen Falk, publically admitting the Democratic fight was not really a fight about union solidarity and Collective Bargaining after all.
For over a year now Wisconsin has been plagued with red shirts and blue fists, protests for union solidarity, and for collective bargaining. However the person who steered way far away from unions came out victorious. While Barrett made a very passionate speech last night, Dem blogs were lit up about the fact that he bucked the union solidarity day march and rally because he did not want to be seen with unions standing with him. Yet they voted for him anyway. So what was all that marching and protesting about if you voted for the very person who did to you what he has been doing to Blacks for over 8 years? Ignoring you!
In his speech, Barrett talked about out of state contributors, when in fact last week he welcomed Rahm Emmanuel and others to stand with him. He spoke about civility when his record shows a clear pattern of divisiveness in his own backyard. Some will remember when Barrett became mayor of Milwaukee; the city was #3 in most segregated cities in the nation. Milwaukee now under Barrett has enjoyed the #1 most segregated city in the union for most of his mayorship. Yet we look at the Milwaukee Community Journal and see most of our Black elected supporting him. An inconvenient truth Black Milwaukee does not want to discuss, but it is so disturbing.
Many politicians ask are you better now than you where after my term? Well Black Milwaukee can unequivocally say hell no! Yet and still we support this man simply because he is a Democrat and the one thing we dare not upset is the Democratic Party. The Milwaukee Black has yet to learn this party has been no friend to us. Now don’t get me wrong I am not saying Republicans are better, but a blind vote for the Dems is a sign of agreement to the treatment we have been given. It is a clear overlooking of how our people have been ignored by this mayor and his party and thumbs up to continually being treated this way. Much like the battered wife, this abusive mayor keeps ignoring us except when the sheep need to be herded back into the fold. He uses our own people to do it, which is even worse. I will never understand our blind lust for this man or any party really, but particularly the Democratic Party, which is like a growing fungus in our community. What I do understand is that he is not the person to lead the Democrats and unions against a fight with this governor for the third time. REALLY??
Last Night’s Numbers:
Last night’s numbers do not have any real revelations for us other than Governor Scott Walker has a little more breathing room and Barrett’s climb is more uphill than predicted. Remember some Repubs played chess thinking a vote for Falk would be the best bet. Some Dems thought a vote for the fake Republican could catch Walker in a sneak attack and oust him right from jump. Neither move worked. The masses decided to send messages of support rather than play chicken. However the message was not well received and as the numbers came in, commercials for both candidates blitzed the media outlets in full force well before the AP declared anything.
Barrett vs. Walker
As mayor, Barrett will be hard pressed to speak to job creation, unifying the state, or education. He is 10% above the national average in unemployment, of course with Blacks highest in this category. Again #1 in segregation, and when he tried to take over MPS he was shouted down off the ledge. I really cannot think of the last time that idea crossed his lips again. He has proceeded over watching businesses leave Milwaukee, conventions and annual events never come back, leaving the Midwest Convention Center all but destitute. He has now watched condos go up only to be possibly half-filled. His trolley idea is a bust and he is pretty much left with attacks which will not create any civility. His campaign will have to be based on smearing and attacking. What else is there for him to speak positively about? Does anyone remember when Milwaukee hosted the biggest science fiction convention in the nation? They all but begged him to find a way to work with them to stay, but he had other things to do. They left and took millions in revenue and jobs with them. Not to mention gone are the Hollywood stars, TMZ, and all that comes with a international thriving industry. Aduh, where did they go?
There is the new hospitality industry and the new hotels being built but if you cannot keep conventions coming back how long will those hotels last? Summerfest is only for a few weeks and then what? Wait around for another Harley reunion? We have all been waiting for the “big plan” to accompany these new hotels but so far nada!
He cannot run on taxes because his have gone up every year except one and this year all Wisconsin homeowners saw monetary relief by April 15th courtesy of Governor Walker. Meanwhile this mayor had the nerve to get on TV and happily tell his constituents that foreclosed homes were theirs for the taking. Did he not forget that some of the people who saw that commercial were the very people evicted from their homes and foreclosure victims? Did he not think of the hurt and pain they faced as they watched their dreams being sold away as they watched him laughing it up on TV? They remember.
Barrett made the promise to young people that he would initiate a jobs program but with him being gone so much the program is sitting around with little movement and hundreds of applications waiting to be addressed. Another failed program that needed Barrett “all in” to get it moving. We now hold out hope the City Council led by Willie Hines will move it forward.
There are a host of other things that could be listed (after all, in 8 years of failed leadership there is a lot of time and damage to recount) but like the Teflon Don, this mayor will disavow these things like he does many of his failed ideas and programs. We have police brutality on the rise, crimes of armed robbery, car theft, property damage, sex trafficking all rising with little to no response by this mayor. It is as if he knows nothing about his own city. How can we expect him to deal with state issues? Will he bring his segregation to the state? Will he takeover state education as he attempted with MPS? Scary thoughts indeed.
And then there is Act 10. You cannot bash a governor and ride his coattails! His tools were implemented by you and now you are going to bash them? It won’t sit well outside Milwaukee.
Walker has going for him that he has not served a full term as a Governor, whereas Barrett has been allowed to ruin Milwaukee for 8 disastrous years. Walker however has some work to do. Many wonder if he had not had to address a statewide hissy fit, how far could we be? As far as the Jon Doe investigation, he can honestly say HE INITIATED IT! So if anything comes of it, short of him on the phone making an illegal transaction, that ship has sailed and he did what he was supposed to do. He reported it and yes in Wisconsin if I was a Republican I would lawyer up too! It is just par for the course. Dane county and Milwaukee County are liberal to the core and he has to protect himself. Most will understand this especially after looking at the recall signature sheets.
I would suggest to Walker that he be more vigilant about his dealings with Black media.He is going to have to take the fight to Barrett and that means dealing with the people who hate him the most, the black media in Milwaukee. This means buying whole pages of the Milwaukee Community Journal and Milwaukee Courier, with a simple message of what he has done. He will need to explain “Transforming Milwaukee.” He will have to sit in the hot seat and get away from the comfort of Mark, Charlie, and Jay. He will have to sit with Eric and Earl and bring it. He may also want to seek out the Black Conservative Media which is growing in the state. After hearing the Koch chants and big businesses mantra and all the rhetoric he can stomach, he will have his turn to speak. When all Dem talking points have been exhausted people tire of them and they will listen. He will have to get out and walk up and down North Avenue, something this mayor refuses to do, get back on busses and meet people where they are in the streets.
This fight does not have to get ugly; all he need do is what he should have been doing all along, connecting with us. No need to even mention Barrett because he is not present to us either! So why spend a single minute talking about him? We in the Black community know very well our plight (even though we ignore it so). Walker must show and tell what he is doing different to circumvent this mayor to get Black Milwaukee back on track. He must showcase his committee of bipartisan representation. This mayor does not have that type of committee; this governor has for well over a year.
June 5th
The next four weeks will be telling indeed. Barrett has already lied last night about civility. I have been subscribed to his tweets for some time and what he does not say in public, he and staff say via twitter. It is ugly and nasty and it will come to light. His calling for a state of healing was only a Kodak moment comment. His tweets show a very ugly side to his campaign.
How much will the unions conform and sell out? Given Barrett turned down their big union love day, he has some fence mending and kissing to do. Some of them are very upset and rightfully so. He is going away from everything they marched and protested for.
The flight of the 14 was a stuntand now it is confirmed as they sold out as soon as Barrett dropped his name. This race is not about unions or Collective Bargaining. It is about power and the lengths Dems will go not to part from it.
This race when all is said and done will not bring resolution or compromise people wish for. It will not end peacefully, nor will either side come together to sing Kumbaya!
At the end of the day this race will hopefully be about two men standing on their convictions and records allowing voters to judge those two things alone.
Wisconsin Recalls are DrainingUs Financially and Emotionally!
Here we go again with another recall cycle. This time the next up to the execution block is Governor Scott Walker. However this recall won’t be as easy as some people seem to think. There are a lot of factors that will not be reflected in the polls or by the media. These factors are an ever growing silent majority that does not factor in until the final vote is cast and counted. Whether you are Republican or Democrat there is much to think about before you sign your name to any recall petition or refute the whole process entirely.
Along with the expanded silent majority, there is a certain incumbent president who is not going to be sending back up or finances as he did in the past. He needs these things for himself as well as for other key federal House and Senate races. Wisconsin is just not high on his priority list, if it ever was since he never did show up to lace his tennis shoes and join in the protests as he promised.
Firstly we are tired of elections, recalls, and everything political. It takes a toll and Wisconsin has pretty much had enough collectively. By the time November 2012 elections come we will be well past our breaking point of politics I fear. Not long ago Steve Forbes said that out of all this political turmoil some good will come. Americans will grow weary of the process which will result in new parties and a better way of doing business for the government in all its facets. I hope he is right.
Wisconsin Recalls
To recall a sitting Wisconsin Governor the movement will need 540,206 signatures, one-fourth the amount of all the ballots cast last November. That is a lot of campaigning and cost.
One must ask themselves is this a worthy effort? Of course my answer is no simply because of the cost, time, effort, and undue reasons for the recall effort. This is just retaliation of this governor’s reform policies and union heads desperately trying to keep their cushy salaries and mock companies like WEA Trust. If people hate the Koch Brothers, they surely should be disgusted with the union heads making well into the 6k figures and the people buying and selling politicians every single day along with the Kochs. Secondly, union heads are bussing in thousands to take advantage of the 28 day provision to vote and that seems highly unfair. Thirdly, why should we not expect people to pay their fair share to their pensions and get Wisconsin in line with national numbers regarding pensions and insurance premiums? Fourthly, this is the season of giving. At a time when our nation is seeing poverty hit record numbers these recalls, protests, and other movements are disenfranchising the most vulnerable of our fellow Americans, especially the homeless and working poor. They simply cannot afford to see a drop in giving and donations.
Of course there are people who do not have any answers but respond like robots “Koch, Koch, Koch.” That is but one family of many that use and abuse the system. Where is the outrage and outcry for all lobbyists and billionaires and millionaires who take advantage of government corruption? The government is broke all every level. The Kochs’ like “Shenana on Vliet” are simply using a very broken system to get ahead. Why not name and blame all abusers of the system? If Obama has raised more than any of the Republican nominees combined, given billions to Solyndra and the like, where is the recall for him? He along with Eric Holder knew about the “Fast and the Furious” program. We now have guns in the hands of Mexican cartels killing innocent Americans and yet we say very little. But we want to crucify this governor for way less. Please at least be consistent with your stance. I would respect these protestors more if there was not obvious hypocrisy run amuck from the start of these recalls to the end.
For those poor college students who are just in it to be part of something meaningful, there are a lot of organizations that could use your help, instead of suing the homeless and walking past them as if they don’t matter to “fight for them” when in fact the sight of them grosses you out. What are you really there for? In my observations I did see two times where Occupiers walked right past homeless people with their hot and fresh Starbucks and bags of food to find land to sit and protest in. I could only shake my head and wonder if they even see these people. Nationwide this is also a regular occurrence.
Why are we recalling Walker?
People have their reasons from “union busting” to “imposing” state mandates that they feel hurt their financial bottom lines. They have every right to campaign for a recall, but it doesn’t make it sensible or even feasible. We can see by the lowering tax levies, school district savings, and increases to jobs and tourism that Wisconsin is indeed moving forward, just not in the direction fat cat union bosses would like. WEA Trust being one of the most wounded in this reform effort. They are now having to compete for the first time in a long time with other insurance companies for bids and contracts. How could that be wrong? People feel like they lost their voice with unions not having Collective Bargaining rights but through the protestors we have seen time and time again that some of these people had too many privileges that they abused and seem to be out of touch with real Americans and real world pensions and real world benefits. Some union members were exposed and were hiding behind the union because they were simply incompetent and the unions protected them time and time again.
So retaliation heads up this recall. It is a chance to get some payback for Alberta Darling, for Waukesha mishaps, for Republicans taking over what Democrats took advantage of. But payback is costing us all money we could be using to save the very things they fear losing!
Why he won’t be recalled in the end?
Now I am no political predictor, but in this case I am going to predict the silent majority is again going to speak up and very profoundly. After January when they see lowered property taxes, then it’s game over on the protests for sure. I could be wrong, but I think Choice parents are not going to say or declare loudly their support for Walker, but if you do not think they don’t know what is at stake, I can assure you that they do. If not, people like me are making them aware that Choice is a privilege we need to protect at all costs and by any means necessary.
The silent majority is growing by leaps and bounds, with the expansion of Choice and people actually educating themselves to the governor’s detailing of our successes and failures. We can see for ourselves what is or is not being accomplished. Home owners will not be paying more in taxes from the state. People will not be charged new or raised fees from the state. Families with kids in good Choice schools won’t give that up for this cause. There are a lot of us in Choice and we are happy and willing to fight to keep our kids in these schools. And please don’t mistake that for MPS hate. I support MPS 110% but am I willing to risk my kids future for it? Not right now. I believe a lot of people think as I do about Choice who are now in the program. When MPS decides to decentralize and blend back into its surrounding neighborhoods, then it will move forward instead of going around and around like a chicken with its head cut off.
In the end I think people are just sick of all this partisan bickering and are going to send a message that they are sick of it by voting, by not participating, and not giving in to the same old tired scare tactics that have been used in Wisconsin over and over again from both parties. You only can scare Seniors so much with Medicare and they start to see the pattern. With the Alberta Darling recall campaign we saw this used time and time again. The Seniors knew that this is federal funded program and were not happy that they were being played for fools by the Democrats.
Now if Scott Walker does something dumb, he can kiss it all good bye so I suggest he not answer the phone without a proper screening!!!!! I have already said his right hand man is the weak link in a blog I wrote some months ago. So there is his worst weakness. He also has to get into black media. Buy the first page of the Community Journal for all of December or start infiltrating all things black, except churches unless they have Choice schools. Been there done that! Be creative! He also has to make a case to Milwaukee better than what he has been doing. Use Mayor Barrett’s Milwaukee Budget to show factually the tools Barrett did used that were given from the state in Milwaukee’s Budget. Form a cabinet or commission of Blacks to address segregation and Black concerns in the state. This is leadership beyond the typical and will help Walker start to deal with things he simply does not have the capacity to understand.
Yes Walker has reigned in spending but job creation has been lacking here in Milwaukee. I think partly due to an incompetent mayor and his inability to think outside the box, or possibly he is doing this on purpose to help the recall effort. He has an axe to grind as well right? Walker has to show how those jobs are going to funnel this way. He has to show people what was prior to his arrival. Be like Obama here and run against Doyle (or Obama) if you will, similar to when Obama ran against Bush’s record. Doyle set the bar so low Walker can’t help but surpass him on most every issue. Then lastly make the case to the state of who is going to do better. Thus far I have yet to see a name that has any pull. Barrett, Milwaukee really? Have we not had enough of him? Baldwin, are we not tired of paying for her lavish trips and gross abuse of taxpayer money? Kohl, need I say more? What could he possibly do? He is older now and never was a mover and shaker anyhow. What name would send fear into my heart?
To be honest Lena Taylor and a round two for these two would be a political pundit’s dream date. She has a new group of friends and they have money and power. She has worked the circuit, forsaking the people of her district to go national and might be a good match up if she can reign in her unbridled passion to the point of insanity for sensibility and calmness. Other than Taylor, I see very few that have broad appeal and power to draw the masses.
In the end though, I think the silent majority is willing to give this governor his four years to make his case. I certainly am one of those who will give him a chance. We asked this of Obama and I won’t be a hypocrite now. Give him his term and then vote him out. It will save us all a lot of time, money, and consternation. Knowing the sentiment of many, we are just plain tired of the whole political drama that is Wisconsin right now. We need a break from politics! The question will be just how complacent and frustrated are we? The second biggest question is who would they designate to replace him? A union shill no doubt. Has the rhetoric become part of the average life of a Wisconsinite or will revenge be a dish served piping hot as it has not had one minute to cool off.
The inconvenient truth is that for all the complaining about resources or lack thereof and money we supposedly don’t have to waste; unions and protestors are sure quick to use it to keep their bennies and stranglehold on this state. In the end isn’t that what it’s all about? What grand master scheme has this governor unraveled to continue threats to his family, the constant obnoxious demonstrations that are just ludicrous. “Demon”-strators at the man’s personal home and at his kids activities and events? Extreme anger and by the way, when you ask these people what they are so upset about, most can only recite Democratic/Union rhetoric as if reading from the pamphlets and websites. Try taking them off script and they fumble like Ahman Green.
What has he done that even rises to the level of what Doyle has done to us? Whether it is Doyle’s trial lawyer friends running this state, to the racist contracts given with no other bids even allowed for consideration, to the good for nothing covenants that our kids were promised for college. This governor may be connected to some questionable characters but what has that led to? Not much of anything newsworthy yet. I guess they have access to the governor more so than I, but can that not be said of any politician?
Whatever happens throughout this recall cycle let us all demand some level of civility from each of these parties, some boundaries about where and what is acceptable protesting, and a new way of politicking in Wisconsin that does not include rhetoric but is born of facts and sensibility our kids can witness for once!
