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A Progressive Candidate for Governor of Wisconsin?
by babblemur
Spencer Black (D-Madison) considering run for Governor against Doyle
Former Democratic leader of the state assembly Black is being courted to run as an
independent against Democratic Governor Jim Doyle. Doyle and others have
responded by indicating that if Black runs, the Republicans win. Spencer Black is a
former regional director of the Sierra Club and has been in the State Legislature for 20
years. Black on Doyle: "...I think he has fallen short in a number of areas, especially
environmental issues, energy policy, tax policy, university (funding) and (campaign)
reform".
So who are the shadowy unnamed figures that have approached Black? The People's
Legislature? Ed Garvey? The Green Party? The Illuminati?
Black Eyes Gov Race (Capital Times)
Black considers running against Doyle (Wisconsin State Journal)
Dissident Lefties look for Spoiler to challenge Doyle as Independent (Xoff Files)
Happy Solstice
Green Party Nominates "None of the Above"
"Stolen News"
Wisconsin Assembly continues assault on
health care and education;
With Greens like these, who needs
Democrats?
ABV ARMY TIMES
- Garvey : State Journal Lacks
Outrage - WI State Assembly passes
budget - Citizens Energy Cooperative
Meeting in Oshkosh
TONY PALMERI
- George Monbiot on Africa
Poverty: The danger is that
we will follow the agenda set
by Bono and Bob Geldof
FOLKBUM'S RAMBLES AND
RANTS
DAILY KOS
ALTERNET
- Are the Parties Over? by
Gary Hart. (I highly
recommend this one, read
the comments for juicy
green-democrat bickering)
How about two Progressive Candidates, one of them...a
Republican?
Why Mike Ellis Should Run by Marc Eisen, WisOpinion.com
- The Republican Party of Warren Knowles, Lee Dreyfus and Tommy
Thompson - pro-education, pro-growth and attuned to the state's rich legacy
of governmental activism - has seemingly been taken over by God's true
believers and smooth-talking Amway-like salesmen pitching tax-freeze
nostrums and chastity belts, while denigrating the university and demonizing
gay people. (-Marc Eisen)
"We need to get the special interests out of the game," Ellis says. "We need to
use public money to fund elections. If we did that, the Legislature could break
free from the tentacles of the special interest groups. Then we could solve
problem number one: bad budgeting."
Jeff Hall Responds
(taken from his blog)
by Jef Hall
Answers to Questions
There has been a lot of chatter on the
various Oshkosh blogs about a run in I
had recently. I thought I'd answer any
questions here.
I, personally, did something stupid. I
regret it, I own up to it. I paid my fine
and co-operated throughout the
process. I sincerely apologize to anyone
who was affected.
I learned two things from this
experience. The first is that my
personal actions have consequences
that reverberate farther than I knew – I
will remember this for the future.
Second, I learned that local politics
have become too poisoned. It is
because of personal stands that I
previously took that this story was
pushed.
While I am proud of these past stands
on my individual issues, I admit that I
may have been shrill. I pledge to stay
involved with pushing issues I feel
important to Oshkosh, Wisconsin and
on; I, however, hope to do so in a more
polite manner in the future.
I hope that Oshkosh, from here on out,
can be a place where everyone is
welcomed into the political process.
And that issues can be debated in a
forthright and polite manner.
If there is anyone affected by my
personal actions, who has further
questions, feel free to contact me
directly.
Oshkosh Underheim votes
against women's health and
reproductive rights
Gregg Underheim, representing the 54th
Assembly district (Oshkosh) in the
Wisconsin Legislature has voted in the last
week in favor of two controversial bills
that attack women's access to birth control
and rape victims access to emergency
contraception.
The first bill passed by the assembly
allows pharmacists to refuse to fill both
birth control prescriptions and emergency
contraception prescriptions based on
'religious conviction'. Furthermore, the
pharmacists who refuse to fill these
prescriptions would be under no obligation
to transfer the prescription to another
pharmacy, and would be immune from any
censure or job loss based on their
convictions.
The second bill passed by the assembly,
also supported by Underheim, bans
University of Wisconsin student health
centers from providing any birth control
medication or emergency contraception to
students, which, if made law, will make
Wisconsin the only state in the Union with
this level of restriction.
These bills combined demonstrate first that
the Wisconsin Legislature is pressing
forward with a reactionary fundamentalist
agenda that seeks to deny women the right
to health care options available to men, and
that Republican Gregg Underheim of
Oshkosh supports this agenda.
Underheim, who won re-election to the
54th Assembly in Oshkosh with less than
50% of the vote in November 2004,
followed that disappointment by running
for Superintendent of Education in April
2005, loosing convincingly to Liz
Burmaster. "Word on the Street" says that
Underheim may likely face a primary
challenge for the 54th in 2006. I would
question whether he is going to run at all.
HOT WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
www.thirdpartywatch.com
Third Party Watch : "We cover the
Other guys!"
Libertarians, Reform Party, and
Greens OH MY! For all of you third
party political junkies like myself,
this new website is a breath of fresh
air. "Third Party Watch strives to
provide fair and accurate coverage
of third party politics in America."
Recent Posts Include:
Debate : America's Third Largest
Party
The Rise and Fall of the NJ Reform
Party
and I would recommend the vague
"Entering our third week..." which
has a number of interesting
comments regarding third parties
(including one by me)
welcome, I feel no concern from
it; but I should suffer the misery
of devils, were I to make a
whore of my soul..." -Thomas
Paine
Democrat House candidate Jef
Hall arrested for Trespassing
New information has come out regarding
the Winnebago County Chair of the
Democratic Party and candidate for the US
House in 2004 Jef Hall. Rumors about an
apparent alcohol related trespassing
incident were given added details when the
text of the police incident report was
posted on Eye on Oshkosh by City
Council member Paul Esslinger, a frequent
target of Jef Hall.
Supposedly, on April 23rd 2005 a woman
called police at 7:41 a.m. to report an
unidentified male asleep on her couch.
Police woke Mr. Hall, who lived within a
block from the residence. Apparently he
was intoxicated, stated that he was at a
party and fell asleep at that party. There
had been no party at the woman's house,
and her front door was unlocked.
Jef Hall has been a controversial local
politician, accused of both anonymous
attacks and public attacks on certain local
political candidates, notably Oshkosh City
Council member and 2005 Mayoral
candidate Paul Esslinger and Green Party
candidate for the 54th Assembly Tony
Palmeri. People "in the know" seem to
either love or hate Jef Hall. Then there are
those, like ignorant me, who just don't
know.
I cast no judgement here on Jef Hall. His
website and blog indicate that he has many
of the same concerns nationally and state
wide that I do. Some in Oshkosh will
likely delight in his turmoil. Myself, I hope
that he gets treatment for his problem.
This should be a wake up call.
It has been brought to my attention that I
don't actually know that Jef Hall has a
drinking problem. This is true, I do not. If he
does not, then he obviously would not need
treatment. In my opinion, if someone wakes
up somewhere after drinking and doesn't
know where they are or how they got there,
they were either drugged by someone or they
drank until they blacked out. Blacking out is
a classic sign of an alcohol problem, but this
was only the conclusion I had leaped to.
I have no intention of entering the "Jef Hall
Wars" taking place on other websites and
blogs. However, when a city council member
(Esslinger) posts a copy of a police report
regarding the arrest of a politician (Hall) that
had been openly critical of him (Esslinger) in
his campaign for Mayor, I find this
interesting enough to post.