1641

It’s the problem they have now that a Democrat is President. I don’t remember these registered Republicans having a huge problem with it until they realized they were losing the Presidency.

1642

Ya, I got that… I was laughing at the fact that it said no exit OR re-entry. Like you couldn’t even exit.

1643

Fine, you can come in and participate in your government. But you must stand in this 10x10 square, wear the blindfolds, and stay silent. Also, no eating. Or exiting to go to the bathroom.

1644

Thankfully I don’t see anything about AR-15s.

1645

Thank you for the reasonable response. I will try to follow your advice. I’m usually pretty good at letting those types of posts just roll on by.

I’m not sure why a forum would need a defense system but sometimes it’s fun to fuck with the monkeys at the zoo so I’ll probably activate it occasionally.

1646

Uh, isn’t that against the law? Or at least it’s considered immoral.

With respect to the actual thread topic, awesome post, Raife. It’s good to see that Wisconsin is interested in bringing transparency to their budget meetings.
/sarcasm

1647

That explains why you seem to like having shit thrown at you.

1648

Elected Republicans in Wisconsin. They are the ones putting these unprecedented restrictions on the Capitol and the budget hearings. They won’t even go out in public anymore because they are so offensive. They have to sneak in and out pretty much anywhere they go. The Democrats don’t have this problem.

1649

I think it depends on where you live and how the monkey feels about it!

But I’ll give you credit for at least TRYING to have a witty comback.

I’m lobbing softball after softball and the best that some can come up with is troll, idiot and moron. Even a blind man would have hit at least three home runs by now!

1650

Take your textual diarrhea somewhere else. Like another website.

1651

I think your defense mechanism sensors are out of calibration. How about we do this until you get them serviced? You put me on ignore and I won’t respond to any of your posts. Sound fair?

1652

Maybe they’re just scared of zombies?

These latest shenanigans by the GOP remind me a bit of the mafia. Not in that they’re organized criminals (though I’m sure Nitram would have something pithy to say about that), but in that the efficacy of the strategies they employ has little to do with their cleverness, but rather has to do with the will to employ them. Just as a mafia hit man generally isn’t the superhuman assassin movies would depict him as, the GOP are not brilliant political manipulators. They simply have the will to try things normal people would recoil at, such as holding a public meetings to which the public is not invited. What gives them this will is the increasing confidence they have in their base to accept these tactics as fine and normal and necessary. The base is happy to read the rules posted above and say, “Well, duh. Why would you even want to bring your stroller to the meeting? It’s for ADULTS. Leave the kid with the babysitter you no doubt could afford if you wanted to.”

1653

Why can’t the left pull the same tactics? Sometimes it’s more effective to fight fire with fire then with water.

Then again I don’t think confrontation is in the DNA of this generation of Democrats, appeasement is, and we know where appeasing folks winds up at.

1654

Maybe they wanted to make sure the Democrats on the committe didn’t haul ass back to Illinios!

Pithy enough for ya!

1655

Was that exclamation point supposed to be a question mark!

Anyway, I’m not sure if it’s pithy enough, but it doesn’t make any sense, so there’s that.

1656

I’m not sure it’s so much about confrontation but about acting in direct conflict to the notions of democracy and fair representation. Democrats seem to be congenitally unable to abandon the system they purport to represent, while Republicans increasingly seem willing to do so. Again, their base seems fine with it, I doubt the democrats would find a similar reception, but maybe I’m wrong?

1657

I was referring to the No exit or re-entry stipulation?

Make sense now!

1658

Getting back on topic:

Statement & Account of Ramona Kitzinger, Waukesha Board of Canvassers member since 2004:
Monday, April 11, 2011

(Waukesha County Democratic Party)On Tuesday night, I received a voice message from someone in the office of Clerk Kathy Nickolaus informing me of a Wednesday canvass meeting, which I returned the next morning and said I would be able to report into the canvass by noon � which I did. Normally the canvass would begin at 9am on Thursday, as has been the general practice for many years. No one explained why they were beginning the canvass on Wednesday, just to please report immediately.

Before this telephone call, I had not been contacted as the designated Democratic observer, and I saw no public notice of the abnormal canvass time. The phone call simply instructed me to report by noon to begin the canvass, which I did. The canvass then proceeded as normal, with no glaring irregularities or mention of a possible 15,000 vote error in Brookfield City.

On Thursday, I then showed up as per normal procedure at 9am and the canvass again went normally and concluded sometime between 4pm and 5pm. During the course of the day, the issue of minor vote corrections in New Berlin and Lisbon came up, but again nothing of a historic nature or reflecting glaring irregularities. In fact, the matter of vote totals in Brookfield City came up specifically during the course of Thursday�s canvass. In retrospect, it seems both shocking and somewhat appalling there was no mention of discovery of this 15,000 vote �human error� that ultimately had the potential to tip the balance of an entire statewide election. How is this possible?

Once the canvass had been completed and the results were finalized, I was called into Kathy�s office along with Pat (the Republican observer) and told of an impending 5:30pm press conference. It was at that point that I was first made aware of an error Kathy had made in Brookfield City. Kathy told us she thought she had saved the Brookfield voter information Tuesday night, but then on Wednesday she said she noticed she had not hit save. Kathy didn�t offer an explanation about why she didn�t mention anything prior to Thursday afternoon�s canvass completion, but showed us different tapes where numbers seemed to add up, though I have no idea where the numbers were coming from. I was not told of the magnitude of this error, just that she had made one. I was then instructed that I would not say anything at the press conference, and was actually surprised when I was asked questions by reporters.

The reason I offer this explanation is that, with the enormous amount of attention this has received over the weekend, many people are offering my statements at the press conference that the �numbers jibed� as validation they are correct and I can vouch for their accuracy. As I told Kathy when I was called into the room � I am 80 years old and I don�t understand anything about computers. I don�t know where the numbers Kathy was showing me ultimately came from, but they seemed to add up. I am still very, very confused about why the canvass was finalized before I was informed of the Brookfield error and it wasn�t even until the press conference was happening that I learned it was this enormous mistake that could swing the whole election. I was never shown anything that would verify Kathy�s statement about the missing vote, and with how events unfolded and people citing me as an authority on this now, I feel like I must speak up.

Link.

1659

Thank you, Adam. It should be noted that the Democrats have conducted a re-canvas of the Waukesha vote, with the Republicans observing. The results of the re-canvas should be known in a day or two. The Republicans said they supported the re-canvas (naturally, since they don’t expect the result to change). They also said they would support a recount of the Waukesha vote (for the same reasons), although the Dems would have to pay for that.

Also, the pressure on the Waukesha County Clerk who screwed up to resign is building. Expect that announcement in a day or two as well. Edit: No sooner did I write that than I saw a news story that she’s rejected calls for her to resign. Of course, that doesn’t mean she won’t if the pressure continues to build.

1660

Nothing to see here! Move along!

[Edit]: And the Republican-controlled Assembly just passed over $300 million in business tax credits.

[EDIT2]: Report on the hearing yesterday. Fox News, no less.