Yelp may be a popular website for positing restaurant (and other) reviews, but it has a controversy on its hands. Some businesses are complaining about Yelp’s practice of hiding some reviews behind a link (that is, where one has to click the link to see all posted reviews). Some restaurateurs contend that Yelp hides favorable…
Official Misconduct
CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Law, Official Misconduct, Open Government, State Government, Taxes/Taxation, Wisconsin
The Truth about the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A person should be able to make simple distinctions, as between the sensible and foolish, or practical and impractical. Sometimes those distinctions should be clear, and as stark as the difference between the contents of a sample cup and a glass of Chardonnay. You’ll hear a lot locally over the next few days about a…
Local Government, Official Misconduct, Police
Update: The Dismissal of Palmyra’s Police Chief, Charles Warren
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
An update to an earlier post on Palmyra’s dismissal of Police Chief Charles Warren: I withheld a comment on the matter (it was mostly fine, with one impediment), but I’d like to respond here to the contention that Warren and other officials should be accountable for their actions. Yes, I agree; I simply don’t know…
Local Government, Official Misconduct, Police
The Dismissal of Palmyra’s Police Chief, Charles Warren
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Last week, Palmyra’s Police Commission, on a 2-1 vote, fired Chief Charles Warren. Warren had been police chief of the village’s force for five years. Both the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Jefferson County Daily Union reported on Warren’s dismissal. The Police Commission action followed an autumn hearing on the complaint of Gary Byers, a village…
Official Misconduct, Open Government
Racine Journal Times Investigation Uncovers Municipal Abuses in Mount Pleasant
by JOHN ADAMS •
For those who obstinately contend that bureaucrats and politicians are always and forever public servants, selfless, giving of themselves, exist for a better community, etc., a compelling refutation will be found in a series from the Racine Journal Times, entitled, “JT investigates: Climate of fear in Mount Pleasant.” The JT describes the series: The abrupt…
Law, Liberty, Official Misconduct, Police
Six Years in Prison for Legally Recording a Police Officer?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Photography and video recordings both protect honest police departments against false accusations and assure communities receive information about instances of official misconduct. When citizens exercise their rights to photography and video recording, they are also bolstering the work of good officers by helping identify a few corrupt ones. Yet not everyone sees it this way,…
Official Misconduct
Lessons from the Talented Dr. Steven Hayne’s Career
by JOHN ADAMS •
I wrote last week about Dr. Steven Hayne, the incompetent forensic pathologist from Mississippi whose mistakes led to numerous wrongful convictions in that state. He made nothing but excuses — fantastic ones — when critics began to confront him. It took years for critics’ exposure of his shabby, shoddy practices to bring change to Mississippi.…
Crime, Official Misconduct
The Talented Dr. Steven Hayne
by JOHN ADAMS •
Dr. Steven Hayne is a forensic pathologist in Mississippi. He’s a fraud and liar, too. Here’s a description of his method (citations omitted): Until 2008, Hayne performed about 80 to 90 percent of criminal autopsies in Mississippi, and has testified to performing more than 1,500 autopsies per year. Performing more than 325 autopsies per year…
Crime, Official Misconduct, Press
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism: Indiana prosecutor resigns over Walker email
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s hard to overestimate the outrageousness of this prosecutor’s actions: An Indiana deputy prosecutor and Republican activist resigned Thursday after the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism uncovered an email in which he suggested faking an attack on Gov. Scott Walker to discredit union protesters. Carlos F. Lam submitted his resignation shortly before the Center published…
Crime, Government Spending, Official Misconduct
Bell Officials’ E-Mails: We Act Like Pigs – CBS News
by JOHN ADAMS •
Readers may recall the story of excessive municipal compensation of officials in Bell, California, an impoverished town where officials helped themselves to huge salaries. See, Excessive Public Compensation in Bell, California (Lessons for the Rest of America) and Update: Excessive Public Compensation in Bell, California (Lessons for the Rest of America) It’s even worse than…
Official Misconduct
The Federal Civil Suit Against Former Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz (Update 8)
by JOHN ADAMS •
The crime victim who received a series of vulgar, propositioning text messages from Calumet County’s then-District Attorney Ken Kratz while he prosecuted her attacker has filed a federal civil suit against him. I have embedded below a copy of the federal complaint, filed Friday, October 15th. (Meanwhile, Kratz is under state criminal investigation for his…
Official Misconduct
Official’s Misconduct: Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz’s Treatment of a Crime Victim (Update 7)
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a story in the Post Crescent about the aftermath of Calumet County D.A. Ken Kratz’s resignation, entitled, Resignation may not be the end of Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz’s woes. The resignation put an end to Gov. Jim Doyle’s efforts to remove him from office…. Kratz’s resignation followed more than two weeks of…
Official Misconduct
Official’s Misconduct: Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz’s Treatment of a Crime Victim (Update 6)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz, accused of sending vulgar and propositioning text messages to a domestic abuse victim while he prosecuted her attacker, has resigned his office. See, It’s official: Embattled DA Kratz resigns. The Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation’s dismissal of a professional misconduct grievance against Kratz, regarding the messages he sent to…
Official Misconduct, Politics
Video: Scott Walker’s Good Friend (Update 22 in a Series)
by JOHN ADAMS •
One sometimes hears that all political ads are exaggerations. Not all of them — sadly, this one from the Barrett Campaign about Republican Scott Walker’s failure to clean house after abuses at the MIlwaukee County Mental Health Complex is true. (H/t to the Journal Sentinel.) Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tK2RgmPhg4 I’ve posted about Chianelli’s policy, and the tragedy…