Tony Evers, State Superintendent of Public Instruction and candidate for governor, has a new video about a political effort to redefine reality. The video is about Scott Walker, but it might as easily have been about any number of local politicians in Whitewater or other small Wisconsin towns, with tax breaks for out-of-towners and cronies…
Politics
America, Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Mendacity, Politics, Trump, Trump-Russia
No Sudden Accident
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads that Trump has a new theory about Russian involvement in the November 2018 elections – he’s contending that the Russians plan to help the Democrats: I’m very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no President has been tougher…
America, Authoritarianism, Law, Liberty, Politics, Trump
A Roadmap for Renewal
by JOHN ADAMS •
No map provides all the detail one encounters when traveling a terrain; it is enough that it makes one’s chosen direction discernible. Our present national conflict will one day end, and when it does millions who will have swept Trumpism into the dustbin will then have to renew American politics, restoring to this society once…
Politics, Resistance
The Heart of the Coalition
by JOHN ADAMS •
In this time of national conflict, those of us who have remained genuinely libertarian find ourselves part of a large, national coalition of liberals, moderates, true conservatives (where the state is not used for authoritarian and bigoted ends), libertarians, and those eschewing any ideology. (When this conflict ends, and when America enters a Third Reconstruction, there will…
America, Federal Government, Law, Liberty, Local Government, Politics, State Government, Trump
National Means Local, Too
by JOHN ADAMS •
Mike Allen, now of Axios, writes about how Trumpism has nationalized politics: Trump is even the story in local races A dilemma for news organizations in this epic era is that President Trump isn’t just the biggest story in politics. On many days, he’s the biggest story in business, the biggest story in media, the biggest…
CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Free Markets, Gov. Walker, Marketing, Politics, Poverty, State Capitalism, State Government, Taxes/Taxation, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
About that Trump Tax Plan
by JOHN ADAMS •
In Whitewater, by press release (twice), one can read about the supposed benefits of the Trump tax plan. The Whitewater Community Development Authority’s executive director, Dave Carlson, was quick to push a portion of the plan as good for Whitewater. In doing so, he conceded what anyone observing Whitewater with care and concern already knew:…
Business, Ethics, Politics
Why, Yes, It Was
by JOHN ADAMS •
Cecilia Kang reports AT&T Chief Says Hiring Michael Cohen Was a ‘Big Mistake’: WASHINGTON — Randall L. Stephenson, AT&T’s chief executive, said on Friday that the company had made a “big mistake” by hiring President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, to advise on the telecommunications giant’s deal to buy Time Warner. “Our company has been…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Politics, UW System
Thursday in Madison at 2 PM: The Sabina Burton Hearing
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Thursday, May 10th at 2 PM, there’s a scheduled termination hearing before the Board of Regents for Sabina Burton, tenured professor of Criminal Justice at UW-Platteville. Readers may be familiar with her story from published accounts. Television station KWWL describes how the case began: [O]ne of their professors very vocal about what she’s been…
City, Congress, Politics
A Better Alternative for Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
Local readers may have heard, as I have, that Whitewater’s Community Development Authority chairman recently thanked Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner for federal legislation. Sensenbrenner, for those unfamiliar, is a career office-holding septuagenarian multi-millionaire situated far from the city, serving in a gerrymandered district. (Sensenbrenner, whose only time is behind-the-times, once responded to concerns about online…
City, Conflicts of Interest, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Ethics, Gov. Walker, Local Government, Mendacity, Paul Ryan, Politics, State Capitalism, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
The Price of Trumpism is Ruin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Craig Gilbert looks at the careers of Priebus, Ryan, and Walker: They led the “Cheesehead Revolution,” the GOP’s audacious conquest of Wisconsin. They offered a model for bridging Republican frictions between establishment and base. They became national figures. They ran into Donald Trump. They suffered. They bent to his rise. Now one (Priebus) has left…
City, Elections, Local Government, Politics, State Government, Wisconsin
Local Results from the Spring General Election 2018
by JOHN ADAMS •
Wisconsin’s spring general election’s now over, and in the paragraphs below I’ll consider the local results for state, district, and city-wide races. These results are unofficial; online detail may be found for the counties of Walworth, Jefferson, and Rock (where Rock County’s detail applies only to the WUSD race). Contest/Question Candidates/Preference City Vote % WI Supreme Court…
City, Hip & Prosperous, Local Government, Open Government, Politics, School District
‘Stable and yet it cannot stand still’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Jurist Roscoe Pound once famously observed that “the law must remain stable yet it cannot stand still.” What is true of the law is true of communities – including Whitewater. Among some (but not all) of the few who have held sway in this town for the last generation, changes are unwelcome, and change itself…
Good Ideas, League of Women Voters, Local Government, Politics
How to Build a Better Candidate Forum
by JOHN ADAMS •
Posted originally 2.16.16. Reposted 3.8.18. A private local organization, in the habit of hosting candidate debates forums, may freely follow its national organization’s practices. Fair enough. Whitewater, however, would do better if she adopted better standards. There are two easy ways that Whitewater can make her candidate forums much better. ➤ Release Candidate Statements Before…
Local Government, Police, Politics
The Buck Stops Locally (and Always Has)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Today, Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission will interview candidates for Whitewater’s next police chief. It’s been an in-house hiring process, and just three months ago some members of our PFC praised this approach over a consultant-driven method (as we had at the time of our last hiring). For Whitewater, and other places, the distinction between…