Daniel Bice reports that Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel is now demanding non-disclosure agreements from employees of the Wisconsin Department of Justice: On Aug. 10, staffers at his agency were sent an email instructing them to sign a nondisclosure agreement barring them from revealing any confidential information about their work — not just during their time in office but even after…
Wisconsin
Elections, Gov. Walker, Poll, Sen. Baldwin, Tony Evers, Wisconsin
A Poll, with Months Ahead
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Walker trails Evers 44% to 46% in the new Suffolk poll, a difference well within the margin of error. The latest survey is consistent with the findings of other pollsters on the two-term governor in at least two respects. First, the Republican Walker is in greater danger of losing his job right now than the…
Elections, State Government, Tony Evers, Wisconsin
Tony Evers for Wisconsin Governor, Vision
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Cats, Nature, Wisconsin
Friday Catblogging: Milwaukee-Area Cougar
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Henry J. Morgan reports The Wisconsin cougar has returned. This time reportedly in Lisbon as several residents see the wildcat: According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the cougar (puma concolor) is one of three wild cats native to the state, along with the bobcat and Canada lynx. It is the largest wildcat north…
CDA, City, Conflicts of Interest, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Education, Local Government, Marketing, Mendacity, Politics, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Tony Evers, WEDC, Wisconsin
Redefining Reality
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
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…
City, Elections, Local Government, Politics, State Government, Wisconsin
Local Results from the Spring General Election 2018
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
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…
Animals, Cats, Nature, Wisconsin
Friday Catblogging: Cougar sighting verified in Washington County
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Contact(s): Scott Walter, DNR Large Carnivore Specialist, 608-267-7865 or Dianne Robinson, Wildlife Biologist, 262-424-9827 MADISON- Video footage of a large cat submitted by landowners in Washington County has been verified by Department of Natural Resources biologists as a cougar. The animal was recorded on a security camera during the early morning hours of Feb. 7…
Elections, Gov. Walker, Trump, Wisconsin
Trump and Walker
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In 2014, Gov. Walker ran for re-election, and two years later Trump ran for president. The two-party results for the GOP candidates in the City of Whitewater were much different. In 2014, Gov. Walker narrowly lost the City of Whitewater to Mary Burke: Walker 2,616 49.8% Burke 2,634 50.2% In 2016, Trump decisively lost…
Business, Development, Economy, Employment, Environment, Foxconn, Government Spending, State Capitalism, That Which Paved the Way, Water, WEDC, Wisconsin
10 Key Articles About Foxconn
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
➤ Foxconned (“How much is Wisconsin paying for a Taiwanese manufacturer’s jobs?”): Already, it is hazy just how much of a boost to the local economy Foxconn is expected to make. The company said it planned to hire 3,000 workers over four years, whereas the state said the new facility would create 13,000 jobs with an average…
Foxconn, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, State Capitalism, WEDC, Wisconsin
Foxconn? What’s Foxconn?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
One reads that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker downplays Foxconn because deal not a sure campaign winner: MADISON – Scott Walker said the state would ink a $3 billion contract this week with Asian tech giant Foxconn Technology Group, even as he downplayed the deal and pointed to other jobs being created through his administration. As Walker launches…
Education, University, UW System, Wisconsin
Whitewater, Rock, and the UW System
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
There’s a UW System plan to pair some two-year colleges with some four-year universities. Reporting on the plan first broke Tuesday night, and since that evening there’s been more information about the proposal (to be considered formally in November, and if adopted to be begun in July 2018). For the principal Wisconsin stories on the…
Books, Culture, Economy, Politics, Wisconsin
Considering The Politics of Resentment, ‘We Teach These Things to Each Other’ (Part 8 of 9)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This is the eighth in a series of posts considering Katherine Cramer’s Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker. Cramer claims in Chapter 8 that Beyond garnering the insight that people use social identities to think about politics, this book also shows how social group divides can operate as the central…
Books, Culture, Economy, Politics, Wisconsin
Considering The Politics of Resentment, ‘Reactions to the Ruckus’ (Part 7 of 9)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This is the seventh in a series of posts considering Katherine Cramer’s Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker. In Chapter 7, Cramer describes the conditions immediately before, during, & immediately after the Great Recession, with consideration of Obama and Walker’s candidacies. With regard to Barack Obama, there’s much here that…
Books, Culture, Economy, Politics, Wisconsin
Considering The Politics of Resentment, ‘Support for Small Government’ (Part 6 of 9)
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
This is the sixth in a series of posts considering Katherine Cramer’s Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker. In Chapter 6, Cramer declares that In this chapter, I am going to make the bold claim that support for small government is more about identity than principle. Cramer explains to readers…