This story was originally posted on the Caledonia Patch and written by
Denise Lockwood (Editor),
Gov. Scott Walker held an economic forum at Modine Manufacturing
Tuesday with officials from the private sector, state officials, and
small business owners.
Employers talked about their frustrations and what prevented them
from adding staff. They discussed the difficulties in finding capital
funding, having to litigate unemployment claims, navigating the
bureaucracy at local municipalities to gain permits, working through the
state regulatory process, and finding skilled workers.
Walker vowed to work on issues with staff and help create legislation
that would address issues ranging from everything from tort law reform
to looking at how technical education is taught.
Russell Gnatt, president and CEO of The Spectrum Group, said small
businesses are having problems finding capital from banks, but they are
also having problems with cash flow.
"One thing that I hear from the executive round table I participate
in…. is that small businesses are saying that 'If I do something for GE,
I have to wait 105 days to be paid," Gnatt said. "Capital that is
something that has to flow. Collecting it somewhere doesn't do anybody
any good. So if businesses aren't responsible enough to keep the money
flowing, I don't know what the government can do."
Gnatt told Walker he would rather have his taxes raised to 20 percent
rather than have his customers pay 60 days late. And he would hire
people if his clients were paying him on time.
"Going from 30 to 60 days (in not being paid) would kill me, but
another 10 to 15 percent increase in taxes would just be uncomfortable,"
Gnatt said.
Walker said he'd like to fix both problems because his goal was to
help businesses create 250,000 jobs. Those jobs would come 10, 15, and
20 at a time and not in groups of 100.
"So we need to be mindful to what happens to small and mid-sized businesses," Walker said. "And that's where the job growth is."
Walker said the forum helped him connect with job creators to understand what issues they are facing.
This story was originally posted on the Caledonia Patch and written by
Denise Lockwood (Editor),
Three business owners have been ordered to remove illegal video
gambling machines that were paying out cash, after compliance checks by
the and the state Department of Revenue.
Two of the business owners also sold cigarettes and tobacco products
purchased from Illinois and did not have a Wisconsin tax stamp, police
said.
“We’re assisting the Department of Revenue in their investigation and
we are following up to make sure they are complying,” said Caledonia
Police Detective Melissa Stardy.
State and police officials inspected , 600 Four Mile Rd.; , 6900
State Highway 31, , 3100 6 Mile Road; and 601 Four Mile Rd. Akil Ajmeri
owns Ayra’s and Deli-Food Xpress.
What police found
Amandeep Mahal, owner of Four Mile Food & Liquor, just received
his liquor license in October. He had several video gaming machines,
which he was told needed to be removed. He had eight boxes of cigarettes
that did not have the Wisconsin tax stamp on them. He told police that
he had purchased the old inventory from the previous owner, which is
also illegal, according to the report.
Mahal declined to comment.
Patch also called Mian Jalil, owner of Four Mile Petroleum, but no one returned the call.
A DOR investigator asked Ajmeri if he had gambling machines in his
stores, Deli-Food Xpress and Arya’s, and he said no. However, Stardy
indicated in her report that she knew Ajmeri had them there. He was
ordered to remove them as well.
Three video gambling machines were found in Ayra’s. Ajmeri told
police that he rents space for the gambling machines to Winner’s
Amusement for $100 a month, that he doesn’t receive any money from the
machines and he wasn’t aware that he couldn’t have them, according to
the report.
Patch tried to reach Ajmeri, but he did not return the call.
All of the businesses have a Class A liquor license, which is what makes their gaming machines an issue.
Running afoul of the law
Under state law, gambling of any type is prohibited in businesses
with retail Class A liquor licenses, which allows them to sell alcohol
that is not consumed on the premises. DOR or law enforcement officials
can arrest the licensee and charge them with a felony for having any
video gaming in their business.
In all of the Caledonia cases, the special agent with the DOR gave
the business owners five to seven days to get rid of the machines,
according to a Caledonia police report.
Police also seized the Illinois-purchased cigarettes from the
businesses. Illinois taxes cigarettes at 18 percent, Stardy said, while
Wisconsin's cigarette tax is 71 percent.
“The law also says that if you are going to sell cigarettes and
tobacco products in Wisconsin that they have to be purchased from
distributors in Wisconsin,” Stardy said.
Caledonia Police Chief Toby Schey said he’s not certain about the
intent of the business owners who purchased the cigarettes from
Illinois.
“I think some of these businesses are part of bigger enterprises,”
Schey said. “So the thinking is that if they can go buy 100 cases of
product… then you get a better price. We’re not sure if the intent was
to defraud the Department of Revenue or not.”
Prosecution unknown
Schey said the state wants voluntary compliance in terms of
businesses getting rid of the machines, but where the case will go from
here is unclear.
“We really need to know what the DOR’s position is on this,” Schey
said. “What is the state’s position, will the DA prosecute these cases?
We also need to know what is the village’s position? And what is the
(village's) Legislative and Licensing Committee’s position? And what’s
the heartbeat of the community on this?
“I think from the state’s standpoint, it’s seen as a revenue source.
But if we enforce this, are we going to have the backing we need or are
we spinning our wheels?”
Schey said he'll be submitting the police reports to the Legislative
and Licensing Committee and the members of that committee will need to
decide whether the owners will need to come in front of them to discuss
the issue.
At this point, the investigation by the Department of Revenue will continue.
This article was originally posted on the Caledonia Patch and was by
Denise Lockwood (Editor), .
The Village of Caledonia may see a new business built and one expand within the
Franksville Industrial Park, but the project comes with a potential $8.9
million catch for taxpayers.
The Village Board voted 4 to 1 to move forward with a feasibility
report that could create a tax incremental finance (TIF) district to
expand the Franksville Industrial Park by 390 acres. Jerry Griswold
opposed the project, but Jim Dobbs, Tom Weatherston, Ron Coutts, and
Kevin Wanggaard approved it.
New Jobs, New TIF?
The report, which was written by Ehlers, a consulting firm the
Village hired, calls for the expansion to occur in two phases, one that
includes 152 acres and one that includes 238 acres. The first expansion
would mostly serve two unnamed businesses, according to the report.
The two developments are expected create 70 jobs with an annual
compensation between $35,000 and $55,000. And with the total build out
of both phases, the district is expected to “spur” $66 to $88 million in
new, and taxable, industrial development.
The total cost of the infrastructure improvements carries a price tag
of $12 million. However, 25 percent of the cost would likely be paid
for with grants, and the Village or the developer would finance the
remaining cost of the infrastructure project, which would cost $8.9
million for both phases. The money would be used to improve the truck
route, utilities, roads, sewer and water service, and add a rail spur,
signage and lighting. However, the project doesn’t have to be completed
all at once, said an official with Ehlers.
What is a TIF District?
A TIF district is a development tool municipalities can use to
attract business. The way it works is that a financing district is
created and a base value of that district is established by the taxing
jurisdictions. The increased value of the property is still charged at
the base rate, but the district uses the increased tax revenue to pay
for the infrastructure projects.
This means those taxing entities (Village, County, Racine Unified and
Gateway) still receive the same amount of tax revenue before the
district was created, but the increased tax revenue pays for the
infrastructure costs over a 20-year period.
Why use a TIF District?
Jenny Trick, of the Racine County Economic Development Corporation,
told the Village Board the names of the businesses are confidential.
However, one is ready to build immediately and the other would likely
build within the year, she said.
“The value of this discussion is not only through a recruitment
perspective, but also a retention perspective,” Trick said. “You have a
number of businesses that have already made an investment there and they
are going to want to grow. And there is value in having your investment
be retained. So you want to make sure the business park is appropriate
and is an attractive business park.”
Village Board Member Jerry Griswold said he's against using taxpayer money to fund a project like this.
“I say let the developer invest their money, why should the taxpayer
fund this?” Griswold said. “This thing has already gone way to far in my
book…. In my mind we need to do the basics, highway, fire, and
police—not get involved in development.”
But part of the condition of creating a taxing district is that using
the tax increment to fund infrastructure projects can only be used if
the development “would either have not occurred, not occurred in the
same timeframe, or would not have occurred with the same value,”
according to the report.
Wanggaard supported the project.
“This area is already designated for commercial use,” he said. “It’s
not as good of an area as it should have been, but we’ve got to deal
with what we’ve got. And we’ve got to utilize what we’ve got instead of
try to build something else…. If we have to look at getting companies
here, which we do. I think that’s the place to do it.”
What's the next step?
The approval of the report doesn’t mean the project itself is
approved, but it does mean the Village can move forward with holding
public hearings on the contents of the report. In order to create the
district, a number of entities would need to approve the project,
including the Joint Review Board, the Community Development Authority,
and the Village Board, and several public hearings would need to be
held.
This story originally appeared on the Caledonia Patch and was written by
Denise Lockwood (Editor),
The head of the agency that oversees elections in Wisconsin says
there have been some instances of fraudulent signatures found on the
petitions seeking to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker from office.
And with at least three outside groups going through the signatures
looking for problems, Government Accountability Board Director Kevin
Kennedy said his staff expects to hear even more allegations about
possible fraud.
While the GAB and other agencies will investigate all such
complaints, it's unlikely there will be enough of them to stop the
recall from moving forward, Kennedy said in a memo released Friday.
"The highly polarized political atmosphere which has engendered the
current recall initiatives has also generated a constant buzz of
speculation about illegal activity with respect to the recall efforts,"
Kennedy wrote. "This speculation has ranged from allegations of people signing a
petition with a name other than their own, including fictitious
characters, with made up addresses; claims of multiple signings by the
same individual and threats of destruction of petition pages by
opponents of the recall effort,"he added. "Both proponents and opponents
of the recalls have spewed accusations through social media, email,
voice mail, talk radio and the media."
The GAB has taken such allegations seriously, he noted, and is working with the state Department of Justice and district attorneys around Wisconsin to investigate such complaints.
However, "given the the large number of signatures over the required
thresholds, it is not plausible to believe these complaints would have
an impact on the ultimate sufficiency of the recall petitions," Kennedy
said.
The effort to recall Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, and four
Republican state senators began on Nov. 15. More than 1 million
gubernatorial recall signatures were turned into the GAB, which has
spent the last two months verifying them. Recall organizers needed to
collect about 540,000 valid signatures to force an election.
Kennedy's memo was part of a packet of documents released Friday by
the GAB in advance of the board's meeting in Madison on Monday. In the
documents, Kennedy and the GAB staff said there are enough valid
signatures to move forward with the of Racine.
Kennedy also is recommending that the GAB on Monday ask a Dane County
judge for more time to review the Walker recall petitions and proposed
that recall elections be held in May and June.
In Kenney's memo, GAB officials reported
that they investigated a claim made by an unidentified Milwaukee man
who said he had signed the petition 80 times. The man’s name was
referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, but the GAB
never found that name on the petitions.
On the other hand, Mark Demet, of Racine was charged earlier this month with two
felony counts of election fraud/nomination certification and seven
felony counts of misappropriating identifying information for financial
gain. If convicted on all charges, Demet faces up to 42 years in prison
and fines up to $90,000. Kennedy reported that those signatures were
thrown out.
A Caledonia man who is a Walker supporter also told Patch that he had
and planned to burn them, but then he changed his mind. No law
enforcement agency has requested the man's name.
Kennedy noted that recall organizers and the Republican Party of
Wisconsin have set up websites and hotlines for people to register
complaints about the recall process. Verify the Recall,
a website that encouraged people to register their complaints, stated
they intended to the help the GAB by offering an online searchable
database of the signatures.
Kennedy said it was likely the GAB would get complaints from these
sources and the agency intends to take those complaints seriously even
though there may not be enough to stop the recall elections.
He said that the focus of an investigation should include whether the
complaints represent “a pattern of activity or isolated events.”
However, the specifics of those potential investigations will be
discussed in closed session by the GAB.
This story was originally posted on the Caledonia Patch site and written by
Denise Lockwood (Editor),
If a road in front of a business needs to be ripped up and
reconstructed, the business owner will likely see a slightly bigger bill
for the project. Caledonia is one step closer to requiring industrial and commercial property
owners to pay more for road reconstruction projects. The Legislative and
Licensing Committee will recommend to the Village Board next week that
they make adjustments to their special assessment policy to pay for
Village road reconstruction projects.
“The policy won’t be substantially different for residents, but it’s
definitely more aggressive for the other business uses,” said Elaine
Ekes
The policy would require industrial, commercial, manufacturing and
institutional businesses owners to pay 100 percent of road
reconstruction costs to pave the portion that abuts their property to
the centerline of a two-lane road. For a four-lane road, the business
would pay 60 percent of the cost for the two lanes that abutted their
property to the center line of the road. The assessment wouldn’t apply
to road repair projects, only road reconstruction projects where the
entire road needed to be replaced.
Currently business owners are assessed with a complicated formula,
but the change would allow for higher costs to be assessed to the
business owner.
Officials said they were tweaking the policy because of a road
reconstruction that the City of Racine and the Village will be doing on
Three Mile Road just east of Douglas Avenue. Vulcan Materials, which
mines the quarry, will be assessed the cost of the project under the new
rules.
“We are coming more into line with what other communities are doing,”
said Tom Weatherston, Committee and Village Board member. “We used to
have a flat fee that was hard to figure out… we’re trying to make it a
lot easier to calculate.”
The Committee also talked about the potential of assessing Siena Partners project that could include reconstructing Erie Street.
The construction project, which is the largest in the ’s history, is a
partnership between the and Lincoln Lutheran. The two have joined
forces to create Siena Partners, Inc. Once completed, the independent
living, assisted living, skilled nursing and memory care facilities will
be owned and overseen by Siena Partners, Inc. with Lincoln Lutheran as
managers. Lincoln Lutheran will still run its existing facilities, and
the Sisters will maintain their other ministries (Eco-Justice Center,
HOPES Center, etc.) independently.
The Village is anticipating that the road will need to be brought to a
higher standard, which will require a road reconstruction.
“We’re trying to change this before other projects come up,” said
Kevin Wanggaard, Committee and Village Board member. “We’re not trying
to ‘fee’ anyone, but these are infrastructure costs that benefit those
projects.”
The recommendation will now be sent to the Village Board next week for possible action.
Kev Marcus (left) and Wil B will take the stage at on Oct. 11 at Memorial Hall.
Racine, WI - An evening with Black Violin is no ordinary orchestra concert.
Classically trained viola and violin players “Wil B” Baptiste and Kevin “Kev Marcus” Sylvester -- which make up the group Black Violin -- will take the stage at 7 p.m. Oct. 11, at Memorial Hall, 72 7th St.
Black Violin describes their musical experience as “2 parts Classical, 2 parts Pop, with a splash of hip-hop, served chilled–” and “a genre-busting collage that pushes the limits of music and dares listeners to think outside the box.”
The two men met in high school while in the orchestra together in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After college, they worked in hip-hop studios with a number of acts before joining forces, and fusing hip-hop with classical music.
“Black Violin works hard, but makes it all look like play… Sometimes they play with the intense seriousness of orchestral soloists; at others they fiddle as if at a hoedown; at still others they strum the violin and viola like guitars,” according to the New York Times.
Ticket prices range from $12 to $20. They can be purchased in advance from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Festival Hall Box Office, 5 5th St., and at the Memorial Hall box office on the night of the show. These tickets have no service fees. They can also be purchased through Ticketmaster by visiting http://www.ticketmaster.com.
People needing ADA accommodations can contact the box office at (262) 636-9229.
Wisconsin recall supporters outed an anonymous Facebook group called Operation Burn Notice
on Tuesday as a coordinated effort designed to destroy petitions signed
to force Gov. Scott Walker and other Wisconsin Republicans out of
office.
Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, denounced the anonymous group, in a Madison press conference.
"We cannot allow democracy to be threatened by those who would
illegally destroy recall petitions with valid signatures on them," Ross
said. "We intend to keep the public informed about its rights during the
signature gathering process and alert those who would engage in illegal
conduct that they do so at their own peril."
One Wisconsin Now, a pro-recall group, is offering a reward for
anyone who outs a person destroying signatures. The group also wants the
public to know the rules with regards to the recall petition process
and released a memo addressing myths that have been circulating around
the recall process.
Ross said the purpose of the reward was to get leads on people
destroying petitions until Jan. 14, which is the date the recall
committees have to turn in the petitions to the Government Accountability Board.
Destroying or defacing petitions is a felony, which carries a $10,000 fine and up to three-and-a-half years in jail.
The group, which said they are for a fair and clean election, also
sent a letter to Ismael Ozanne, the Dane County District Attorney, which
notified the office of a Facebook page called Operation Burn Notice.
The letter cited several Operation Burn Notice posts that bragged about having destroyed 148,764 signatures as of Sunday.
One post stated Saturday:
The fires have been extinguished and the ashes spread. It
was a very good day for a Sunday. To date, Operation Burn Notice has
destroyed over 11,000 "documents". Do the math, kiddies. First correct
total of signatures gets the Sunday, weekly door-prize.
To date, only one instance of actual criminal activity has been
reported to the authorities in Dane County, the rest of the reports have
been on other blogs and included screen shots from Facebook pages of
people talking about having destroyed petitions.
In response, the group is offering a reward that leads to the arrest
and conviction of anyone destroying or defacing recall petitions from
today through Jan. 14. The group will be taking affidavits from people
who step forward and will turn those affidavits over to the appropriate
district attorney, Ross said.
Last week, . Instead, they want people to think they've signed the
petition, but not actually have their signatures count. The man, who
asked not to have his name used, ultimately decided to turn them into
the recall committee.
Racine County DA files nine felony counts against 59-year-old Racine man
after he is accused of forging signatures on a petition to recall state
Sen. Van Wanggaard.
Posted by
Denise Lockwood (Editor) ,
A man accused of falsely writing in signatures on a petition to
recall state Sen. Van Wanggaard — including one from a deceased person —
faces nine felony charges.
Mark Demet, 59, of Racine, has been charged by the Racine County
District Attorney's Office with two felony counts of election
fraud/nomination certification and seven felony counts of
misappropriating identifying information for financial gain. If
convicted on all charges, Demet faces up to 42 years in prison and fines
up to $90,000.
According to the criminal complaint, Demet admitted that he
circulated the petition and signed the names of seven people on the
petition. Investigators spoke to six of the people whose names appeared
on the list to verify that they had not signed the petition.
Demet is expected to make an initial court appearance at 1:30 p.m. on March 13.
Randy Brandt, treasurer for the Committee to Recall Van Wanggaard,
said Demet might have been planted to discredit the recall effort, but
the criminal complaint doesn’t address that issue.
“The charges imply that money was somehow involved, but no one on the
Committee knows him and I know we didn’t pay him,” Brandt said. “But
I’m glad that the whole process is unfolding as it should. Someone who
allegedly is trying to circumvent the petition process should be charged
with the crimes. And it’s a pretty serious crime.”
Still Brandt believes Demet is either some sort of renegade or had some other motive.
Brandt emailed the Racine County Sheriff’s Department earlier this
month, explaining that the committee members did not know Demet. Brandt
acknowledged it is possible “that a small number of fictitious
signatures could have been submitted by people with their own motives,
and without our detection.”
He requested that the Sheriff’s Department find out what Demet’s
motive was for writing in the signatures, but the criminal complaint
doesn’t address the issue.
Tea Party member identifies problem
Ironically, a Wisconsin Tea Party member put two and two together in identifying the falsified signatures.
Citizens for Responsible Government of Racine is a blog written by
Ken Brown, who is an active Racine County Tea Party member. Brown said
he has a business relationship with Jeff Demet, Mark's brother. When he
saw Jeff Demet's name on the petitions, he believed that Jeff didn't
sign the petition (his name was listed four times) because the two had
talked about politics. So he called Jeff.
"(Jeff) was pretty mad," Brown said. "I asked him if he knew this guy, Mark. He said, 'Yeah, he's my crazy brother.'"
Brown said he also spoke with Jason Adams, and Nick and Holley Gabey,
who are Mark Demet's neighbors. They also said their signatures were
forged, so Brown turned over the information to the Racine County
District Attorney's Office.
Brown said the Citizens for Responsible Government of Racine is affiliated with Milwaukee's Citizens for Responsible Government, which spearheaded the recall of Milwaukee County Executive Tom Ament.
"They've been going after voter fraud and have been for over 12 years," Brown said. "They've worked along with Americans for Prosperity and the Wisconsin Tea Party."
Caledonia Patch called Mark Demet to get a statement, but his mother, Mary, said he was at work.
“I don’t think he wants to talk about this with anyone,” she said.
Demet also wasn't home when TMJ4 went to his house. The TV station aired a story last week about the irregularities on Demet's petitions.
Demet apparently tried apologizing yesterday to his neighbor Jason Adams for his actions.
But Adams wanted nothing to do with it, he said.
“It doesn’t make it right in my book,” Adams said. “… It’s pretty serious to me and it’s touched a pretty heavy chord.”
Caledonia police get called during a terse exchange between two women
near Gifford Elementary School, but no citations were issued.
by
Denise Lockwood (Editor) ,
Caledonia Police responded to a report of a person collecting
petition signatures that was videotaping people and screaming at them at
1:04 p.m. Dec. 1, 2011 at Gifford School, 8332 Northwestern Avenue.
No incident report was officially filed and no tickets were issued
because the incident was handled internally by officials with the Racine
Unified School District.
According to a call detail report made the next day, the woman told
police she was approached by a woman who had a "Recall Walker" sign in
the window of her car. The recall supporter asked the woman to sign a
recall petition, but the woman refused to sign it. The recall supporter
yelled at the mom saying that she apparently “doesn’t believe in
democracy” and the mom asked if the recall supporter had permission to
be collecting signatures on school property. The recall supporter told
the woman she didn’t need permission to collect signatures because the
school is a public place.
The recall supporter then started videotaping the woman, who asked
her to stop taping her. The recall supporter told the woman that she
could “videotape anyone she wants.” The woman went into the school and
complained to the principal, who explained to the recall supporter that
she couldn’t collect signatures on school property. The school isn’t
considered public property and is a taxpayer funded facility, which the
Racine Unified School District controls and the District has a policy
against people collecting petition signatures on school property.
After the incident, the woman told the recall petitioner “that she
hoped she got what she wanted” and the recall supporter started to
videotape her again and the woman took a picture of the recall
supporter. The recall supporter then left the property.
On Nov. 15, papers were filed to begin collecting signatures to
attempt a statewide recall of Gov. Scott Walker and a district level
recall of several Republican Senators, including Sen. Van Wanggaard
(R-Racine).
The woman called the School District and she was told to file a report. According to a story by the Racine Journal Times, someone shared a similar story with the Vicki McKenna show.
A group trying to sabotage efforts to recall Gov. Scott Walker sparked outrage from the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
Officials with the Government Accountability Board also said
collecting petitions and not turning them into the recall committees is
illegal.
that a local man, who wished to remain anonymous, and at least two
others, had collected signatures for the recall petition. In order to
derail the recall effort, the unnamed source initially said he planned
to shred them and then he said he was going to hold on to them; but now
the source said he plans to turn them into the Government Accountability
Board because he doesn’t think it’s the right thing to do to keep them.
But state officials said the petitions need to be turned into the
appropriate recall committees, not the GAB, and the recall committee
needs to collect and turn all of the petitions into the GAB all at the
same time.
The man, who collected 150 signatures on Nov. 15, said he plans to
turn them into the Government Accountability Board. One other person is
also going to turn his in and they are going to convince a third person
to do the same.
"It’s not the right thing to do, we should have known better," the
unnamed source said. "The whole thing wasn’t our idea. It’s something we
just stumbled on and we did it, 24 hours later we realized that it’s
not a good thing to do. I’ve been thinking about it and it’s just not
right. But when I think about what’s been going on all year with the
protests, and what this has been doing to people, families, and
friends…is making normal people do really stupid things and feel stupid
things. And it’s crazy. It's absolutely crazy."
However, he told Patch that he was told there were over 1,000 people involved with the effort.
Reid Magney, public information officer with the Government
Accountability Board, said the man’s actions could constitute fraud, but
he does not have any specific evidence that the man had committed
fraud.
"I don’t want to pass judgment on this man because I don’t know specifically what he has or hasn’t done," Magney said.
Magney offered the following advice to people who may believe they signed a petition that may not get turned in:
“If someone signed what they think is an illegitimate petition or one
that was circulated by a person not on the up and up, that person can
sign more than one petition,” Magney said. “There is no prohibition on
signing more than once. It’s up to the recall committee to weed out
possible duplicates.”
Magney added that he has had discussions with district attorney’s
about the issues, but he couldn’t comment on which district attorney’s
he has talked to.
“We take this very seriously,” Magney said. “We hope that local law
enforcement officials will have the time to prosecute these cases if it
becomes an issue.”
Graeme Zielinski, spokesman for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, said
people who don’t want to see Gov. Scott Walker recalled trying to
sabotage the petition process are committing a felony.
“There is no gray area here,” Zielinski said. “What they are doing is highly illegal.”
Zielinski said the issue isn’t in the destruction of the petitions, but rather it’s the creation of doubt and fear.
“They want legitimate circulators to be turned away,” he said. “But
we think this involves a very small number of people…. Our message to
the public is: don’t let this intimidate you. You can sign a petition
more than once if you think you have signed a petition that someone may
have destroyed, and you aren’t violating the law.”
Zielinski called for the Wisconsin Department of Justice to look into
the group collecting these signatures with the intent of either
destroying them or holding onto them.
“If these folks have ties to the Republican or TEA party, they need to look at themselves at the top,” Zielinski said.
However, Bill Folk, chairman of the Racine County Republican Party
and Lora Halberstadt, of the Racine TEA Party, have denounced the man's
actions and both said they don't condone interfering in the petition
process.
*This version of the story corrects and clarifies Reid Magney's
statements about how petitions need to be turned by the recall
committees into state officials, that his staff have spoken directly to
several district attorney's offices, and that while the man's actions
could constitute fraud, he had no evidence of wrongdoing
Addressing the Racine Tea Party at a forum on health care, Rep. Paul
Ryan, State Rep. Robin Vos and State Sen. Leah Vukmir told the crowd in
Racine County on Sunday it's time for them to take action if they want
to see the Affordable Care Act repealed.
By
Denise Lockwood (Editor) , , originally published on the Caledonia Patch.
Expressing their disdain for the Affordable Health Care Act,Rep. Paul Ryan and other state Republicans Sunday evangelized their anti-Obamacaremessage and asked the Racine Tea Party faithful to go out and spread the message that it isn’t working.
One by one, notable Republicans got up in front of the roughly 300
people gathered at the Racine Tea Party Healthcare Forum at South Hills
Country Club in Caledonia. In turn, they each dissected the health-care
law and said how the American people made a decision in November they
may come to regret.
Headlining speaker Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, called the law
“fundamentally flawed” in its conception and implementation, and said it
is doomed to fail.
“Obamacare is too overarching and it runs contrary to the practices of this country so it can’t last,” Ryan said.
Ryan told residents to start at home, educating themselves and their
friends and then supporting conservative lawmakers in Wisconsin.
"We have great leaders to show us the way forward," he said. "You can
fix this at the state level and show the federal government how to do
it."
State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos,
R-Rochester, said liberals and conservatives want the same thing; a
government that functions well and takes care of the less fortunate.
Wisconsinites, he said, do both really well, even if there's
disagreement on how to reach both those goals.
“Under Gov. (Jim) Doyle, we had a massive expansion of Medicaid that
included low premiums or no premiums and no co-pays and it worked great
until the federal government stepped in,” he said.
But, Vos continued, Gov. Scott Walker
wisely rejected setting up a state-based exchange and told the federal
government they can do it so Wisconsin lawmakers aren’t left holding the
bag when costs sky-rocket and residents are pointing fingers.
“We can make a difference, though, because states form the federal government, not the other way around,” Vos said.
Cost is king
Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, heavily
criticized Obamacare. The Cato Institute is a non-partisan think tank,
Tanner said, which leans more towards a libertarian perspective.
Tanner told the crowd the problem with the Affordable Care Act is
young and healthy people would have to pay more in premiums to subsidize
coverage for others — older, sicker people and those with pre-existing
conditions — and their premiums would go up a lot faster.
He criticized the health care exchanges, saying the very concept was
rife with government intervention. The crowd applauded Tanner’s mention
of Walker’s decision to reject the state-based exchanges.
“I make a living making fun of Congress, but I want you to try to
grasp this,” Tanner said. “They are going to create a place where buyers
and sellers can come together. And the buyers will have money and the
sellers will have product, and the buyers will exchange money for the
product. Can you imagine that? How have we survived all of these years?”
What we can do here at home
State Sen. Leah Vukmir,
R-Wauwatosa, plans to put forward bills on tort reform, tax breaks for
companies that offer health insurance premium accounts for younger
workers, looking at ways to build more transparency in the healthcare
industry, and allowing people and companies to purchase health insurance
outside of Wisconsin.
“Transparency is key, but we haven’t gone far enough,” Vukmir said.
“We should be able to shop around. And why can’t we purchase insurance
across state lines like we buy other products and services?”
Vukmir explained that many young workers — the "young invincibles" —
don’t have insurance. But, she said, if companies earmarked money that
could only be used to purchase health insurance, they would buy the
insurance.
After Vukmir had her time at the podium, Vos joined her on stage for a
joint Q&A. While neither thought a nullification of Obamacare is
probable or realistic, they again told people they have the power in
this fight. Vos and Vukmir said the way to stand up to the ACA is to
take a page out of the Democrats’ playbook by talking to everyone.
“We need to support conservative talk radio and our great bloggers by
talking to our friends and family and our neighbors,” Vukmir said. "The
November election was tough, but Wisconsin is a bright spot. We will
push forward with conservative and founding principles."
Fired up and ready to vote, thousands of people—including some from
out of state—attended the Racine Tea Party rally Caledonia Saturday
morning.
Traffic was backed up and people parked along side Nicholson Road
after overflow parking lots filled with people ready to: Go to the polls
on June 5 to vote for Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and
state Sen. Van Wanggaard.
The crowd was loud and had a lot of energy, cheering raucously for
each speaker. Made up of people of all ages, it was also split pretty
evenly between men and women, but only a handful of people of color came
out.
Darryl Henderson of Franksville said he was there because most
rallies are held at times when he can't attend, since he works at night.
"I'm for smaller government, less government," he said.
Once the Racine Tea Party rally started at 10 a.m., Kleefisch, Rep.
Paul Ryan and Wanggaard reinforced the reasons why people should not
only show up to the polls on Tuesday to support the GOP candidates, but
to get out and encourage others to vote.
"Do we want to keep going forward or do we want to go backward?"
Kleefisch asked the crowd. "Forward means keeping taxes down, more money
in classrooms and our sons and daughters living their American dream.
That's why you need to call everyone you know so they vote on Tuesday."
Ryan said Walker, Kleefisch and Wanggaard winning the recall will save Wisconsin so voters can then save America in November.
"This recall is about liberty and freedom, the stuff that makes
America great," he told the crowd. "This is a big deal. There are two
futures in front of us and how we want our state and nation to look."
Racine police confirm they
have reports of two vehicles with flat tires that owners say is a direct
result of someone dumping roofing nails in the parking lot of the old
Sam's Club before a Racine Tea Party event on Saturday.
By
Denise Lockwood
and Heather Asiyanbi, October 29, 2012 at 09:52 PM, originally published on the Caledonia Patch website.
The Tea Party faithful gathered Saturday for a loud and enthusiastic
rally aimed at getting out the vote on Nov. 6 and putting Republicans
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in the White House.
The Racine Tea Party's "Rally for Jobs" kicked off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday inside the old Sam's Club at 6200 Regency West Drive.
Before the event could get under way, though, organizers say a white
van affixed with "Obama" stickers drove through the parking lot and
dumped quantities of roofing nails.
"We went outside and picked up what we could," said Lou D'Abbraccio, holding a cup filled with nails. "But this was just wrong."
Lora Halberstadt, a Tea party member, said the group did call the Racine Police Department to file a report.
Patch asked two RPD officers outside the venue if they could confirm
the report, but they only said they couldn't comment about a truck.
According to the shift commander on duty Sunday morning, officers
responded to the old Sam's Club Saturday morning to take a report from
event organizers.
"The report says that sometime between 9 and 11 a.m. someone threw
roofing nails across the parking lot," the lieutenant told Patch.
"There is no mention of a type of vehicle or ideas for who might have
done this."
On Monday, Racine police Public Information Officer Sgt. Martin
Pavalonis confirmed his department does have a report of the incident
on file. He also said two vehicle owners reported flat tires as a
result of the nails and possibly a screw.
"Two vehicles were damaged, obviously with tire damage and then some
nails and screws were apparently strewn about the parking lot," he
said. "However, we have no information about a suspect or suspect
vehicle. We certainly encourage the public to contact us with any solid
information that they might have."
Inside the venue on Saturday, a crowd of around 1,000 grew to about
2,500, many of them waving signs or wearing t-shirts proclaiming their
support for candidates on the Republican ticket.
The list of guest speakers was a Who's Who of conservative leaders —
including local Republican state legislative candidates Pam Stevens and
Tom Weatherston; and state Rep. Robin Vos; former Navy SEAL Chris
Heben; U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson; Ryan's brother, Tobin Ryan; former Gov.
Tommy Thompson; Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey; and conservative talk show
host Vicki McKenna.
Each speaker touched on points where they think President Barack
Obama and his administration has failed, but their message also echoed
that of the Democrats: take advantage of early voting and get everyone
you know, and even those you don't, to cast a ballot in what they
called the most important election of our time.
Anyone with information about this incident can contact Crime Stoppers anonymously by: calling 1-888-636-9330, email: http://racine.crimestoppersweb.com, or text message: RACS to 274637(CRIMES).
In Paul Ryan’s first appearance in his home state since his failed vice presidential bid, the Republican congressman took aim squarely at Obamacare — and warned that if changes aren’t made, insurance and the health-care system will fall apart.
Ryan was the headlining speaker at a Racine Tea Party event Sunday afternoon in Caledonia. Focused on the Affordable Care Act
— commonly referred to as Obamacare — he and other speakers told the
crowd of about 300 what was wrong with the law. They said even though
Democrats still hold the White House, Republicans are committed to
fighting it.
Ryan called the law “fundamentally flawed” in both its conception and
implementation. Republicans had three options for knocking the law
down, Ryan said, and two of them are no longer on the table: the US
Supreme Court challenge, Mitt Romney winning the White House and
repealing the law. The only one left, he said, was watching the law
collapse under its own weight.
“Obamacare is too overarching and it runs contrary to the practices of this country so it can’t last,” Ryan stated.
Ryan said the leaders of a large Wisconsin company talked with him
and said if their competitors stop offering insurance — because
providing the benefit is more expensive than paying the
$2,000-per-employee fine for not offering health insurance to employees —
that company would follow.
“We’re going to see competitive dumping because of Obamacare, and that’s when we’ll really see costs go up,” Ryan continued.
Obamacare is about price control, Ryan said, not the freedom of
choice that President Barack Obama would have everyone believe. And, he
said, the American people deserve a better plan.
“We owe you a specific alternative and I believe we can pick the
right path to a free economy, to being debt free and stick to our
founding principles,” Ryan said.
Obamacare wasn’t the only issue Ryan addressed. In response to an
audience question about income tax reform, he once again raised his plan to close tax loopholes.
“We know we can’t beat something with nothing so we plan on going
into great legislative detail about Obamacare replacement, reforming the
income tax code and dealing with our entitlement problem,” he said. “We
need a tax code that’s equal so companies like GE will have to pay
because we’re taking away those loopholes. We need a tax code that keeps
everyone equal in their brackets so it will be about what you make and
not who you know.”
