No Runny Eggs

There actually is a dearth of stories from Wisconsin media today on the recount in the Supreme Court race. A quick scan of various state media sites turned up only stories filed about yesterday’s start to the recount, and those were almost completely without exception general “the recount has started slowly but surely” pieces.

That is not to say that there wasn’t any news today. The first bit of news came when the Government Accountability Board took down the running-total spreadsheet this morning, with very little explanation and a promise to have a revised one up by noon. Noon came and went without an update, but a fuller explanation came just after 5 pm – they made some data entry errors yesterday.

I’ll cut them just a bit of slack; this is the first election where either the GAB or its predecessor State Elections Board has reported any election results other than the official and certified numbers. However, this is also not the first time this election they had to pull back reported unofficial numbers; while the counties were reporting their canvassed totals, GAB pulled back numbers reported for two different counties for unspecified reasons, then put up revised numbers before the last county reported just before the deadline. In those two cases, a total of six reported votes were affected.

As of 6:05 pm, they released an updated spreadsheet, with 52 reporting units “reviewed by G.A.B. staff”. Consequently, I have updated my tracking spreadsheet with the numbers from (and only from) those 52 reporting units. I almost don’t want to report the change from such a small number of the 3,602 reporting units, mostly because there are a significant number of counties that have reported results from reporting units to the GAB but have not had numbers entered into GAB’s spreadsheet, but Prosser did gain a net 10 votes on his pre-recount 7,316-vote lead.

The other item comes out of Waukesha County, from a friend who was at the recount, Kyle Maichle (note; the vote totals Kyle mentions were not included above):

Day 2 of the recount in Waukesha County resulted in all of the wards in the Town of Brookfield and the Town of Delafield fully counted. Waukesha County Spokeswoman Ellen Nowak, told me that there is no change on Prosser’s lead in Waukesha County. The only thing has had change was the votes that Prosser gained yesterday in the Town of Brookfield.

After recount activity resumed after the lunch break, there was a very contentious moment when ballot bags for the Town of Delafield were about to be opened. A Kloppenburg campaign attorney challenged one of the bags due to no inspector statement written on the bag. After both campaigns huddled with the presiding judge to go over the ballot bag issue, the Clerk for the Town of Delafield was asked to testify to campaign representatives and the canvassers to determine if the ballots should be allowed. The Board of Canvassers unanimously rejected the Kloppenburg Campaign’s challenge and allowed the ballots to be counted.

There were two other ballot issues today involving the Town of Brookfield. In wards 9 and 10, one ballot was never assigned a voter number and canvassers had to examine if the ballot was valid. In wards 5 and 7, a hand recount of Prosser absentee ballots were ordered after one of their attorneys successfully challenged the canvassing board on grounds that two folded absentee ballots issued on election day were put in the wrong pile.

Do note the “unanimously” above. That means Ramona Kitzinger, the Democrat on the canvassing board, voted to reject Kloppenburg’s challenge of the bag of ballots in question. Side question – what is the over/under on Kitzinger recanting that decision in the same vein of her recantation of her declaration the canvas was on the up-and-up?

Meanwhile, Wisconsin political news was dominated by the recalls (first 2 items courtesy the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the third courtesy WisPolitics):

• The Democrats turned in recall petitions against the 6th of their targeted 8 Senate Repbulicans, Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay). There’s going to be more elections than I anticipated, but I still am not moving off my early prediction of a 2-2 split of flips or a 3-2 Republican advantage.
• The local-based group that fell just short of enough signatures to force a recall of Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona) said that it will not consolidate its efforts with those of the Utah-based American Patriot Recall Coalition.
• The GAB has gone to court to seek an extension of the 31-day signature review period of the recall petitions against Sens. Dan Kapanke (R-La Crosse) and Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) so that the first 8 recall elections (or at least primaries; if more than one Democrat, one Republican or one Constitution Party candidate files to run, the first election would be a partisan primary with the general recall election 4 weeks later) could all be held on the same day, July 12. In response, the Democrat Party of Wisconsin wants to force at least three separate recall election dates – one for Kapanke and Hopper, one for Sens. Jim Holperin (D-Conover), Bob Wirch (D-Burlington), Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay), Luther Olsen (R-Ripon), Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls) and Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), and a third for Cowles.

Revisions/extensions (7:42 am 4/29/2011) – For those of you who think Kloppenburg will go quietly into the good night once the recount affirms Prosser’s win, WisPolitics has a dose of cold water for you – Kloppenburg campaign says ‘anomalies’ warrant more review. Therefore, I’ve once again dusted off a classic category I had hoped was permanently retired.

R&E part 2 (10:55 am 4/29/2011) – WISC-TV’s Jessica Arp is live-tweeting the court proceedings in the “recall election consolidation” case. Running through the by-the-book timeline (31 days after the petitions are received to review, GAB needs to determine whether the petitions are sufficient for filing, then 6 weeks plus the days to the following Tuesday if the 6 weeks doesn’t end on a Tuesday before the election), the recall election of Cowles would also be on July 12, which would, if GAB is successful, put all 9 recall elections (or primaries as the case may be) on the same day.

JSOnline’s DayWatch is reporting that, in their session today in Brookfield, the State Doylie Elections Board failed to take up whether to finish Grand Theft Courts on the Green Team’s funds. I wonder if it was late-breaking word that the co-author of the McShame-Slimeroad Lieberal Protection Act, John McShame (RINO-Media), and the campaign manager of fellow co-author Russ el-Slimeroad’s (Moonbat-Al Qaeda) 1998 campaign, Mike Wittenwyler, both called out Team Craps, including refuting the late-rising claims that the conversion of Green’s campaign from a federal one to a state one somehow violated the McShame-Slimeroad Lieberal Protection Act. Maybe it was the location of this meeting, which is proving troublesome to certain members of the DEB. Maybe, just maybe, they actually read the state Constitution, read what ElBd 1.39 said on January 25, 2005, and came to their senses.

The inaction of the DEB and the statement from McShame also put wooden stakes into the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign’s efforts to get the Federal Elections Commission to commit Grand Theft Courts and thus help their member groups’ man Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale).

The original $468,000 highway robbery, which likewise wasn’t revisited, now heads to the state Supreme Court. Jeff Wagner has more on the Team Craps’ whispering campaign against justices perceived as less-than-willing to sanction Grand Theft Courts.

According to JSOnline’s DayWatch, Republican member of the State Elections Board Patrick Hodan, who abstained from the Team Craps’ highway robbery of the Green campaign’s treasury because a member of his law firm is representing Green’s campaign, resigned from the SEB today. Predictably, Team Craps, who gleefully accepted the vote of Doyle appointee Sherwin Hughes, despite the fact that Hughes owes both his current and future position on the board solely to Jim “Craps” Doyle’s (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) occupation of the governor’s mansion and the whim of said occupant, loudly objected, claiming that this is being done just so Green can get another vote on the board.

Let’s see; they still hold a 4-3 partisan advantage over the Pubbies, assuming that John Gard fills the position before October 4, not counting either the Losertarian or SCOW chief justice appointees. They already got the Losertarian to vote with them once. What are they afraid of? Not being able to do that again? Not being able to do the same with the SCOW rep? Hughes growing a conscience, realizing that his continued participation in Grand Theft Courts is a conflict of interest, and abstaining?

(H/Ts – Aaron and Kathy)

Paul Bucher is proving himself to be every bit the bulldog, even to the last, as he announced that his office is launching an investigation into the coordination between Team Craps and the ‘Rat members of the State Doylie Elections Board that do not directly owe their continued state employment to Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale> in the latter’s highway robbery of Green’s election fund. Guess the DEB shouldn’t have done that meeting in Brookfield. As long-time Cheeseheads, they’re supposed to be smarter than Donovan “Vote twice like a ‘Rat” Riley; after all, Riley had the excuse of being a FIB at the time.

Equally not surprising, the other DA that Mike Ellis (RINO-useful in this case though) asked to look at this, Dane County DA Brian Blanchard, took a pass. I knew he would; he only persecutes enemies of the Madistan branch of the DPW.

Reaction from the Green Team:

GREEN BAY – Today Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher announced that he would open an investigation into the collaboration between Governor Jim Doyle’s campaign and the state Elections Board prior to its decision to retroactively change campaign finance rules to bolster the governor’s campaign. In response to the news, Mark Graul, campaign manager for gubernatorial candidate Mark Green, issued the following statement:

"Yesterday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported what all of us have long suspected – that Jim Doyle manipulated the state Elections Board to try and strengthen his floundering re-election campaign. This desperate and outrageous display of corrupting a state agency for political gain showed that the governor will ignore the rules to keep a grasp on power.

"The good news is that we have an opportunity to turn things around in Madison. We can reject Jim Doyle’s brand of politics, and embrace Mark Green’s hopeful vision for the future of our state – a vision of lower taxes, good paying jobs, educational opportunities and honest government."

# # #

Item #1 – The MJS reports Doyle campaign lawyer Michael S. Maistelman told the 3 ‘Rat members of the State Doylie Elections Board whose jobs aren’t directly tied to Jim “Craps” Doyle’s (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) continued occupation of the governor’s mansion, “Even if this ends up in Court it is a PR victory for us since it makes Green spend money and have to defend the use of his Washington DC dirty money.” Further, they report that, contrary to earlier denials that Maistelman was working for the Doyle campaign, he was present at the August 30 meeting where the Doylies retroactively applied their rule to Mark Green to strip him of $486,000 that he had transfered to his state campaign from his federal campaign; and that Maistelman, in conjunction with Doyle campaign manager Dan Schooff, discussed possible penalties with the 3 “independent” ‘Rat members of the State Doylie Elections Board before they meted out their punishment revenge on Green.

I’m actually surprised that the Journal Sentinel took the time to dig this up and then reported it. Thank you, Team Craps, for proving just how sleazy you greedy, power-mad SOBs really are. If you doubt me, take a look at the copy of the Team Craps e-mails over at Boots and Sabers.
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Item #2 – Poll-a-copia time. Strategic Vision’s mid-September poll (9/15-9/17) (H/T – Kevin) shows some odd results; despite a 52% disapproval rating (up from 50% in August), Doyle stretches his lead from 45%-44% to 46%-42%. Meanwhile, Rasmussen (currently a “members-only” link) has some bad news for Team Craps (again, H/T – Kevin; his lead dropped from 49%-41% on August 10 to 47%-44% on September 17.

Could the Rasmussen/Zogby Interactive (I do not trust the self-identification method of that particular division of Zogby) trend of tightening be related to item #3?
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Item #3 – As predicted by me on September 6, Team Craps is going after some more of the money transfered from Green’s federal campaign. This time, they’re going after $48,000 that the Wisconsin Democracy claims violates the $10,000 limit. They claim that 30 donors who donated to Green’s federal campaign in 2003 and 2004, then later donated to Green’s gubernatorial campaign, illegally donated more than $10,000 to the Green gubernatorial campaign. Since the Journtinel doesn’t refresh your memory on what the SEB told Green when he transfered the money (again, I’ll point out he did so before they adopted the rule they later applied retroactively), I will – any money that entered the Green federal campaign on or after January 1, 2005, would be counted against that $10,000 limit.

I wonder if the Craps campaign will be suggesting punishments this time too.

The campaign of Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) released a TV ad today that claims that the $486,000 that the State Doylie Elections Board ordered Republican opponent Mark Green to divest himself was was raised “illegally”. Really? Let’s take a look at the facts:

• At the time the funds were raised for Green’s federal Congressional campaign, state laws did not apply for two reasons – federal laws superceded state laws, and the money was raised for a federal campaign. There are no credible allegations that so much as $1 violated federal campaign finance laws.
• Both at the time those funds were raised and at the time Green transfered the funds to his gubenartorial campaign, the status of state law was that funds raised legally under federal laws for a federal campaign could be transfered to a state campaign with no restrictions. Specifically, in 2001, the State Elections Board (pre-Craps) ruled that, as long as no federal laws were broken in the raising of the transfered funds, no state laws were considered to be broken.
• It took all 4 DemonRAT members of the Doylie Elections Board, including a member whose position on the board is directly tied to Craps’ continued occupation of the governor’s mansion, to first change the rule after the action occurred, and then against the advice of the board’s legal counsel, apply it retroactively.

The Doylies are far more brazen than the McShame/Slimeroad crowd. At least when they neutered the First Amendment in order to protect lieberals and incumbents on the federal level, they didn’t apply their rules to that election cycle, much less to a time period before they could get the rules changed to benefit themselves.

Now, let’s take a look at the pre-primary campaign finance reports for Green and Craps (courtesy WisPolitics). Do note that this doesn’t reflect the highway robbery of the $486,000 from Green’s campaign, but let’s roll with it anyway, rounding each number to the nearest $1,000 (which will introduce some rounding errors). Craps started the summer with $5,176,000 in the bank, raised $494,000, spent $1,622,000, and ended up with $4,047,000 in the bank. Green started with $3,170,000 in the bank, raised $1,388,000, spent $838,000, and ended up with $3,720,000 in the bank.

Green entered the home stretch with a better-than-2-to-1 fundraising37 advantage (this during the Summer of Extreme Craps ads), and (at least before the DEB raid) a deficit of only $327,000 (or less than half his summer fundraising advantage and an 8% deficit to Craps). Even factoring in that raid, he’s still less than his summer fundraising advantage behind ($813,000).

Here’s a bold prediction; whether the Craps strategy of trying to smear Green while starving his campaign of some funds works or not in the public arena, Craps will try to get his Doylie Elections Board to declare the other $800,000 Green transfered from his federal campaign “illegal” by early October, using the “justification” that federal law prohibits the transfer of state campaign funds. THIS CANNOT STAND!