Kasich Out-Yeltsins Walker

Ohio Governor John Kasich, using the same Koch-authored playbook as Wisconsin's Scott Walker, has proposed a budget which deeply cuts aid to cities and privatizes state assets.

Although Scott Walker wants to sell off state-owned power plants with no-bid contracts, much like Boris Yeltsin did with Russia's energy assets, at least he hasn't proposed privatizing Wisconsin's prisons. Yet.

Rock the Casbah

France has gone there, and Gaddafi don't like it.



Let's hope this looks more like the Gulf War of 1991 and less like the Iraq War of 2003-present.

The Eumenides

The Oresteia is a trilogy of ancient Greek plays by Aeschylus. The first, Agamemnon, deals with the victorious Trojan War general's return home, not to a hero's welcome, but to a murder at the hands of his wife.  The second, the Libation Bearers, is the account of how the hero's children avenge his death by conspiring to kill their mother.

The third play, the Eumenides, follows Orestes after his matricide. He is pursued by ancient female vengeance demons called the Erinyes (or Furies) in punishment for his deed, even though he acted at the instigation of the god Apollo and thus believed that right was on his side.  Even the Olympians who govern the universe could not give him sanctuary from the lowly (literally chthonic, or subterranean) deities who insist on tormenting him.

In the end, it was settled in court, with Apollo acting as attorney for the defense, the Furies as prosecutors, and Athena as judge.  There was a hung jury, which Athena declared should result in an acquittal.  The Furies would not accept this, however, unless they received something in return.  Giving them their propers, Athena declared that a temple would be built in their honor in Athens, and from henceforth, they would be known as the Eumenides (or "Kindly Ones").

It has been over 20 years since I've read that play, but today I was suddenly reminded of it. Governor Walker and Republican state legislators have found themselves greeted by hundreds of protesters in cities all over Wisconsin. To escape the heat (and raise some much-needed cash for media buys), the chief actors have gone to the nation's capital for a big fundraiser, like Orestes seeking sanctuary in the temple of Athena.  However, a crowd of Furies have tracked them down.

Meanwhile, back in Madison, a Kindly One tormented Glenn Grothman.

Hopper Crashes at Employee's McMansion

In the midst of an official complaint that State Senator Randy Hopper has been living outside his district since his divorce last summer, Hopper's policy adviser advised the media that the Senator is officially living in an apartment in Fond du Lac. The media committed some actual journalism, however, and found that the address given is not, in fact, an apartment, but the $600,000 home of an employee of a radio station that Hopper owns.

It's fortunate for Hopper that he has an employee on whom he can impose who happens to own a nice big house in the district.  I hope he's paying rent for the privilege.  If not, I hope he declared the value of the lodging on his income tax return and campaign finance reports.

Time Warp

No, that isn't a humorous reference to Susan Sarandon's appearance on Saturday.  Later that afternoon, I had a moment so disorienting that I wondered for a moment if it was a hallucination brought on by too little sleep and too much caffeine. While marching around the Capitol, near North Hamilton Street, I heard CCR's "Fortunate Son" playing over the speakers at that corner of the Capitol.  I looked around and saw -- I kid you not -- a group of college kids carrying a Students for a Democratic Society banner.  It turns out that this is not the same organization that agitated against the Vietnam War.  Lest you think they are out-of-state professional lefties, I believe this contingent was from UW-Milwaukee.

Bank Run at M&I?

M & I Bank, whose executives donated significantly to Scott Walker's campaign for Governor, became the target of protesters yesterday. Members of Firefighters Local 311 withdrew money from their accounts and urged others to do likewise.  The Bank closed early, supposedly due to safety concerns.  It is certainly possible that it was really due to a shortage of cash on hand at that branch if the firefighters indeed withdrew close to $200K in the space of a couple hours.  The Internet is filled with calls to withdraw funds from M&I Bank.

M&I survived the collapse of 2008, thanks to TARP funds but has been on shaky ground ever since.  It was recently bought by a Canadian bank. 

Your Lack of Planning Does Not Constitute an Emergency

Scott Walker's acolytes in the State Senate rushed a stripped-down, supposedly non-fiscal version of legislation that strips public employees of most collective bargaining rights last night.  They did so without the 24-hour notice required by the State's Open Meetings Law. The relevant Fitzgerald claims the action passes muster, since the law allows two-hour notice in the event of an "emergency."

What was the emergency?  The fiscal year hasn't ended without a budget.  The National Guard hasn't been mobilized.  There isn't a killer blizzard on the way.  Why the rush?  Oh, right; there are recall efforts underway that could swing control of the Senate to the Democrats.  Oh, and a bunch of people who've never bothered to show up for a Spring election before have pledged to vote for JoAnne Kloppenburg.  I hope they remember to bring their photo I.D. on April 5.

It will be interesting to see if J. B. Van Hollen thinks that partisan electoral concerns constitute an emergency for purposes of Wisconsin's Open Meetings Law.  Does he care about the law (and his job), or is he just a partisan hack?  More importantly, does he think that hitching his wagon to Scott Walker's team of Fitzgeralds will help or hurt his political career in the long run?