Sen. Tammy Baldwin Hires High Powered Attorney

It appears that Sen. Tammy Baldwin is preparing for the fireworks coming her way. 

Right Wisconsin:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Dan Bice reports that Baldwin hired Marc Elias, a high powered Washington D.C. attorney, for representation in any court proceedings that might occur as a result of the termination of staffer Marquette Baylor. Baylor was fired in the wake of reports that Baldwin's office failed to act on a report of opiate abuse at the Tomah VA that resulted in the death of a Marine.

So who is this Attorney?  Read more from Right Wisconsin:

According to a Washington Free Beacon profile last Fall, Elias "has long been the legal mind that guides Democrats through troubled waters." Just look at his resume from recent years.

 

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D., La.), for example, brought in Elias to handle the storm that arose when it became clear that Senate funds were used to pay for private charter flights, including for campaign events.

 

Elias conducted a full review of Landrieu’s travel expenses, and wrote a letter to the Senate Ethics Committee assuring it that all future taxpayer-funded charter flights would be “cleared in advance by counsel.”

 

Elias’ review resulted in Landrieu reimbursing the federal government $33,727.

 

He was also the lawyer brought in by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) when she was accused of improperly using government funds to pay for charter flights, and wound up returning $88,000 to the Treasury Department.

 

Elias was also the lawyer brought in by Sen. Kay Hagan (D., N.C.) when it became clear that her husband received hundreds of thousands worth of federal stimulus money.

 

“[Hagan’s] only involvement [with the stimulus grants] was when she made sure that a respected ethics attorney was consulted to ensure that it was appropriate, and the attorney found that it was,” said Hagan’s spokeswoman Sadie Weiner.

 

Kentucky Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes’s brought in Elias when it was revealed that she was using vehicles, including a luxurious tour bus, that were owned by her father’s catering company explicitly for her campaign.

 

Elias issued a statement in response to the Politico report that Grimes was violating campaign finance laws, and argued that the bus was being rented from her father’s company at “normal and usual” rates and therefore the campaign was in compliance with all laws.

 

Reid turned to Elias earlier this year when it was revealed that his campaign directed $31,000 to his granddaughter and wrote it off on filings as “holiday gifts.”

 

Elias employed what was described as a “rope-a-dope” strategy to the FEC inquiry, sending back a response that contained little to no additional information beyond the “holiday gift” description. The strategy got the FEC off the campaigns back for enough time for Reid to reimburse the money and settle the issue.

 

Elias is not just some Washington D.C. lawyer. He is the go-to lawyer for Democrats in very deep trouble. He is the guy they call in to put out the fires and save the bacon of elected Democrats.

Stolen Cars Issue in Milwaukee

What happens if your car gets stolen in or around Milwaukee?  Don't ask.

It all started with a TV News investigation of a man who got his car stolen from a Milwaukee suburb.  He reported it stolen.  He got the call that they had found his car, it was totaled and he needed to come have it towed away from the accident scene.  Then weeks later he was hit with a past due parking ticket from when it was stolen.  That is when the story really took off.  The parking ticket was issued while the car was stolen.  He had to send in proof that the car was stolen.  The bigger question was why wasn't the car taken when they issued the ticket? It had been reported stolen.

Well here is where we found out something that we didn't know.  In Milwaukee, the parking checkers only have a list of cars reported stolen in Milwaukee, not the suburbs.  What?  With the technology we have today they only have Milwaukee?  Yep,  that is what the DPW says.  They claim that the handhelds that the parking checkers use doesn't have enough space to hold the database required.  So we can afford a $120+ Million street car, but can't even get the technology to help stop car theft?

Then the story went to a local radio talk show and boy did things really become pretty clear of how car theft is handled in the city of Milwaukee.  Basically if your car is stolen good luck and go get a new one.

The radio show was call after call from people who talked about their stolen car stories.  Multiple reports of cars stolen and ticketed by the Parking checkers, some even stolen in the city of Milwaukee.  Guess the database in the handhelds couldn't even handle the Milwaukee stolen car list. 

What was even worse was the apparent low priority the Milwaukee Police put on car theft.  Many of the callers reported that when they were notified of the tickets they were able to go find their cars.  However the Milwaukee Police never responded and even in some cases told the victims to use their spare keys and go get the car themselves.  Really?

The are several things that the story really made crystal clear.  Milwaukee has a car theft issue, 21 cars reported stolen just a couple of days ago.  If you steal a car from the suburbs you can cruise around Milwaukee without much worry of being caught.  Lastly if you get your car stolen, good luck and don't wait for that call that they have your car, they really aren't looking for it.

I know the Milwaukee Police probably have a lot more important things on their plate than stolen cars.  However I keep hearing about all this money that we need to spend to make Milwaukee a destination for the new younger and hipper worker.  I am pretty sure that having a lower crime rate is one of them.

More Bad News for Sen. Tammy Baldwin

It would appear that things are going getting much worse for Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

JSOnline:

A former top staffer to U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin has rejected a proposed severance deal that would have required her to remain silent regarding what she knew about the problems at the troubled Tomah VA Medical Center.

Now Marquette Baylor, ex-deputy state director for Baldwin and chief of her Milwaukee office, has hired a team of attorneys to explore litigation for wrongful termination or sexual discrimination. A source said Baylor believes she was one of the highest ranking heterosexuals on Baldwin's staff.
Baldwin is the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate.

"The deadline has passed, and Marquette rejected the offer," said one source close to Baylor.
A second source said the issue is now "in the senator's court."

"Marquette didn't want to be hogtied by the deal," the second source said. "She can now move on without any restrictions."

Baldwin's office had no comment. Bill Murat, Baldwin's chief of staff, was in Milwaukee on Tuesday but declined to talk to a reporter who visited the office.
The senator had clearly wanted this issue to go away.

But that's not going to happen.

No Quarter reported that Baldwin canned Baylor on Jan. 22in response to the growing controversy at the troubled Tomah VA Medical Center. Baylor made $80,000 in 2014.

But Baldwin and her staff won't even acknowledge terminating Baylor. More important, they won't disclose the proposed five-figure severance deal offered to Baylor that would have required her to keep quiet about the Tomah mess.

Now the head of the state Republican Party is calling on the first-term Democratic senator — in the middle of the biggest controversy of her career — to disclose the terms of the secret proposal.
"Baylor's allies are directly connecting Senator Baldwin to this questionable deal and coverup, and Baldwin should have the integrity to stop hiding and address this serious situation," said Joe Fadness, executive director of the state GOP.

Protestors Again Target Walker's Private Residence

The Unions and their supporters got together and again decided that it was a good idea to protest the private residence of Gov. Walker.

They have tried this several times in the past and have done little more than draw backlash from people who also live in the area and from people who believe that you shouldn't be targeting the families of Politicians.

Personally I find it totally ridiculous to attack a Politician at their home or their family.  If you want to protest go ahead, do it at their offices.

How about a bunch of people get together and go picket and protest in front of these people's homes.  In front of their families.  I am sure that they wouldn't much care for it either.

There just is no respect and decorum left.

Federal Judge Stops Obama's Immigration Action

Finally we are seeing Checks and Balances enter back into the Federal System.

The sad part is that this was done at the behest of the States and not Congress.

FOX News:

A federal judge has granted a request by 26 states to temporarily block President Obama's executive action on illegal immigration, allowing a lawsuit aimed at permanently stopping the orders to make its way through the courts.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen granted the preliminary injunction Monday after hearing arguments in Brownsville, Texas last month. He wrote in a memorandum accompanying his order that the lawsuit should go forward and that without a preliminary injunction the states will "suffer irreparable harm in this case."

"The genie would be impossible to put back into the bottle," he wrote, adding that he agreed with the plaintiffs' argument that legalizing the presence of millions of people is a "virtually irreversible" action.

The first of Obama's orders -- to expand a program that protects young immigrants from deportation if they were brought to the U.S. illegally as children -- was set to start taking effect Wednesday. The other major part of Obama's order, which extends deportation protections to parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have been in the country for some years, was not expected to begin until May 19.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, in a statement, reiterated the administration's position that Obama's executive actions were within the bounds of the law -- and indicated they would appeal.

Obama Failing to Lead on ISIS

Remember the old saying that came out of the Presidential elections "Are you safer today than 4 years ago?"

Well there is no doubt that Obama would most certainly fail that test.

The World is a Much More Dangerous Place.

Just 1 year ago Obama called ISIS the JV Team.  I think that no matter what party you align with you can agree that Obama was dead wrong on that.

Not only is ISIS not the JV Team, but so far they appear to be much more than anyone has been able to deal with.  At least way more than our President has been willing to handle.  He declared that we were going after them and only hit them sporadically  through the air.  He claimed it would take time and we would need to be patient.

ISIS has appeared to get stronger and we have seem them incite attacks in France and Libya and Denmark.  We sure don't appear to be making much headway. 

Obama has said that this really is a fight that needs to be handled by Countries in the Middle East.  I agree that they should be heavily involved.  However we have the Strength and Technology to really make a difference in this war and we don't seem to be willing to really put the full might of the U.S. Military behind this.

If there was much doubt, this is basically turning out to be the start of a Modern World War.  The United States has always been a leader and now it seems we are failing to be that.  Jordan, Kurds and Egypt have all stepped up and gone full speed at ISIS.  Yet we are hearing multiple reports that in their fight they have failed to get assistance from us.  Not just arms, but intelligence and targeting information.

What is Obama doing?  Does he really still think this is the JV?