Uppity Wisconsin

Colón had no problem waltzing over to Georgia Pabst of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to ballyhoo his desire to see me terminated from my position as Executive Director of Esperanza Unida. At the end of the article Georgia Pabst wrote: "Miranda said he was inviting Colón to join him in a town hall meeting to discuss Esperanza Unida 'so he could hear what I have to say'". I sent the following letter to Colón: July 18, 2008 State Representative Pedro A. Colón W State Capitol Bldg 104N Madison, WI 53702-0001 Ref: Invitation to a public debate Dear State Representative Colón: You recently contacted Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Georgia Pabst to express your desire to ask the Board of Directors of Esperanza Unida to fire me for “poor job performance” as Executive Director of Esperanza Unida. The Board of Directors of Esperanza Unida never received any correspondence from you prior to you contacting the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, so it appears your action is politically motivated. Nevertheless, I’m inviting you to a town hall meeting to discuss your concerns and present to the public my plans for rebuilding Esperanza Unida. I am making arrangements to have our community room at 611 West National Ave. host the town hall meeting. I propose that this town hall meeting be held on Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 6:00PM. If you are unable to attend because of a schedule conflict, please provide me with a date and time and I will be happy to accommodate. I hope you will accept this invitation to discuss your concerns and to hear my plans for our future. This public debate will give many in our community an opportunity to see what we have been doing to rebuild this very important agency. It will also give you an opportunity to present your case. I look forward to your prompt response. Sincerely, Robert Miranda Executive Director ---------------------------------------------- COLON'S RECORD IN MADISON IS NOT ONLY WEAK, IT SEEMS HIS BACKBONE IS FEEBLE ALSO...WAITING FOR OUR DEBATE. ROBERT MIRANDA

for someone to answer my question about what Colon has accomplished.

"... major role in the vulnerability of voter fraud..." You guys sound more like Rove and the GOP every day.

From: sylvia ortiz [sylviasindependenceyahoo [dot] com] Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 2:51 PM To: Rep.Colon; manriquezlaurasbcglobal [dot] net Subject: Setting the Record Straight I feel compelled to set the record straight. I have been involved in review and examination of the electoral process for the last several years. There are some serious voting, and electoral concerns that I have, but because of ongoing investigations, I can not share at this time. I believe strongly in having the electoral process opened for discussion, accuracy, and compliancy, to election statutes and rules. I also believe that whomever, is in office should be held accountable and is responsible to represent their perspective districts. For many years, politicians have used and abused the Latino Community. Those politicians only surface during an election year. Our community is the fastest growing community. Our needs are growing, our expectations are becoming higher, and I believe that we are now sitting at the table in the formulation of political agenda’s that is what drives me! We should not feel obligated to any elected official whether he/she is Latino or White. Our community is finally at the level of understanding and recognizing the importance of representation and electoral process. I think that it is okay to question, because as we question, we define, adhere to, and educate ourselves so we continue on this wonderful road of progress within the Latino Community. A sad observation... There has been a monopoly of sorts, in the sense that individuals once they get in these elected positions, automatically feel they are entitled to stay in office, without being held accountable to our community. There is a need for checks and balances to ensure fair elections. While our agenda has been to educate and train our community in the voting process, we believe that the next step is crucial, and our community is at that forefront. There is a very serious need that we cannot overlook and that is the training of our candidates and our newly elected officials. My involvement in the 8th Assembly race has been three fold, investigative, accountability and raising tough questions. There has been a "code of silence", that the community should not challenge our elected officials, therefore hindering our progress. As we continue to investigate and analysis, deficiencies with voting, we have realized that the City of Milwaukee Election's Commission has many problems. They have no process in place to verify addresses of voters, and or voter fraud. The City of Milwaukee Assessor's office records of properties also have some deficiencies. Both of these entities play a major role in the vulnerability of voter fraud. I feel that these deficiencies have been exploited in the electoral process. Due to the fact, that I have played a role in the last several elections, I was asked to look the Nomination Papers of Pedro Colon, which I can not comment on, at this time, because of ongoing investigations. My role is not to support a particular candidate but to insure the Democratic process. While Laura Manriquez’s Campaign has claimed or has stated that I am a "supporter", I am not! In addition I do not support Jose Guzman or Pedro Colon. What I will say is that I support the Democratic Electoral Process. As I see it, all three candidates, have issues with their nomination papers. We need to have a forum or a platform, where we can address these issues, in a timely fashion and not end up in this mess. We need to examine and educate ourselves on the electoral process, by doing so we then stay the course of true Democracy and Progress. Sincerely, Sylvia Ortiz

Of course Guzman is no progressive...Manriquez challenge of Colon nomination papers is akin to Colon wanting to get rid of crime on our streets--she went after white collar crime (fraud, unethical government), he goes after poor people(drug dealers and street gangs). As for my career, why don't you check which non-profit executive director earns as much as I do, for the size of the agency I manage? As for defending our agency from lies, it appears that you are suggesting that free speech does not apply to us? It seems you're trying to detract from the issues that show Colon to be nothing more than a progressive carpetbagger. Your support for Colon is obvious. The issues at hand are what matter, not your personal feelings for him. Once again I ask, is this a progressive Web site? Stick to the issues.

non-profit for your personal career advancement and electoral commitments is wrong and illegal. If you are so convinced that Colon is not progressive (and the other Manríquez opponent, Guzman), surely you will have no trouble letting the voters decide at the ballot box.

In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Rep. Colon, running for Milwaukee City Attorney at the time wrote: "We can provide the police with more resources and free the District Attorney's Office to aggressively pursue street gangs by using the City Attorney's Office to reduce the burden of paperwork and bureaucracy on each. My first day in office, I will name a public safety czar to oversee crime fighting cooperation between all agencies and eliminate red tape." Read interview questions here http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=730207 So is progressive Uppity Wisconsin supporting Colon, whom as a member of the MATC board of directors voted to stop a $1 Million job training program from coming into his community, because he has HOMELAND SECURITY notions? What is best for stopping crime in poor areas...job training programs or a public safety czar? Colon would rather we spend money on creating a CZAR, instead of job taining and job creation. Is this what PROGRESSIVE WISCONSIN IS ALL ABOUT?

Colon Barely Makes Ballot Status, Faces Fraud Charges Milwaukee Spanish Journal July 16, 2008 www.spanishjournal.com Milwaukee - Rep. Pedro Colon survived an extensive challenge of his nomination papers by one of his opponents this week. The state Government Accountability Board out of Madison voted to place Colon on the ballot after reviewing the challenges to his papers made by Milwaukee Democrat Laura L. Manríquez. The Government Accountability Board is charged with ensuring that state statutes and rules governing nomination papers submitted by individuals seeking public office are completed and submitted according to the Laws of Wisconsin and the rules of the Government Accountability Board. In the end, Colon squeaked by with 243 of the 200 he needed to be placed on the ballot for the 8th Assembly district primary on September 9, 2008. Colon had submitted over 275 signatures. The Government Accountability Board initially discounted numerous signatures. “The Government Accountability Board stated that the addresses I challenged were not enough to have Colon removed from the ballot. The board failed to accept my request to have additional nomination papers Colon circulated and signed tossed out. I had a hand-writing expert confirm that different signatures on his papers where done by the same individual. They told me that the deadline for submitting this additional evidence had elapsed. If the Board had accepted my new evidence, Colon would have been off the ballot,” said Manríquez. Attorney Controversy Colon had a gaggle of lawyers defending him at the hearing. One lawyer sitting with Colon was Attorney Michael Maistelman. Attorney Maistelman is the managing member of Maistelman & Associates, LLC. Maistelman has an extensive political network and is considered by many of his colleagues to be one of the best when it comes to defending against challenges of candidate nomination papers. Manríquez however, took exception to Maistelman representing Colon and charged Maistelman with ethics violation. Sylvia Ortiz explained that Maistelman was contacted by the Manríquez campaign and asked to represent her at the hearing against Colon. “Maistelman was provided all the information we had regarding our challenge of Colon’s nomination papers and we explained to him our strategy for having Colon removed from the ballot’, said Ortiz. Ortiz’s written statement released during the hearing states, “I also witnessed conversations with Marilyn Figueroa and Michael Maistelman discussing strategies and formulation of a nomination challenge of Pedro Colon.” The Manríquez campaign believes that they have cause for an appeal of the decision made by the Government Accountability Board, because of ethical concerns surrounding Maistelman’s discussions and review of materials presented to him by the Manríquez campaign. “Maistelman had privileged information, and so his law firm should have not represented Pedro Colon,” said Ortiz. Maistelman Allegedly Makes Threats Several hours after the hearing, Sylvia Ortiz answered a phone call made by Maistelman who “yelled and used profanity” against Ortiz. Ortiz said in a signed written statement that Maistelman called and said, “How could you do this to me! How could you let her (Laura Manríquez) go in public and say that we had these previous conversations and contacts, and that I was going to be her lawyer? How could you do that?” Ortiz stated that she told Maistelman that he should have rescued his law firm from representing Colon based on the fact that he had been given privileged information and provided strategies by the Manríquez campaign explaining how Colon was going to be removed from the ballot. Ortiz stated that Maistelman then verbally threatened her by stating that she “F%&# with the wrong guy!” Maistelman repeated his threats three times, and then ended the call by stating she was going to “get F&%$.” Ortiz has filed a complaint against Maistelman with the Milwaukee District Attorney’s Office and with the Wisconsin State Bar, Board of Professional Responsibility. The Spanish Journal contacted Maistelman for a statement; he hung up the phone and would not return calls after numerous messages. Colon Faces Fraud Charges Manríquez did file a fraud complaint with the Milwaukee District Attorney’s Office charging that several nomination papers circulated by Pedro Colon broke state statute laws. The complaint states that a handwriting expert reviewed signatures on the papers Colon circulated and that many signatures came from the same person. Colon signed off on the nomination papers certifying that the signatures where all signed by different individuals. Manríquez is charging that Colon committed fraud. She is seeking an investigation into the possibility that Colon broke state laws. “Here we have a guy who ran for City Attorney under the banner of law and order, yet it appears that he may have broken the law by falsely certifying that his nomination papers where signed by different people”, said Ortiz. Ortiz stated the Wisconsin State Attorney General is being asked to review the matter by the District Attorney.