Uppity Wisconsin

People all over Wisconsin were happy Monday to see Gov. Jim Doyle announce his intention to not seek reelection.

One thing that progressive Democrats and rightwing Republicans agree on is that Jim Doyle is a liar, a vindictive and corrupt politician.

That’s who he is as governor. A lot of Democrats cannot stand the guy on a personal level. And Republicans are sad to see him go as Doyle would have given them a clear shot at the governor’s office.

That’s not really news and it’s not entirely clear how this reality fits into Doyle’ decision to not seek reelection.

According to Doyle, he reached his decision some seven to 10 days ago [WisPolitics], coming around to his belief that he claims to have held since being first elected governor in 2002: He will only serve two terms, the “norm” for governors.

"I think this national norm serves good purpose. It keeps the political world from becoming stagnant. It allows new leaders to develop. It gives the voters more choices,” said Doyle Monday.

Why then did Doyle raise more than $2 million for reelection?

Republicans are demanding that Doyle return the campaign money, but he’ll likely give it to a worthy cause to polish his legacy.

Stephen Biskupic, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (2002 - present) has announced that he is resigning in January before the new administration takes office.

Good riddance, though Biskupic allowed that he has amassed a good "track record."

Many Wisconsin Democrats and allies would agree with that positive performance assessment.

But I doubt that Biskupic is sending a Christmas card to the proven-innocent Georgia Thompson this year [see also Biskupic tried to 'squeeze' Georgia Thompson, and Investigate Biskupic].

Update: Video link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzxPDZN1dd8

More evidence that Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is a liar, and corrupt partisan.

From the Wisconsin Democratic Party:

Van Hollen says GOP 'may have asked lawyers in my office to file the lawsuit.'

In a recent interview with CNN, Attorney General JB Van Hollen finally admitted to what we’ve known all along, that his hyper-partisan lawsuit against the GAB was brought in collusion with his Republican Party bosses.

Van Hollen doesn’t have a very good poker face. Watch his eyes wandering nervously when the reporter presses him on whether or not the GOP personally asked him to file the lawsuit. Maybe he’s nervous because he lost his lawsuit and now his web of cover-ups and deceit at the DOJ is finally unraveling.

Remember, this is the same guy who made the following statements to reporters last month:

via mal contends
In a unanimous opinion (07-1546) a three-member panel for the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has affirmed the controversial conviction on fraud of Wisconsin Navy veteran, Keith Roberts.

The Roberts family is planning on filing a motion for an en banc hearing, a hearing before the full appellate court.

U.S. Atty Stephen Biskupic's office had convinced a jury that Roberts and a deceased Navy airman (Gary Holland) did not have a friendship, and Roberts who was on line duty at a Naval base in Naples, Italy on February 5, 1969 at the time that Holland was crushed to death by a C-54 aircraft, exaggerated his efforts to save Holland, which constituted fraud for which he was convicted in November 2006 by a jury in northern Wisconsin.

Weak grounds for a federal prosecution? These are the grounds on which the government successfully pursued a prosecution against this honorably discharged Navy veteran who served during a combat era.

via mal contends -
Madison, Wisconsin - Keith Roberts awaits the decision of his appeal before a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit as he sits in a federal prison in Minnesota because the United States government said he did not tell the truth about his service in the Navy.

Veterans are assumed under the Veterans Judicial Review Act of 1989 to be (as they often are) in an diminished capacity to tell the full truth of the circumstances they encountered that contributed to their suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The many stressors that would lead to the granting of disability benefit payments need to be rigorously documented to the U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs' (VA) satisfaction, thus the VA claims process propagated under administrative rules is non-adversarial and paternalistic for the veterans.

via MAL Contends

The House Judiciary Committee is proceeding in investigating the Bush administration's political prosecutions.

Press Release from April 17

(Washington, DC)- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Committee Members Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Artur Davis (D-AL), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) announced three critical actions in the Committee's investigation into allegations of selective or poltiically-motivated prosecution in the Justice Department.

The Members today invited Karl Rove to testify before the committee; urged the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate those allegations; and demanded that Attorney General Michael Mukasey provide additional documents on this subject.

Today's actions result from the Committee's majority staff report, also released today, which details the cases, interviews and documents they have reviewed since the Committee began its investigation last year.