Free Republic

MADISON — At an average rate of 2.7 signatures entered every second, Wisconsin’s recall petition vetting effort appears to be humming inside the Verify the Recall network. And a top official with the tea party-backed initiative said the review of hundreds of thousands of petitions to date has found numerous invalid signatures — validity issues that could spell problems for the campaign to recall Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, the group contends. Verify the Recall, a joint venture of the Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty and We the People of the Republic, tea party organizations aligned with fiscal conservative movements, bills...

Madison - Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Tuesday he will challenge thousands of signatures this week - enough to prevent a recall election against him if state officials agree. Fitzgerald made the comments Tuesday as the state Government Accountability Board disclosed it is considering using statistical sampling to determine how frequently duplicate names have appeared on petitions to recall Fitzgerald, Gov. Scott Walker and four other Republicans. The board's director, Kevin Kennedy, said the board is committed to creating a database of those who signed the Walker recall petitions to find people who may have signed twice. But the...

MADISON — The two titans of Wisconsin's highly watched GOP Senate race are each claiming victory in the campaign money chase. And each has a case to make, depending on how you crunch the numbers. Meanwhile, an also-ran is bowing out of the race, leaving three to contend for the GOP nomination to replace long-serving U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, a Democrat, who is retiring. Former Gov. Tommy Thompson on Monday announced his campaign had raised north of $656,000 in the last three months of 2011. The candidate has about $540,000 in cash on hand, according to a campaign news release....

FBI: Terror suspect plotted fuel attackAl-Marabh planned to blow up tunnelJail informant reported `martyr' bid JOHN SOLOMONASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - Nabil al-Marabh, who ran a print shop with his uncle in Toronto, plotted to steal a fuel tanker truck and blow it up in one of the heavily travelled tunnels between New Jersey and Manhattan, FBI documents allege. Al-Marabh, 36, was arrested Sept. 19, 2001, in Chicago in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. His arrest prompted an RCMP raid of his uncle's copy shop on Charles St. in Toronto. The U.S. deported him...

A former CIA officer was charged Monday with illegally leaking the identity of a covert officer and other classified information to journalists. John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer and author who defended waterboarding, was charged by the Department of Justice with one count of illegally disclosing a covert officer’s identity and two counts of violating the Espionage Act for illegally leaking classified national defense information. He was also charged with making false statements for allegedly trying to trick the CIA’s Publications Review Board to let him use information in his 2010 book, The Reluctant Spy. The investigation led by U.S....

Wow. One million signatures. Who could have guessed that one of the two entrenched American political parties — the one that claims the president of the most powerful nation on earth as one of its own and marshaled some $23.4 million in campaign spending for last year's wave of recall elections — would ever have the money and logistical wherewithal to gather 1 million signatures to recall a member of the other entrenched American political party? What a victory for democracy. Or should I say Democrat-acy? With the notable and laudable exception of the effort to recall Sen. Scott Fitzgerald...

A group working to recall state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Friday it has collected enough signatures to force the veteran Republican legislator into an election. Lori Compas, a Fort Atkinson photographer who serves as the recall group's chairwoman, said it had collected more than the 16,742 signatures needed to trigger the election, although she declined to say exactly how many. She said volunteers would continue to gather signatures through Saturday, the last day they are allowed. The signatures must be turned in to the state Government Accountability Board by Tuesday. "Over the last year we have watched Scott...

It’s been 36 years on Thursday since the ore boat Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a violent storm in eastern Lake Superior taking all 29 crew members with her. The storm of November 9-10, 1975, ranks among the most powerful to strike the Lake Superior region.

LOS ANGELES - Dealing a blow to the U.S. Senate candidacy of Republican Jack Ryan, a California judge ruled that several sealed divorce records likely to embarrass the candidate and his ex-wife should be opened to the public. Ruling on a request brought by attorneys for the Tribune and WLS-TV, Superior Court Judge Robert Schnider acknowledged that the resulting publicity from the disclosure would be harmful to the couple's son, a key argument Ryan had raised in seeking to keep the documents from public view. But Schnider said he had weighed the public interest of disclosure against the private interests...

Wisconsin Democrats still not allowed to vote even after returning to the stateMarch 14th, 2011 7:30 pm ET The Wisconsin Democratic state senators have now returned to the state, but they are still not having their votes counted in committee. Today Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald sent a letter to his members telling them that the Democrats' votes should not be counted since they are still in "contempt." It is the Republicans who passed a resolution officially holding the Democrats in contempt. Fitzgerald's letter can be seen below. "Please note that all 14 Democrat senators are still in contempt of...

Wisconsin State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says the evolving fight in Madison is “about the 2012 election.” In an interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, Fitzgerald said efforts to recall senators were designed to impact the 2012 elections–even suggesting the recall of Republican senators was being orchestrated by the White House. “This is not some grassroots effort…there’s definitely more to this.” Under tough questioning from Kelly, who asked Fitzgerald for any proof of a connection between the Obama White House and the recall effort in Wisconsin, Fitzgerald insisted what’s happening in his state is all about who wins Wisconsin...

The leader of state Senate Republicans says dots are being connected on efforts to recall some of his members. State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Tuesday that the recall efforts targeting eight of his members are a real source of concern. “Sure. You know recall of an elected official is a very serious thing, and everybody takes it very seriously,” said Fitzgerald. And Fitzgerald suggested that the motivation and support for a lot of these recall efforts are not just about the Wisconsin Senate, but about presidential politics. “We’re really beginning, I think, to believe that this isn’t just...

With the first fine of $100 for missing a floor period kicking in today, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said he's nearing the end of tools he can use to cajole Dems back to the Capitol. "I've just about exhausted everything available to me to try and compel them to come back," Fitzgerald said after the Senate adjourned. The Senate will be back tomorrow for the final day of the scheduled floor period for March, meaning Dems face at least $200 in fines each if they aren't on the floor tomorrow as well. Fitzgerald said the body could come back...

Attorneys for former governor Rod Blagojevich have asked a federal judge to order prosecutors to produce two phone calls his lawyers say are mysteriously missing from evidence. In a motion filed overnight, Blagojevich's attorneys say the calls would support the former governor's contention that he is innocent of charges alleging he attempted to sell Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat after the November 2008 election. While much of the motion is blacked out to comply with orders that the conversations remain under seal, it appears at least one of the alleged conversations was between then Chief of Staff John Harris and...

RIP. The 35th anniversary

Two Minnesota icons will share the stage when humorist and author Garrison Keillor welcomes former Vice President Walter Mondale to the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Mondale will discuss his new memoir, "The Good Fight: A Life in Liberal Politics." The book follows Mondale's career from Minnesota attorney general to U.S. senator to vice president under Jimmy Carter. Keillor is an avowed Democrat. The host of public radio's "A Prairie Home Companion" endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008 and wrote the 2004 book, "Homegrown Democrat." The conversation will be held Nov. 22, starting at 8 p.m. Tickets are on...

After 14 days of jury deliberation, we have a verdict in the trial of disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. And I don’t think there’s a soul outside of the Blagojevich camp who believes justice was served. According to The New York Times: Prosecutors here once said that the conduct of Rod R. Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, was so despicable it would make Abraham Lincoln “roll over in his grave,” but 12 jurors in the federal corruption case against him were apparently not all so certain. After deliberating for 14 days, the jury found Mr. Blagojevich guilty of...

Chicago (AP) -- Former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich says all he's guilty of is some "political horse trading" and that if that's a crime, prosecutors need to charge every politician in America. . . .

Moments after a rare setback, a chastened U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was acting nothing like the swaggering prosecutor who just 20 months earlier proclaimed he had arrested a sitting governor to stop a political crime spree. -snip- Fitzgerald's reticence stood in sharp contrast to the reaction of Blagojevich's father-and-son defense team. Sam Adam and his son Sam Adam Jr. launched into a diatribe against the city's longest-serving U.S. attorney after hearing the jury's verdict, calling him "nuts" and accusing him of running a "banana republic." In what clearly will become their mantra in the months leading up to a promised...

Former governor Rod Blagojevich was found guilty on only one of 24 counts against him. The jury appears hung on the others. The guilty verdict was on Count 24: providing false statements to officers. After the reading, the jury was thanked and asked to return to the jury room. *snip* Before the verdict was read, Judge Zagel said that there may not be verdicts in all 24 counts with which Blagojevich is charged -- and that any counts dealing with forfeiture will be dealt with on Wednesday morning.