False Papers Alleged in Wisconsin Governor Race

Associated Press ^ | Sunday, July 28, 2002

[Quietly]

And George is *my* State Senator! Ain't I proud?

He does seem to buck Chuck at every opportunity, though, which is an eyebrow raiser. Democrats aren't supposed to do that in Wisconsin. They all know they'll get squashed if they do, no matter what color they are. Chvala calls the shots. The end. Oppose him and you end up in the political equivilant of cement shoes.

I imagine Gary George thought being black made him immune from Chvala's tractor beam. What's funny is I bet Chvala doesn't have a racist bone in his body, and therefore is above fear of racial politics. He is Der Leader, and now Gary George is smoking ruins - and all Chvala had to do was turn over the cards he knew were there.

Hey, you mess with the Mafia, think you're going independent, the Mafia knows how to bring you down and keep its hands clean.

What's hard to figure out is why they pulled this stunt. All they had to do was spend a couple of afternoons in my neighborhood to get signatures. Someone spent more time badly forging signatures than it would have taken to get more than enough legitmate signatures. It doesn't make sense - unless he's been elected to the State Senate the same way, then incurred Chvala's wrath. Turn a badly behaving Gary George over? Piece of cake.

George's problem was that he (or his supporters, who knows) thought he could deviate from the system yet still play by the same rules, overestimating his own imagined power, and underestimating Chvala's and the machine's *real* power. Chvala need not soil his hands. A mere college student just had to raise his.

Gary George: A Cautionary Political Tale, or How to Glom Real Political Power, by Charles Chvala.

[Catspaw]

The Hmong are Laotian immigrants who fought on our side during the Vietnam war. And they're not limited to Milwaukee. The largest communities of Hmong in Wisconsin (I don't know the numbers in Milwaukee) are Green Bay and Wausau.

[Catspaw]

Conservatives give mixed reviews to McCallum. And Tommy Thompson's brother, Ed, is running for governor on the Libertarian ticket. My guess is that faced with a structural budget deficit in the next few years, and with taxes already about the highest in the country, most will come around to backing McCallum this fall, out of sheer self-preservation.

My feelings towards McCallum are definitely lukewarm. I'll vote for him, but I'd rather it be somebody else (don't as me who). I'm underwhelmed.

And if Ed gets any votes, it'll be from those he can drag out of the taverns, if campaign signs are indicative of voting patterns. A cruise on Main St. in Green Bay shows "Ed Thompson for Governor" signs in front (or beside) three taverns last week (this was in a 2-3 mile stretch). BTW, they're horrible-looking signs--goldish small lettering on a black background.

[Catspaw]

Hasn't George had other problems? I think there was a lengthy investigation into some funny business with a check cashing business, and didn't he have some nastiness with his ex-wife?

[Faraday]

I occasionally drive from Milwaukee to Pardeeville, and have seen two Ed Thompson signs; large, well made plywood affairs.

[Catspaw]

Were the Ed signs near taverns? I wonder if he has support of the Tavern League? That may explain why I only saw his signs (the usual yard signs) near bars.

[Faraday]

You are right about George. However, black Milwaukee Democrats have made an art form of milking the system for their personal gain. The whites are too afraid of a charge of racism to make much of their shenanigans, and their constituents don't seem to care. This is the "Lyndon Johnson" school of politics: if you can't end up owning some radio and television stations, what's a political position good for?

Mafree, would you concur in this? Or, am I missing something?

[Faraday]

There is no place in small Wisconsin towns that is not near a tavern.

[Catspaw]

And the Tavern League is a powerful lobby. But given that there are a huge number of taverns on Main Street in Green Bay, I was surprised I only saw three Ed signs.

[timestax]

Should fine him a thousand dollors for each false name. That would curtail cheating a little bit!!

[Faraday]

This was in the Spivak & Bice column in today's Sentinel-Journal,

And then there's Ed Thompson.

The Libertarian candidate for governor spent last week hitting up donors at, yes, Dairy Queens in Saukville and Kewaskum. And on Monday, you could have found ex-Gov. Tommy Thompson's kid brother at a $20-a-head event at the Ding-A-Ling Supper Club in Mercer.

[Catspaw]

The Libertarian candidate for governor spent last week hitting up donors at, yes, Dairy Queens in Saukville and Kewaskum. And on Monday, you could have found ex-Gov. Tommy Thompson's kid brother at a $20-a-head event at the Ding-A-Ling Supper Club in Mercer.

Thanks for the best laugh I've had all day :-))

[Quietly]

If Chavala was behind him, it wouldn't matter. He bucked Chuck, and Chuck is slapping him down.

[Catspaw]

Chvala may be behind this, and at this point, I'll let him. George might have to get a real job and quit using his office for his own self-interests.

[Illbay]

Has anyone noticed that it is ALWAYS a Democrat on the business end of this cr*p?

[Dog Gone]

Interesting. You'd think the Hmong might be more likely to relocate to a warmer climate than Green Bay, Wisconsin.

[steveegg]

Er, Upchuckwalla (for those of you outside Wisconsin, that's Chuck Chvala, the man Puff D'Ashole aspires to be) and company now have 2 seats to play with, and Panzer appears to be as inept as Ellis was as the Pubbie leader. Otherwise, Upchuckwalla wouldn't have gone after both George and Kevin Shibilski (sp), who until he stood up to him, was unopposed for lieutenant governor.

The mystery is why Upchuckwalla is backing a Milwaukee RAT in Barrett instead of a fellow Madistan RAT.

[steveegg]

You forgot the "award-winning" (and I'm sure that this will be worth another "award" :)

It looks like Gamblin' Ed is going for the video gaming vote.

[steveegg]

You nailed it. Everyone else seems to be going down, including Upchuckwalla's hatchet men in the caucus probe, Brian Blanchard and Jim Doyle. Expect indictments against the Republican leadership AND Jim Doyle in mid-September. Seems the State Elections Board is looking into Doyle for doing much the same thing that they accused the Legislature of doing (gasp, using state employees to do some campaigning on the side).

Bold prediction - the only charges, outside of Brian Burke (the third and most-powerful person to try to stand up to Upchuckwalla), that will be filed is the "nothing-burger" (TM Jeff Wagner) of campaigning, while the serious charges of graft that could be leveled solely against Upchuckwalla and his fellow RATs won't ever be filed.

[steveegg]

You forgot the other two folks looking into this, Dane County DA Brian Blanchard and the La Crosse County DA (don't recall his name off-hand). Blanchard already has a reputation for killing the careers of those that oppose the "Allmighty" Upchuckwalla.

The only things that mitigates against immediate charges are that he's not up for re-election in his Senate seat until 2004 and they might decide to pull his name off the ballot, knowing that the black voting population is a bunch of lemmings. Still, I'd expect him to be charged by the end of August.