Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Wall Street to Main St. - All Politics is Local

As the Bush economy comes to a head, with Wall Street crumbling after eight years of de-regulation and corporate corruption, we are reminded of the old saying – all politics is local. While it’s easy to say that this is a federal problem, what our state legislators have done to either reign in corporations, or give them more “freedom” should be a major topic on the campaign trail. Wisconsin voters need to stop and think about where their local legislators stand on corporate accountability when they cast their votes.

Let’s take two Republican incumbent legislators, Senator Dan Kapanke of LaCrosse and Rep. Terry Moulton of Eau Claire. When a bill came up to force corporations to pay their fair share of property taxes and another one to hold Wisconsin corporations accountable for hiring illegal workers, both of these two supposedly pro-small business, pro-family legislators said no. Kapanke voted against each bill, and Moulton refused to even allow either bill to come to the Assembly for an up or done vote.

What does that say about their priorities? And what does it say about what they’ll do if voters send them back to Madison?

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Alberta Darling, Lipstick, and Pigs

The national sensation of "Lipstick on a Pig" has reached Wisconsin, where embattled State Senator Alberta Darling (R-Country Club) decided to make one of the more ridiculous statements of the campaign so far. In an event attacking Obama yesterday, she stated:

“Right now we think that Sarah owns the name of lipstick because of what she said at the convention,” said Darling.

I love so much about this statement - first off she calls her Sarah, like they go moose-hunting together. Second, she claims someone can have ownership of a word, not a phrase, a word - lipstick. How great is that - we can all own words now! I pick juxtaposition.

Of course, under Alberta Darling logic, Barack Obama owns the word "Change" - just saying.

Either way, Darling may want to skip the partisan press conferences and get back on those doors if she expects to hold Sheldon Wasserman off - or at least get her staff back on those doors.