MOTION HEARING JULY 28 in State of Wisconsin v. Jeff Wood, who moved to Chippewa Falls, from Bloomer, this month.

State Rep. Jeff Wood was charged January 2009 in Columbia County Circuit Court with third-offense drunken driving, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, offenses that could put him behind bars for up to 19 months if convicted.

U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE John Grady has a status conference on Sept. 9 to set a sentencing date for Nick Hurtgen.

Hurtgen, political fundraiser Phil Prange's brother-in-law, a former aide to Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson and Chicago investment banker with Bear Stearns, pleaded guilty in February to one count in an indictment in a pay-to-play scheme at the Edwards Hospital Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.

Stay tuned as the court schedule could possibly change.

Crimmany, unethical media figure Jessica McBride had an affair with Edward Flynn who also steered cash to a police consultant, and he is still the Milwaukee police chief?

Four finalists named for U.S. attorney position

Associated Press
July 15, 2009

Three applicants have been eliminated from a field of seven who applied to replace Erik Peterson as U.S. attorney in the Western District of Wisconsin.

The finalists announced Wednesday are Assistant U.S. Attorney John Vaudreuil, Madison attorney Michael Leffel, assistant attorney general Frank Remington and former assistant attorney general Eric Wilson.

Eliminated from the field by an 11-member nominating commission were Madison attorney Mike Bauer, Monona attorney Pablo Carranza and state Department of Corrections attorney Ismael Ozanne.

President Barack Obama will make the appointment.

Motion hearing July 28 in Columbia County Circuit Court in State of Wisconsin v. Jeff Wood. Wood was arrested for DUI and possession of marijuana in Columbia County in mid-December 2008. Wood's blood-alcohol-level was 0.15.

Damn Near Russia

While it’s rare for black bears to tangle with people, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources personnel couldn't wait to shoot a bear that wandered too close to a Siren home.

The DNR and cops also shot a bear Saturday in La Crosse because the DNR warden didn’t have a tranquilizer gun to tranquilize the bear and move it.

Wildlife supervisors and wardens should learn something about habitat management as opposed to shooting bears, deer, coyotes, skunks, bobcats, turkeys and other animals.

Fire lardasses like DNR spokesman Paul Heinen and use his bloated salary to ensure safe and humane handling of captured wildlife.

OVERTURE CENTER PATRONS can still drink booze and get ripped during performances

Overture CEO Tom Carto said today that patrons will be able to get "Tommy (Thompson) Tipee"-style no-spill plastic cups at bars in the center so they can bring their drinks to the seats when intermission is over, instead of leaving half-full glasses of wine, beer and cocktails in the lobbies.

The souvenir spill-proof cups will cost an extra three dollars but will be refilled at normal bar rates, so patrons will be able to take their Tommy (Thompson) Tipees home and use them again at the next show.

The No Spill Spit Cup is on order.

The new policy takes effect Tuesday, July 14 at the opening of the show "Late Nite Catechism" in the center's Playhouse.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that a guy was DUI because he crashed and burned trying to navigate a roundabout.

Seemingly moments after Cap Times article today Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle appoints Pete Anderson, Nick McNamara and Amy Smith as Dane County Circuit Court judges.

Cap Times: Doyle stonewalls request for open records on judge applicants

By Mike Miller
Capital Times
July 8, 2009

More than a month after The Capital Times formally requested routine records from Gov. Jim Doyle's office about nine finalists for three Dane County judgeships, his aides have only now made the records available -- late on Wednesday afternoon.

But the release of the records may coincide with announcements of the governor's choices to fill three slots on the Dane County bench.

At the end of the business day Tuesday, the governor's office said the documents, which included letters in support of and in opposition to those who are seeking appointment, would be available Wednesday. An aide initially said the documents would not be available until 4 p.m., but The Capital Times received a later call around 2 p.m. to say that the records were open for inspection.

Asked if the release would coincide with an announcement of who the three new judges would be, gubernatorial spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner said he did not know.

The defense bar in Dane County is particularly upset with one of the nine finalists for the job, former prosecutor Amy Smith, who now works for the Department of Corrections, and The Capital Times has been asking since early June to see letters written in favor or opposition to each of the nine candidates.

It was earlier reported that public defender John Tradewell was among those who has written to Doyle in opposition to Smith's possible appointment, saying she "stands alone in my experience as someone who would stop at nothing to gain an advantage," according to WKOW-TV reporter and blogger Tony Galli. Tradewell was a public defender in Madison when Smith was a prosecutor in the Dane County District Attorney's office. Smith went on to work for Doyle when he was Attorney General.

After the first request by The Capital Times on June 4 for the letters concerning all of the applicants, Sensenbrenner said there would be no problem and that the administration would provide the documents, a position consistent with those taken by previous gubernatorial administrations.

But since June 4, Doyle's office has delayed providing the documents, and despite a June 29 letter from attorney Robert Dreps, who represents The Capital Times, the documents have still not been forthcoming nor has the Doyle administration sent any formal letter of denial of access to the documents. Various reasons for the delay have been given, including that the governor's legal counsel, attorney Chandra Miller-Fienen, had to review them first to address "privacy standards we have to meet for the applicants before their information is made public," Sensenbrenner wrote in a June 15 e-mail. Dreps said Miller-Fienen told him last week that the documents would not be made available until after the governor had reviewed them.

"This stonewalling is bizarre and raises the question as to what motivates this high level of secrecy," said Capital Times Editor Paul Fanlund. "It is really unfortunate."

Asked about the delay, Sensenbrenner said: "That's an issue that our legal counsel and your lawyer were debating."

Local judges had hoped the governor would appoint the new judges early enough so that the new members would step in when three judges are retiring this month, but so far that has not happened. Dane County Circuit Court Judge Steven Ebert retired last week, while Judge Diane
Nicks retired Monday and Judge James Martin is scheduled to retire Friday.

Because the new appointees will need time to finish up their old cases, or have them reassigned to others, it is uncertain when the new appointees could take office.

Under Wisconsin law circuit judges are elected to six-year terms but if a judge leaves office before his or her term is completed, the governor then appoints a successor who must run for election to a full term in the next spring election. So, the three who are appointed by Doyle to the vacancies must run for a full term next year.

Doyle has previously appointed Martin, and Dane County Circuit Court Judges John Markson and William Hanrahan to office in Dane County.

Documents concerning applicants for such positions have been open for inspection before an appointment is made for many years.

Some 28 Dane County lawyers submitted applications for appointment when the process began and by June 4 that list had been trimmed to nine and the governor said he was hopeful to have someone appointed in about a week. The nine finalists include attorneys from several government agencies and one lawyer from private practice. More information about the nine finalists is available here.

Capital Times reporter Jessica VanEgeren contributed to this report.

THE OTHER DAY WHEN STATE REP. ROBIN VOS, R-Racine, accused the Wisconsin Business Council of being a front group for Gov. Jim Doyle, wasn’t that the same as campaigning against an opponent?

Apparently, Vos has two full-time state-paid staffers digging up dirt on the Democrats.

But aren’t the staffers and Vos paid to represent the constituents of the 63rd Assembly District?

Why isn’t what he did the same as using state resources on state time for negative campaigning?

www.channel3000.com/money/19994177/detail.html

Maybe The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, Inc. of New Berlin, knows why.

Bush hog

Phil Prange, Nick Hurtgen’s brother-in-law who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in the Health Facilities Planning Board case at the end of February and agreeing to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois pled guilty today, and a former fundraiser for Gov. Tommy Thompson, is a busy guy.

Deep pockets for expert-political-opinions WisChuckleheads.com, Prange’s also allegedly involved in the Wisconsin Business Council, with reported tires to the Doyle administration and insider Marc Marotta, a partner at Foley & Lardner law firm, dating back to 2002.

Rep. Robin Vos, R-Racine, today accused the group of being a “money laundering, influence peddling operation for Democrats.”

Single-payer national health insurance

Meanwhile, Michigan’s Congressman John Conyers is the chief sponsor of HR 676 legislation to implement a single-payer health insurance system in the U.S.

Single-payer allows health care providers to deliver health care and get paid from a single source rather than a plethora of insurance companies and HMOs.

It's a government-run health insurance system, not government-run health care.

Loyal to big business

Reportedly, small business is leery of House Democrats health care reform bill, draft legislation that says Americans earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or $88,000 for a family of four, could qualify for credits to help them buy health insurance. The legislation also mandates employers to provide health insurance coverage for their employees or pay the federal government a fee that is 8 percent of payroll.

Prevailing wage standards adjusted

In Gov. Jim Doyle’s final budget bill, he increased the publicly funded private construction project amount from $2,000 to $1 million before prevailing wage provisions kick in.

Reportedly, under the new prevailing wage law, developers who receive $1 million or more in grants or loans from state agencies, cities, villages or counties will have to adhere to prevailing wage provisions. In instances where tax incremental financing or business improvement district funds of $1 million or more are used as grants or loans, the prevailing wage law will also be enforced.

A STATUS CONFERENCE in U.S. District Judge John Grady’s courtroom to set a sentencing date for Nick Hurtgen is still set for Sept. 9. But since that’s two months away, the schedule could possibly change.

Hurtgen, a former aide to Gov. Tommy Thompson and Chicago investment banker with Bear Stearns, pleaded guilty in February to one count in an indictment in a pay-to-play scheme at the Edwards Hospital Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.