Open Record Obstruction: What is Alberta Hiding?

One Wisconsin Now was recently forced to file an open records lawsuit against state Senator Alberta Darling because she was stonewalling them on a request that they made to her office. They requested communications between her office and various elements of the private school industry. Only after they actually filed their lawsuit did Darling finally acknowledge their request and produce the records. In fact she produced the records so quickly that you have to wonder what the real hold up was in the first place.

The records that Darling finally produced gave us a strong idea as to why she was apparently trying to delay the release. The emails that OWN obtained clearly show that she was coordinating with private school industry lobbyists. In fact it appears that Darling was preparing to deliver several items on their legislative agenda.

Specifically Darling was communicating with the lobbyist for the school privatization industry organization, the American Federation for Children. This is the same organization that is currently spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to support Darling in her recall election.

Today the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW) filed a complaint against Darling. One key part of the multifaceted complaint includes even more open record obstruction by Darling. They filed an open records request seeking communications between Alberta Darling and several right wing special interest groups. In fact some of those same groups are currently under investigation by the Milwaukee County DA's office for questionable activities involving the recall elections. Is this why Alberta is obstructing the DPW open records request?

I can can certainly empathize with both OWN and with DPW because Alberta Darling's office has also obstructed an open records request that I filed back in April. At that time I requested emails that she received from local officials regarding the budget repair bill. I further narrowed my request by including a limited time frame.

Darling's office first responded to my request nearly a full month after I first made it. They suggested that I narrow my request even further. Because I wanted to make the process as easy as possible I agreed to the suggested changes within 2 days. That was in mid-May and I didn't receive the requested records or even a status of my request until Tuesday, August 5th (one week before her recall election). As if this obstruction wasn't bad enough, now Darling wants me to pay hundreds of dollars for the honor of obtaining those public records that may be useless at this point.

In my view there is a clear pattern of open record obstruction by Alberta Darling. Three examples including mine have surfaced in only the past few days. I can only wonder how many other cases will surface before next Tuesday? But perhaps the most important question is, what exactly is Alberta Darling trying to hide in the first place?

UPDATE: I literally just asked "how many other cases will surface" and then I noticed this from the Shepherd Express.

Out of touch Alberta Strikes Again

Here she goes again. Alberta Darling once again showing that she is completely out of touch with most Wisconsinites. Last week she declared that a person making $250,000 a year is not rich. She is trying to perform some damage control now but the fact is that she said exactly what she meant. Darling has been unbelievably wealthy for a very long time and she has become completely detached from the real lives of most Wisconsinites.

Darling's latest Statement of Economic Interest form shows that she owns stock in nearly 200 different companies. The value of most of those individual holdings are between $5,000 and $50,000. There are also a handful of companies in which she owns more than a $50,000 interest. Her SEI also lists the longtime beach front condo in Florida that she has owned for some time. In fact, the Capital Times once ran a story about out-of-touch very wealthy legislators and in it they listed Darling and her beach front property (pictured above). [Capital Times, 6/14/94] In addition her River Hills home is assessed at approximately $800,000.

But we don't have to only rely on Alberta Darling's personal wealth and recent comment to prove that she is out of touch. We can also look at other telling comments and actions over the years. Here are only a handful in no particular order:

• When Texas Governor George W. Bush was beginning his run for president he came to a Wisconsin fundraiser. Alberta Darling was quoted at the fundraiser saying, "Hallelujah...I'm so excited" about the prospect of a Bush presidency. We all know how that turned out for most of us. [Capital Times, 7/22/99]
• Then there was the time that she failed to come back from her London vacation to vote on important legislation during a special session of the legislature. People were not amused nor were they very happy with her. [Capital Times, 6/16/94]
  
• In 1995 Alberta Darling declared, "I consider Phillip Morris a good corporate citizen." Need I say more? [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 7/15/95]
• Darling's love for powerful special interests was just as strong a number of years later when she said, "In many cases, lobbyists perform a valid role, which is to educate on issues. Many of the lobbyists are very professional about it. They give information..." [AP, "Lobbying groups spend record for six months of the year", 8/8/99]
• Then of course there is her comment earlier this year that this train wreck of a state budget was "the best budget ever!" Obviously she has no regard whatsoever for the extreme damage that it does to education, health care and the average Wisconsinite.
  

So there have been many Alberta Darling "out-of-touch moments" over the years. The most recent one is only the latest and hopefully the events of the next week will mercifully make it the last.

What is your favorite Alberta out-of-touch moment?

Alberta Then and Alberta Now

Alberta Then

"Darling said she would be a better coalition-builder and admitted to wanting to help 'lost children' and 'unemployed populations'..." [Milwaukee Journal, 3/27/1990]

Alberta Now

And we all know that nothing helps "lost children" and "unemployed populations" quite like taking away their health care...

...cutting $800 million in funding for their education
...raising tuition and putting college further out of reach
...or by drastically cutting state aid to technical colleges

Flip-Flopping an Entire Political Philosophy

Recently the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel determined that Senator Alberta Darling flip-flopped on the issue of continuing to pay Milwaukee police after being fired from the job. If they are going to start monitoring Darling on doing that kind of thing, they are going to have a very busy summer.

Alberta Darling has not only been on both sides of several specific issues but she has more importantly performed a full flip-flop of her entire political philosophy. At one time she was legitimately viewed as a moderate Republican but that has not been true for some time. If there was any doubt about the surrendering of her "moderate" credentials one doesn't have to look very far. Right wing extremism has been in overreaching overdrive all year and Alberta Darling has been more than willing to enable and even advocate for it.

Following the most extreme elements of her party, Alberta Darling voted to defund Planned Parenthood's family planning services. They had this collective right wing knee jerk as if the funding were going toward abortions. However state law already prohibits such funds from being used for abortions and they know it. It was nothing more than a naked attack based on extreme ideology. Planned Parenthood has used such funds for services like providing contraceptive supplies, pregnancy testing, screening for cervical cancer and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Yet Alberta Darling, a former board member of Planned Parenthood, has now taken up an irrational and extreme position opposing such important services. [Milwaukee Journal, 10/18/90]

Consider some of the following to get an even better view of how far Darling has gone on women's health issues:

• When she first won a seat in the Assembly the headlines read, "Pro-choicer wins special election in the 10th". It went on to describe how her first campaign was greatly aided by groups like NARAL. [Abortion Report, 4/6/90]
• After her first win in the Assembly, Darling reaffirmed that her abortion rights stance was "very clear...very strong". [Milwaukee Journal, 6/17/90]
  
• In 1996 Alberta Darling actually declared that the Republican Party had put the ultra-conservative abortion issue behind them. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/11/96]
  

This year Alberta Darling also voted to allow people to carry concealed guns just about anywhere that they want to bring them. That vote is also quite divergent from the old Alberta Darling. Shortly after starting her political career she commented on how her district supported gun control. A few years later she actually proposed legislation regulating certain kinds of handguns. During that time she commented that it was a public safety issue and that those kinds of handguns should be regulated like automobile ownership. [Milwaukee Journal, 1/14/91 and 4/12/94]

So while it is perfectly appropriate to take a look at Alberta Darling's more specific political flip-flops, we also should be looking at the fact that she has flip-flopped her entire political philosophy. Sorry, but she is not even close to being the same person that her district first elected. These are all sad signs that her many years as a career politician have caused her to grow completely out-of-touch not only with her district but also with her(former)self.

Darling: This is the Best Budget Ever!

Now that Republicans finally realize that they face serious consequences via the coming recalls, they have been trying their best to back track on some elements of their radical agenda. The latest chapter of this came on Friday when Republican legislators announced that they would reduce some of Scott Walker's immoral cuts to education. However their announcement proves to be little more than a token as it still will leave schools with $1.7 billion less than they have now.

It was in this anti-education context that career politician Senator Alberta Darling spoke these classic words: "This is the best budget I've seen since I entered the Legislature."

Alberta Darling has been in the state legislature for over 20 years and she clearly has grown much more extreme and much more out-of-touch with each one of them. Her recent comment about this disaster of a budget makes that much crystal clear.

So this is the "best budget" that she has ever seen?

The aforementioned $1.7 billion cut to education

While still too many Wisconsinites struggle with unemployment, Republicans have decided to cut unemployment benefits by $56 million a year.

Drastically cutting aid for local transit and funds for local road repair, but at the same time diverting $35 million in sales tax money to their political boosters in the state road building industry.

Endangering future dollars for local transit by shifting funding from the transportation fund to the state's main account.

Cutting $500 million from BadgerCare over the next 2 years and leaving many Wisconsinites in perilous circumstances and without proper health care.

Low- and middle-income people would lose tax credits worth about $49.4 million over two years. This while they are giving away the store to people in Alberta Darling's tax bracket and to their campaign funders in big biz?

Alberta Darling: "This is the best budget I've seen since I entered the Legislature."

Yes Alberta, but exactly who is it "best" for?