Does Latest Block News Give Them Pause?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Dan Bice is reporting that the Feds have opened an investigation into Wisconsin Republican operative Mark Block. Reportedly they are interested in Block organizations like Wisconsin Prosperity Network and Prosperity USA. It appears that the investigation is related to the use of those organizations finances and the start of the Herman Cain comedy campaign for president.

As the Bice column and many other people have noted, Block has a history of crossing a few lines. The most cited example is when he served as campaign manager for former-Supreme Court Justice Jon Wilcox in 1997. Regulators accused him of election-law violations and he settled with them by agreeing to a 3 year ban from Wisconsin politics and a $15,000 fine. Now we have this newly reported investigation and I have to wonder what Block-connected Republican front groups, operatives and donors are thinking?

For example our fragile friends at the MacIver Institute have been deeply involved with Mark Block since before they were even fully established as an official right wing spin machine. Based on MacIver's IRS filings Block served on their board as "treasurer" in at least 2008 and 2009. He was still listed on their website as being a board member as recently as November 2010. Heck, the organization is even named after Republican operative John MacIver, someone that a Journal Sentinel profile described as Block's mentor.

One of the Block organizations that is reportedly part of the federal inquiry is the Wisconsin Prosperity Network (WPN). Do you remember the first big story detailing that effort? It was a Mark Pitsch 2009 story in the Wisconsin State Journal. It detailed the right wing plans of creating 14 new Wisconsin front groups as part of the newly proposed Prosperity Network. The story listed the MacIver Institute as the very first entity to be formed as part of the scheme.

As of at least February 2011, MacIver was still listed on the Wisconsin Prosperity Network website as a "networked organization". At that time the WPN website invited people to become a member and "prosperity warrior" by giving $500 in annual dues. The "benefits" of giving to WPN included the following:

Prosperity Warrior benefits include membership in Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin Chapter (AFPWI) and subscriptions to The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, First Freedoms Foundation, and American Majority Wisconsin Chapter. Benefits also include complementary admission to WPN regional policy briefings, the WPN annual state briefing, Americans for Prosperity (WI) Defending the American Dream Summit, Tailgate for Taxpayers, annual MacIver Institute Gala Banquet, and a Wisconsin Prosperity Network lapel pin.

I am writing about this as yet another reminder of just how deeply Mark Block has been involved with the extremist right wing infrastructure currently ruining running Wisconsin. And the latest news of a possible federal investigation into Block's various ventures makes me wonder if it gives any of them even a moment of pause?

Fun Fact: This didn't seem to fit anywhere in the actual blog posting, but I noticed that Block's Wisconsin Prosperity Network had a post office box at the same New Berlin post office (53151) that served the MacIver Institute in at least 2008. I'm curious what other right wing Republican front groups have been based in that post office and why it is so popular with them?

Tommy and Trouble in the Tea Party

Today Tommy Thompson is set to headline a tea party and apparently he is supposed to (finally) make up his mind about whether he is running. Not everyone is happy about seeing Tommy at the tea party. One of his potential opponents and someone that identifies closely with the tea party movement, David Westlake, made the following comments regarding Thompson's speaking today:

"He's using a platform that's supposed to be about rallying around a common cause to reduce the size of government, to lower spending and lower taxes and he's using it for his own personal announcement. He's not the tea party movement. He's a big spender and did a lot of things that was the antithesis of what people in the tea party want."

Tommy's potential primary opponent isn't the only person that isn't happy about his speech today. It has caused a rift between elements of the tea party, Americans for Prosperity and the Republican establishment in Wisconsin. An email exchange from within the tea party movement has been leaked. That email sheds additional light on what the rank-and-file actually think of Tommy and what they think of Americans for Prosperity's Mark Block. The subject line of the email reads, "URGENT: Immediate Coalition Response Requested re: Tommy Thompson". The entire email message is very illuminating on several levels and is provided below (I have redacted Mark Block's personal cell phone number):

Friends,

I'm writing to you on behalf of Tim Dake and myself regarding AFP's announcement that Tommy Thompson will be the main speaker at the Tax Day Rally tomorrow morning.

First, of all, it is now clear, based on media reports, that Tommy will be using tomorrow's appearance to test the waters in regards to getting into the senate race. He's basically come out and said that he'll know after tomorrow whether he's running. Tim and I have talked to many of you already, and we are aware that many people are feeling betrayed. I for one was incredibly frustrated and angry when I heard the news. We were promised by AFP that they would not use the Tax Day Rally stage as a stump for candidates. But that is exactly what Mark Block has done in booking Tommy--turned the stage into a political wind sock, and therefore, effectively, a stump. One could make the argument that Ron Johnson was also a bad choice of speakers in this regard since he's talking about getting in the senate race if Tommy doesn't.

Second, regardless of whether Tommy runs or not, we now have a large problem on our hands. As things now stand, thousands of people will arrive for the Tax Day Rally tomorrow only to find politics as usual in the form of a progressive Republican on the stage. This situation is extremely dangerous to us. It sends the wrong message about who and what we are as a movement. And it potentially compromises the trust that many have now begun to place in the vision and commitment of conservative grassroots in this state.

Let's be perfectly frank. Mark Block, the current director of AFP, is an old-guard Republican. He is still inured in party politics and has not made the paradigm shift that you and I have made. He's still thinking in terms of Rs and Ds--not constitutionalism versus progressivism.

Tim and I are requesting an immediate response from you. In order to have an impact, we need to be unified on this issue.

Do we stand in agreement that having Tommy Thompson speak is the wrong thing?

If so, Tim and I need you to call Mark Block now and voice your opposition. He needs to understand now that he is irresponsibly playing with our reputation, that co-opting grassroots events for political/GOP gamesmanship is not acceptable, that he has compromised our trust in doing this thing, and that if this bad decision is not immediately undone and rectified (meaning, someone else speaks in Tommy's place), there will be consequences in the relationship between local grassroots and AFP moving forward. Again, we need to be polite but very firm.

Here's Mark's cell number: 262.XXX.XXXX

If Mark asks what the consequences will be, tell him only that that is currently being actively discussed amongst the coalition members, but he should be assured that action will be taken.

The next matter we need to decide is what the more immediate consequences will be if Mark chooses to move ahead with having Tommy speak.

Again, we have choices.

1) We can threaten to pull out of the event. I'm not a big fan of this plan since AFP could perhaps quickly replace a lot of the local grassroots speakers with other GOPers. That would leave no way to counterbalance party nonsense with solid message.

2) We can either voice our displeasure and/or demonstrate it with a show of signs, or walk away when Tommy comes on the stage, taking as many people with us as we can. There has been some concern about such a strategy giving the enemy a chance to point to infighting in the movement. But actually, it's not infighting. It's a divide that's existed for some time now between the GOP and the grassroots. We would simply be rejecting what we see as an attempt to co-opt the movement and any statements/press releases could reflect that fact.

3) We can allow Tommy to speak, remaining entirely polite but unexcited. Giving him only a lukewarm reception tomorrow, we could possibly follow up with press releases, distancing ourselves from him the next day.

We are open to other suggestions, but we need them quickly. You can either email Tim or I or contact us by phone. I believe you all have Tim's number already, but I can be reached at the cell phone listed below.

Thank you for standing together as a coalition.

Kirsten Lombard

Organizer

The Wisconsin 9/12 Project

Madison, WI

UPDATE: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is now reporting on this issue.

UPDATE 2: Looks like Charlie Sykes joined in the Mark Block bashing on his program this a.m.

“Throwing Money at it Won’t Fix it”

How many times have we heard Republicans complain that we can't fix things by throwing money at it? That seems to be their tired retort anytime we want to invest in our future, our kid's education, or ensure a proper safety net for the most vulnerable among us. National Republicans are trying to fix their branding problem by trotting out all the same old guys, purging themselves of moderates, and pushing the same old failed strategies. It appears that Wisconsin conservatives are picking up on some of the same elements while also adding a "throw money at it" approach.

Over the weekend the Wisconsin State Journal reported on a right wing effort to copy the progressive infrastructure in the State of Wisconsin. The story reveals a conservative plan called the "Wisconsin Prosperity Network". Apparently they would like to create some 14 new (read artificial) right wing organizations that make all of the same arguments and push all of the same old right wing policies that the country has now moved past. And who are the people behind this "new" multi-million dollar effort in Wisconsin? It appears to be all of the same old guys that have been pulling strings and/or getting in trouble in Wisconsin for years. It is a who's who of the old Republican guard in Wisconsin: GOP big wig and former Tommy! aide James Klauser, right wing sugar daddy Michael Grebe, Mark Block who was famously on the wrong side of elections laws a few years back, and Scott Jensen who is still awaiting his second criminal felony trial.

Here is a hint to the right wing in Wisconsin: when you are trying to do something new, you may want to avoid using the same old guys pushing the same old policies backed by the same old money bags. Just look at one of the "newer" right wing organizations that now appears to be defunct, the Wisconsin Institute of Leadership. It was very clearly formed to be a knock off on the successful progressive organization One Wisconsin Now. After having right wing dollars pumped in and being initially hyped, it doesn't appear to actively exist anymore. The only accomplishment that I can see from its existence is running a few ads and sending out some direct mail during one single legislative election cycle. The right wing money bags threw cash at it but was it worth the investment? I don't think so, but then again I don't have money to burn.

The first official organization that the WSJ story lists as being part of this "new" effort is the stumbling bumbling MacIver Institute. All of these old guard guys behind this effort with all of their money and influence and they couldn't even get this thing launched properly. They seemed to rush their official launch, they lied about Scott Jensen's real ties to it, they have been operating for much of their existence with an invisible staff, and they haven't really produced anything real by themselves. If this is their official start to this 14 organizational network, so far it doesn't seem to be an ideal one.

Republicans in Wisconsin can try to artificially replicate progressive success all that they want, but they really should keep a few things in mind before fully taking the big plunge. Using all of the same old guys, pushing all of the same old tired policies is not a winning model no matter what you plan on paper. This is one perfect example where I can fall back on an old right wing mantra; "throwing money at it" just won't make up for all of these major flaws in your plan.

Shady Organization’s Shady Start Requires Real Reporting

On Saturday a full array of right wing madness will be on display in downtown Milwaukee at the “Defending the American Dream” summit. According to the listed agenda the opening session will not only include all sorts of right wing politicians but will also include the 2nd official announcement of the Maciver Institute. Perhaps they will be hiring folks to fill their apparently vacant staff spots. One thing that we do know is that they will be releasing a poll.

In their first official introduction via sudden press release on Wednesday, they state that they will be releasing “results of a statewide poll on Governor Doyle’s proposed state budget, the economy and Wisconsin politics” on Saturday. But before the media just swallows up the talking points and simply reprints poll results, I certainly hope that they do their due diligence. The bottom line is that this already appears to be a shady organization that is off to a shady start. Many questions need to be asked and answered before the media just jumps on the bandwagon.

First, who is the executive director for this new organization? It has been reported that Scott Jensen was involved with starting this organization and Bruce Murphy has reported seeing documents that show a possible $120,000 salary for him. So if these documents do show that, then why is he not listed in their official launch press release or on their website? By the way, wasn’t Jensen ordered to repay the taxpayers of Wisconsin some $190,000 for legal costs associated with his first criminal felony trial? If he is involved in this group how can they have any credibility on issues of taxes, spending and personal responsibility?

Another important question that some in the media should be asking is of themselves, particularly the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Wisconsin State Journal. Bruce Murphy has also reported that several reporters from both papers were recruited to take a research director job at Maciver. Is this true and is this why none of them have reported a single thing about the start of this organization? If this is true, how is it not a conflict to now carry their poll and their activities without having some sort of conflict?

It is pretty clear that the major thing that Maciver has done at this point, apparently without a staff, is produce a poll. Again, before simply reporting the results of this poll, the media has a responsibility to ask some questions and point out some facts. Based on Maciver’s own description of the poll, it is pretty clear that it will serve as little more than an attack on Governor Doyle. Should this be a surprise when the President of this shady organization is Fred Luber, former Finance Co-Chair of Scott Walkers failed 2006 run for governor and major GOP bagman? If there is going to be any reporting at all on this poll, shouldn’t this be very clearly stated?

One of the other major set of questions that the media must ask about this organization is who are their funders? We know from Mark Block’s Twitter account that there is supposed to be some “very important” meeting on Saturday involving the Bradley Foundation’s Michael Grebe and former Governor Thompson disciple James Klauser. What are their roles in this? Is the Bradley Foundation funding this new right wing operation? Did they pay for this poll? Does the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the other papers just print the results of any group’s poll in the paper without knowing such things?

How can the media treat this organization or their poll as legitimate without first asking all of these very important questions? So far this has proven to be a shady organization that is off to a very shady start and if the media doesn’t ask the important questions before reporting its talking points, then the are abdicating their most basic responsibilities and they are just as shady as all the rest.

Think Tank or Tweet Tank?

The right wing organization Maciver Institute launched via press release on Wednesday. They made the announcement while apparently having no Executive Director or paid staff. Their web site actually has less on it today than it did the day before they made it official. By far the most “active” part of the site is the display of their Twitter account. Reading their tweets, I found myself wondering exactly who is tweeting for them since they apparently don’t’ have a staff? Is the board rotating that responsibility because we already know that Mark Block likes to tweet. We know that Scott Jensen was rumored to be starting this organization, so is Scooter in some undisclosed location tweeting for them? The bottom line is that their site has not so much “think” and just a little too much “tweet.”

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Introducing the Scott Jensen Chain Gang

Bruce Murphy at Milwaukee Magazine has been the only person reporting on Scott Jensen’s attempt to start yet another right wing organization in Wisconsin. Apparently preparing for a second criminal trial is not fully occupying his time. According to Murphy’s most recent report, Jensen would be paid $120,000 to lead the organization and someone else would be brought on to head the research for $72k. Apparently they have tried to recruit both Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin State Journal reporters for the research job. Maybe that is why neither paper has saw fit to even mention the org at all. This would be just the latest addition in a long line of extreme right wing groups trying to impose their rigid ideology onto the rest of Wisconsin. It is reportedly named the Maciver Institute.

In December the domain maciverinstitute.com was privately registered with no one willing to lay public claim to the new org. They also have set up a super duper secret Twitter account that you can’t follow without special permission. When I visited their actual website last night, it was still largely lacking substance. Right now I am having problems accessing it but here is a cached version. The site did give some important information however. It gave a glimpse of some of the people involved with this operation - a motley crew indeed. First you have Scott Jensen who still is awaiting his second criminal felony trial. Then you have Michael Dean, from the wild-eyed First Freedoms Foundation, listed as a contact person. Listed as treasurer for the org is Mark Block, the guy that got the stiffest penalty for political campaign violations ever handed down in the state. This new right wing org is also listed on a national directory and it lists Block as also being a contact for the organization.

Speaking of Mark Block, he posted an interesting entry on his Twitter account on January 30, 2009 at 3:18pm. I’m wondering if that Tweet inadvertently tells us a few more things about this new right wing outfit. It states the following:

“Klauser and Grebe will be calling meeting for Saturday, March 7th. Very important.”

Klauser is of course a long-time disciple of former Governor Tommy Thompson and Grebe is surely the right wing Bradley Foundation sugar daddy Michael Grebe. Michael Grebe and the Bradley Foundation are notoriously partisan and have funded some of the most extreme and narrow right wing outfits in the country. It looks like they may be adding yet another one to their twisted portfolio. With all of this chatter lately and with the constellation of right wing nuttery on March 7th, should we also expect a roll out this weekend?

I can’t help but notice that this new Jensen/Block/Dean/Grebe/Klauser thing appears to be coming just after the latest right wing organization (Wisconsin Institute for Leadership) lost its Executive Director and apparently its level of activity. Could this mean that WIL will be folded into the Jensen operation? How many of the other Wisconsin right wing organizations will be brought in? Whatever the exact arrangement, one thing is pretty clear: the Maciver Institute is bound to be a prison of rigid corporate interests and narrow right wing extremism. In that spirit and with its launch appearing imminent, I hereby dub it, the Scott Jensen Chain Gang!