Tuesday, March 24, 2009

WIL Fernandez Join the Whining about WEAC?

Talker Charlie Sykes has already started what is sure to be a chorus of right wing whining about the ads that WEAC might run in the DPI race. It seems odd that they would actually complain about anyone running ads since they are usually silent when an organization on the right runs them. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and Coalition for Americas Families come to mind as a couple of sleazy examples from last year.

There is another organization that will be interesting to watch, to see if they decide to jump into the DPI fray – that would be the Wisconsin Institute for Leadership (WIL). They appear to have been mothballed ever since their executive director, Brian Fraley, left to run the Rose Fernandez campaign. At that time, I commented that the Fraley/WIL/Fernandez connections were a little troubling in my opinion. It seemed to me that the whole arrangement was a little too close to a few important lines.


Although WIL has not really done anything since Fraley left, one must wonder if they will suddenly start taking actions supporting the campaign that their ED now runs. Last year they took actions against certain legislative targets. One Wisconsin Now has reported that the for-profit out-of-state company K12 was the only donor to WIL's affiliated 527 which ran the ads. K12 reportedly gave some $50k to help fund those activities. It seems reasonable to ask whether K12 will hand over more cash to WIL or some other organization, if they haven't already. They certainly have a huge special interest in the DPI race in particular, so it wouldn't be surprising if they have been investing in this race since before the primary. Their special interests in the DPI race are crystal clear to anyone that knows about the various connections between the Rose Fernandez campaign and K12.


Equally as interesting will be the reaction of Brian Fraley to any possible WEAC ads. As Rose Fernandez campaign manager, will he complain about it while saying nothing about any possible K12 funded attacks? Before he or the campaign that he is running starts complaining they may want to revisit some of Fraley's past public comments. As previously mentioned, WIL targeted legislative candidates last fall. At that time some of their actions brought about a complaint that was filed with the Government Accountability Board. In the middle of that entire episode, then-WIL ED Brian Fraley commentated that "…WIL has a right to discuss the important public policy issues facing Wisconsin." Should they join the whining about WEAC chorus, the Fernandez Campaign must answer the following question: Don't Wisconsin teachers have that same right?

8 comments:

Patrick said...

Oops... Timing is everything ;-)

Cory Liebmann said...

i'm going to wait and look at all of the facts...sorry, mark belling's word is not enough for me.

Anonymous said...

Nice copout Cory...

Cory Liebmann said...

wanting to know all of the facts before commenting is a copout? i suggest that you upgrade your standards.

the last time belling "broke news" many on the right ended up embarassing themselves. so i'm not giving him any benefit of the doubt. i will look at the facts myself.

Anonymous said...

Yes I'm sure you'll give an unbiased view...

Cory Liebmann said...

as i am sure you will

Anonymous said...

Still nothing cory? Why I'm stunned.

Cory Liebmann said...

uh, if you are talking about this whole email frenzy, I did comment in my most recent posting that involves Rose and Walker. But as a one time service, I'll provide it here as well:

you folks can be so overly dramatic sometimes.

since you are such big fans of Rose Fernandez, maybe you should follow her lead on this...she basically told the mjs reporter that this whole email thing isn't very important to her and it isn't worth any more of her time. for once i can say that i agree with her. it is not worth my time either, no matter how hard you try to over-hype it.