The Capital Times
Monday, May 1, 2006
By David Callender The Capital Times
Supporters of a political ethics reform bill plan to make a last-ditch effort Tuesday to get it passed by the state Assembly.
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign today called an "emergency session" of the People's Legislature in the Capitol to coincide with the already scheduled floor session for the state Assembly.
The People's Legislature is a grass-roots group seeking political reforms, including efforts to reduce the influence of special-interest money on state politics.
In an e-mail sent today, Democracy Campaign director Mike McCabe called for citizens to meet at the bust of Robert M. La Follette in the Capitol rotunda on Tuesday to help lobby lawmakers in support of Senate Bill 1.
The bill would create a new Government Accountability Board that would replace the existing state ethics and election boards.
Although the bill passed the Republican-controlled Senate earlier this year, it ran into trouble among Republican Assembly leaders, who fear it would create an agency with broad powers to investigate both state and local officials.
The Legislature is in the final week of its regularly scheduled two-year session. Assembly Republicans so far have refused to schedule the bill for a vote.
Three Assembly Democrats from Dane County said today they would attempt a procedural move to force a vote on the bill.
"We're not going to stand by and watch the GOP kill this bill without an open and honest debate," Rep. Joe Parisi, D-Madison, said in a statement.
The efforts at reform come after five top lawmakers in both parties have been convicted on criminal charges in the Capitol corruption scandal. So far, no major ethics or campaign finance reform bills have been passed since the scandal began to unfold in 2001.
Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, whose office helped prosecute those cases, said the state's reputation for clean government has been tarnished in recent years, yet lawmakers "have chosen to focus on a few minor proposals amounting to nothing more than window dressing."
\ E-mail: dcallender@madison.com
The Capital Times
Monday, May 1, 2006
Steve Burns Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice Madison
Dear Editor: Obviously Republican Party executive director Rick Wiley is unhappy with the results of the April 4 election, in which 24 Wisconsin communities (including six communities that voted for George W. Bush in the 2004 election) voted "yes" to ballot initiatives calling on our government to bring our troops home from Iraq. That's understandable. If I were Mr. Wiley, having seen my "stay the course" views on the war rejected by a margin of 61 percent to 39 percent, I'd be unhappy too.
He dismisses these municipalities as "a few of Wisconsin's most far-left towns." Oh really? How does Mr. Wiley explain the vote in Draper, a town in rural Sawyer County, which voted 58 percent for Bush in 2004 and has now voted 65 percent for "immediate withdrawal" from Iraq?
Mr. Wiley's main objection was that there weren't enough towns voting to make the results significant. Here's a simple remedy to that problem: Why doesn't Mr. Wiley talk to his friends in the Republican-controlled state Legislature and ask them to place a statewide "Bring Our Troops Home" referendum on the November ballot? If he's really so confident that most people in our state support his views on the war, he should be eager to have a statewide vote.
I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen, and the people of our state aren't waiting either. The Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice has already been contacted by citizens in more than a dozen Wisconsin communities with inquiries about how to place a "Troops Home" initiative on their local ballot for November.
And our Wisconsin form of grass-roots democracy is now spreading to Illinois, where citizens in four towns, two of them in U.S House Speaker Dennis Hastert's district, voted recently to place "Troops Home" initiatives on their local ballots in November.
With seven months to go until the November elections, both sides of this debate are busy. We're busy working to help Wisconsin citizens win the right to vote on the war, and Mr. Wiley should get busy honing his post-election "spin" -- he'll need it in November.
Move Fails To Overturn Ordinance
The Capital Times
Friday, May 5, 2006
By Anita Weier The Capital Times
Democrats successfully stalled Senate action on a bill that would have nullified a Dane County ordinance that bars county employees from asking about the immigration status of people seeking county services.
The parliamentary delay tactic succeeded because Thursday was the last day of the regular legislative session, but it followed extensive and heartfelt debate.
Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, proposed the bill. "We must prevent local counties that pass ordinances saying immigration law should be ignored," he argued. "If we expect people to obey the law, it is important our officials act as if the law means something."
Sen. Julie Lassa, D-Stevens Point, introduced an amendment that would have required that companies that hire illegal aliens be ineligible for tax exemptions, government contracts, grants and loans.
But Senate President Al Lasee, R-De Pere, ruled that the amendment was "non-germane" to Grothman's bill, and the Senate upheld his decision on a partisan vote.
During debate on the bill itself, Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, argued that the county ordinance had been requested by law enforcement authorities.
"A lot of people come to this county from other parts of the world," Risser said, and the fear of deportation could prevent them from reporting crimes.
He added that the bill would gut Dane County's anti-discrimination ordinance and said "the state shouldn't tell local units of government what they can and can't do."
"The primary opposition to this bill is the county sheriff," said Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona. "He needs to be able to interrogate anyone who knows about a crime. This (ordinance) has been a very effective tool."
He also pointed out that Sheriff Gary Hamblin is "no radical lefty" and is in fact a Republican.
Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, said her constituents are concerned that the bill could lead to racial profiling.
She also alleged that the bill was launched for political purposes.
The Legislature should not act prematurely but wait and see what Congress does about immigration law, Taylor added.
Sen. Cathy Stepp, R-Sturtevant, noted that Dane County's law means that more people use the state's Medicaid insurance, which is in a fiscal crunch.
"Legal citizens will have to get in line in Dane County behind illegal residents," Stepp said. Voting against the bill would be "voting against legal hardworking citizens," she added.
The Senate then voted to take up the issue. But the Democrats succeeded in objecting to a final vote on the bill, because overcoming the objection requires a two-thirds majority. The vote was 19 yes and 13 no -- short of the two-thirds vote.
County Executive Kathleen Falk had opposed Grothman's bill.
Noting that the ordinance was passed by the Dane County Board on a voice vote in 2004, Falk said that public health and public safety were two important reasons for the ordinance.
"The sheriff cannot solve or prevent some crimes if victims or witnesses fear and refuse to come forward, and our public health nurses would be hindered in dealing with pandemic flu or other community health concerns if residents with questionable immigration status were afraid to cooperate with them," Falk said in a release.
\ E-mail: aweier@madison.com
Christian Peacemaker Teams Send People On Dangerous Missions In War-torn Countries.
Wisconsin State Journal
Sunday, May 7, 2006
JOHN POTRATZ For the State Journal
As a carpenter in rural Wisconsin, Cassandra Dixon doesn't get much international experience or engage in many life-threatening situations. However, as a Christian Peacemaker Teams reserve delegate, Dixon spends her spare time helping people in war-torn countries achieve peace and solidarity by standing between them and violence.
Last year with CPT -- an international organization dedicated to intervening between civilians and violence in foreign countries -- Dixon traveled to Colombia to help protect children from warring rebel factions.Dixon, currently caring for her two children as a single mother, has a passion for young people and has pledged to spend one to three months a year for the next three years as a delegate in whichever country the organization finds her service necessary. From May 2 to June 1, Dixon will be traveling with a group of delegates to help quell violence between Palestinians and Israelis, which often affects young people.
In Hebron Dixon will accompany Palestinian children in the city of Hebron through military checkpoints to and from school, protecting them from verbal and physical abuse from Israeli soldiers and settlers. Located directly in the center of the southern tip of the West Bank, Hebron is a hotbed for Palestinian and Israeli confrontations and has seen many turn deadly over recent years.
While the organization has been sending delegations to the area since 1995 -- after the mayor of Hebron asked the organization to intervene between Palestinians and Israeli settlers migrating to the area -- Dixon said there is a greater need than ever for delegates in the region.
"CPT has had a presence of Palestine for many years," she said. "The recent events in Iraq have created a greater need for more reservists to go to Palestine ... and they're in short supply right now."
Sara Reschly, CPT regional coordinator, said the primary objective of the organization is to bring peace and diplomacy to places in need.
"The mission is to send teams of trained peacemakers to different areas of the world where there is lethal conflict," she said. "And when we're in those areas, to support local efforts of peacemaking to advocate for human rights."
Dangerous mission
As a former full-time delegate to Hebron from March 1997 through August 1999, Reschly, who also helped train Dixon for her trip to the Middle East, knows the risks involved in traveling on peacemaking trips there. During a peaceful march involving hundreds of Palestinians protesting an Israeli-imposed curfew, Reschly and other delegates stood in front of 20 armed soldiers after they threatened to shoot at the dissenters if they did not disband.
"So, we were directly in the line of fire, but the soldiers didn't shoot," Reschly said. "As a result of that, no one was shot at or injured or killed that day."
Because the Palestinians and delegates were diligent in their commitment to peaceful action, the soldiers eventually pulled back from the standoff and allowed the protesters to pray in the street. After making their point, Reschly said the protesters left the area and the soldiers followed suit shortly afterward.
"It was an awesome sight," she said. "There were Palestinians kneeling down in the street, praying while Israeli soldiers looked on with their M-16 machine guns."
But for Reschly, Dixon and other delegates, those kind of risks simply come with the territory.
"We ask each person who participates in CPT and CPT delegations to talk over with their families the possibility of serious physical injury or death," Reschly said. "That is a possibility on all of our projects, and we ask people to give prayerful consideration before they join."
Before leaving this month, Dixon said no matter how small the influence, her and the nearly 150 other delegates' efforts can set an example for other people and their governments to find alternative means toward achieving peace.
"I just feel so strongly that we as a civilization have to develop alternatives to armed conflict ... the fact that we're still reliant on the military to solve international problems ... I don't think that that's sustainable."
The Capital Times
Monday, May 8, 2006
Charles and Martha Romstad Madison
Dear Editor: We urge support for the sick leave measure to be considered by the Madison City Council on May 16.
We have personal knowledge of many families who would greatly benefit by this ordinance. It will accomplish two goals:
1. Improve wellness at work sites.
2. Show our support for hard-working families in our proud community.
The Capital Times
Saturday, May 13, 2006
The Capital Times
Fair Wisconsin, the Madison-based group leading the fight against a constitutional ban on gay marriages and civil unions on the Nov. 7 ballot, on Wednesday named volunteer coordinators for all 72 Wisconsin counties.
"With six months until Election Day, we have assembled a massive grassroots outreach program," said campaign manager Mike Tate. "These volunteers live in every corner of Wisconsin and come from all different walks of life. They are highly motivated and passionate about defeating the ban and keeping discrimination out of our constitution."
They include some distinguished Wisconsin political names, including former state legislator and current farm advocate Stan Gruszynski, former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Bert Grover, and Eric Dueholm of Luck, Wis., home of the fabled former Democratic legislator Harvey Dueholm.
Tate said Fair Wisconsin has more than 6,000 active volunteers statewide.
The county contacts are listed below. For more information, go online to www.fairwisconsin.com or call communications director Joshua Freker at 441-0143.
*
Adams -- Judy Gibson
Ashland -- Carl Sack
Barron -- Jodi Bunnell
Bayfield -- Carri Hoagland
Brown -- Heidi Rosby
Buffalo -- Cindy Killion
Burnett -- Steve Anderson
Calumet -- Daniel Klos
Chippewa -- Heath Gulliksun and Matt Rightmire
Clark -- Sharon and David De Lyser
Columbia -- Laurel Randall
Crawford -- Deb Conlon
Dane -- Hannah Johnson
Dodge -- Barbara Jean Hill
Door -- Kate Houston
Douglas -- Auburn Powell
Dunn -- Melissa Smith-Tourville
Eau Claire -- Gretchen Beckstrom and Ken Sullivan
Florence -- Philip Southworth
Fond du Lac -- Madonna Bowman
Forest -- Kimberly Bartlein
Grant -- Marilyn Gottschalk
Green -- Jill Muenich
Green Lake -- Laura Hutchison
Iowa -- Coleman
Iron -- Brian Fors
Jackson -- Dr. Ben Bordman
Jefferson -- Margaret Martin
Juneau -- Eva Marie Roberts
Kenosha -- Connie Russell
Kewaunee -- Jill Bussiere
La Crosse -- Paul Bladl
Lafayette -- Marcia Aas
Langlade -- Jill Lewandoski
Lincoln -- Joni Hahn
Manitowoc -- Bill Kirkpatrick
Marathon -- Lisa Akey
Marinette -- Stan Gruszynski
Marquette -- Gregory and Carol Wright
Menominee -- Gina McGregor
Milwaukee -- Denise Crumble
Monroe -- Brandon Hayes
Oconto -- Rev. Gail Irwin
Oneida -- Joe Strauss
Outagamie -- Marty Brown
Ozaukee -- Jacquie Lindo
Pepin -- Remy Ceci
Pierce -- Wanda Brown
Polk -- Eric Dueholm
Portage -- Doug Stingle
Price -- Audrey Williams
Racine -- Brent Nance
Richland -- Paul Klawiter
Rock -- Tim Mumm
Rusk -- Sue Hendricks and Thomas Ricci
Sauk -- Nancy Peidelstein
Sawyer -- Tish Keahna
Shawano -- Herbert Grover
Sheboygan -- Judy Stock
St. Croix -- Mike Day
Taylor -- Todd Peissig
Trempealeau -- Margaret Baecker
Vernon -- Louise and Rosalie Moondancer
Vilas -- Kathy Mayo
Walworth -- Phil Sanborn
Washburn -- Jim Speck
Washington -- Jeff Jacobs
Waukesha -- Nick Halsted
Waupaca -- Tom O'Connell
Waushara -- Joanne Katzmarek
Winnebago -- Michael Kahl
Wood -- Linda Melski and Yvonne DeJean
Pocan Calls Rule 'height Of Hypocrisy'
The Capital Times :: FRONT :: A5
Thursday, May 18, 2006
By Anita Weier The Capital Times
On the same day that a former legislative leader was sentenced to prison for illegal campaigning with state resources, the director of the state Ethics Board issued a statement that legislators are not required to receive ethics training.
"The rule's training requirement applies only to staff, and not to legislators," Director Roth Judd wrote to Assembly Speaker John Gard on Tuesday, the day former speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
The letter was in response to a query from Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, about the meaning of a rule adopted by the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization in 2001.
That rule requires that legislative employees attend periodic ethics training, but not legislators, Judd wrote to Gard, R-Peshtigo, who passed along Pocan's request for clarification.
This is the height of hypocrisy," Pocan said of the lack of training. "The public's trust in government is plummeting -- and rightly so. If the Legislature wants to prove to the public that we have integrity, the best thing we can do today is to pass meaningful ethics reform and to live by the same rules we expect others to live by."
Judd said in his letter that the rule did not require training for legislators because the Ethics Board's staff has for a number of years provided training to newly elected legislators, met periodically with legislators on a one-on-one basis to discuss ethics issues and distributed written guidelines to legislators. He said the rule also imposed strict prohibitions against campaigning on state time or with the use of state resources and strict time-keeping requirements in order to curtail improper staff activities.
However, Judd added, "The Ethics Board would certainly encourage continuing ethics training for legislators and would be happy to provide whatever additional training opportunities the Legislature requests."
Pocan agreed, adding he is still waiting to get a response from Gard other than the release of Judd's letter.
"John Gard should realize that lawmakers are responsible for the cloud of corruption looming over the State Capitol, and legislators should attend mandatory ethics training like all other legislative employees," Pocan said.
More legislators than staff were charged during the caucus investigation, he noted -- five legislators and one staff person.
"Especially in such an ethically challenged period, why are not legislators required to undergo ethics training? We have more contact with lobbyists and outside interests than our staff," Pocan said. "There is a training next week for staff, and I plan to attend. It looks bad if we exempt ourselves."
Gard's staff referred a question about whether ethics training would be required to Assembly Majority Leader Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, who did not call back by The Capital Times' deadline.
A bill authored by Rep. Don Friske, R-Merrill, that required all legislative employees to have ethics training that included portions of campaign finance laws was amended by the Assembly to specify that legislators would be included, but the bill was then tabled.
Pocan also called again for the Republican Assembly leadership to bring legislation forward that would combine the elections and ethics boards and give them greater enforcement and investigative power. The Senate approved the bill, and Gov. Jim Doyle said he would sign it, but the Republicans who control the Assembly decided not to bring it up.
\ E-mail: aweier@madison.com
Wisconsin State Journal :: FORUM :: C1
Sunday, May 21, 2006
The original 1870 Mother's Day proclamation by Julia Ward Howe stated, "From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says: Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice....' As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace."
It's 136 years later. The United States is in its fourth year of a pre-emptive war in Iraq, and is possibly making plans to bomb Iran using the same worn rhetoric it used prior to war in Iraq. What would happen if we followed Howe's call for peace?
What if we followed the advice of activists like Mrs. Mallah of Iran, who founded the Women's Society Against Environmental Pollution 30 years ago? I met her in Tehran last December when I was part of a delegation organized by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Mallah believes that we can't live together peacefully unless we rescue the environment and stop over-consumption
Here's the advice she had for mothers: First, practice family planning and do not overpopulate the world. Second, we are the first teachers of the young and can help our children learn that over consumption isn't healthy for the planet. Third, as the people who make most household purchases, we shouldn't succumb to advertising or we will get the "shopping disease." Fourth, recognize that capitalism encourages greed and leads to war. Sound advice indeed.
--Bonnie Block, Madison
Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL :: D1
Sunday, May 21, 2006
GEORGE HESSELBERG ghesselberg@madison.com 608-252-6140
Exactly a year after the Wisconsin Green Party announced it would sponsor a campaign that ultimately resulted in 24 successful anti-war advisory referendums across the state, the effort continues.
Voters in at least two communities -- and as many as 20 -- may join those in Ozaukee County and the city of Milwaukee this November in giving their opinions on U.S. military activities, according to organizers of this spring's referendum campaign.
But so far, there has been no groundswell of efforts to put the war question on ballots across the nation, as opponents warned and supporters hoped.
The Racine Coalition for Peace & Justice started its petition drive May 5 at a popular community pancake breakfast, gathering more than 800 of the 3,105 signatures necessary to get their question on that city's November ballot. In Fond du Lac, organizers are hoping to get their petition drive started soon.
In April, 32 municipalities -- from small towns to such cities as Madison and La Crosse -- in the state had referendums asking if troops should be removed from Iraq, and the measures passed in 24. Wisconsin law allows such questions to be placed on the ballot either through a local board resolution or from a petition drive that nets 15 percent of the vote in the previous gubernatorial election.
Following the April results, the Madison-based Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice received inquiries from groups in another 20 municipalities interested in mobilizing similar referendums for the Nov. 7 election, said Steve Burns, the group's "Bring the Troops Home coordinator."
"We're seeing and hearing from a lot of people who were definitely inspired by the April results," said Burns last week.
Because the law allows 60 days for collecting signatures, the WNPJ advises groups to begin their efforts, at the latest, by June 3, to be assured of getting on the November ballot.
While the referendum issue has been out of the media spotlight since the April elections, Burns expects more communities to join Racine and Fond du Lac in petition efforts. There has been interest mostly from southern Wisconsin and in the Milwaukee suburbs.
What has happened, he said, is that "opposition to the war is not really news any more, it's become the majority sentiment."
2 Illinois towns
The referendum movement, though, doesn't seem to have spread far beyond Wisconsin's borders yet, but "it is still early," said Ruth Weill, Milwaukee-based co-chairman of the Wisconsin Green party.
At least two towns in Illinois have set anti-war referendums for November, and a few Iowa municipalities are considering it, Weill said. Election laws make it difficult in many states -- such as Minnesota -- to do go the referendum route.
In Racine, the petition drive is the local group's second effort to get the issue on the ballot, having failed early this year to convince the City Council to pass a resolution.
"We thought that most of the City Council members would have liked to see it appear on the ballot," said retired teacher Dick Kinch, of the Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice.
"But they didn't think it was appropriate for a municipality to tell the country how to run its business. So we decided to do it the hard way," he said.
Ken Yorgan, a Racine chiropractor and coalition leader, said an anti-war referendum in the city "might be a fairly close race, it's hard to say.
"I suppose that the fact that in 75 percent of the other municipalities where this ran in April, it passed, that might give people here more courage to vote for it. It's still a touchy issue," said Yorgan.
In Fond du Lac, supporter Madonna Bowman said the petition drive hasn't started yet.
"We are distributing packets, trying to get enough circulators to collect the number of signatures we need," she said, adding the organizers come from a group of people who gathered last fall.
The wording
Burns said some of the lessons of the April campaign may help organizers gearing up for November.
"We learned not to read too much into the political background of the places," he said. Areas with a history of voting for one political party, for example, could not be expected to vote that way on the war issue.
Also, said Burns, referring to the referendum wording that used the word "now" or "immediately" in reference to the timing of the troop withdrawal, "we learned that strong wording was not a disadvantage. If it doesn't say something strong, what's the point?"
Another observation was that most people have their minds made up about the war.
"People know where they stand. They know why they oppose the war and they are not shy about telling other people about it," he said. In Madison, he said, organizers established a "literature committee" to provide background information to voters who wanted it, but it was disbanded. "There was no demand for it."
Burns said the results in April were clear evidence the public is deeply dissatisfied with U.S. policy in Iraq and its cost in human lives and money.
Referendum opponents, including Rick Wiley, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, were joined by Jessica McBride, a conservative Milwaukee media critic, in writing that the results meant little.
In a letter to The Capital Times following the election, Wiley wrote: "Thirty-two out of Wisconsin's 1,902 municipalities have now voted on whether or not we will help to create that free Middle East, or whether we will withdraw and try to build a wall separating ourselves from the world. Twenty-plus municipalities believe we should give up. That is their prerogative in a free nation. But don't try to sell us on that being the will of the people of Wisconsin, much less our nation."
McBride, dissecting the results shortly after the election, wrote that "you can make the numbers read pretty much how you want." The referendums "are a testament to the PR skills of a couple mobilized, organized grass roots lefty peace groups. They also speak to the Main Stream Media template on the war, because the PR efforts of said Lefty peace groups fit neatly into the media template."
Burns responded that the referendums were examples of democracy in action, "a fundamental, voting rights issue." The WNPJ's analysis also noted the total vote carried the anti-war sentiment, 39,163 to 25,429, or 61 percent to 39 percent, with some of the victories coming in communities that voted for Bush in 2004.
A wild card
There is a wild-card factor in November, also, that may influence war referendums: Voters statewide will decide whether to approve a constitutional amendment that would bar the state from recognizing same-sex marriages. They also will vote in an advisory referendum on whether the state can impose the death penalty in certain murder convictions.
While the Wisconsin Green Party was the most vocal promoter of the April anti-war efforts, for the November election, that party has its own slate of candidates to promote. Weill said they aren't about to abandon the issue, however.
"We worked very hard with other coalition groups to get it on the ballot (in Milwaukee)," she said. "To me, the referendum goes hand-in-hand with the Green message."
So far, opposition to the anti-war referendum in Milwaukee has not been organized, said Weill and others close to the state effort. She attributed the lack of opposition in Milwaukee to the city "really feeling the effects of all the money being spent on this war ... because we have such social problems here."
The Capital Times :: FRONT :: A5
Monday, May 22, 2006
Associated Press
Activists in Racine and Fond du Lac are preparing petition drives to place anti-war referendums on the November ballot, and groups in another 18 municipalities have expressed interest in following suit, according to a Madison-based anti-war group.
The nonbinding referendums typically ask voters whether the U.S. should pull troops out of Iraq. In April, 32 municipalities across the state had such referendums, and the measures passed in 24.
Following those results, another 20 municipalities expressed interest in mobilizing similar referendums for the Nov. 7 election, said Steve Burns, a coordinator with Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice in Madison.
The Racine Coalition for Peace & Justice started its petition drive May 5, gathering 800 of the required 3,105 at a community pancake breakfast. Organizers in Fond du Lac said they were gearing up for a similar petition drive.
Voters in Ozaukee County and Milwaukee will already have the opportunity to vote on an anti-war referendum.
Burns called the April results clear evidence that the public is dissatisfied with U.S. policy in Iraq and its cost in human lives and money.
But opponents of the referendum, including Rick Wiley, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said the results mean little.
In a letter to The Capital Times following the election, Wiley noted that the votes represented the views of only 32 of the state's 1,902 municipalities.
"But don't try to sell us on that being the will of the people of Wisconsin, much less our nation," he wrote.
At least two Illinois towns have set anti-war referendums for November, and several Iowa municipalities are considering it, according to Ruth Weill, the Milwaukee-based co-chairman of the Wisconsin Green party.
Lessons from the April campaigns could help organizers gearing up for November, Burns said.
"We learned not to read too much into the political background of the places," he said, noting that areas historically aligned with one political party didn't necessarily vote along those party lines on the referendum.
The Capital Times :: METRO :: C1
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
By Ben Broeren The Capital Times
Neighbors and activists assembled at the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center Tuesday evening to discuss the Bush administration's current saber-rattling about Iran and its nuclear program.
"I get a sense of deja vu to the revolution of 1979" in Iran, said Madison Area Peace Coalition program host Allen Ruff. Then, he said, the main factor driving the fundamentalist forces of the Ayatollah Khomeini was U.S. support of the unpopular shah.
The Western-leaning shah alienated the peasantry and suppressed political opposition, except for the mosques, which allowed fundamentalist elements to brew.
Ruff said his concern is that a similar disregard for history is allowing the Bush administration to push for the overthrow of the current regime in Iran.
Saman Sepehri, the evening's guest speaker, agreed that U.S. pressure has fueled fundamentalism within his country.
Sepehri, a Chicago-based Iranian activist and journalist on the left, said moderate Iranians advocating women's rights and freedom of expression were "squashed" when Iran was declared part of an "Axis of Evil" because fundamentalists felt threatened.
Sepehri said modernizing elements must be taken into consideration by U.S. policy-makers. For example, he said women are increasingly becoming educated and getting professional jobs.
"One in three doctors is a woman compared with one in five in the United States," he said. "Over 60 percent of all university students are women."
On nuclear weapons, Sepehri noted that the U.S. gives Israel and India aid despite their possession of nuclear weapons. He said the Bush stance toward Iran is hypocritical on this issue.
Iran was within in its rights to possess nuclear technology for energy purposes under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, he said.
Alfred Meyer, of the Wisconsin chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, agreed with Sepehri that U.S. standards on nuclear technology were contradictory.
Decrying nuclear energy altogether, he pointed out that Louisiana Energy Services was enriching uranium in a facility in New Mexico.
"Why is it OK over here but not over there in Iran?" Meyer said.
\ E-mail: bbroeren@madison.com
Wisconsin State Journal
Sunday, May 28, 2006Name: Margaret Gardner Skinner
Nickname: Meg
Family: Husband, A. Neil Skinner, a retired UW-Madison professor of African languages and literature; son, E. Ben Skinner, Brooklyn, N.Y., who's writing a book on global slavery.
Age: 59
Occupation: Former international student advisor at UW-Madison and Edgewood College; past president and board member, United Nations Association USA of Dane County; board member, Madison Folk Music Society; member, care committee, Madison Friends Meeting (Quakers); member, Nobel Peace Prize nominating committee, American Friends Service Committee.
Why is what you do important? Our national government is taking us on a dangerous unilateralist path, breaking treaties and abrogating important conventions and protocols. If we are to re-engage with the community of nations, and re-establish the rule of law, it has to begin here in the heartland.
Hobbies: Reading, birking (birdwatching by bicycle), singing with the Cambrian Singers, a Welsh choir.
Choice of dinner companion: Frida Kahlo, the Mexican artist.
Favorite view of Madison: From the end of Picnic Point on May Day dawn, with Morris dancers in the foreground; crew shells in the middle ground and UW-Madison and the Capitol in the background.
I love it when: Madison lives out its reputation as a progressive city; for example, with the Bring the Troops Home Now referendum, immigration rally, inclusionary zoning, smoke-free ordinance.
I stop what I'm doing when: I hear a baby cry.
First job: Only gringa in an apple, peach and pear orchard in Connecticut.
If I were czar: I'd eliminate the occasion for war by ensuring that everyone's basic needs are met, including health care, and that the world's resources are more equitably distributed among nations and peoples.
How I ended up volunteering in this field: Having had the opportunity to travel and live abroad, I feel drawn to organizations that work globally to bring people together in mutual understanding.
If I could convince people of one thing: Jaw jaw (talking) is always better than war war.
Embarrassing moment: Falling down 23 rough concrete stairs at the Cleveland airport a year ago. I learned "the bigger they come, the harder they fall," but also that some subcutaneous insulation helps to protect bones (nothing was broken).
Ambition as expressed in yearbook at Southington (Conn.) High School: "To be a conscious and conscientious citizen of the world."
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A9
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Barbara Olson Madison
Dear Editor: Thank you for your editorial (May 26) regarding Rep. Tammy Baldwin's astonishing vote in support of HR 4681, the so-called "Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act."
This radical and ill-advised measure was basically written and pushed through Congress by the American-Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC) over the objections of a very broad coalition of groups, both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian.
Even the State Department, no friend of the Palestinians, found the bill too draconian and punitive.
Your readers should know that the local AIPAC affiliate, apparently in coordination with higher leadership, put out an "emergency alert" targeting Baldwin in the weeks before the vote. By succumbing to this organized special interest pressure campaign, Tammy Baldwin has put herself firmly to the right of not only fellow Wisconsin Democrats David Obey and Gwen Moore, but even to the right of the Bush administration. Shame on her.