Thursday, September 13, 2012

New BFF's ? Brett Hulsey and Chief Erwin


I don’t think there is much need to explain to you my readers, that these are very troubling times in the great state of Wisconsin.  The animalistic impulses of greed and desire, coupled with the always short lived but still dangerous power of ignorance have come together.  Put together these dangers to humanity and civilization are known as the Tea Party.

Not since the World War II era has the badger of Wisconsin and the bald eagle of America gazed upon such a threat to democracy as we see from the Tea Party extremists today.  These are very important and tumultuous times, and that perhaps is an understatement.

The threat we are living and dealing with means that it is very, very important right now to be able to have faith in the integrity and conviction of those politicians, those leaders of the people, that claim to stand against the “teahadists”, the extremists whose dark cloud lingers over us all.

This being an election year means we have to know and understand, to the best of our knowledge, those who seek to be the elected leaders of the people.  Which brings us to a certain member of the assembly who is seeking re-election in November to continue his representation of the citizens of a district in downtown Madison,  I am speaking of Brett Hulsey.

Many of us in the Wisconsin Movement will remember Hulsey from the period in 2011 that began with the occupation of the Capitol, through to the spring marches and rallies that saw over 100,000 people regularly coming to the state house in opposition to the radical agenda of the far right wing extremist Governor Scott Walker.  Brett Hulsey always seemed to be there, with the marchers, with the people.  He began emerging as an important figure in the movement to preserve democracy and combat austerity and class warfare.  That was how things seemed anyway.

At first at least, as the movement wore on though, and the clamor began to subside, so did Hulsey’s fervor for the movement.  Many began to say that he was in it for the free publicity, for the photo op’s and the chances to rub elbows with important national figures who always seemed to be in Madison.  That it was all a show by somebody looking to become a comfortable career politician.

Soon a very distinct change was seen in Hulsey, he began to remove himself from the movement and began to make himself less available to his constituents.  He began to talk more about “reaching across the aisle” and to work with those who represented the Walker agenda.  It became fairly apparent that Hulsey was perhaps more interested in the status quo than anything else.  Soon even other Democratic politicians could be heard grumbling that Hulsey was a planted incumbent.  That self-service was the only service that he was truly interested in. 

As 2011 gave way to 2012 the changes in Hulsey’s attitude astonished many of his former supporters and constituents.  He began to turn on the Wisconsin Movement, complaining about tax payers coming to the Capitol to voice their opinions.  He started to work against the patriots who rallied to the Wisconsin statehouse and even began to slowly embrace the fellowship of the Walker administration more than that of his own party and the people.  He even went so far as to help compile dossiers on individual protesters and share information with the Tea Party and the ultra-conservative minority in law enforcement to harass them.

Believe it or not, that is all fine and dandy with me.  If as an elected representative Hulsey wants to switch sides or take whatever course of action he sees as being proper to his position, than that is what he should do.  The citizens will review his actions and vote according to what they perceive to be their own best interests, as well as the interests of the state and its future.

But now there is some deeply disturbing information coming out about Hulsey, and it is coming from law enforcement and local government.  This first came to my attention when I learned that Hulsey had pleaded no contest to a charge of disorderly conduct in order to avoid a court trial that would have ruined his chances for re-election.  Hulsey was convicted after his plea of no contest, of disorderly conduct from an incident involving a young boy at a public beach in Madison recently.



In all fairness Brett Hulsey still claims that he is 100% innocent regardless of his plea of no contest.  But what type of person destroys evidence (the photo’s he took on his smartphone at the beach) when there is an investigation ongoing?

What type of person in this day and age feels that it is okay to engage in this type of behavior with young children that you don’t even know?

What type of person has a history of such behavior, albeit not always with children involved, to the extent that they are under watch by local authorities?

What type of leader, of elected official, thinks that this is acceptable behavior for a representative of the people?  That doesn’t understand that what they are doing is the kind of thing that raise’s very strong, and justifiably so, fears that the people may have a predator in their midst?

What type of person does what Hulsey recently did, and instead of owning up to a terrible lack of judgment over these recent matters, instead chooses to blame everyone from city and county government, chooses to blame the Office of the Mayor as well as private citizens for the trouble that he is now in? Although it does appear to be true that a allegation of previous and related misconduct by Hulsey was a fabrication of somebody within the Mayor's office pool.

Mayor Soglin so infuriated by Brett Hulsey and his blaming of every other person involved, felt the angered need to point out a big hole in Hulsey’s unique version of what transpired that day.  Hizzoner (Mayor Soglin) pointed out that Hulsey could not have been taking a picture of a sailboat against the sunset on the day in question, as the sun was nowhere in the sky past the sailboat from the beach, but rather, would have been over Hulsey’s shoulder. 


Even if everything is incredible coincidence, even if all of the above taken together only adds up to Hulsey being a victim of repeated circumstance, he is still guilty.  Guilty of having a complete and total lack of foresight.  Guilty of incredibly poor and repeatedly at that, decision making skills.  Guilty of not knowing the difference between the appearance of right and wrong.  Guilty of somehow thinking that because he holds elected office, that he can behave any way that he wants AND should be allowed to do so in the future.  Which is exactly what I infer from his total lack of admittance to ANY wrongdoing at any level.

In my mind that is not the type of person I would trust to walk my dog, let alone be responsible for the wellbeing of the voters, of individuals, of couples, of children, as a leader of the people.  
I do feel however, that if he is capable of making a single good decision, that he should abandon his campaign for re-election.    

ESPECIALLY when you consider the reports that I have been getting from others that Hulsey is making a important new friend in his fight to keep activists, protesters and the Solidarity Sing Along out of the capitol building.  And that person is the highly controversial and extremist political appointee to the office of Chief of Capitol Police, Dave Erwin.  That is crossing a line that can not ever be forgiven by any reasonable person.  Teaming up with Erwin?  Really?

Chief Erwin that harasses citizens at their homes and places of work to intimidate them from returning to the Capitol building to exercise their constitutional rights.  Erwin who is a favorite on right wing extremist media sources like the McIver Institute?  Erwin who's policies nearly led to the death of a disabled female veteran. Erwin who defames the entire Capitol Police & Security force.  Erwin who has been denounced by city government, by the sheriff's union, by the police union.  This is your new friend Hulsey-shame on you!  That you would team with Erwin clearly demonstrates that you are opposed to the will of your constituents and that you in no way represent the interests of the 78th district.

Now it is true that you will find Hulsey's name on one of the letters sent to Chief Erwin asking for clarification of his legal stance for issuing citations and/or arresting people at the Capitol.  Many representatives signed at least one of those letters.  That is merely a smoke screen and I am not fooled for one instance by it.  By your actions are you known and the actions that Hulsey has been taking for over a year now clearly shows where he stands.  You cant shake the devil's hand and say that you are only kidding.  And besides, we all know that Chief Erwin will not meet with Democrat Senators or Representatives to discuss policy, he always refers them to his PR person.  So if he is meeting with Hulsey, then it has to be because the subject matter they are discussing fits Erwin's agenda.

That is why the Democratic Party has been discussing cutting off all support for Hulsey.  From what sources in The DPW tell me they no longer see Hulsey as representing the interests of the party.  They see him as a growing source of conflict against cohesion and unity, and do not want any involvement in his re-election campaign.  And I have to agree with that sentiment,  it is time for Hulsey to abandon his campaign for the good of the district and the party.  

Especially when one considers that there is no Tea Party extremist in his district assembly race to worry about somehow winning if he were to drop out.  The people have a qualified and in my opinion, excellent choice to replace Brett Hulsey in the legislature with fresh blood in  the young new comer Jonathan Dedering, the green party candidate. 

I have spoken with Dedering and find him to be a likable, trustworthy and a progressive spirit that is wise and capable beyond his years and is deserving of representing the constituents of his district, as well as of the state as a member of the legislature.  If you are not familiar with Dedering I am including a link to his campaign site and urge you to take a look at all that he has to offer. 


Those who know me personally, know that I am all about inclusion and cohesion in the Wisconsin Movement.  That I am dedicated to keeping us all together in this fight, of the majority of citizens versus the greedy and ignorant few.  But in this case I can see no possible way to defend Brett Hulsey and urge you to vote for Dedering.  I believe that Dedering is the one who can help deliver us to a brighter and more prosperous future. Brett Hulsey has more than proven himself to be a threat to integrity in government as well as a threat to the will of the people being the law of the land.   And I am not the only one that feels this way.


On Wisconsin!    FORWARD!!!!

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