Charlie Sykes & Company

Buffoons as usual.

Full disclosure at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Er, not quite.

"Walker returns $170,000 to business group's PAC," it says here: "Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce says it misunderstood GAB guidance on giving." Did you know that Steven J. Smith, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Journal Communications, Inc., which owns both the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the insufferable dissembler Charlie Sykes, and whose local teevee station plays weekly host to sleazy hacks like Brian Sikma of Media Trackers, is also an officer on the board of directors with the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce? Well, you may have known it but you wouldn't have known by reading the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

And it's not the first time you wouldn't have known it either.

Incidentally MMAC chairman Ulice Payne, Jr. conducted a panel I attended during orientation week at Marquette University Law School which turned out to be devoted exclusively to Payne's glorifying "how much money you will make." Payne, who at the time was a partner at Foley & Lardner, brought along a new associate with the firm and recent graduate of MULS. Payne instructed the young woman to tell the audience what her starting salary was and warned her that if she didn't provide this information then he would. It was a display so unseemly that I had to leave the hall and thence avoid the rest of orientation week.

That's an ostensibly Catholic institution, by the way, so perhaps Payne was emphasizing "how much money you will make" so you can give lots of it to charity. But I doubt it because Payne further emphasized that $10K of the new attorney's compensation was in clothing allowance, and the young associate wasn't exactly dressed in sackcloth (nor was Payne).

This while the State Bar of Wisconsin labors to disabuse the popular perception of attorneys as money-grubbing. Deftly played, Mr. Payne.

Teach those baby lawyers well.

More than one million signatures to Recall Walker

"Thanks a million." — Scott Walker

I happened to catch Charlie Sykes and his fellow wing-nuts Christian Schneider and Brian Sikma on TMJ-4 on Sunday. All were yukking it up and claiming organizers would fail to collect enough signatures to recall Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, but they got her too, with nearly 850,000 of them. These characters are in deep, profound denial.

And WISGOP challenges will likewise be an exercise in futility. Signature-gatherers have been triple-checking the docs prior to their submittal.

Now, more importantly, we'll see whether November, 2010 was a fluke.

Even if it wasn't, Scott Walker blew it, by rescinding the people's statutory rights, which wasn't necessary, and in particular wasn't necessary for any fiscal reason. Walker admitted that, and the litigation which culminated in the Wisconsin Supreme Court's invention of "supervisory/original" jurisdiction proved it. Rescinding the people's rights is not something you can do without consequence, apparently.

That's as it should be, and it's why the constitution authorizes recalls.

Scott Walker insults a decorated war veteran

Reports Daniel Bice:

"Mr. Freedman’s letter is nothing more than a political ploy by a long time Democrat," said Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie.

Perhaps there were politics at play, but Mr. Freedman is a Vietnam vet with a Bronze Star and it's kind of insulting to assert unequivocally there were no concerns on Freedman's part for his fellow veterans, is it not?

No wonder Scott Walker is being recalled today at 3 p.m.

He can take his assortment of foolish spokespersons with him.

Then the only one left will be poor old Charlie Sykes.

WTMJ's Charlie Sykes publishes some more lies

And the said liar proceeds to defeat his very own allegations:

As Gableman's NEW lawyer wrote in a letter to the editor that the Journal-Sentinel has conveniently refused to publish . . .

Reporter Patrick Marley published it about a week ago. It's right here.

And we've been enjoying it ever since. Where you been, Chuckles?

How is it that a contingency fee arrangement is suddenly a "gift"?

Because there was no valuable consideration. There is no value in some wholly speculative, arguably non-monetizable recovery, where third parties only may have reimbursed Gableman for his legal services if he had won his ethics case. That is, even if he had won — which he didn't — the likelihood that he would have recovered anything was equal to the likelihood of his recovering nothing. The former likelihood may have been a consideration in the de minimis, peppercorn sense, but the Code of Judicial Conduct requires it to be a valuable consideration. Otherwise Gableman's tens of thousands of dollars in legal services was a gift, according to the Code's own definition. This question of what is valuable consideration is not so easily hand-waved away by Gableman's defenders.

A legal "if" followed by a legal "may" starts to make stuff mighty attenuated from the ability to place an actual value on something, whatever that something may have been wholly speculated to be.

[Contingency fee arrangements are] what gets the jackpots that are used to fund a huge part of the Left’s political apparatus.

Really, well there clearly was no "jackpot" here, buddy. And that is precisely why there was no valuable consideration, and precisely why Gableman's tens of thousands of dollars in legal services was a gift.

But yeah, y'all keep emphasizing the extremely high-dollar value of what Gableman did receive,* because that really buttresses his apparent claim that his entirely speculative consideration** was in fact a valuable one.

In the meantime maybe Gableman can waive his attorney-client privilege so the people who elected him can have a look at what went down here.

And compare it with what was required of him by the Code of Conduct.

* And is receiving, from the looks of things.

** Which, by the way, was not even Gableman's consideration to give.

For this dimwit Wisconsin traded Russ Feingold

Sad:

James Simmons, a political expert at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, describes Ron Johnson’s first year in the Senate as unremarkable. Johnson’s tendency to vote against leadership shows he is not a team player and his proposals lack substance.

Via Xoff: A wealthy guy used to getting his own way.

Johnson was on Charlie Sykes yesterday morning, lying like a rug.

Charlie Sykes writes what he knows

"Charlie himself was — by his own definition — a moocher."

Sykes is WTMJ's biggest angry white man asset

620 WTMJ Can Run But It Can't Hide — Learned counsel Mike Plaisted

(The "ridiculous J.T. Harris" was on Sykes's teevee clown show Sunday.)

After that, the [620 WTMJ] morning team handed Walker off to — you guessed it — Charlie Sykes, who "interviewed" the governor in the same studio, with the extra enhancements, I would hope, of mood music, scented candles and flavored oil for the romantic encounter to follow.

Haha. That's my pal.

Hey I found the god who blesses Charlie Sykes

APATE was the spirit of deceit, guile, fraud and deception.

Wondered which one it was.

Earlier: "God bless you, Charlie Sykes."

Reince Priebus thanks Charlie Sykes for all the lies

"God bless you, Charlie Sykes."

That would be the famous "trickster God" of theology, evidently.

Journal-Sentinel editorial board is "appall[ed]"

So the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial board is "appall[ed]" that Wisconsin Dems spox Graeme Zielinski would point out that the fake drumbeat of recall election fraud emanates loudest from the paper's sister broadcasting and cable teevee companies. But it's the truth.

Meanwhile the paper acts as surrogate for a WISGOP fronting, phony news outfit's sleazy rumors and innuendo, and it's "appall[ed]" at GZ?

Who are they trying to kid.

Where's their editorial on professional responsibility?

eta: Proving Zielinski's point, among the guests on Charlie Sykes's TMJ-4 clown show this morning is Media Trackers sleazemonger Brian Sikma.

More WTMJ Reward Scott Walker gewgaws

Bisphenol A-Free! Help Save the Planet!

To minimize unwanted tastes and scents, the inside [of the Journal Broadcasting WTMJ Charlie Sykes Reward Scott Walker Sigg Water Bottle] is lined with a water-based, non-toxic epoxy resin that is compliant with FDA anti-leaching requirements.

Because damned federal regulations are throttling our job creators.

lolz — Jokers is exactly right.

Zielinski touches a Journal Broadcasting nerve

Creating 250,000 jobs ... in Red Communist China

After Wisconsin Dems spokesman Graeme Zielinski went on AM 620 WTMJ yesterday and treated a pair of radio hosts to a blinding glimpse of the obvious — that the station is a continuous shill for conservative Republicans in power — its teevee corollary, Today's TMJ-4, ran this as its lead story. "It got ugly," sez the Journal Communications, Inc. subsidiary, because Zielinski referred to Scott Walker as a "joker." Journal Broadcast Group Vice President Steve Wexler "thought it was odd" that Graeme Zielinski "critique[d] our programming." Hahaha.

Is Steve Wexler a joker too? See that there pic?

Mr. Wexler is literally selling those on dry goods and gewgaws.*

They sure think we're stupid, don't they.

* Note the metric system, favored by socialist regimes worldwide. And, here's an interesting item on Hanesbrands, the manufacturers of WTMJ's CafePress.com Scott Walker swag, shipping American jobs off to China.

So, yeah, "jokers" is a pretty good fit. And a grotesque understatement.

eta 01: "Throw a blazer over later for country club mingling."

That would be your Charlie Sykes/Scott Walker public relations geniuses.

eta 02: [Most Excellent] Post by Jake.

Ellen Berz for Dane County Circuit Judge

No brainer.

Republicans love to politicize judicial elections* and when April rolls around, being a "Walker appointee" will not be the most enviable thing in the world. As for Mr. Remington, do you think being an assistant attorney general will be a premise for heaping scorn, as it was for Mike Gableman and Charlie Sykes when they criticized JoAnne Kloppenburg?

Me neither.

* "Non-partisan," by law. That's a laugh.

Charlie Sykes, risible suburban hypocrite

Medium wave spokesmodel Charlie Sykes provides an excerpt from his latest mendacious anthology of wing-nut wisdom, A Nation of Moochers.

How about Charlie Sykes and his corporate paymasters commandeering the public airwaves to shill and literally sell merchandise connecting conservative Republican Governor Scott Walker with the publicly-owned frequency? Somehow the most substantial mooching goes unmentioned.

Come on. How can anyone possibly take this character seriously.

Charlie Sykes' slandering should cost TMJ its license

Shepherd Express via Whallah!

Spot on.

We kid you not. Sykes is selling T-shirts, hoodies and other swag with the slogan "Unite to Reward Scott Walker: Charlie Sykes Radio Show. 8:30-Noon—620 WTMJ."

It's true.

Media Trackers: "Our attorneys stand prepared."

Where were they before Mr. Sikma started publishing malicious lies?

Less than prepared, evidently.

Here's what Marquette professor of law Rick Esenberg had to say:

Any suggestion that there is either an action for defamation against either [Media Trackers' Brian Sikma or 620 AM WTMJ's Charlie Sykes] or the basis for a criminal charge is wildly off base given the nature of their remarks and applicable law.

Which was in response [sic] to this:

You said: It was not wrong for Media Trackers to raise the issue.

This outfit did much more than simply raise the issue. Media Trackers' "conservative media analyst" — that's the undeservedly hifalutin title conferred by Wisconsin Public Radio, which devoted an utterly pointless half an hour to him the other day — Brian Sikma reportedly told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "[Lena Taylor] was, in fact, an accessory to one felon voting on April 5."

And your good pal Charlie Sykes wrote: "Are [Democrats] all fine with Lena Taylor, a respected member of their party in the legislature, being an accessory to voter fraud?"

According to Freer v. Marshall & Ilsley Corp., 2004 WI App 201, "'imputation of certain crimes' to the plaintiff" raises a cause of action for defamation in Wisconsin. And there is a certain crime in Wisconsin that would fit Sikma's and Sykes's accusation of "accessory to voter fraud," described in Wis. Stat. § 12.13(1)(h).

Prof. Esenberg offered zero support for his dismissive handwaving.

But who knows, maybe he will be one of Brian Sikma's attorneys.*

In the meantime Mr. Sikma appears intent on measuring the homeless shelter's clothesline, to ensure it's up to municipal building code snuff.

I mean, those homeless people must be guilty of something, right?

* And if so, courtesy the Bradley Foundation, completing the circle.

Statement of Senator Lena Taylor

For the past two weeks, my family and I have been defamed and accused of crimes by Media Trackers and by members of the mainstream press in Wisconsin. Completely untrue and unexamined allegations were publicized, broadcast, and printed without regard for the truth or discovering the truth. Finally today, some facts have been reported to the public, rather than wild conjecture and assumption. This kind of reporting should have been done before any veracity was ever given to the Media Trackers allegations.

With today’s news, I demand an immediate apology to my mother, Lena J. Taylor, my family, and myself from Media Trackers and any other news source, including Journal Communications, Charlie Sykes, etc., that willingly reported outright false information, made serious allegations about our character, and did little or no research on these allegations. Given the amount of broadcast time and print space given to these false accusations, I would demand equal time and space to restore the harm done to my reputation and credibility and that of my mother and her organization. These past days have forced me to begin examining all available legal options against accusers who willingly slander and libel my family without regard for facts and truth.

Via Facebook.

Media Trackers "scored a PR coup"

DA: "Collins would have been eligible to vote at that time."

"Is it not news that [Wisconsin State Senator] Lena Taylor and her mother are involved in assisting an ineligible felon to vote?" wrote conservative talk show host Charlie Sykes on his blog. "The law was broken when this guy voted. Isn't that a problem?"

You eediots.

So, people, have we learned our Media Trackers lesson yet or what.

"Laughable, painfully amateurish drek." — This space, nine months ago

Things haven't improved any have they.

Media Trackers ["]communications director["] Brian Sikma said he was unaware that the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office would provide information regarding the release dates of inmates.

lolz Jimmy Olsen. And the crack reporters didn't even call to find out.

Then what's maybe worst of all, Media Trackers scammed Journal Communications, Inc. into putting this everywhere. Unbelievable.

Sykes: No juvenile offenders are white, apparently

Inspired by this story, which admittedly is tailormade for Charlie Sykes's race baiting. Sykes's employer and sponsor, Journal Communications, Inc., should be in the business of improving community relations in this city, not exacerbating them. They're in a sorry enough state as it is.*

If Sykes was clever he would have worked in a reference to Othello.

But he isn't clever. He's a scourge. And he doesn't even live in Milwaukee.

* You learn this by about your second public defender assignment.