Sensenbrenner 'wrong on too much'; Journal Sentinel endorses Kennedy

Sunday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial:

It's time to send the congressman home

Two years ago, we recommended Jim Sensenbrenner for another term representing Wisconsin's 5th Congressional District. Today, we simply cannot. Sensenbrenner has been wrong on too much, from an immigration policy that puts him at odds with much of his own party and the business community to failure to exert meaningful oversight over White House domestic spying policies.

We recommend his opponent, Democrat Bryan Kennedy. He will be a competent, thoughtful congressman who can restore a sense of dignity and balance to the 5th District. It's time for that after years of folly from Sensenbrenner.

Sensenbrenner has too often been an obstructionist to good policy. Given the reins of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, he had a chance to lead for the common good during a congressional session when few representatives had even a notion of what that meant. Too often, he didn't.

Sensenbrenner was wrong on immigration. His enforcement-only plan included making felons of undocumented immigrants and a useless 700-mile fence that will do nothing to solve this national problem. Worse for Republicans, his obstinacy split his own party and cost it a rare opportunity to significantly broaden its base.

Sensenbrenner was wrong on the USA Patriot Act. We need many of its provisions in this era of terrorism, but the version he championed strode upon the liberty of every American.

Sensenbrenner was wrong on Real ID, which will cost states millions of dollars to implement and which fixed something that wasn't broken.

Sensenbrenner was wrong not to dig deeper into the National Security Agency's domestic spying program. Sensenbrenner sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales but didn't bother with the real spade work.

Sensenbrenner was wrong to waste taxpayers' money by taking more than $160,000 in junkets since 1994, not to mention the more than $200,000 in world travel paid for by lobbyists and think tanks over the past six years.

Sensenbrenner was wrong to push bills that would make it harder for police agencies to track illegal guns and to crack down on rogue gun dealers.

Sensenbrenner was wrong to indict Milwaukee as "fast becoming the murder capital of the U.S." and wrong to lash out at Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, calling him a "crybaby" for having the brass to criticize Congress. It's but one example of the congressman's increasingly belligerent and unproductive tone.

Give Sensenbrenner credit for pushing to renew the Voting Rights Act and for bucking the administration on ethics reform. He was right about the risk for fraud in relief money sent to the Gulf Coast for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

But those are meager accomplishments.

Like Sensenbrenner, Kennedy favors tough border security but, unlike Sensenbrenner, also a path to legalization for the millions of illegal immigrants now here. He favors incentives to promote the entry of whole families, which he says would force immigrants up the wage scale, and bigger fines for businesses that employ illegal immigrants.

Kennedy, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor, favors a flexible withdrawal from Iraq but wants the generals to make those decisions. He notes, correctly, that the real fight is against terrorism.

He favors targeted tax cuts for the middle class, arguing that the Bush tax cuts missed that mark.

Some voters may be put off by Kennedy's decision to pay himself, a campaign staffer and a baby sitter from campaign funds. But if middle-class candidates are going to run, accommodations must be made. The Federal Elections Commission allows what Kennedy did. And keep in mind: Sensenbrenner is paid by the taxpayers while he campaigns.

No doubt, the district loses something in experience and seniority if Sensenbrenner goes. But a return to more moderate positions and tone, especially on immigration and guns, is well worth that price.

Big Jim digs deep for NRCC -- $100,000

Rep. F. Jim Sensenbrenner is making an investment to try to remain a part of the majority in the House. He's like to chair a committee again, no doubt.

The tight-fisted Sensenbrenner has given the National Republican Congressional Committee $100,000. Of course, it's from his campaign account, not his wallet. Still, it's a sign he wants to try to buy a spot in leadership if the Rs happen to prevail.

CQ has the story and list of other big donors.

Who's the tall nerdy guy in the suit?
Hint: What's the name of this blog?

High (dis)honors for Sensenbrenner

F. Jim Sensenbrenner has made it big -- #2 on Rolling Stone's list of 10 Worst Congressmen.

He's topped only by Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Spice Boys whistled for unnecessary roughness

Jay Bullock -- on this blog he's known as The Founder -- says on his folkbum blog that Sensenbrenner, who starts out with huge advantages of wealth and incumbency in his reelection campaign against Bryan Kennedy, has one more advantage. It's the Spice Boys, who are piling on at every opportunity.

If a Tree Falls in the Forest

Sometimes family matters have to be attended to and as much as I wanted to attend the 5th Congressional District debate last night, my wife's birthday came first.

Having missed this and being keenly interested in the proceedings, first thing this morning I tore open the Metro section of the Journal to find coverage of the event.

Nada

Well, maybe they saw fit to put it in the front section.

Zilch.

My guess is the shrinking space in the news hole dictated passing on the second debate in two days between Bryan, F. Jim and the Green candidate.

That's too bad, because the second debate in Fox Point is 180 degrees from the first one in Brookfield and makes for a different dynamic. Plus the first one took place in the afternoon and the second one in the evening.

My thought is that the second one would make for much more dynamic coverage with more impassioned reactions from this more liberal audience. This leads to the speculation if the Journal even thinks this race warrants coverage at all and has succumbed to the conventional wisdom -- or their version of it, despite that Bryan is in reach of the seat. Folkbum (http://folkbum.blogspot.com/2006/10/wi-05-f-jims-running-scared-with.html) has a great take on this.

Look at the situation. The horse race rules compel the news media to act like the GOP could catch up to the Democrats in the grab for Congress, even though the odds looks very bad for the Republicans. Check out Paul Krugman's column in todays NY Times.

But the Journal slogs along, discounting all possibilities that we do have a race going on in the 5th. Can't hearten the Democrats, can we.

Too bad. Newspapers should challenge the conventional wisdom, which leads me to wonder if the Journal will endorse one of the most unrepresentative of all of the Representatives in Congress for re-election.

Sensenbrenner and the NRA

Sensenbrenner and his colleagues ought to be ashamed for rushing to protect rogue gun dealers at the expense of public safety.

-- An editorial on Sensenbrenner's shameless sellout to the gun nuts.

Two public forums this week

I didn't say debate, because I can't tell for certain whether these are debates, forums, or just back-to-back speeches, but Big Jim Sensenbrenner and Bryan Kennedy will at least be in the same room twice in the next two days, probably for the only times during the entire campaign.

Both events are open to the public.

On Wednesday, Oct. 11, they'll take part in a forum at the Brookfield Public Safety Building, 2100 N. Calhoun Rd., from 10 to 11;30 a.m. It's sponsored by the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans.

On Thursday, Oct. 12, they will participate in a forum sponsored by the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations at Congregation Shalom, 7630 N. Santa Monica Blvd.,Fox Point, at 7 p.m.

The Two Faces of F. Jim

His votes may say "stay home", but his investments call out "ya'll come on over."

Talk about hedging your bets. Congressman Sensenbrenner may be sending bills to the floor of the House to block illegal immigration, but he pays his bills with investments that use illegals according to an analysis by Roberto Lovato of New American Media.

A rummage of his portfolio reveals:

(T)he congressman has invested in companies that have directly hired or subcontracted with employers who hire undocumented workers" and "stands to benefit from investments in companies contracted by the federal government to provide services he has proposed as part of his immigration reform legislation.

Oh yes, Halliburton is in there too:

Drawing especially strong criticism are the $86,500 in stocks Sensenbrenner holds in the construction and infrastructure colossus Halliburton. The Texas-based giant has been the subject of Senate hearings into its labor practices in the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. News reports and several panelists at Senate hearings have stated that Halliburton used subcontractors hiring hundreds, perhaps thousands of undocumented workers as part of no-bid federal contracts to cleanup Belle Chasse Naval base and other military facilities in the devastated region. Halliburton has also secured a $385 million Department of Homeland Security contract to build gigantic immigrant detention centers near the U.S.-Mexico border and stands to secure further contracts from proposals to reopen closed military bases to house deportees and detainees.

He may claim he has no illegals in his immediate employ at his real home in the Washington DC area, but as Deepthroat put it, "follow the money."

NRA calls the shots for Sensenbrenner

Gregory Stanford's op ed column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner coddles gun dealers who coddle criminals.

The suburban-Milwaukee Republican played a pivotal role in last week's passage by the House of a bill that law enforcement officials across the land warn would keep federal agents from shutting down rogue dealers.

Sensenbrenner, who has bashed Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett for the city's murder rate, is shirking his own responsibility to reduce that rate. He is thwarting law enforcement efforts to disarm outlaws.

Read the rest.

Sensenbrenner goes to the dogs

Sensenbrenner is single-handedly holding up a bill, in the final days of the Congressional session, to crack down on cockfighting and dogfighting -- a bill sponsored by 324 House members, including Mark Green, F. Jim's Wisconsin colleague and candidate for governor.

His resistance brought a full page newspaper ad in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday, sponsored by the Humane Society. It says F. Jim's on the wrong side of the fence.

What is it about Sensenbrenner and fences anyway?

Protecting the northern border

NY Public Broadcasting:

Deal to Delay Passport Requirement Fails

BUFFALO (2006-09-27) A deal reached in Congress Tuesday to delay the passport requirement along the northern border has fallen apart.

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter says lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agreed early Tuesday to delay the passport requirement along the U.S.-Canada border until June 2009.

But just before the vote, Slaughter says Wisconsin Republican James Sensenbrenner objected and convinced House Speaker Dennis Hastert to remove the extension.

Killing the delay at the last minute angered members of the Western New York Congressional delegation.

"This one really took us by surprise," Slaughter said.

Congress approved the passport requirement in 2004 as a way to prevent terrorism and crackdown on illegal immigration. It is scheduled to take effect in January 2008.

The passport requirement is causing widespread anxiety in Western New York, Southern Ontario and other northern border communities that depend on frequent travel to and from Canada for their local economy.

Folks probably won't be too happy about it in Detroit, northern Minnesota, or other northern outposts, either.

UPDATE:The Canadians are unhappy, not that Sensenbrenner would care. CanWest News Service reports:

WASHINGTON - Congressman James Sensenbrenner is a ruddy-faced politician known around Capitol Hill as one of Washington's most mercurial and uncompromising lawmakers.

A 28-year veteran of the House of Representatives, the border security-obsessed congressman from Wisconsin is perhaps best known for authoring immigration legislation which last year triggered massive street protests among Latinos from Los Angeles to New York.

As of Thursday night, Sensenbrenner was also the lone Republican leader blocking legislation to delay new U.S. rules for Canadian travellers that have incensed Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

UPDATE: The bill passed, but Sensenbrenner won a concession. CanWest reports:

WASHINGTON - Legislation to delay new border identification rules for Canadians traveling to the United States has survived a backroom power struggle among congressional Republicans, clearing the way for its final approval in Congress.

The House of Representatives passed the legislation 412 to six in a vote Friday evening, and the Senate was expected to approve the bill later Friday or early today.

The agreement, reached after four days of high-stakes politicking on Capitol Hill, will give Canadians up until the middle of 2009 before they must obtain a passport or tamper-proof equivalent document to cross land borders into the U.S.

But in order to appease the most vocal opponent of the border ID delay House judiciary committee chairman James Sensenbrenner Republican leaders publicly urged the Bush administration to implement the controversial program well before the new deadline.

Profile in Pandering

By Keith Schmitz

Today’s editorial in the New York Times charges that many in Congress are being truly soft on crime with the consideration of a bill which would make it harder to control the flow of guns used in crimes.

House sycophants of the National Rifle Association are aiming this week to hobble the federal government’s power to revoke the licenses of rogue gun dealers who arm the underworld. A shameless proposal would replace existing law with wrist-slapping penalties and an impossible definition of “willful intent” that would hamstring efforts to close lawless marketers.

This shameless pandering unfortunately has consequences to society.

What makes this gun decontrol measure truly brazen is recent data from the Justice Department, which reported a startling jump of nearly 50 percent last year in gun crime victims, to 477,000.

You can’t outlaw the NRA, but this is yet another example of why we as Americans should start ostracizing this organization, which is largely made up of good people but is run by a band of baboons:

No one can yet say whether this is related to an earlier N.R.A. “victory” — the decision of the Bush administration and Republican leaders in Congress not to renew the 10-year-old ban on the sale of military assault weapons to civilians. Any analysis is hampered by another gun lobby “victory” — Congress’s barring the federal gun control agency from searching out criminal trends in its own records of weapon sales.

The editorial closes with a smack down on F. Jim, that once again brings home the national embarrassment for those of us living in the 5th CD that have to bear having him as our Congressman.

Representative James Sensenbrenner, the Wisconsin Republican so alarmed of late about threats from the immigrant tide at the nation’s borders, shows no comparable concern about armed thugs shooting people in the inner cities. “Crybaby!” snarled Mr. Sensenbrenner in excoriating the mayor of Milwaukee for testifying on behalf of more, not less, gun control.

Of course Charlie Sykes has been cheerleading Sensenbrenner’s feud with Barrett while conveniently overlooking that the issue of crime is only fueled by this bill, which is a profile in pandering. Sykes makes a bogus claim that civic leaders have been trying to put a happy face on our local crime problem while neglecting that problem. But since when has Cheap-Shot Charlie ever stood up for anything positive?

Sensenbrenner ducks debate

Sensenbrenner a no-show at La Casa debate
Spokesman: Forum sponsors consistently oppose congressman

WAUKESHA - Incumbent U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner was in Waukesha County on Saturday, but he wasn’t at a candidates’ forum for those running for his seat because the longtime congressman viewed the proposed debate as not "true and fair," his press secretary said.

Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who currently represents the state’s 5th District in Congress, declined the invitation to participate in the community forum at La Casa de Esperanza in Waukesha, instead serving as the keynote speaker for the grand opening of the Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Riverwalk in Delafield.

Raj Bharwani, Sensenbrenner’s press secretary, explained the decision.

I'm sure the explanation was a dandy, but you can't read the rest unless you are a Waukesha Freeman subscriber.

Sensenbrenner:'Torture is just all right with me'

Sensenbrenner maneuvers the Bush torture bill through his committee.

Pundit Nation has details.

Sensenbrenner, GOP offer "show bills"

Ruben Navarrette Jr., of the San Diego Union-Tribune says Sensenbrenner & Co. are pushing 'just for show' bills on immigration:

-- I DON'T FULLY understand how Congress works. But after the latest round of gimmicks by House Republicans over immigration reform, I have a pretty good idea of why it doesn't.

My first hint that Congress was dysfunctional came a few months ago during an interview with House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, a major player in the immigration debate and the author of an enforcement-only bill passed by the House last year.

Sensenbrenner said that he opposed amnesty and believed that Congress should first strive for border security. He also said that the illegal immigrants who were already here had to return home, yet once there, he might support expediting their re-entry into the United States through legal channels.

Fine. There's nothing wrong with any of that. What's wrong is that Sensenbrenner and other House Republican hard-liners don't know how to take "yes" for an answer, and that raises questions about their motives.

Read the rest.

Sensenbrenner steps in it

-- Stuart Carlson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
All around, a bad press day for F. Jim. Two bad editorials and now this:

Civic leaders rebuke Sensenbrenner
They criticize 'murder capital' comment

Three civic leaders slapped back at U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner on Thursday, calling his statement that Milwaukee "is rapidly becoming the murder capital of the U.S." untrue and harmful.

"To digress into this kind of name-calling is distressing," said Dean Amhaus, president of Spirit of Milwaukee, a group that seeks to promote the city. "Especially for a congressman who represents this area."

Julia Taylor, president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, a business-led civic organization, said: "Certainly the congressman's comments could have a very chilling effect on what we're trying to do to build our region. I also don't think they're accurate."

The city has crime problems, Taylor said, "but to say that we're becoming the murder capital of the U.S. is damaging. It's inflammatory."

Doug Neilson, president and chief executive officer of VISIT Milwaukee, the city's convention and tourism bureau, said: "The comment is not true. In fact, our homicide rate has gone down to date compared to last year. . . . It doesn't help our economic development efforts to bring tourists and businesses to the region when we have negative and untrue statements being made by public officials."

Sensenbrenner, for his part, didn't give an inch. He said in Washington that his remark was accurate - although FBI figures show that two dozen cities with populations of 10,000 or more had higher murder rates than Milwaukee in 2005, and that homicides this year are running 14% behind the pace of last year.

Read the rest.

A double-barreled blast on gun bill

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial page lets Congressman F. Jim Sensenbrenner have it with both barrels in its Friday edits for his support of and defense of a bill to keep secret the sources of guns used in crimes, an NRA-written bill if there ever was one.

A bad bill:

Sensenbrenner should disassociate himself from this soft-on-crime measure, which only makes the gun lobby and the outlaw class happy...

Sensenbrenner ... claimed opponents of the bill were trying "to take guns away from law-abiding citizens." Wrong again. The ability to trace guns to the initial buyers and to stores is hardly confiscation.

The National Rifle Association considers the bill a top priority, the Journal Sentinel's Daniel W. Reilly reports, because it would protect gun dealers from lawsuits filed by cities by restricting access to a federal database. But this Congress already has set the bar higher for suits against members of the gun industry than for civil action involving all other businesses. Does the gun lobby want total immunity from any conceivable lawsuit? No industry deserves that...

Over eight years, the NRA's political action fund contributed $12,200, in 13 installments, to Sensenbrenner's campaign fund, according to the Federal Election Commission. What's more, the NRA gives Sensenbrenner top grades. But does this mean that the congressman must do all the organization's bidding?

A graceless display:

... That would be his response to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett's criticism of the gun bill Sensenbrenner helped push through the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

Aside from the childish nature of the response, the more worrisome thing was its tone, which was reminiscent of the divisive politics practiced so often in the past that set city against suburb...

... it's so discouraging that a politician of national prominence would lash out at his own community. Because, make no mistake about it, Milwaukee is his community. Yes, Sensenbrenner represents the collar suburbs. But his suburban constituents benefit from a strong, healthy Milwaukee just as Milwaukee benefits from strong suburban areas. We're all in this together.

With politicians and business leaders across the region working to overcome years of internecine warfare between Milwaukee and its suburbs, Sensenbrenner's comments strike us as thoughtless...

Sensenbrenner is entitled to his view, of course. But he's not entitled to wage old wars of division without being called out.

It was wrong. And somehow, we think, even the congressman knows it.

Barrett calls Sensenbrenner out on guns

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is the quintessential nice guy who almost never gets his Irish dander up. But Jim Sensenbrenner managed to set him off by whoring off again to the NRA, as the Journal Sentinel reports:

Taking it personally
Sensenbrenner, Barrett quarrel over gun bill

By DANIEL W. REILLY

Washington - The mayor of Milwaukee and the congressman representing most of its suburbs engaged in a heated and somewhat personal long-distance exchange Wednesday over crime and its effect on the city.

The argument began with House Judiciary Committee passage of legislation that would prohibit the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from releasing data used to trace guns used in crimes back to the dealers who sold them. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Menomonee Falls, is chairman of the committee.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett called the approval of the bill "appalling," saying that "the federal government is turning its back on our fight to get illegal guns off the street."

Sensenbrenner, who voted for the bill, called Barrett a "crybaby" who is "attempting to use legislation pending in Congress to cover up his

White supremacists for Sensenbrenner

You probably won't see that on a bumper sticker, but that's what the Shepherd Express, Milwaukee's alternative weekly, reports:

White Supremacists Rally Behind Sensenbrenner

Immigration message loved by hate groups

The Anti-Defamation League has warned that white supremacists have been rallying behind the right-wing anti-immigration movement. It’s no surprise, then, that these hate groups have particularly embraced Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, the controversial Wisconsin Republican behind a harsh immigration proposal in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Congressman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin has been the most vocal mainstream politician standing up against the flood of illegals puring (sic) across our borders,” reads a post on Stormfront.org, an online forum for neo-Nazis.

“Fellow Whites In Wisconsin be sure In November to get out and vote for Sensenbrenner,” reads another from a self-described “Proud German-American from Wisconsin.”

Sensenbrenner’s proposal has even won him the approval of Wisconsin’s Nationalist Coalition, a white-power organization. “Because this has been the first step taken regarding illegal immigrants in this country the Nationalist Coalition supports the actions of Mr. Sensenbrenner,” Stephen Chadwick of the Coalition wrote in an e-mail.

“In short, I support Mr. Sensenbrenner,” Chadwick continued, “but I am sure that our endorsement will mean little to nothing to him nor would it carry him in the elections.”