Ben Masel's blog

With Calumet County District Attorney Keneth Kratz refusing to resign following revelation of his sexually harrassing emails to a domestic violence victim whose case was in his office, it's time for Governor Doyle to step up and use his power under  of the State Constitution to remove Kratz from office.

Article 6 Section 4

 "The governor may remove any elected county officer
mentioned in this section except a county clerk,
treasurer, or surveyor,giving to the officer a copy of the charges
and an opportunity of being heard."

Call the Governor's Office at (608) 266-1212

 

If this doesn't work, there's Impeachment by the Assembly, and Removal after trial in the State Senate, a more cumbersome process as it would involve calling a special session of the Legislature.

 

Article 7, Section 1

The court for the trial of impeachments shall be composed of the senate. The assembly shall have the power of impeaching all civil officers of this state for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors; but a majority of all the members elected shall concur in an impeachment. On the trial of an impeachment against the governor, the lieutenant governor shall not act as a member of the court. No judicial officer shall exercise his office, after he shall have been impeached, until his acquittal. Before the trial of an impeachment the members of the court shall take an oath or affirmation truly and impartially to try the impeachment according to evidence; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two−thirds of the members present. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, or removal from office and disqualification to hold any office of honor, profit or trust under the state; but the party impeached shall be liable to indictment, trial and punishment according to law.

By now you're likely aware of Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth's controversial letter to area school districts, obliquely threatening to prosecute teachers for sex education including instruction on how to use condoms.

I'll be heading up to Mauston Friday to distribute condoms and educational fliers from the public sidewalk nearest Mauston High School, "authorised and paid for by Ben Masel for US Senate 2012."

This will be my official campaign expenditure.

If I'm REALLY LUCKY, Southworth will find a police agency foolish enough to arrest me.

Juneau County DA warns districts on sex ed law

 

While I agree with Glenn Greenwald that the Democratic draft of the FISA Bill re-write is not all that bad, given that the last revision expires in February, it's worth slowing down and fighting for amendments which repair gaps in communications privacy which preceded the summer capitulation, notably with respect to location data collected by the cellular and other wireless providers. Realtime location tracking was mandated by the "E-911" legislation of the late '90s, for use when YOU dialed 911 in an emergency, but as built out, the architecture knows your whereabouts any time the phone's powered to receive calls. More, a record is retained, and with the Statutes silent, some Courts have held you've waived any privacy in this data history by contracting with the carrier. The highest profile case of law enforcement access in Wisconsin was the election-morning 2004 tireslashing incident. Representative Baldwin, has a key role, as she sits on both the Judiciary and Commerce Committees, both of which have jurisdiction, along with Intel. In prior conversations, she's expressed interest in legislating the location data, but I've yet to hear back on her interest in attaching the fix requiring the same level of warrant requirements as content interception to the pending Wiretap bill.