Pedro Colón received the endorsements of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the Milwaukee Shepherd Express.

The Journal-Sentineleditorial describes Colón as “engaged with the district,” “attentive” to his constituents, employing an “effective voice for Milwaukee,” and with Colón’s position on the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee having achieved "respect in the Legislature to be in a position to deliver for Milwaukee.”

The endorsement flatly contradicts the willy-nilly discourse of Robert Miranda, executive director of Esperanza Unida, and Laura Manriquez, president of Esperanza Unida, who tried to knock both of their opponents off the ballot in an unsuccessful effort to circumvent the ballot box, saying that only they were in touch with the district.

Say what you want about Clean Sweep Wisconsin, but at least they try to get elected by dedicating their energies to running in electoral campaigns, and not avoiding them.

The phantom southside Milwaukee candidate for state assembly, José Guzmán, is at last revealing himself contending with his recruitment by the political operative, Tom Reynolds, the notorious former state senator known for his anti-Catholic views and often bizarre political behavior.

After weeks of silence, Guzmán is meeting criticism of his campaign by finally speaking to the press, and accusing one of his opponents, incumbent Democratic State Rep. Pedro Colón (Eighth Assembly District, Milwaukee), of being "anti-catholic" for his vote for the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill, signed into law by Gov. Doyle in March.

Guzmán criticized Colón for his vote, saying Colón voted for "anti-Catholic legislation ... against the people of the 8th Assembly District." [See Guzmán literature below.]

via mal contends - Pro-Life Wisconsin announced their candidate endorsements via its Pro-Life Wisconsin Victory Fund political action committee this week.

Five of the six candidates being run by Tom Reynolds' Clean Sweep Wisconsin (CSW) in the Milwaukee-area Democratic primaries are recipients of the "Pro-Life" endorsements, even though the five candidates themselves have not voiced the extreme anti-abortion and other controversial views of CSW's treasurer and mastermind.

The Pro-Life Wisconsin endorsement corroborates the conventional political wisdom that Tom Reynolds' Clean Sweep Wisconsin is running rightwingers in the Democratic primaries, further eroding his already nearly nonexistent credibility.

Update II: Clean Sweep WI's PAC report.

Update: MJS: Democratic Party begins endorsing incumbent Assembly members

Tom Reynolds' Clean Sweep Wisconsin (CSW) slate of candidates running in the Milwaukee area are revealed in CSW's July campaign finance report.

The report indicates seven Assembly candidates (one since disqualified) and one State Senate candidate, Nicholas E. Cosey, (since disqualified) as recipients of CSW's PAC money.

The former Wisconsin state senator, Reynolds, has been disavowed by establishment Republicans and Democrats, and criticized for the dealings of his PAC in running rightwingers in Democratic primaries while denying that he is doing so.

Update II: Informed sources say that absolutely no mainstream Republican will have "anything" to do with Tom Reynolds. That will make this story a bit less fun to cover, but it merits stating that the GOP ought not be blamed for anything Reynolds and his people do and say. 

Update: Clean Sweep Wisconsin’s (CSW) PAC is mandated to file a 2008 continuing financial report with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board by July 21. Citizens seeking CSW’s disbursements made prior to July 21 can request a copy or inspection of CSW’s report. CSW can claim exemption from financial reporting if several criteria are met.

Update: Daniel Bice has the audio of a Tom Reynolds phone call to state Rep. Christine Sinicki (D-Milwaukee, 20), “a veteran Milwaukee Democrat, (who) has a direct and personal interest in what Reynolds was doing, so she signed up - using a fake name - with Clean Sweep Wisconsin.”

This is the link is to the audio of the Reynolds phone call, and the URL is: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=770314

Transcription of the Reynolds call, in part, follows:

The first candidates for Tom Reynolds' (R-Outer Reaches) Clean Sweep Wisconsin's project to run some 12 candidates against Milwuakee-area Democratic incumbents in the Democratic primary are now public.

The Reynolds' folks are: Phil Landowski (running against state Rep. Christine Sinicki (D-Milwaukee)) and Josh Hoisington (running against Tony Staskunas (D-West Allis), West Allis being Reynolds' home turf), reports Daniel Bice in yesterday's Journal-Sentinel.

Reynolds, almost universally blasted during his tenure in the state senate (see Waxing America's profile on Reynolds from 2005 for Reynolds' weird anti-Catholic cavorting and the Milwaukee Shepherd-Express piece on Reynolds), has reportedly convinced several candidates to run against incumbent Assembly Democrats for reasons not entirely clear.

Clean Sweep Wisconsin's foray into the state Assembly races is being fronted by former state senator Tom Reynolds (R-Outer Reaches).

Reynolds has created Clean Sweep Wisconsin's PAC and is recruiting numerous rightwing candidates to run in the Democratic primaries of Milwaukee state representatives.

Wonder if that means all Catholics and non-virgins will be swept away this election cycle.

The Wisconsin State Journal's Mark Pitsch politely describes Reynolds as "eccentric".

But with Reynolds, politeness obscures reality.

The Milwaukee Shepherd-Express' Lisa Kaiser leads her piece from June thusly: