April 10, 2014

Why did the conservative video-activist James O'Keefe go after Wisconsin Senate President Mike Ellis (a Republican)?

Here's the Project Veritas video that went up yesterday:



Here's The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's report:
In an interview Wednesday, O'Keefe declined to say why his group has focused on Ellis, saying it has called out politicians from around the country for their hypocrisy....

Some conservatives have called for a primary challenge to Ellis, who has been at odds with other Republican leaders on issues such as expanding voucher schools....

The unedited video shows Ellis responding favorably to remarks critical of Republican Gov. Scott Walker. The individual secretly recording the interview for Project Veritas accuses Walker of focusing all of his efforts on a possible presidential bid.

"Amen," Ellis responded, later applauding comments about Walker not caring about Wisconsin. Ellis added, "I think Walker's working for Walker."
Ellis has been a Wisconsin state senator since 1982, he's up for reelection this November, and there is a challenger from the Democratic Party. 

UPDATE: One day later, Mike Ellis drops out.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is this the same guy who was quoted favorably, recently, a Republican from Wisconsin, saying he just couldn't do it anymore? Something about elections and how Republicans were trying to stop people from voting?

Unknown said...

Nice. Two Walker haters in the race.

PB said...

It's called equal opportunity.

RecChief said...

maybe what O'keefe is doing isn't necessarily about partisanship. At least, not about GOP/Democrat partisanship.

It'd be nice to see abc/nbc/cbs/cnn/wapo/nytimes/latimes/tpm/ et al. go after some wrongdoing in their camp for once.

garage mahal said...

My guess is the voucher lobby. Ellis had the gall to say that local governments should decide if they want voucher schools or not. They've eliminated Democrats, and Ellis is lone remaining squish in the WisGOP. I wonder which mob boss gave the okay for this hit?

wendybar said...

I agree with RecChief. James knows there are lousy Republicans too. At least someone is doing the job that the MSM refuses to do.

kjbe said...

O'Keefe is going after Ellis because Ellis is hard for Walker to handle. He's got a tremendous independent streak that's to unpredictable for Walker and his funders (Bradley Foundation/Koch) to handle.
Regardless of who's paying, it sure smells like authoritarians hellbent on ideological purity.

wendybar said...

I agree with RecChief. James knows there are lousy Republicans too. At least someone is doing the job that the MSM refuses to do.

Unknown said...

The voucher lobby - aka - lower income parents who are sick of failing and putrid public schools. How dare they.

alan markus said...

The voucher lobby - aka - lower income parents who are sick of failing and putrid public schools. How dare they.

In this case the voucher lobby might be the ones who represent the schools that want voucher funding.

John henry said...

I think it is fine that O'Keefe is going after repos as well as demmies.

Fuck 'em all.

Send them all home.

Don't re-elect anyone.

I don't live in WI so have no dog in this fight. Never voting for incumbents of either party is just a good general policy IMHO.

John Henry

garage mahal said...

In this case the voucher lobby might be the ones who represent the schools that want voucher funding.

I'm sure these vultures that run voucher schools want more public money. That's the point.

Gahrie said...

Republicans have always gone after their own for ethical lapses.....see Nixon.

It is one of the major differences between the partys....Republicans have standards and enforce them and Democrats don't.

Farmer said...

That Super PAC stuff has no context. He could have been discussing a hypothetical situation that he actually condemns. "See: I'll raise 500,000 and have somebody else attack my opponent." The way he talks about it, either he's making the textbook argument against it, or he's Snidely Whiplash.

Mark said...

Hit job. Question is who.
Bradley Foundation?
Robin Vos setting his ladyfriend up with a plum seat?
Walker getting rid of a squish who caused problems passing what he was told last session?

He will get knocked out in the primary now - it's not like the James O'Keefe was tipped off to this tiny bit player as a favor to WI Dems.

Gahrie said...

I'm sure these vultures that run voucher schools want more public money. That's the point.

Which vultures? The public school teacher's unions?

Mine sure do.

LuAnn Zieman said...

Conservative and Republican are not actually synonymous. Ellis has been a politician far too long. I'm all for term limits.

Andy Freeman said...

> I'm sure these vultures that run voucher schools want more public money. That's the point.

As opposed to the public school folk, who don't want public money.

What? They do?

Wowsers. One group is bad for wanting public money to educate kids while the other is good for wanting public money to educate kids.

garage mahal said...

He will get knocked out in the primary now - it's not like the James O'Keefe was tipped off to this tiny bit player as a favor to WI Dems.

Walker & the WisGOP run the state like a mob outfit. It's funny that what Ellis is being accused of is exactly what Walker's campaign is currently being investigated for. I wonder what Don signed off on it?

paminwi said...

James O'Keefe also went after Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner. It was something to do with his rewriting of the Patriot Act section to do with surveillance of citizens.

I think O'Keefe goes after disingenuous politicians of all stripes. Good for him.

https://www.projectveritas.com/looks-like-u-s-rep-jim-sensenbrenner-just-got-okeefed/

ron winkleheimer said...

"I'm sure these vultures that run voucher schools want more public money. That's the point."

Wow garage, that is some serious kool aid your drinking there.

Tell me, just what is it about people who run schools that accept vouchers that make them vultures?

Curious George said...

"garage mahal said...
I'm sure these vultures that run voucher schools want more public money. That's the point."

Their pikers compared to the vultures that run public schools...they skimmed the taxpayers of $70 million in excessive insurance premiums alone. Well, with the help of Democrats.

Ed Perkins said...

Ralph & Curious George are my guys in this fight. Having lived 40 years in Milw. and seeing how there is NO accountability in the public schools and where PARENTS utilized the Choice Program and kept their kids in the Choice Schools settles this argument about why we need Choice Schools. The waste in public schools is 10 times that of voucher/choice schools yet the teachers union and the educrats won't admit this.

garage mahal said...

Milwaukee property owners will pay 400 million dollars in the next 12 years in voucher schools taxes. Most are religious schools, and about 15 schools teach creationism. After 20 years they still lag behind public school in math and reading. Vouchers are easily the biggest scam inside Wisconsin, lobbied for by criminals like Scott Jensen.

Dr Hubert Jackson said...

In other news Democrat Party operatives laugh at Ellis amateur attempts at rigging the system...

But as others have said... this is all fine and I'm glad he's not just a Republican hack. Root our corruption everywhere.

damikesc said...

Walker & the WisGOP run the state like a mob outfit.

Ironically, saying this about a large city is, usually, "racist"...

Mark said...

And Ellis retires.

Quite an effective hit job this turned out to be. Someone is very happy, there's an open seat for them to install someone into.