Accusations of sex harassment nothing new for ALEC’s man in Wisconsin

PR Watch: Assembly Majority Leader Bill Kramer, a stalwart of the American Legislative Exchange Council, has been accused of sexually harassing two women while in Washington, D.C. last week for a Wisconsin GOP fundraiser. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the 49-year-old Republican lawmaker physically and verbally harassed a 33-year-old female lobbyist at the fundraising event and another woman on the plane back to Wisconsin…

Kramer’s office staff released a statement indicating that the boss was checking into rehab, but a little counseling may not be enough. This is not the first time that this type of allegation has been made about Kramer. Republican State Representative Chris Kapenga warned his caucus that Kramer was a loose cannon after he engaged in similar conduct at an ALEC meeting in Chicago last August.

According to news reports, Kramer shrugged off the allegations: “I have heard that something happened at ALEC, and everybody I’ve talked to said they heard something inappropriate happened at ALEC,” Kramer said. “I haven’t run into anybody that saw something inappropriate happen at ALEC. Apparently, I had a pretty good time.”

Kramer is an ALEC pointman in the Wisconsin legislature. He supported Voter ID, telecom deregulation, anti-consumer tort legislation, the repeal of collective bargaining rights for state workers and more. He also supported radical restrictions on a woman’s right to choose, including a state mandated ultrasound before terminating a pregnancy.

The cocky Kramer, who likes to use Wisconsin’s new concealed carry law to reportedly carry a Glock semiautomatic onto the floor of the Assembly, will face a vote on Tuesday designed to strip him of his leadership position and ease him out of office.

OK, so here’s the timeline here: the Assembly GOP were warned that Kramer was a pig (and apparently a bit of a nutjob) in September of 2013. In January of 2014, they elected him Assembly Majority Leader (think Eric Cantor’s equivalent in the Wisconsin legislature). They knew that he’d been accused of sexual harassment before, but they went ahead and elected him anyway.

These accusations are so serious that it’s highly likely that he’ll be removed from his leadership post tomorrow. Wait, did I say the accusations were serious? I’m sorry, I meant the bad publicity is serious.

Obviously, Wisconsin Republicans don’t take this sort of thing seriously at all. If they did, Bill Kramer would never have gotten the leadership post in the first place.

Top WI GOP lawmaker under fire for alleged sexual harassment

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Assembly Majority Leader Bill Kramer may resign from his leadership post as soon as Saturday after being accused of sexually harassing at least two women while in Washington, D.C., for a GOP fundraiser.

Sources said the allegations against the 49-year-old Republican lawmaker involve a 33-year-old female lobbyist and at least one other woman. The Journal Sentinel has decided not to name the women.

Kramer, 49, could not be reached for comment and was not at his Waukesha home Friday night. His chief of staff, Cameron Sholty, said the lawmaker would be meeting with staff Saturday and would be talking with fellow Republican lawmakers over the next 48 hours. He declined to comment further.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos issued a statement calling the alleged conduct “reprehensible.” He said the issue would be resolved quickly.

"Recently I was made aware of serious allegations regarding inappropriate behavior by Rep. Kramer. Since I learned of those allegations I have been consulting with legal counsel and other legislators to understand what options are available.

"The alleged behavior is reprehensible and won’t be tolerated."

According to the report, “Kramer is accused of groping at least one of the women and making lewd and inappropriate remarks to at least two women.” War on Women? Well, Kramer’s engaged in hand-to-hand combat, so…

Along with the recent release of emails from the first John Doe probe, it’s becoming awfully clear that Republicans in Wisconsin are one scuzzy bunch of racists and sexists. Hell, it’s even hard to argue that they’re not just anti-human.

If state Democrats don’t make 2014 at least partially about character and morals, it’ll be political malpractice. So many of these people have none.

News Roundup for 12/2/11

Herman Cain's women's outreach manager

-Headline of the Day-
"Cain highlights female supporters on new website."

And by "highlights" he means... Oh, make up your own joke. It's easy.

Anyway, despite coming down to the wire on his decision whether to keep going or not, Herman Cain has a new website up featuring all the women in America that Herman Cain either hasn't sexually harassed or had an affair with. Which so far is about 50 of them. If you're a woman who hasn't been harassed by or had an affair with Herman, you're invited to tell your story about why you think he's wonderful.

If your opinion of the Cain Train is somewhat different, you probably shouldn't waste your time submitting it. Criticism is not taken well there. According to the report, "The site features testimonials from female Cain supporters offering words of support and attacking the women who have alleged sexual harassment and an affair with Cain as 'scheming' and 'desperate.'"

Because, you see, not knowing Herman Cain at all, they'd be the experts about that. Of course the site is run under Herman's wife's name, Gloria Cain, who would be an expert. But according to at least one report, Gloria may not be as enthused with Herman as the site would suggest. Friends describe "a woman angry that her life has been turned upside down by her husband's need for attention and power by any means."

And, of course, this is Herman Cain we're talking about, so this thing can't go by without a gaffe. "[T]he group quickly came under fire after media organizations noted that the photo of four women giving the thumbs-up signal on the Web site was not truly of Cain supporters but a stock photo," reports the Washington Post.

Never let it be said that the Herman Cain campaign did not die as it lived; completely FUBAR. (The Hill)


-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, I was out yesterday, trying to recall this knuckleheaded governor we've got here, so I didn't get a chance to put this up. Anyway, here's two cavemen discussing science. Yay!


Click for animation

Wow, it's almost like it's a metaphor for something... (MarkFiore.com)


-Bonus HotD-
"Saudis fear there will be ‘no more virgins’ and people will turn gay if female drive ban is lifted."

Wow, Saudi Arabia has Republicans too! (Daily Mail)

Stories to Watch: 11/2/11

Pot roast tonight. Just throw it in a slowcooker with carrots, potatoes, and what have you, then walk away and leave it. Started it about noon and now all I'll have to do is make gravy and I'm good to go. Easy-peasy. Now here's the news...


Today in "it's silly to worry about rightwing extremists" news: rightwing militia-types are arrested in a plot to commit mass-terrorism using botulinium toxin. "There is no way for us, as militiamen, to save this country, to save Georgia, without doing something that’s highly, highly illegal: murder," said one. "When it comes time to saving the Constitution, that means some people have got to die."


Phase one of the GOP's laser-like focus on jobs: pass a meaningless resolution reaffirming "In God We Trust" as the national motto.


Occupy Oakland's general strike closes Mens' Warehouse. The retailer locked its doors in solidarity with the strikers.


Video shows Herman Cain losing it a little bit with reporters, who refuse to stop asking him about his sexual harassment problems; "What did I say? Excuse me. Excuse me! What part of no don't some people understand?"


And, of course, Herman plays the victim card.


As always, anti-internet piracy legislation has been written by people who don't understand the internet.


Not only does it start your tap water on fire, but fracking causes earthquakes.


Finally, 40 House Republican sign a letter saying they're open to taxes increases. You read that right.

Related articles

• Third Employee Claims Harassment By Herman Cain (businessinsider.com)
• House Reaffirms 'In God We Trust' (abcnews.go.com)
• President Obama Ridicules Congress For Wasting Time With 'In God We Trust' Vote (mediaite.com)
• Herman Cain's Accuser Wants to Tell Her Story (littlegreenfootballs.com)

News Roundup for 11/2/11

Herman Cain harasses an Iowa crowd with a sexually suggestive gesture

-Headline of the day-
"Oklahoma Consultant Claims He Witnessed Cain Harassment."

Herman Cain's sexy sexual harassment sex scandal (SEX!) may have just moved from the abstract to the concrete. And, in the process, moved into the icky. According to the report, "Oklahoma political consultant Chris Wilson says if the woman behind the reported sexual harassment complaint against GOP Presidential hopeful Herman Cain is allowed to speak publicly, it'll be the end of Cain's run for the White House."

"I was the pollster at the National Restaurant Association when Herman Cain was head of it and I was around a couple of times when this happened and anyone who was involved with the NRA at the time, knew that this was gonna come up," Wilson told an Oklahoma radio station.

"This occurred at a restaurant in Crystal City [Virginia] and everybody was aware of it," he said. "It was only a matter of time because so many people were aware of what took place, so many people were aware of her situation, the fact she left---everybody knew with the campaign that this would eventually come up."

Wilson described the woman as a "a low level staffer who was maybe two years out of college" and says that, for legal reasons, he can't get too into it. But that it's pretty bad. "[I]f she comes out and talks about it, like I said, it'll probably be the end of his campaign."

Cain defenders are making a big deal about the fact that Wilson is a Perry backer. But if the allegations are true, would you really expect him to be supporting Herman Cain?

Think about it. (KTOK)


-This isn't going to help-
A lawyer for one of the women Cain is accused of harassing says that the confidentiality agreement keeping her from coming forward is out the window -- because Herman was bound by it as well.

According to the report, "[O]ne of the stipulations of the confidentiality agreement was that neither party could make disparaging remarks about the other. [Attorney Joel] Bennett said Cain violated that agreement on Fox News on Monday when he said that he had been told that the accuser’s performance in the workplace 'was not up to par.'"

FLASHBACK TO PREVIOUS ITEM: "If she comes out and talks about it... it'll probably be the end of his campaign."

She wants to come out and talk about.

OK, GOP voters. Back to the drawing board. (The Hill)


-Bonus HotD-
"AP Exclusive: Third worker says Cain harassed her."

Oh man, Herman. You are so screwed! (AP)

News Roundup for 11/1/11

"Ask me about my sex scandal -- please!"

-Headline of the Day-
"Mark Block Won't Talk About the Other Cain Scandal."

Did you know there were not one, but two scandals following the Herman Cain Train around like a black cloud? It's true! First, there's the sexy boom-chaka-wow-wow sexy sexual harassment sexy scandal broken by Politico and then there's some boring old money-laundering scandal broken by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. One's pretty serious and the other's really serious -- like someone could go to jail serious. So all the news networks are following Cain around with microphones, wondering why he won't shut up about the sexy boom-chaka-wow-wow sexy sexual harassment sexy scandal -- because they're smart like that.

Anyway, it turns out that if -- on the off-chance -- someone accidentally asks the Cain Train about the money-laundering scandal, they run into a brick wall. "We've retained independent counsel to look at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story," campaign manager Mark Block told a reporter when asked about it. What's that mean? You guys hire a lawyer or Sherlock Holmes or what? When asked again, Block gave pretty much the same answer.

When asked a third time, he said, "Why don't we talk about the campaign going forward?"

Or, if you don't want to talk about that, he's probably more than happy to talk about the sexy boom-chaka-wow-wow sexy sexual harassment sexy scandal. "Cain's campaign manager was once suspended from election work in Wisconsin because of election law violations," writes Dave Weigel. "He can't or won't talk now about more possible violations. It might be better for the Cain campaign if we all focus on Politico's story."

That's the sexy boom-chaka-wow-wow sexy sexual harassment sexy scandal, BTW. So if you're a journalist, make sure you ask Team Cain all about that one, OK?

I know they'd sure appreciate it. (Weigel)


-Subtle variations make all the difference-


Click to embiggen

(Truthdig)


-Bonus HotD-
"Ann Coulter On Herman Cain: Our Blacks Are Better Than Their Blacks."

For future reference, it's probably a bad idea for white people to refer to black people as a group in possessive terms -- given US history and all.

Try to keep that in mind, Annie. (Mediaite)

News Roundup for 10/31/11

Herman Cain

-Headline of the day-
"Herman Cain Breaks Into Song at the National Press Club"

Herman Cain's got a little bit of a problem. He's teetering on the edge of a sex scandal and things aren't looking up for him. He says he didn't do it, but if that's true, then the details don't make a lot of sense.

So what's he do? He closes up a speech to the National Press Club with the hymn "He Looked Beyond My Fault And Saw My Need" -- because nothing says "I'm innocent!" like a song about how Jesus can look past what a horrible, horrible sinner you are and forgive you.

Of course, the next big scandal is looking like it'll be a campaign finance/money-laundering scheme coming out of Wisconsin, but do a little song and dance, pull a rabbit out of his hat, and it'll just disappear. (The Atlantic, with video)


-Avast!-
Reality TV gets a little too specific.


Click to embiggen

"Hoist the mains'l, we've got a noreaster a-brewin' laddies!" (GoComics)


-Bonus HotD-
"Eric Cantor Booed For Opposing Marriage Equality."

Because it's Halloween and the right thinks it's spooky that the Homosexual Menace is winning.

W-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o! (ThinkProgress, with terrifying video)