On October 28th 2013, Democrat Mary Burke launched her campaign to be the next Governor of the great state of Wisconsin.
When Mary Burke was deciding to run and since she declared her intentions to run for office, her top political adviser she hired was Tanya Bjork. Tanya Bjork’s political career goes all the way back to when she was convicted of a felony in the original caucus scandal. Being convicted of two misdemeanors(corrected from original post), makes one inherently qualified to be a lobbyist, so Tanya and her husband Scott Tyre co-founded a lobbyist firm called – Capitol Navigators.
In today’s political fact of the day, since Mary Burke has declared her candidacy, her top political adviser’s lobbying firm has given 100% of their political donations to the republican party!
Democratic elected officials were recently quoted in the news inexplicably upset that lobbyists do not even bother talking to them anymore(which seems to me something to be celebrated), now we find out their own staffers are not invested in their bosses campaigns!
Something to think about that when you are being asked to spend countless hours of your time away from your family knocking on doors explaining how the Democratic candidate will change things.
Here is a picture of Capitol Navigators, co-founder Scott Tyre:
Bjork was not convicted of a felony in the caucus scandal. Her boss at that time was. Bjork pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors. http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/38433114.html
Also, while your statement about the contributions is technically correct (“Since Mary Burke has declared her candidacy…”), the fact is Capitol Navigators has given the vast majority of its contributions to Democrats. It’s not unusual for lobbyists to give some token donations to the other side to gain access. It’s corrupt, it’s disgusting, but it’s not unusual.
I’m not excusing the continued hiring of Bjork by Democrats or the Burke campaign’s participation in this sick business of pay-to-play, but your argument is weakened by these errors.
You are correct, i fixed the story:
** Tanya Bjork, 38, was convicted of two misdemeanors in 2005 for her
role in the largest political scandal in state history. Bjork served as a
chief of staff to former Sen. Brian Burke (D-Milwaukee), who was
convicted of a felony and misdemeanor in 2005 as part of a widespread
investigation that uncovered political campaigning using taxpayer
resources. Before she worked for Burke, she worked for the Assembly
Democratic Caucus.
Sorry i wrote this before I had my coffee! Bjork was allowed to plea out for misdemeanors so she apparently did nothing wrong. Maybe we can put Scott Jensen on the payroll.
As for your second point, yes I know lobbyists give donations to both sides, which is why they have no business running campaigns.
However the point I actually made was SINCE Burke declared her candidacy, Capitol Navigators has given 100% of their donations to the republican party.
Are they not smart enough to understand the conflict of interest or are they just to arrogant to care?
I guess I don’t see the timing of their giving $750.00 to the Republican committees as anything more evil than the rest of it, but you might have a point about the conflict of interest, or at least the appearance of a conflict. I don’t even know if it’s arrogance. With very few exceptions, the legislators and most of the lobbyists think this is just normal business and they don’t even comprehend why anyone would question it. Though come to think of it, maybe that is the definition of arrogance.
Basically, if Scott Tyre is the one who gave the donation without his wife’s consent. He is donating good money to make sure his wife fails at her job.
Yeah, the more I think about it, the slimier it seems. Even in this corrupt system, one would think that there is at least some minimal ethical line, and that giving money to the opponents of the person you are hired to help elect would cross that line. Very discouraging.
Your statement that Capitol Navigators has given 100% of its donations to the GOP since Burke announced is also incorrect. Mary Burke announced October 7 2013. Since that time CN has donated $1000 to Ron Kind on November 6 2013 and $1000 to Tammy Baldwin’s leadership PAC on November 11, 2013. Last time I checked, they were both Democrats.
Then we have differing times that she declared. I have the date of her releasing her youtube introduction as Oct 28th, which is the date I used in writing this story. Also those numbers are not on the WDC link.
http://wisdc.org/index.php?module=wisdc.websiteforms&cmd=searchadvanced&filter=+Search+&employer=Capitol+Navigators+Inc
Your date is off by several weeks. But even using 10/28, donations were made to democrats in 11/2013. Try going to the primary source–Federal Election Commission database.
If they have given that money to Baldwin/Kind.
1. Neither donation will help the Burke race.
2. Silly to give to Baldwin in an election year when she doesn’t have to run again for 4 1/2 years
3. doesnt excuse the donations to the republican senate/assembly.
Truth of the matter is—your article contains gross inaccuracies which you should in all fairness correct.
The truth of the matter is we have a democratic campaign being run by a republican lobbyist, and that should be corrected.
Why is it so difficult for you (and most people) to simply say “I need to make a correction…”
You provide the link and I will add it to the story .
I already did that several hours ago. Federal Election Commission’s database at fec.gov
i see the problem. Those are Federal donations and what Wisconsin Democracy Campaign highlights is Statewide donations.
Technically, we are both right. However while I did a little digging, I see Capitol Navigators, Tanya’s firm, has also given generously to Reid Ribble. How very progressive of them,
Here is the actual link for anyone looking.
http://search04.fec.gov/vivisimo/cgi-bin/query-meta?v%3afile=viv_GVD098&v:state=root|root-90-10|0&
I stand by my story and previous comment. The problem we have here is we have a Democratic campaign run by a republican lobbyist.
If that doesn’t inspire someone to give money and spend hours away from their families knocking doors, I do not know what else would.
Red herrings are fun, possibly even delicious at a nice Wisconsin Dells Supper Club, but they don’t change the reality: Mary Burke will move Wisconsin forward. Scott Walker is 4 more years of the same. Guilt by association is a never ending game of “gotcha!” and frankly, Wisconsin does not have anymore time for that.
Have Burke and Walker assemble 10 people to help lead the state. I will side with Burke’s personnel decisions every single time. So would you. Come join us in reality. We’ll be glad to have you.
The reality is her campaign has been terrible and its in large part because of her campaign team.
The reality is tanya bjork has absolutely no business being anywhere near a campaign or our government.
The reality is no matter what happens in Novemeber, Bjork has set it up so she wins. When you play both sides, it doesn’t really matter which side wins does it?
The reality is if the incompetence of Scott Walker is where you set your bar, your bar is not set very high.
The reality is Scott Walker is an incredibly bad Governor and maybe a worse person but you have to look very hard for any criticism of him. Its easier to find places where they agree.
The reality is that doesn’t really set the grassroots on fire to help you now does it?
The problem is I have seen reality and am ready to seriously change it and not incrementally.
The reality is if you keep excusing this kind of behavior it will never get better!
Calm down man. Your histrionics are so weird. It’s June 5th and people care a lot more about the Brewers than they do about a November race. Despite everything, Burke’s basically tied with Walker. Your claim she’s running a bad campaign is highly subjective (at best).
All I can conclude is that Bjork kicked your dog or something. Like literally every single progressive figure at the statewide and national level have people like this somewhat connected to them. Sometimes it’s on their campaign team. Sometimes a consultant. Maybe even on staff. For someone this invested in politics, you come across very naive. I sincerely doubt that you hold every single progressive to this same standard.
If you do (and thus you vote straight Green), then all the power to you and I will sit down and shut up.
So every progressive in Wi has a republican lobbyist as their top advisor??
heaven help us!