Kramer cover-up a telling glimpse into right-wing world

I bet the Wisconsin GOP is damned happy the Badgers are in the Final Four this weekend. Not just because a few of them may have gone to school here (although if they're part of WisGOP, they probably didn't learn much other than ass-kissing), but because it keeps stories like this from dominating the news.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, his chief of staff and a Waukesha County GOP official were all told three years ago of allegations that a then-aide to the senator had been sexually assaulted by state Rep. Bill Kramer, but none of them took the matter to the police or Assembly leaders.

The woman told her supervisor in Johnson's office and a number of other people, but decided at the time to have her attorney send a letter to Kramer rather than go to the police, records show. Last month — nearly three years after the alleged assault outside a Muskego bar — the woman learned of Kramer's alleged mistreatment of other women and filed a complaint with Muskego police that has resulted in two felony charges of second-degree sexual assault.

I guess we shouldn't be too surprised that Sen. (mo)Ron Johnson would be part of a cover-up of deviant behavior by a man in position of power. After all, this the same guy that testified against a bill in the Wisconsin Legislature 5 years ago that would have opened the door for various Wisconsin Dicoeses and other organizations to pay major damages for crimes against children. (mo)Ron claimed bringing child molesters to justice would be too much of a disruption, and cause too much risk to these businesses' bottom lines.



It's damning enough to let these accusations against Rep. Kramer slide and not look into them- an action that could lead to criminal charges and lawsuits against supervisors for failing to act if such a thing happened in the workforce and they looked the other way. But read further in the article, and you get an idea of just how screwed up the priorities and mentality is in WisGOP world.

In a nomination speech before the vote for majority leader, a [Rep. Dean] Knudson supporter, Rep. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield), accused Kramer of acting inappropriately at a recent meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council [ALEC] in Chicago — a reference to off-color remarks Kramer supposedly had made to a table of delegates from another state.

Vos, another Kramer opponent, said he sought without success to track down someone who had heard Kramer's remarks firsthand. Kramer's supporters believed that Kapenga's comments actually helped Kramer by appearing to be mudslinging, Vos said.

Vos said when Kapenga made his remarks last year, other Republicans heard Kramer say, "I just won. I just won."

Think about that for a second. An accusation of inappropriate actions allowed Bill Kramer to get an edge among this crew, because it allowed him to play the victim. And we know how righties love to get up on their cross and claim victimization whenever they get called out for being the self-absorbed jagbags that many of them are (it's why they're all geared up for Good Friday in 2 weeks).

There's another part of the Journal-Sentinel story that makes the WisGOP strategy for dealing with Kramer sound an awful lot like what the Church did with the molesting priests that Ron Johnson stood up for.

At the time of the alleged assault, the woman also told Waukesha County GOP vice chairman Keith Best, who had witnessed Kramer and the woman at the bar. Best didn't witness the assault but did confirm later to Muskego police that the woman and Kramer had been present at the bar that night and that the woman had later been distraught.

Best told a police officer that the incident "had been difficult for him" because Best was friends with both the woman and Kramer. He said he had seen Kramer drink too much and make inappropriate comments in the past but not be physically inappropriate.

Best told the officer that he never spoke with Kramer about the incident and that despite the alleged sexual assault, Best hoped Kramer's promotion to Assembly majority leader would "give Kramer the motivation to 'clean up his act,'" according to the police report.

That's right, it's the old "move 'em up, move 'em out strategy." Instead of holding Kramer accountable for his disgraceful actions, the party decides it's better to cover it up, and PROMOTE this guy, because this will encourage him to get in line. We see how well THAT worked, didn't we?

Victimization, cover-ups, and caring about the party and individual careers over any semblance of dignity, morality and self-respect. If that doesn't define the Wisconsin GOP these days, nothing does.