The randiest Republican senator of them all
Sen. Randy (Bed) Hopper’s Sorry
Saga Continues – Until July 12
By Jim Hightower
Hightower Lowdown (7/11)
Wisconsin is a crucial battleground in the corporate-funded class war on America's middle class--but in the midst of the strife there, a real-life soap opera is playing out. In the starring role is a little-known state senator named Randy Hopper, who's been an enthusiastic henchman in Gov. Scott Walker's all-out assault on worker rights. But now he's become a household name in Wisconsin, for his sordid story has been providing weeks of bawdy entertainment for people all across the state.
Hopper, a Fond du Lac Republican, is one of six of the governor's anti-worker senate sidekicks who now face recall elections by the folks back home. He's especially vulnerable, for he barely squeaked into office in 2008, winning by only 163 votes out of 84,000 cast. A March poll showed that voters in his district favor his recall by 11 points.
It's gone downhill for Randy since then. His wife Alysia has revealed that the 45-year-old father of two has been having an affair with a 25-year-old legislative aide, has moved out of their home, and has left the district to live with his mistress in Madison. Alysia is so pained by his callous treatment of her and the children that, reportedly, she signed the recall petition against him. Ouch. Now known as "Randy (Bed) Hopper" in his district, his situation has recently gotten even stickier. It turns out that Valerie, his young lady-love, was handed a plum of a government job by Governor Walker. Hired as a communications specialist in the department of regulation, she's being paid $11,000 more than her predecessor --a curious splurge by a governor who is wildly slashing the pay of other state employees. Curiouser yet, Valerie never applied for the job and was chosen over other candidates considered more qualified.
A favor from the governor for his buddy Hopper? Asked directly if he had arranged for Valerie to be hired, Randy demurred: "I want to keep my involvement in anything as a private matter." Unable to get away with that lame dodge, Hopper now "remembers" that he had nothing to do with the sudden surge in Valerie's job fortunes. Nothing at all.
Meanwhile, rude questions have been raised about whether Hopper actually lives in his district, as required by law. He retorted that he has an apartment in Fond du Lac, but he wouldn't give the address, saying he feared physical harm from his constituents. Later, the Capital Times newspaper found that he has established a district residence, but it's not an apartment--it's a $600,000 house owned by an executive of the media corporation Hopper owns.
The Saga of Randy rolls on. In a show of truly bad judgment, his recall campaign opened a storefront office in Oshkosh that is indiscreetly located right next door to an adult book and toy shop called Pure Pleasure.
Stay tuned. Randy's recall vote will be held on July 12.
(Authorized and paid for by Mark L. Taylor, Genoa, WI., and not a campaign committee.)
Thank heavens there is no mistress!!!
Whew!!! At Least our Sen. Kapanke
is Just Run-of-the-Mill Boring Sleazy
While the folks in Fond du Lac have to put up with all the salacious, tawdry tidbits of their senator’s steamy relationship with his mistress and the hurt of his abandoned wife and two children, at least our Sen. Kapanke just keeps to mis-use and mis-appropriation of public and charity funds to benefit his private business.
You, know, just kind of boring, run-of-the-mill graft and corruption stuff.
With the recall election rapidly approaching and the Koch Brothers big money machine ramping it up for the GOP, it is time to recall (hey, no pun intended) these stories from Sen. “Hanky” Kapanke’s past:
Kapanke Admits Ethics Breach: http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_89107742-b0b1-11df-b24a-001cc4c03286.html
Kapanke Says Payment From Foundation Was Wrong:
Kickapoo Free Press Cartoon Nov. 2010:
(Authorized and paid for by Mark L. Taylor, Genoa, WI., and not a campaign committee.)
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