Wisconsin Unemployment Numbers Soar

They say that a new broom sweeps clean and the Obama administration is following that precept.

While many of our US ambassadors are career civil service hires there are a number of these positions which are filled by political appointees. It is often a post to a prestigious or physically attractive location that is filled as a reward to a contributor or a former loyal employee. With the changing of the administration comes the call for letters of resignation from these political appointees.

That means that Rick Graber, fresh from a mission to find vote fraud in the Czech Republic, will be back in the private sector. Maybe he can snag on with John Gard Consulting. If he were to bring along his client list then John would be able to boast of having an actual client. And, wouldn't it be fun for the rest of us watching Graber and Gard trying to be cordial?

Mark Green will also be coming back to the states. I'm torn about this. Green has been a great representative for this country in Africa. President Obama could certainly do worse than Ambassador Green, that is, if Green and his family wish to stay in Africa of course. If Green comes back to the US, where does he wind up? Ex Republican Reps are a glut on the market in Washington. There's not a lot of call for Republican lobbyists anywhere right now. I can't imagine that there's any great enthusiasm for another Green for Gov run, especially given The Tosa Ranger's 2-year plan to suck the lifeblood out of the Wisconsin Republican donor base. It sounds like he's a candidate for "Private Practice."

Which brings us to another Wisconsin political resignation. The US Attorney system normally rolls completely over with the change of administration. Yesterday we saw that Steve Biskupic, the USA for Eastern Wisconsin was going into private practice. Given the Republican disdain for lawsuits by private citizens can we assume that Biskupic is headed into that lucrative "Private Prosecution" field? No, he's looking forward to

"nice and boring corporate civil cases."

That's a right-wing safe way of saying he'll be listed as "Defendant's Counsel" on lawsuits like that.