Wisconsin Orders Voter Purge Due To 200,000 People Who Had Moved

No mention of the foreclosures....

According to Wisconsin Patch:

In 2017, lenders started the foreclosure process on 383,701 properties and 8,446 of those properties were in Wisconsin, according to the report. Milwaukee, Kenosha, Waukesha, Brown and Rock counties had the highest number of properties where the foreclosure process had started, according to the report. Nationally, 318,165 properties were scheduled for foreclosure auction in 2017 and just 4,609 of those properties were in Wisconsin.

If you do not live there, you cannot vote there.

Gerrymandering at its finest.

Wisconsin Elections Officials Held in Contempt for Refusing to Purge Voters

A conservative group says removing names is merely following existing rules. Liberals say the move is aimed at dropping Democrats before the 2020 election.

Judge Paul V. Malloy of Ozaukee County Circuit Court ordered a daily fine against three Wisconsin election commissioners who haven’t implemented his previous ruling.

A Wisconsin judge held three state election commissioners in contempt on Monday and ordered them to proceed immediately with purging more than 200,000 people from the state’s voter rolls.

The ruling by Judge Paul V. Malloy of Ozaukee County Circuit Court doubled down on his finding last month that thousands of voters who are believed to have moved should have their registrations canceled in Wisconsin, a narrowly divided state that has become a focal point of the 2020 presidential battle.

The debate over whether voters should be purged from the rolls has become a proxy for the state’s tense partisan divide, and the purge itself has yet to be carried out because of a deadlock between evenly split Democratic and Republican wings of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Three Republicans on the appointed six-member commission want to remove the voters, while the three Democrats wanted to wait for an appellate court to weigh in.

“We’re deadlocked, time is running and time is clearly of the essence,” Judge Malloy said.

Hours later, on Monday evening, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a ruling that cleared the way for Judge Malloy’s decision that the rolls should be purged to stand, though the case was still being appealed.

The debate has drawn intense attention in part because it has played out in a state that could tip this year’s presidential election. President Trump, who plans to campaign in Milwaukee on Tuesday, carried Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016.

Conservatives said getting outdated information removed from the rolls was necessary to have clean registration lists and election integrity. Many liberals saw the effort as a blatant attempt to disqualify and confuse voters who would be likely to support Democratic candidates.

People who are removed from the rolls in error could re-register before or on Election Day.

Judge Malloy’s order, which includes a $250-per-day fine for the three commissioners who voted against the purge, could set up a dramatic meeting on Tuesday of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The commission itself was also held in contempt and fined $50 per day. It remained unclear whether the ruling would sway any of the Democratic commissioners to vote for the purge to proceed.

Reid Magney, a spokesman for the commission, said it would be premature to comment in detail ahead of the meeting on Tuesday.

But liberal organizations said the motives behind the efforts were obvious.

“It’s no secret that this voter purge would target Wisconsin’s communities of color and young voters — the very people who are most energized to turn out in 2020 and win change for our neighborhoods,” Jennifer Berry, a Wisconsin resident who is a leader in a group pushing for a $15 minimum wage, said in a statement. “We’ll continue to fight back in the courts, in the streets, and by organizing so every Wisconsinite is ready and registered to vote.”

The conservative law group that brought the lawsuit targeting the registrations said the contempt finding was necessary after the commission failed to carry out Judge Malloy’s order.

“Court orders are not, and have never been, optional,” Rick Esenberg, the president of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, said in a statement.

When The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analyzed the list of voters that were believed to have moved, it found that about 55 percent of them lived in municipalities that Hillary Clinton carried in the 2016 election. The highest concentrations were mostly in college towns and the state’s two largest cities, Milwaukee and Madison.

Ann Jacobs, one of the commissioners who was held in contempt, said in an interview on Monday night that she was disappointed in the ruling and continued to believe her interpretation of the law was correct.

But would the contempt finding change her vote on Tuesday?

“I can’t say for certain, because obviously I’m always interested in hearing what my fellow commissioners have to say,” Ms. Jacobs said shortly before the Supreme Court ruling was announced. But she said she had “been reviewing the pleadings, and I have not seen anything recently that would make me think that the position we have taken is incorrect in any fashion.”

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Wisconsin gets funds in drug firm settlements

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Monday that the state will receive nearly $700,000 from Elan Corp. and Eisai Inc. for allegedly marketing the anti-epileptic drug Zonegran for unapproved purposes.

Wisconsin joined the federal government and other states to reach an agreement in principle with Elan, a publicly traded company based in Ireland, to resolve claims that the company and its North American subsidiary, Elan Pharmaceuticals Inc. improperly marketed Zonegran. The company allegedly promoted Zonegran for the treatment of neuropathic pain, obesity, headaches and a variety of psychiatric conditions.

Elan also pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge under the United States Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and will pay a criminal fine of $102 million to the federal government for misbranding Zonegran through improper promotional activities.

In a related action, the states and federal government recovered $11 million from Eisai Inc., for allegedly continuing to promote Zonegran for unapproved uses after it acquired the interests in Zonegran in 2004.

Wisconsin will receive $586,054 under the settlement with Elan and $106,343 under the settlement with Eisai, which is based in New Jersey. The money will go to Wisconsin Medicaid, along with a total of $1.5 million paid to the federal government that will be attributed to the state Medicaid program.

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Monday that the state will receive nearly $700,000 from Elan Corp. and Eisai Inc. for allegedly marketing the anti-epileptic drug Zonegran for unapproved purposes.

Wisconsin joined the federal government and other states to reach an agreement in principle with Elan, a publicly traded company based in Ireland, to resolve claims that the company and its North American subsidiary, Elan Pharmaceuticals Inc. improperly marketed Zonegran. The company allegedly promoted Zonegran for the treatment of neuropathic pain, obesity, headaches and a variety of psychiatric conditions.

Elan also pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge under the United States Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and will pay a criminal fine of $102 million to the federal government for misbranding Zonegran through improper promotional activities.

In a related action, the states and federal government recovered $11 million from Eisai Inc., for allegedly continuing to promote Zonegran for unapproved uses after it acquired the interests in Zonegran in 2004.

Wisconsin will receive $586,054 under the settlement with Elan and $106,343 under the settlement with Eisai, which is based in New Jersey. The money will go to Wisconsin Medicaid, along with a total of $1.5 million paid to the federal government that will be attributed to the state Medicaid program.

Read more: Wisconsin gets funds in drug firm settlements | The Business Journal 

Let the American Chattel System Reanimate!

The Zombie public policy of children as chattel has been brought back to life through Medicaid funding.

Without public scrutiny, we are doomed to relive the latter part of the 19th century.

Privatization will kill us without regulation.

#Time2AuditGod
States Find Cash Cow: It Is Impoverished Kids in Foster Care, Hooray!

If you are a child in foster care, things are probably not going your way. You’re not living with your parents, and a state agency is in charge of you. You’re probably very poor, and maybe you are disabled. You sure don’t look like a funding bonanza for your state, but guess what, you might be! An op-ed by University of Baltimore law professor Daniel Hatcher in the Baltimore Sun this week points out that some states, including Maryland, are using private contractors to take foster kids’ Social Security (SSI) benefits as a way to make some extra bucks. Well that is just about the worst thing we’ve ever heard. Let’s theft-splore.

Hatcher has written extensively about foster care and the relationship of these children to the state. He writes:

Read more at http://wonkette.com/578551/states-find-cash-cow-it-is-impoverished-kids-in-foster-care-hooray#p2mG2E8Y7T54ooHO.99

Our state foster care agencies are apparently so underfunded that they are taking resources from abused and neglected children. The agencies are taking control over foster children’s Social Security benefits (when the children are disabled or have deceased parents) and using the children’s funds to repay foster care costs. In other words, Maryland is requiring the children to pay for their own care… This even though Maryland is rightly already legally obligated under state and federal law to provide and pay for foster care services.

Okay, that is very repellent, Maryland. And although the issue has been in litigation, it doesn’t exactly seem to be illegal, although folks like Daniel Hatcher are working on it. Also repellent: Maryland paid Maximus, Inc., a health and human services contractor, to figure out how to maximize the revenue the state could squeeze out of these vulnerable kids. Because “revenue maximization” is a service that Maximus happily provides.

On a sales document summarizing its services, Maximus says if a state hires the company to implement what it unironically calls an “SSI Advocacy” project, the company will ensure “an increased SSI eligibility rate among foster care population increasing revenue to off [sic] the costs of foster care placement,” plus the following awesome financial benefits:

• Enhanced revenue for the State to help offset cost of care for children placed in out of home settings
• [Reduction of] State’s TANF caseload
• $5.00 generated for every $1.00 spent on implementation of an SSI Advocacy Project

Foster children and poor families are a huge money-maker, who knew? Maximus runs these SSI Advocacy projects in seven states: Alaska, California, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. The company receives a cut of whatever money it saves a state, by whatever means, whether that means advising state to take benefit money from impoverished kids in foster care, consulting with them on how to improperly bill Medicaid, or suggesting they make sure eligible Americans don’t actually sign up for anything. Not surprisingly, the company has run into trouble in many states.

Wisconsin, in particular, stands out. According to PR Watch, Maximus has served as a “revenue maximization consultant” to the state since the 1990s. In 1997, Wisconsin enacted its Wisconsin Works (W-2) welfare program and began privatizing its welfare system, outsourcing programs that had previously been run by state agencies to private contractors, including Maximus. What could go wrong? Oh, nothing, just some improper billing. In 2000, Maximus billed Wisconsin $500,000 for work that had nothing to do with W-2 and instead paid for parties and entertainment. Oops. In 2013, it turned out that Maximus was also responsible for advising Wisconsin to overbill the federal government by millions of dollars in Medicaid reimbursement funds. Instead of firing the company, Wisconsin in 2011 awarded Maximus a $21 million contract to run Wisconsin’s foster care system until 2016. Nice one, Wisconsin.

Outsourcing welfare programs to private corporations with a profit motive really works well! Because they’re only dealing with the lives of very poor and vulnerable people, so no one will really care if they screw around with the money unless the state gets in trouble for it. Poor people don’t have any political power! Especially poor kids! Are you surprised to learn that Maximus has a political action committee? Of course you aren’t. PR Watch writes:

Maximus ladles on the campaign contributions and lobbying dollars, contributing $5,000 toward Governor Scott Walker’s recall election campaign. Maximus also paid $100,000 a year for exclusive access to Republican governors through the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee, a secretive group recently exposed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the New York Times.

Maryland, at least, is on the right track. The Maryland legislature is considering a bill to protect children in foster care. The bill would require the foster care agency to serve kids in a fiduciary capacity, meaning they’d have to act in the kids’ best interest, and to reserve at least some of the kids’ federal benefit money for their current unmet needs, and also for their future needs when they age out of the foster care system. The bill also would require foster care agencies to teach kids about money management. We would have thought that “acting in kids’ best interest” would actually be the mission statement of a foster care agency, but okay, Maryland, it’s a start.

Wisconsin, though? Man, we wish those kids could go be in foster care somewhere else.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Wisconsin Shares Fraud Recovery

If child care fraud was going on to the tune of $45 million, just think about the amounts of fraud that are going on in foster care and adoption.



$100 billion dollars in fraud, in the last few years seems about right.

Dept. of Children and Families: Secretary Reggie Bicha’s statement on Wisconsin Shares Savings
5/21/2010

Contact: Erika Monroe-Kane, Department of Children and Families, 608-266-9000

Today, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) announced $45 million savings in the Wisconsin Shares program. DCF Secretary Reggie Bicha issued the following statement:

We are excited to announce a $45 million savings in the Wisconsin Shares program. This savings is primarily a result of the Department’s work to find and stop fraud.

In addition to making child care safer for children, DCF is saving taxpayer dollars by preventing and stopping fraud.

Using just a quarter of these savings, DCF will improve the quality of care Wisconsin children receive by launching YoungStar, a child care rating and improvement system.

Background

The projected savings of $45 million in Wisconsin Shares payments is in the fiscal year 2010 of the biennial state budget.

The savings are primarily a result of DCF work to recover funds from fraudulent providers, from payments being stopped to providers suspected of fraud, and due to a deterrent effect of the DCF crack down on fraud.

The Department of Children and Families has rebuilt the foundation of child care in Wisconsin and is now building on this to improve the quality of child care. $10 million of the savings in Wisconsin Shares will be reinvested to improve quality, through the YoungStar program.

Dept. of Children and Families: Expands anti-fraud team to increase fraud investigations

Dept. of Children and Families: Expands anti-fraud team to increase fraud investigations
10/13/2010 

Contacts: Erika Monroe-Kane, Department of Children and Families, (608) 266-9000 

Reggie Bicha, Secretary of the Department of Children and Families (DCF), today announced that the Department will continue to expand its crackdown on Wisconsin Shares fraud and abuse. Over the past two years, DCF has launched sweeping reforms of the child care subsidy program resulting in 201 suspended providers and 13 criminal charges. The Department now estimates a savings of $115 million in taxpayer funds over the next two years. 

“We know that as we shut one door, criminals try to create a new way to steal from Wisconsin Shares,” stated Secretary Bicha. “We are doubling our efforts to ensure that every tax dollar in the Wisconsin Shares program is used only for the care of children and to help parents work to support their families.” 

While DCF’s efforts have led to a dramatic decrease in fraud of the Wisconsin Shares program, the Department is intensifying efforts to track down those stealing from Wisconsin’s taxpayers. The Department is adding 31 additional staff, for limited time, to the Fraud Detection and Investigation Unit. These new investigators will follow-up on reports of fraud and build cases against providers suspected of scamming the program. 

“Our anti-fraud efforts have achieved great results. By taking what we have learned and expanding our efforts, we can even better protect tax dollars, shut down criminal providers and improve the quality of care children receive. The people and children of Wisconsin deserve nothing less.” 

DCF continues other successful strategies to stop fraud including Child Care Fraud Task Forces in Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha counties and a child care fraud hotline. In addition to eliminating fraud, DCF is improving the safety of child care and improving the quality of care through the YoungStar child care rating and improvement initiative.

If Wisconsin passes a law to classify single parenthood as child abuse, that would mean the child would go to foster care.  Guess who gets to pay for it?  You do!  And it is really expensive.  This is not fiscally conservative.

Wisconsin Lawmaker Introduces Law To Classify Single Parenthood As Child Abuse

Photo via Grothman's website.

Wisconsin state Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) has introduced a bill demonizing single parents by classifying them as child abusers.

Senate Bill 507 specifically requires "the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board to emphasize nonmarital parenthood as a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect."

A third of Wisconsin parents are single parents, but this law affects even more than that. The way the law refers to "nonmarital parenthood" also makes this applicable to non-married couples, including same-sex couples. S.B. 507 reads:

Section 1. 48.982 (2) (g) 2. of the statutes is amended to read: 48.982 (2) (g) 2. Promote statewide educational and public awareness campaigns and materials for the purpose of developing public awareness of the problems of child abuse and neglect. In promoting those campaigns and materials, the board shall emphasize nonmarital parenthood as a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect.

Section 2. 48.982 (2) (g) 4. of the statutes is amended to read: 48.982 (2) (g) 4. Disseminate information about the problems of and methods of preventing child abuse and neglect to the public and to organizations concerned with those problems. In disseminating that information, the board shall emphasize nonmarital parenthood as a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect.

Grothman isn't just some fringe nut-job. He's the assistant majority leader and a staunch ally of Gov. Scott Walker. Unlike Walker, Grothman is not up for recall because activists were unable to get enough signatures.State Rep. Donald Pridemore (R-Hartford) co-sponsored the bill. (He is not up for recall either.)

Grothman is not a fan of welfare policies. In a flyer detailing his family policies (embedded at the bottom of this post), he says, "The Left and the social welfare establishment want children born out of wedlock because they are far more likely to be dependent on the government." He touched on those issues after introducing SB507 last week. The Cap Times writes:

"I guess as long as this state is going to fund a group called the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, at least that group could use the money that they have to publicize something that's politically incorrect, but I think has to be said in our society," Grothman said at a public hearing on the bill last week.

Noting that 41 percent of children born in the U.S. last year were born to single parents, Grothman said: "It's a very politically difficult thing to deal with because over time you're having more and more families that are not old-fashioned families. There are even people who make fun of old-fashioned families."

State Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) said this bill is an assault on women. "What this bill does is call out and chastise women who have babies and are unmarried," she told The Cap Times. Human Development and Family Studies Professor Dave Riley told The Badger Herald that family type has far less impact than the family process and that research shows that "leaving a conflictual marriage actually improves parent-child relationships."

SB507 is now with the Senate Public Health committee, and The Cap Times says it's not likely to get a committee vote, since the committee chair Pam Galloway (R-Wausau) is facing a close recall election.

And here is Grothman's stance on families, wherein he explains "How The United States and the State of Wisconsin are Working to Encourage Single-Motherhood and Discouraging Children in 2-Parent Families."

WI State Sen. Glenn Grothman on Families

How Russians Run The U.S. Child Welfare System: Real Estate, Political Campaigns & Child Support

Child Support Order
CREDIT: Lamont Cassell 

Eric Scharfenberger speaks to the Judicial Council of California on how his child was Legally Kidnapped and was forced to pay child support that he could not afford through the financial fraud schemes of Title IV-D.

Unfortunately, he failed to mention the other child welfare fraud schemes in Medicaid, Title IV-A, B, & E.

Shirley Moore was the first in California to pull the corporate and land records to find out that there are separate corporations that own the functions of the courts, where the checks are made out to the corporation, and not the government.

Then, he also failed to recognize MAXIMUS, the privatized contract administrator of child support for California.

Did you know MAXIMUS also funds political campaigns with child support?

So, in essence, this father should ask Bob Goodlatte to give all that Title IV-D campaign money back to the children.

This is just an example of the amount of money MAXIMUS wastes in pervasive, privatized contracts, specifically targeting "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth) that end up engaging in complex financial fraud schemes to fund political campaigns and trust funds.

The following article is an example out of Wisconsin.

MAXIMUS Awarded $11.7 Million Enrollment Broker Contract for Wisconsin Department of Health Services

RESTON, Va., July 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MAXIMUS (NYSE: MMS), a leading provider of government services worldwide, announced that it has signed a new contract with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to operate the state's Medicaid Enrollment Broker. The contract was awarded on November 1, 2017. The four-year base contract has three one-year option periods, for a total contract value over seven years of $11.7 million if all option periods are exercised.

An enrollment broker is an individual or entity that provides unbiased education and enrollment services to help Medicaid beneficiaries select health plans that are most appropriate for them. Under the Wisconsin Enrollment Broker contract, MAXIMUS will serve the members of the state's managed care programs, Medicaid SSI (Supplemental Security Income) and BadgerCare Plus. MAXIMUS professionals will provide member call center support, including choice counseling and enrollment in a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), through multichannel communications. The Company will inform and educate members regarding choice options, as well as data entry of enrollment choices and exemption/disenrollments in the state's Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS). In addition, MAXIMUS will be responsible for tracking and reporting on call center statistics, to further improve operations and customer experience.

"MAXIMUS has proven experience in providing customer contact operations to nearly 45 million state Medicaid beneficiaries across the country, demonstrating our status as a market leader for Medicaid. We look forward to assisting the people of Wisconsin with understanding their health insurance options and choosing the health plan that best meets their needs," commented Bruce Caswell, President and Chief Executive Officer of MAXIMUS.

MAXIMUS brings unrivaled experience in helping states administer and operate large-scale government health benefits programs. The Company helps 19 states and the District of Columbia operate their Medicaid programs. Having managed large-scale program operations on behalf of states, MAXIMUS offers Wisconsin both a deep understanding of the state's population and the capacity and scalability to support the state's long-term efforts in helping individuals and families secure affordable health insurance.

These are the SEC filings for the MAXIMUS empire.

CIK	Company	State/Country
0001372897	MAXIMUS CAPITAL FUND L P	TX
0001167471	MAXIMUS CAPITAL LLC	NY
0001620026	Maximus Development Fund II, LLC	CA
0001372183	Monaker Group, Inc. SIC: 4700 - TRANSPORTATION SERVICES formerly: MAXIMUS EXPLORATION CORP (filings through 2008-10-01) Next 1 Interactive, Inc. (filings through 2015-06-26)	FL
0001037403	MAXIMUS FUND I LLC SIC: 6200 - SECURITY & COMMODITY BROKERS, DEALERS, EXCHANGES & SERVICES	IL
0001507411	Maximus Holdings Inc.	CA
0001032220	MAXIMUS INC SIC: 7389 - SERVICES-BUSINESS SERVICES, NEC	VA
0001353773	MAXIMUS MEDIA GROUP LLC	CA
0001552045	Maximus Media Worldwide, Inc.	PA
0001417707	Maximus Ventures Ltd	a8
0001021120	MAXIMUS VENTURES LTD/FI formerly: ESSEX RESOURCE CORP /FI (filings through 2002-06-10)	A1

http://alpharock.com/max-shishlyannikov/

This is the asset management of MAXIMUS, called ALPHAROCK.

Everyone meet Max Shishlyannikov, the man who invests your child support payments, including the arrears and administrative fees, into political campaigns and real estate and whatever other dark projects they are into.

Sometimes MAXIMUS will just keep the child support a parent pays.

Sometimes MAXIMUS will even get contracts to administer other child welfare programs, like foster care and adoption, and skim, oops, I meant to say "optimize profits" from Medicaid.

Maxim Edward Shishlyannikov
Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer

Orbis Asset Management

Mr. Maxim Edward Shishlyannikov is the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Orbis Asset Management, and has served in these roles since 2015.

Orbis Asset Management aims at providing attractive risk return opportunities to investors in the alternative space. Orbis Asset Management is a member of the Allrise Group.

 Mr. Shishlyannikov also serves as Chief Executive Officer of George Washington Lending, Inc. – a company engaged in providing private financing opportunities to the real estate developers.

George Washington Lending, Inc. funded more than 300 re-development projects in California, Nevada, and New Jersey and currently managing loan portfolio totaling over $70 million.

 Mr. Shishlyannikov co-founded and directed ATM Financial, Inc. building in only 2 years a full-service mortgage organization with offices in Oakdale, Pleasanton, Sacramento, and San Francisco.

 ATM delivered its clients a full range of mortgage products through 78 mortgage professionals. Prior to co-founding ATM Financial, Inc., Mr. Shishlyannikov worked at Bonus Financial Management, a Moscow-based investment banking partnership.

 Serving as the Head of Fixed Income, Max increased partnership revenues by 120% and within a year was promoted to CFO and Partner.

Two years later he launched Bonus Financial Management operations in the United States, creating and leading ELPOINT in San Francisco.

As a General Partner, Max raised more than $150 million as VC capital and participated in two reverse mergers of Russian chemical companies with US shell companies.

Maxim Edward Shishlyannikov received his MBA and BS in Accounting and Finance from State Financial Academy of Moscow, as well as BA in Philosophy from Moscow State University.

I wonder how much TARP MAXIMUS snatched through child support.

I wonder how many political campaigns were funded through child support.

We should go ask Bob Goodlatte because he should know why Judiciary refused to address the issues.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©