On August 9, 2012, Badger Democracy wrote a story questioning the legitimacy of former Monona Mayor Robb Kahl running as a Democrat for the 47th Assembly District. Kahl easily won his primary as a Democrat, and is expected to easily defeat his Republican opponent Sandy Bakk in next Tuesday’s General Election. Badger Democracy has obtained exclusive photos which every elector in Kahl’s District must see before casting their ballot.
The photos confirm that Robb Kahl has hoodwinked not only his future constituents; but every good progressive Democrat and organization who has endorsed him. While fraud may be too harsh a term, Kahl can now truly be called a “Dem-in-name-only.” Worse yet, his future constituents will have no idea who he will serve if elected. This writer’s advice – vote for the Republican. At least you will be certain what she stands for. Every progressive who has endorsed Kahl should withdraw their support, and he should be shunned as a self-serving opportunist.
On the night of November 2, 2010 most Democratic candidates and voters were overwhelmed by the nature of the GOP/Tea Party surge in Wisconsin. Most were experiencing emotions running the gamut from anger to depression to shock. Where was Robb Kahl? Celebrating at a victory party. The party was not for a Democratic candidate. Not Tim Cullen, or Kathleen Vinehout. Kahl was celebrating a Scott Walker victory. And he wasn’t celebrating in private. He was on stage – with Scott Walker.
The following photographs obtained by Badger Democracy show Robb Kahl in the back row, left hand side, as the victory confetti drops, holding his Scott Walker campaign sign over his head. He is above, and between Joel and Rebecca Kleefisch in the shot (sign is circled in black). This has been confirmed and is not photo-shopped:
Robb Kahl at Walker victory party 11/2/10 – 1
Here is a closer view of Kahl after the confetti drop (Kahl is circled in black):
Robb Kahl at Walker victory party 11/2/10 – 2
If you need one more view (again circled in black):
Robb Kahl at Walker victory party 11/2/10 – 3
The archived video of the Walker speech from 11/2/10 can be viewed for confirmation. Kahl’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
In case there is any doubt – a file photo of Kahl:
If you want more information on Kahl’s ties with Walker since the 2010 election, the Badger Democracy article from August 9, 2012 referenced above provides the necessary background.
The question is – will Kahl be held to account by the electorate and those who have endorsed him under false pretenses?
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Badger Democracy 
I have been gerrymandered into this new 47th District. I have never met Robb (though I do receive his mailings), so I sent him a message asking if he had seen your article and for clarification. He sent me this reply:
Yes I have seen it. Prior to deciding to run for Assembly, I was a non-partisan Mayor and had over the years supported both Republicans and Democrats. On election night 2010, I attended both the Barrett/Democrat (Milwaukee) and Walker/Republican (Waukesha) election night parties. Besides being related to my job as mayor and my full-time job which requires I work in a bi-partisan fashion, I was also on the League of Municipalities Resolution Board (which is comprised of one Mayor/Village President from each State Senate District) and I was also part of the League’s volunteer government affairs group at this time and as such they encouraged us to attend these events for both parties if possible. So yes, I was certainly there (as were countless representatives of various unions from throughout the state who obviously had no idea what this administration had planned with regards to Act 10) and I suspect there are also pictures of me at the Barrett/Democrat event earlier in the evening. For the record, I voted for Barrett and did sign the recall petition.
Your choice in this election is pretty clear. Sandy Bakk put out this information in hopes of confusing voters and somehow peeling off support. This blogger has decided to take her bait and that is unfortunate. On the night of the recall when asked about the results, Sandy Bakk told The Isthmus that “This is what democracy really looks like.” Sandy Bakk supports voucher schools, called the War on Women “fictitious”, believes government should make the health care decisions for women even in the case of rape, incest and when the health of the mother is at risk, she opposes embryonic stem cell research, wants to pass a law empowering local officials to arrest any federal official trying to implement ObamaCare, supports Right to Work and supported Act 10 and the elimination of collective bargaining rights for public employees. The choice is pretty clear and pretty stark.
I appreciate you contacting Mr. Kahl. I left him a message yesterday, and he did not respond. I waited 7 hours to post the piece to give him an opportunity to respond and explain. His opponent had absolutely nothing to do with this information. I would ask Kahl if he would vote against repeal of prevailing wage laws, if he would vote against right to work legislation, and if he would author or co-sponsor a repeal of Act 10. In addition, as previously reported on this site are his direct ties to Terry McGowan and Scott Walker through boards he serves on.
Finally – I searched the recall database – Kahl is not found in two database searches. You can try for yourself:
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/dataondemand/150039955.html
http://www.iverifytherecall.com/GovWalker.aspx
Found myself and others who I know signed. No Robb Kahl. Interesting…
I searched the recall lists too and no Robb Kahl. No Robert Kahl.
As I said…interesting. I have left a message on Mr. Kahl’s cell phone asking for clarification.
UPDATE – 12:40pm – After a conversation with Robb Kahl, he directed me to Zac Kramer, Wisconsin State Senate campaign director. Kahl had no explanation for his name not appearing in the GAB petition database, but stated that Kramer had been the circulator on the petition Kahl signed.
Contacted by phone, Zac Kramer claims that Kahl did sign the petition he was circulating, and that he had turned in the petition. Kramer had no explanation as to why the petition with Kahl’s name does not appear on the GAB database.
Rather than vote for the Republican in order to have the “devil you know,” I suggest voting for a different candidate who ran in the Democratic primary.
I also think this is yet another reason why we must break the two-party system — having only two parties makes it way too easy to pull crap like this and leave people without a real choice. It’s much more difficult to do that when there’s more options available.
I suggest you also check out this guy…
http://www.wiseye.org/Programming/VideoArchive/EventDetail.aspx?evhdid=6239
also
State leadership does not allow local committees to vet, endorse or rate candidates.
But once thru the primary they are required to fully support them.
Ask Barca and Gratz.
I contacted my representative about Rob Kahl before the primary. Her office forwarded my warning to the Dem party. I asked them to run a real Dem against him and warned them that he was a Republican. He had an opponent but she was unknown and had never run for office before. He has always been a Republican but knew he could only win as a Democrat. Mayor of Monona is a nonpartisan office so when he decided to run for Assembly he was able to pose as a Dem even though he was hand-picked to become Mayor by Tom Metcalf, George Lightbourn (President of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.) and other conservatives who live in Monona. He is posing as a “fiscal conservative and a social moderate,:” and is sure to win.
I would ask him why he was being considered for a cabinet post with Walker and told most of Monona about it.
The bigger question is why was he working as a lobbyist for road construction while mayor, and will continue to do so when elected to the Assembly?
The MononaRag.com talked about this guy months ago
As did I – August 9.
There’s a fake Dem running a write in campaign in Milwaukee. Peggy Krusick lost in the primary because she has been a Dem in name only for years. Now she is trying to turn it around. Dan Reimer won the primary and is on the ballot unopposed. It is critical that people in the area know to cast a vote for him even though he is unopposed on the ballot.
What does any of this tell us about the electorate?
Are they all just voting for the most recognizable name?
Do issues even matter anymore? Did they ever matter?
Without strong leadership to reveal these deceptions we will continue to be co-opted by opportunists and perhaps the motivated operative interested in nullifying our elections and our values.
I know Kahl’s opponent personally and professionally and she is a far right winger who will do as she’s told by Walker and his corporate cronies. As frustrating as having Kahl masquerading as a Dem may be, he needs to be elected and then his feet held firmly to the fire. Unfortunately, this is another failure on the part of the state Dem party and yet another reason for new, harder working leadership that’s plugged more into what’s going on in our towns and counties than what’s going on on Twitter.
Let Kahl have his 2 years in the Assembly, then we are more than welcome to primary him out of existence if he is indeed sucking up to Walker and acting as a bad Dem. And we should let him know loud and clear that we have the scope on him. From my experience, there’s enough there that he could be kept in line and vote the right way. If not, buh-bye.
One thing I’d like to know is if Kahl had anything to do with the redistricting that jacked up the district like it did (it’s basically Monona, Fitchburg and some rural southern Dane Counrty). With the new redistricting emails to be released, he might be one to check out.
Someone should ask Kahl about using the police department to hand out leaflets to every household in town-when the school board threaten to close his kids school.
-including the police chief
He does support public schools. I will give him that.
My advice is to vote for the Republican.
It would be easier to oust a real Republican in Madison than try going after a fake Dem.
It would have the added effect of teaching party leadership a lesson in that they cannot sit on the sidelines and hope for the best.
When we have strong party leadership we will have better success and not before.
Here in Manitowoc wispolitics.com is predicting the fake Dem Brey is going to take a beating. It will be harder to get the TEA Republican Tittl out. A great opportunity was squandered.
Write in a candidate, but dont vote Republican or tea-party.