Disappointed, but not Surprised

Russ Feingold.  Now a big-shot with the Obama reelection campaign.  Super-PAC money galore.  Of course, when it’s YOUR Super-PAC, it’s good; when it’s the other candidate’s Super-PAC it’s “anonymous special-interest money”.  Dammit, Russ – run for Governor.  You and Tommy would make for the most interesting election in state history, and to be honest, no matter which of you two is elected, the people of the state win.

Pat Richter.  Didn’t do what he said he was going to do, and put a note of reprimand into John Chadima’s file back in the late 90’s when a drunken Chadima asked a star UW football player to drive him home, and the kid got picked up for DUI.  The slime that keeps oozing from the Chadima saga is enough to make you puke.  Man, that jock club over there at the big college on the lake is one closed society.  Everybody’s got everybody else’s back.  Unless it’s a little guy.

The UW School for Workers.  They caved to pressure from that pissant Steve Nass and his blowhard mouthpiece Mike Mikalsen, and cancelled an art show scheduled next month which would have featured the art and creativity of the poster-makers, singers, songwriters, videographers and others who used their talents at the Capital uprising last year.  Never mind that a lot of this stuff was used recently in an exhibition put on by the Smithsonian; pecker-head Nass doesn’t like it and threatened the school’s funding if they went ahead with the show.

Rick Santorini.  Yah, I know that’s not his name, but that’s what I call him, because that’s what Tony Soprano called him.  You want to make the election about evil, birth control, abortion, and religion?  Really?  Really?  That’s what you got – Obama is a muslim and birth control is evil?  Nice platform, loser.

Winter.  This is it?  This is what you got?  Not a single snowfall of six inches or more this “winter”? Last December I dropped eleven-hundred bucks to buy a snorting beast of a snowthrower, which was used twice last year and not once so far this winter.  I’ve only used my little two-cycle one-stage snowthrower a couple times this year.  The minute I wrote the check for that snorting beast, winter packed up and left town. 

By the way, the photo of the cat, above, is one of the many intriguing images you get when you Google-image "disappointed".  I just thought it was cool.

One Big Question about the Chadima Report

As one of my friends said on a social media site this morning, “Worst time ever for a crotch-grab”.  With the news about Penn State being blared on all media 24/7, John Chadima apparently got drunk and fondled the genitals of a student-employee of the UW Athletic Department.

My question, after having read every word (save for the redacted names) of the report, is not for Chadima, or Barry, or the 4-member panel that undertook the official investigation.   I’m not sure at whom my question is aimed, but it involves UW Police Lieutenant Jason Whitney.

My question is: since it was widely reported by a number of credible local news media that no police agency was involved in the Chadima debacle, why does the report clearly indicate Lt. Whitney was informed of the sexual assault, and where is the official police report?

My question is out of ignorance.  Is it not necessary to file a report when a sworn officer is told of an (at that point, one assumes) “alleged” sexual assault?  When the UW Police Lieutenant was informed of the incident, did he interview either the complainant or the alleged perpetrator, and if so, is there some sort of report on it?

The only reason I ask is not to throw mud at Lt. Whitney or call into question the actions taken by the UW in officially dealing with this incident.  As an old-fart former news anchor, I wonder why, when the local media asked if there was ANY police agency involved in the Chadima thing (the questions were posed when we had no idea what Chadima’s resignation was about), the UW said NO police agency was involved.

My question begs another question: will sexual assault charges ever be filed against Chadima?  Is it not a sexual assault if the victim decides not to “press charges”?  I’m really exposing my ignorance here.

Years ago, I went through some media training offered by the Madison Police and a local law firm regarding what constitutes sexual assault, what constitutes the various degrees of sexual assault; and, I’ve had no small amount of “management training” on the topic of sexual assault and what constitutes a hostile workplace.  I also know, as do most adults who’ve worked with others, that there’s a hell of a lot of sexual assault that never gets reported.

The way I understand it, if actual unwanted touching of genitals is involved, it’s second-degree – not fourth degree, as many of the media are reporting it today.  I’m not sure where the media got their information on this, and perhaps the laws, rules, and interpretations have changed, but when I went through the training, saying something boorish like “nice ass!!!” was fourth-degree; but if there was actual unwanted touching of genitals….not groping through clothes….it was at least second degree.

I guess that’s why I’ve enjoyed reporting, writing, and delivering news for the past four decades: I’m curious about this stuff, skeptical of authority and officialdom, and always full of questions.  If I were actually working this story, I’d ask the questions I pose here to a competent authority on the issue.

I understand that big-time collegiate athletics is very much a tight-knit and closed society; I’m not surprised in any way that the victim of Chadima’s advances was so clearly concerned that his report of the assault not upset the team, which was preparing for the Rose Bowl; nor am I surprised that the UW kept a lid on this thing until the independent investigation was released.

I am surprised at Chadima’s disgusting and completely inappropriate use of power and force, threatening to fire student-employees who didn’t do what he asked them to do.  I am shocked at his incredible lack of judgment in getting involved in a type of incident so similar to what happened at Penn State, while that story was still very much in the news.

And I hope somebody who knows more about this than I do will be able to answer my question.

And to Channel 27’s Tony Galli: you scooped everybody.  Congratulations.

Big Mystery

Whatever it is, it’s major.  But we don’t know what it is, so we naturally speculate on what may be behind the resignation of one of Barry Alvarez’s top lieutenants, Senior Associate Athletic Director John Chadima, who’s been one of Barry’s right-hand men for the past couple decades.

Sometime during the day Friday, Chadima was apparently suspended from his job; a few hours later, he resigned.  His UW-owned cell-phone was immediately disconnected (standard procedure, one imagines) and several local media pointed out Chadima’s half-million-dollar condo/home on Lake Mendota in the Town of Westport is for sale – implying that this is a recent development, although it appears to my brief search that it’s been listed for some time.

Relentless prying by the local media has generated little, if any, new information about what’s going on, except that Madison and L-A area police say they’ve had no contact with Chadima; the rumors that it was an incident somehow connected with the Badgers’ recent Rose Bowl trip have not been confirmed or denied; and all the UW is officially saying right now is that there is an investigation of some sort into whatever led to the suspension/resignation. 

Another of Barry’s right-hand men, Vince Sweeny, says only that Chadima’s resignation did not shut down the investigation and that until they have all their ducks in a row, the UW is not going to make further public comment about the situation.  Several media have reported that The Man himself, Barry Alvarez, is headed back to Madison from his other home in Naples, Florida.

I know nothing more than what I see on TV and read in the paper, and I have no “inside sources” who might shed more light on whatever it is that’s going on.

But, whatever it is, it’s big.  Stay tuned.