U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin
Press Release

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Announces New Wisconsin State Director

“I share Senator Baldwin’s strong commitment to public service and I am eager to put my experience to work for her in Wisconsin.”

By - May 11th, 2015 11:09 am

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin announced that she has named Janet Piraino as her new Wisconsin State Director.

Piraino most recently worked as State District Director for U.S. Congressman Mark Pocan. With thirty years of public service experience, Piraino has previously served as State Director for U.S. Senator Russ Feingold; Chief of Staff for Congressman Tom Barrett; and Chief of Staff for Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.

“I share Senator Baldwin’s strong commitment to public service and I am eager to put my experience to work for her in Wisconsin,” said Piraino. “I look forward to providing the people of Wisconsin with the high-quality constituent services that they deserve.”

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Piraino also previously worked as a Special Assistant for State Relations at the University of Wisconsin System and as Vice President for Advancement at the Overture Center Foundation in Madison.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.

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Seniors aged 65 and older own more than 40% of the agricultural land in the United States and cost remains major barrier for next generation

12 thoughts on “U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Announces New Wisconsin State Director”

  1. AG says:

    Is Janet Piraino prepared to take the fall for Tammy Baldwin’s cover ups? I hope there’s some good incentives built into that employment contract!

  2. PMD says:

    Cover ups plural? I know about the VA issue, which Ron Johnson also totally dropped the ball on (and I’m sure you’re outraged by that as well), but what else has Baldwin covered up?

  3. Dave Reid says:

    In case you’re wondering where this went, I’ve moved it to the Press Release section which is where it should have gone up… Must be Monday.

  4. Allison says:

    PMD-Just for the record, Sen Baldwin got whistleblower reports regarding trouble at the Tomah VA last summer.

    Senator Johnson found out about the problems when these reports came public in January.

    I agree there is plenty of responsibility to go around on both sides of the aisle, but it is not a fair comparison between Baldwin and Johnson.

  5. PMD says:

    Not fair? Whistleblower Ryan Honl says that in addition to Baldwin, he spent months unsuccessfully trying to get Ron Johnson’s office to intervene. Maybe it’s only an unfair comparison if you have Selective Partisan Outrage (SPO).

  6. Kyle says:

    PMD, do you have a source for that assertion? Everything I’ve read from Honl’s statements said that he was pleased with the response from Sen. Johnson’s office.

  7. PMD says:

    Weird Kyle. Everything I have read about Honl suggests he feels both Baldwin and Johnson dropped the ball. Here’s the source.

    “For months, Honl had tried unsuccessfully to get Johnson, Baldwin and U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, a Wisconsin Democrat, to intervene.”

    http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/ron-johnson-aides-sat-on-whistleblower-tips-on-tomah-va-b99458701z1-295675581.html

    And there’s this: “I forwarded it to the elected officials, well Baldwin and Johnson who were listening to me, to their staffers.” But then, after a period of no communication from the Wisconsin senators, Honl said he gave up in November.

    http://www.wisn.com/news/tomah-va-medical-center-whistleblower-talks-to-wisn-12-news/31019600

  8. Kyle says:

    Interesting that you would use a story with this quote to show he feels the same way about Baldwin and Johnson:

    “Honl blamed VA leadership and Baldwin’s office for keeping the report quiet.”

    When I have more time I’ll go dig up some sources. The story as I recall reading it was that Johnson’s staff forwarded the complaints to the committee that produced the report that Baldwin sat on. Admittedly, they didn’t do any follow up, but Honl was more focused on the report and inaction that Baldwin had from her committee assignments.

  9. PMD says:

    I’m certainly not trying to defend Baldwin here Kyle. She messed up badly. But so did Johnson and I don’t think it’s accurate to say that there’s no comparison whatsoever between the two (as Allison suggested). Maybe he feels Baldwin is more responsible, but my reading of things he’s said is that neither senator handled this very well.

  10. Kyle says:

    Your own link said that Baldwin received the report in March and that Johnson did not. Johnson has admitted that his staff mishandled the complaint, but he didn’t have the information that Baldwin did. He also didn’t force anyone to sign a non disclosure agreement as a condition of their severance package. You can certainly compare the two all you want, but Baldwin’s office comes out worse on every comparison I can think of.

  11. PMD says:

    Holy nitpick Batman! Kyle you are in peak form today. You just never let anything rest. Is that just your Internet persona or an everyday thing?

  12. Kyle says:

    Your entire argument in this thread has been that Johnson is just as bad as Baldwin. Now it’s nitpicking to address the core of your entire case? You also called someone out specifically about the comparison between the two senators on this issue. All I did was compare two people you insist are comparable. Are you just upset that you didn’t read your whole source?

    As for my persona, I’m not sure I’m an unbiased source on my own behavior. I would say that I tend only attack arguments like this when prompted to debate (which admittedly is more online than in person lately), or when I feel an issue needs further examination. Usually, I don’t actually care which side “wins” the discussion nearly as much as just seeing that a discussion takes place.

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