[FURTHER UPDATE: Media Trackers retracts, apologizes for putting out the story. My apologies to Mr. Frank for my reaction; it was obviously uncalled for.]

[UPDATE: The police are now reporting that the staffer’s story has been recanted. Absent any evidence to the contrary, this would include the alleged text messages: I look forward with some interest to whether that, at least, can be verified. And yes, you may safely assume that I do not appreciate people lying to the police about things like this. – Moe Lane]

OK, remember the Kyle Wood incident from last week? Short version is, Kyle Wood is a staffer for Chad Lee, the Republican candidate for WI-02, which is Tammy Baldwin’s current district. Chad is opposed by Mark Pocan. Tammy Baldwin happens to be gay. Mark Pocan happens to be gay. Kyle Wood happens to be gay. And Kyle Wood was assaulted in his home last week, allegedly for being a gay Republican who was out of the closet and supporting a straight Republican running in a Democratic district. This is a real story (hate to have to use that caveat, but hoaxes have been known to happen, on both sides): the cops are looking for “Male, white, mid-20s, 6′-6’2″, curly brown hair, broad nose, with a muscular build.”

Now, let’s meet Philip Frank.

[Picture removed.]

The tall guy on the right, with the broad nose? Yeah, he’s Mark Pocan’s partner. He’s also someone who sent some threatening texts to Kyle just prior to the attack. And by threatening I mean things like “Remember your station in life and remember not to cross the husband of a powerful man. You are on shaky footing as it is, push much farther and you won’t have a future in this town, or any other. You’ll go back to pig farming where you belong.” That’s when Philip Frank wasn’t engaged in some rather nasty racism/misogyny (“ugly ch[*]ola hooker wife,” which is a reference to Chad Lee’s spouse) or general hatred towards conservatives (” the toothless/high school drop out vote”) and/or heterosexuals (“breeders”). Now, none of this means that the cops should arrest Mr. Frank, of course. But I think that it would be a good idea if the man voluntarily assisted the police with their inquiries.

Moe Lane

[Still volunteer, but the strikethrough formatting doesn’t work.]