Walker Declines To Say "I Knew Nothing"

Nowhere in this tossed word salad that our bobbing-and-weaving Governor regurgitated from a day of studying perjury-free talking points is there a denial that he didn't know his appointees were doing campaign work on the public's dime - - 25 feet from his office:

"I think it's very clear when all of this is done, no matter how much time it takes, and again my campaign has been involved with cooperating with them for more than a year, I have every confidence that when this is completed, people will see that our integrity remains intact," Walker said.

Furthermore:

Asked about the proximity of his office to space occupied by Kelly Rindfleisch, his then-deputy chief of staff in 2010, and whether he knew what Rindfleisch was doing, Walker declined to comment, saying he wanted to abide by the rules of the John Doe probe and not provide details publicly.

John Doe rules do not prohibit anyone from proclaiming their innocence.

Scott Walker's Road To Ruin Is 25 Feet Long

According to a criminal complaint alleging misconduct in office, and multiple felonies, twenty-five feet is the distance from former Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's office to the office of Kelly Rindfleisch, his Deputy Chief of Staff in 2010.

That shorter, folks, than a first down, without any linebackers, guards or tackles in the way.

The complaint alleges she used her taxpayer-paid job and resources to perform allegedly-illegal Republican campaign organizing and fund-raising using a secret computer email system setup in her office by another Walker staffer and also used by other partisan campaign operatives,.

Did the boss, County Executive and now-Governor Scott Walker - - or the Chief of Staff - - ever walk down the hall and stick his head in her office and say, "Hey, Kelly, what's shaking?"

Did they ever have staff meetings, when people went around the room and discussed what they'd been working on for the people of Milwaukee County - - the folks paying their salaries and benefits - - and what was on their plates?

Was this a public office doing the public work, or was it a partisan consulting firm using public resources . with a communications system hidden from public view, to save campaigns the trouble of paying for their own staff, offices, and equipment?

Special Interest Mining Bill Passes Assembly, DOA In Senate

The Wisconsin Assembly disgraced itself Thursday by passing an industry-written mining bill that would trash the Bad River watershed and undo hundreds of years of water conservation work, plus state, constitutional and Native American sovereignty in Wisconsin.

Fearing a public opinion backlash, and recall elections that have already claimed two members and threaten four more, Republican State Senators will go more more slowly; their first order of business will be to shelve the Assembly's toxic, anti-democratic action.

An excellent, ongoing source of information about this issue is the open Facebook page:

Citizens Concerned about the proposed Penokee Mine

Scott Walker, The New Nixon

These few paragraphs reported by Dan Bice about Darlene Wink, one of two former Walker staffers in the Milwaukee County Executive's office charged Thursday with criminal behaviors on public time, indicate how far, wide, deep and fast Walker's legal and political problems are expanding:

...Wink, cut a deal with prosecutors under which she has agreed to provide information in a related investigation about the destruction of digital evidence and to aid in further prosecutions. This is the first indication that the multifaceted John Doe investigation may be pursuing charges of evidence tampering.

Milwaukee County prosecutors also made the surprising disclosure that top Walker aides set up a private Internet network set up by top Walker aides to allow them to communicate with one another by email about campaign as well as county government work without the public or co-workers' knowledge.

The emails traded by Walker officials via the shadow government could provide investigators with a trove of information as they pursue other angles in the case. Earlier this week, the Journal Sentinel reported that the probe was focusing on possible bid-rigging and other misconduct in the competition to house the county Department on Aging in private office space.

The network was set up by long-time Walker and staffer Tim Russell, already charged with stealing money from a veterans fund, among other allegations.

Not to mention Walker's ethical deficits, which we have seen before.

These things will stick to Walker, and they underscore why his people, or others who control the conservative dollars flowing to his campaign coffers, would talking about a Plan B.

He's weakened - - they are weakened. He goes down - - they take a fall, too.

Walker fancies himself the heir to Ronald Reagan and his conservative leadershp's legacy, but, more and more, it is Richard Nixon (Tim Rissell, meet Alexander Bufferfield), , secret tapes and the drip-drip-drip of an unfolding corruption case that come to mind.

And by the way, commentary about all this should come from the pre-eminent Nixon Scholar Stanley Kutler, my friend and former Constitutional Law professor.

Have at it.

Tommy Thompson Wants Even Faster Train From Milwaukee To Madison

Hey - - Midwestern High-Speed rail has found a Republican backer, even in railophobic Wisconsin.

On video, the champion is Tommy Thompson, in his own words.

Mr. Amtrak is back.

But, uh oh, that drove the  right-wing Club For Growth nuts.

Even though Tommy still supported Walker for killing the Milwaukee-to-Madison train. Says so in that same video. Really.

But which the Club for Growth wasn't buying. See its release, above, again

Oy! Can't a flip-flopper get a break?

Stay tuned, as all parties watch Tommy Thompson's off-the-rails run for US Senate.

Walker, Eagle Scout, Again Blind To Legal, Moral Questions

Remember the infamous and revealing taped phone call between Scott Walker and a blogger/prankster named Ian Murphy - - whom Walker thought was the Right's uber-financier David Koch?

Murphy suggested that Walker insert provocateurs into the crowds of peaceful protesters at the State Capitol?

Walker didn't say, "Holy cow! That would be wrong. Illegal. Immoral."

No, Walker said that troublemakers might cause a boomeranging political reaction and weaken the fight he'd picked with public unions over collective bargaining.

Murphy: Right, right. Well, we’ll back you any way we can. But, uh, what we were thinking about the crowds was, uh, was planting some troublemakers.

Walker: You know, the, well, the only problem with that — because we thought about that...My only fear would be is if there was a ruckus caused is that that would scare the public into thinking maybe the governor has gotta settle to avoid all these problems.

So: politics trumps the law, or an ethical response from the Governor.

Flash forward to Thursday's arrest and charging of two more former staffers from his days as Milwaukee County Executive.

The complaint indicates that when Walker found out one of the now-charged staffers had been written up in the Journal Sentinel for using county resources to work on his gubernatorial campaign, he didn't say, "Holy cow! That's wrong. Illegal. Immoral."

He said:

We cannot afford another story like this one," Walker said in the email he sent Russell. "No one can give them any reason to do another story. That means no laptops, no websites, no time away during the work day, etc."

Another self-interested politics response. Eagle Scout code, Governor?

A Possible Plan "B" For Scott Walker, Ex-Governor

I know without knowing that state and national political consultants and operatives far above my pay grade are already thinking along these lines because their goal is to keep Wisconsin on its far-right track:

*  Gov. Walker resigns if the John Doe probe gets fatally close to him. Depending on the timing, it could moot the recall effort which is already delayed by Republicans' insistence on the most laborious signature verification procedures imaginable.  Since the Doe probe and related events could last a long time, it is possible that Walker could win the recall election, then have to leave, much as Richard Nixon won re-election in 1972 with Watergate events already underway - - but then resigned when his culpability and involvement in illegal activities was clear.

* A resignation would elevate Lt. Gov. Kleefisch to the office, and, again depending on the timing, could moot the recall against her, too. If that happened before the recall election,  I believe - - and correct me if I am wrong - - it would start another year-long clock before she could be recalled.

* If he left before he'd spent it, Walker's trove of recall-related fundraising could either be returned to donors, gathered up again as a Walker support/legal-defense-if-needed fund, or transferred and/or re-contributed in part or in whole to Kleefisch's campaign account, depending on the law. It's their money, and events may push it elsewhere.

*  Conservative backers, if they cared, would find and fund a slot for Walker somewhere, depending on what happens with the John Doe and whether they choose to extend their loyalty, and how far.

Walker is ultimately a pawn in the right's game, and if need be, is replaceable.

Keep an eye on how this particular scenario, as Dan Bice described it on January 22nd:

In an interview last week, Walker said he has not been contacted by investigators for the Democratic district attorney but would be open to sitting down with Milwaukee County prosecutors to discuss the issues they are investigating.

"I certainly would be willing if they asked me to in the future," Walker told the Journal Sentinel's Madison bureau. "Like I said, no matter who it might be about, we'd be more than willing to in the future."

Asked if he has hired his own attorney for advice regarding the John Doe investigation, Walker declined to answer.

"I've not been a subject of this," the first-term Republican governor said. "At some point in the future, if I am, I'll discuss that with you."

His campaign hired Steve Biskupic of Michael Best & Friedrich in late 2010, when officials subpoenaed campaign emails. Last year, Walker's campaign paid Michael Best nearly $110,000 for "compliance issues."

John Doe Charges Show Walker Was No Post-Ament Reformer

Fresh criminal charges brought today against two more former Milwaukee County employees - - these who worked directly for then-County Executive Walker - - allege persistent campaign fund-raising and other forbidden political activity on taxpayer-paid time taking place right under Walker's nose, as reported by Dan Bice.

The complaint also reveals the existence of a secret email system used by Walker and his aides - - and alleges that records from the system were withheld from release under Open Records requests.

Serious stuff.

Additional charges could come that further implicate top Walker County staffers, campaign officials and long-time advisers; Walker as witness is among the distinct possibilities.

Serious stuff, getting more serious.

Couple these revelations with earlier John Doe convictions for illegal donations to Walker's campaign for Governor, and pending charges of theft by Walker appointees from funds Walker was supposed to have moved out of his office, and a picture of Walker is emerging as a failed administrator - - at best - - of a major public office.

Remember that Walker was swept into that office after Tom Ament resigned as County Execitive in the wake of a massive recall signature effort.

Set aside that irony, given Walker's criticism of the same recall process now being used against him.

Set aside, though don't forget, that people had already been found guilty in the caucus scandal years earlier for similar behaviors.

It now looks like Milwaukee County taxpayers simply traded one form of public dysfunction for another:

In the case of Ament and supervisors who expanded fiscally ruinous pension payments, it was a matter of using a publicly-financed system to pad their retirement incomes.

With Walker, it was a matter of using the same publicly-financed system as a partisan consulting business to help candidacies and campaigns.

In both cases, public offices and resources were misused.

Walker the reformer. Hardly.

I'm looking at this paragraph from the Journal Sentinel's 2010 contorted endorsement editorial for Walker, that praised his "habit of upending the status quo," and does it ever ring hollow now:

If there is one thing Walker has shown in his tenure as county executive, it is an abiding intolerance for the failures of business as usual.

Grover Norquist-Style State Planning Killing Jobs In Wisconsin

Republican State Senate leader Scott Fitzgerald, currently facing a probable recall election in the spring, signals deeper cuts in the 2013-'15 state budget, assuming he and Scott Walker survive their recall campaigns. and are in control of the government.

So cutting the most money per-pupil out of local schools among all the states, and coming in at number three nationally in cuts to higher education weren't political satisfaction for these guys at the expense of teachers while snuffing out main street spending?

Six straight months of rising unemployment in Wisconsin while hiring is up nationally? Do they not see a relationship between their budget cuts, micro-management of local public budgets and the loss of business activity and hiring statewide?

Grover Norquist, the anti-taxation Washington, DC power broker who wants government shrunk to fit into a bathtub, then drowned, would be pleased with Wisconsin's lurch to the far-right under Walker and the Fitzgerald brothers, which means these small-government ideologues are comfortable with the unemployment that results when billions in purchasing power is withdrawn from the economy.

Their state planning is failing.

Our Governor Gets One Thing "Right"

Gov. Walker said in the State of the State speech that Wisconsin is headed in the "right direction."

"Right," as in to the political right?  OK, give him that.

Walker has infused Wisconsin with a jaw-droppingly far-right, fact-depleted, anti-worker, anti-woman, anti-urban, anti-teacher, anti-environment, tax-the-poor-a-little-heavier and split-the-state-down-the-middle agenda and (mean) spirit.

Yes, mean. He dropped a bomb on many middle-class citizens and gloried in it its sneaky, signature deceit.

There's no way that was right.

And if losing private sector jobs for six straight months- -  as the nation is adding jobs - -  and falling so far behind in his campaign pledge to create 250,000 private sector jobs - - by 2015 - - that he won't hit the pledge until 2029 - - well, go figure how that's the right track.

Here are a few other things he did not get right - - though he knew better.

Imagine, Wisconsin, A Governor Who Was Interested In The Truth

What does it say about the state of Wisconsin and its politics that the advance text of Governor's Walker's State of the State tonight repeats demonstrably false claims about the budget being balanced, and furthermore, balanced without having raised taxes?

State fiscal records show that two taxes were raised, and Walker's Secretary of Administration recently told federal officials the state was still running a deficit. 

And what does it say - - actually, these numbers speak for themselves - - that the PolitiFact rating service has found 27 of 40 statements of Walker's it vetted to be "mostly false, "false," or "Pants on Fire?" That's a pretty lousing batting average.

We all know there is a certain amount of exaggeration by some elected officials - - "I gladly yield the balance of my time to the Gentleman from the Great State of such-and-such..." - - and that politicians will take credit for something created or achieved when, in fact, scores, thousands of people deserve some or even most of the credit.

But repeating falsehoods, even after true facts to the contrary are publicized?

That, Bucky is a problem.

Walker State Of The State Speech Falsely Claims Balanced Budget

Along with a proven falsehood about a budget without tax increases, Scott Walker's State of the State speech - - and here's a primer on what you won't hear - - contains another falsehood: that the budget is balanced.

Excerpts from the speech contain these lines, reports the Journal Sentinel:

And we balanced the state budget.  We balanced it -- without raising taxes; without massive layoffs; and without budget tricks;

Who is the source of the revelation that the budget still has a deficit? A Democrat?

No - - it's Walker's Department of Administration Secretary, Mike Huebsch, who told federal officials there was a deficit that permitted the state to cut public health plan rolls.

As State Sen. Jon Richards posted to WisPolitics last week:

Rep. Richards: Walker's administration states his budget is not balanced
1/18/2012

Contact: Rep. Jon Richards, (608) 266-0650

The governor’s administration certifies that the budget has a deficit in order to kick up to 53,000 people off health care

MADISON—Contradicting repeated claims by Gov. Walker that he has balanced the state budget, his administration told federal health officials late last month in writing that Wisconsin has a budget deficit so it could drop health care for Wisconsin families. That’s according to documents released today by Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee).

On Dec. 29, Walker administration secretary Mike Huebsch sent a letter to federal health secretary Kathleen Sebelius certifying that Wisconsin will have a budget deficit through June 30, 2013. By certifying that its budget isn’t balanced, the Walker administration can now dodge a federal law requiring it to continue providing health care for up to 53,000 residents. The Walker Administration letter contrasts starkly with public comments by Walker, who has claimed repeatedly since June that his budget is balanced.

More details, here.

Walker Repeating Tax Lie In State Of The State Speech

Walker is a piece of work. As predicted, his State of the State speech mirrors a year of deceit.

Again, according to the Journal Sentinel, he will repeat tonight the falsehood that his budget did not raise taxes - - which it did.

Here is what he is repeating - -

"And we balanced the state budget.  We balanced it -- without raising taxes;"

And here is what PolitiFact wrote:

But what about his 2011-"13 budget?

It included some tax cuts, but also tax increases.

That"s according to the nonpartisan state Legislative Fiscal Bureau, which both parties have long cited as a neutral scorekeeper on budget matters.

The bureau determined that Walker included three tax increases in the budget totaling $49.4 million over the two-year period.

The largest involved a reduction in a state tax credit for low-income working families, known as the earned income credit. A tax credit reduces the amount of tax you owe.

In this case, the earned income tax credit is in place for both state and federal taxes. It"s refundable, so individuals with little or no income tax liability may still receive the credit.

Walker"s plan would decrease the tax credit for families with more than one child, allowing the state to collect an additional $41.3 million in taxes over two years from those families. (The credit would actually go up for families with just one child.)

A second tax increase, the fiscal bureau said, is stopping the inflationary adjustment of the state"s Homestead Tax Credit -- the property tax break that appears as a credit on income tax forms for low-income homeowners and renters. The bureau calculated that change would increase taxes by an estimated $8.1 million.
 

Kedzie And Political Quicksand

As the Assembly stumbles and blunders towards approving a mining bill that damages its credibility and the state's water-dependent environment, attention will turn to the State Senate where a committee led by State Sen. Neal Kedzie, (R-Elkhorn), is supposed to be writing a mining bill presumed to be less flawed and confrontational.

That's the general expectation, though Kedzie has been signalling a shift to the right and loyalty to Walker, so we might end up with a Senate bill masquerading as something better, but in reality is simply re-bottled Assembly sludge, with a dab of lipstick on the label.

If Kedzie comes across as Jeff Stone's brother from another district - - short video, here - -  he could easily find himself on the next recall list.

Voters are less tolerant these days of legislators who carry water for the far-right, out-of-state ALEC machine - - see Kedzie;s official bio, and also see consequences/Fitzgerald, Scott/recall- - and who are willing to sell off the state's conservation legacy to anyone with a dragline

and a permit coupon from Walker's commercialized DNR.

Environmental Lawyers Shred Assembly Mining Bill

Great posting from Midwest Environmental Advocates.

Walker John Doe Probe In A Higher Gear

And so is the local paper's reporting.

The extensive piece in the Wednesday Journal Sentinel about the John Doe probe and Scott Walker's former Milwaukee County staff and senior campaign officials is a significant piece of journalism that advances a significant political story by leaps and bounds.

The reporting does a helluva job explaining that the probe is looking at possible irregularities - - and no one has been charged in this avenue of investigation - - surrounding real estate bids, awards, lobbying and politicking that involved millions of dollars in County-paid office real estate contracts.

The corruption investigation into Gov. Scott Walker's time as Milwaukee County executive is focusing on the bid competition to house the county's Department on Aging in private office space, the Journal Sentinel has learned.

Investigators are looking for signs of bid-rigging or other misconduct as representatives of the privately owned Reuss Federal Plaza vied unsuccessfully in 2010 to keep the department offices, according to sources familiar with the case. The offices had moved in 2005 to the blue tower, 310 W. Wisconsin Ave., in a $3 million deal.

In December, the real estate broker for Boerke Co. who spearheaded the Reuss effort in 2005 and 2010 was arrested and jailed overnight on allegations of failing to cooperate with the ongoing John Doe investigation.

The broker, Andrew P. Jensen Jr., faces an order to talk to prosecutors Wednesday.

John Hiller, one of Walker's highest-ranking campaign aides, said he worked on behalf of the building's owners on the 2005 deal. An official told the newspaper that he also had a role in the 2010 effort.

In 2005, Schlitz Park - which had housed the offices for 20 years - won an initial bid for the offices. But records show a rushed, last-minute rebid resulted in the Reuss group getting the $3 million deal...

In late summer 2010, the county ultimately rejected all private office space options as too expensive and the department's offices moved into vacant space in a county-owned building, a cost-saving move some supervisors had recommended five years earlier.

Around that time, the district attorney's office, which launched the Doe investigation in May 2010, received a tip about possible insider dealing in the lease-space competition. An email obtained by the Journal Sentinel showed the Walker administration tipped off some brokers about strategy months before any bids were formally sought.

None of the players in the deals has been accused of wrongdoing, and Walker has defended the county's actions...

The fact no lease contract was awarded in 2010 could make any potential prosecution more difficult, but misconduct charges do get filed under such circumstances, veteran Chicago criminal defense attorney Robert Loeb said. They hinge on the illegality of the behind-the-scenes acts, not necessarily on whether the contract was awarded.

This line of John Doe inquiry has been reported by the paper's Dan Bice, including in a Sunday column that said:

The next phase, insiders say, is focusing on the role some of Walker's closest associates and county employees had in a real estate deal involving a county agency. The point man on the deal, real estate broker Andrew Jensen, was arrested last month for allegedly failing to cooperate with the investigation. Jensen, who was not charged, is set to meet with prosecutors this week.

The Wednesday blockbuster takes readers to political territory in and around County government several notches above that inhabited by middling Walker staffers and associates recently charged by the Milwaukee County District Attorney with diverting funds from a Walker-founded veterans' charity to pay for personal cruises and airplane tickets - - as serious as that conduct would be, if proven.

But as a former Milwaukee Journal and Journal Sentinel reporter and assistant metropolitan editor, here's what jumped out at me about the Wednesday story: five Journal Sentinel staffers got bylines or contributor credit.

Five!

Even in the long-gone era of big newsroom staffs, five reporters does a serious team make.

Add in the copy, content, senior editing and design involvement, and it's even more clear that the paper, already owning the story, is really all-in as that story gets hotter.

If you are Scott Walker, or are on his team, or were with him in County government, trust me: this is not the way you hoped his State of the State speech Wednesday - - or the next few weeks or months - - would unfold

A Primer On Scott Walker's Year Of Deceit, Wisconsin's Decline

(originally posted Tuesday, Jan. 24, 1:52 p.m.) 

Here is what you will not hear, or what will be turned on its head Wednesday night as Scott Walker delivers his State of the State speech and tries to put lipstick on His Year of Living Deceitfully:

*  Walker withheld from the public his intention to bludgeon unions and public employees statewide and strip away nearly all their collective bargaining processes, then used the phrase "dropped the bomb" in a taped phone call to describe his action. And disclosed he'd considered sending provocateurs into crowds of protesters to make mischief.

Name another elected official in American who treats citizens, law and the workplace environment with such contempt.

What we learned as this unfolded was that sneakiness, misdirection and outright falsehoods were to be Walker hallmarks  - - the exact opposite of what he told a Lakeland Times reporter in a September, 2010 gubernatorial campaign interview was the virtue and strength he'd gained in the Milwaukee County Executive's office (more about that later):

When he says he believes in government transparency, it's not just a campaign slogan, Walker said "I don't just say that, I've lived it," he said.

*  Little wonder, then that the media fact-checking service PolitiFact has examined 39 Walker statements and rated 27 of them, or 70%, as "mostly false, "false" "pants on fire." The statements vetted went across-the-board: budgets, health care, campaign disputes, education, tax relief, collective bargaining, state finances, the business climate and more.

*  Among his more brazen cynical manipulations that went beyond rhetoric was the disclosure that Walker's budget-appointees are using two sets of state fiscal figures. One allows Walker to claim in releases, interviews and self-promotional TV ads that the state budget is balanced - - but another allows him to claim an ongoing budget deficit for political reasons so the administration can toss low-income adults and children off state-supported health-care plans and pick an ideological fight with the Obama administration.

*  In a related manipulation, Walker claimed he was expanding the scope of publicly-funded health plans for the disabled, seniors and others - - and even invited advocates to a Madison news conference where he made his compassionate announcement - - then had to admit that the federal government had forced him to add people to the programs' rolls because he had removed them from coverage inappropriately. Details here.

*  Walker's ploys extend to environmental matters as he taints the state's political environment, too. Wetlands and waterways in the public domain are being readied for private takeover and probable degradation through multiple pieces of legislation initiated or sought by Walker. This giveaway of public water and land has been as narrow as a special wetlands-filling bill at Walker's insistence for one Green Bay developer (and Walker donor), and as sweeping as wetlands and mining changes statewide written into bills behind closed doors to speed-up development at the expense of clean water, treaties with Native Americans and 224 years of water protections incorporated into the state constitution's "Public Trust Doctrine."

*  Walker and his party pushed through a vote-suppressing ID law, another law with flawed and disenfranchising legislative-redistricting maps, and even - - read the next few words carefully - - openly and without apology ran Republicans posing as Democrats to extend Senate recall campaigns and the 'real' Republicans fund-raising and active campaigning time frames. Taxpayers had to pay the cost of the unnecessary primaries.

So what is the State of the State?

Stressed and suffering on Walker's watch through months of corrosive leadership, mounting job losses and negative publicity nationally.

*  All made worse by the behavior of Walker allies - - from State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser's intemperate outbursts, to Justice Michael Gableman's participation in cases argued by the high-profile law firm Michael Best & Friedrich which did not bill him for representation in a judicial ethics case worth $100,000, according to published estimates.

*  It is the same law firm that is collecting significant fees from state coffers for representing Republicans in their controversial redistricting.

*  And which is representing the Walker campaign in some aspects of the John Doe probe.

Details in the above bulleted points,  here.

All these events and revelations have played some role in fueling the recall campaigns aimed at Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, and State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, a key Walker ally - - and which no doubt Walker will evade, distort, omit, misrepresent or spin during the State of the State speech Wednesday night.

It is his pattern - - and it exceeds the normal exaggerations in political speech and self-interested strategy.

But we know the truth, and I'll bet he does, too:

The recall efforts - - like those last year that cost the GOP two Senate seats - - are genuine grassroots efforts that withstood establishment political and media condemnation, opponents' vandalism and even scattered assaults, and yet garnered against Walker and Kleefisch, in a mere 60 cold wintery days, a history-making million+recall signatures.

And the necessary signatures also to force an election on Scott Fitzgerald in his conservative district, and in three other GOP-leaning State Senate districts.

This authentic citizen achievement was distorted by a demagogic Walker who has called it a movement of paid workers and outside labor bosses. And, he claimed last year's Capitol protesters were mostly out-of-state, though PolitiFact knocked that down as "false" in February, 2011.

It's not coincidental that the same manipulative, plotting and forked-tongued Governor who revealed himself these last 12 months also has had some donors, associates and even key, former staffers charged criminally - - with others reportedly about to be named - - because of plotting activities on his behalf.

Nor is it coincidental that Walker is now raising millions of dollars out-state for his recall defense from powerful individuals

Just four individuals, using a loophole in Wisconsin campaign law, have given a total of $1 million, the Journal Sentinel reports.

The Journal Sentinel's Dan Bice, whose reporting about the ongoing Walker-related John Doe probe has been outstanding, captured in this memorable column the ironic essence underlying Scott Walker's performance:

Gov. Scott Walker says he isn't worried about a John Doe investigation of his current and former aides.

That's because, Walker said, he is a man of integrity.

"I know that throughout my career - first in the Legislature, then as county executive and now for the last 10 months as governor - I live by the standards I got from my parents," said Walker, whose father was a Baptist minister. "Certainly, they got me to the rank of Eagle Scout, and I continue to have that kind of integrity."

Tommy Thompson Again Uses Jewish Terminology To Talk About Money

What is with Tommy Thompson, money and things Jewish?

He blew up his silly vanity run for the Presidency in 2007 by saying that making money was part of Jewish culture.

Today, the AP quotes Tommy, describing his financial success in the private sector this way:

Everybody knows I was broke when I left government five years ago," Thompson said in 2010. " `I've made a few shekels, not as many as you guys think I've made, but it's tough to go back, there's no question about that." 

The shekel is the official currency denomination of Israel, the Jewish state.

Why didn't Tommy say he'd made a few bucks, dollars, greenbacks?

Somehow, someway, money and Jewish images are tied together in Tommy's head.

He's learned nothing from his 2007 experience, when this was the news, and I hadn't seem the AP account above when I linked to a different article earlier in the day for a post in which I thought I could make a brief satirical reference to Tommy's past stumbles:

MONDAY, April 16, 2007, 5:24 p.m By Associated Press

Thompson apologizes for Jewish remarks

Republican presidential candidate Tommy Thompson told a Jewish group today that earning money is "part of the Jewish tradition," a remark for which he later apologized.

"I'm in the private sector and for the first time in my life I'm earning money," the former Wisconsin governor told the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. "You know that's sort of part of the Jewish tradition and I do not find anything wrong with that."

Later, he added: "I just want to clarify something because I didn't (by) any means want to infer or imply anything about Jews and finances and things. What I was referring to, ladies and gentlemen, is the accomplishments of the Jewish religion. You've been outstanding business people and I compliment you for that."

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz first reported the comments.

A Wisconsin Assemblyman Parades His Biases

Videotaped arrogance: Jeff Stone, (R-Greenfield), admits that the Assembly excluded Native Americans when drafting mining legislation that also covers many water issues, too.

Though the mining bill was written in such secrecy, but with input from the mining company, that no legislator would put his or her name on it as a sponsor.

But drafting input from the mining company? Sure.

From Native Americans whose Bad River watershed will get the mines' polluted silt. No.

Here's what the headwaters of the Bad River looked like this morning, according to Pete Rasmussen.

And I remember when Stone was considered a reasonable, moderate, thoughtful guy. Former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist and I used to have coffee with Stone on Water St. to talk about transit, and government.

But these days, the Republicans feel free to air out their biases, Like State Sen Neal Kedzie, (R-Elkhorn), another former moderate, but who is now leading the fight for Indian high school mascots and nicknames, and, in the Senate, in favor of wetland fillings and quick mine approvals.

Discrimination is in vogue!

And the public be damned. It's the era of Walker and big money, so let the feast begin.

So let the mining lawsuits fly - - which the reckless Assembly knows are coming - -  with Stone's remarks becoming Exhibit "A."

Walker's Big Donor List

Still think there aren't economic classes in America? The 1% is buying Wisconsin. Digest this data.

Post-Debate Fact-Checking: Stimulus Created 1.2-3.7 Million Jobs Last Year

The next time you hear a righty radio talker or Republican candidate jabber about the stimulus and its impact on hiring, remember these numbers that CNN published right after Monday's GOP debate:

ROMNEY: President Barack Obama's $814 billion economic stimulus program "didn't create private-sector jobs."

THE FACTS: There is no support for that assertion. Between 1.2 million and 3.7 million full-time-equivalent jobs were created last year because of the stimulus, according to an August 2011 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Meanwhile, another government report found the stimulus program has paid $34.5 billion in tax incentives to businesses, including $260 million to hire younger, unemployed war veterans.

Economists debate whether the stimulus lived up to its promise or was worth the cost, but no one seriously argues that it created no jobs. Many believe it helped to end the recession even while falling short of its employment goals.

Tommy Says He Made A Lot Of Money

Tommy tells the Journal Sentinel "I did quite well" in his private sector years.

Nothing else to say but "Mazel Tov."

Background here.

Metro Milwaukee Jobless Crash For African-Americans On Walker's Watch

As reporting shows record joblessness for African-Americans in Metro Milwaukee, can we hear from Scott Walker, current Governor and Milwaukee County Executive from 2002-2010 about that?  Can he explain what job development his now-criminally charged economic development point man Tim Russell helped arrange, especially in Park East land Walker sat on for years because he was too stubborn to turn it over to the city's Department of Development for packaging?

I remember a moment during one of the televised debates during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign between Walker and Tom Barrett where Barrett, Milwaukee's Mayor, asked Walker to cite a single job Walker had created in Milwaukee's central city.

Walker had nothing to say, which the data reflects.

John Doe Probe, Criminal Charges, Make Walker Boast Laughable

With more criminal charges apparently coming against Scott Walker insiders and former staffers who worked for him during his Milwaukee County Executive tenure, these lines from a Lakeland Times campaign interview with gubernatorial candidate Walker in September, 2010 sure look silly now:

When he says he believes in government transparency, it's not just a campaign slogan, Walker said "I don't just say that, I've lived it," he said.

By the time that interview took place, a shortfall of funds had already been discovered in a veterans fund managed from Walker's office, and Walker had already ignored County ethics' advice to remove the fund from his office and personally it handed to long-time aide Tim Russell, who now stands accused of stealing from it.

Transparency?

Please.

Walker Solicits Wall Street's 1% To Fight Wisconsin's 99%

$2,500 would have gotten you through the door last week to join the former CEO from bailed-out AIG to fete Scott Walker on Park Ave. in New York City help Walker fight a million citizens trying to recall him back home in Wisconsin. The checks got written to "Friends of Scott Walker." Just whom do you think those "friends" are? 61% of Walker donors live out of state, a new study shows.

Mining Bill Spurs Protests

Bad bills have consequences.

Protests are scheduled this week in Madison over the Assembly's pro-industry mining bill - - despite 11th-hour, minimal tweaks - -  and little wonder,

Among the phrases the Journal Sentinel editorial board - - which supports the mine - - used in a full-throated screed against the Assembly bill, were:

"...a travesty of legislation...significantly weaken environmental protections...as if children had replaced Republican legislators...dump toxic waste into wetlands and flood plains...allow mining corporations to contaminate the groundwater of neighboring properties...allow mining operations to inflict significant damage to the environment...an act of political cowardice...an insult to the people of northern Wisconsin...

And the Legislature will do to wetlands what the mining bill will do to the Bad River watershed. It's a coordinated attack on people and the waters that belong to them.

Gingrich's Creepy Grandiosity

I don't recall a candidate for high office more in love with the sound of his own voice and more driven by a distorted sense of self-importance than Newt Gingrich - - highlighted by Gingrich's repetitive call for a series of seven, three-hour debates wherein Newt believes he would out-talk and out-shine President Barack Obama.

Gingrich's proposed format would duplicate the structure of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates that helped Douglas, a Democrat, win re-election to a US Senate seat in Illinois in 1858.

Slavery was the debates' dominant topic across the important Midwestern State of Illinois - - and long-winded oratory was more in vogue than in today's Facebook, Twitter and cable TV world - - so 150 years ago those debates made a lot of sense.

But it's painfully laughable that Gingrich thinks contemporary issues, as he sees them, are the moral and political equivalent to slavery, with disunion and war on the horizon, or that he's entitled to command so much of the nation and President's time, or that Gingrich's debating skills - - while substantial and entertaining  - - rate the exposure that modern electronic media would inflict on the nation.

For no doubt weeks - - on top of the rest of the campaign.

Granted that politics is an ego-driven profession, and debates are crucial, but Gingrich's proposal - - like so much of his persona - - reflects an out-of-control grandiosity absent even a hint of self-regulation.

This isn't 1858. And there's no way, since Douglas was the incumbent, that Gingrich - - who wants inner city kids to clean their schools' toilets - - gets to play Lincoln on the grandest stage imaginable against "the food stamp President."

Pomposity should have its limits. So should self-parody.

Newt, too.

Hat tip, David Maraniss.

Frank Lasee's US Senate Campaign Finally Earns Media

State Sen. Frank Lasee is up against better-known rivals in the US Senate race, including Mark Neumann and Tommy Thompson, so getting ink hasn't come easy for the De Pere Republican.

But if any publicity is good publicity, then Lasee's PolitiFact "false" rating for misrepresenting health insurance costs in Wisconsin might be just the PR boost his candidacy has needed.

Like many ideological conservatives, Lasee opposes government spending, but is now well into a second decade of helping himself to it.

He's was elected (official bio) to the Assembly in 1994 and served until 2008. After losing his Assembly seat, Lasee got back to Madison by winning an election to the State Senate in 2010.

He's a government guy winning elections by running against government. No contradiction, apparently.

As a Wisconsin legislator, Lasee has enjoyed years of taxpayer-paid salaries and a variety of benefits - - from health insurance to $75 in tax-free meal and lodging payments for any day during which he reports for work at the Capitol - - but who could tell a Tea Party rally last year (video) in Oshkosh that "government is too big, too expensive...taxes too much..."

Lasee has made news erratically, with opposition to wind farms and hearing aids for kids, but support for armed school personnel were all among previous media wins.

Sykes On Gingrich: No...And Then Some

The conservative talker with the biggest morning audience compiles some links to explain why he's no fan of Newt's.

But will Charlie repeat the great story he told several weeks ago about the few days he spent with Newt in DC when the-then GOP House of Representatives figure was looking for a ghost-writer, and decided to decline Newt's proposal?

Should This DNR Take Over County Wetland And Other Water Programs?

[First posted Saturday, 1/21, 3:49 p.m., revised Sunday, 1/22, 9:52 p.m., reposted for Monday, 1/23, 12:01 a.m.]

Open up the agenda for the upcoming Natural Resources Board meeting, scroll down to "action item 3.B.," and then open the link at # 10  - -

Congress Matters: Wisconsin Conservation Congress 2012 Spring Hearing Advisory Questions (Rob Bohmann, WCC Chair, 20 minutes) Added

- - then scroll to items #3-4-5 there, and then after, yes, a laborious search of an arcane agenda for meetings during the working day when citizens can't attend, ask this question:

Do you want this particular DNR management team with its "chamber of commerce mentality" (Scott Walker's phrase) is the right group to obtain consolidated management powers over all 72 counties' existing wetlands, storm water and erosion programs and controls?

And is this the right way to go about it - - with barely a crack of sunlight into the Board's process, and with late additions to the Agenda?

The anti-big government, business-friendly crowd running the show in Madison is all for local control - - except when they are not.

This is the exact language of the proposals, buried as they are in an obscure agenda for a meeting in Madison:

3. Consolidating Jurisdictions for Wetland Management Regulations (requires legislation) Currently, the state of Wisconsin, each of the 72 counties and many incorporated municipalities in Wisconsin have independent wetland protection rules.

All or most local wetland ordinances are versions of a state model ordinance. Because of these overlapping jurisdictions it is often unclear, even within the agencies, who is responsible for a particular wetland.

Applications often need to be made to both the state, each of the 72 counties andall incorporated municipalities and permits are often received from both.

To reduce the number of employees required, and to make the permitting process easier to understand for permit applicants, do you favor the transferring shore land and isolated wetland protection responsibilities to the State of Wisconsin?

4. Consolidating Jurisdictions for Storm Water Management Regulations Currently, the state, many counties and many municipalities within those counties in Wisconsin have independent storm water management rules.

All or most county and local ordinances are versions of a state model ordinance. 

Because of these overlapping jurisdictions it is often unclear, even within the agencies, who is responsible for a particular construction site.

To reduce the number of employees required, and to make the permitting process easier to understand for permit applicants, do you favor a consolidation of permit issuance responsibilities so that both the state and county permits are issued by the counties, with the state paying part of the necessary county employee's salary and costs, and with local municipalities having the option for county permit issuance?

5. Consolidating Jurisdictions for Erosion Control Management Regulations
Currently, the state, many counties and many municipalities within those counties in Wisconsin have independent construction site erosion control rules.

All or most county and local ordinances are versions of a state model ordinance.

Because of these overlapping jurisdictions it is often unclear, even within the agencies, who is responsible for a particular construction site. Duplicate applications, and permits from both the state and the county are almost always required.

To reduce the number of employees required, and to make the permitting process easier to understand for permit applicants, do you favor a consolidation of permit issuance responsibilities so that both the state and county permits are issued by the counties, with the state paying part of the necessary county employee's salary and costs, and with local municipalities having the option for county permit issuance?

Tavern League Favors Iron Mine Bill

The Tavern league of Wisconsin has taken a position in favor of the water-rights killing Assembly iron mining bill.

What the heck does the position in the group's filings bring to the table?

There are plenty of mine backers already seated there, says the Ashland Current.

The mining company itself used nine lobbyists in 2011, records show, including employees, established lawyers, and firms.

Seriously - - mining and drinking?

I don't get it.

The "Save Walker's Bacon" Rally Only Drew 1,000 People

OK - - to be precise, "more than 1,000," says the authoritative AP. 

But not "thousands."

The way the Journal Sentinel covered it Saturday, with breathless speech-by-speech Newswatch coverage - - "'If we let Scott Walker go down our country is going down,'" [Glenn] Grothman said,'" - - instead of a summary story, you'd have thought the pro-Walker crowd had approached the size of at least a modest anti-Walker 2011 rally at the Capitol, in a smaller county, without a Wauwatosa-style 'All-Star Lineup.'

Nope. Not even if you say the Wauwatosa Patch's crowd estimate of a whopping 3.000 was accurate.

Today the Journal Sentinel says the crowd was "large," while a photo caption says "a couple thousand," giving the estimates a certain je ne sais quois quality, and free of statistical offense.

Note that in February in Madison there were two anti-Walker rallies with official estimates of at least 70,000, and another in March of at least 85,000.

Now that's "large."

A Taxing Performance; Romney Fails Campaigning 101 And Authenticates Newt Gingrich

Every politician, every office-holder, every candidate knows the first rule of life in the fish bowl:

Never Create A Second-Day Story

The corollary being:

Get Ahead Of Bad News, Take Control And Move On

Mitt Romney has repeatedly broken this cardinal principle of self-preservation by withholding, caviling, parsing, waffling and otherwise looking dense and making trouble for himself over releasing his tax returns, and now, finally agreeing to let loose of last year's - -but not until Tuesday.

Further stumbling.

Even if his 2010  returns show huge tax payments, a hefty effective percentage and massive charitable donations, the selection of just last year's paperwork begs questions like, "why now?," and "what about returns for 2009, '08, '07, etc?"

For which there are no good answers.

Second-day stories? Make that second-week. At a minimum.

In the Year of the Protester, Occupy Wall Street, the Walker Recall and other grassroots movements and media worldwide against powerful elites and their privileges, Romney chose to behave more like the Bain Capital CEO and less like a seasoned politician connecting with regular people.

He and Walker have shown their arrogance, and self-destructive distance from people, so are paying their pipers.

Walker has triggered an historic recall threatening to boot him from office. His shortcomings are fully exposed.

And how bad a politician is Romeny, setting aside his history of flip-flops from GOP moderalte to Tea Party panderer?

So bad that Romney allowed himself to be defined and brutally out-maneuvered by a cartoonish, over-the-hill and deeply-flawed Newt Gingrich.

Romney is a former Governor, and has been running for President the last seven years. But his performance on something as basic as releasing tax returns and why that was important proves he couldn't win an election for 10th-grade class treasurer.

Mess With The Wisconsin Retirement System? Welcome To A Hornet's Nest

My advice to the GOP - - that would be the Grand Overreach Party: Go right ahead.

Newt On Food Stamps And Race

Chris Matthews is right. Gingrich is using insensitive and racist language to attack President Obama as the food stamp President.

Gingrich should immediately stop attacking white people, as Bloomberg reports:

About 34 percent of food-stamp recipients are white, while 22 percent are African Americans and 16 percent Hispanic, with the rest being Asian, Native American or those who chose not to identify their race, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

GM #1 Again, Thanks To Obama's Rescue

Not bad for the food stamp president.

Rob Henken Explains Region's Transit 'Plan'

Once upon a time, Milwaukee had $289 million to spend on transit.

Then talk radio and Waukesha County got involved.

Rob Henken brings us up to date.

Puts Walker's forfeiture of even more Amtrak money into perspective, doesn't it.

Economically, we're being railroaded.

"They" Should Do Their Dishes, Stop Buying Fancy TV's, Shoes

Rebecca Kleefisch, the woman who is now Wisconsin's Lt. Gov., (and who is married to a state legislator making them a two-income public employee household), is seen in this 2010 video explaining that, as a journalist, she saw biased media produce stories pushing big government solutions and sympathy for poor people who'd chosen to buy flat-screen TV's and brand-name shoes instead of dish detergent or roach traps.

Those people...

I'd say Kleefisch earned her way on to that recall ballot.

Hat tip, Xoff.

Look For Walker To Back Mine In State Of State Speech Wednesday

With six straight months of job losses on his permanent record, and management of the state like a failing business, look for Scott Walker to take a few minutes out of his re-election posture during his State of the State speech Wednesday to push the special-interest driven iron ore mining bill awaiting an Assembly vote Thursday.

He'll tie it into support for companion plans to deregulate Wisconsin's wetlands, allowing for fewer hearings, less public input and faster fills of what the State Constitution defines in the Public Trust Doctrine as public property.

The scheduling of the mining bill's consideration in the Assembly and the State of the State speech the same week is not a coincidence. That's how a ruling party uses its power and incumbencies to play the game - - and in the case of these right-wing Republican radicals, how policy payoff is managed.

The timing of the vote and the speech will allow Walker to shift the focus away from the embarrassing job losses in our "open for business" [Sic] state to the creation of jobs that might be had at the Ashland mine someday - - despite inevitable legal and environmental delays in what is shaping up as a classic battle by the 99% against the ruling 1%.

Walker will not talk about the Assembly bill's many legal and environmental flaws, the damage it will do to an entire watershed and the Bad River Band's wild-rice cultivation and cultural integrity.
He'll also tout as a personal victory his role in luring a small airplane plant to choose Superior over a site in Maine  - - but will not dwell on the need for more than $100 million in state subsidies that originate nearly entirely with the evil Obama/Big Federal administration, or the highly-speculative, boom-and-bust nature of the small-plane, corporate-flying SUV business.

$112 million total, according to this estimate.

Is This The Right Time To Subsidize A Line Of Small Planes?

More than $100 millions in state subsidies to build a line of new, small planes aimed aat corporate buyers? Let's hope Walker hasn't given away the store to outbid Maine for the airplane venture.

And isn't ironic that Walker is relying on federal tax credits - - take a bow, Obama - - to seal the deal?

For the record, let's archive these quotes from a business publication:

“We’re talking 600 new jobs,” Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said at the morning announcement at Richard I. Bong Municipal Airport...

“Six-hundred is a reasonable number and we hope to eventually have even more,” said Kestrel chairman and CEO Alan Klapmeier, who also co-founded Duluth-based Cirrus Aircraft.

At the 2010 EAA show in Oshkosh, Klapmeier is seen in this video was praising Maine and officials there for making him a deal that was supposed to launch his new plane's construction there.

What Was Most-Read Here Last Week

Here were the top five posts. The fifth-place post had the most comments. Thanks to the readers.

Walker Self-Inflicted Wounds Keep Coming Jan 18, 2012

Next Up: Protecting And Winning A Wisconsin Electi... Jan 17, 2012

Watering Down Water Legacies; "Once Gone, They Dis... Jan 16, 2012

Ideology, Greed Fail Walker; Wisconsin Pays The Pr... Jan 19, 2012

Jeff Wagner's Recall Prediction Jan 18, 2012

Gableman And The Law Of One

Himself, that is, as he refuses to step aside to resolve the appearance of conflicts-of-interest.

Note to WMC: It's working.

Rick Perry Is Gone, But...

He gifted that Brokeback jacket to Tommy.

But time-traveling Tommy is going to need more than a wardrobe upgrade, an air brush and "Back to the Future" inspiration to win the support of voters who, unlike the candidate, have moved on.

Fresh Crop Of Organizers Aiding Pres. Obama In S. Carolina

Have there been better grassroots organizers for President Obama than one Leroy Newton Gingrich, also a Calista Gingrich, (said to be related to Leroy Newton by 'marriage,') and also someone named Willard Mitt Romney?

The GOP Stumbles To Florida - - Watch The Candidates Embrace National Health Insurance

Well, for seniors, anyway.

First debate question should be: "Are you for the Paul Ryan plan?"

Misleading Washington Post Online Headline

I thought "Giant plasma blog is headed our way" was about the Gingrich surge.

Assembly Actions Tuesday, Thursday On Bad Mining Bill

Early details, courtesy of the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, about the bad mining bill. How bad is the bill? Here's a scorecard of the opponents, including the Journal Sentinel, which supports the mine - - just not done this way.
Some amendments filed already. See link for list.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economy and Small Business

The committee will hold an executive session on the following items at the time specified below:

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
10:00 AM
412 East
State Capitol

Assembly Bill 426
Relating to: regulation of ferrous metallic mining and related activities, making an appropriation, and providing penalties.
By Committee on Jobs, Economy and Small Business.

All amendments are due in the office of Chairman Williams by 10:00 AM, Monday, January 23, 2012.

See also floor calendar for Thursday. The bill is on the schedule. 

What Passes For Authenticity In The Republican Party

The Grand Old Party is in for a heap of trouble if Newt Gingrich is seen as more authentic - - hence electable - - than Mitt Romney.

Tommy Continues His Campaign To Nowhere

Attacks Obama on the Keystone XL pipeline issue, forgets to disclose his recent business connections with pipeline interests. Yes, he's got a lot of potential conflicts to remember.

And in the same week, he gave us this 'who dat?' campaign ad moment, courtesy of Buzzfeed.com:

Amen To Obey Admonition On Recall

From his Facebook page:

Obey Warns Against Overconfidence in Recall Efforts

by Dave Obey on Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 4:20pm

Dear Friends - I just put out the following statement:  Former 7th District Congressman Dave Obey warned today that “Democrats who think that almost any person nominated to run against Scott Walker can win, are dead wrong. This is a steep uphill fight. If we do win, it will be by a razor thin margin,” Obey said.

“In deciding who our candidate against Walker should be, none of us has the luxury of being guided by past personal or policy differences,” Obey said. “Those differences are far smaller than the issues that unite us.”

“Powerful right wing, elitist money men all across this country will spend whatever they think it takes to keep control of Wisconsin’s government,” Obey warned. “If we do not think this through and support the candidate with the broadest possible appeal, we will waste the effort of thousands of volunteers who stood in the snow, sleet and cold to gather an incredible one million signatures because they felt they were part of a cause bigger than themselves. That would be a tragedy. So much is at stake that we owe it to them to simply not allow that to happen.”

In Walker's World, A 14-Year Miss Is A Bullseye

Walker uses Twitter to claim credit on the jobs' front, but fails to own up to his sixth-straight month of net job losses, or that his signature campaign pledge to create 250,000 new jobs by 2015 would be met - - using the figures he touts on Twitter - by 2029.

Try missing a deadline by 14 years with, say, the IRS, your bail bondsman, or wedding planner.

SuperPac Supreme Precursor

Commentators are worried that the Citizens United decision opens the way for wealthy business interests to pool their money, find a willing, pliable unknown candidate.

Then get that person elected to an important job by overwhelming the airwaves with television ads to create quick name recognition and credibility with an unsuspecting electorate.

Two words:  Could happen.

Two more words:  Has happened.

Final two words:  Mike Gableman.

Walker Has New Fact-Based Deficit

PolitiFact ratings where the word "false" or the worse "pants on fire"show up 70% of the time apparently isn't enough for Walker.

Or that his TV spots claim he didn't raise taxes, when state records show that he raised two taxes.

Now we are learning that the basis of his 'I balanced the budget ads' is false too - - according to Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch, who tells the feds Wisconsin has a deficit.

I'd say the administration has an honesty deficit.

And a million people seem to have caught on.

Depending On The Circumstances, Walker Says The State Has A Deficit, Or Doesn't

Scott Walker is blanketing the airwaves with ads that say he balanced the budget. It's part of his national fund-raising tour script.

But his Administration  Secretary Mike Huebsch told federal health officials that the state would run a deficit this year, so could legally stop paying some health care benefits to low-income residents.

That's what broke states have to do, I guess - - along with manipulating data and definitions and basically keep two sets of books for differing situations and audiences.

Walker wants it both ways, but the bottom line in in this tacky tale of political opportunism and callous capitalism is that duplicity is now an accepted accounting method for this administration.

Details here, thanks to State Rep. Jon Richards:

On Dec. 29, Walker administration secretary Mike Huebsch sent a letter to federal health secretary Kathleen Sebelius certifying that Wisconsin will have a budget deficit through June 30, 2013. By certifying that its budget isn’t balanced, the Walker administration can now dodge a federal law requiring it to continue providing health care for up to 53,000 residents. The Walker Administration letter contrasts starkly with public comments by Walker, who has claimed repeatedly since June that his budget is balanced. 

Pay To Play? Walker Changes The Game To...

Pay To Stay.

Ideology, Greed Fail Walker; Wisconsin Pays The Price

So you come into office in January, 2011 with a puffed-up campaign pledge to create 250,000 new private-sector  jobs, and immediately get your feet wet in at the State Capitol killing $1.2 billion worth of wind farm projects and $800 million in railroad construction.

Goodbye to thousands of construction jobs, along with longer-term maintenance, repair, administrative and spin-off white collar work.

Then you provide tax breaks to investors, and to businesses, but also cut hundreds of millions of dollars out of the paychecks and purchasing power of middle-class school teachers, snow plow operators and other public employees - - and look what happens to the economy when the impact of your ideological project cuts and the full budget and its reductions go into effect:

Disaster.

Employment drops every month - - even as the national economy recovers.

The Wisconsin collapse is now in month six - - 3,900 more jobs lost in December.

Because there is less money circulating from public employees on their communities' main streets, through home contracting and remodeling businesses, at auto dealers, in diners, movie theaters, garden stores, and so on.

All of that in exchange for self-congratulatory Republican TV ads and a few, fractional property tax dollars saved, but escrowed and available to be spent 12 whoop-dee-do months later.

Some business model. Some savvy governance.

That is what happens when ideology trumps planning, special interests collect first and regular folks get toyed with, hammered and sucked dry.

In fairness, there was some Wisconsin job growth in the first six months of Walker's administration - - as the Doyle budget played out - - so at the full 2011 rate, Walker's 250,000 new jobs' goal will be met - - by 2029.

And will be met, at the rate since his budget went into effect - - never.

That's what's leading to your recall, Mr. Walker. Not out-of-state union bosses.

The state of the Wisconsin economy.  By your hand

Walker Will Hit 250,000 Jobs Goal - - By 2029

If jobs are created at the rate achieved since his swearing-in.  That's 14 years late.

And if he creates jobs at the rate achieved he's in the last six months: never.

Fresh Job Losses Push Walker Bungle Streak To Six Months

-3,900 for December. No gain since his budget took $1 billion out of the Wisconsin economy, #recallhimnow.

Lessons Surfacing In Waukesha Water Plan Delay

The Freeman reports -- a paid subscription required -- that there is more delay in Waukesha's application to the DNR for a Lake Michigan water diversion.

This is not a surprise, as the city was told repeatedly that it had chosen the most complex legal path possible for a new water supply, that delays would be expected and necessary in part because many hearings were required - - and that includes reviews and hearings in seven other states, and two Canadian provinces, too.

And that's assuming there will be no litigation - - an impossibility.

So we are now also seeing the inauthenticity inherent in the city's bally-hooed 18-month planning "buffer" by which time it had wanted questions resolved in Wisconsin and the DNR review completed. It began finishing up the application, in earnest, in 2010.

I am told the DNR needs at least until 2013 - - barring more substantial questions bound to arise in a project of this scale, a precedent-setter internationally that can be vetoed by a single Great Lakes state relying its own history, process and interpretation of the Great Lakes Compact.

That buffer now looks, at best, like a tactical flub by the city and Water Utility. Also clear: the consequences of the Counci's politicized-drama in rushing the application to the DNR which led directly to 49 substantial questions posed by the DNR even before agency environmental impact parameters could begin to unfold.

(Still to be heard from: the neighboring, less-developed Town of Waukesha, much of which the City of Waukesha absorbs by fiat and a map drawn by the unelected Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission into the City's proposed Lake Michigan water delivery area - - without the Town's approval to date.  Might the Town, if it accepts the City's application, have to comply with all the Great Lake Compact's mandates, like a water conservation plan acceptable to the DNR and all the other states? What do town residents think of the escalating city water rate structure? Might the Town actually need its own application, hearing and review procedures, since it would be getting Lake Michigan water, though it is outside the Great Lakes basin?)

No wonder the buffer time frame is gone.

If anything, the City needed to take more drafting time, or better yet, time to examine alternatives and discuss with the neighbors roping them into the plan. Instead, Waukesha is in self-hoisted petard time now.

Waukesha cannot jam the Great Lakes process, or the potential supplier-cities, or the DNR, where de-regulation is now in style, though surely the Walkerites now in charge wish they could favor Waukesha with the no-hearings/360-day permit process envisioned in the Assembly's mining and wetlands giveaway bills.

Waukesha must meet a fixed, no-do-over 2018 compliance deadline for the daily provision of radium-free water.

But a few shallow wells and good equipment on the existing deep wells, plus conservation in a city where there is declining consumption can get Waukesha to full, affordable compliance without years of regulatory and legal barriers and possible defeat pursuing Great Lakes water.

Tommy's Troubled Waters

Internet problems prevent me from pasting a link, but go to Buzzfeed.com and check out the graphics in Tommy's Senate ad.

Millions For Walker, Misery For Mitt

Walker is out on his "Millions To Save My Bacon" fund-raising tour, but Mitt Romney, falling in the SC polls, is learning that reveling in 1% territory ain't necessarily a winning plan.

GOP Blasts Obama Over Pipeline Jobs, But......

...Did any blast Walker for killing thousands of Amtrak and wind farm jobs. Spare us the pious hypocrisy.

Grrr...Tommy, Neumann Stand Up For Walker

The US Senate rivals issue obligatory kudos to the guy stealing their donors, media and buzz. Synthetic enthusiasm.

Walker Self-Inflicted Wounds Keep Coming

Running to El Rushbo will push up the eventual recall vote. Wisconsin is rejecting extremism.

Jeff Wagner's Recall Prediction

The WTMJ radio talker has predicted 25% or more of the Walker recall signatures would get tossed I'll tale a dollar of that.

Save, Use Journal Sentinel Data Base On Bradley Foundation

I cannot over-estimate the value of the interactive and searchable data base on a decade's worth of Bradley Foundation spending provided by the Journal Sentinel in its November, 2011 expose.

Next Up: Protecting And Winning A Wisconsin Election

The recall signature collectors and groups have done their jobs, as I am sure we will learn later today.

Now the task is fending off GOP efforts to stall or poison the signature verification process, or the recall election itself.

Remembering that Eagle Scout Walker himself - - as the Governor who'd taken an oath to uphold the laws and Constitition - - is on tape saying he'd discussed, with people he has never been forced to name, the planting of provocateurs in crowds of protesters peacefully gathering at the State Capitol over the "bomb" he dropped on collective bargaining.

From the transcript of the call with Ian Murphy, the fake David Koch, Walker says he dismissed the idea for political reasons, not moral or legal concerns:

Murphy: But, uh, what we were thinking about the crowds was, uh, was planting some troublemakers.

Walker: You know, the, well, the only problem with that — because we thought about that...

My only fear would be is if there was a ruckus caused is that that would scare the public into thinking maybe the governor has gotta settle to avoid all these problems.

UN Social, Cultural & Economic Agreement Ignored By Assembly Mining Bill

The US has signed it, too - - so add this UN Covenant (agreement) and the specifics from it, below, to the many treaties, documents, advisories and procedures ignored by the Wisconsin legislature as it seeks to ram home a sop to the mining industry and weakened regulations of the public's waterways under cover of law.

The bold-facing in the articles' texts from the UN agreement cited is mine:

Preamble


The States Parties to the present Covenant,

Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Recognizing that these rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person,

Recognizing that, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ideal of free human beings enjoying freedom from fear and want can only be achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his economic, social and cultural rights, as well as his civil and political rights, 

Considering the obligation of States under the Charter of the United Nations to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and freedoms,

Realizing that the individual, having duties to other individuals and to the community to which he belongs, is under a responsibility to strive for the promotion and observance of the rights recognized in the present Covenant,

Agree upon the following articles:

PART I

Article 1

1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. 

2. All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence. 

3. The States Parties to the present Covenant, including those having responsibility for the administration of Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories, shall promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall respect that right, in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.

Article 11

1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent.

2. The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and through international co-operation, the measures, including specific programmes, which are needed:
(a) To improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources;
(b) Taking into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need.

Article 12

1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
2. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for:
(a) The provision for the reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant mortality and for the healthy development of the child;
(b) The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene;
(c) The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases;
(d) The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness.

Article 15

1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone:
(a) To take part in cultural life;
(b) To enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications;
(c) To benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
2. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for the conservation, the development and the diffusion of science and culture. 3. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to respect the freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity.
4. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the benefits to be derived from the encouragement and development of international contacts and co-operation in the scientific and cultural fields.

Article 25

Nothing in the present Covenant shall be interpreted as impairing the inherent right of all peoples to enjoy and utilize fully and freely their natural wealth and resources.