Walker Can No Longer Be Taken Seriously
The for-your-eyes-only damning critique of Milwaukee County's finances - - buried by Scott Walker's political allies but revealed by the Journal Sentinel's Dan Bice - - is more proof that Walker is not qualified to be County Executive, and for that matter, a bigger job: Wisconsin Governor.
This is not much different from Recession II-era bad corporate CEO's who get big pay raises, or bailed out bankers who get golden parachutes.
Do we reward mediocrity, poor decision-making and outright failure with more compensation, comfy retirements or bigger jobs?
Walker has bobbed and weaved and finger-pointed his way through years of fiscal, budgetary and administrative mismanagement, but now the facts are in from a blue-ribbon task force about systemic problems that could lead to the county's bankruptcy.
And this time Walker cannot blame others for his predicament - - except for those on the task force that tried, in true Nixonian fashion, to try hide their work until after the election.
Running for Governor may have been a Walker end-game, end-of-administration strategy to distract local voters from the foundering County government and get out of the Courthouse before the lights are turned off - - but now the buck, having been passed repeatedly, has come back to stop with him.
Walker has nowhere to hide.
Not on the campaign trail.
Certainly not in Madison.
10 comments:
We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them.
And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you (sic) Scott Walker is not the least bit interested in solving it.
Apologies to "American President"
Unfortunately Walker's ahead in all the polls, and Barrett can't seem to close the gap. The voting models all show a 5-6 pt Walker win.
It's such as shame. But maybe, just maybe, people will come to their senses, take heed of this report, and Barrett can pull it off.
Let us see, we criticize Walker because he wants to rein in spending, and he is over ruled by a Democrat controlled county board. Then we criticize him for NOT controlling spending????
The leak was a highly political attempt to embarass Walker. Who should be embarassed? The JS reporter Bice and the author here, who have had their lack of critical thinking skills exposed.
Nice try, but no banana. It is Bice and Rowen who can no longer be taken seriously.
Ken Van Doren
@ Ken
The report blasts Walker and the Board for structural deficits, not rampant spending.
The problem isn't high spending per se, it's a lack of generating viable long-term sources of revenue for state-mandated programs and core services.
Walker instead budgeted irresponsibly with one-time lump sums from such revenue sources as the stimulus and County land sales.
jpk- Don't fall for the media propaganda on "Walker leading in the polls." Those polls are asking a whole lot of right-wing shriekers, and not a whole lotta the rest of Wisconsin. It's a meme done by right-wing pollsters like Rasmussen to drive down voting levels of Democrats, and you need to stay cognizant of that.
In the real Wisconsin, this race is even, and Walker's childishness and incompetence is becoming more apparent statewide. If we continue to tell the truth, and get our asses to the voting booth (as I and several friends already have), we WIN ON NOV. 2.
Don't believe the hype from the corporate-run media that's looking for ratings through close elections and conflict. The ranting by the Walker backer shows their desperation that they're going to be found out. They are and they will. And when they stamp their feet like the kids they are you PUSH BACK HARDER.
I agree that polling is a distraction in this race, as I argued here:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/104594074.html
Jimbo, why dont you discuss the City of Milwaukee's financial shortcomings under Grampa Barrett? You want this info suppressed until after the election.
It's Scott Walker's destiny to be governor of Wisconsin. He will cut expenses until you lefties squeal in pain. Barrett would not have the gonads to cut spending but to continue Doyle's irresponsibility. Wiaconsin is not going to reward Democrats on Nov 2nd.
I appreciate the argument about the polls, but I defer to Dr. Tom Holbrook of UWM, a nationally recognized figure on this issue.
His blog directly addresses it:
http://politics-by-the-numbers.blogspot.com/
It's a must read for serious politicos. These forecasts using poll data are highly accurate.
To the last Anonymous: Milwaukee's finances are fully known and reported widely. The bankruptcy word has never been uttered. Milwaukee County is a special case.
Good link jpk, but he's still going on the raw numbers of these polls. Nate Silver is doing far too much of this as well. My point is that the polls are clearly underrepresenting young voters and overrepresenting conservatives, and so no wonder that Walker and Johnson seem to be doing well. When you adjust these factors for who actually votes, it's a much closer race than the media stories indicate.
What I fear is the media just going along with these biased polls (especially from paid-off cons like Scott Rasmussen) and swaying some casual voters who want to get on board with a "winner." The media has been awful in their horse-race over issue coverage, and it's definitely helped the GOP so far.
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