Walker Schedules Recall Campaign Junket Up North

These job summits are a waste of taxpayer dollars, and are designed by PR staffers to produce media, not jobs, but the session just announced for northern Wisconsin comes with a bonus for one job seeker:

Gov. Walker - - who can use it as an incumbent's perk against the recall movement - - on state time, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, just as the recall movement is in full-signature-gathering mode.

Sweet coincidence!

Reports the Journal Sentinel:

Gov. Scott Walker is holding a northern Wisconsin economic development summit in December.

Walker will be joined by members of his cabinet at the meeting with business and community leaders in Minocqua scheduled for Dec. 13 and 14.

And how much talk there will be about the real jobs story in Wisconsin, still undercovered by major media:

From Walker's Department of Revenue, with reporting by the AP:

An economic forecast by Gov. Scott Walker's own administration predicts that Wisconsin will fall far short of adding the 250,000 new private-sector jobs by 2015 that the governor promised as a key part of his successful election campaign.

The Department of Revenue report released Friday predicts that by 2014, the state will have added only 136,000 jobs in the private sector compared with 2010. The job growth estimate was down 43,000 from the department's previous report released in June...

Through September, the state had added just 29,300 jobs since Walker took over in January. At that pace, there would be roughly 156,000 new jobs in the state by 2015

As I said, these job summits are about producing pro-Walker media: look at the self-serving, self-referencing "hooray-for-us" description of an earlier session in front of a friendly audience, as reported by a TV station:

Walker Holds Jobs Summit 

Posted: Nov 02, 2011 7:19 AM CDT

Green Bay WI (WXOW) - Governor Scott Walker says a recent poll by the statewide Chamber of Commerce shows 88% of Wisconsin business owners say the state is headed in the right direction. That's up 10% from when he originally took office. Yesterday, at Lambeau Field, the Governor hosted a business summit, promising more reforms to create more jobs around the state.

Addressing hundreds of small business owners about his job creation agenda, the Governor said it's his job to create more stability for employers.

The Governor used the Summit to sign legislation that will streamline the state's regulatory system, and give small business owners a larger voice in the development of new rules.

Employers in attendance applauded the changes, and say simpler rules and regulations will save them money, allowing them to hire more employers...

And by the way, how does Walker get away with charging admission to these cheerleading sessions?

This one costs $75, according to another news story.

I guess it keeps out the unemployed. What would they be doing at a jobs' summit, anyway?