Outspent? With the Kochs and other right-wing deep pockets in your corner?Scott Walker, Wisconsin governor, braces for recall election, proclaims controversial law is working
By David Chalian | The Ticket – 4 hrs ago
Scott Walker, the Republican governor of Wisconsin who is battling an effort to recall him from office, told Yahoo News that his controversial law that ended many collective bargaining rights for public-sector employees and sparked protests from labor unions and their allies one year ago is accomplishing his goal...His campaign and allied groups have already spent more than $7 million on his effort to keep his job, but Walker expects to spend less than his opponents.
"I think I'll be woefully outspent," Walker said in explaining why he believes the recall election will be tougher to win than his 2010 race. "So, in terms of being confident, I'm cautiously optimistic. The reason for caution is if we're able to break through the money gap and get our message out to compete with all this money from out of state interests, then I think we can win."
Please.
David Koch, the conservative financial angel, recently told the Palm Beach Post newspaper that one of his advocacy groups had already sent Walker's anti-recall effort $700,000, and he'd do more to help:
Asked about his efforts to sway public opinion, Koch acknowledges his group is hard at work in places such as Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker is facing off with public unions and grappling with a likely recall vote.
"We're helping him, as we should. We've gotten pretty good at this over the years," he says. "We've spent a lot of money in Wisconsin. We're going to spend more."
By "we" he says he means Americans for Prosperity, which is spending about $700,000 on an "It's working" television ad buy in the state. It credits Walker's public pension and union overhaul with giving school districts the first surpluses they've seen in years. The unions and the left see things differently.
A year ago, a blogger posing as David Koch famously prank-called Walker and goaded the governor to say it would be "outstanding" if Koch would fly him to "Cali" as a reward for crushing the public unions. The Koch brothers' conglomerate, Koch Industries, holds regular political meetings in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and the events have attracted the likes of U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
At the time of the prank call, Koch told The New York Times, he didn't even know the Wisconsin governor's name. He knows it now.
"What Scott Walker is doing with the public unions in Wisconsin is critically important. He's an impressive guy and he's very courageous," Koch says after a benefit dinner of salmon and white wine. "If the unions win the recall, there will be no stopping union power."
Governor (sic) Walker says it will be tough to "compete with all this money from out of state interests".
ReplyDeleteMaybe both sides should agree to ONLY accept money from Wisconsin citizens, with a limit of, let's say, $50 per voting eligible person. Refund all the other money. It sounds simple enough, doesn't it?
And by the way, PAC money would NOT be allowed in the campaigns.
Let's see what (the soon to be indicted) Walker says to that proposal.
GoyitoMKE
From the NYTimes: commenting on the newly released Stratfor emails from Wikileaks, Assange noted that the statement seemed to confirm the advice that a senior figure in the company offered in one of the exposed e-mails: “admit nothing, deny everything, make counteraccusations.” I think they found the playbook for Governor Walker!
ReplyDeletePathological liar.
ReplyDeleteWalker does know how to make a woeful face when he complains (whines?) of being "woefully outpsent."
ReplyDeleteI just wish the Democrats had the deep pockets he's predicting! I think Ed Garvey's "tin cup" campaign is much more likely to be the reality.