Scott Fitzgerald Is To The Outdoors As Romney Is To Detroit

Mitt Romney is falling behind in the Michigan presidential primary because he's attacking unions and was willing to let the auto industry devolve into bankruptcy and a fire sale of machinery and nameplates.

In other words, blowing off core, voting constituencies intertwined with the state's economy and history in favor of vulture capitalism.

In Wisconsin, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald wiped out a special committee on mining he'd created, them pushed forward through parliamentary maneuvering an Assembly mining bill that cut out the public from participating in mining permit reviews - - all to favor a probable mining applicant in an unambiguous display of crony capitalism.

Vulture capitalism, crony capitalism. Take you pick. Each and both use rigged games to favor the 1% over the 99.

But with political consequences and blow back;

Fitzgerald is discovering, as has Romney, that core constituencies matter. In Wisconsin, these are anglers, hunters, hikers and others who appreciate the outdoors and know that clean water  is the key to Wisconsin's economy- - and who find unacceptable, and against the state's basic character, the content of the Assembly bill and Fitzgerald's tactics to rush it through the Joint Finance Committee.

How do we know this? Because Fitzgerald said on Friday that the Assembly bill needs surgery - - which is putting it mildly - - and it is, in part, because of sentiment from core Wisconsin voting constituencies as expressed a day earlier:

The Wisconsin Wildlife Federation President Chuck Matyska issued the following statement on the Senate dissolution of the Senate Mining Committee: 

“ On behalf of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, I would like to express in the strongest possible terms our objection to the dissolution of the Senate Select Committee on Mining and Jobs and the public hearings that were scheduled on the mining bill. The actions of the Senate in dissolving that Committee are highly disrespectful to both supporters of the bill and the opponents of the bill especially those that live in Iron and Ashland counties.

It also is highly disrespectful of the Senators of both parties that were serving on that Committee and were doing a thoughtful job of trying to streamline mining regulations while still protecting the environment and assuring that the public would have meaningful public input into any mining decision. 

Lastly, but very importantly, this process is highly disrespectful of the Bad River Tribe. The Senate is not interacting with that sovereign nation on an equal government to government basis. Not only is that a serious breach of governmental protocol, it also will likely spell doom for the successful permitting of the proposed mining project in the Penokee Range of southern Ashland and Iron counties. 

It is beyond credibility to believe that the Senate could not suffer a bit of inconvenience and adjust its session calendar to allow a thoughtful bill to be produced. 

How do you weigh two or three more weeks of deliberation against the very real potential of having a environmentally damaging mine permitted by the weak environmental standards of AB 426.”

Wisconsin: Where Scott Walker has become Tricky Dick, and Fitzgerald becomes Romney. How foreign is the Wisconsin GOP to Bucky these days?