Walker's Presidential Bid Should Implode When...
He's confronted more frequently by national and out-of-state media about a documented history of deficits in leadership, believability and reliability - - separate from ideological initiatives and program attacks on voting rights, environmental protection, women's reproductive health, collective bargaining and medical coverage for lower-income state residents - - on these matters:
* Wisconsin's consistently falling, bottom-feeding economic rankings - - #44th, then 47th, now 49th, while the national economy continues to recover - - as this Democratic Party of Wisconsin billboard near Waukesha illustrates:
Maybe Walker figures there will be an eventual turnaround, and for the time being can distract some voters with chaff about lowered taxes and expanded private school vouchers, but he's got negative statistics affecting real people to defend, especially...
* Failure to keep pace with his signature pledge to create, by the end of one term, 250,000 new private sector jobs.
Talk about bad numbers: he's 50% off-pace, data show.
Blaming poor job-creation numbers on recall protesters, the fiscal cliff and ObamaCare - - as Walker has done - - were finger-pointing evasions of responsibility to cover broken promises and ineffective policies. Which brings to mind...
* Three episodes of close proximity to rule or law-breaking:
1. Most recent are the documented troubles at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation - - an agency which Walker created and chairs - - where state auditors raised questions about the spending and oversight of millions of public dollars:
Take a few minutes and read through the independent and non-partisan state audit report about the 'performance' of the taxpayer-funded Wisconsin Economic Development Agency.
I've read dozens of public agency audits over the years.
Trust me, this is a doozy, documenting an environment where public funds were handed out by the bushel basket free of responsible management, rules, standards, goals, accountability and accounting - - with some revenues forked over to projects that were ineligible.
In fact, the auditors found some project awards were made to businesses that had already completed the work:2. Then there were the criminal prosecutions of several donors, public employees and high-ranking personal staffers for various illegal campaign activities, and thefts when Walker served as Milwaukee County Executive.
3. And there was Walker's failed campaign for Marquette University student body presidency that led to campus ethics and disciplinary charges. And speaking of Marquette...
* Failure to finish college. The campus student newspaper has used the headline word "Murky" to describe the Walker student body campaign.
Finishing college is something of a minimal requirement for someone seeking the top CEO job in the country; in the 2012 presidential campaign, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney had graduate degrees from Harvard University, indicating awareness of the benefits completing tough work at the highest level.
Walker is touring widely now somewhat under the radar, but his baggage is going to get heavier as time goes on.
12 comments:
And yet, there he was today, on the front page of the Waukesha Freeman, arms held high as if to accept the adulations of the crowd (or to bestow his blessings on them?)saying "We reformed ourselves to prosperity."
I hope he does run for Prez . . . and gets his ass handed to him. He can go the way of Tommy Thompson, another distorted ego whose ambition exceeded his abilities. Will be fun to watch his jabbed balloon go flghghgghgh'ng all over the sky.
Business expansion and job creation in Waukesha County is exploding.
Those jobs require at minimum a high school diploma.
The Republican primary in South Carolina is famous for it's dirty whisper campaigns and anonymous phone calls. Some lucky GOP operatives will have fun with the anti-gay Walker's proclivity for surrounding himself with gay staffers while Milwaukee County Executive. Not that there's anything wrong with it. The embezzlement convictions, the attempt to sexually lure a teenage boy into the back of a van with pornography, the suspected child porn found on their computers ... oh man. None of this will impress the Christian value voters of Dixie. For a Republican smear artist, this is pure gold.
@ Anonymous 6:39 AM:
Please cite your sources and some proof, pleeze.
Mebbe he can run as
The Pedophile Protecting President".
@Anony too 12:39-
Let's start with this week:
http://waukesha.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/husco-adding-150-new-jobs-in-waukesha
From there you might want to talk to GE Energy, Waukesha Engine Division. Recently they told the Waukesha School Board that they will double the number of engineers and plant staff because of explosive growth in the natural gas industry.
Weld-All has started entering employee training programs because they can't find skilled workers.
Trace-A-Matic, WCTC, and the Waukesha School District have developed partnerships and scholarships in tech-ed programs to meet the opportunities they have because of the skilled worker shortage. That's a very real employer concern in Waukesha County.
There are many more employers facing a retiring workforce. Requirements of higher skill sets by the new employees that those leaving creates the work force creates opportunities for skilled workers to make far more money than college grads with useless degrees and major debt.
Progressives don't seem to understand the issue. Instead you're focused on bashing Scott Walker on some slanted statistics. Why aren't you working with the Governor to better Wisconsin's employment opportunities for all it's citizens?
My personal opinion - you're creating your own worst enemy.
I'm working to make a difference in my community for all students.
What's your game plan?
there have never been highly skilled workers right out of school. Even trade schools only provided rudimentary knowledge that served as the basis for developing a lifelong set of skills.
Employers used to understand that to replace retiring, highly skilled workers, they needed to bring in interns and apprentices to develop the skills needed to replace the workers.
The real disconnect came when corporations decided that investment in these workers should be born by the public, rather than the corporation, in the truly Reaganesque mantra of "socialize the costs, privatize the profits".
The so-called shortage in skilled workers does not actually exist. The mismatch is between availability of skilled workers, and what corporations want to PAY for them. What they WANT is the equivalent of a worker with dozens of years of experience, while paying them the salary of someone who just graduated from high school.
explosive growth in the natural gas industry.
Hah. regardless of the nature of that growth, which I suspect is due to the planet-raping fracking practices, that's a pretty nice turn of phrase. considering the chemicals leaching into water systems from the practice, "explosive" indeed.
No wonder Waukesha would like a water pipeline to Lake Michigan rather than relying on their groundwater.
Anyone that's still touting the "skills gap" lie can't be taken seriously. Evidence upon evidence shows that there is no lack of workers with proper skills, just a bunch of greedhead owners unwilling to pay what those workers are worth. Also, if the skills gap is such a problem, then why don't the "job creators" shell out for training to improve productivity? Answer: Because there is no gap, and these owners are being MOOCHERS, hoarding profits while not expanding wages or jobs.
And you know what fills any skills gaps that may exist? Funding schools, and giving those people a wage worth working for. Walker has gone backward on both.
Keep believing what you want. Take a guess what the #1 hardest teaching position in Wisconsin to fill. Tech Ed.
I wish Milwaukee the very best, I truly do. But the so called progressive vision isn't.
It would appear that big box store employment is probably better suited to job creation than manufacturing jobs with great benefits.
We'll take those jobs, thank you.
It would appear that big box store employment is probably better suited to job creation than manufacturing jobs with great benefits.
You're an idiot.
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