Saturday, September 6, 2014

It Took Two Weeks, But JS Publishes Strong Doe Editorial

[Updated in italics] Nicely-done, and I nagged the paper to get on with it, and it's too bad this long editorial is not running more prominently on a week day - - though without a Saturday editorial page, I am assuming this will run in the Sunday paper, which would be appropriate.

Remember, as they say in the courthouse, judges read the papers, too:
John Doe investigation of Gov. Scott Walker's campaign must continue
The smarmy politics glimpsed in a recent batch of documents released by a federal appeals court is discouraging for democracy.
Consider just these two nuggets:
■The governor's campaign urged deep-pocketed donors to give to the Wisconsin Club for Growth because it "can accept Corporate and Personal donations without limitations and no donors disclosure." This is the same governor, by the way, who has trumpeted transparency as the antidote to big money in politics.
■The company that wants to open a massive open-pit iron mine in northern Wisconsin donated $700,000 to the Wisconsin Club for Growth, and then Walker and Republicans in the Legislature raced to pass a bill that makes the mine more likely to happen.
In his defense, Walker says he played no role in soliciting the donation from Gogebic Taconite LLC — and he is quick to note that he had long been a mining supporter. The governor also points out that prosecutors have said he is not a target of their investigation and that two judges — one federal and one state — have raised questions about the investigation...
The public has a right to know who is influencing its government — it is essential in the aftermath of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that allow massive quantities of cash to flow into campaigns. The Supreme Court blessed such transparency in the Citizens United case but fainthearted lawmakers in Madison and Washington, D.C., haven't seen fit to allow it.
Transparency should be the price of admission to politics: Give what you like but disclose what you give — and who you are.
That is not the case now, a fact Walker's campaign and others have used to their advantage. Did Walker's operatives break state law? We won't hazard a guess. But what they did, even if legal, ensured that the corrosive influence of money continues to taint Wisconsin politics.
Final observation. I'll bet Mike Ellis agrees, too. 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a tendency to run stories that are unfavorable to Walker on a Saturday. The Sunday edition would obviously reach more readers. Is the fix in with MJS, or are they just plain cowards? Who are they afraid of? Who are they beholding to?

Dominique Paul Noth said...

Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here!
Is Walker, who thou didst love so dear
So soon forsaken? Journalists’ love then lies
Not truly in their hearts but in their eyes.
Jesu Maria, what a deal of empty talkers
Hath washed they sallow cheeks for Walker
How much salt water thrown away in waster
To season politics that had a sour taste!

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/john-doe-investigation-of-gov-scott-walkers-campaign-must-continue-b99345069z1-274159491.html

Boxer said...

"Did Walker's operatives break state law? We won't hazard a guess."

Yes, JS editorial is a baby step in the right direction for sure, but they still equivocate, the gutless bastards.

Jake formerly of the LP said...

Never assume negligence in this case. They 're not stupid at the J-S- they bury these things for a reason .

Which is why it's important that people like Janes and others hammer on these guys at every turn, because they'll let things drop if they can. JournalComm is just that beholden to Walker and other RW ad money

Anonymous said...

I think I love Dom Noth.

James Rowen said...

To Anon. 12:52. So do I.

Sue said...

The editorial is dated September 5, was it in Friday's paper? And what would be the purpose of burying it in a Saturday web edition? Why do it at all if it needs to be hidden, what is the reason for the butt-covering?
I'm astonished that they did it at all, much less so forcefully.

Anonymous said...

Will other papers around the state pick up this editorial and run it? What a great way for the rest of Wisconsin to see our esteemed governor. Is it possible that the J/S editorial board is reading what Marley, Stein and Bice are writing and seeing the real Scott Walker whom that have endorsed?