Friday, April 17, 2015

After politicking during trade mission, Walker masks the issue

[Updated] Walker is ducking his politicking during his just-completed European 'trade mission.'

I'd posted repeatedly about it, Politico.com noted it and a Washington, DC-based reporter for The Guardian called Walker out about it, too - - a summary post, here - -  but when Scott Bauer of the AP asked a political question of Walker on a media call as he closed out the trip - - start at the ten-minute mark on the audio - -  Walker declined to answer because "I'm here on official business on behalf of the taxpayers of the State of Wisconsin."


Regrettably, none of the five reporters next in the call queue asked a follow-up, though Walker's political tweeting - - even linking to his presidential campaign exploratory committee and ripping both the sitting President and potential partisan rival Hillary Clinton - - are there for all to see, including these samples:

 · Apr 12
As Secretary of State was the architect of the failed foreign policy we’re seeing executed by President Obama today. -SKW 
 · 8 hours ago
It's time to provide lethal military help to Ukraine so they can defend themselves against Russian aggression. -SKW  
Walker was asked about his wife Tonette's official activities on the trip - - remember, this trip had a taxpayer-paid delegation of 22, while his recent 'trade mission' to London, with a delegation about one-fifth the size cost taxpayers $138,000 - - and he went on at length after ducking Bauer's question to justify Tonette Walker's official, event-hosting role.

He said her activities were routine for Governors' spouses, and those of the trip's hosts.

So if her role was official, why was she tweeting things like this during the taxpayer-paid trip on Walker's campaign account, as The Guardian noted.
 · 7 hours ago. launches another "reset" while the Russian Defense Minister blames US for violence in Ukraine. - TW  
I note this one also with the TW signature:
 · 6 hours ago
Show that you're a defender of the . Stand up and sign: - TW 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds to me like Tonette should be joining Kelly Rindfleisch in jail for the same crime -- campaigning on the taxpayer's dime.

I never would have thought that, in my lifetime, a Wisconsin politician would make people forget about the political divisiveness of Joe McCarthy.

I personally knew Leroy Gore, the newspaper editor that urged a recall of McCarthy in a front page editorial that ran alongside a sample petition that readers could fill out and mail to the newspaper.

Joe McCarthy was brought to heel quickly once the public was willing to look-past his self-serving inflammatory rhetoric and see the damage he wrought on the nation. I can only pray that Scott Walker will suffer the same fate. People will have to stop listening to him and then look at the fiscal train wreck he is creating.

JB said...

I think TW stands for "Team Walker" to distinguish staff tweets from SKW tweets on that account. I don't think of Tonette Walker as a tweeter.

Anonymous said...

it's still scotty saying it. the tweet handle is @ScottWalker. You know, scott...that was staff I had no knowledge the tweets had gone out...Scott walker...yes that scott walker. Confused? So are we.

later that day....skw seen walking and talking with reporters, ah, yeah, hey guys..We've fired that tweeter...- staffer leans to inform guv on upated talking points - what...it..was...To..to..what?!....

Oh, sorry guys, NR..agh, an NSA update, you know I might run for president of Ukrainn, it was an update on the Urkraine, yeah, near Russia...so, yeah the tweets by staff, that i had no knowledge of them being tweeted. TW is team walker. You know, staff, ah, team walker. See i have two cell phones. One for work, and the other is for family emergencies. So, yeah the tweets, i was in-ur-rope (Europe) running for Ukraine. Learning. Selling beer. Yeah, selling beer to germans. How about those trains? Yeah? Midwest Nice. Yeah, crazy fun?! $o, how could i know what was happening in wisconsin? So we fired tonette..."

to be continued...

Anonymous said...

Either way, It is Scott Walker's account. He is using TW, whatever it stands for, to create deniablity for himself, and push responsibility on others. It's the behavior of a sociopath, who in his own minds, never does wrong.

Anonymous said...

Haha! I wouldn't be surprised, if the pressure from a scandal became intense enough, that he would FIRE Tonette!

Raven said...

And will the mainstream media call this tax-paid campaigning 'CORRUPT'? Oh, no, perish the thought! Like 'climate change', that term has been banned from use.