Monday, September 24, 2018

Walker keeps hitting the "delete" key. Many examples, here.

"D" could stand for "democracy," or "disclose," but in Scott Walker's "R"-run Wisconsin, "D" is for "delete."

The Cap Times discloses that Walker's WisDOT will stop publishing data it's collected and publicized routinely to measure road congestion and travel delays - - and also to understand how effectively WisDOT is spending our money

Tracking congestion levels is often the most visible, direct way for drivers to understand how roads are functioning and a key indicator for transportation officials to evaluate what system changes might be needed. Without timely, consistent measurement of it, said Dan Fedderly, executive director of the Wisconsin County Highway Association, it is hard to hold the DOT accountable
No doubt embarrassed by multiple studies showing we have bad bridges and roads that are pockmarked by "Scottholes," Team Walker figures that maybe if you don't tell motorists stuck in traffic that they're stuck in traffic, they won't expect to be stuck in traffic the next time they play Scotthole roulette.

While no doubt arrogant and contemptuously stupid, let's not consider this a misstep by an otherwise open and transparent administration and Governor. 


Because Walker loves 


the delete key:

*  Walker's DNR began deleting climate change information and links to expert sources in 2012.


*  Followed by more definitive scrubbing I discovered in 2016.

On December 22nd, this blog carried the first disclosure that WI GOP Gov. Scott Walker's "chamber of commerce mentality" Department of Natural Resources, (see part five of a recent series about his redefining the agency, here), had again deleted from taxpayer-paid, public web pages wording and information about climate, climate change and its human causation.
* The Journal Sentinel then discovered a similar scrubbing by the Walker-controlled Public Service Commission:
For years, the Public Service Commission featured material devoted to climate change, including strategies designed to reduce Wisconsin's reliance on coal.  
Then, sometime after May 1, the agency eliminated its global warming web page.
* And then there was that ethics code reform (har!):
Scott Walker once had an ethics reform plan
 * Reprised here:
What happened to Scott Walker's state ethics code plan?
* And again, here:
Scott Walker's deleted ethics code could have skewed Foxconn lobbying, giving
* Similarly gone from his websites - - his 250,000 new jobs' promise (still unfulfilled, by the way): 

* And there was that economic development plan his campaign posted in huge type to exceed the pages in a very detailed Tom Barrett plan. Walker later blamed it all on a campaign volunteer. and the plan went off the website. 


* Just like his campaign deleted references to his still-not-met pledge to create 250,000 new private sector jobs in one, four-year term.

* It would be a few years later that Walker would discover a new way to camouflage deletions from a record - - making "D" stand for "drafting error" - - and also discover a new way win a crisp new Pants on Fire accolade.


And "D' in the Walker documentation can stand for deny and discard, too:

Discard, delete, deny...all the way back to Marquette... 
In other words old habits don't die.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry -- but Walker has no control to delete anything. What is actually happening is that his media allies dismiss everything and then proclaim it is no longer even fair to discuss.

Prime Example: Signature 1st-term 250,000 job promise, which he massively fails to meet after 2-terms, was declared a Big and Bold(tm) Walker idea.

Or that kid killed going to Summerfest when Walker irresponsibly refused to fund repairs to a parking structure -- gee, who would have known if critical repairs were skipped so Walker could claim he made tax cuts. The media wants you to believe it is too tragic and unexplainable to even ever mention again.

Walker is the benefactor of the right-wing media echo chamber that divides, distracts, and outright lies about his record. This is where the "delete" comes from. Walker would be powerless to do this if the media told the truth about facts Walker wants us to forget.

Anonymous said...

…. in addition to drafting and deleting Ed Wall's book "unethical" gives a good accounting of the efforts to avoid creating records. So much for open government. I'd recommend reading that
if any of your readers want to look under the hood.

ps. for those that don't know Wall was a former Cabinet secretary for Walker.