Appeals Court adds Doe to Randa's rising reversal record

Nice catch by the Journal Sentinel team to remember that it was right-wing Rudolph Randa who ordered the wrongfully-convicted Georgia Thompson to prison before her successful appeal was heard.

And was reversed, harshly, by the Seventh Circuit, as he was again today in the John Doe probe ruling.

With straight face, DNR puts berry, mushroom pickers with deer hunters

Remember after Wrong-Way Walker was elected and his one-track, hunting lobby-driven DNR got hold of the carefully-constructed, low-impact recreational plan for the former Baraboo Army Ammunition lands?

Well - - here are some of the consequences, and seriously - - would you really amble around that property lining up photos or climbing a tree to pick apples with high-caliber ammo in the air, as this DNR invite proposes:

Sauk Prairie Recreation Area open Nov. 22-30 for deer hunting and other recreation activities

BLUFFVIEW, Wis. -- Portions of the Sauk Prairie Recreation Area, the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant, that are owned by the Department of Natural Resources, the Bluffview Sanitary District and the U.S. Army will again be open during the nine-day gun deer season Nov. 22-30. The DNR owns 3,400 acres of the more than 7,300-acre property.

"We're pleased to be able to open parts of this remarkable property to the public for a brief period so that hunters can participate in the November gun deer hunt tradition and non-hunters can also enjoy the late fall seasons here," said Steve Schmelzer, Devil's Lake State Park property manager who also oversees the recreation area.

All legal firearms for hunting in Sauk County as well as bow and arrow and crossbow will be legal for use in this hunting season. Hunters should check the 2014 Wisconsin Deer Hunting Regulations pamphlet for further information on legal weapons, daily hunting hours, and other material...

In addition to deer hunting visitors may trap, hike, bird watch, pick mushrooms, berries, and apples, study nature, take photographs and other traditional outdoor activities. No fishing opportunities are available.

Visitors may drive, bike, or horseback ride only on roads within the complex that are designated as open...

Some areas remain closed to public access due to safety issues. No entry into these areas for any purpose is allowed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Dairy Forage Research Center lands are closed to hunting and all other public recreation activities. Visitors are asked to refrain from entering areas and roads closed by the Dairy Forage Research Center's and the U.S. Army...

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Devil's Lake State Park, 608-356-8301 or Bob Manwell, DNR communications, 608-275-3317

Appeals Court overturns Randa, reinstating Doe probe...

I guess the Walkerite State Supreme Court justices are now on speed dial.

Journal Sentinel ‏@journalsentinel  47sMT @jasonmdstein The federal order halting the John Doe investigation into @GovWalker has

Walker Undermined by paygerism

And we're talking about a lot more than a few paragraphs.

Walker got 2012 recall vote from IL GOP legislative candidate

Papers, please.

Noted elsewhere. (Hat tip, TPM.)

Big smile, Governor:

The Disrespected, Manipulated Wisconsin Electorate

[Reposted, with multiple updates, fresh links and new topics over the last two months - - most recently on Wednesday, October 15th Saturday, December 6th, December 13th-14th, January 23, March 5th, 2015, July 7th, 2015]

I suspect that Scott (Wrong-Way) Walker's stagnation in the polls is a reaction by disrespected and discounted Wisconsinites across-the-board he has made into opponents. 

His latest target, minimum-wage workers, whose pay rate he has locked into $7.25./hr and in which he sees no merit.

And his polling stagnation against a neophyte running in only her second campaign against his 13th is a fatigued reaction by supporters weary of defending his outlandish Presidential ambition, failed record and sleazy tactics.
------------------------------------------
There has never been a Wisconsin Governor in our memories prior to Wrong Way Walker who so widely disrespected the time, resources and basic interests of so many Wisconsinites, particularly the state's lower-income residents to advance a political career.

Update, July 7th, 2015: Everyone.

Updates: March 5th: We can add:

Wisconsin private sector workers with their pay and union representation suddenly cut by the 'right-to-work' bill on which Walker, post-election, has flipped;

Lower-income and disabled people receiving long-term-care that is about to be privatized.

Further restrictions on abortion upending the stand Walker took on abortion during the 2014 election.

UW faculty and much of the UW system statewide.

Update - - January 23, 2015: Walker shafts Kenosha and Racine Counties which gave him majority votes in the 2014 gubernatorial campaign by vetoing the Kenosha casino - - an action demanded by Iowa Tea Party voters Walker is courting.

Update - - Walker and his bureaucrats figure out a way to bankrupt family planning clinics. After closing several - - all to please the anti-abortion movement.

Update - - Wisconsin's blue-collar families in private sector unions are the latest victims of Walker's ambitions and servitude to corporate money.

Update - - Walker's intentionally-crafted "chamber of commerce" DNR is diverting taxpayer dollars and hunting and fishing license revenue to GTac mining so it can reduced permit costs as it prepares to clear-cut and excavate the pristine Penokee range in the Bad River watershed near tribal lands and Lake Superior.

Conflationists can claim until the cows come home that every Wisconsin Governor has behaved this one-dimensionally, opportunistically, selfishly, coldly - - including his latest  pandering plays and ploys for his Tea Party base: toting a shotgun to beg for donations from hunters to whom he has turned over DNR hunting policy-making, or mandating drug testing for low-income Wisconsinites who apply for food stamps and other public assistance - - again signaling to certain conservative voters that he is their guy.

Few if any Northern states' governors have so eagerly embraced a Nixonian, southern strategy to wield and hold power while playing favorites with a one-track divide-and-conquer playbook.. 

While being habitually evasive - - to our knowledge, as he says when he's cornered - - for 26 years.

Or whose fund-raising, special interest servitude and subsequent dismissals of questions about it and its propriety - - and we're talking about an unprecedented millions of dollars, according to recent disclosures - - are so devoid of credibility and transparency.

And who plays fast and loose with official data, like jobless numbers and state-to-state rankings, to mislead voters rather than inform them.

A recent example:

Not content with merely obstructing Obamacare implementation in Wisconsin, and turning away millions in its funding that could have provided wider care for 38,000 low-income citizens, Walker in mid-September sat on data showing Obamacare rates falling faster in Wisconsin than the national average.

Details, here, as he attacks Obamacare in TV ads and on his Twitter feed while Obamacare, despite the obstruction of Walker and fellow GOP politicians, adds affordability - - and vast numbers of new subscribers.. 

He's even stooped to misleading voters about where they can get help obtaining the ID they now without reason will need to cast their ballots. 

He's sending them to DMV offices that are closed more often than they are open - - sometimes less than haft-time.

Call it Voter Suppression 2.0, after cuts in absentee voting hours.

But I defy anyone to find in the ten previous administrations  - - split about evenly between five Democrats, and Republicans: Nelson, Reynolds, Knowles, Lucey, Schreiber, Dreyfus, Earl, Thompson, McCallum and Doyle  - - and that covers roughly the almost half-century I have spent here - - examples and patterns comparable to Walker's self-interested, game-playing, documented false-speaking and overall manipulative arrogance at the expense of so many other people:

*  Parents of African-American high schoolers, and the kids themselves, are Walker's latest load of campaign fodder, played off city-to-city, region-to-region, for a cheap, Twitter snipe.

*  If you are among the 600 workers at a slaughterhouse at Cargill in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley, the Walker administration allowed the company to close the plant on 48 hours notice and did not hold the company a long-standing state law that requires 60-days public notice be given to workers, the City and other interested parties.

*  If you are a low-income Wisconsin homeowner and/or low-income wage-earner, Walker's first budget raised your taxes, despite his denials designed to put forward an ideological fiction that he was a tax-cutter only.

*  That budget also cut low-income families' Welfare-to-Work (W-2) $20 a month, just to get poor people more motivated to find work, as I wrote, citing Walker's budget language, in early 2011:

It's right there in the budget, on page 65, in the "Health and Human Services" section (really): "To further encourage W-2 recipients to recognize that the goal of W-2 is for participants to secure unsubsidized employment, reduce the monthly benefit check by $20." 

*  If you are a low-income woman using one of several Planned Parenthood clinics around the state which Walker's budget shut down, then feel free drive or hitch yourself a ride since you've got nothing better to do with your time to another county or part of the state. That was done so Walker could please his important Right-to-Life constituency.

* If you were a lower-income higher ed student denied state aid for which you quality, you joined 41,000 fellow students without the means to continue your schooling, the Cap Times reports, joining students with student debt which GOP leaders will not allow to be refinanced and Veterans facing aid cuts, too.

*  If you are a low-income wage earner making just above the poverty line, Walker made things more difficult for you by turning down no-cost federal funding to help maintain your BadgerCare health insurance.

Walker told you and about 80,000 others in Wisconsin, 'Hey, you're free to find new doctors and perhaps a more costly program via the federal website.'

And tough luck if you fall between the cracks or into ill health while chasing after care like you already had.

In fact, Walker is now griping and sniping about a brief, targeted federal effort to help those left in the coverage gap he created.

That middle-finger pointed your way was to let Walker burnish his preposterous Presidential ambitions and suck up to big, right-wing donors.

*  If you have asthma, heart, lung or breathing problems - - or would just like your kids to be able to breath cleaner air - - Walker did have your interests in mind when he failed to direct his agencies to write and enforce a mandatory clean air plan, so the Feds stepped in Friday, August 8th and said the US EPA would do it. 

*  If you are a student, or live in Milwaukee's central city without a driver's license - - and not coincidentally both are low-income groups, again - - Walker knows you will be inconvenienced by having to obtain the special, mandatory Voter ID provided at state DMV offices with reduced hours so you can exercise your Constitutional right to vote.

Which is the goal - - to discourage urban, young and Democratic-leaning voter turnout with a wink towards an anti-Milwaukee suburban and SE Wisconsin exurban GOP electorate - - part of a larger embrace of big government power by the former adherents to smaller-is-better-government to punish cities and other generally-Democratic regions.

*  If you are gay or lesbian, and the federal courts say you have the right to marry and share in a host of equal property and legal rights already enjoyed by straight citizens, Walker and Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen are continuing to demand that the state's ability to deny you those rights and to discriminate against you be restored.

*  Expect a mocking if you are a parent of Walworth, WI elementary school age children, and you want the state transportation department to listen and react to your worries about a highway expansion within less than 60 feet of the school.

*  And if you are a member of one of Wisconsin's Native American Ojibwe bands, Walker has several special sticks-in-the-eye for you.

The wolves which are part of your spiritual heritage are now being hunted, hounded, shot, trapped and otherwise literally dogged and harassed regardless of your opposition and beliefs.

That's to please his conservative, NRA-subscribing base, to which he gave a bonus: The $100 wolf kill license was cut in his most recent budget to $49 - - a blood red, blue light special.

Even wild animals are not exempt from Walker's political calculations.

And for the Bad River Ojibwe Band, he's got an especially nasty twist of social engineering headed your way:

Walker proposes leveling your sacred Penokee Hills and fouling your essential wild rice growing waters with open-pit iron ore mine fill for 35 years, along with acid runoff let loose by an out-of-state coal mining firm whose executives are major Walker donors.

His disregard for the environment and Ojibwe culture was the subject of a major feature piece in The New York Times, though his own Department of Tourism in something of a telling mixed message has been touting the unspoiled area's hiking and camping opportunities. 

Walker has rhetorically crafted the mine into a big potential job creator to appeal to Up North residents in economically depressed counties - - while knowing full well that most of the better jobs if the mine ever opens will go to out-of-state speciality workers already on call or working for the mining company in other states.

Walker also knows that any mine permits and approvals are problematic, at best - -  in part because the mining law he pushed through the Legislature is incompatible with current Federal water review requirements, not to mention Federal treaties with the Bad River Band. 

So years of delay and even outright veto and defeat for the mine are quite likely - - by which time Walker would have already extracted the political capital he needed from the issue.

And it is not an accident that so many of the people and groups which Walker and his legislative allies have targeted are low-income or minority Wisconsinites - - the very people who have fewer resources with which to fight back.

*  One more: Walker signed a bill making it easier for schools to retain their Native American logos and nicknames. Free speech for school districts, he said.

*  Though to be fair, Walker and his team did recently cut one low-income farmer some slack. 

Trust me: Walker and his team know this, factored it into the calculations, and care less about the harm their work - - from official disinterest to calculated media spin and to governmental policy-making - - will leave in their wake.

Most politicians like to please as many people as possible.

Few Governors would read a snotty Top Ten Public Employee Insult List to the senior staff, including:

"On a snow day when they say “non-essential” people should stay home you know who they mean. 

"You know by having a copy of the Holy Koran on your desk your job is 100% safe. 

"You have a Democratic congressman’s lips permanently attached to your butt."

But that's the essential disrespecting, manipulating, dividing-and-conquering Walker, with no problem stepping on anyone and anything in the way - - even the popular Trek Bike company - - if it suits the narrowest of his personal and partisan goals, and feeds the mean streak which is behind many of his actions.

Sykes, LOL

He actually said this morning that all you need to do to find the left-wing position is to look at the Journal Sentinel editorial page.

This would be the editorial page that twice endorsed Scott Walker for Governor.

Walker fund-raises off manipulated DNR/hunting/gun policies

This blog has noted frequently the blatant politicization of the wolf hunt, but this takes the cake:

With hunting season right around the corner, now is the time to stock up on the latest sportsmen apparel from our store!

We now offer a Hunters for Walker Package that includes: a blaze orange t-shirt, Real Tree Camo hat, Real Tree Camo coozie, and a black gun sock with a woven Scott Walker logo. Your purchase will go a long way in supporting Governor Walker's re-election campaign. To kick off the season, we're offering a 10% discount on the Hunters for Walker Package...


Having earned an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association, Governor Walker is committed to protecting the Second Amendment rights of all Wisconsin sportsmen and women. Help us in supporting Wisconsin's rich history and tradition of hunting and fishing.

Show that you have Governor Walker's back and get your "Hunters for Walker" merchandise today!

Team Walker

On climate and energy, major businesses go where Walker, media won't

Forty leading businesses pledge action on climate change, but in Wisconsin:

*  Walker's DNR is silent on the issue while he stymies solar, wind and energy conservation programs.

In fact, the DNR's major activity on its main climate change web page has been systematic information deletion.  Again, details, here.

* An otherwise good Journal Sentinel editorial on the climate change big picture is weakened by a parenthetical nudge for Wisconsin that offers no delineation of Walker's intentional anti-green policies.

All the facts are in a solid piece of recent reporting in the Journal Sentinel - - an article made even stronger by including the evidence of Walker's war against green, renewable energy with the details of his other attacks on clean water and related environmental issues.

*  The state's largest utility, while joining others here hoping to squash renewable energy generation through rate hikes under consideration at the Walkerite-run Public Service Commission, is also vastly expanding its coal capacity.

Wrong-Way Walker is dragging the state backwards.

Major law blog notes state chutzpah in voter ID case

Expert Rick Hasen finds "great chutzpah" in the state's argument, but doesn't see the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversing course. 

He also notes that the One Wisconsin Now brief was not accepted.

A shame, as the brief had documented that state DMV offices in most Wisconsin counties are routinely closed half-time or more, making them relatively useless to citizens seeking state-issued voter ID's or important documentation verification to get an ID with the election just weeks away.

If Hasen is right, the stage could be set for an emergency appeal to the US Supreme Court.

All in all, inconceivable that we could have these procedures foisted on us when there is no need for the ID's other than to help one side cement an unjust advantage at the polls.

By the way, here is Hasen's bio. 

His blog is authoritative.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Wisconsin Files Opposition to 7th Circuit Rehearing on Voter ID Law

Posted on September 23, 2014 2:59 pm by Rick Hasen

You can read the opposition here

I would say it is great chutzpah for Wisconsin to argue, as it does, that one reason the en banc court should not reverse the panel is because another reversal would cause voter confusion: “Plaintiffs are asking this Court to pinball state and local election officials between enforcing and not enforcing the law with an election on the horizon. Voters would get the pinball treatment, too.” 

This is ironic because a stay had been in place until last week’s surprise order implementing a voter id plan that originally was to be part of an 8 month rollout.

The brief is also cavalier in its treatment of those voters who lack id before the election and their potential disenfranchisement. It notes that 90% of the voters have id; so a 10% disenfranchisement rate is okay?...

Its only response...is that the number of such voters is “speculative.”  

So it is okay to disenfranchise a speculative number of Wisconsin voters so close to the election?

All of this electoral chaos might be worth it if there were a major problem of impersonation fraud in Wisconsin.

But Wisconsin does not have a problem with impersonation fraud, something the state conceded. And the Supreme Court has cautioned against changing the rules just before the election in the Purcell v. Gonzalez case. Wisconsin’s attempt to distinguish Purcell is really feeble. In Purcell, the Supreme Court said:

Faced with an application to enjoin operation of voter identification procedures just weeks before an election, the Court of Appeals was required to weigh, in addition to the harms attendant upon issuance or nonissuance of an injunction, considerations specific to election cases and its own institutional procedures. Court orders affecting elections, especially conflicting orders, can themselves result in voter confusion and consequent incentive to remain away from the polls. As an election draws closer, that risk will increase.

Here’s what Wisconsin says about Purcell:

In Purcell v. Gonzalez, 549 U.S. 1 (2006) (per curiam), the U.S. Supreme Court vacated an injunction granted on appeal by the Ninth Circuit, which halted Arizona’s enforcement of its voter ID law. The Ninth Circuit’s injunction pending appeal was entered on October 5, 2006. Id. at 3. The Supreme Court’s decision in Purcell was issued on October 20, 2006. Id. at 1. There were elections weeks later on November 7, 2006. This Court’s Order is consistent with Purcell.

...So what happens next? The court has already denied a motion for One Wisconsin to file an amicus brief in the case.  I expect an order on the rehearing peitition to come any time.

The order can be: (1) rehearing from the panel granted, and presumably a reversal from the panel; (2) rehearing from the panel denied (that seems most likely) and (a) rehearing en banc denied, meaning the case can then go to the Supreme Court for emergency relief; (b) rehearing en banc granted, with (i) an order reversing the panel and putting the id law back on hold for this election, or (ii) an order for an oral argument (which seems unlikely given the time frame).

Walker, "R"-led WI On 10-Worst-For-Business List

[Updated 12:26 a.m Wednesday from 12:02 p.m. Tuesday] Right direction, Wisconsin? 

A respected business ranking out this week put Scott Walker and Chris Christie, and their states, near the bottom of states. 

Here's a link to the ranking and a link to the full report: I also reproduced a news release that arrived with emails. It includes data and charts.

And note Walker is the only Republican Governor on the list who also has a GOP Legislature. 

Again, right direction? Wisconsin was 44th when Walker took over, so we're down two spots.

The takeaway analysis:

Just being Republican does not automatically grant you status as a pro-business guru. Of the bottom ten ranked states, three are run by Republicans including New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Wisconsin's Scott Walker, two darlings of their Party.

New Jersey ranks #47 but ranked #45 when Governor Christie took office in 2010. Wisconsin ranks #46 but ranked #44 when Governor Walker took office in 2011. Unemployment for New Jersey is 6.5 percent ranked a weak 32nd,, and Wisconsin has an unemployment rate of 5.8 percent ranked a more respectable 25th nationally.

Governors Christie and Walker have worked at containing cost, but a job creation strategy has eluded them.

Until jobs can be created along with the resulting tax revenue, cost containment will remain an unending journey without a pleasant destination. Job creation is dependent on the creation of a pro-business environment.

Whom does Walker blame for this FUBAR, since he never takes any responsibility for his jobs and fiscal failures? Scott Fitzgerald and Robin Vos? Or do they blame Walker? How about all three take the Big Fail from these business leaders.

And it's fascinating that Walker and Christie will share a stage next week in Hudson. Turns out they have more in common that we thought.

Will anyone ask them about the data and discussion in the business release, reprinted below?

The Ten Worst States for Business in 2014 CHICAGO-(September 23, 2014) - "Will voters again be blinded by negative TV ads and keep state politicians who have proven they do not perform? Unfortunately, the answer is very likely 'yes'," says Dr. Ronald R. Pollina, Chairman of the American Economic Development Institute (AEDI) and President of Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Inc. The American Economic Development Institute (http://aedi.us/about-us/) and Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Inc. (http://pollina.com/), which jointly produce the Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States, have expanded the release of their research findings to include the Ten Worst States for Business. The original study, recognized as the "Gold Standard" for evaluating the pro-business status of each state, also provided the most comprehensive analysis of the worst states for business because it contained the exact same data for all 50 states. The AEDI/Pollina Corporate study examines 32 factors over which state governments have control relative to efforts to be pro-business. The report uses a two-stage process. Stage I, Labor, Taxes, and Other Factors, evaluates 19 factors including taxes, human resources, right-to-work legislation, energy cost, infrastructure, worker compensation legislation, and jobs gained or lost. Stage II, Incentives and State Economic Development Agency Factors examines 13 additional factors, including incentive programs, state economic development department evaluations and marketing. If consistency counts, then the states that ranked as the Ten Worst States for Business in the AEDI/Pollina Corporate study deserve to be given awards.California has been rankedamong the worst ten states ten out of the last eleven years. Massachusetts #41, Wisconsin #46, New Jersey #47, Rhode Island #48 and California #50 have all ranked among the Ten Worst States for Business over the last five years. Vermont #42 and Illinois #49 have been in the bottom ten for the last four years. Although not among the bottom ten, Oklahoma #20 and New Mexico #35 deserve special mention as both dropped in rank 10 places in the last three years, showing the greatest drop of all states. A downloadable PDF with the List and the Report Cards for the Ten Worst States along with those for Oklahoma and New Mexico can be found in Monograph Archive by clicking http://aedi.us/data/documents/Monograph-AEDI-Pollina-Corporate-Ten-Worst-States-for-Business-List-State-Report-Cards_1.pdf. Each Report Card provides a grade for each of 32 factors evaluated.     2014 - Pro-Business 50-State Ranking Worst State Rank State Governor Took Office Legislative Control Unemployment Rate & Rank 50 CA Jerry Brown (D) 2011 D 7.4%        44 49 IL Pat Quinn (D) 2009 D 6.8%        39 48 RI Lincoln Chafee (D) 2011 D 7.7%        48 47 NJ Chris Christie (R) 2010 D 6.5%        32 46 WI Scott Walker (R) 2011 R 5.8%        25 45 WV Earl Ray Tomblin (D) 2010 D 6.3%        31 44 ME Paul LePage (R) 2011 D 5.5%        19 43 CT Dannel Malloy (D) 2011 D 6.6%        36 42 VT Peter Shumlin (D) 2011 D 3.7%         4 41 MA Deval Patrick (D) 2007 D 5.6%        20 The governors in these states cannot be held solely responsible for their state's poor ranking. Each has held office for at least one term, giving them time to turn things around; however, a governor must have a supportive legislature to be successful. Even in the cases of a governor and legislature controlled by the same political party, as is the case in all but two states, failure persists. Only Maine #44 and New Jersey #47 have separate parties controlling the executive office and legislature. Democratic governors (seven) dominate this list of the Ten Worst States, with the exception of those in Maine, New Jersey, and Wisconsin.  States That Have Shown Greatest Drop in Rank The states that have shown the greatest drop in rank over the last three years were determined by looking at the results of three years. Consequently, we eliminated states that might receive a one-time drop due to the deletion of a single program or increase in taxes. Examining three years of results also provides more of a consistent pattern over time and among multiple factors that resulted in a steady and consistent drop in rank. We set the standard high - a state would have to move down in rank a minimum of ten places or 20 percent over the three-year period. We felt that these states, whose business climates are not keeping pace with their peers, deserve special notice so that their leadership can make appropriate corrections: Greatest Three-Year Drop in Rank    State Rank and Change Governor Took Office Legislature Unemployed and Rank OK #20      10 Mary Fallon 2011 R 4.6%              11 NM #35      10 Susana Martinez 2011 D 6.6%              36 Just being Republican does not automatically grant you status as a pro-business guru. Of the bottom ten ranked states, three are run by Republicans including New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Wisconsin's Scott Walker, two darlings of their Party. New Jersey ranks #47 but ranked #45 when Governor Christie took office in 2010. Wisconsin ranks #46 but ranked #44 when Governor Walker took office in 2011. Unemployment for New Jersey is 6.5 percent ranked a weak 32nd,, and Wisconsin has an unemployment rate of 5.8 percent ranked a more respectable 25th nationally. Governors Christie and Walker have worked at containing cost, but a job creation strategy has eluded them. Until jobs can be created along with the resulting tax revenue, cost containment will remain an unending journey without a pleasant destination. Job creation is dependent on the creation of a pro-business environment. Hostile Business Environment: A Perfect Storm for Economic Disaster What don't the governors and legislators of the Ten Worst States for Business understand about the fact that a hostile business environment creates the perfect storm for budget deficits, service cuts, unemployment and poverty? A hostile business environment creates high unemployment that results in lower tax revenues, resulting in high state deficits and cuts in services. High rates of unemployment push more families from the middle-class to the lower-class and into poverty. Breaking this cycle should be priority one, but it does not appear the message is getting through to politicians in capitals of bottom ranked states. Will they pay a price for their indifference to job creation after voters go to the polls in November? Media Contact: Frank Martin    773-462-4144 martin.f@brandandimage.net