FitzWalkerKochStan Governor Scott Walker has been whining for months now about all that "outside money" flooding in to defeat him during the recall. No matter what the RW venue or traditional media, he's been repeating that lie everywhere virtually every time he makes a statement.
It's a lie.
We know that it's a lie, we've followed his out of state fundraising and the tiny amount of time his retroactive calendar shows he's devoting to state business, but the majority of Wisconsin just hasn't been made aware. And that's been the problem. The RW knows that a lie becomes the truth for far too many when it's keeps on being repeated over and over again and is unchallenged by the media.
That ended today.
Starting today, the conservative leaning Milwaukee Journal Sentinel went online with an interactive page on donations for the recalls. It's worth a trip to see the map of where the money is coming from. The darker the state, the large the contributions that have been received.
For Walker, note the number of states where donations of $250,000 or more have come from. Click on the state and see the donation totals.
If you can't get there, let me summarize:
For Friends of Scott Walker (Walkers campaign), > $250,000 have come from:
California $ 321,236
Texas $1,081,652
Minnesota $ 300,494
Missouri $ 923,216
Illinois $ 611,570
Florida $ 301,262
New York $ 272,607
Wisconsin $6,090,258
TOTAL $9,902,295 from states with $250,000 or more in contributions
For the Wisconsin Democratic Party, $250,000 has come from:
Wisconsin $1,124,095
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The map is similary out of balance for lesser contributions.
Friends of Scott Walker has received >$100,000 from:
Wyoming
Arizona
Tennessee
Virginia
Pennsylvania
The Wisconsin Democratic Party has received > $100,000 from:
.
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No, I didn't forget to list the state fundraising from DPW totalling over $100,000. There weren't any.
Contributions over $10,000 show Friends of Scott Walker receiving funds for almost all the remaining states. The Wisconsin Democratic Party has received funds from only 10 states.
Average contributions:
Friends of Scott Walker: $133
Wisconsin Democratic Party: $85
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The map is worth a visit, but make sure that you make good use of your time there. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a paywall that kicks in when you view more than 20 articles per month.
Also note that these are official campaign donations. We know that Scott Walker has a lot of friends with a lot of money and, just like in 2010 and the summer recalls, those friends and their piles of money establish friendly sounding with Wisconsin names "organizations" that relentlessly attack any Republican opponents and praise GOP contenders to the skies. Under Citizens United, we may never know how much they spend as most of those "organizations" disappear when the election is over.
So, when Walker whines about all that "outside money" coming from Big Gubmint Unions coming in against him, you now have a place to expose that great big fat lie.
If you'd like to help even things out, please consider an Act Blue contribution to the Wisconsin Democratic Party or a contribution to United Wisconsin.
Update: News! With Friends Like This Edition: In front of an audience of friendlies (members of the Wisconsin Association of Manufacturing and Commerce), Wis. Congresscritter Paul (coupon instead of your Medicare) Ryan announce he'll help Scott Walker with his recall election.
Ryan said Monday the June election is a national trendsetting election that's only second behind the presidential election in November.
Ryan says if Walker loses, it will discourage other governors and state legislatures from having the courage to take on structural budget challenges. He says he will actively campaign for Walker.
Oh, goodie! Toxic Paul (coupon for your Medicare) Ryan thinks he'll "help" toxic Scott (I hate unions, working people, women, minorities, students, Democrats, and anyone not my supporter and donor) Walker. Hahahahahaha! With friends like this .....
Update: Shocker: Politi"Fact" Gets One Right Edition: Another Walker lie bites the dust:
As he prepares for a recall election, Republican Gov. Scott Walker is defending his record in various media appearances.
In a March 19, 2012 appearance on Fox News, Walker told talk host Greta Van Susteren that big out-of-state unions were behind the protests in Madison last spring -- and are leading the recall effort against him now.
"The national unions, for them, this is all about the money," Walker said.
"It’s not just about the budget or collective bargaining. We gave nearly every, well, we gave every public employee in the state the freedom to choose whether or not they want to be in a union or not and I think that’s really why this is a Waterloo for them."
That caught our attention.
Rated:
False
Unfortunately, their rating of false was only based on his use of "all public employees" and noted that police and firefighters were exempted. They never bothered to include the fact that many unions folded because it was impossible for them to continue without payroll deduction which necessitated dues being collected from each and every employee - an impossibility for large unions with very disbursed membership. Or because those unions couldn't afford to hold an annual recertification vote. Or because bargaining only for wage increases under a limit the state imposed removed the basic function of unions - to give employees a voice in the workplace concerning things other than wages. Those public employees didn't have a choice.
Update 3: He Keeps Right on Lying Edition:
Yuck. Just yuck:
Walker got caught on cell phone video by Mike Di Sisti at his usually very brief encounter with reporters after signing even more bills today. He's just a stinking liar talking about the recall and the flurry of bills he's signed late last week (announced on Good Friday so they wouldn't get attention - what a stinking coward) and today. Watch how he denies how he's limited abortion rights, womens equal pay rights, etc.
Worse than sickening are the reporters stenographers around him not challening his obvious lies.
Update 4: What the Spring Election Tells Us About the Recalls Edition: John Nichols wrote an article today that did a much more comprehensive look at last weeks elections than I did in my measly comments and his reading of the tea leaves is a good one.
But did Tuesday’s elections in Wisconsin — which also included nonpartisan judicial contests as well as races for county, municipal and school board posts — send any signals regarding the upcoming recall elections?
Absolutely.
For instance:
Collective bargaining is popular ....
More voters backed collective bargaining than supported any presidential candidate — including the most popular vote getter in the county, Barack Obama. More voters backed collective bargaining than voted for all the Republican presidential candidates — combined.
Not all Republicans like Walker Exit polls showed that 20 percent of Republican primary voters disapprove of the governor. The strongest disapproval was from backers of Rick Santorum, 36 percent of whom expressed disapproval of Walker. Among Ron Paul backers, the disapproval rate was 29 percent.
Walker ties can be politically toxic
Judges appointed by the governor last year were rejected by voters in Milwaukee, Dane and Racine counties. In Milwaukee and Dane counties, the tie to the governor was an out-front issue; in Racine County, Walker’s allies such as state Sen. Van Wanggaard and state Rep. Robin Vos were lead backers of the governor’s appointee. In all three cases, challengers who were not tied to the governor easily prevailed.
Ultimately, the recall elections will be hard-fought, and probably closely decided. But the signals from Tuesday indicate that those who seek to recall and remove the governor and his allies have plenty of traction.
The entire article is worth a read.
Update 5: Fitzgerald Strikes Back: Recalled (former Republican State Senate Majority Leader and current State Senate Co-Leader) Scott Fitzgerald bragged about how the GOP was going to insert itself into the Democratic Recall Primary.
Senate Republican Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau said some Republicans may vote for Falk in the Democratic primary because polling shows she does not perform as well as Barrett in head-to-head matchups with GOP Gov. Scott Walker.
"There's nothing to keep the Republicans from messing around," Fitzgerald said.
In addition to ... Democrats (running against Walker), Republican Gladys Huber plans to run as a Democrat.
That is part of a state Republican Party effort to run "protest candidates" to ensure there are primaries for all Republicans facing recall.
Information in italics was added by me.
Even though a Democratic primary appears all but certain in the race for governor, Republicans are running Huber as a Democrat as an insurance policy, said party spokesman Ben Sparks. It is always possible all but one of the legitimate Democratic candidates would decide not to get on the ballot, he said.
If the name Gladys Huber seems familiar to those in southeast Wisconsin it's because she was the fake Democrat that ran in the Democratic Primary against Sandy Pasch in the recall of Alberta Darling.
Republican sleazebag Scott Fitzgerald has one more parting shot:
"If you put all your eggs in the recall basket, you're not going to have the resources for November," Fitzgerald said. "I'm hopeful that is what the Democrats have done."
Fitzgerald is being opposed by the extraordinary woman who managed the recall against him, Lori Compas. You can help her in her campaign
here.
The deadline for candidacy in the recall elections is tomorrow, April 10.
Update 6: Witch Hunt Edition: The GOP and their RW hack group "Media Trackers" have been conducting a witch hunt in Wisconsin regarding people who signed recall petitions. They've gone after journalists, judges and others as though participating in a democratic process is somehow evil and wrong.
Their latest target? The office handling the John Doe Probe. They've put out a press release accusing 43 people working in Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholms office of signing the recall petitions. This office has 260 people on staff from attorneys to secretaries to clerical staff.
Chisholms office is trying to se the record straight.
... prosecutors overseeing the long-running John Doe investigation of Walker's current and former aides weren't among those who signed, said Chisholm's top aide.
"My understanding is that none of the attorneys in this office involved in politically-related investigations has participated in the recall process," said Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern.
Media Trackers has erred in the past by identifying the wrong individual as signing the Walker recall petition. Sikma said the group had gone to the extra step of trying to contact each of the people it named.
Lovern said his office does not have a policy restricting employees from signing recall petitions.
"It would be against Wisconsin law for the District Attorney to prohibit employees of the office from participating in the democratic process," Lovern said in an email. "Depending on their specific assignments, attorneys may have ethical or conflict considerations that prohibit them from actively participating in politics."
Media Trackers has a terrible accuracy record and has been caught before accusing people of signing the petitions who actually didn't. It's a good meme for them and they're sticking with it. And those who continue to publish those accusations always fail to mention that participating in any democratic process isn't illegal or wrong.
.