Just weeks away from a recall election, Governor Scott Walker (R-FitzWalkerKochStan), has gotten chatty with the media (likely seeking free media, endorsements, and a wider audience than he gets on his usual friendly RW media).
He's had has more than enough time for RW talk radio and Faux Made Up Newzzzzzz, but not so much for traditional Wisconsin media, has suddenly found time on his schedule for a sit-down with the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. His media appearances have mainly been a couple of lousy minutes before or after a public appearance even when he's served up the usual softball questions.
It's different now because he's found himself in a recall election, the target of a million Wisconsinites who signed petitions to have him removed from office and, despite tens of millions of self-serving advertising finds himself in a tie in a recent poll. A poll, by the way, conducted by a RW political hack.
So, he sat down with the editorial board of the largest newspaper in the state, displayed his perpetual arrogance and kept right on lying. Highlights below the fold.
Doom and Gloom if he loses the recall:
"... if we lose, which is obviously possible in a 50-50 race, I think it sets aside any courage - Republicans or Democrats alike - in politics for at least a decade," he said.
Really? It seems to me that it took a whole lot of courage to stand up to the massive GOP majority, for State Senators to leave the state to try to stop horrendous legislation being rammed throught the Legislature, and for normal stay-at-home, politically uninvolved people to gather in the tens of thousands to protest at our Capitol in the middle of winter and keep on coming back, to stand out in the cold during the next winter to gather signatures for the recall, and to educate friends, families, and neighbors. People found the inner strength to fight back against oppression despite enormous adversities.
We don't lack courage and never had. Don't make Badgers angry.
Walker also predicted that if he, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and the Republican senators facing recall lost their races, the state would be plunged into what he termed "recall pingpong."
"It will go back and forth. I don't think that's just bad for elections, it's bad for jobs."
Seriously? People don't go out to protest or recall over nothing. There has to be an important and compelling reason to try to get the signatures of 25% of the voters in the last election - not an easy task even if it's not the middle of winter.
And saying that recalls are bad for jobs? He's just grasping at straws here and needs some strawman to blame for Wisconsin being Number One in job losses in the nation. Despite the fact that the job losses began simultaneously with the Walker policies, he wants to shift the blame elsewhere. Of course. If Walker wants to know why Wisconsin is losing jobs, he needs only look in a mirror.
Walker also promises to make recalling public officials even harder if he prevails in the recall election as if it's not hard enough already.
Walker Continues to Promote Union Stripping as a Good Thing:
Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday he did the right thing by pushing through his collective bargaining bill and wasn't afraid of the consequences ...
He added, "The reason I say that is five years from now, whether my name is on the outside of the governor's office, local governments and people across the state could look back and say, 'We didn't just fix things, we made them better.' "
LLPOF (liar, liar, pants on fire). Right now local school districts are sending out layoff notices as they prepare their budgets for the next school year knowing that the same cuts they got last year will keep on coming. Just how few teachers and how many kids can you jam into a classroom and expect anything to be learned? And the cuts to Badger Care and Medicaid have devastated families, seniors, our disabled citizens, and others. And how about all those businesses that went under as public employees take home pay got cut by 18% and their spending was drastically reduced?
The only ones who think things are better is the 1% and corporations who received huge tax breaks from Walker and his GOP pals at the expense of poor people and workers.
Walker Predicts Nationwide Effects:
"You see, when we prevail, God willing and with the help of voters June 5th, this will send a powerful message and not just to Madison," but across the country, he said.
I'm not sure that God approves of taking from the poor and giving to the rich and powerful, but bringing his name into the debate does help Walker enlist the help of evangelical Christians.
He is right about national implications, though. A win for Walker would embolden the other extremists who were elected in record numbers in 2010. A loss might put the brakes on as the consequences of political extremism become visible for all to see. Say what you want about Republicans, they don't give up power easily and will do anything to keep it. Ideology, in fact, takes a back seat to retaining political office in their system of priorities.
Walker on the John Doe Probe:
You knew this topic would come up during the sit-down particularly as Democratic candidate Tom Barrett has made the John Doe a primary issue. He has asked Walker explain the Legal Defense Fund which, according to the law, can only be established if an elected official is under investigation or being charged. Walker responded by saying that Barrett "is a lawyer and he understands about these things" and then repeated the meme that he was "cooperating" and "helping" the John Doe investigators.
"Governor Walker has said repeatedly that he is not a target, and that he and his campaign are cooperating with the investigation," Barrett said during a news conference. "But something is not adding up. And it is time for Governor Walker to come clean with the people of Wisconsin."
"It's time to answer some questions," Barrett said. "If he isn't a target, then why does he have a criminal defense fund when the state law says those funds are for officials who are 'being investigated for or are charged with a violation of campaign violations or prohibited election practices?' "
Walker finalized his remarks by saying he's been asked by John Chisholm, Milwaukee County District Attorney and John Doe Prosecutor, to keep silent about the probe. Reading between the lines, Walker is saying "I'm not saying more", but did end on a whining note:
Walker said that not being able to comment on the probe is "like fighting a fight with both hands tied behind my back"
Poor baby. Here's a tissue.
Local Fox also had a segment on the John Doe implications in the recall. I tried and failed several times to embed the video, but both the video and transcript are available
here.
You might want to wander over to the newly updated Wisconsin Democratic Partys Walker Investigation website. for more news on events in the John Doe.
About his Massive Out of State Fundraising:
Ouch. That's going to leave a mark particularly since he's been pummelling his opponents by insisting they're funded by "Washington special interests", "Big Gubmint Union Bosses", and that it's not citizens of Wisconsin that are upset with him but "outside agitators" bussed in to oppose him.
Over the past three months, Walker has raised $13.2 million, with around two-thirds of the cash coming from outside Wisconsin. He said out-of-state union interests also are contributing to Democrats.
"I asked for as much help as I could get because I knew I was under attack," Walker said.
He's under attack? How about public employees, the poor, disabled, elderly, farmers, and students who he's legislated into devastation?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The videos associated with the article are well worth viewing and it's still early in the month for non-subscribers to avoid the 20 articles per month paywall the Journal Sentinel has imposed. Watch for his frequent grimaces as a couple of non-softballs get tossed his way. And those dead eyes.....
Update: Video! Big H/T to Scarce for finding the video on You Tube. Here they are:
Walker on the Recall:
Walker on the Political Divide:
Thanks, Scare.
Update 2: Fundraising Edition: Looks like Snotty has a new Sugar Daddy! It's Sheldon Adelson, Newt Gingriches Sugar Daddy who singlehandedly kept him in the GOP Presidential Primary.
Sheldon Adelson won’t have Newt Gingrich to write campaign checks for anymore, so the Las Vegas billionaire has found a new politician to lavish with money love: Scott Walker.
Adelson, whose $20 million in super PAC donations kept Gingrich’s sinking presidential campaign afloat through the long months preceding the former House speaker’s decision to face reality and quit the competition, is now one of the embattled Wisconsin governor’s biggest donors.
Walker has just reported on the new piles of payola he received in the last fundraising quarter (when he was able to raise unlimited funds due to recall laws):
Walker’s total fundraising for the recall race — $25 million — equals the amount of money that all the candidates combined spent in the 2010 Wisconsin gubernatorial race, which until now was the most expensive in Wisconsin history.
Where’s all that Walker money coming from?
Folks like Adelson. He’s one of several dozen millionaires and billionaires, most of them from outside Wisconsin, who have been the definitional backers of Walker’s campaign. In the last spending report by the governor, a mere 33 donors accounted for roughly half of all the money Walker had raised. This time, according to the advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, 39 “mega donors” giving in excess of $10,000 each, accounted for $2,430,000 of Walker’s haul.
And, yes, Walker is still whining about "outside money" coming in for his opponents.
• 63 percent of the money raised by Wisconsin’s governor in the last quarter came from other states. Of the $13 million reported, at least $8,376,195 came from out of state. Another $418,746, delivered in the form of unaccounted or unidentified transfers of money, is likely to have come from out of state.
• 74 percent of the donations Wisconsin’s governor has received came from residents of other states, with Floridians providing more than $1 million and Texans, Californians and New Yorkers providing roughly similar amounts.
And those are just his campaign donors. Outside groups are also coughing up plenty to save his hide.
He's the beneficiary of announced “independent” campaigning by the Republican Governors Association (which just accepted a $1 million check from billionaire David Koch and plans to spend $3 million to buy pro-Walker advertising before the recall), Americans for Prosperity (a Koch brothers-funded group that has already spent $1.5 million to assist Walker) and the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce business lobby (which is in for $2 million).
Various “Club for Growth,” “Right-to-Life” and corporate front groups are spending more on Walker’s behalf.
In spite of all that spending that he has and will continue to shovel out in ads, Walker still can't get even 50% in the polls.
Update 3: State Supreme Court Justice David (The Choker) Prosser Edition: Yeah. Him.
Charles Geyh, a law professor at Indiana University (and a UW Law School grad) who’s an expert on judicial conduct and ethics thinks Wisconsin has the worst State Supreme Court in the nation (we're Number One in another bad thing):
Geyh has been observing the high court’s problems from afar for some time now, as the level of dysfunction has increased. And he’s not the only one. He says national groups like the American Bar Association, the Alliance for Justice, the Brennan Center for Justice and others with an interest in judicial matters are taking a keen interest in what’s going on in the Badger State. And the general impression is not positive.
“It’s embarrassing in the state, and it’s embarrassing in the nation,” he says.
There’s really nothing else like it. A few years back, the Michigan high court was beset with collegiality issues as justices sniped at each other in public and partisanship ran wild, Geyh says. But now, it appears, Wisconsin can claim the mantle of the worst supreme court in the country.
He believes David Prosser doesn't have a leg to stand on in his own defense and suggests he just accept personal responsibility for his past behavior and take his medicine for it.
The full article is meaty and gives a nice account of the current complaint and history. It's well worth a read.
Update 4: The full interview video has now been posted. Warning: it's over an hour long.
.