All the signs and mansplaining in the world aren't going to help.
You have to hand it to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R-It's Never My Fault). He's got moon-sized balls.
Last week it was revealed that Wisconsin is facing a $1.8 billion deficit, yet today Walker puts out an ad that claims he's "solved" a big budget deficit. He's hoping that voters have forgotten how that 2011 deficit really came into being and jobs were lost (world-wide economic collapse, anyone?). He also hopes his new shiny ad diverts attention from the brand new massive budgetary hole he caused all by himself along with his failure to keep his one major campaign promise - create 250,000 new jobs in his first term (he's not even half way there).
Even worse (for Walker) was the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial (yes, surprising because usually carry Walkers water) that said Walker needs to own up to the budget deficit and stop blaming others.
It shows Walker standing in a big hole wearing the typical Republican campaign costume (long sleeved, non-white, sleeves rolled up shirt with no tie).
Here's the text:
It's a lot easier to dig a hole than to get out of one. The policies my opponent supports got us in a pretty big hole - raised our taxes, left a massive deficit, and cost Wisconsin 133,000 jobs. Our reforms got us out of the hole - we cut taxes, eliminated the deficit, and created over 100,000 jobs. My opponent criticizes the Wisconsin Comeback - she wants to undo our reforms and create another hole. Instead let's keep moving Wisconsin forward.
Sorry, folks, I can't embed it. That's been disabled "by the owner of the video", Friends of Scott Walker (Walkers campaign organization. It
WAS embeddable earlier as seen on the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blog post, but now won't even play there. But, oops, they forgot to disable the comments the way they normally do and the 4 comments already posted are LMAO funny so it's worth clicking the link to view the video.
And that "deficit" Walker claims fell in his lap? Well, he created it himself with tax breaks to business when he became Governor. It was a deficit he needed so he would be "forced" to present a Budget Repair Bill in 2011, the one he called "dropping the bomb" in a recorded phone call with someone he thought was one of the Koch Brothers. The Budget Repair Bill that led to weeks of massive protests and recalls when he used it not for budgetary repair, but to punish his enemies: public employee unions, cities, minorities, and poor and people.
Mary Burkes campaign also put out a great ad today:
In the ad she hammers Walker for slashing earned income tax credits that help low income families while cutting taxes for the wealthiest in Wisconsin.
Walker is scared. The last 3 polls have shown him in a toss up with Mary Burke with the latest poll showing Burke gaining ground. The latest poll, from We Ask America, a Republican leaning organization owned by the Illinois Manufacturers Association, had Burke leading Walker 48-44% with a margin or error of 3 points.
His pals at the Republican Governors Association have rolled in with a THIRD ad buy on his behalf:
Notice how they love to cite job losses associated with the financial collapse rather than Governor Doyle's policies? They hope voters don't remember the collapse and its devastation.
For even more irony, check out Scott (Divide and Conquer) Walkers call for "unity". Bwahahahaha!
John Doe News:
Yes, you get a twofer in the diary today.
In other news, a new batch of documents from the original John Doe Probe were released today by Milwaukee County. No word yet on the contents and I'm looking for a link to them.
Considering the drip drip drip of bad news for Scott Walker and Republicans as documents are unsealed or made public from both the original and current John Doe Probes, supporters of Scott Walker have gone on the attack accusing the prosecutor of the original investigation (and participant in the second) of using the investigations as a "political vendetta".
The report, based on an anonymous source identified as a former assistant district attorney under Chisholm, a Democrat, was published in Legal Newsline, an online news service owned by an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The chamber typically backs Republicans through its political arm.
The Newsline article by longtime legal writer Stuart Taylor Jr. alleges that Chisholm may have investigated Walker and his associates because Chisholm was upset at the way in which the governor had repealed most collective bargaining for public employees such as his wife, a union steward.
(bolding is mine)
Reporters have asked to speak to the anonymous source and have been met, so far, with silence.
Here's John Chisholms statement:
"On the day following reports that Wisconsin Club for Growth’s federal lawsuit met with extreme skepticism before the federal court of appeals, reports have 'surfaced' based upon an anonymous source, that John Chisholm’s wife was the motivating force behind an investigation of Wisconsin Club for Growth and that the investigation was predicated on stopping Scott Walker and the effects of Act 10. The article in which this anonymous source is quoted is yet another example of a carefully orchestrated, partisan-inspired publication designed to inflame but not inform.
"John Chisholm, Bruce Landgraf and David Robles have seen many scurrilous, irresponsible and patently false allegations made in federal court and have endured them consistent with what they believe to be their responsibilities as criminal prosecutors.
"This latest, however, is beyond the pale. To suggest that Mrs. Chisholm and her supposed dislike of Act 10 drove this investigation is ridiculous.
"The facts speak for themselves as to who and what drove this investigation. To be plain, hard facts (some of which have not yet been made public) drove this investigation. These facts were not reviewed by Mrs. Chisholm. They were reviewed by the bipartisan district attorneys of five counties, the chief judges of those counties, the appointed John Doe judges, and the retired judges of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Board. Those persons and entities – not Mrs. Chisholm – found upon reviewing the facts that there was indeed a reasonable belief that a crime or crimes had been committed.
"Moreover, Mr. Chisholm did not ask Mrs. Chisholm to take over this investigation; he asked the Attorney General to do so. Mr. Chisholm asked the Attorney General to take responsibility for the evidence and proceed, but he declined for reasons of ethics, not because the investigation lacked factual merit.
"Then, a non-partisan special prosecutor was appointed by John Doe Judge Barbara Kluka and, as Mr. Schmitz has acknowledged in court, he has 'called the shots' for the proceedings since that time. Mr. Schmitz has not consulted with Mrs. Chisholm in his role as special prosecutor.
"The suggestion that all of those measures were taken in furtherance of John Chisholm’s (or his wife’s) personal agenda is scurrilous, desperate and just plain cheap."
It's a cheap attack and meager attempt to divert public attention from the evidence that's coming to light on what Scott Walker and his pals have been up to. It shows how desperate and grasping they've become.
Mary Burke's website is here. You all know what to do.
UPDATE: First of the John Doe Document Release:
Here we go ......
When Scott Walker ran for Governor in 2010 and in the recall election in 2012, there were malicious "Voter Fraud is a Felony" billboards in minority neighborhoods. The John Doe documents released today reveal that the venture fund executive who posted those billboards contacted Scott Walker for advice on election laws weeks before the billboards went up.
"Scott, I need to know the rules for illegal voting in Wisconsin," Stephen Einhorn wrote in an email on July 22, 2010. "Please check into the rules, including federal statutes. I need to know what the law is, if you violate it."
Einhorn continued, "I need this for some work that I am doing, and would appreciate your prompt response."
Walker forwarded the email to Cheryl Berdan, an assistant administrator in his office with the instructions, "Please help him out."
Do you think that every single email sent to Walker gets through and gets a personal response? Guess again.
Einhorn has come under fire for the billboard campaign in the 2012 recall race. Einhorn and his wife Nancy have given Walker $50,350 over the past decade, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
Michael Grebe, head of the Bradley Foundation and Walker's campaign chairman, has acknowledged that the foundation helped underwrite the cost of the billboards in Walker's 2010 race through a $10,000 grant to the Einhorn Foundation. Einhorn said he footed the bill for the 2012 race.
The billboards were widely criticized at the time for their placement exclusively in minoritiy communities.
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Stay tuned. I'm sure there's more coming.
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