Grab your barf bag, folks.
Despite multiple out of state fundraising events, Scott Walker barely rates a mention, while his continual whining about "Big Gubmint Union Bosses" and "Outside Money" supporting the recall effort rates continual note, today the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal (known to knowledgable locals as the Milwaukee Urinal) found time to report on the first out of state fundraising event by the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
After having bashed Gov. Scott Walker in the past for his extensive out-of-state fundraising trips, state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate is in California for a meet-and-greet with members of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.
You have to read down a few paragraphs before they belatedly note Wednesdays Walker haul of $200,000 at a Palm Beach fundraiser.
Of course, they had to put in the obligatory Republican lie:
A spokesman for the state Republican Party said it's no surprise that Tate headed to the liberal bastion of California to try to raise cash to help with the recall.
"From the beginning this recall effort has been fueled by out-of-state liberal interests, but Wisconsin voters have no desire to return their state to the era of rampant job loss and deficit spending from when the Democrats held power," said Wisconsin GOP spokesman Ben Sparks.
Yeah, right. It wasn't angry citizens who marched around the Capitol for more than a month (in the dead of winter), nearly booted a RWNJ off the State Supreme Court with an unknown opponent, successfully recalled 2 of 6 Republican State Senators this summer while protecting 3 Democrats (whose petition signatures were gathered by paid, out of state, professional signature gatherers using shady methods), and filed a million signatures to recall Gov. Walker, Lt. Gov. Kleefisch, and 4 more Republican State Senators (again in the dead of winter). Nope. It was outside agitators.
And, oh, by the way, and we're rolling in dough, too! Ignore all those reports of working in unheated recall offices or offices routinely out of toilet paper if volunteers forget to bring a supply along. We're loaded!
What they raised was spit in the ocean compared to the mega hauls by Scott Walker. And Walker isn't even satisfied with what he's grabbing from Wall Street, millionaires, and billionaires. He's been sending out scary fundraising appeals all across the country. Kossacks have been commenting and posting about these appeals for help. Check this out. And you can see pictures of it here.
So, Milwaukee Urinal, your creds as a RW leaning rag are intact. Ignore the millions Walker is hauling in by spending more time out of state than in state, but have a hissy when the Democratic Party tries to get a couple of bucks.
So if you'd like to piss off Walker and his GOP pals, consider an "outside agitator", "Big Gubmint Union Bosses", or "librul interests" donation to the Wisconsin Democratic Party's Act Blue Account.
On to That Other Stuff:
H/T to Kossack poison kitchen for alerting me to this comparison of Scott Walkers use of this time.
One Wisconsin Now Spokesperson Mike Browne commented, "The taxpayers of Wisconsin pay Gov. Walker over $144,000 dollars a years, provide him with a mansion to live in, a security detail to drive him about and a staff to cook and clean for him. You'd hope in return he'd be working with legislators to fix problems like Wisconsin's nation-leading job losses."
Based on the calendars maintained by Gov. Walker's office, released under the state open records law, between August 2011 and January 2012 Gov. Walker was scheduled to spend a grand total of just over 44 hours meeting with legislators or his policy staff or working on an a specific policy issue. Meanwhile, over the same time period, a whopping 614-plus hours were blocked off as "personal" time.
The graph included with the posting is stunning.
Walker, unlike other Wisconsin Governors, has hidden his schedule.
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Wisconsin Atty General Van Hollen, loyal Republican, filed appeals in both of the injunctions against the Voter ID Law. Earlier today, the first judge denied a request to stay his temporary injunction of Voter ID.
The appeal in the League of Women Voters case is filed in District IV of the Court of Appeals, locate in Madison, while the appeal in the NAACP case is filed in the court's District II, in Waukesha, according to Van Hollen's release. But the cases are likely to both be sent directly on to the Supreme Court as matters of great statewide public importance.
The GOP is hoping that they'll get a reversal before the April 3 municipal and Presidential primary elections.
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In other news, unless something strange happens, tomorrow should be the last day in session for the Wisconsin State Legislature. They've been spending the past 2 weeks trying to ram through the rest of their extremist bills.
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Nothing yet on the Redistricting Lawsuit. The 3 judge panel has been in deliberation since late March 9th when their hearing concluded with the GOP saying no twice to offers to redraw the legislative districts with the input of the plaintiffs in the case.
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Nothing more on the John Doe Probe.
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Don't miss Giles Goat Boys post on the Black Hole Award given by journalists to the Wisconsin State Legislature for their astounding secrecy in governing.
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