Archive for Scott Walker – Page 2

Scott Walker must have seen the #CPAC2013 straw poll: “I love being governor. I’m not looking for any other job.”

scott walker dumb look

Remember the CPAC 2013 straw poll results?

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul eked out a narrow victory in the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll Saturday, with 25 percent of votes to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s 23 percent.

The runners-up were as follows: former Sen. Rick Santorum, 8 percent; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, 7 percent; Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, 6 percent; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, 5 percent; Ben Carson, 4 percent; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 4 percent; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, 3 percent; former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, 3 percent.

Scotty Walker didn’t fare too well.

Here’s what he said very recently:

“I guess the only thing I’d say is I’m not ruling it [a run for president] out.”

Here’s what he’s saying now, via WisPolitics:

Gov. Scott Walker said Monday he’ll continue to be governor “as long as the people of Wisconsin want me to be governor.”

“I love being governor. I’m not looking for any other job.”

Of course, he blamed the press, saying, “Copy editors created headlines creating different things than what I said.” So “I’m not ruling it out” was a media creation?

Of course it couldn’t have been the straw poll. Or the fact that he’s got a few more legal issues to contend with.

Oops! Three Wisconsin voucher schools got state money after losing accreditation

school vouchers

Previously I posted about Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker wanting more “choice,” but does Wisconsin spend more per student on vouchers than public schools?

Today JSOnline is reporting that a few Wisconsin schools got state money even though they’d lost their accreditation.

Three private schools in Milwaukee continued to receive taxpayer money through the voucher program after losing their accreditation, under a loophole in state law that requires such schools to obtain that official approval but not maintain it. [...]

But on Wednesday, the head of the agency that rescinded its approval of Brenda Noach and Washington DuBois said that both of those schools have now been reinstated.

Still, the questions raised by the DPI accreditation reports illuminate an oversight hiccup for the voucher programs in Milwaukee and Racine.

Of course, Scott Walker is proposing the expansion of  the voucher school program to other cities. What could possibly go wrong?

Accreditation is important for voucher schools because they are not required to follow the same regulations as public schools. [...]

Separate from the accreditation issues, the DPI [Department of Public Instruction] is withholding a portion of each of the three schools’ voucher payment because of a failure to meet financial or other reporting requirements.

Privatization: It’s the Republican dream.

Documents were deleted from WI GOP redistricting computers, per court filing

tweet weigel gop redistricting gerrymander

Previously I posted WI officials subpoenaed over missing computers, docs involved in redistricting that benefited Republicans:

The subpoenas are being used to force GOP officials to reveal where the mystery computers, external hard drives, discs and documents are located, and the groups who are making these demands want the answers under oath.

It’s been months and months, but the state of Wisconsin never told the plaintiffs, who want to search said computers, where the computers were, and made every effort to block them from finding out, so now the Dems are playing hardball. They want those documents, and they want them now.

Republicans who control the Wisconsin legislature. Wisconsin’s governor is the one and only GOP “rising star” Scott Walker. Of course, Walker, along with the legislature, approved redistricting maps that benefited their party

It isn’t clear who deleted these documents, but– call me crazy– I’m guessing it wasn’t a Democrat.

Via JSOnline:

Madison - Documents were deleted from state redistricting computers last year even after a lawyer for the Legislature told lawmakers’ aides to preserve all records on the computers, according to documents filed Wednesday in federal court.

Nine hard drives were recently given to groups suing the state because of questions about whether legislators and their attorneys had turned over all the documents they had been ordered to provide. One of the nine hard drives was unreadable and the outside of it was dented and scratched, which suggested its metal housing had been removed, according to affidavits in the case.

In addition, some of the hard drives had a program installed on them that could remove electronic data and hide the fact that files had been deleted, according to the filing. So far, however, a computer expert has not been able to determine if the program was actually used.

JSOnline goes on to say that a “panel of federal judges ruled last year that two Assembly maps on Milwaukee’s south side violated the voting rights of Latinos. The court put in place new maps for those districts but not others, meaning the Republican-friendly maps were largely preserved.”

And the fun never ends under Scott Walker’s watch. Stay tuned.

Doonesbury speaker boehner voter suppression gerrymandering

What a difference a union can make!

unions right to work for less cartoon gopVia.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, so these must be worth millions (keep scrolling to see who wants to destroy unions and why):

labor unions brought usunions gave usunions make more money infographic via moveon

We are also cross-posting this new graphic with permission:

union pay difference food industry

This is the union difference for our members working in the food service industry. Reblog if you agree food workers deserve a good wage AND paid sick days!

Of course Republicans are doing their level best to crush unions, because organized labor is a major source of support and donations to Democrats, although no match for big corporations:

chart maddow unions v corps campaign spending smaller

For example, Michigan Dictator, er, Gov. Snyder is no fan of unions, nor is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. But at least, after “Right to Work”, Snyder’s popularity plummeted. By the way, Michigan’s “Right to Work” law contains verbatim language from an ALEC model bill.

And don’t get me started on how they’re trying to do away with the USPS. Psst! “It’s called the U.S. Postal Service because it is a service, not a corporation.”

Did I mention Sen. Rand Paul submitted a national “right to work” (for less) bill? Or how emails linked the Jeb Bush foundation, corporations, ALEC, and education officials? Guess who benefits? Corporate funders.

And then there’s this post about Reince Priebus who thinks the Republican platform is just dandy, it’s the way they talk about it that needs fixing. He’d love to see unions go away.

Oh, and “Right to work” is a lie.

And finally, courtesy of Daily Kos’s TheNewDeal00Follow, Thank a Union: 36 Ways Unions Have Improved Your Life:

36 Reasons Why You Should Thank a Union

Weekends
All Breaks at Work, including your Lunch Breaks
Paid Vacation
FMLA
Sick Leave
Social Security
Minimum Wage
Civil Rights Act/Title VII (Prohibits Employer Discrimination)
8-Hour Work Day
Overtime Pay
Child Labor Laws
Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
40 Hour Work Week
Worker’s Compensation (Worker’s Comp)
Unemployment Insurance
Pensions
Workplace Safety Standards and Regulations
Employer Health Care Insurance
Collective Bargaining Rights for Employees
Wrongful Termination Laws
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
Whistleblower Protection Laws
Employee Polygraph Protect Act (Prohibits Employer from using a lie detector test on an employee)
Veteran’s Employment and Training Services (VETS)
Compensation increases and Evaluations (Raises)
Sexual Harassment Laws
Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
Holiday Pay
Employer Dental, Life, and Vision Insurance
Privacy Rights
Pregnancy and Parental Leave
Military Leave
The Right to Strike
Public Education for Children
Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 (Requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work)
Laws Ending Sweatshops in the United States

I could go on about union busting, but I’m trying to keep my lunch down. I knew you’d understand.

DA closes John Doe probe; no charges against WI Gov. Scott Walker, others

judged by the company you keep

This happened back in November 2012: Fourth former Scott Walker aide convicted in WI John Doe probe:

And remember Kelly Rindfleisch? She’s the former Walker aide who was sentenced to six months in jail and three years of probation on a felony count of misconduct in office. Walker was named as part of a team that routinely commingled political and official business, and Russell was allegedly responsible for the “unofficial networking system” out of Rindfleisch’s office. She’s out on appeal.

How do sleazeballs like Scott Walker always manage to slither out of these predicaments with nary a scratch or without charges being filed? I’m talkin’ to you John Ensign, Mark Sanford, David Vitter, etc. ad nauseam.

Via WisPolitics:

Milwaukee County DA John Chisholm announced this morning he is closing a John Doe investigation without filing additional charges, ending the threat Gov. Scott Walker could be caught up in the long running probe. [...]

State Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate responded that Walker’s biggest accomplishment in his first two years in office was not related to the economy or education, but avoiding prosecution despite the conviction of two close aides.

Tate also requested that Scotty “release any and all information that was provided in John Doe, so the public can have full understanding.” After all, Tate reminded us, Walker did promise transparency, so this would be a swell time to demonstrate a little of that.

Yeah, like that’ll happen.

scott walker cleared letter from district attorneyLink

WI Gov. Scott Walker slams “ineffective” House GOP (coughPaulRyancough) over sequester

scott walker dumb look

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has come right out and admitted that Republican House members are losing the sequester battle. As you can see from this Politico quote, he certainly isn’t defending them or the GOP leadership, and pretty much smacks them upside their empty little noggins:

Walker, too, said congressional leadership has been ineffective in bringing about any solutions to the impending cuts.

“We’re not here speaking on behalf of Republicans on the Hill, we’re speaking on behalf of Republican governors,” he said. “The difference is, we’re providing leadership.”

snap10

Of course, he, and fellow governors Bobby Jindal and Nikki Haley (who has a secret and disturbing climate change report to contend with) haven’t exactly come forward with any new-found GOP make-overtures intended to improve their image. Instead, they slammed President Obama too, but that’s a given. But going after Paul Ryan et al? Noteworthy.

It’s also entertaining. There’s nothing more schadenfreudey than watching Republicans eating their own.

Republicans eating their own smaller

Under Gov. Scott Walker, WI private-sector job creation “slowed markedly,” and his income tax cut helps rich more

scott walker no jobs

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker made a major campaign promise that his state on his watch would add 250,000 private-sector jobs by the end of his term.

How’d that work out for you, Scotty?

JSOnline:

Job creation in Wisconsin slowed markedly between July and September, according to the most recent available government data deemed credible by economists. [...]

Friday’s report also contained the weakest reading since the 12 months of September 2009 to September 2010 – a period that overlapped with the last recession. [...]

The last time that Wisconsin appeared in a national ranking of the Quarterly Census, it was for the 12 months through June 2012. Then, Wisconsin ranked 42 out of the 50 states in private-sector job creation, a decline from a rank of 37 in the previous period, from March 2011 to March 2012.

That makes Wisconsin a laggard in job creation even by the glacial standards of the national recovery, which has moved far too slowly to absorb the millions of unemployed left over from the 2007-’09 recession.

See how well union busting and austerity work?

but wait there's more

According to the Wisconsin State Journal and an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy done for the Wisconsin Budget Project, Walker’s full of crap. But then we already knew that.

TheNorthwestern.com explains:

Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed income tax cut would give more money back to the rich than it would the poor, despite his billing it as a boon to the middle class, a new analysis shows.

promises promises smaller

Andrew Reschovsky, a UW-Madison professor of public affairs and applied economics:

“There is no evidence that the tax cut will do much to encourage growth and job creation.”

Mark Schug, a UW-Milwaukee professor emeritus who now consults in the area of economic education:

[S]uch a cut is not likely to be an economic boost. “I do tend to think that the income tax reduction is not sufficient.”

Of course, even after all these stats and expert opinions, Walker’s fellow Republicans will undoubtedly continue to march in lockstep, livelihoods of the 47%/99% be damned:

[T]he Republican-controlled Legislature will now take the next four months making changes before voting on it likely sometime in June.

They’re nothing if not predictable. Be proud, Koch brothers.