Scott Walker, Not My Gov.

Walker pushed cultural, racist appeals—Resistance remains strong

Scott Walker successfully hit targeted cultural demographics with his out-of-state $10s millions.

A mere two votes per ward separated the two candidates' totals with 99 percent reporting, but lies and money can buy a non-presidential election in Wisconsin.

Walker attacked recall elections, democratic processes, women, minorities, public education and the working class as he consolidated anti-GOP fervor for a generation.

If Walker thinks the Wisconsin people will now follow his underground movement, he is very mistaken.

But not even Walker believes people will follow, as the GOP continues shouting the fiction of voter fraud meant to appeal to concern over blacks and browns voting. Racist appeals against Milwaukee blacks were legion and largely worked.

Walker knows Wisconsin will not vote Republican in a presidential election unless he can obstruct the vote, and outspend by $10s millions with appeals to hatreds obscuring public policy positions.

So, unconstitutional GOP efforts to obstruct voters at the polls will continue, as will the fight against a racist, statist underground political movement.

Make no mistake about moving forward under Walker's neo-fascist rule.

Resistance remains strong.

A 92-two-old African-American man dressed formally walked up to me working at Fitchburg Fire Station #2 yesterday.

"Good afternoon sir," he said. "I'm here to vote."

"Yes, sir; right this way," I walked.

What is striking about the encounter in the face of Walker is the gravitas of the man's commitment to civic obligation and commitment to democracy; he was at the polling place to vote his preference and no one was going to get in his way.

Just vote

Walker faces federal and state criminal investigations

Veterans money-stealing Tim Russell carried more than
just water for Scott Walker - Russell at left and Walker
at right in shot

Update: Report of a fed investigation was in error.

"With the recall election only a day away, Federal prosecutors are closing in on Governor Scott Walker, according to veteran political reporter David Shuster, former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, and former district attorney Bob Jambois." - Ruth Conniff, The Progressive

The John Doe probe continues, as the feds close in.

"Governor Walker’s problems may not rest only with the Milwaukee District Attorney as (David) Shuster is reported to have said during the call, “I stand by my reporting 100 percent. It’s clear to me that he (Walker) is, in fact, a target in a federal investigation.” (David) Shuster went on to confirm that his information was based on consultations with attorneys in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section." Rick Ungar, Forbes online

Dead Heat

Update: GOP's Attorney General, Van Hollen to target Democratic regions of Wisconsin on election day

One vote per ward decides winner.

Get Out The Vote.

GOP press, the Wisconsin State Journal, continues to bury story of veterans' money-stealing Scott Walker aides.

A reference today reads, Tim Russell is "accused of stealing more than $21,000 from a nonprofit organization that Walker asked him to lead."

No reference to the fact that the "nonprofit" raised money intended for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Scott Walker Calls for Paid Canvassers

Even in Waukesha County, Scott Walker or someone helping Scott Walker has to pay volunteers to canvass for votes.

It's a step up from stealing from veterans for the desperate Walker campaign.

Pres. Obama, please come to Milwaukee for the late Spring time

Glory days - February 2008

Update: See also Where's The DNC In Wisconsin?

President Obama won a huge victory in Wisconsin in February 2008, capping a string of 10 straight wins launching Obama's path to victory in the Democratic presidential primary.

Today, as Wisconsin families campaign after successfully demanding a historic recall election, Clancy Sigal writes:

Obama is afraid or unwilling to come to Wisconsin to back up his most fervent supporters. With only a little more time to go, in a finely balanced contest, with the Republicans outspending progressives 20-to-one, Obama’s Democratic National Committee stubbornly refuses to invest a penny in the battle to unseat Walker.

This is kamikaze politics. A Walker victory would be a disaster for Democrats nationally. If a grass-roots movement like the citizen Recallers manages to dump Walker it could be the start of a liberal-progressive rollback all across the country.

Many variables exist in the race, indisputably among them is Milwaukee County turn-out.

I did some heavy field work in Milwaukee's South side in 2008. I have never seen such intensity and in a word, joy in wards where many people almost never vote.

I'll remember a black woman walking up to me and saying, "nice shirt!" commenting on my Obama t-shirt soaked in sweat in the August heat. After I told her, "we're going to win this year, count on it;" she replied: "Oh, I know we will."

I checked the voting histories on my walking list, and these people—black, brown, Polish, disenchanted veteran, young and old—did vote in February and November 2008 and in massive numbers.

That's why Republicans, from civil rights pretender Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Corporatism) all the way down to the various idiots Scott Walker has installed as election inspectors, are desperate to obstruct Wisconsin voters from getting to the polls.

President Obama, absent a nuclear crisis: Get to Milwaukee fast, and while you're at it, give Beaver Dam, Wausau, Eau Claire and Racine a quick drop-in to let us know you're still fighting whom FDR called "economic royalists" with a major GOTV effort.

There are four state Senate recall elections on June 5 as well:

• District 13 - Lori Compas v. Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau)
•  District 21: John Lehman v. Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine)
•  District 23 -  Kristen Dexter v. Sen. Terry Moulton (R-Chippewa Falls)
•  District 29: Rep. Donna Seidel (D-Wausau) v. Rep. Jerry Petrowski (R-Stettin)

Very often doing the right thing is good politics. This is one of those times.

MJS Channels Nixon for Scott Walker

The Milwaukee Journal from 1973 (above) -
The golden age of journalism when corrupt
politicians such as Richard Nixon were held
accountable, - Today, the Journal-Sentinel is
not a check on Wisconsin's own Nixon, Scott Walker.
The Journal-Sentinel actively promotes his career,
shields Walker's corruption, even creating an
enemies' list in service to Scott Walker. And now,
the Journal-Sentinel formerly endorses Walker.

Update IV: A fact for future reference, James L. Santelle is the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Update III: If a federal grand jury is looking into Walker's conduct while serving as Milwaukee County executive, it would be sitting in Milwaukee. Federal grand juries are empaneled for 18-month terms and may be inquiring into a number of matters at the same time. No mainstream journalist has even asked Walker the question of whether he or his defense attorneys have met with federal investigators or federal prosecutors.

Update II: Seen May 21, former U.S. Attorney turned Scott Walker defense attorney Steve Biskupic leaving the Federal Courthouse in downtown Milwaukee, accompanied by Michelle Roberts, former first chair of criminal division and an appellate lawyer and litigator, now with Biskupic’s firm.

Update: According to well-informed sources, Scott Walker has met with federal prosecutors in the last several weeks in a separate investigation looking into public misuse of office.

This, in addition to already having met with Milwaukee County John Doe investigators probing what and by whom crimes arising out of the 2010 Walker for governor campaign may have been committed.
---

"Overzealous political associates sometimes get in trouble. The John Doe probe doesn't justify a vote against the governor"

So reads the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel as it continues its in-kind contributions to the Scott Walker campaign.

Racing with our friends at Cognitive Dissidence and other sites to write the Nixon parallel.

How the Journal-Sentinel is able to divine that associates [passive voice] got into trouble, and that the man at the top is innocent is unclear. The editorial writers at the Journal-Sentinel are not from Wisconsin, so old Wisconsin values are not held

"I will not place the blame on subordinates, on people whose zeal exceeded their judgment and who may have done wrong in a cause they deeply believed to be right. In any organization the man at the top must bear the responsibility. That responsibility, therefore, belongs in this office. I accept it."
- Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel May 1, 1973

That quote above is from Nixon pretending to take responsibility for Watergate and the cover-up.

But Walker and his mouthpiece don't even bother with the last two sentences about responsibility and accepting responsibility.

Walker says nothing in public, and the Journal-Sentinel excuses Walker for him.

It is simply not credible that Walker did not know that the aides he hired and promoted ran his 2010 campaign out of the Milwaukee County Executive's office.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel—The Death of a Newspaper

The Milwaukee Journal from 1973 (above) -
The golden age of journalism when corrupt
politicians such as Richard Nixon were held
accountable, - Today, the Journal-Sentinel is
not a check on Wisconsin's own Nixon, Scott Walker.
The Journal-Sentinel actively promotes his career,
shields Walker's corruption, even creating an
enemies' list in service to Scott Walker.

Update: MJS defends Walker against recall in editorial, ahistorical and incoherent. Not one word about lies, about promises broken, about Walker's condoning aides' stealing from veterans. MJS calls families protesting Walker, "tantrums."

There was a time when journalism played a vital role in democracy, holding politicians to account for their actions in office.

When newspapers competed  to investigate and report stories on corruption, lack of transparency and betrayal of the public trust, papers specifically served as a counter-weight, performing a reformist function in a democracy.

Not anymore (with some notable exceptions).

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is a cautionary tale of what happens when media empires decide that their news product ought to promote the career of its chosen politicians, the public, the facts and the truth be damned.

Paul I. Tascoupe has a wrap-up of the Journal-Sentinel's latest effort to spin the news for Scott Walker's campaign against the Wisconsin people who demanded Walker's recall election in the face of the Journal-Sentinel's unyielding support for Walker throughout his myriad scandals and the recall effort.

The Journal-Sentinel changed a headline on jobs to help out Walker who realizes his 250,000 new jobs is a posturing promise that has no chance in hell of being met. Walker also realizes that his spin and statements are not meant to last; lie and evade and the Journal-Sentinel is there to cover for him.

From Tascoupe:

Democratic Party of Wisconsin Graeme Zielinski had this to say about the 'controversial headline.'

“The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been a reliable friend to Scott Walker over the years, with a few notable exceptions. They have endorsed him, they have opposed his recall, they have adopted his talking points and here, they seek to add to the fog created solely by Scott Walker himself over the historic job losses endured by Wisconsin, we argue as a direct result of Walker's "divide and conquer" policies. Our candidates frequently dispute assumptions made by Scott Walker Republicans in their unrelenting propaganda machine, but never does this result with the state's largest paper then using that "controversy" to modify or describe the fact or number itself. That the Journal Sentinel chose to do so in this case, or at all, shows a deep-seated bias that hangs from the publisher to the editor on down, corrupting the content of the news pages of Scott Walker's favorite paper. This was a mistake, pure and simple, and the paper's failure to own up to it sounds very much like the same never-ending stream of justifications that flow from the lips of Scott Walker himself.”

New strategy should be: Scott Walker is a liar

Tim Russell - Walker's top guy and criminal scum
who stole from veterans

Update: Our most candid of recent Wisconsin members of Congress tells it like it is. “The governor has a severe problem with the truth, whether it be the way he’s handling this investigation, whether it be the jobs numbers, the whole routine he had that somehow, this attack on the working people of this state was a budgetary matter, along with the budget. He has a very bad relationship with the truth overall,” said Russ Feingold, speaking at a press conference with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on May 23.

By now it's clear local print and broadcast news refuse to hold Scott Walker to basic standards of good government, burying stories of Walker corruption and crime.

In the case of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the outlet has become a GOP propaganda organ displacing a newspaper.

Here's a 'tactic,' tell the truth about Walker.

Tom Barrett should look into the camera and say what most everyone—including Republican partisans—know fully well: Scott Walker is a compulsive liar who cannot be trusted.

A candidate who speaks the truth will capture the imaginations of voters despairing their government is lost to narrow, anti-public interests bankrolling Scott Walker.

Walker sold out the people of Wisconsin, even condoning stealing from veterans. This truth should be told.

Walker's condoning aides' stealing from veterans should disqualify this rat

Stealing from veterans really ought be enough to prevent this corrupt rat, Scott Walker, from being elected. If only the media will cover it. If a Democrat had ever done something like what Walker's gang did, we would get saturation coverage and screams of outrage from GOPPers from Superior to Racine. But Walker condones these crap.



Scott Walker = John Doe = Rat



Scott Walker set up his friends, Multiple Kelly Rindfleisch, Tim Russell and Kevin Kavanaugh as paid employees of non-profits intended to help veterans and their families.

Scott Walker should be toast.

If his aides' stealing from veterans is not enough to catch the Wisconsin electorate’s eyes as the mainstream press hides the story, alternative media stays busy and brings these low lives’ actions to the fore.

Ernest A. Canning ( Vietnam vet (4th Infantry, Central) won't let up, and Walker can spin all he wants.



Ernest A. Canning is a Vietnam veteran
and leading legal critic of Scott Walker's
criminal involvement in WalkerGate,
and Walker's voter obstruction project

Operation Freedom, advertised by then Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, "thanks our Armed Forces members and veterans for their service." (July 5, 2009).

But in October of 2009, Scott Walker inexplicably ordered the transfer of $19,000 in Operation Freedom funds and financial control over to his then Deputy Chief of Staff, Tim Russell who had no experience running a non-profit. Mr. Russell then allegedly stole thousands of dollars from Operation Freedom and used the money to pay for Caribbean and Hawaiian vacations and a political trip to Atlanta to meet with Herman Cain's presidential campaign. Walker Investigations.

Joe 'Ragman' Tarnovsky, United States Army (28 January 1968 to 22 Oct 1970): "The following award is being presented to Scott Walker, Kevin Kavanaugh and Tim Russell for actions BELOW and INFERIOR AGAINST VETERANS: The Distinguished RAT BASTARD Tail for Thievery and Lack of Accountability."

Let's look at Kevin Kavanaugh.

Mr. Kavanaugh, Scott Walker's close friend and political appointee to a Veterans Commission, faces several serious felony and misdemeanor charges for embezzling at least $42,232 from the Military Order of the Purple Heart between 2006 and 2009. Mr. Kavanaugh allegedly took the money from donations that included more than $28,000 given by former state Rep. Mark Gundrum, who had donated his legislative salary to the group while serving on active military duty in Iraq. Mr. Kavanaugh is also alleged to have stolen money earmarked for children of Wisconsin military service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The criminal complaint said he and his wife had credit card debt exceeding $40,000. Control of Operation Freedom funds was transferred from the Military Order of the Purple Heart to the Cudwoth Legion Post in February 2009, a chapter of American Legion, a nationally recognized veterans organization. Walker Investigations

Then there's Multiple Kelly Rindfleisch. According to the criminal complaint against Rindfleisch [check it out, it's utterly damning of Rindfleisch], a GOP operative brought in to secretly and illegally work on Walker's 2010 campaign out the Milwaukee County Executive's office, she worked on Operation Freedom as well (p. 3,4). Rinfleisch is up to her eyes in illlegal activity caught on her communications, and the best she can realistically hope for is a pardon from Scott Walker, which he refuses to rule out. Reads the complaint, quoting Rindfleisch who communicated on the secret e-mail system run out of Walker's executive office after Rindfleisch assures her partners she is on a secret system, later retrieved by prosecutors. Asked what are her policy areas, Rindfleisch says:

(Rindfleisch is chatting with another friend) Friend: Who do you work with? Rindfelsich: tim russell Friend: What are your policy areas Rindfleisch: fran, I don't have specific policy areas, I do projects tim gives me Friend: what's your title? Rindfleisch: policy advisor Friend: that's fancy Rindfleisch: but I don't need fancy Friend: I wish you didn't work for government...now I can't talk to you about campaign stuff online Rindfleisch: I'm on my laptop, separate system Friend: oh...not shit, so it's cool? Rindfleisch: yah Friend:are you going to be helping out the campaign too? Rindfleisch: really, half of what I'm doing is policy for the campaign, its policy stuff but its for use over there Rindfleisch: I'm also doing Operation Freedom

Congratulations are due Rindfleisch, however, because as an Operation Freedom, Scott Walker appointee, she didn't embezzle from veterans—that's an achievement in the land of Scott Walker who condones unethical and illegal behavior. Rindfleisch merely is charged with four felonies for misconduct in public office.

So Rindfleisch just admitted in her court filing that these statements are true, and that she only took the Milwaukee County job as a campaign position for the election season. Put this together with then-County Exec Walker being the sole person signing off on Rindfleisch's hiring and promotion, and you see that Scott Walker brought Kelly Rindfleisch on as a campaign worker, but paid her out of the County Executive's Office, in clear violation of state law. And lastly, let's not forget that Rindfleisch admits in the chats that she does projects for Tim Russell and has the separate laptop and computer system. And what did Scott Walker do on the night the Darlene Wink resignation happened, and the Walkergate web was starting to be revealed? He sent Tim Russell (who Rindfleisch was doing projects for on the separate laptop and wireless system, remember) the following message: 'We cannot afford another story like this one. No one can give them any reason to fo another story. That means no latops, no websites no time away during the work day, etc." (Scott Walker) via Jake

Writer Ernest A. Canning ( Vietnam vet (4th Infantry, Central) notes:

To establish proper venue in Milwaukee County, prosecutors allege in the Rindfleisch complaint that, per her personnel file, "Rindfleisch claimed her residence as 133 South 93rd Street, West Allis, Wisconsin," which just happened to be the residence of "James Villa, former Chief of Staff for the Milwaukee County Executive Office and long-time personal friend of Scott Walker. He served as informal advisor to the Friends of Scott Walker in 2010." According to WPR, in his change of venue motion, Gimbel alleges that the case against Rindfleisch should not be heard in Milwaukee County Circuit Court because she did not actually reside in Milwaukee County at the time she was employed in the Milwaukee County Executive Office. However, the official complaint alleges that Villa testified Rindfleisch began living in his home several days per week "to fulfill her residency requirement as a Milwaukee County employee." According to the prosecutors' complaint, that allegation was confirmed by "chats" pulled from Rindfleisch's laptop. County employment as cover for campaign activity WPR reports [emphasis added]:

"The governor has distanced himself from Rindfleisch, although a copy of her personnel file obtained by Wisconsin Public Radio shows Walker was the only person to sign off on her hiring. He was also the only person to approve her promotion two months later."

In last month's article on the continuing "John Doe" investigation, we noted that Rindfleisch's promotion to Walker's Deputy Chief of Staff placed her less than 25 feet from the door of Walker's office as County Executive. That was at the same time, according to the Rindfleisch complaint, that she was routinely using a secret email system set up by Walker's former Deputy Chief of Staff Tim Russell to carry out extensive campaign activities on behalf of Walker's campaign arm which calls itself Friends of Scott Walker. But the complaint also alleges that Rindfleisch began her illegal participation in campaign activities during office hours from the moment she began working in the Milwaukee County Executive Office. The change of venue motion, placed in the context of the allegations contained in the Rindfleish complaint, suggests that extraordinary efforts were made to evade the residency requirement in order to bring a political operative (Rindfleish --- who was also previously tied to the Assembly Republican Caucus Scandal that put several high-ranking state officials in jail several years earlier), into the Milwaukee County Executive Office in order to misuse that position for the political advantage of Walker in his 2010 gubernatorial campaign. The fact that Walker signed off on both her initial hire and her later promotion strongly suggests that Walker was in on the scheme from day-one. That inference is reinforced by the "smoking gun" 5/14/10 emails between Walker and Russell and between Rindfleisch and Russell. That series of emails reveals that Rindfleisch pulled the plug on the secret email system just ten minutes after Walker told Russell, in the wake of public exposure of former Milwaukee County employee Darlene Wink's illegal political missives sent during office hours: "We cannot afford another story like this one…That means no laptops, no websites, no time away during the day, etc." All-in-all, these points seem to back up our contention from last week, in the wake of the establishment of his new Legal Defense Fund, that Scott Walker may be now be a target of prosecutors in the long-running "John Doe" investigation which has already led to the indictments of four of his former top deputies.

Further notes Caning:

The fact that Walker signed off on both her initial hire and her later promotion strongly suggests that Walker was in on the scheme from day-one. That inference is reinforced by the "smoking gun" 5/14/10 emails between Walker and Russell and between Rindfleisch and Russell. That series of emails reveals that Rindfleisch pulled the plug on the secret email system just ten minutes after Walker told Russell, in the wake of public exposure of former Milwaukee County employee Darlene Wink's illegal political missives sent during office hours: "We cannot afford another story like this one…That means no laptops, no websites, no time away during the day, etc."

Scott Walker should be toast no matter how much money he gets in from out-of-state. If his aides stealing from veterans is not enough to catch the Wisconsin electorate's eyes as the mainstream press tries to hide the story, alternative media like this stays busy and keeps these low lives' actions to the fore.
Some choice quotes from veteran friends on Scott Walker:

Joe ‘Ragman’ Tarnovsky United States Army (28 January 1968 to 22 Oct 1970)
Company A, 27th Combat Engineers
28 August 68 to June 69
Crew Chief/Door Gunner
240th Assault Helicopter Company
Mad Dog Huey Gunships (UH-1C Hueys)
In-Country, South Vietnam (28 August 68 to 22 October 70)

■“The following award is being presented to Scott Walker, Kevin Kavanaugh and Tim Russell for actions BELOW and INFERIOR AGAINST VETERANS: The Distinguished RAT BASTARD Tail for Thievery and Lack of Accountability.”
■“What else can you expect from a MILITARY SLACKER that lives and enjoys the freedoms paid for by others that chose to serve America in her Armed Forces.”
■“At least Benedict Arnold had the guts to openly fight against the American Veterans he sold out!”
■ ”They steal donated funds from American Veterans, what’s next, they’ll be wearing a chest full of military awards and decorations?”
■ ”Maybe since Scott Walker is a military slacker and failed to wear one of the military uniforms of the Armed Forces of The United States and feels inferior in the presence of American Military Veterans, this is his way of lashing out for his lack of military service to our country.”
■“Men like Scott Walker and his co-horts wrap themselves in the American Flag, the same Flag used to cover the caskets of our Brothers and Sisters that died for this country, that isn’t being enough of a hypocrite though, now they must steal funds well meaning Americans donated to support those that served.”

Lem Genovese, Yankee Medic:

"What did you expect for a GOP governor that wants to remove unions and collective bargaining from Wisconsin. You get what you paid for in Walker and embezzlement is just another nail in his re-call coffin."

Ed Mattson:

“Definitely disappointed in embezzlement. Those in power and their friends always find a way to beat the system. This is why I’m voting to throw ALL THE BUMS out. From Obama’s privileged few to Pelosi, GSA, and all the rest, your time is coming to an end. As a veteran and taxpayer, we’re sick and tired of being sick and tired. Damn the whole lot of you!”

Marine - pictured in Vietnam standing guard in
rain, after bout with malaria -
"Stealing from veterans is as much a tradition
as Mom and apple pie;
raping mom and stealing apple pie."

Gordon Duff, USMC Vietnam War:

“Stealing from veterans is as much a tradition as Mom and apple pie; raping mom and stealing apple pie.”

Dan Garza, U.S. ARMY Ranger

Founder and CEO
OPERATION: ENDURING GRATITUDE
Executive Director
Liberty Manor for Veterans
Tampa, FL 33688

“It is hard to believe that these two [Russell and Kavanaugh] could do something like this!!! To think we fight, bleed and die so these pukes can financially gain makes me think it’s nut cutting time!!! I have a hard enough time raising funds for our nonprofit without people like these.”

If Scott Walker is innocent ...

Would he not say so?

Some John Doe investigators come around asking questions, I look into their eyes and tell them what's what.

Why doesn't Scott Walker?

Tim Russell, Kelly M. Rindfleisch, Darlene Wink are co-conspirators.

Walker refuses to explain the creation of his criminal defense fund, and no one can even get a statement from Walker that he is innocent of criminal misuse of his office.

The prosecutions are not yet closed and Walker is hoping he can run out the clock.

Scott Walker Lying on Jobs ... Again

Wisconsin border states and job loss; we're dead-last
under Scott Walker

Scott Walker is giving even politicians a bad name.

Pay no mind that Wisconsin is dead-last in the nation in jobs lost.

Just in time for his recall election in June, Scott Walker has sent out the word: Wisconsin is experiencing "steady (even) accelerating job gains."

The Orwellian character, John Koskinen, the chief economist and division administrator for the division of research and policy analysis, Wisconsin Department of Revenue is spreading the good news for Walker. [Here's Koshinen talking to the Sun Prairie Chamber of Commerce Luncheon (April 14, 2011); here's Koshinen talking to the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corporation (March 2010).]

So, according to the Scott Walker administration, Wisconsin is doing wonderfully in job creation.
 
Koskinen's assurances of a rosy Wisconsin jobs picture now that Scott Walker is in charge is picked up by the MacIver Institute, the Wisconsin Reporter and Charlie Sykes. And those three—mouthpieces though they be—are never wrong; facts-only for these outlets, even if facts place the GOP in a bad light so powerful is their committment to truth.
 
The Orwellian reference above is made because Koskinen bears a resemblance to Squealer, the propagandist character in Orwell's Animal Farm, who constantly tells the citizens how great and productive everything really is.
 
Koskinen says if the jobs picture were really this horrible, people would be flooding the state with unemployment claims. Gee, I'm no economist but could it be that many jobless get told what to do with their unemployment claims by Walker's Department of Workforce Develelopment, hence they stop filing claims in the wake of the worst recession since the 1930s?
 
So Walker slashed community financing, punched public workers with a body shot, punished public school districts, rejected over $800 million in federal support for labor-intensive railroad projects, while taking away local control, in favor of Walker's ideological and corrupt agenda.

But all is well, we are told. And Scott Walker would never lie to the Wisconsin people.
 
On a positive note, the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) predicts that should Walker survive the recall election and continue his economic and fiscal policies, "Wisconsin will just start to look a bit more like Arkansas."
 
That's positive because it could be worse, we could be Mississippi.
 
Some advice to the Tom Barrett campaign: Speak candidly about Scott Walker and tell the Wisconsin people they simply cannot trust Scott Walker to be a straight shooter.

Scott Walker’s God-awful Jobs Record in One Chart

Scott Walker's awful jobs record

David Dayden has great piece on the job killer.

Writes Dayden:

Menzie Chinn at Econbrowser gives us this chart, reiterating something I have been saying for quite a while about Scott Walker’s jobs record. Aside from the “divide and conquer” collective bargaining assault, this is something I feel Walker has the most vulnerability on in his recall campaign. Walker definitively campaigned on bringing 250,000 jobs to Wisconsin over his four-year term. We’re a little over a year into that. In this time, he’s barely put jobs into positive territory. It would be nearly impossible for Walker to reach his 250,000 target by now; he would have to average job growth equal to the strongest in Wisconsin history. Nonetheless, Walker recommitted to the figure at the state Republican convention over the weekend:

Gov. Scott Walker recommitted Saturday to his pledge to create 250,000 private-sector jobs by 2015, a promise all the more difficult to achieve since he first made it because of anemic job growth during his tenure.

Speaking to the GOP faithful at the state Republican Party’s annual convention in Green Bay, Walker said he believed job growth has been better than government statistics have shown and that he could still meet the 250,000 job vow if he serves a full term [...]

Walker first made the jobs promise during that campaign, but since he took office in January 2011 just 5,900 jobs have been created. New jobs numbers are due Thursday.

'It’s a commitment I made in 2010 and it’s a commitment I make today,' Walker said.

Over the past year, Wisconsin was dead last in job creation.

Barrett and Allies in Political War with Walker and Underground Movements

Tom Barrett for Wisconsin governor

A rematch between Tom Barrett and allies against Scott Walker is a 27-day war already begun.

Many refuse to refer to Walker as Wisconsin governor as he runs from a secret campaign headquarters at an undisclosed location (seriously); and pulls in $millions out-of-state that still cannot buy him a 50 percent approval rating, mired by a criminal path in his 2010 election, top aides stealing from veterans, and the worst-in-the-nation jobs record.

Never has Wisconsin had such a fetid, corrupt governor.

Wisconsin swings three points from 2010 and Walker and secret alliances with post-Citizens United groups are defeated.

Some numbers:

• The Recall movement, 21.6 percent of the voting-eligible population (900,939) signed the Recall Scott Walker petition during the 60-day recall period over the Holidays, begun on November 15.
• Scott Walker won the 2010 election in Wisconsin with 1,128,941 votes (52.25%) to Tom Barrett's 1,004,303 votes (46.48%). 
• President Obama won the 2008 election in Wisconsin with 1,677,211 (56.22%) to John McCain's 1,262,393(42.31%).

Many of 2008 voters stayed home in 2010. The same won't happen again.

God and Gop

Walker who acts like he gets his orders from God is a turn-off to a more modest Wisconsin culture. "Walker said that God has told him what to do every step of the way, including about what jobs to take, whom to marry, and when to run for governor," writes Matthew Rothschild, though presumably the Almighty didn't tell Walker and Tim Russell to set up his secret router and e-mail system in the Milwaukee County Executive's office.

Field work

The one thing the recall movement has in electoral advantage is field work. Whether it's 20 percent or five to six percent of undecideds, there are 10,000s of people who will knock on doors, call, drive voters, bake cookies, enter data, ID supporters, and do everything it takes to win an election.

Milwaukee county, which underperformed horribly in 2010 for the Democratic Party, will make a huge difference, and Walker has managed to, in the words of Tommy Thompson, stick it those guys. Milwaukee, Kenosha and Racine together might actually be enough because Walker failed [for now] in obstructing voters with the GOP voter-control project.

But battling Walker in Fond du Lac, Dodge, Wood, Marathon and Green Lake counties may also make the difference, together with racking up huge margins in traditionally progressive-voting counties: Dane, Bayfield ... .

Jobs

Jobs will be the killer issue in a target-rich environment. Wisconsin remains dead-last in jobs lost.

Women

I can only hope women as a demographic are as disgusted by the GOP war on women as really most people are. This is another game changer, potentially.

Walker

To conclude, one must note even if Walker is not charged before June 5 in the criminal John Doe probe, reading the criminal complaints of those who are should be sufficient. These top aides of Walker's whom Walker refuses to publicly instruct to tell the truth are involved in the rat's nest of illegal and shady dealing that is the 2010 Walker campaign for governor run out of the Milwaukee County Executive office. We need to get the word out.

One final note. We have not read much about Scott Walker setting up his criminally charged friends—multiple Kelly Rindfleisch, Tim Russell and Kevin Kavanaugh—as paid employees of non-profits intended to help veterans and their families. This news of betrayal is an outrage and should get wide coverage. Stealing from veterans. I'm on it, and so are a lot of my veteran friends. We won't count on WTMJ and Charlie Sykes who condone this crap.

As Walker once said about a proven-innocent women who was a civil service employee (Walker's gang are all political appointees) when Gov. Doyle was governor: "Unfortunately we have a Governor and administration that condones unethical and illegal behavior. The people of Wisconsin deserve better."

Yes, and Walker knows fully well his cronies are guilty as sin.

GOP Daily Newspaper Goes Joe McCarthy, Runs Searchable GOP Enemies' List

Newspaper sponsors harassment and enemies' list database

Though no one publicly questions the validity of the petition to recall Scott Walker anymore, the GOP-linked Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is sponsoring a searchable database to see who wants to recall Republicans.

Nixon's enemies' list reborn; this GOP list is searchable
and is sponsored by the press, Journal Communications Inc.

The database does the work of right-wing parties and assorted wackos who cannot stand Wisconsin citizens voting GOP politicians out of office, per the Wisconsin constitution recall provisions.

A hostile employer, a neighbor, or a violent criminal can use the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's (MJS) system to locate a name and address on the Journal-Sentinel's database and make decisions based on the list.

Already, there have been numerous death threats, acts of harassment and assaults made against recall volunteers and citizens, and people who signed the recall petition.

The database is highly user-friendly and faster and more reliable than another GOP online, recall database.

The MJS piece announcing the database today does not include reference to or the language of Article XIII, Section 12 of the Wisconsin Constitution, enshrining the right of Wisconsin citizens to recall elected officials when voters deem it appropriate.

Nor, does the MJS address concerns about crimes and assaults to civil liberties that might be made on the basis of the online list.

MJS

The MJS had taken an anti-recall Scott Walker editorial stance throughout the Walker administration.

The MJS corporate parent company, Journal Communications, Inc., took a pro-recall editorial stance when Scott Walker worked for the recall of Sen. Kohl and other democrats, and during Walker's efforts to recall the Milwaukee county executive whom Walker replaced in office.

John Doe

Walker and his 2010 campaign for governor that was run out of the Milwaukee county executive's office are now the focus of a criminal John Doe probe that has resulted in numerous criminal charges and convictions.

Walker has retained criminal defense attorneys, set up a criminal defense fund (a first for a governor in Wisconsin history), and likely will face criminal charges unless an immunity deal is reached.

Scott Walker

"The recall is not about public employees nor is it about politics as usual. It is about Walker's toxic brand of political fundamentalism -- heartless and historically unprecedented -- that should repel fair-minded, mainstream voters everywhere,"  writes Paul Fanlund in the Capital Times.

This political fundamentalism is intended to carve up the electorate as Walker takes in $millions from out-of-state contributors, some $60,000 of which has already been transferred to his criminal defense fund.

$Millions spent, no John Doe ads yet and Walker still stuck at 50 percent

From to Scott Walker's campaign to
Scott Walker's criminal defense fund

The only governor in Wisconsin history who set up a criminal defense fund has not seen TV spots noting his rise to power detailed in the criminal complaints against his top aides in the John Doe probe.

Not yet.

But the hottest non-presidential race in the country will change dramatically after the May 8 recall primary when the Democratic nominee will have a sprint of 27 days to focus on Walker's naked corruption, job loss and his ideological and policy war on women and working families.

U.S. job creation nears a four-year high as Walker has not just dropped the ball on job creation at home, he has thrown the ball out of bounds into the hands of Wisconsin's border states.

Even after spending $millions on misleading TV spots in the air war that for months he had virtually to himself, Walker is still running only at a statistical dead-heat with Democratic opponents.

Walker raises record $millions out of state

Gov. Scott Walker raised $13 million since January to fight off the recall bid against him, far outdistancing his Democratic challengers and driving home the challenge they will have in beating the Republican incumbent.

Criss-crossing the country on fundraising trips, Walker has raised more than $25 million in total since January 2011 and has $4.8 million in cash on hand - numbers unlike any that have been seen for a political candidate in Wisconsin. (Stein. MJS)

Does anyone seriously doubt Scott Walker is bought and paid for?

Following is the statement of Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate in response to the announcement by Scott Walker that he had raised $13 million in the recent reporting period and $25 million total.

"Scott Walker's campaign is based on a single premise: That he can raise vast piles of cash to obscure his dismal record of job loss, criminal corruption, attacks on women and rollback of Wisconsin freedoms. His unprecedented and unprincipled money machine, which relies on donations from out-of-state, has put Wisconsin up for sale. Does anyone believe that the special interests that are giving to Scott Walker have Wisconsin's best interest at heart?

The unprecedented amounts of money coming to defend Scott Walker's radical agenda are breathtaking and it is true that we will be badly outspent. It is also true that, at the end of the day, and until Walker makes it otherwise, money does not vote. The people vote. And it is the people of Wisconsin who will win victory over Scott Walker on June 5th."

Walker Still Saying Wisconsin Families to Blame for Record Job Loss

Job destroyers, says Scott Walker - February 2011

Scott Walker's losing campaign message: Wisconsin families caused massive job loss, not Scott Walker

In the cascade of Scott Walker lies, he may have finally out done himself.

Walker's absurd line against Wisconsin's dead-last-in-jobs-lost news has changed from "it's working" to families' working to recall Scott Walker are to blame.

Sounds like a joke, but Walker is repeating this across the nation. He already tried blaming health care reform in March, but few bought that line.

At home, Walker has turned Wisconsin's Office of the Governor's web page into a political propaganda sheet for Scott Walker, where the lede Party-press story is "Reforms and Results."

But job loss is one result you won't find on the propaganda sheet, and Walker feels he has to blame somebody for the horrible job loss numbers.

[Walker would have you pay no mind to Doug Hall and Paul Krugman's predictions of job loss resulting from Walker's policies: "We and others have cautioned repeatedly that states that close their budget gaps by laying off public sector workers do so at the peril of their overall economy," says Hall.]

So, he blames the Wisconsin people, an incredible position to which even the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel offers only a qualified endorsement, calling the jobs loss news the result of "strategic missteps and problems with execution."

Walker will claim the reason is the recall elections - that they are creating an overwhelming arc of uncertainty. That's overblown, but we do think it is a mistake to underestimate the effects of the ugly political warfare of the past 16 months. While we believe those battles have had only a marginal effect on the business climate, it would be inaccurate to say they have had no effect. There is tremendous political uncertainty in the state at the moment, and at the margins that might translate into caution on the part of some businesses.

Most of Wisconsin families believe Walker can't execute a project with destructive aims and objectives dictated by the Koch brothers. And few think exercising the rights guaranteed in a democracy leads to job loss.

This Walker lie is whopper.

Walker maintained his the people-did-it defense on the Mike Gousha show as well. [via Democurmudgeon]

Mike Gousha didn't seem to want to mess around with Walker's well rehearsed answers. So he started by asking why in the last year of the Doyle administration [Doyle saved Mercury Marine and 1,000s of other Fox Valley jobs with the biggest incentive package ever given out in Wisconsin, one may have noted], the state gained 30,000 jobs, and under his administration he lost 24,000 jobs? 'How do you explain that?'

Gousha also zeroed in on Walker and Illinois.

Gousha on Illinois jobs: But they created 41,000 jobs in that time frame, the March to March time frame.

Walker: Yeah, but they didn't have all the attention around the Capitol.

There you have it, the Wisconsin people paying attention to what their elected leaders are doing in the Capitol [secretly doing in Walker's case] caused job loss under Scott Walker, though he takes credit for everything else.

Wisconsin Border states and job loss

People assembling to petition their elected leaders is not "chaos" as Walker and the Wisconsin State Journal copy editors assert, it's democracy.

Scott Walker sticking to using policy to hit political opponents: Wisconsin Families

Teachers - not the bad guys

Scott Walker is a religious zealot who has never had qualms aligning himself with the most anti-social, voracious and predatory moneyed interests in pursuit of his far-right ideology and personal glory in the Republican Party.

When Walker called a special session on "job creation" in May 2011, Walker and the Republican legislature granted Walker the power of executive fiat (governor's say-so) over the language and approval of administrative rule-making. A rule implementing a statute becomes a rule, if and only if, in Walker's mind the rule meets Walker's ideological requirements. (2011 WISCONSIN ACT 21)

Now, Walker has again taken aim at public teachers as the scourge of society and the economy by "systematically attacking the workplace protections, wages and benefits of Wisconsin teachers(,) [an attack on teachers that] is no longer in question" in his quest to dismantle Wisconsin's public school system. (Capital Times, April 26, 2012)

What Walker and his radical ideologues do not realize (or perhaps not care about) is that many families in Wisconsin have a teacher in a the family, a teacher who is part of the extended family, a family friend, and (in a shocker to Republicans) a dedicated former teacher who is a role model, friend and: A teacher.

If this point were not too obvious, I found evidence for this fact in the field when I had the pleasure of gathering signatures in Fond du Lac for recalling that shit-bag, Randy Hopper, and discovering some six of the 10 signatures I gathered on my first petition sheet met one or more of the criteria of the above paragraph. Other field work confirmed this in other districts confirmed this.

I still believe Walker and his veteran fund-stealing top aides will put away Walker, but demonizing teachers is not just an outrage, politically it's pretty stupid.

I received a lot of quotes from veteran friends about Scott Walker condoning his aides' stealing from veterans, here are two:

Lem Genovese, Yankee Medic

”What did you expect for a GOP governor that wants to remove unions and collective bargaining from Wisconsin. You get what you paid for in Walker and embezzlement is just another nail in his re-call coffin.”

Joe ‘Ragman’ Tarnovsky

United States Army (28 January 1968 to 22 Oct 1970)
Company A, 27th Combat Engineers
28 August 68 to June 69
Crew Chief/Door Gunner
240th Assault Helicopter Company
Mad Dog Huey Gunships (UH-1C Hueys)
In-Country, South Vietnam (28 August 68 to 22 October 70)

“The following award is being presented to Scott Walker, Kevin Kavanaugh and Tim Russell for actions BELOW and INFERIOR AGAINST VETERANS: The Distinguished RAT BASTARD Tail for Thievery and Lack of Accountability.”

“At least Benedict Arnold had the guts to openly fight against the American Veterans he sold out!”