Wisconsin Democrats Screwing Up on Toll Roads, Opposition Is a Winning Ticket in November

Pictured above is the Illinois tollway, (ABC-7 TV-Chicago).
For the edification of Wisconsin Democrats tolls are not
what people are calling for. No one, no one comes home
from a commute and complains, 'I wish we had tolls like
Illinois.' C'mon, what is wrong with unified opposition to
this horrible Republican idea for Wisconsin?

Wisconsin Republican legislative leaders are launching their latest Con against Wisconsin with their newest push for toll roads, (Bauer, AP).

Toll roads.

It's a stupid idea about as popular as snow in June.

I mean no one in the real world is calling for toll roads.

So naturally Wisconsin State Assembly minority leader, Gordon Hintz, (D-Oshkosh), is on the record saying "I'm in" for this unpopular idea from Wisconsin's Lost Decade, 2011-2019, (cited in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, adding the Hintz' quote to Scott Bauer's AP piece,).

It's the same misdirection Republicans have been pulling since they took power, gerrymandered their way into keeping power, and turned their back on the Wisconsin people.

And we have Rep. Gordon Hintz leading the loyal opposition?

The Republican state Senate majority leader said tolling is the "only" way to go forward after Republicans and only Republicans made a fiscal mess of future budgets, and our roads.

Of course Scott Walker offers this beauty of a statement in Walker-weasel fashion, saying on Wednesday that while he would be "open" to tolling ... he’s "not in any way suggesting support" for it.

So, Mal Contends phoned Gordon Hintz' office, (608 266 2254) and Hintz' office took a page from Walker's playbook, with the legislative aide saying she was not in the meeting with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel from which the Hintz quote on proposed toll roads was taken, the representative is unavailable because he is a meeting, the aide did not have the position paper on toll roads in front of her ... blah, blah, we can have someone call you back.

Somebody needs to give the Democratic Party a kick in their collective ass or we will get stuck with Scott Walker for another four years.

Toll roads. Only Wisconsin Democrats could screw this issue up.

Scott Walker and Republicans Tank Economy

Robert Kraig sums the Wisconsin situation in the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, noting the corruption and Republican policies purposefully driving down wages.

Insanity.

The Republicans have gerrymandered Wisconsin, and growing numbers want to end GOP-backed machine, black box voting, so power-mad and underhanded are the Republicans who are subverting anything not overtly Republican.

Even as Republicans trash the formal structure of democracy and they want it done in secret, they are crashing the economy.

Writes Kraig:

What passes for discussion of economic strategy in Wisconsin is dominated by Gov. Scott Walker’s discredited jobs agency, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp, or WEDC.

As embarrassing as the agency’s failures are, by fixating on the WEDC trainwreck we are missing a more fundamental challenge: the lack of a strategy to reverse declining economic opportunity in Wisconsin.

Contrary to the cheer-leading we hear from Governor Walker and corporate leaders, our economic direction is alarming. Wisconsin’s middle class shrunk more than any other state since 2000. There is overwhelming evidence from academic research institutes at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Milwaukee that we are sliding toward a low-wage economy. Wisconsin is hemorrhaging middle-class jobs and replacing them with poverty-wage jobs, so much so that the poverty rate is increasing even as employment increases. Wisconsin also has some of the worst race-based economic disparities in the country, including the highest rate of African-American unemployment.

Never has Wisconsin seen as corrupt and as complete an economic failure as Scott Walker.

Scott Walker Enters Debate Under Cloud of Criminality

Scott Walker still refuses to
face Wisconsin people

Scott Walker is a scandal-plagued candidate for the presidency who still refuses answers to his clear acts of felonious criminality.

With the exception of Gov. Chris Christie (NJ) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) Walker enters tonight's debate with the most unanswered questions on his conduct in office, raising public integrity questions from which Walker has run.

Don't look for tonight's debate moderators, Fox News hosts Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace, to ask Scott Walker the question to which Wallace never received an answer from Walker last year: "Did you have your own private e-mail account?" (Mal Contends) (ThinkProgress)

Walker refused to answer Wallace's question because Walker knew what he did was illegal.

Chris Wallace like the Wisconsin media won't be clamoring for an answer to why Walker was running for governor on an illegal email system on public property and violating Wisconsin's Open Records law he unsuccessfully tried to gut this year. But if Wallace took seriously his profession as a journalist, he would ask Walker the same question. (Mal Contends) (ThinkProgress)

Walker's aborted gutting of the Open Records law earlier this year raises the same issue that Walker's flaunting of the Open Records law raised during Walker tenure as Milwaukee County Executive.

If Milwaukee County workers in Walker's administration (2002-10) were doing nothing wrong, why should they be using a private e-mail account? Did you have your own private e-mail account?

Noted before, Walker used the Milwaukee County Executive's office as a campaign machine for governor because he felt is he was entitled; Walker violated open records law because he felt he was entitled; and Walker won't talk to the press now because he knows as well that he is neck-deep in uncharged crimes.
 ---
From 2014:

Question from Luke, Green Bay, Wisconsin. - A simple yes or no question "Did you Governor Walker know of the secret e-mail system?" Why won't he just answer the question? We are paying his salary. It is a simple yes-no question.

Answer from Daniel Bice, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel - Why won't he answer the question? My guess: He is paying his lawyers very good money, and they have told him, "Do not answer that question."

-- From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Columnist Dan Bice's Online Question and Answer February 2014) (Mal Contends)

Say what your will about Chris Christie, unlike Scott Walker, Christie does not run from questions.

From Chris Wallace last year:

Scott Walker—Authoritarian and Vindictive Is Now an American Problem

On the eve of Scott Walker's announcement for the presidency from the white citizens' stronghold of Waukesha, Wisconsin (DeFour, Wisconsin State Journal), it's apt that the New York Times runs a preview of a film on Philip Zimbardo's social psychological Stanford Prison Experiment (Murphy, New York Times).

The capacity of 'normal' human beings to inflict sadistic actions and suffering onto fellow human beings had astonished and repulsed thinking human beings, emphatically after the Holocaust and the United States invasion of Vietnam, and social psychologists have studied this phenomena of systematized savagery.

But for Scott Walker (and political allies, such as former governor Tommy Thompson [1987-2001]), demonizing and inflicting suffering onto disfavored citizens have been the vehicle by which these two Wisconsin governors have launched political careers and presidential campaigns.

Assaults on the working-class citizens of Wisconsin abound in Scott Walker's administration: the right to collective bargain; massive cuts for the University of Wisconsin; bans on abortions after 20 weeks, regardless of rape or incest; drug testing for aid recipients; repeated targeting of the city of Milwaukee, maintaining it as the most segregated urban area in the United States; attacking the open records laws; and avoiding and evading the populations' right to ask him questions about any of these policies (Walker has held no listening sessions for any of this legislation, even though none of it was mentioned in his election, recall, or re-election bids).

Super-max prisons, Thompson's vow to make inmates' lives a "living hell," and former State Rep. Walker's (1993-2002) peripatetic legislative push to create harsh prison sentences, expand the criminal code, create the authority to send nonviolent 'offenders' to out-of-state private prisons went on with little opposition from the Wisconsin citizenry or the Democratic Party.

"Walker pushed dozens of proposals in the state house to lengthen criminal penalties, for everything from perjury to privacy invasion to intoxicated boating. In just the 1997–98 legislative session, Walker authored or co-sponsored twenty-seven different bills that either expanded the definition of crimes, increased mandatory minimums for offenders, or curbed the possibility of parole," notes Scott Keyes in The Nation.

Walker openly bragged about his bill, the infamous Truth-in-Sentencing law, which limited early parole, as having come from the corporate bill mill, the American Legislative Exchange Committee.

Scott Walker is the classic "double high authoritarian" who takes pleasure in deceiving and hurting perceived incarnations of the wrong [black] type of people, while also marked by the inclination and "willingness to submit to established authority, (and) their aggressiveness on behalf of that authority" (Dean, part one, CounterPunch and Dean, part two CounterPunch).

To understand Scott Walker is to comprehend the history of Scott Walker's inclination to lie and evade.

As a profile in racism, Scott Walker presents to social psychologists an experiment in how a superstitious, cruel and callow politician with little understanding of public policy can rise to the level of serious discussion of becoming the nominee for a major party for the presidency of the United States.

Now that Walker is in the national arena, the heartless and senseless changes he has wrought in Wisconsin will be exposed to a wider audience and shown to be consonant with twentieth-century fascism and the "double high authoritarianism" discussed by Dean.

Scott Walker Merges Science and Unpopular DNR Enforcement Divisions in DNR Website

Under the Scott Walker administration the Department of Natural Resources has conflated the unpopular Enforcement Division with the Science Bureau in the Department's website.

This is a move in the Walker administration to use state websites to further the special interest agenda of Walker's donors such as billionaire John Menard Jr. ,and a PR initiative to take an unpopular (yet small) part of the DNR and associate it with science and law—protecting water, land and air, per the Wisconsin Constitution's Public Trust Doctrine.

In Wisconsin the face of the DNR is for many citizens the law enforcement division, politically unpopular and associated with monetary fines for violations of fishing and hunting regulations.

Walker's merging the DNR's Enforcement and Science Division is justified in part, the website reads, because "The methods the DNR uses to manage wildlife and handle other environmental issues is built upon the research completed by this bureau."

This is a political move with partisan objectives, using public state websites for Walker's political gain.

Scott Walker Gives His Office a $400,000-Plus Raise

Breaking story, Scott Walker gives his office over a $400,000 raise, as he decimates workers' wages with ALEC bills and his continued assault on workers' rights.

Unconscionable is SOP for Scott Walker.

This explains why Scott Walker's approval number are plummeting at home. (Bloomberg)

Scott Walker Wrecked Wisconsin's Economy—On Purpose

The Milwaukee Shepherd-Express notes in late April that Scott Walker has degraded the Wisconsin economy.

What is not emphasized is Walker did this on purpose.

Walker targeted Dane and Milwaukee counties (the old I-94 Coalition), University towns, workers' wages, public schools, minorities, consumers' rights, the University System, voting rights, local control, clean water, the environment and anything Walker can get his hands on that doesn't vote Republican.

Dane County is too smart for Walker and without Dane County and its educated population and innovative industries, Wisconsin would be in worse shape.

But Walker still is targeting the people of a state as enemies to be conquered. This is sociopathic.

This is who Scott Walker is: A religious fanatic who hates macroeconomics, hates the people of Wisconsin, the vast majority who did not vote for Walker.

The American press has mostly missed the story that Walker cannot win a statewide election in a presidential year, and Walker refused to campaign on any major policy gift he gave to the Koch brothers and gloats about at Republican, out-of-state events.

Scott Walker's War on Young Brains, Our Future

Scott Walker's perverse ideological hostility to a world-class University System is already taking its toll.

This insane crusade by Scott Walker ought to be highlighted repeatedly.

See Simmons at the Wisconsin State Journal and Capper at Crooks and Liars.

There must be some curse word depicting the abandonment of our youth. I've yet to find it.

The plain fact is Scott Walker favors campaign money more than the welfare of the Wisconsin people, so the young are fleeing our state.

Scott Walker's Attack on Disabled Is Unconscionable

Does Scott Walker really have some need of bringing down the wrath of god onto citizens who are not GOP contributors, and are disabled and old?

Consider Walker's budget proposal to repeal the statute and cut off aid to 11,000 elderly and disabled Wisconsinites who are part of the IRIS (Include, Respect, I Self-Direct) program.

Walker wants to go after these people?

Noted here before, without politcal hyperbole, this is something wrong with Scott Walker.

A petition is making the rounds to protect IRIS:

by Melissa Prentice

I am disabled and only 33-years-old. I am a single mother of two beautiful children.

Thanks to the IRIS Program, I am in my home with my children, though I am disabled from the middle of my back to my toes. The reason for this is because IRIS allowed me to choose a caregiver (or they would have found me one), figured out a monthly amount I am allotted through the program, and is paying my caregiver to take care of me and my household.

Without this program, I would have to be in some type of nursing or rehabilitation facility for the rest of my life. I would no longer have my children. I would no longer have my life.

And that is not all IRIS does! If I were to need a new bed, or a repair on my house such as a ramp going up to my door, I would simply submit it to my IRIS case worker, who is available for me during all business hours by phone. She would submit the request, and they would allot me the extra money, as long as it is something I need due to my disability.

Since Gov. Walker took office, all he has talked about is creating jobs and supporting the people of this state. Now he is attacking the weakest and most vulnerable people, and by ending this wonderful program, he will be taking away the many, many jobs of the people who actually work for IRIS and the many wonderful caregivers who spend their time taking care of people like me.

Please help the weak and vulnerable in the state of Wisconsin and stand up to save the IRIS program:

Scott Walker: Civil Rights Activists 'Looking for ways to be upset' RE Indiana

Talking Points Memo has the story and audio via Buzzfeed.

Scott Walker of course was all for his rights, especially as paid for, into his criminal defense fund by Fat Cats. (Bice, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

A hypocrite and a pathological liar, Elect me, says Scott Walker.

Jeb Bush Tops New Post-ABC Poll

Scott Walker lacks
gravitas and public
policy stuff, but has big
and bold ideas;
just ask him.

"[Jeb] Bush — by far the best known among those running for the GOP nomination — is viewed favorably by just 33 percent of the public, while 53 percent say they view him unfavorably." (Balz and Clement, Washington Post)

Congratulations, Gov. Bush, you are at the head of the GOP class, at 20 percent.

Scott Walker comes in third at 12 percent, tied with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 13 percent.

The national vetting has barely begun on Walker and already the direction of conventional political wisdom (among conservatives) is: Scott Walker is a lightweight.

Jeb Bush need hardly look in his rear view mirror when a glance reveals Scott Walker and Ted Cruz.

Ask around.

Hillary has double-digit leads against all Republicans.

So, frack off, Martin O'Malley.

Scott Walker on Striking the Right Balence

If Scott Walker decides to run for the GOP nomination for the presidency (and he has prayed on this), those outside Wisconsin can take delight in the next Walker non sequitur when asked simple questions in public.

Wisconsin is one of only 18 states that have not either introduced legislation or have on the books some manner of the so-called religious freedom laws. (Steinhauer, New York Times)

Indiana does have a "Religious Freedom" law.

Indiana Republicans saw an opportunity to enact the right to discriminate (Media Matters) on behalf of private, for-profit people-entities in the wake of the Supreme Court's rewriting of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014). (People for the American Way) (A more insidious effort by Arkansas Republicans was vetoed by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) yesterday, good for WalMart.)

Walker and Balance

Putative GOP presidential candidates and governors weighed in on Indiana's absurd law with Scott Walker leading the way with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence in confused and uninformed evasion.

"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took a different approach, saying he doesn't intend to get involved with it or anticipate a similar bill coming to his desk. 'In our state there's a balance between wanting to make sure that there's not discrimination [and] at the same time respecting religious freedoms. ... We do that in different ways than what they've done in Indiana. Certainly that's going to be part of the debate here and across the country,' he said at a press conference." (Kelly, NPR)

What "balance" is that?

What laws is Walker talking about?

Prior to Indiana becoming the national laughingstock, Walker had never spoken publicly on the Public Accommodations clause of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as somehow in tension with First Amendment religious freedom.

Walker invoked his "healthy balance" nonsense before, in November 2013 when Walker said because Wisconsin state statute and the state Constitution banned marriage equity,  "We’ve had no problems… I should say, limited problems with that." (Kim, MSNBC)

What about the people who were banned from being married?

Walker says "balance" when Walker has no idea what his talking about, a frequent occurrence.

Scott Walker

Marriage equality became the law of the land in Wisconsin last year when Judge Richard Posner's opinion striking down Walker's "healthy balance" as "mindless tradition," "bigotry" and a violation of the "Equal Protection Clause" went into effect in Wisconsin and Indiana. (Mal Contends)

There is intelligent commentary on who is the lightest of the lightweights: The bewildered and confused Gov. Mike Pence (R-Indiana), or the big and bold, but no-questions-from-the-public Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin).

This leads one to suggest: Pence-Walker in 2016, God-sent.

Scott Walker Getting National Ridicule

"[E]very now and then, a presidential hopeful comes up with a novel claim in this area [becoming the next commander in chief] – like Governor Scott Walker, who was asked by a conservative radio host how he felt about the prospect of having to send American troops into combat in the (extremely unlikely) event that he should become president."

Mr. Walker didn’t hesitate. He was an Eagle Scout."

Continues Andrew Rosenthal in the New York Times:

'And to me, much like my thought process of being an Eagle Scout is, no, being an exceptional country means we have a higher responsibility … not just to care for ourselves and our own interests, but to lead in the world, to ensure that all freedom-loving people have the capacity, who yearn for that freedom, to have that freedom,' [Mr. Walker said.]

Got that?

It would be unfair to say Mr. Walker’s response hinged solely on his knot-tying skills. He did offer a grand vision for military strategy. He said the United States should use military force when appropriate, with 'a plan and a charge that ultimately leads to victory.'

After wrecking Wisconsin's economic recovery from the 2007-08 national recession, driving down wages, destroying institutions that took Wisconsin generations to build such as the University of Wisconsin System and public schools, Walker's undoing may not be that he is a failure as a governor or is a crook who has surrounded himself with fellow crooks.

Walker's undoing is that he is the 2016 Sarah Palin, a lightweight.

Concludes Rosenthal: "As The Cap Times said in reporting Mr. Walker’s comments, these silly remarks were actually an improvement. In February, he said his crushing of Wisconsin’s public-sector labor unions prepared him to combat terrorism. Maybe that was a joke. A very unfunny joke."

Even less funny if you live in Wisconsin. Here in Wisconsin, we can take solace in the fact that 'stupid' is no longer in political fashion.

Scott Walker Is Worried, Worried US Will Follow Wisconsin

After proposing to eviscerate Wisconsin in the state budget following the lacerations Scott Walker inflicted onto Wisconsin, Walker said he is "worried," DesmoinesDem notes at the premier political site on the eight-month run-up to the Iowa presidential caucuses.

Notes DesmoinesDem:

Jon Ward filed this report [yesterday] on a New Hampshire event featuring Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

In a recent speech here, the Wisconsin governor used the word "worry" or "worried" 12 times in the space of 15 minutes.

'As a parent today, I'm worried. I'm worried for our country,' Walker told a few hundred conservative activists in a darkened amphitheater, standing in front of a red stage curtain. 'I'm worried about my sons and your sons and daughters, my nieces and your nieces and nephews and grandsons and granddaughters, and I'm worried that we're headed down that same path that worried me years ago in my own state.' [emphasis added]

Walker's message, just a few months into his nascent (and still unofficial) presidential campaign, has been largely a negative one. There is an undertone of testiness in his stump speech, leavened with chest-swelling machismo fueled by his defeat of a recall effort in 2012 and his re-election in 2014.

Scott Walker's M.O.—scream Worried, Broke and Corrupt and then get in, screw-up and run away fast. Look for more mentions of ISIS/ISIL from Walker as well.

Retired Conservative Editor: Scott Walker Lied, Betrayed Wisconsin

"[Scott] Walker is an opportunist who is stepping on this trivial state, [Wisconsin], as he makes his way to the presidency. ... He’s betrayed you for something bigger and better and clearly planned to do so for some time."

The preceding sentence sums up the frustration and heartfelt betrayal of Pete Kennedy, former editor of the Waukesha Freeman (paid, restricted site), a rightwing paper in suburban Milwaukee.

Text of Kennedy's column is at Techno Blog.

Kennedy lets loose on Scott Walker for turning his back on Walker's stated commitment to create jobs, instead outright harming Wisconsin's economy in favor of a selfish run for president.

Kennedy's blasting of Walker comes as national conservatives are questioning Walker, and the national media reports Walker avoids town hall-style question-and-answer sessions with voters in favor of "rope lines" and "avoiding questions in public from prospective voters." (McCormick, Bloomberg).

Kennedy hits Walker not for falling asleep at the wheel on job creation, rather for making policy decisions that are killing jobs in cold-blood in a string of high-profile Walker moves Kennedy lists.

Walker is working to make his candidacy for the presidency more appealing to segments of the GOP's electorate in the Iowa presidential caucuses, and among voters in national GOP presidential primaries.

The Waukesha Freeman's editorial page is similar to the Wall Street Journal's in its hard-right political commitments. Waukesha County is the heart of Wisconsin Republicans, voting for Walker by a margin of 72 percent to 26 percent in the 2014 general election. (Politico)

As Scott Walker cross-crosses the globe, Walker's repeated stomping on job-creating opportunities has even this most-conservative of writers fed-up.

"[Walker] charges you for those 'trade missions,' too, and they can’t be cheap. How about a trade mission to Kenosha?," asks Kennedy.

Wisconsin Dead-Last for Middle Class; Outrage Grows over Dark Money

Wisconsin is worst among 50 states as middle class shrinks

"Wisconsin ranks worst among the 50 states in terms of a shrinking middle class, with real median household incomes here falling 14.7 percent since 2000, according to a new report," notes Mike Ivey in the Capital Times.

The Pew Report Ivey cites reports a declining Wisconsin economy made worse under Scott Walker as the Wisconsin brain drain—children fleeing the state looking for work—continues. (Murray, WTMJ; Mills, WPR)

"Youthoside," one Wisconsin grandparent tells me as younger generations appear to be targeted by Walker's policies for not voting for him. "Walker is killing our children's future for the benefit of special interests who fund his political campaigns."

The report of Wisconsin's shrinking middle class comes as Michael Isikoff's piece on John Menard Jr.'s $1.5 million dark money contribution to Walker's frontgroup, Wisconsin Club for Growth, was revealed this week.

Scott Walker's budget proposal provokes astonishment about where Walker's radical proposals attacking workers, education and the environment are coming from as Walker runs for president (Opoien, Captial Times). The answer is a few special interests looking out for themselves from whom Walker takes orders.

Walker's proposed radical demolishing of education and environmental protection are coming from billionaires' secret money directing Walker what to do.

"George Meyer, a former secretary of natural resources under Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, said the hardware baron [John Menard Jr. president of Menard Inc.] made no secret of his views on environmental enforcement. 'He told me he just didn’t believe in environmental regulations,' said Meyer. “He was upfront about it.'" (Democurmudgeon) quoting Michael Isikoff who broke the Menard dark money story.

Walker Statement on Pay to Play

Here's what Scott Walker had to say about John Menard Jr.'s secret contribution: "I haven't engaged in any of that and there's going to be lots of stories going forward," Walker said before walking away as an aide told reporters that he would not take questions. (AP, New York Times)

"When somebody says it’s not about the money, it’s about the money," warned the great journalist, H.L. Mencken, the Sage of Baltimore. Mencken's dose of common sense from the early 20th century fits Walker perfectly, the slippery man from Wisconsin who can't think on his feet.

Walker's confused statement on Menard's dark money contribution is similar to Walker's statement after the second John Doe II probe was reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in October 2013: "We expected that with a new Democrat candidate for governor in the race that there would be stories like this along the way," said Walker referring to Dan Bice's 2013 piece reporting law enforcement's probe of Walker and dark money, (Mal Contends) a probe Walker's allies are trying to kill at the Wisconsin Supreme Court. (Kilgore, Washington Monthly)

Boycotting Menard Inc. 

Menard Inc. is headquartered in Eau Claire, Wisconsin employing some 35,000 employees across the nation. (Reed Elsevier Inc.). Menard Inc is a privately and closely held S corporation, a subchapter S partnership (IRS), allowing profits to flow through to the partners without the corporation being taxed as a business entity. (Applebaum, New York Times)

Across Wisconsin, there is anger and a growing commitment to boycott Menard Inc., aka Menards.

"The corporations that show no civic responsibility and hide their actions from the press and public deserve no loyalty. Over the years I have shopped at the Menards Store and spent a bundle on home repair items. It stops today!," said writes a multi-generation Wisconsin family man. "If you are a corporation owner and truly believe in your political position, why not show it, why hide it from public view? On the other hand, if we, your customers, don't agree with your position is it not also correct that we show our displeasure?"

As John Menard Jr. prospers, other Wisconsin residents' grandchildren won't be living in Wisconsin long after they graduate from college.

One hopes the Republicans don't get their way and destroy Medicare and Social Security or the GOP's decimation of the older generations' earned benefits are going to resemble their grandchildrens'.

Isikoff: Scott Walker Got Secret $1.5 Million, Dark Money Contribution

Michael Isikoff's story on a massive contribution to a Scott Walker-aligned dark money operation is breaking hard.

This is Scott Walker, taking dark money from the One Percent and ripping off the 99 percent.

The recipient is Wisconsin Club for Growth, a GOP-front group to which Scott Walker helped direct money.

Both Walker and Wisconsin Club for Growth remain the subject of a John Doe probe which Republicans are trying to kill.

The contributor is John Menard Jr., the richest billionaire from Wisconsin looking for more.

"In the past two years, Menard’s company has been awarded up to $1.8 million in special tax credits from a state economic development corporation that Walker chairs, according to state records," notes Isikoff.

Scott Walker's Appetite for Money Leaves Wisconsin Behind

Wisconsin people stand together against the reckless, absent Gov.
Scott Walker. Walker's political "Dept of All" crafted a budget coming
from out of nowhere, maybe the visions of Walker. Walker says
God and his Church put him in this position for a run for president
and that he prays on every major political decision, including
his budget proposal. Jobs and honest work apparently are not
high on Scott Walker's list of thing to pray for.
"They ... smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back
into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever
it was that kept them together, and let other people
clean up the mess they had made."
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Jobs, jobs, whatever happened to Scott Walker's 250,000 new jobs promise? A floor, not a ceiling, yes?

No.

Scott Walker proves jobs no longer matter. Neither do promises.

Scott Walker is plundering Wisconsin for his perceived self interests.

As Walker jets across the nation, Wisconsin residents are left behind, bringing up the rear in job creation and becoming the unwilling recipient of a Walker budget proposal, eviscerating the DNR, public education and the University of Wisconsin System. Crazy.

Walker didn't run on these ruinous measures. Even right-leaning newspapers and residents who have protected Walker in the past are wondering where Walker's budget of destruction is coming from. So, increasingly is business (Torinus, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

So, Walker feels entitled to launch his shock-and-awe fire sale of Wisconsin to the special interests, funding his quasi-presidential campaign at the expense of small farmers, working families and the centers of rural communities called rural school districts.

All the while Walker takes the money to fund his project selling himself as a regular Wisconsinite and not a ideological zealot who doesn't know much about public policy.

"One hiccup in Walker selling himself as a regular guy is that regular guys don't have rope lines to keep reporters at a distance. During three public events on Thursday and Friday, he never was within earshot of national reporters following him. ... As Walker crisscrossed South Carolina, he never took questions in public from prospective voters, either. There were no town-hall style events, and when he met one-on-one with voters the media were kept from that room," notes John McCormick in Bloomberg.

That Walker speaks earnestly about making his political decisions after consultations from God is troubling, that Walker was caught on tape taking his orders from billionaires is disturbing.

But whatever happened to Walker's focus on jobs?

God must have told Walker to avoid question-and-answer sessions and questions about jobs as well because the few softball interview questions Walker entertains reveal a shallow and deceitful man.

The fact is Scott Walker is a pathological liar without a conscience, Walker is even targeting the disabled again.

I guess this utter lack of empathy for everyday people is God's will, if Scott Walker is to be believed.

To Protect and Serve Scott Walker, GOP Wants to Gut Law Enforcement

Wisconsin Republicans Try to Shield Scott Walker from John Doe Probe as Walker Remains at Center of "Criminal Scheme"

Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans are concerned corrupt GOP officials, especially Scott Walker, will be investigated by law enforcement so Republicans want to gut Wisconsin's John Doe statute, after stonewalling and stalling two law enforcement probes through federal and state litigation and then complaining the probes are taking too long.

That's called chutzpah.

The newly proposed Republican version of the John Doe law would decimate the statute and its power to conduct probes into corrupt elected public officials' crimes such as public integrity crimes and misconduct in public office (Hall, Wisconsin State Journal)—as occurred during Scott Walker's tenure (2002-2010) as Milwaukee County Executive by top aides—by limiting John Doe probes' duration to six months. (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

This maneuver by Wisconsin Republicans and only Wisconsin Republicans can be understood as a means to protect Scott Walker from the John Doe II probe looking into likely crimes involving Walker. (Marley, Bice and Glauber, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

"[F]ormer Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann ... said [the new proposed law] would create difficulties for Walker's presidential ambitions because it would appear he was trying to permanently stop the probe," the center of which lies Scott Walker and a criminal scheme, as asserted by a bipartisan group of prosecutors in documents made public last year. (Marley, Bice and Glauber, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) "Prosecutors would no longer be able to use the Doe law to investigate identity theft, mortgage fraud, dealing small levels of heroin and cocaine, theft reaching into the millions of dollars, misconduct in office, perjury, and campaign finance and ethics law violations, McCann said." (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

McCann overestimates the memory of the electorate, and the GOP motive is clear: Get law enforcement away from Scott Walker period.

Had the GOP-proposed law existed during the John Doe I probe (2010-2013) the criminal "convictions of six aides and associates of Walker ... [could not have been investigated nor conviction verdicts determined or pled]. The crimes included performing campaign work in county offices, stealing from a veterans fund and skirting limits on political donations." (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Naturally, in the Republican mind of today these crimes must be protected and not the military veterans and their families, nor the Wisconsin people.

The Republican scheme to gut Wisconsin's John Doe statute faces universal opposition from Wisconsin Democrats and good government groups like Common Cause.

The new Republican proposal also would remove the secrecy provision of the John Doe statute, though Republican allies are still fighting to keep secret proceedings of John Doe I and II that would prove embarrassing to Scott Walker such as last year's release of some 27,000 emails. (The Progressive)

The secrecy codicil of the John Doe statute is a reformist provision that protects the innocent and the investigation. (Berghahn, Hurley, Burish and Stanton S.C.)

The John Doe II probe is now before the corrupt Wisconsin Supreme Court in several cases which are being pushed to be held in secret in April 2015 oral arguments by GOP allies on the Court.

Yesterday, it was reported, the "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sought Wednesday to intervene in three cases to help ensure the state's high court allows journalists and the public to review legal briefs and attend arguments over an investigation into whether Gov. Scott Walker's campaign illegally coordinated with conservative groups in recall elections." (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Scott Walker Silent on Clinton and Walker Emails, Walker PAC Blows Message

Scott Walker and other Republican nominal candidates for president are reacting with awkward silence to news Hillary Clinton has called for the State Department to vet and release her emails transmitted during her tenure as Secretary. (Glueck, Politico) (Schmidt, NYT)

But no Republican candidate (as-yet-undeclared) is in as awkward a position as Scott Walker.

That's because Scott Walker's aides and appointees embezzled from military veterans (CBS News) and their families, and during Walker's Milwaukee County Executive tenure (2002 to 2010) Walker's administration installed a secret email-router system that Walker and aides used to campaign on the premises of a public office, a criminal probe revealed, after Walker first stonewalled the criminal investigation. (Bice, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

"Did you have your own personal email account," Chris Wallace asked Scott Walker last year. (Mal Contends)

Walker backed down, refusing to answer Yes or No.

Chris Wallace's question among many others remain as Scott Walker's shady dealings look to haunt his faux run for the presidency.

The answer to Wallace's question is: Yes, Scott Walker had his own email address and was in receipt of and sent many emails on this illegal system.

The public release of documents has already established these facts, but Walker won't acknowledge these facts publicly, though he claims he did nothing wrong or illegal.

The Democratic National Committee said, "If Walker wants to talk about emails, let’s look at his history first." (Hall and Savidge, Wisconsin State Journal)

History? That something liberal professors teach at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that Walker is working to destroy.

The Hillary/Scott Walker email story took a strange turn a couple of days ago when the Daily Caller (Pappas) reported Walker's PAC was calling for answers about email questions from Hillary, not Walker:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s political action committee is hitting Hillary Clinton over the recent revelations that she used private email accounts for official business while secretary of state, saying she needs to address questions about the legality of the practice.

“Hillary Clinton’s potential evasion of laws is something she should answer questions about,” Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for Walker’s new political action committee, Our American Revival, said in an email.

Either Kukowski has an unconventional sense of irony or Kukowski just embarrassed herself out of a job (but that will have to wait).

Writes Dee Hall and Nico Savidge in this morning's Wisconsin State Journal (Madison):

Walker has said that throughout his time as Milwaukee County executive, he had a clear policy that county employees were prohibited from using county resources or county time to be involved in political activities.

But investigative records released in February 2014 indicated Walker was aware his staff was communicating about campaign business using private emails during regular county  work hours.

In one message, Walker aide Cindy Archer wrote to deputy chief of staff Kelly Rindfleisch explaining that she used a private email account to communicate with Walker and his chief of staff, Tom Nardelli.

“Consider yourself now in the ‘inner circle’ :) I use this private account quite a bit to communicate with SKW and Nardelli,” Archer wrote, referring to Walker’s initials. “You should be sure you check it throughout the day.”

In a May 13, 2010, email on which Walker was copied, campaign adviser R.J. Johnson gave the final OK to two county staff members — Rindfleisch and Nardelli — along with campaign officials on what to say about another Walker employee, Darlene Wink, who had been caught posting campaign-related comments online about Walker during work time.

The approved statement: “No one in our office had any knowledge that Darlene was posting any comments during work hours. The county executive and chief of staff expressly forbid staff participation in any campaign-related activity while on county time.”

That is the tip of the spear, as Walker's political allies attempt to shut down and censor deliberations of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's consideration of cases from another criminal probe involving Walker's scheme, John Doe II

Putting aside the questions what shady characters like Tim Russell (embezzled from military veterans) and Kelly Rindfleisch (convicted of misconduct in public office) were doing as top aides to Scott Walker and what this tells us about Walker, note that in 2002 Walker ordered the installation of another secret router to avoid public disclosure and campaign.

"Bob Kiefert said that in 2002, when he was Milwaukee County human resources assistant director, he was called into Walker’s office by then-deputy chief of staff Tim Russell. Kiefert showed Russell how to set up a hard-wired Internet connection using a DSL modem and a telephone line. The network allowed county executive staff to send and receive emails and surf the Web outside the public system set up by the county’s Information Management Services Division in 1998," reported Matthew DeFour last year in the Wisconsin State Journal.

Kiefert broke this Scott Walker corruption story in the Green Bay Progressive.

Writes Kiefert:

During the 1990s, I was responsible for technology in the Department of Human Resources (DHR) and had set up a departmental network with email and a web site with it’s own ISDN line link to the internet. We were one of several county departments who had moved in this direction in the 90s in advance of a countywide system later developed by the central Information Management Services Division (IMSD).

DHR was only one floor below the County Executive’s Office in the Courthouse, and Tim Russell wanted to know how I did it. During our meeting in 2002, I told him.

As I remember, Russell told me that Scott Walker was very appreciative of my help and wanted to thank me personally. Russell took me over to Walker’s office for the meet and greet, but he turned out to be busy and only smiled and waved from his desk as we stood outside his office door.

I have no doubt that Walker knew what he was smiling and waving about. Russell had certainly made it clear that we were doing this at Walker’s bidding.

I have not really talked much about that day over the years and was not contacted about this information during the recent John Doe inquiry. That I assisted other departments within the county on technology issues during this period was certainly no secret at the time.

But I can tell you one thing, if Walker continues to deny knowledge of this email system and its usage, he is giving you a line of baloney.

Baloney is something the rest of America is going to have to get used to as a steady diet if Scott Walker prays more and gets instructions to form a presidential exploratory committee in the coming months.