If Walker is indicted in the John Doe investigation into his possible crimes as Milwaukee County Executive, it will be the end of his career. Based on how much money he has spent on his legal defense fund, all indications are that he will have to face justice.

Determined to lie and deceive like a sneak, Walker has decided to reject the BLS establishment payroll survey, known as the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey. The CES is an economic indicator of current economic trends each month and compiled with the unemployment rate for states to be rated. It is a standard all other states are rated on in terms of job losses and economic health.

Instead, Walker has decided to use the far-less accurate Current Population Survey, which surveys people at home and ask if they are employed. The other states require calling employers within their state. With the factor of many Wisconsin workers working in neighboring Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan and Illinois, asking Wisconsin employers would be more accurate and was the national standard that Walker decided to ignore for political spin. It’s as if Walker could use a softball in a baseball world.

Just as Walker was exposed as a divisive liar and political hack when he smirked and whispered to tax freeloader Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks (who hasn’t paid state corporate taxes for years) that he was going to “divide and conquer” the people of Wisconsin for those who bought him like a common street whore, he now assumes that using a completely different measurement standard than the other states to cover up for his failures is something no one would see through.

Walker chirped gleefully about how great the job numbers were in the couple of months in 2011 when the Bureau of Labor Statistics job numbers reported some rare, paltry job increases in Wisconsin. No objections or protests were made then. Walker wants to lie about creating new jobs to distract from the new upcoming BLS jobs report, which will show Wisconsin job losses at around 34,000 last year.

The Tom Barrett campaign made short work of Walker’s antics:

“When it has suited him, Scott Walker has happily referenced the standard jobs statistics that basically everyone in the country uses. But since these regular, trusted numbers clearly show that Wisconsin leads the nation in jobs loss on his watch, Walker is desperate to distract from his worst-in-the-country jobs record. In a move that is virtually unheard of, Scott Walker is suddenly trotting out an altogether new set of unverified numbers – three weeks before an election – to mask his economic failure. Walker ran on a campaign promise to create 250,000 jobs and 10,000 businesses over four years. He is failing on both counts and is desperate to change the conversation on jobs with an election looming.”

“Today’s cynical announcement isn’t about how best to calculate job growth in Wisconsin – this is about Scott Walker pulling political stunts to save his own job.”

Source

Even economists are looking at Walker’s attempts to measure apples with oranges to come to fruity conclusions as a distortion and transparent distraction.

What the Walker Administration has been seeking to overcome as they head into the election is the poor Department of Labor (DOL) job report indicating that Wisconsin came in dead last in job creation in 2011 when measured again the remaining 49 states in the nation. To make such a comparison, there must be a “constant” metric. That metric has long been the DOL Establishment Survey. By introducing a third survey-and one that has not yet been subjected to DOL scrutiny and not even due to be released until the June 28th report is released (three weeks after the recall vote), there is no constant metric to use in doing a comparison. Because it is so completely unusual for a state to release these numbers before the DOL puts it out, we have no way of knowing how Wisconsin will fare when everyone else gets their number. They may still be last in the nation – or they may have moved up a few slots. Thus, while the data may be marginally helpful in the political sense (it certainly looks better to say you created 23,300 jobs than lost 33,000), there is absolutely no way of knowing if, say, California’s numbers will similarly improve when they have their results or where an apples to apples comparison would place Wisconsin.

Source

What’s even more hilarious about Walker claiming that the BLS job reports are not accurate is that PolitiFact Wisconsin rates his statements the worst you can be rated as a “Full Flop”:

Walker took credit for gains in state jobs for six months of 2011, as the monthly reports showed steady progress toward his promise of creating 250,000 jobs. In the second half of the year, the numbers began to decline and the governor’s approach shifted, with Walker in December criticizing the quality of the data.

But nothing had changed in how the data was collected.

Only Walker’s pronouncements on their accuracy. We rate this a Full Flop.

Source

Does Walker even care that other governors might look at him and see that he wants to go by another set of his own rules to measure job losses? Does Walker understand that just changing the rules to make yourself seem more “successful” is actually cheating?

No, Walker cares about Walker. And he’s getting pretty desperate.

• May 16: Sen. Terry Moulton, R-Chippewa Falls, and former Rep. Kristen Dexter, D-Eau Claire, will participate in a candidate forum hosted by the Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce.
• May 17: The April state jobs report — the final monthly numbers released before the recall election — is due from the Department of Workforce Development.
• May 21: End of the pre-election campaign finance reporting period.
• May 23: State Reps. Donna Seidel, D-Wausau and Jerry Petrowski, R-Marathon, are set to debate at UW-Marathon County in Wausau ahead of their showdown in the 29th SD.
• May 25: Gov. Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett participate in a debate sponsored by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association.
• May 29: Pre-election campaign finance reports are due for recall campaigns. The report covers financial activity between April 24 and May 21.
• May 31: Applications for absentee ballots must be received by local election officials by 5 p.m.
• May 31: Sen. Moulton and former Rep. Kristen Dexter have agreed to a tentative second debate on Wisconsin Public Radio in Eau Claire.
• May 31: WISN-TV and its network affiliates, Marquette Law School and WisPolitics.com host the second gubernatorial debate.
• June 1: Deadline for in-person absentee voting.
• June 5: General recall election for governor, lt. governor and four state Senate districts.

Source

Of course, every day leading up to June 5 demands all of us who want to take Wisconsin back to pitch in and contact any or all of the Democratic Recall challengers:

• Tom Barrett (running against Walker)
  www.barrettforwisconsin.com
• Mahlon Mitchell (running against Kleefisch)
  http://www.mahlonmitchell.com
• Lori Compas (running against Fitzgerald)
  http://www.loricompas.org/
• Rep. Donna Seidel (running against Galloway)
  https://www.facebook.com/RepDonnaSeidel
• Rep. Kristen Dexter (running against Moulton)
  http://www.dexterforsenate.com/
• Former Sen. John Lehman (running against Wanggaard)
  http://www.lehman4senate.com/

Other dates, such as Get Out The Vote (GOTV) rallies and other surprises will be posted as the event information becomes available.

Download audio file (ES-JN-051512.mp3)

Note: Make sure to visit Ed Schultz‘s site and offer some support.

Get out the vote!

Download audio file (TH-JN051112.mp3)

Note: Make sure to visit Thom Hartmann‘s site and offer some support.

It’s particularly interesting that Diane Hendricks’ company pays ZERO DOLLARS in Wisconsin state corporate income tax! You can’t make this stuff up. We’re talking filthy, unfettered greed.

Here is the entire transcript between Walker, Hendricks and the filmmaker Brad Lichtenstein, who captured the video of Walker admitting he was up to a number of things he was not admitting in public. Lichtenstein was filming for an upcoming documentary called “As Goes Janesville.”

This is a transcript of a conversation between Gov. Scott Walker and Diane Hendricks, co-founder of ABC Supply, on Jan. 18, 2011. The conversation was captured by documentary filmmaker Brad Lichtenstein, who was on site to videotape a meeting of the economic development group Rock County 5.0. The conversation took place in ABC’s foyer just before Hendricks escorted Walker into the Rock County 5.0 meeting.

Diane Hendricks: Can we talk just for two seconds before we get up there?

Scott Walker: Yeah, yeah, that’s fine.

Hendricks: – some issues we’re just going to avoid a little bit. And by the way, this is Brad and he is part of Rock County 5.0 and he has been filming everything.

Brad Lichtenstein: I’ve been doing a documentary -

Walker: Oh, cool.

Hendricks: – so what we’re going to do and talk about right now is just concerns that Mary (Willmer-Sheedy) and I have that we probably, are a little controversial to bring up upstairs. OK? I don’t want to – because there’s press up there.

Walker: OK, sure.

Lichtenstein: Just so you know, nothing I do is going to see the light of day for over another year.

Walker: OK, that’s fine.

Hendricks: So we’ll just take five minutes. You know, they don’t know. Any chance we’ll ever get to be a completely red state and work on these unions -

Walker: Oh, yeah.

Hendricks: – and become a right-to-work (state)? What can we do to help you?

Walker: Well, we’re going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill. The first step is, we’re going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employee unions, because you use divide and conquer. So for us the base we’ve got for that is the fact that we’ve got – budgetarily we can’t afford not to. If we have collective bargaining agreements in place, there’s no way not only the state but local governments can balance things out. So you think city of Beloit, city of Janesville, any of the school districts, that opens the door once we do that. That’s your bigger problem right there.

Hendricks: Which state would you mirror? Is there any state that’s already . . .

Walker: Well, (Indiana Gov.) Mitch Daniels, did – now, see the beautiful thing is, he did it in Indiana, he had it by executive order that created the unions years ago, and so when he came in about a week after he eliminated through executive order. In Wisconsin, it’s by the statute. So I need lawmakers to vote on it. But the key is by tying it to the budget, there’s no way to unravel that. Because unless they’re going to come up with $800 million for example – it’s not exactly that amount, but it’s close – there’s no way they cannot pass that unless they’re going to pass a tax increase . . .

Source

Here is the portion of the damning video that was initially released:

Walker had continued to propagate the lie that getting rid of collective bargaining would somehow save money with the Wisconsin budget. In the hearing with Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Walker admitted on video that getting rid of collective bargaining would not affect balancing the Wisconsin budget.

There is this video in the same congressional hearing where Walker got skewered about collective bargaining and lied to Congress that he never discussed eliminating collective bargaining before he “dropped the bomb” with Act 10. The video of he and Hendricks recorded a month before would counter his statements to Congress under oath.

As has been of great concern, Walker’s conservative popularity nationally gaining from being softly interviewed on overt Republican public relations media delivery channels like Fox News and CNBC has allowed him to be a shifty, narcissistic fundraiser with ever-increasing time spent away from the state he supposed to govern.

Walker’s official work schedule shrank in the fall and winter, when his calendars note less time spent meeting business leaders and staff, interviewing candidates for appointments and working on open records requests.

Meanwhile, far more time was labeled “PERSONAL 1.” Such entries lacked other details, but news reports from those days describe Walker jet-setting around the country for fundraising and other political events, such as the Republican Governors Association conference in late November, neoconservative Grover Norquist’s Christmas party in Washington, D.C., and Walker’s $2,500-a-person January fundraiser in New York hosted by Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, founder of the insurance giant American International Group.

“The governor is a public servant,” said Dean Pagani, who covers gubernatorial issues from Washington, D.C., at GovernorsJournal.com and was chief of staff to Republican former Gov. John Rowland of Connecticut. “You want to know that he or she is paying attention to the problems of the state, not spending too much time promoting himself or herself and his own career.

“It’s a very basic question that should always be asked: Is he doing his job?” Pagani added.

Much more from source

In case people forget, the time that Walker is out of state means that Rebecca Kleefisch has been governing the state while Walker has been chessy-catting and glad-handing (and lying) at fatcat parties that love how he’s destroying rights for workers, women, the poor and being a willing puppet who loves using “divide and conquer” tactics to put Wisconsin in last place in the country for jobs created. Walker cares about Walker, not the people of Wisconsin he is supposed to govern.

This Saturday, please join us for food, music, speakers, and fun as we energize for the final push. After that, we’ll be hitting the streets to start vital conversations with our neighbors about how – together – we’re going to send Scott Walker packing.

And we’ve got a great line-up of speakers! Please join national American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, John Nichols, SCFL President Kevin Gundlach, Rep. Chris Taylor, and our dear friend Sly to kick off the start of the general election.

Saturday, May 12
12:00 pm-1:00 pm
Madison Labor Temple
1602 S. Park Street
Madison, WI

Also – help support the National Association of Letter Carriers FOOD DRIVE. Bring a canned food item to the Labor Temple on Saturday!

Source: Facebook-We Are Wisconsin

Here are some photos from the event. While not all those who spoke are represented in the photos, it was a great success! Boots are on the ground. Click to see larger view.

Solidarity Singers

Solidarity Singers and crowd

Sly In The Morning in the afternoon

Solidarity supporters

More Solidarity supporters

Randi Weingarten

John Nichols

Centine

This is what democracy looks like

They have a great ad that needs to be shared or put on the air.

Follow them on Twitter.

Walker Through Red-Colored Glasses

Posted on 07. May, 2012 by AL E. PORTER

For the next month, Wisconsin will become the political epicenter of the country.  The barrage of automated phone messages, town hall meetings and incessant TV ads has been going on for months.  But the real excitement begins tomorrow when the state holds a primary election to determine which Democrat will attempt to unseat Republican Governor Scott Walker in the state’s June 5th recall election.

The Wall Street Journal recently wrote the recall election in Wisconsin could be “the most important non-presidential election in a decade”.  The attempt to recall Walker will be the first ever for a Wisconsin governor and if successful, Walker will only be the third governor to be recalled in US history; the most recent being California’s Gray Davis in 2003.

But this won’t happen.  Scott Walker is a charismatic, moderate, and an extremely popular political figure.¹  He is a champion of the middle class.² Governor Walker has tremendous respect for the hardworking (regardless of how many of them it takes to hold a shovel) public employees of the state.  But that respect is not shared.  They just don’t appreciate the strategic and well-thought out plan the Governor has laid to save the state’s struggling economy.  After all, the public sector (and by this I don’t mean politicians) are the reason our country & economy is in its current crisis.  Governor Walker made the tough, yet well thought out decision to push through the bi-partisan supported Budget Repair Bill in an attempt to balance the state budget.³  The concessions in the bill would be a small price for public employees to pay given how high-on-the-hog they were already living!

Unfortunately the big government union bosses and the rich, greedy teachers didn’t want to give anything up so they organized weeks of protest in the Capital led by out of state protest groups.⁴  And of course, you had the 14 Democratic State Senators who fled Madison trying to prevent a vote on the bill.⁵  If anyone should be recalled, it should be these absent senators who instead of doing their jobs were off playing or doing God knows what across the border in Illinois.

Eventually, a new version of the bill, Act 10 was passed and finally those lazy schoolteachers, prison guards and water treatment operators were giving something up just like the corporate chairmen, presidents and CEOs have been doing.  Just as Walker’s plan worked in Milwaukee County when he held the position of County Executive, unions were busted (I mean collective bargaining rights were limited to a common sense level, excuse me) and dollars are being saved.⁶  Job growth is under way.⁷  Government job appointments are being filled in an honest and transparent way.⁸  Fundraising money to fight the recall is pouring in, and most importantly, its not coming from out of state special interests!⁹  And after years of radical liberal ideas brought by former Governor Jim Doyle, a common sense approach is being taken in regards to social issues in the state.¹⁰  

Scott Walker defeated Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett with an honest, straight forward campaign in 2010.  Voters knew exactly what they were getting when they elected Walker.¹¹  He will do the same in this 2012 recall election whether the opponent is once again Barrett, or some other out-of-touch left winger.

1. On the contrary, Walker is seen as far from moderate on many issues.  See below for more details on his stance on the poor, women’s pay and rights of same-sex couples.  Popular:  not quite.  A slight majority of Wisconsinites polled approve of the job Walker has done as Governor according to a January poll.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/scott-walker-recall-effort-approval-rating-polls_n_1231279.html

   United Wisconsin reports that over 1 million recall signatures were collected in 2 months.  This far exceeds the 540,208 needed to force a recall.  Charismatic?  Quite frankly, I find him pretty hard to watch & listen to.  But that’s just me.

2. I would say Walker is a champion of the rich and corporate American.  This is evident with capital gains tax cuts and tax breaks that benefit corporations and wealthier residents, rather than average taxpayers.
   http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/jul/06/one-wisconsin-now/group-says-gov-scott-walkers-budget-has-tax-breaks/
   Need another example?  Walker has made the biggest cuts to education funding in the state’s history.  http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2012/feb/19/kathleen-falk/recall-candidate-kathleen-falk-says-governor-scott/

3. The Budget Repair Bill was in fact far from a bipartisan bill.  In Walker’s own words he “dropped the bomb” on Wisconsin residents. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/03/05/120305fa_fact_finnegan
   Tens of thousands protested in the streets and in the Capital for weeks.  He didn’t collaborate with Democrats.  He didn’t meet with the opposition.  He had a goal and he would see that he succeeded.  No matter the cost.

4. The protests were primarily Wisconsinites.  Walker himself claimed “…almost all of whom are in from out of state today”; a claim found largely false by Politifact. http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/feb/23/scott-walker/wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-says-out-staters-accoun/
   Interestingly, Walker made this claim to who he thought was his buddy David Koch -industrialist and big time Walker supporter-but turned out to be a prank caller impersonating Koch.  Walker talks candidly with “Koch” for 20 minutes.  Koch suggests the idea of planting Walker insiders into the protests to initiate fighting and cause trouble among the rioters.  20 minutes?  These 2 must be good friends!  For more on Koch and Walker see:  http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/116737394.html

5. Leaving the Capital to prevent a vote on the bill and buy some time was the only option the senators had at this point.  As the minority, the Democrats could not stop the bill (which was a complete surprise) and was now being rushed through with little time to read or debate the details within it.
6. As Milwaukee county executive, Walker ran things much the same way he would try to do as Governor.  A particularily big black eye for Walker’s reign as County Executive was the decision to “unilaterally” order a private security firm to replace 26 union courthouse security guards at half the pay rate; a decision made after the County Board rejected the idea in November 2009.  Walker claimed the “emergency budget measure” was done because the county had a budget crisis.  In 2011, an arbatrator ruled that the county did not have a true budget crisis and the county must reinstate to 26 county security guards who were laid off for nearly a year and give them back pay.  JSOnline “Milwaukee County must offer to reinstate courthouse security guards.”

7. Walker campaigned in 2010 on a pledge to add 250,000 private-sector jobs in his first term.  Over the past 12 months, Wisconsin has been the only state in the US that had a “statistically significant” number of job losses according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.  17,800 were government jobs, 6100 were lost from the private sector-which is the most of any state in the country.  Not exactly moving in the right direction.
8. There have been several controversial job appointments made by Scott Walker since taking office.  A girlfriend of former State Senator Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) was hired for a short-term position at a salary higher than her predecessor.  Several other qualified candidates with high-level recommendations were passed over.  Oh, and she never formally applied for the position.The same law that changed collective bargaining rights also converted 37 positions from civil service positions to jobs appointed directly by the governor.  Brian Deschane was appointed to the position of overseeing environmental and regulatory matters in the state.  His father, Jerry, is the executive vice president a longtime lobbyist for the Wisconsin Builders’ Association, which happened to donate $121,652 to Walker over the past 2 years.  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
9. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has called Walker a “true champion”, recently said at an Oak Creek, WI fundraising event, “America is going to find out the answer to what is more powerful:  the people or the money [and] special interests from Washington, D.C.?”  Christie appears to be saying Walker is on the side of “the people”.  But according to Walker’s Wikipedia page, “Walker raised $5.1 million in the second half of 2011…about half of it from out of state, illustrating the national significance” of a victory.  Walker has been a regular in out-of-state speaking events.  The result of the Wisconsin recall could have a domino effect around the country.  According to Washingtonpost.com, Walker raised a “staggering $13 million in 3 months”.  I’m sure the likes of David Koch have donated a buck or 2 to his cause.
   In addition, Democrats are looking into a transfer of campaign money to a legal defense fund; an action legal if a candidate is under investigation, which Walker claims he is not.  Or is he?  According to Mother Jones, a 23 month John Doe probe has “resulted in criminal charges for more than a half-dozen people connected to Walker when he served as” county executive.  Staffers were apparently working on the 2010 gubernatorial campaign while on the county clock.
10. Common sense by who’s standards?  Walker believes that rights given to same-sex couples such as hospital visitation rights are unconstitutional.  He seeks to stop defense of the state’s domestic partner registry.  HuffPost.com
    Saying it was only benefitting trial lawyers, Walker recently signed a bill to repeal the WI Equal Pay Law which was written to assist women in cases of receiving lower pay than their male counterparts for the same job.  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
    In May 2011 Walker signed a controversial Voter ID Law that would require voters to show a government-issued ID before voting.  The bill is believed to target Democratic voting groups such as the poor and disabled.  At the time of writing this article, voters do not have to show IDs at the polls because courts have found enough question of constitutionality in the bill to look into it further.
    Walker has returned $37.6 million in federal grant money meant to set up a health exchange and $11 million in federal funds were also passed on that were set aside to improve Medicaid enrollment for the poor.  Wikipedia
11. Even if you’ve skimmed through the rest of this article, you must read the following.  The recall is not about collective bargaining, retirement benefits or a stance on social issues.  It is about campaign promises.  Politifact has compiled a number of instances in which vague campaign talk nowhere mirrored the proposals put forth after the election.  “During the campaign, [Walker] did not go public with even the bare-bones of his multi-faceted plans to sharply curb collective bargaining rights.  He could not point to any statements where he did.  We could find none either.” says Politifact.
    Bottom line:  Wisconsin voters didn’t know what they were getting when they went to the polls in 2010.  THAT is why they are voting again in 2012. It’s time to wipe the GOP fog from those glasses and start clearly seeing the truth.

AL E. PORTER is a featured columnist for sonning101, an able home brewer and a self-proclaimed hophead. He can be reached at sewall76@hotmail.com

Thanks to Dave Hoefler for photo.  For more check out  http://www.flickr.com/photos/antrover/5500282445/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Here is more information on the original video and Walker’s history of saying he was against “right-to-work” legislation as well as being on record saying he would not go after collective bargaining (and not campaigning on getting rid of collective bargaining).

“So for us,” the governor continues, “the base we get for that is the fact that we’ve got – budgetarily we can’t afford not to. If we have collective bargaining agreements in place, there’s no way not only the state but local governments can balance things out. . . . That opens the door once we do that. That’s your bigger problem right there.”

He goes on to talk about curbing liability lawsuits and government regulations.

Walker co-sponsored right-to-work legislation in 1993 as a freshman in the state Assembly, but as governor has consistently downplayed seeking any restrictions on private unions in public statements.

“From our standpoint, it’s never going to get to me,” Walker said of right-to-work legislation in an interview with the Journal Sentinel on April 27. “Private sector unions are my partner in economic development.”

Walker, however, has repeatedly declined to say whether he would sign or veto a right-to-work bill if passed by the Legislature. Supporters say right-to-work bills give more freedom to workers and make it more attractive for companies to invest and hire employees in a state. Opponents say they undermine unions and workers’ wages and don’t help the economy.

In response to the documentary trailer, Walker spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said Thursday that the governor’s position on right to work was clear.

“Governor Walker has made clear repeatedly that he does not have an interest in pushing right-to-work legislation,” Matthews said.

The taped conversation occurred at the Beloit headquarters of ABC Supply, the roofing wholesaler and siding distributor Hendricks founded with her husband, Ken, who died in a 2007 fall. Walker was there to attend a meeting of the economic development group Rock County 5.0, which Hendricks co-chairs.

Lichtenstein videotaped the conversation that Walker had with Hendricks and Rock County 5.0′s other co-chairwoman, Willmer-Sheedy.

More from source

In case you were wondering if Diane Hendricks has ties to the Koch Brothers, you’d be correct that she is. She jetsets to Koch Brothers events in secret locations and is part of the “Koch Brothers’ Million-Dollar Donor Club”:

Diane Hendricks: Hendricks is the billionaire former head of the ABC Supply roofing company, which she took over from her husband Kenneth after he died in a construction site accident in 2007. Reportedly worth $2.2 billion, she is the richest businesswoman in Wisconsin and a big Republican Party donor. She recently gave her state’s embattled Republican governor, Scott Walker, $10,000 in advance of a potential recall vote next year.

Source

This is a one-minute ad emphasizing how Walker has put Wisconsin in the basement during his tenure.

Source: March 2012 State by State Comparison (PDF)

A secret Milwaukee County investigation that has already led to criminal charges against five people close to Gov. Scott Walker took a step forward Wednesday when a judge granted immunity to a 12th witness.

David Halbrooks, a former Milwaukee municipal judge and private attorney, requested and received immunity in the so-called John Doe investigation, according to online court records.

Halbrooks declined comment when reached by The Associated Press.

A John Doe investigation is one in which witnesses can be compelled to testify under oath about potential criminal matters. The case is conducted in secrecy, and the only part of a John Doe investigation that is public is the granting of immunity. The proceeding allows witnesses to be subpoenaed, while forbidding them to talk publicly about the case.

Eleven other people, including Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie, were granted immunity between July 2010 and April 2011.

The secret investigation centers on people who served during Walker’s time as the Milwaukee County executive before he was elected governor in 2010. Allegations ranging from campaigning on county time to embezzling money from a veterans program have ensnared people close to Walker.

Walker himself hasn’t been charged with wrongdoing and has repeatedly said he’s cooperating with the investigation. However, he also set up a legal defense fund, a move allowed only for officeholders who have been charged or are under investigation for election or campaign violations.

Walker’s campaign revealed in recent public filings that it transferred $60,000 to the legal fund to pay for attorneys.

More from source

So far, Walker former staffers and appointees Tim Russell, Brian Pierick, Kevin Kavanaugh, William Gardner, Darlene Wink and Kelly Rindfleisch have been charged with crimes. Additionally, Walker former staffers and appointees Cynthia Archer, Brett Davis, Cullen Werwie, Jim Villa, Andrew Jensen, Keith Gilkes and John Hiller have been granted immunity in the investigation or are under investigation with links to Walker as Milwaukee Country Executive. Others granted immunity include Wisconsin & Southern staff who contributed to Walker’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign and were reimbursed by William Gardner, who was charged with giving illegal campaign contributions to Walker.

It’s going to get down to a pay-to-play scheme as well as lying about using a secret email network in Walker’s county executive office on the Milwaukee taxpayers’ dime. The proof is there and it’s merely a matter of time before Walker is charged with various crimes.

Download audio file (ES-TB050912.mp3)

Note: Make sure to visit Ed Schultz‘s site and offer some support.

Gov. Scott Walker says he will participate in two debates before the June 5 recall election even though his Democratic rival Tom Barrett wants him to do four.

Walker said Wednesday he would participate in televised debates on May 25 and May 31. The first is sponsored by The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and the second will be hosted by Mike Gousha (GOO-shay) from WISN-TV in partnership with the Marquette University Law School, Wispolitics.com, and the WISN network of affiliates.

Walker’s campaign spokesman Ciara Matthews says the governor looks forward to the debates and having a “robust” discussion contrasting his record with Barrett.

Barrett had asked Walker to hold four debates all focused on the issue of jobs. A spokeswoman for Barrett’s campaign had no immediate response.

Source

Make sure to stop by Tom Barrett’s web site and do what you can to recall Walker and Kleefisch.

Fox News will pimp for Walker with softball, adoring faux-interviews that hide the fact that he has a legal defense fund and is under federal investigation like Rod Blagojevich and has put Wisconsin in last place with job creation due to his failed policies. It’s Tom Barrett who is going to beat Scott Walker and Mahlon Mitchell will let Rebecca Kleefisch face an early retirement.

Here are the results for the evening with links to the winner’s web sites:

Name Party Votes Vote % Barrett, Tom Dem 348,477 58% Falk, Kathleen Dem 209,978 35% Vinehout, Kathleen Dem 24,525 4% La Follette, Doug Dem 18,065 3% Huber, Gladys Dem 4,473 1%

Name Party Votes Vote % Walker, Scott (i) GOP 595,018 97% Kohl-Riggs, Arthur GOP 18,426 3%

Name Party Votes Vote % Mitchell, Mahlon Dem 357,421 52% Weix, Issac Dem 184,076 27% Robins, Ira Dem 151,367 22%

Name Party Votes Vote % Compas, Lori Dem 21,246 72% Ellerman, Gary Dem 8,212 28%

Name Party Votes Vote % Lehman, John Dem 4,770 59% Varebrook, Tamra Dem 3,307 41%

Name Party Votes Vote % Dexter, Kristen Dem 14,648 64% Engel, James Dem 8,354 36%

Name Party Votes Vote % Seidel, Donna Dem 17,920 64% Buckley, Jim Dem 9,992 36%

Source: Results are from the Associated Press.

Here are the links to the candidates:

• Tom Barrett (running against Walker)
  www.barrettforwisconsin.com
• Mahlon Mitchell (running against Kleefisch)
  http://www.mahlonmitchell.com
• Lori Compas (running against Fitzgerald)
  http://www.loricompas.org/
• Rep. Donna Seidel (running against Galloway)
  https://www.facebook.com/RepDonnaSeidel
• Rep. Kristen Dexter (running against Moulton)
  http://www.dexterforsenate.com/
• Former Sen. John Lehman (running against Wanggaard)
  http://www.lehman4senate.com/

An email essentially telling the last person there to shut off the lights from the Wisconsin GOP reads:

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Mark Apker
Date: Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 2:35 PM
Subject: Field Director Farewell
To:

Hello All!

As the heading of the email reads the Baraboo Victory Center will no longer be open full-time. Thank you for the support of those who were willing to offer their time to the effort to keep Governor Walker in office.

The Victory Center is being closed for two reasons. First, there was not enough support for the program run at the Victory Center. Not many of you thought that the best use of your time would be to make phone calls in support of the Governor; that they did more harm than good. I feel the need to tell you that phone calls do provide some useful purpose, as annoying as they may be.

Second, I was specifically asked to leave both becasue of the center’s lack of support and because I questioned the effectivness of the number and type of phone calls being made. Rather than answer the questions I asked I was labeled as insubordinate and asked to leave.

Again, thank you for your support and best of luck in your effort to keep Governor Walker in office. Take those actions which you feel will be most necessary to keep the Governor in office; but, for heaven’s sake, do something!

Best Regards and Warm Wishes,
Mark Apker

The typos were part of the email.

There were some conspiracy theorists out there who thought the email was a fake. It wasn’t. And just to make it even more hilarious, the official GOP spokesman, Ben Sparks, gave a very Walkerized response to the office closing.

Wisconsin GOP spokesman Ben Sparks did not address questions about the concerns raised in Apker’s email, but said the Baraboo Victory Center will be open from now through the November election.

“Volunteers are actively signing up for the hundreds of phone shifts we have available, and they have already made thousands of calls out of our Baraboo office,” Sparks said.

Source

Thousands of phone calls? Really? Is that like the thousands of jobs Walker promised and it’s been tens of thousands lost in a year? Enthusiastic Walker fans seem to be the ones at fancy fatcat fundraisers far away from Wisconsin.

Here is a synopsis and information of the major gubernatorial candidates and web links to all the other candidates this web site endorses.

Tom Barrett

Barrett was just re-elected mayor of Milwaukee, a position he has held since 2004. He ran for governor in November 2010, losing to Walker by a margin of 52% to 47%. Barrett served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2003. He was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1984 and served in the State Senate from 1989 to 1993. Barrett has been outspoken in criticizing Walker’s cuts to public schools, local governments and health coverage for the poor. He has talked about rolling back some of Walker’s corporate tax breaks. Barrett said nobody knows how much will be needed to restore funding. He said he will focus on creating jobs to create more tax revenues and then work to undo the cuts in the next budget.

“Wisconsin was promised 250,000 jobs by Gov. Walker when he ran for office, yet our state led the nation in job losses last year. Instead of focusing on jobs as he promised, Gov. Walker has pursued an ideological civil war that has torn our state apart,” said Barrett. “As governor, I’ll focus on job creation, not ideological pursuits. We need a governor who will heal this state and create an economy that works for everybody.”

Website: www.barrettforwisconsin.com

Kathleen Falk

Falk began her career as an environmental attorney. She was elected Dane County’s first woman county executive in 1997 and was re-elected three more times. As the county executive for nearly half a million people, she says she balanced the budget every year. Her website says Falk “controlled property taxes by setting priorities, reinventing government and making it more efficient.” Falk said, “Gov. Walker’s way continues to fail us on jobs, while my county had the highest job growth in the state over my 14 years as county executive.” She said a study by the Department of Instruction shows 73% of school districts lost teachers after Walker’s funding cuts.

“Gov. Walker made the biggest cuts to public education in our state’s history to finance billions of dollars in new tax breaks for the few and it is hurting our students, who are losing both dedicated, experienced teachers and the resources so they can succeed,” said Falk. “As governor, education will be my top priority. I believe you grow the economy and create jobs by investing in education, by investing in our children’s futures.” Falk has said that if she is elected governor, she will veto the next state budget if it doesn’t restore public union rights.

Website: www.kathleenfalk.com

Doug La Follette

La Follette, a nationally recognized environmental advocate, was a key organizer of the first Earth Day. He has been secretary of state since 1982.
During an April 19 forum in Stevens Point, he criticized Walker for what La Follette figures is a $1.6 billion cut to education that he said has resulted in big losses in teachers and an increase in class sizes all across the state. “A cut to education funding of this magnitude is deplorable. It is plain that the results are larger class sizes, fewer subject offerings, and a reduction in quality of education in our public schools,” said La Follette. He said he would support a proposal by the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools to increase funding for public schools and state universities by adding 1% to the state sales tax.
La Follette said he has always been proud that Wisconsin is “a progressive state.” “When this past year, for the first time, people started asking me, ‘What is wrong with Wisconsin? What happened?’ I couldn’t sit back and let it just happen,” said La Follette. “This is all about people politics…taking back democracy for the people over powerful money and corporations.” He promised to take no out-of-state PAC money for his campaign.

Website: www.douglafollette.com

Kathleen Vinehout

Vinehout, whose district now encompasses most of Pierce County, has represented District 31 in the Wisconsin Senate since January 2007.

In mid-April Vinehout unveiled a plan to review the state’s tax structure, restore funding for schools and revive rail service. She earned a Ph.D. in health services research and directed the graduate and undergraduate programs in health administration at the University of Illinois for 10 years before turning to dairy farming for the next decade. During a news conference, she didn’t say how much her plan would cost, but admitted it would take years to restore the $1.1 billion in state funding cut from public schools and universities in the last budget. Vinehout wants to see public-union rights restored in legislation separate from the state budget. Restoring funding to education is vital, she said. “If we want to bring jobs back to Wisconsin, we need a completely different game plan,” said Vinehout. “Investment in our human potential is key to Wisconsin growth. Education is the primary driver of economic prosperity. Incomes climb with educational achievement. “In the last year we have seen nearly the largest cuts in the nation to education, and we have lost more jobs than any other state. There is a connection.”

Website: www.kathleenvinehout.org

Gladys Huber

The fifth candidate on the Democratic primary ballot is Gladys R. Huber, Mequon, an 80-year-old lifelong Republican. She also ran as a Democrat in the recall attempt to unseat Republican Senator Alberta Darling last year. “The people have spoken! I hereby concede to Sandy Pasch and wish her defeat in the recall election. Go Alberta Darling and Gov. Walker,” tweeted Huber after the July 12, 2011, recall primary.

On the Republican ticket:

Arthur Kohl-Riggs, a 23-year-old protestor from Madison, collected enough signatures to get his name on the primary ballot, running against Walker. Kohl-Riggs said he’s not a “fake Republican” in the same way some other candidates are false Democrats. He said he has never identified with either of the two parties but wants “to take the party back to its roots. The Republican Party was founded in Wisconsin as a pro-labor, abolitionist party, and I plan to run on that platform.”

Website: www.iartwi.com

Democratic Primary For The Office Of Lt. Governor, who will run against Incumbent, Rebecca Kleefisch:
Isaac Weix (FAKE DEMOCRAT)
Mahlon Mitchell www.mahlonmitchell.com
Ira Robins

There are four Democratic races for four Republican state senators, who will compete on June 5.

State Senate District 13 Incumbent: Scott L. Fitzgerald
Gary Ellerman (FAKE DEMOCRAT)
Lori Compas www.loricompas.org

State Senate District 21 Incumbent: Van Wanggaard
Tamra Varebrook (FAKE DEMOCRAT)
John Lehman www.lehman4senate.com

State Senate District 23 Incumbent: Terry Moulton
Kristin Dexter www.dexterforsenate.com
James Engel (FAKE DEMOCRAT)

State Senate District 23 Incumbent: Terry Moulton
Jim Buckley (FAKE DEMOCRAT)
Donna Seidel facebook.com/RepDonnaSeidel

Results will be posted here as they become available. More details on the election are also available. Voters can find lots of information of how to cast their ballot.

UPDATE:

Here’s a list of events Tuesday night:

• Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will be at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Milwaukee, starting at 8 p.m.
• Former Dane County Exec Kathleen Falk will be at the Edgewater Hotel on Lake Mendota, starting at 8 p.m.
• Secretary of State Doug La Follette will be at The Old Fashioned on the Capitol Square, starting at 8 p.m.
• State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout will be at Inn on the Park on the Capitol Square, starting around 7 p.m.

Event	Cheddar Revolution CD Release Party
When	Sunday, May 6, 2012 5:00pm – All Ages
Where	High Noon Saloon (map) 701 E. Washington Ave. Madison, WI 53703
Other Info	We were asked to contribute our protest song, “The Day the Tractors Came to Town” to a compilation CD of songs about the Madison protest movement. The collection will be released on May 6, and many of the bands who contributed songs will be performing for your entertainment. The bill includes Ida Jo, Kenn Lonnquist, Sam Frederick, Scott Wilcox, Borderlands, Tribal Call, and IfIHadaWiFi. Come join us!

Source: Whiskey Farm

The Daily Page also has more information on the project and the event.

Any other music groups that would like to be included in the protest music creative cloud should contact this web site. There are groups like Madison Palm Tree Revue that have some relevant songs regarding the Uprising. Indeed there are more groups or musicians out there. A section in this web site will be a portal to all of those who would like to join in the mix.

The first poll shows the designated Democrat beating Walker. Following that poll are matchups between Walker and the four candidates.

With less than a week until the primary in the historic Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election, a new Marquette Law School Poll shows Tom Barrett leading Kathleen Falk 38 percent to 21 percent, with 8 percent for Doug La Follette and 6 percent for Kathleen Vinehout. In a June general election between Barrett and Governor Scott Walker, Barrett leads by one percentage point, 47-46, among all registered voters, while Walker leads by one percentage point, 48-47, among likely voters. Both results are well within the margin of error of the poll. Walker leads former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk 49 percent to 42 percent among registered voters and 49 percent to 43 percent among likely voters.

Source

JSOnline has a great Recall election page showing the lop-sided political contributions for Walker vs. the Democrats. Here is information and links on the candidates:

More information on the Recall race is also available. As for any endorsements of candidates from this site, there will not be one for the Democratic candidate for Governor. Any of the four running would make fantastic replacements to Walker. The only endorsements leading to May 8 are these candidates, which special admiration for a real Wisconsin heroine, Lori Compas:

• Lori Compas (running against Fitzgerald)
  http://www.loricompas.org/
• Rep. Donna Seidel (running against Galloway)
  https://www.facebook.com/RepDonnaSeidel
• Rep. Kristen Dexter (running against Moulton)
  http://www.dexterforsenate.com/
• Former Sen. John Lehman (running against Wanggaard)
  http://www.lehman4senate.com/
• Mahlon Mitchell (running against Kleefisch)
  http://www.mahlonmitchell.com

Download audio file (es-tate1.mp3)

Check out Ed Shultz‘s radio show and links to his MSNBC show. Stop by the Wisconsin Democratic Party for latest news and other information.

Perhaps the Walker defenders and the Republican Billionaire Club secret funding machine don’t know much about how Walker is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in the “The Scott Walker Trust”, which is a legal defense fund to fend off blossoming FBI investigations into the John Doe investigation. Whenever politicians like Walker set up legal defense funds, it’s usually involving investigations into corruption, ethics violations and other charges. Walker is in the same category with such legal fund protection as Governor Rod Blagojevich, who is now cleaning toilets in prison. Rod’s legal defense fund didn’t help out so much.

Walker’s negative ads are going to have fight off not only his extremism and failed gubernatorial antics, but also the fact that he needs to answer why he’s feeling the need to have to set up so much money to fight off being indicted by the FBI.

Gov. Scott Walker transferred $60,000 to his legal defense fund during the pre-primary period, according to his latest campaign finance report.

The filing gives some of the first details on Walker’s defense fund, identified in his report as “The Scott Walker Trust.” He announced its creation earlier this year.

The money transferred to the defense fund was part of the $231,439 that Walker spent on legal fees over the period, which ended April 23. The amount also is in line with the at least $55,000 Walker owed his criminal defense attorneys at the end of 2011, according to the state financial disclosure statement he filed last month.

The GAB’s website does not list which donors’ contributions Walker transferred as part of the $60,000. Under state law, he has to receive permission from donors to use their political contributions for his defense fund.

Walker’s campaign declined comment on the transfer.

Dem gov. candidates Tom Barrett and Kathleen Falk said Walker owed it to the voters to answer questions about the fund and the ongoing John Doe probe in Milwaukee county.

Barrett noted state law allows state officials to create legal defense funds if they’re under investigation or charged with a violation of election or campaign finance regulations. They are also allowed to create funds if one of their “agents” is under investigation.

“Scott Walker owes it to the people of this state to disclose whether he is being investigated or charged with a violation of prohibited campaign acts or whether he’s being investigated or charged for a violation of campaign finance laws or both,” Barrett said. “To allow this election to go forward without him disclosing to the people of this state what is going on is a travesty.”

Falk said Walker can no longer remain silent now that he’s using campaign money to pay his legal bills in the criminal investigation.

“He must tell Wisconsin what he knew, when he knew it, and just how deep his involvement is,” she said.

Source

In terms of Walker’s challengers in the June 5 recall election, a recent Marquette poll shows Mayor Tom Barrett leading the pack with a sizable lead as the May 8 primary is approaching:

With less than a week until the primary in the historic Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election, a new Marquette Law School Poll shows Tom Barrett leading Kathleen Falk 38 percent to 21 percent, with 8 percent for Doug La Follette and 6 percent for Kathleen Vinehout. In a June general election between Barrett and Governor Scott Walker, Barrett leads by one percentage point, 47-46, among all registered voters, while Walker leads by one percentage point, 48-47, among likely voters. Both results are well within the margin of error of the poll. Walker leads former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk 49 percent to 42 percent among registered voters and 49 percent to 43 percent among likely voters.

Source

No matter who wins the primary and goes up against Walker, it is going to be a national battle between Big Money vs. The People. As the saying goes, Money talks, but all it ever says is good-bye.

Join Wisconsin and Unite Against the War on Women!
Meet us at the S Hamilton Street side of the Capitol. Remember that the Crazy Legs race occurs on the same day as does the Farmer’s Market. Come early so you don’t miss a minute of the program that begins at 1 pm and will run to 3 pm.

Chris Taylor – Emcee – Wisconsin Assembly
John Nichols – Political blogger and Washington correspondent for The Nation
Ruth Conniff – writer for The Progressive
Sara Finger – Executive Director Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health
Mark Pocan – Wisconsin Assembly, candidate for Congress
Kelda Helen Roys – Wisconsin Assembly, candidate for Congress
Rev. Stephen Welch – Wisconsin Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Dee Ives – Republican, nurse, union member, veteran
Yuri Rashkin – candidate for Assembly
Rob Zerban – Candidate for Congress
Tiffany Keogh – Madison Network of Black Professionals
JoCasta Zamarripa – Wisconsin Assembly
Kathy Utley – Goodman Comm. Ctr-Madison, Food Resources Manager
Gwen Carr – American Indian political activist and Matriarch

The governor is often accused by critics of waging a “war on women” or a “war on workers.” But when the women are workers — as is disproportionately the case with public school teachers — the governor is doubly extreme.

When the governor and his legislative allies scrapped collective bargaining rights with Act 10 last year, they capped future pay raises for state employees at the rate of inflation. Now, however, Walker is going after the base wages of public school teachers.

The governor has crafted an administrative rule change — essentially an executive order — that allows for the redefinition of the pay schedule for experienced teachers. Specifically, the rule change gives school districts the option to eliminate some “add ons,” such as advanced degrees, which can increase a teacher’s salary.

What this means is that teachers who have remained committed to public education, and who have displayed that commitment by continuing their own education and earning masters degrees and even doctoral degrees, might now be penalized.

Some teachers could lose as much as 30 percent of their current salary.

More from source

The obvious purpose of Walker’s Act 10 laws are to eventually corporatize and diminish public school education and make getting great teachers who keep up with new trends with post-graduate education seek opportunities elsewhere. Walker, being a college dropout, doesn’t appear to value education as an asset to Wisconsin’s future success.

Walker had “dropped the bomb” and signed Act 10, which slashed programs in all sectors and had the state lose thousands of jobs for six months in a row after his policies and divisive antics took effect. He stated after the first recall season in 2011 that he will be judged in 2012 by how he led the state and how many jobs he created.

It is indeed time to recall Walker. This video explains why, including Scott Walker telling the Wisconsin voters the perfect reasons why he should be recalled.

Note: this is a longer version than a video posted earlier.

Here is the script:

Finally, the state of Mississippi can finally breathe a little easier.
Ya see, Mississippi has always been in last place.
But now, we can think Governor Scott Walker fer helpin’ out the Magnolia State
by lettin’ Wisconsin be in last place for job losses in the USA.
Ya see, we’s always been in last place for job losses and people bein’s out of work.
But you done helped us out. And we’re grateful.
We’ve been tired of bein’ run by crazy extremist governors too. But you’re crazy.
We wanna thank you Governor Walker for helpin’ Mississippi.
You put Wisconsin in last place. (laughter)
This is no joke. Recall Scott Walker.

Here is the audio that would make a lovely one-minute radio ad:
Download audio file (Wisconsippi.mp3)

Need proof?

Wisconsin is the only state in the nation that had “statistically significant” job losses over the past 12 months, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The state lost 23,900 jobs from March 2011 to March 2012.

The majority – 17,800 – were government jobs. But Wisconsin also lost more private-sector jobs – 6,100 – than any other state over those same 12 months, the government data shows.

Democrats have seized on GOP Gov. Scott Walker’s job creation record as a central campaign theme in the June 5 recall election.

More from source

Walker recently has “bragged” that his Act 10 policies have saved Wisconsin taxpayers a billion dollars. When you look at how he did his “accomplishment”, it clearly was done on the backs of seniors, children, the poor, public sector workers and many parts of Wisconsin’s economy and future are in peril. Over 1,500 teachers being laid off due to cuts in public education, a drop in property values statewide and a projected $143 million budget shortfall make Walker’s claim just another flop in his circus act.

Walker has proven that being a college dropout was an indicator that he is anti-intellectual. So, of course, like anyone who disrespects attainment of knowledge through education, he has lashed out at Wisconsin’s educational system. He doesn’t care about the many teacher layoffs, the ever-growing class sizes, the slashing of funds for each student and even the safety and health of students with theocratic puritanical nonsense like “abstinence-only” education that has proven a failure in states that went down that extremist fringe path.

Walker cares much more about his precious career. He yearns for those Koch Brothers-funded “Americans For Prosperity” astroturf rallies out-of-state where he gets millions of dollars to pad his wallet and make deceptive ads defending the indefensible. Thanks to Reince Priebus (linked in the FBI/John Doe investigation), he can count on the Republican National Committee to fully fund any sleazy trick up their sleeve with the help of treasonous chickenhawks like Karl Rove and his superPac “American Crossroads”. The Republican Governors Association will use their superPac, “Right Direction Wisconsin”, to attempt to defend Walker with their pathetic propaganda and flood the airwaves as the Recall Election day, June 5, approaches.

Besides the Koch Brothers bragging about throwing millions into defending and essentially buying Walker, there are many others piling up the cash for the troubled, failing governor.

David Humphreys, president and CEO of Tamko Building Products in Missouri, gave $250,000 to the RGA in February. A month earlier, he gave the same amount to Walker’s campaign fund.

Likewise, hedge fund founder Bruce Kovner, a former chairman of the American Enterprise Institute, kicked in another quarter-million dollars to the Republican group in January, just days after he contributed $100,000 directly to Walker.

Also, John Nau, president and chairman of Silver Eagle Distributors in Houston, donated $40,000 to Walker for the recall in late November. He gave the RGA another $25,000 in March.

Several Wisconsin-based firms coughed up cash for the governors’ group. Among them were the Kohler Co., which gave $25,000; American Transmission Co., $50,000; and Wisconsin Public Service Corp., $10,000.

And then there’s a contribution of $100-grand from Donald Trump, chairman and president of the The Trump Organization, in early January.

More from source

None of these Walker hack groups and contributors will dare to pay for or produce political ads that mention real facts like these:

Wisconsin is the only state that had “statistically significant” job losses over the most recent 12-month period, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

From March 2011 to March 2012, Wisconsin lost 23,900 jobs. That was the largest decrease in percentage terms in the country.

Those job losses came from both the public and private sector, but the public sector job losses (17,800) were larger than the private-sector job losses (6,100).

At the same time, Wisconsin was one of 18 states that had a statistically significant drop in the unemployment rate during the same period, from 7.6% to 6.8%.

Wisconsin has experienced both job declines and a drop in unemployment at various times over the past year. The two indicators come from different surveys, and the decline in the unemployment rate has also reflected a decline in the number of people looking for work.

The BLS report can be found here.

Source

It’s no surprise that even Republican and former Nixon staffer John Dean has declared in scathing accuracy how Walker is “more Nixonian than Nixon” and is indeed someone who will eventually be tarnished and shamed into either losing in a recall election and/or by his own corrupt undoing. In a must-read article, Dean holds no punches in exposing Walker:

Walker’s Social-Dominance Disposition

In my prior column, drawing on the work of Bob Altemeyer and others, I listed traits that are consistently revealed by social dominators, or authoritarian leaders. To earn this label, a person must show four key traits: (1) they seek to dominate others, (2) they oppose equality, (3) they are desirous of personal power, and (4) they are amoral. News accounts of Scott Walker reveal that he possesses all four of these defining traits, not to mention others in the longer list I set forth in my prior column. Here, however, I will merely note the evidence for Walker’s having a defining social-dominating disposition.

Much more from source

It is indeed the Koch Brothers vs. The People.

Here’s Walker last August after the Summer recall elections on Morning Joe on MSNBC saying how he will be judged by his job creation record. We couldn’t agree more.

After Walker did this interview, he and the Fitzwalkerstan Cult went ahead with extremist legislation that did not create jobs. Jobs continued to not be created due to Walker’s policies. It’s obvious that Walker is a slick conman. He will say and do anything.

Download audio file (ES-JN042312.mp3)

Note: Make sure to visit Ed Schultz‘s site and offer some support.

Referenced in the interview is this information:

Illinois ranked behind only North Dakota and Michigan in the Bloomberg economic index, which also measures home prices, mortgage delinquency rates and the equity performance of companies headquartered in each state. The index ranked Wisconsin 42nd among the states when comparing the fourth quarter of 2011 with the same period of 2010.

More from source