Scott Walker is a damn liar

by folkbum

Or, at least, Jill Bader, Walker's communications director and email scribe, is*. (Bader was last seen two weeks ago cheering on a bogus investigation of our friend capper that, to date, has resulted in wasted taxpayer dollars at the DA's office but not a single substantiated charge. Way to back a winner, Jill!)

Some smartass (to borrow a word) signed me up for Walker's email updates at some point so I got tonight's missive. It's about jobs--isn't everything?--and in it, Bader makes a ridiculous claim. "Scott won't sacrifice your job to score political points," Bader writes, apparently because putting people out of work is what Republicans imagine Democrats like to do.

What's funn-- No, not funny. It's actually pretty awful. What's awful about it is that Scott Walker has made a career out of sacrificing people's jobs to score political points. It's one of just two or three plays Walker has in his playbook (the others are "Call Charlie" and "Make a goofy commercial.")

(Also, I am still waiting for Walker to speak up for the 1000 or so people just laid off from my employer--something he can't do because he actually scores political points with his base by shutting up about it.)

But here is a partial list of jobs that Walker has sacrificed in his time as Milwaukee County Executive:

• All of the security guards at courthouses and other buildings
• All housekeeping staff
• All food service jobs
• Most of the parks workers
• Staff at BHD: nurses, CNAs, specialized therapists and doctors
• Clerical staff who help the few remaining county workers get the job done
• Highway workers
• Firefighters at the airport
• Economic Support staff (until the state takeover)
• However many people lost their jobs when 20,000 of them had their transit routes cut off

And every time this has happened, Walker has trumpeted his decisions as sound and responsible and evidence why he should be running things rather than the Democrats or David Reimer or Lena Taylor.

So what nerve does Scott Walker think he has that he can make promises like this, make claims about his job credibility? Because he has none. None! And to top it off, the email is begging for money on the premise that the jobs that may be lost at Bucyrus will be lost because of the policies and almost at the behest of Tom Barrett--though Barrett, of course, has publicly announces he'll be pleading Bucyrus's case personally to the president tomorrow.

So, to recap: Scott Walker blames Tom Barrett (no politicization, there!) for job losses that Barrett is trying hard to stop. And Scott Walker claims he won't "sacrifice" any jobs for "political points," though he has done that repeatedly over the last ten years. How did he get to be the standard-bearer for the GOP?

* Bader is also bad at grammar: "That’s why Scott sent a letter to the president, urging the reversal of policies to 'curbs global warming' at the cost of good paying American jobs."

Rewarding Incompetence: It's The County Way

by capper

Until last year, Milwaukee County ran the Private Industry Council. Due to lack of results, the PIC was taken away from the County and given to the City of Milwaukee. When the County ran the show, PIC was under the reins of Gerard Randall.

So now that PIC is gone, what does Milwaukee County do? They reinvent the wheel!

In a move by the County Board and approved of by Scott Walker, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that they are trying to recreate a version of PIC:

The county effort was advanced by Supervisor Elizabeth Coggs, who won approval for the task force and $125,000 in funding for it as an amendment to the 2008 county budget. At Coggs' request, County Executive Scott Walker agreed to not veto the measure, said Robert Dennik, director of the county's Economic Development Division. Walker was unavailable for comment. Coggs couldn't be reached.

The amendment creating the task force called for appointment of a five-person board. Randall was named to the task force by County Board Chairman Lee Holloway. At Coggs' suggestion, Randall also was hired to the consulting job.

Randall has a desk at Dennik's division, but takes his direction from Coggs, Dennik said. Randall's consulting job with the county is "kind of an extension of what he was doing over at the PIC," Dennik said.

So now we have the County and the City of Milwaukee doing the same thing. Not only that, they hire Randall, who blew it when he was in charge of PIC.

Not to mention that duplication of efforts is commonly viewed as a waste of tax payers' monies (emphasis mine):

This month, Randall was hired to advise a new Milwaukee County Task Force on Work Reform for Men. He'll be paid up to $8,000 a month over the next six months, according to his new contract.The 54-year-old Randall was named to head the Private Industry Council by former County Executive Tom Ament, after working as an Ament aide. He has also served as a University of Wisconsin System regent and political commentator. Randall didn't return phone calls.

Randall's contract calls for him to determine what the county's role should be in work-force development, identify areas in the city with the worst unemployment for minority men and come up with a plan for training up to 700 men over the next year. Randall also is supposed to craft a plan to improve youth employment and to look for state, federal or private money sources.

Yet, Donald Layden Jr., a member of the Workforce Investment Board and senior executive vice president of Metavante Corp., says those tasks overlap with the duties of the city board.

"This appears to be directly within the mandate of the Workforce Investment Board," he said. County officials should share their ideas with the city board rather than creating some parallel effort, he said.

The move comes in the wake of last year's political shuffle of the primary local job development agency. Barrett took over the old Private Industry Council after a growing sentiment that it wasn't operating effectively and it had seen its funding sources diminish. Barrett cited federal law in claiming his authority over what had been a county-dominated agency.

Mmm. The highlighted area appears to be promoting a collaboration between city and county governments to be more efficient and make better use of tax money. Now, where did we hear about something like that before? Oh, yeah...Senator Taylor said that when she was running for County Exec:

The Senator's fourth point is collaboration. She would work with the various cities in the County, the various school districts and neighboring counties to see where services could be combined to help defray costs.

The example she used for this point was cutting grass. The county has their own lawn mowers and people to operate them. Each city in the county, have their own people using their own machines to cut their properties. Each school district has the same thing going on as well. She said that she would try to join forces with the cities and the school districts to combine the pools of equipment and the staff members to run it, in an effort to help defray the costs, while maintaining a well-maintained community.

Go figure. Guess she wasn't so confused after all.

One More For The Road

by capper

I know many of you, like me, will be glad when tomorrow is over with. There will be a respite, even if temporary, from all the slimy political ads and even more so, I will (hopefully) be able to move on to other topics.

I know many more experienced politicos than I that have told me that it doesn't look good for Taylor to win, but there are some things that make me believe otherwise.

First of all, the polls must be pretty close, otherwise Walker, and his chums on the local talk radio shows would have been crowing about it all week long.

Secondly, he must be feeling nervous, or is simply indirectly acknowledging the truth, when he doesn't defend the state of the County, especially the parks, the transit system, mental health, or HOC. Instead of dealing with County issues, like Senator Taylor is doing, Walker is pulling at straws like school choice and abortion, neither of which the County Exec's office has a thing to do with.

Thirdly, this whole thing about taxes. He cannot criticize anyone for wanting to raise taxes, since he has already shown that he is ready to drop the tax bomb on the taxpayers himself. Nor does he mention that part of the reason the state is having problems is due to faulty economic policies of Bush, who he is trying to emulate. (To his credit, Walker at least hasn't tried to invade Walworth County for their oil.)

It was also Walker, with his pal, the governor of the 90s, TOMMY, who created the deficit that we are still trying to pay off. Like a spoiled kid, he wants to have his party, but is trying to a pull a political version of a "dine and dash." He tried to do the same thing to the County with his failed bid for governor in 2006, and if he were to win tomorrow, I would expect him to keep it up and try it again in 2010.

But even if taxes did go up a little, like they have over the last gazillion years, I doubt it would be more than a buck or two. To portray it as like a bunch of barbarians were going to come and pillage and loot everyone in Milwaukee County is trying to play to people's basest fears. That is the sort of contemptible politicking that got us into the Iraq War and gave us all these years of the Bush administration.

People stood up to that kind of fear and smear campaigning in the fall of 2006, and now is not the time to let up against that type of lowly power-grabbing.

Please remember to vote on Tuesday.

I Don't Think So, Scotty

by capper

I know that this sort of thing happens all the time, but I still think it's funny. This was forwarded to me from the Walker Taylor campaign:

It reminds me of the time the RNC kept sending me letters asking for money, since I was a good card-carrying member of the GOP. I just kept returning the envelopes stuffed with clippings from the paper on the latest Republican scandal until they stopped.

One out of one folkbums recommend

by folkbum

It's time to make the recommendations for next week's elections. I don't think any of it will surprise you, but it's kind of, you know, expected.

Wisconsin Supreme Court: Vote for justice Louis Butler--if for no other reason than Judge Michael Gableman has just looked dumb throughout the campaign. From his repetition of attacks on Butler that he can't back up to his deliberate misreadings of Butler's opinions, Gableman hasn't demonstrated the kind of intellectual deportment I would expect of someone serving on the high court. Additional reading: Emily Mills, Clyde Winter.

Veto Referendum: Vote yes. Sure, Jim Doyle pieced something together to save my job a couple years ago, but think about the abuses under Tommy Thompson ...

Milwaukee County Executive: Vote for Lena Taylor. Look, Taylor has run a crappy campaign, as everyone--including me--knew she would. But the alternative is four (maybe two, but jebus help us if it that happens) more years of Scott Walker. Walker has placed ideology and his own ambition ahead of the health (metaphorical, financial, and occasionally literal) of Milwaukee County. Walker is Wisconsin's answer to Grover Norquist--he believes in nothing so strongly as the notion that someday Milwaukee County will be too weak to fight back when he finally tries to drown it in the bathtub. From transit to parks to mental health to the courthouse, Walker has allowed--nay, demanded--Milwaukee County devolve, roll back, cut back, shrivel up and die. Taylor is a hard-nosed, speak-before-thinking, take-no-prisoners kind of politician, and she may not have the ideal temperament to lead (as opposed to legislate). But she believes in Milwaukee County, and she believes that with a change in leadership and attitude Milwaukee County can lead the state again. I say give her that chance--it's a damn sight better than Walker's let-it-die attitude.

Other races on my ballot: Vote Barrett over Shaw for Milwaukee mayor. Vote Larson over Kraeger in the 14th County Supervisory district. Vote Zielinski over Reid in the 14th Aldermanic district. Both Dallett and Norman seem like perfectly reasonable candidates in the contested judgeship race--take your pick.

... ADDED: The Real Charlie Sykes asks in comments, The real questions are Coggs or McGee, Flaherty or Kovac, Witkowski or DeBraska, Puente or Hamilton. Well, since he asked: Coggs, Flaherty, Witkowski*, and Puente (no sense voting for someone who doesn't live in the area he wants to represent).

* Last week Debraska's campaign sent me a mailer, even though I am not in that district. It should be a little concerning when a candidate doesn't know the boundaries of the district he's running in.

There's Spin, And Then There's Desperation

by capper

The Walker camp must be feeling a bit put upon lately. They can't seem to find ways to get around the reality of how bad of a job he has done. In their desperation, they have resorted to not spin, not even desperation, but flat out lying.

A prime example of the desperation being felt on the right is the post by Brian Fraley. He seems to have a bit of a problem being quite honest and frank when comparing the Internet chats hosted by JSOnline.

Fraley complains that Taylor only answered nine softball questions while Walker answered nineteen diverse questions. Too bad the facts don't back up his allegations.

First of all, lets look at Walker's chat. JSOnline chose to transcribe 20 questions, not nineteen. Out of those twenty, Walker refused to answer one, stating he was out of time. Two of them weren't questions at all, but just expressions of adulation by two deluded individuals. One question, by some person named Calvin, didn't have to do with County business, and would have been more appropriate for when Walker decides to run for Governor again. Three of them have to deal with his failure to complete college. One of the answers he gave was shown by yours truly to be a lie. On another question, Walker tells us how great it is to live in Indianapolis (um, Scott, this is Milwaukee, not Indianapolis).

SIDENOTE: The Brawler points out that it would be fabulous to emulate Indianapolis, in which the underdog challenger pulled a most amazing upset over the sitting incumbent, who all thought was a lock for re-election.

So, when one eliminates the non-questions, the non-answers and the nonsense, we are left with, at best, 11 questions answered by Walker. And most of those I have already deconstructed throughout the last few months.

Senator Taylor has 15 questions posted, not nine. It has also been observed that at least one of the questions had been eliminated by JSOnline. Now, Taylor did get three really weird softball questions, so that leaves her with 13 questions answered. That is two more than Walker answered.

Out of those 13 questions, two are attacking her as being a career politician (which she correctly points out that Walker has almost four times the years as a politician) or for bills she introduced in the state legislature (which she again answers decisively). Another four go after her on taxes, which is Walker's only talking point. So, Mr. Fraley is wrong about the number and the type of questions that Senator Taylor took on.

He apparently realizes that he is not being honest, so he continues his attack by linking to a video in which Senator Taylor shows a brief moment of confusion and another clip that is so highly edited, that no one knows what question she is answering. (It is obvious it is a specific question dealing with benefits. The retirees are understandably nervous, as that Walker has been seeking frivolous lawsuits, going after individuals and their contractually and legally protected benefits, however extravagant they may be.)

But even if they were accurate representations, I would take a couple minutes of confusion over six years of incompetence and hypocrisy any day.

In the interest of fairness, Fraley did get two things correct.

His post is pathetic.

And the election is next Tuesday, April 1.

ADDENDUM: The Taylor campaign is denying any political ties, but could this be the Republicans' version of tire-slashing?

Oh, Really Now, Mr. Walker

by capper

In this morning's paper, they cover the last two debates between Senator Lena Taylor and Scott Walker. The debates have gone as they have been recently. Senator Taylor points out the problems that have occurred under Walker's watch and the need to fix them. Walker smirks and blames someone else.

The thing that caught my eye was the last paragraph of the article:

"I've kept all the promises I've made," Walker said. "I think they should judge me based on my record."

After cleaning up my morning cup of coffee that I spewed all over the kitchen upon seeing this, I had to laugh. He is such a tool. He apparently forgot his promise not to even run again, which he broke. He forgot his promise not to go gung-ho on privatizing everything he can, allowing chunks of the county to go to the highest campaign-donor bidder. Yup, he broke this one too. He also made a promise to not follow Ament's example of cronyism. Ooopsie.

In fact, looking at the promises he has made, and giving him the benefit of the doubt for the items I haven't had time to research more thoroughly, and giving him the further benefit of granting him the debatable ones, he barely kept one third of his promises, none of them the major ones either.

Would this make him a lying hypocrite, or just a hypocritical liar?

Walker: Mental Health Fiasco

by capper

In what has become a recurring theme for Scott Walker, Tosa Ranger, he has been giving us less and less services for our money. He wants to continue to do the same with mental health services.

I have pointed out that Walker has mismanaged mental health services for the entire duration of his maladministration. He has been cutting out beds from the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex (MCMHC), until they are less than half of what they used to be. He has also continued to cut outpatient services for the mentally ill, on a yearly basis.

This has led to all sorts of problems. There has been a staffing crisis at MCMHC that has led to several workers and patients being hurt. The cuts in outpatient services has led the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to run a whole series of articles of how mentally ill people were living in squalor, being neglected, and sometimes even dying due to the lack of help.

This trend of not providing adequate services to the mentally ill has led to many other problems.
It has caused the municipalities to pay tons of overtime to their police officers, as they babysit people in psychiatric crises, because MCMHC has no room for them. It can cost taxpayers even more money to house them in jails and prisons, and have to give them the necessary treatment there, only to have them commit more crimes when released, due to the lack of community-based support. And these two examples don't even mention the cost to any victims that might have been affected by a person in crisis. The list can go on and on about how Walker's mean-spiritedness is costing us a lot more money than he claims to be saving.

Walker has been pushing to waste more of our tax money and cut services again. He is pushing to move MCMHC to the old St. Michael's Hospital. This is a bad idea on many levels.

One it would cost a lot more to renovate St. Mike's than to bring the present building up to code. Secondly, to make the move, it would require eliminating at least two units, meaning sixty less beds in a system that is already in crisis due to not having enough beds. (As of yesterday, they had a waiting list to just get help in the psychiatric crises unit. They were turning people away, because they weren't violent enough.)

Another problem is that St. Mike's doesn't have the physical layout that works best for mental health care. When I just got out of college, I worked at First Hospital-Milwaukee, which had been a medical hospital in a former life. Due to the lay out of the building, there was no clear line of sight down the halls. It was very dangerous to staff as that it gave a lot of hiding places for patients. It also made it very difficult to monitor patients who were a danger to themselves and others.

One of the reasons that Walker is giving for wanting the move is that the current facility is being underused. I will ignore the obvious observation that it is being underused due to his closing several units, and the Child and Adolescent Treatment Center in that last several years. I would only point out that there would be good ways to use that available space.

One would be to move the Adult Services and the Department of Aging to the empty spaces. It would allow county workers to have easier access to the mental health complex, to Children's Hospital, and to Froedtert Hospital. This means that clients receiving services from Milwaukee County could have greater access to their workers, as that they often go to these other places anyway. This would keep these clients, who are often disabled and/or elderly from having to make extra trips all over the county.

Also, consolidating all these agencies in one location would save money. Currently, the Department of Aging is located in the Reuss Federal Plaza. By moving this department, not only would it save the county money on renting the space in Reuss (which I understand to be not inexpensive), but also on the money that the county pays to provide parking for clients and workers alike. It would also save money by not having workers travelling all over the county to get from one facility to the next, allowing them to be more productive and provide better service.

But Walker probably wouldn't like that idea. It makes sense, and would actually be the responsible thing to do. Plus, it would tick off the MVPs at Froedtert, Children's Hospital and the Medical College. And I'm sure he will be looking for their help for when he does his next failed attempt to be governor.

Walker's squandering our tax money is another great reason to vote for Senator Lena Taylor on April 1st.

Walker Goes Further Over The Deep End

by capper

The morning's paper shows that Walker is going further along with his folly of privatization. Even though his buddy, Chris Kujawa, who has been a beneficiary of Walker's previous privatization of parts of the park system, lost big in his election bid last year, and even though everyone of the candidates that he backed in this year's primary didn't survive to see the general election, Walker steams ahead like a mindless puppet.

Walker's solution, when he is not trying to foist the blame for his errors on other people, is to hack and slash the County and to sell off the parts to the highest campaign contributor bidder. This even includes the privatization of Mitchell Airport, a move that even some of his out of county fans (he apparently has very few in the county) find to be questionable at best.

I have written time and time again about Walker's inane policy decisions. This time, I will just refer to Erich Roden, a community advisor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who wrote this earlier this month:

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker got a lesson in budgetary forensics last week with the resignation of half of his pathologists in the medical examiners office. Although his attempts to hold the line on unsustainable entitlements should be lauded, his perpetual devaluation of county employees should not. When it comes to vital governmental services, you actually get what you pay for. Let's hope he finally realizes this and leaves his budgetary philosophy where it belongs - the morgue.

Let's not forget that Walker's bid to privatize everything he can comes after his pledge not to privatize.

I say, I do believe it is Walker, not Senator Taylor, who appears to be utterly lost and confused.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

by capper

Walker must have a distinct phobia when it comes to telling the truth. The news came out yesterday that his campaign is lying about his most recent commercial. The fallout is still coming in on that lie.

Today, the lies keep on flowing out of his mouth and keyboard. Walker did an "online chat" for JSOnline, in which he handpicked most of the questions to give himself softballs. He did let a few tougher questions through, which I am sure he thought he had the answers down pat. But his lies are pretty easy to observe to anyone paying attention.

One of the questions had to deal with transit. Here is the question, and Walker' response (emphasis mine):

Q: Emily Mullen of Milwaukee - You claim to be pro-transit, yet as County Executive you have presided over significant fare increases and crippling service cuts. In addition, while in the State Assembly you never voted to increase the State's support of transit. How do you reconcile your record with your alleged support of transit?

A: Scott Walker - Emily, When I came into office as County Executive, the state covered about 44% of the costs of the transit system and the county tax levy covered 14%. That is now 40% from the state while about 14% comes from the county tax levy. In the future, we need to control costs and get stable support from the state. In the Assembly, I voted for some increases in transit spending, but they were not always as much of an increase as some transit advocates wanted to spend. I don't claim to be pro- or anti- transit. I just tell you what I want to do with transit in the future. To control costs, I want to consolidate transit amongst the four systems in southeastern Wisconsin. To stabilize state support, I want to capture the growth in the CURRENT sales tax collected on automobile related sales and apply it to transit statewide. In this budget, that would be more than $100 million with about 60% coming back to the Milwaukee area.

As I have highlighted, Walker claims to be neither pro-transit nor anti-transit.

If he is truly not pro-transit, why did he film this commercial?




But he didn't do just that one commercial. He also has a web commercial that is even titled "Walker: Committed to Transit". I don't know about you, but that seems to me to be that he is pretty much claiming to be pro-transit.

He also spouts about some plan that he has to fix transit. A plan that would take the sales tax from everyone in the state, to just support our transit system. A plan that has been repeatedly proven to be a non-starter from day one. Yet he is hypocritical enough to accuse Senator Taylor of not being realistic about the plan.

But then again, remember he also claims not to be anti-transit. Then could he please explain why he is using such a poor business design of raising rates and cutting services. Does he think that he is actually doing anyone any favors. Or is he really trying to kill transit? After all, he is overseeing one of the few systems in the entire nation that hasn't seen a huge jump in ridership. In fact, due to his incompetence, Milwaukee buses are actually losing riders. And let us not forget that when he had a chance to approve a tax-neutral plan that would have boosted ridership, like it has elsewhere in the state and the country, Walker vetoed it.

He also claimed not to be anti-transit just one day after he cuts more routes.

In summary, Walker denies being pro-transit, but then puts out to commercials touting how he is pro-transit. Walker in the same sentence, denies being anti-transit, but then has given us six years of methodically trying to dismantle it.

Not only is Walker incompetent and a hypocrite, he is a lousy liar. And he is not even very good at his lying either.

Taxes, Lies and Videotape

by capper

Walker launched a new ad recently. He's been running a lot of new ads lately. It must be due to all that special interest money he is getting from Madison. And here it was the hypocrite Walker who kept saying that Senator Taylor was the one that would be getting big bucks. Like I said, what a hypocrite.

Back to the ad. It's well done with a diverse group of people, and Walker, talking about how they believe in Milwaukee, and how they believe in Scott Walker. This has been a common theme in political ads locally. (I wonder if Charlie Sykes will be getting on Walker for that ideological plagiarism, like he did on Obama.) Of course, I would be glad to say that too, if I were an actor and was being paid to say that.

Xoff has a detailed look at how Walker and his campaign got caught up in the lie regarding this commercial and how it was made. He even goes as far as to point out where we have seen on of the hired actors before, and how this sort of chicanery appears to be a Republican forte.

So, Walker is lying about who is getting big money and he is lying about the commercial that his special interest monies have paid for. But that is not the only lie we see Walker trying to peddle to us. His whole tax thing turns out to be a farce as well.

Walker has been promoting Family Care. He's been promoting it a lot. Let's ignore the fact that it is a state mandate that every county goes to Family Care, which is basically a plan based on the HMO-type of administrative costs. Or as pa capper said, and remember he is a self-proclaimed neocon, "Walker wants to charge us more so that people can die."

Walker boasts how it will supposedly eliminate the waiting list of developmentally delayed and physically disabled people who are in need of services. What it will most likely do, is just bump that waiting list along the line, as there are currently not enough service providers to meet that high level of demand.

What Walker has not been telling us is the cost. In a report to the County Board, Corey Hoze, Director of the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services lays out the progress of the transition to Family Care. I received a copy of this report and have scanned the parts of the report that deals with the cost and some of the ramifications that Family Care will have on Milwaukee County. With a big thanks to James Wigderson on the technical advice, here are the links to page7, page 8 and page 9 of the report. Here is the pertinent part to cost:

...expenditures in year one would decrease by approximately $79.2 million, revenues would decrease by $80 million, and tax levy would increase by nearly $800,000 compared to DSD's 2008 Adopted Budget. The estimated tax levy increase is approximately $5.4 million in the second year and $5.8 million in the third year. These gaps do not include the additional tax levy required for the eligibility function as described below.

As you can see, Walker is poised to add $12 million dollars to the tax levy, just for this one program. $12 million dollars in new taxes from a guy who brags about holding taxes down. And not only is he planning on raising taxes, he is planning on giving us less services for the extra money we have to pay:

The budgetary limitations are due, in part, to the continued funding of discretionary programs for persons with disabilities primarily funded with Community Aids and tax levy. These programs include advocacy, supported living options, work and day programs, respite, recreation, transportation, and services to persons in need of short-term support to live independently in the community. Currently, approximately 700 individuals with disabilities are served by DSD through these locally funded programs under purchase of service contracts. It is estimated that 470 of these individuals may be eligible for Family Care services. Therefore, if funding for these programs became unavailable,participation in the Family Care program could permit these individuals to continue receiving services. However, as many as 230 of the individuals currently receiving these services may not be eligible for Family Care and would have services discontinued if funding became unavailable.

In addition to the above potential service reductions, the emergency shelter care programs may also need to be reduced or eliminated.

To recap, we will be paying more in taxes and getting less in services. Not only that, but now we will have hundreds of individuals that could be in serious trouble and a danger to themselves and/or to others, if they don't continue to receive the support services they need. I have already shown the cost to society of having untreated mental health issues and alcohol and drug treatment issues go untreated.

I wonder how all this fits into Walker's Safe, Affordable and Pride malarkey?

Senator Taylor's First TV Ad

by capper

Well, you had to know I was going to post this:





Please note the articles being cited. Walker has none, just his own delusional paranoia. Also note, outside of Belling and McIlheran and Badger Blogger, I don't know of anyone local endorsing Walker. I'm sure there are some, but why doesn't he note them?

Some points of interest, that I wasn't aware of, was that Senator Taylor is being endorsed by Governor Jim Doyle (I did know that), U.S. Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, U.S. Representative Gwen Moore, and Mayor Tom Barrett. She is also endorsed by the Milwaukee County Deputy Sheriff's Association.

The company that put together Senator Taylor's ad was the same group that did the Fair Wisconsin ads. The company that did Walker's ads was the same company that did Steve Forbes ads, and they're based in Chicago. (Local companies must not be good enough for Walker. Way to support your county, Scott!)

CORRECTION: As noted by Badger Blogger, and echoed throughout the right side of the Cheddarsphere, I have incorrectly noted the base sites for the advertising agencies used by each candidate. I regret this error. Furthermore, I do stand that I am disappointed that Senator Taylor's campaign did not use a Wisconsin Company.

SIDENOTE: Is it me, or is Walker wearing the same tie in each commercial? (No point to make; just an observation.)

Expect to hear her ads on the radio in the near future. She will have to pay for hers, as that I doubt Charlie Sykes and Mark Belling will give her the free time they give Walker.

Crossposted on Whallah!

Scott Walker, The Hypocrite

by capper

Walker is a big, old hypocrite.

He repeatedly harps about how Senator Taylor is "raising tons of money from special interests in Madison" and other silly things like:

In fact, outsiders such as Governor Doyle and special interest groups in Madison and even Washington, DC are gathering loads of cash to influence our election in April.

He even gets his poor wife into the act of spreading these baseless claims. But even if it were true, how would he explain this email sent out by his campaign (the name and other personal information has been changed to protect the source)(emphasis mine):

From: Walker Supporter

Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 3:36 PM

To: Walker Supporter [WalkerSupporter@hypocrite.com

Subject: Upcoming Scott Walker Event Reminder!

Please forward this on to all those interested in participating. Attached is a copy of the invitation.

You are invited to an event honoring Scott Walker Milwaukee County Executive

Brocach Irish Pub (upstairs lounge)

7 W. Main Street

Madison, WI

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

5:30pm – 7:30pm

Host Contribution: $250 Attendee:

$25/Individual

PAC and individual checks gratefully accepted.

Checks may be made payable to "Friends of Scott Walker" and sent to:

Friends of Scott Walker

PO Box 100828

Milwaukee, WI 53210

Please RSVP to Walker Supporter at 608.555.555 or by email to WalkerSupporter@hypocrite.com

Authorized and Paid for by Friends of Scott Walker, John Hiller, Treasurer

He complains that Senator Taylor is getting special interest money from Madison, but is grateful for his own special interest money from Madison.

That makes him a big, old hypocrite.

Yet Another Broken Promise By Walker

by capper

We have seen that Walker has a problem with keeping promises. First, he lied about not running in 2008. Then we saw him lie about privatization. The most recent lie he has been caught up in is about cronyism.

In 2002, when he rode CRG's wave into the County Executive's office, he signed off on CRG's platform of campaign promises. One of these promises was this:

Implement a program to eliminate cronyism and nepotism in county government, including a review of all management and supervisory functions under the executive. Within 60 days.

Funny, I thought to eliminate meant to remove, not to participate in.

We have three examples to highlight this. The first one, and to be honest, the weakest example was the special election last summer, when he tried to get his friend and campaign contributor, Chris Kujawa, elected to the County Board in a special election. Kujawa lost, fortunately.

The next example is Thomas Nardelli. In 2002, Walker's main opponent, Jim Ryan, accused Walker and Nardelli of scheming and backroom dealing in the sense that if Nardelli would quit the race and support Walker, Walker would in turn give Nardelli a job. Walker and Nardelli both denied it. Now, Nardelli is Walker's chief of staff. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.

Ryan had good reason to suspect a deal was in the works. A lot of people had similar thoughts. From the archives of WisPolitics.com:

Walker, who claims to be a reform candidate, appears to have promised high-ranking county government jobs to unqualified individuals. While pretending to oppose nepotism and favoritism, Walker instead plans to hand out taxpayer-supported jobs to political buddies.

In recent days, numerous Walker campaign workers have openly told reporters that they anticipate getting government jobs in a Walker administration. A number of these individuals have no experience in county government, and their biggest "qualification" is political support of Scott Walker.

One of these campaign workers is Jim Villa. Jim Villa has worked on both of Walker's previous campaigns for County Executive, and had been Walker's Chief of Staff (to be replaced by Nardelli-see the pattern yet?). Now we see Walker is trying to give Villa further rewards by nominating him to the Milwaukee Public Museum Board.

Fortunately, once again, the county board shows more sense and integrity than Walker by tabling the nomination. From All Politics at JSOnline:

Supervisor Richard Nyklewicz Jr. asked for Villa's appointment to be tabled, citing "significant concerns, given his political background." He declined further comment.

Supervisor Lynne De Bruin, the parks committee chairwoman, said she voted for tabling Villa's appointment to avoid a divisive public debate that might cause the public to question the management at the museum.

"I didn't want any worries on the public’s mind of who is on the museum board and who is not," she said. The museum working through a financial recovery plan begun last year.

With a track record like his, it is clearly evident why Walker would have a fear of commitment to Milwaukee County.

Please help support Lena Taylor, so that we can take our county back from corrupt liars like Tom Ament and Scott Walker.

The Milwaukee County House (In Need) Of Corrections

by capper

Last August, a full seven months ago, I wrote about the House of Correction, and the troubles that were occurring there. Most of these problems stemmed from the simple fact that HOC was overfull with inmates and that there was a severe shortage of correction officers. This caused a lot of burn out, and mistakes were made, repeatedly. Correction Officers were getting so desperate for time off, that they would use and abuse the sick leave and Family Medical Leave Policies. They would also openly defy superior officers in order to get suspended. They eventually went, as a group, to the County Board. Most of the County Board Supervisors weren't aware of what was going on, and were moved to tears to hear of the officer's desperation.

Yet Walker was in complete denial about it.

Now the Journal Sentinel is reporting that a county audit shows--gasp--that there were a lot of problems due to too many inmates and not enough guards. This comes on the heels of a federal audit showing a laundry list chock full of problems, most of them dealing with insufficient staffing patterns and not enough resources.

The county audit shows that HOC was originally supposed to have been authorized for 349 guards in Walker's 2007 budget. He then remembered his one trick pony act, and decided to cut $1.5 million dollars from their budget. HOC ended up with only 318 correction officers. Due to this deficit in the work force, officers were forced to work up to 800+ hours of overtime, each, that year. A full 75% of that was forced overtime.

The cost for all that overtime was $4.2 million. That means for every dollar that Walker tried to save the tax payer, that same taxpayer ended up paying three times as much. How is that being fiscally responsible?

The audit goes on to recommend that the County hire on an additional 23 officers. This would cost $1.3 million, but would have more than half off set by the savings in overtime benefits.

Walker's response is not to hire all of the staff needed. Gotta save that money, you know. Well, not really. He is considering giving them a pay raise. (On a side note, while this is a good thing, odds are that Milwaukee County Corrections Officers pay will be still be way behind that of other counties across the state.)

So Walker tries to find ways to sweep this under the rug, and again avoid responsibility for a mess he has created, I would point out that not only does Senator Taylor have experience as a successful businessperson, she is the Chairperson for the State Senate's Committee on Judiciary, Corrections, and Housing. She has the experience, the knowledge, the education, and the willingness to fix what Walker has wrecked. For more information, please go to her website.

SIDENOTE: Some Walker apologists have started to say that MSJ is anti-Walker. This is laughable. MSJ recommend Walker in 2004. But if that is not sufficient evidence, compare the articles that appeared on Monday's Newswatch and the article that appears in Tuesday's paper.
Especially the headline of Tuesday's article, which reads:

Lockup criticized for forced overtime

Audit finds House of Correction staff exhausted

Not only does it not mention the staff shortage, but the lockup that is supposedly criticized doesn't even appear until the second from last paragraph. Nope. No bias here in favor of Walker. Give me a break.

Common Courtesy

by capper

Life happens to everyone. People get sick, family members get sick, snowstorms block travel, garages fall on cars, all sorts of emergencies can happen. When they do, most people will apologize, and give as much warning as possible. Others don't show that same level of consideration.

All Politics, the political blog at JSOnline, reported this afternoon that Senator Taylor has notified them that she is unable to attend tomorrow's forum. She notified people a full day ahead of time. Compare that to Walker, who notified people that already trundled out into a very cold night, ten minutes before the debate, via a gofer. No explanation except for an undefined "scheduling conflict."

Furthermore, Senator Taylor is not going to be able to attend due to the fact that she will be doing the job she currently has, has a state senator. When Walker was running his failed bid for governor in 2006, he was not keeping up on his duties to the county. I remember all the shootings in the park on Memorial Day weekend. I remember the reports of the mentally ill living in squalid conditions. I remember budget crises (well those are an annual affair for Walker). What I don't remember is Walker being here to address any of these issues. He was too busy campaigning.

And while I'm making comparisons, there are a lot of right wingers, including the troll who only identifies itself as "GO LENA", that likes to link to a YouTube video of Senator Taylor having a lapse and some confusion during a session in the Senate. Here is a video showing Walker at his finest, demonstrating his oratory deftness:





And I would be remiss not to show this photo, from Milwaukee Rising, showing Walker in all of his statesman-like elegance:

Funny, but I always thought one grew a long nose when lying. I didn't know they grew horns.

The Truth Hurts

by capper

The Milwaukee County Executive race is starting to heat up. In one of the few debates that Walker has bothered to show up for, the congeniality that was present in earlier debates, is starting to slip. Steve Schultze, posting at the All Politics Blog on JSOnline, reports:

The temperature rose during the final moments of an otherwise cordial candidate debate tonight at the Jewish Community Center in Fox Point between Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and state Sen. Lena Taylor, the challenger in the race.

Walker lashed out at Taylor in his closing remarks, bristling at her characterization of his job performance as mismanagement.

"One candidate likes to throw a lot of mud and talks a lot like a partisan lawmaker, without giving a whole lot of concrete answers," Walker said.

While Milwaukee County showed a surplus last year and enjoyed a stable bond rating under his watch, the state of Wisconsin while Taylor has served on the Joint Finance Committee faces a $650 million deficit, he said.

Taylor said her criticism was only "telling you what is real. I'm the only one who comes to the table with skills," she said. "The present county executive doesn't finish what he starts. He didn't finish college, he never ran a business," Taylor said. "And frankly, I don't think he wants to finish a second term as the county executive."

She said the county owes its 2007 surplus in part to her ability to obtain state funding.

Walker's aborted bid for governor in 2005 and early '06 has fueled speculation he may want to run again in 2010, though Walker has not publicly stated whether he's pondering that move.

As noted above, Walker is also starting to skip out of debates. Ken Mobile reports about Monday night's non-event that Walker blew off, and wonders why:

My Question to Scooter is what was more important than a debate in which you committed to weeks in advance? Only things that would excuse him would be that a family member is gravely ill, he was in an accident, or was subpoenaed. But to say you had another commitment and don’t explain yourself is a slap in the face to the organizers of the forum and to the voters of Bayview and Milwaukee County who took time out of their busy evenings to listen to a debate that was important to them.

Maybe Walker didn’t want face ordinary folk and explain how he has mismanaged transit to the point of death or why he refuses to invest in Milwaukee County’s infrastructure. Maybe he didn’t want to explain how our parks system, the once jewel of Milwaukee County, is deteriorating. Whatever the reason, Walker needs to come up with an explanation other than a “scheduling conflict;” especially in a forum in which he had knowledge of and was committed to weeks in advance.

I personally am not surprised. He debates the same way he has run the county for the past six years--in absentia.

Adding more painful truth for Walker, Gretchen Schuldte points out how Walker is trying to wreck more than the transit system in Milwaukee, by refusing to meet more of his obligations. This time, he's neglecting the bus shelters:

And there the matter sits. The county may be reviewing the matter again, but for now its attitude seems to be" To hell with Milwaukee County Transit System customers. Let 'em slip and fall.

So it's not just transit the County Executive Scott Walker's administration is trying so hard to cripple; it's transit riders, too.

ADDENDUM: I also forgot to mention this fine posting by Dan Cody, who highlights what can happen when a government gambles our futures and the futures of our children, like Walker is so eager to do.

Taylor vs. Walker: Bus Wars

by capper

This is almost becoming painful to watch. Walker is becoming more desperate as his chickens are coming home to roost. He made some poor decisions, trying to pander to his base. He probably knew that things would blow up, but he was expecting to be living in the Governor's mansion by now, and didn't care.

His continuing paring down of the transit system as led to a massive decline in riders, to a tune of 4.1 million riders, in just one year. This happened under his watch while the rest of the country is seeing a boom in ridership.

Last night, Walker's campaign sent out a newsletter, which read (with my observations):

Don't be fooled by the smear piece printed in Saturday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Watch the video below to hear Scott set the record straight. The link is to his home page.

In 2008, regular riders of the bus continue to pay the same amount as they did in 2007 (weekly passes did not go up). And even though the transit system originally proposed eliminating a series of routes, Walker put them back in his 2008 budget. In fact, Scott Walker has not vetoed out improvements to the transit system that were included in the various versions of the county budget passed by the County Board in previous years. He in fact tried to raise all the rates and it was the county board that stopped him. Just like it was the county board, not Walker, that restored the routes he had cut. They were able to restore the routes due to the millions of dollars Senator Taylor brought to Milwaukee County. Even Walker grudgingly has admitted that in the BlogTalkRadio debate.

The long-term success of the transit system is based on lowering costs and stabilizing state support. Scott has a plan to lower costs by operating transit on a regional basis and getting employees to pay a reasonable amount for benefits. In addition, Scott has a plan to identify a stable form of support for transit from state government that does NOT include a sales tax increase. He wants tax support from the rest of the state. Why is bad if Senator Taylor would suggest something like that, but OK for
Walker?

Scott's plan takes the growth in the current sales tax collected on automobile purchases and applies it to transit statewide. This amount exceeds $100 million during the budget and about 60% would come to the Milwaukee area. Overlooked by the media is the fact that the state government covers 40% of the costs of the transit system while the county tax levy covers just 14% (a few years ago, the state covered close to 44% and the county just 14%). Steady support from the state will stabilize the transit system. See what I mean?

Finally, Scott wants to use all of the $91.5 million in federal money to enhance our current system and to develop a regional form of transportation that will grow this community and attract employers - not develop a downtown streetcar line or a new light rail system. And if he doesn't get his way, he won't play.

UPDATE: MSJ is now reporting that the $91.5 million is now being blocked, and is in jeopardy of being lost forever, due in no small part, to Walker's shenanigans. How much more of this guy can we afford?

Today, I received an email from Senator Taylor's campaign. This too was about the transit situation:

Over the weekend, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that our "Transit System ridership plunged to a 33-year low in 2007. . .[and the] ridership drop may have been the biggest decrease of any major U.S. bus system," (3/1/08). Across the nation, the rise in gas prices has boosted public transportation ridership. But here in Milwaukee County, Mr. Walker cannot deny that the decisions he has made-raising fares and cutting routes-have made our public transit inefficient and cost-ineffective. For example, the cost of a ride here is as expensive as one in Chicago, New York, or Philadelphia (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/18/07).

To read the full text of this weekend's article, click here.

Just recently Lena rode bus route 15 from downtown Milwaukee to Bay View to hear and see the effects of the transit situation firsthand. Bus route 15 is one of the bus routes that Scott Walker had wanted to cut.

Lena was privileged to speak with several riders who, like so many of us, depend on public transit to access their work and get around. Reality hit home when one resident from Oak Creek stated that if Mr. Walker cuts this bus route, he will be forced to quit his job. He is not alone. And of on top of service cuts, riders agreed that the fare increases have put a pinch on their already-thin wallets.

Another great take on this issue comes from Michael Rosen, author of mid coast views:

Milwaukee County Executive, Scott Walker, says government needs to be run like a business.

But there’s not a business anywhere that would succeed if it was mismanaged the way Mr. Walker has mismanaged the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS)!

Walker, who has no private sector experience, has raised prices, while cutting service- a recipe for failure!

************************

Walker doesn’t grasp rudimentary economics. You can attract riders/customers with low prices. Or you attract them by offering high level (quality) services. But no enterprise, public or private, can raise prices and slash service and operate successfully.

Yet, this has been Walker's strategy for the Milwaukee County Transit System.

************************

Does the County Executive really believe Milwaukee can attract and retain jobs and corporate headquarters without a viable public transit system?

Does Mr. Walker really think we can connect the unemployed with employers experiencing labor shortages without affordable and efficient mass transit?

When you put a fox in charge of the chicken coup, the feathers fly.

My own view is that I'm sure glad Walker didn't take up medicine. If he were a doctor, he would be pinching off the oxygen tube, saying he was trying to help the patient breathe.

The Death Of Transit?

by capper

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has reported that the number of riders taking Milwaukee County Transit buses has dropped by 4.1 million riders from 2006 to 2007. That is 4,100,000 less riders, in just one year. The paper goes on to report that the number of passengers last year was the lowest number since the County took over the transit system in 1975.

This decline is happening while almost every other major city is seeing the highest number of riders in two generations. Oil prices are regularly breaking record highs and analysts are predicting that gasoline could reach $4 a gallon this year. That combined with the other growing costs of operating a car, traffic congestion, and parking headaches, adds up to the logical conclusion in higher amounts of people riding public transit.

The article goes on to report that the increased costs of bus fares, as well as severe cuts in routes and schedules for the routes remaining are major factors into the reduction in riders in the Milwaukee area. We all know who is responsible for those decisions.

But what is interesting is the response around the blogosphere regarding this news. Gretchen Schuldt and Ken Mobile both point out the article and ask if anyone is really surprised. Bill Christoffersen sees this being the death knell for public transit, if something drastic isn't done soon.

However, those on the right are circling the buses and are in full mode to protect their boy, Walker. The defenses they are offering to try to warp the reality of the situation would be funny if they weren't so pathetic.

Over at Badger Blogger, they are saying that it isn't Walker's fault, but that all 4.1 million passengers stopped riding because of urban sprawl and crime. I reckon that in their skewed view of the world no other major city in the country has a problem with crime or urban sprawl. What they also don't mention is the fact that without sufficient access to public transit, people will be forced to drive, even when they can't or aren't allowed to drive legally. That not only drives up the cost of our insurance rates, but can have much more deadly consequences.

And Owen at Boots & Sabers, is taking the predictable approach of "it's my tax money, dammit."
He writes:

If only everyone would ride busses (sic), they say, then there’d be less congestion on the roads, less pollution, and the people of the community would be forced to mix and understand each other. Of course, that comes at the expense of less choice, less liberty, and higher taxes.

What Owen doesn't appreciate is that by cutting all of these bus routes and schedules, it limits the choices and the liberties for those that are dependent on them. He also seems to fail to understand that all of the roads that he and his kind advocate for doesn't come for free, but are paid for by our tax dollars, and at much higher levels than public transit is taking.

Not only that, but as mentioned before there are higher costs, such as insurance rates, with all of the unlicensed drivers taking to the streets again. And while I am not an economist, it would seem to me that if more people had access to transportation, more people would be able to get to where the jobs are, make more money, and help defray the costs of taxes among more people.

But I guess to some people on the right side of the sphere, their rights are more important than other people who might not be of the right socioeconomic class. And they support Walker because he promises to maintain the status quo of steady decline in the quality of life for the majority of people in Milwaukee County.

I have even seen arguments that people need to vote against Senator Taylor because she wants to take Milwaukee's fair share of tax revenues back from the state. As the MSJ article shows this is a lame argument, as that Walker wants to do the same thing:

But because state aid provides more transit funding than the Milwaukee
County levy, Walker said the focus should be on earmarking more state dollars
for transit.

Their argument against Taylor and their vehement opposition to raising taxes is also refuted by the article which reports that on a national level, 70% of ballots seeking to raise taxes to improve transit systems were approved by the voting public.

My biggest fear is that Xoff may be right. Walker may get re-elected, and that would mean the demise of public transit. Has anyone ever heard of a major city that has survived without some sort of public transit? I know I haven't. Even smaller cities like Stevens Point and Wausau need public transit systems.

Please vote for Taylor. There is a lot more riding on this election than just a buck two eighty in taxes.

A Funny Thing happened on the Way to the Forum

by folkbum

Candidate Forum
General Election, April 1
Monday, March 3rd—7pm
Humboldt Park School Auditorium, Second Floor
3230 S. Adams Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53207

(Please use south entrance on the west side of the building on Adams Avenue. You may park on street and in the adjacent parking lot. Bathrooms are located on first and second floors. Doors open at 6:30pm.)
Schedule:
7:15-7:35 Seat: Milwaukee County Executive
Candidates: Lena Taylor, Scott Walker (inc.)
7:40-8:00 Seat: County Supervisor District 4
Candidates: Marina Dimitrijevic, Jason Palmatier
8:05-8:25 Seat: County Supervisor District 14
Candidates: Steven Kraeger, Christopher Larson
8:30-8:50 Seat: Milwaukee Mayor
Candidates: Tom Barrett (inc.), Andrew Shaw
At time of publication of this notice, Tom Barrett’s campaign has not stated that Mayor Barrett will participate.
8:55-9:15 Seat: Aldermanic District 14
Candidates: Andrew Reid, Tony Zielinski (inc.)
9:20-9:40 Seat: Judge, Milwaukee County Circuit Court, Branch 40
Candidates: Rebecca Dallet, Jeffrey Norman


Format: Each pair of candidates will be asked six questions and invited to respond to each in one minute or less. A moderator will ask the questions, selected from among the audience questions and other questions submitted by area stakeholders. A timer will indicate when 30 seconds of response time remain and when it is time for respondents to conclude their one-minute remarks. Seating order for candidates will be determined by drawing lots. Each question will be first directed to one candidate and then to the other. Candidates will each be afforded one minute for opening remarks and 30 seconds for closing remarks. Candidates' campaign materials may be found on a table for that purpose. If you don't know what district you live in, please consult the maps provided by the Compass for that purpose that will be available at the event.


Moderator: Virginia Cassel

Sponsored by Bay View Compass, Bay View Neighborhood Association and the League of Women Voters, and Hosted by Humboldt Park School